Chapter 257 — Three Days' Notice

CHAPTER 257

Three Days' Notice

“Spell it again,” Lin Langtian said. “Slowly. With feeling.”

“Artificer Hall will inspect the mines' protection in three days,” Zhu Liu said. He stood on the border post's bench with a brush in one hand and a pot of red paint in the other. “That's all of it, Senior Brother Lin. Shall I add the sect seal?”

“No seal,” Lin Langtian said. “We’re giving notice, not signing an agreement. Let them ask me what it means.”

Shi Feng stood at the foot of the bench with his arms folded. It was barely past dawn, and the border market was only starting to open. A noodle seller was lighting his stove. Two Martial Palace guards at the toll hut were yawning into their sleeves.

“Explain it to me one more time,” Shi Feng said.

“Gladly!” Lin Langtian said. “Martial Palace says the Wujin Mines are under its protection. Fine. Who pays for protection? The one being protected. And who checks whether the protection is any good?”

“The one who paid,” Shi Feng said.

“Exactly!” Lin Langtian clapped him on the back hard enough to rattle his teeth. “Junior Brother, you learn quickly. Artificer Hall buys iron from those mines. Twelve wagons of it are sitting at the border right now. That makes us the protected party, and the protected party has every right to inspect!”

“We haven't paid anyone for protection,” Shi Feng said.

“And they haven’t provided any,” Lin Langtian said. “That’s precisely what we’ll inspect. You see? We have a concern worth bringing to their attention.”

Zhu Liu finished the last character and held the board up. It was a plain plank, and the red letters ran downhill, but each one was as big as a fist. Underneath, in smaller writing, he had added By order of the Chief Disciple.

“Is that true?” Zhu Liu asked quietly. “The order part?”

“It is now,” Lin Langtian said. “Nail it up.”

A guard from the toll hut had wandered over, curious. He read the board once, frowned, then read it again with his lips moving.

“Inspect the protection?” the guard said. “Who's going to inspect it?”

“The protection,” Lin Langtian said gravely. “Your protection. Everyone's.”

The guard opened his mouth, closed it, and turned back to the hut. He walked faster than a man usually walked after a yawn.

“He's going to report it,” Shi Feng said.

“First his captain, then the officer above him,” Lin Langtian said, pleased. “By noon it’ll be all over the border. By evening, men in fine robes will be holding a meeting about our plank.”

“And then?” Shi Feng said.

“And then they'll let us in,” Lin Langtian said. “As the saying goes, invite the gentleman into the jar. Because if they refuse, it looks as if the protection has something to hide.”

Shi Feng understood the trap. Martial Palace had claimed to protect the mines. Refusing an inspection would make that claim look false, and their pride wouldn’t let them admit it.

A broom scraped on the road behind them.

Li Changyuan swept mud beside the toll hut, far from Thousand Forge Peak. He pushed the same little pile across the gutter and back. He carefully avoided looking at either Lin Langtian or the notice.

“Sect Master,” Zhu Liu whispered, half falling off the bench.

“I don't see anything,” Li Changyuan said to the gutter. “I see dust. A sweeper sees dust.”

“Sect Master, the notice—” Zhu Liu said.

“What notice?” Li Changyuan said. “I'm an old man. My eyes are bad. One eye open, one eye closed, and today both are closed. Zhu Liu, how much did that paint cost?”

Zhu Liu looked into the pot. “Two coppers, Sect Master.”

“Hm,” Li Changyuan said. “Whoever put it up is a spendthrift.”

He shuffled off down the road, still pushing the mud. Lin Langtian watched him go with deep satisfaction.

“You see?” Lin Langtian said. “He approves.”

“How can you tell?” Shi Feng asked.

“He asked the price,” Lin Langtian said. “When he doesn't care, he doesn't ask.”

Sima Lan had stayed behind at the stall, and her parting instructions had been brief. She'd given Zhu Liu a bound book, and she'd given Shi Feng a cold look. Receipts, she had said. All of them. And you don't fight anything you can bill.

Zhu Liu was already writing in the book. Notice, one plank, paint, two coppers, posted.

“Three days,” Zhu Liu said, closing the book. “How far are the mines?”

“Two days on foot, if the road isn't blocked,” Lin Langtian said. “So we leave at noon and arrive a day before the notice runs out. Always arrive early, Junior Brother. Make them wait for their own trap.”

“Wouldn't it be better to arrive on the third day?” Shi Feng asked.

“On the third day they'll be ready,” Lin Langtian said. “On the second day they'll be scared.”

He spun the sweet potato in his hand, and he grinned.

Out on the market road, the guard from the toll hut was running.