Chapter 756 — The Banquet Cut

CHAPTER 756

The Banquet Cut

The candidates’ hall was full by the first bell.

Eleven candidates stood along the wall where twelve had stood the week before. The twelfth place was empty. Nobody stood in it, and nobody mentioned it.

Ke Lianshu came in with the appraisers’ book, bowed to the room and opened it.

“This humble steward apologises for the delay,” Ke Lianshu said. “The results of Round Four, the Banquet of Twelve Cups. The appraisers have scored each candidate on what he did in the hall. Four will be cut. Eight will go to the Lake Stage.”

The hall went quiet.

“First,” Ke Lianshu read. “Candidate Cui Zhaoyu, of the Azure Sun.”

A murmur ran along the wall. Qu Ming looked up sharply.

“Struck,” Ke Lianshu said. “Candidate Cui left the pavilion during the round without leave. By the contest’s rules, a candidate who leaves is struck. His score isn’t read.”

“Struck?” Qu Ming said. “He named the poison! He was second!”

“He was second, Young Lord Qu,” Ke Lianshu said, bowing apologetically. “And then he left.”

“Then bring him back!” Qu Ming snapped.

“This humble steward would be glad to,” Ke Lianshu said. “If the young lord could tell us where he’s gone.”

Qu Ming’s mouth closed.

He didn’t know where Cui Zhaoyu had gone. Shi Feng could see that on his face. The Azure Sun’s own 3 Mark had walked out of the contest in the night with his furnace, and he hadn’t told his young lord first.

The other candidates looked at Qu Ming. Then, one by one, they looked at Shi Feng.

“The box…”

“He named it through the lid, and that night Cui ran.”

“What was really in it?”

“Don’t ask. Just don’t ask.”

Ke Lianshu turned the page.

“The scores,” Ke Lianshu read. “First, Candidate Shi Feng. He found the second poison, which wasn’t in the exam, and saved the guard. He named its grade and how it was ground. The appraisers add that he later gave Her Highness’s pavilions a recipe that broke the lotus hoard. The appraisers judged that protecting the pavilion’s supply was worth credit as well as treating its guests.”

Somebody at the wall laughed and turned it into a cough.

“Second, Candidate Situ Jinghong. He saw where Candidate Shi was looking, and he held the doors and the servants until Her Highness spoke.” Ke Lianshu turned his finger down the page. “Third, Candidate Rong Tianye, who reached the silk-house madam early and kept her pulse until the pill was given. Fourth, Candidate Qu Ming.”

Qu Ming’s jaw tightened, but he said nothing.

“Fifth, Candidate Cheng Mobai, who stood with the madam and kept the crowd off her. Sixth, Candidate Peng Zhenyue. Seventh, Candidate Qiao Wending. Eighth, Candidate Gu Yanxing.” Ke Lianshu paused. “The appraisers note that Candidate Gu said, ‘Not my skill,’ and didn’t cross the rail. They judged that honest, and better than crossing it to make the crowd larger.”

Gu Yanxing nodded once and said nothing.

“Cut,” Ke Lianshu said. “Candidate Cui Zhaoyu, struck. The candidate of the Thunder Abyss Valley. The candidate of the south quarter. The candidate of the Cangming Sword Palace’s outer court. The pavilion thanks them for their effort, and apologises.”

The three cut candidates bowed stiffly and went out. The Thunder Abyss disciple was red to the ears. He stopped at the door and looked back at Shi Feng.

“He saw a man sweating,” the Thunder Abyss disciple said bitterly. “And I tripped on a cushion.”

He went out.

Ke Lianshu closed the book.

“The eight for the Lake Stage,” Ke Lianshu said. “Candidate Shi Feng. Candidate Qu Ming. Candidate Situ Jinghong. Candidate Gu Yanxing. Candidate Cheng Mobai. Candidate Peng Zhenyue. Candidate Qiao Wending. Candidate Rong Tianye. The bracket will be drawn in three days, before witnesses.”

Eight men stood along the wall now. Shi Feng counted them, out of habit.

Six Tianxing at peak Deity Transformation, among them a general’s heir, the Prime Minister’s grandson and the Azure Sun’s young lord. A rogue swordsman with a patched sleeve. And a 4 Mark who, as far as anyone in this room knew, was only Deity Transformation.

“Eight,” Cheng Mobai said cheerfully, beside him. “And one of them sells pills. They’ll be laughing about it in every teahouse tonight.”

“Let them talk,” Shi Feng said. “They’ll still have to beat the man who sells pills. There are only seven of them left to try.”

Across the hall, Qu Ming turned and walked out without a word. He knocked the door frame with his shoulder on the way through, hard enough to make it rattle.

Situ Jinghong didn’t leave. He stood where he was with his hands behind his back, and when Shi Feng looked at him he smiled, the same pleasant smile he’d worn at the rail.

Then he bowed slightly, and went out too.

When Shi Feng got back to Willow Ford that evening, Auntie Niu’s new awning was up, bright blue and twice as wide as the old one. Ji Yuanhe was sitting under it with a bun.

And stuck in the crack of the Willow Ford gate was a red card, folded once.

Shi Feng pulled it out and opened it. There was a single character on it, in fine, careful brushwork.

Wine.

The card was signed with a small grey seal. It was the Situ crest.