Chapter 776 — A Merchant’s Champion

CHAPTER 776

A Merchant’s Champion

The street outside the pavilion was empty. Nobody wanted to stand in the Third Prince’s way.

Every stall along the front had closed its shutters. The porters had gone. Even the beggar who always sat by the east stone lion had picked up his bowl and left. Only the pavilion staff remained, lined up on both sides of the gate in their best robes, with their heads already bowed.

Shi Feng came in through the side door and found Qu Ming in the front hall with Ke Lianshu.

The two finalists looked at each other. Qu Ming’s cheek had been stitched. Shi Feng’s arms were bandaged to the elbow. Neither said anything.

“Her Highness wished the finalists to hear the terms of the final this morning,” Ke Lianshu said, bowing to each of them in turn. “This humble steward apologises. His Highness’s visit wasn’t expected. Please stand by the east pillar, and please don’t speak unless he speaks to you.”

Long Caili sat upright at the head of the hall in dark gold, her pale veil falling from brow to chin. Shen Yaoqing sat beside her. Neither of them was drinking the tea in front of them.

Then the carriage came.

Shi Feng heard it before he saw it. Four black horses, each with a single horn, drew it up to the gate. The carriage itself was black lacquer with no ornament except a coiled golden dragon on the door. Sixteen guards in black armour rode around it. When they dismounted, the pressure of their realm rolled off them like cold off a winter river.

“Shattering Void,” someone among the staff whispered. “All sixteen of them.”

The carriage door opened, and the staff knelt as one.

The Third Prince walked into his sister’s hall.

He was tall, and he was dressed in plain black without a single jewel. That was the striking thing about him. Every young master in the capital wore jade and gold to be noticed. The Third Prince wore nothing, because he didn’t need to be noticed. Until he passed thirty, he’d stood first on the Hundred Famed Tianxing, and everyone in Tianjing said he was the strongest of all the Emperor’s children.

Qu Ming bowed so low that his forehead nearly touched his knees.

“Fourth Sister,” the Third Prince said.

“Third Brother,” Long Caili said, rising to give him the proper bow. She didn’t lower herself further. “It’s been a year since you visited my pavilion.”

“I had no reason to,” the Third Prince said coldly. “I still don’t. I came to see what all the noise was about.”

He looked round the hall slowly. He looked at the pillars, at the steward, at the tea, at Shen Yaoqing, to whom he nodded once, and at Qu Ming, who was still bowing.

His eyes passed over the east pillar without stopping.

“So this is your contest,” the Third Prince said. “Stalls, cups and stages. A merchant’s game.”

“It’s found me good men,” Long Caili said calmly. “Eldest Brother thought it would.”

The Third Prince paused for a breath.

“Eldest Brother has stood behind you since you could walk,” the Third Prince said. “Behind you, Fourth Sister. Not in front of you. He can’t fight your fights for you.”

“He hasn’t needed to,” Long Caili said, keeping her hands folded in her sleeves.

“It’s found you men a merchant can buy,” the Third Prince said. “Cheap goods aren’t good, Fourth Sister, and good goods aren’t cheap. A merchant’s champion will be a cheap one. That’s all I came to say.”

Long Caili didn’t answer.

The Third Prince turned and walked out. He didn’t wait for her reply, and he didn’t look at the east pillar once, not even on the way out. The sixteen guards mounted, the black carriage turned in the empty street, and in a few breaths the sound of its wheels was gone.

The staff got up off their knees slowly.

Ke Lianshu was pale. He bowed to the empty doorway out of habit, then bowed to the princess, and then seemed to forget who else he ought to bow to.

Qu Ming straightened. He was smiling. Whatever the prince had meant, Qu Ming had heard only one thing in it: a merchant’s champion was cheap, and the merchant’s champion was standing next to him.

Shi Feng didn’t smile.

He meant for me to notice that, Shi Feng thought. The prince had inspected the whole hall while deliberately passing over the pillar where he stood. This was contempt delivered for everyone to see. Shi Feng remembered the same deliberate dismissal in the Pill Pit, and his expression cooled.

Long Caili sat back down.

She sat very straight, straighter than before. Her hands were folded on the table, and her tea had gone cold in front of her. Shen Yaoqing glanced at her rigid hands, then looked away. Long Caili was hurt, but she clearly didn’t want comfort in front of her steward and candidates.

For a long moment, nobody in the hall said a word.

“Third Brother is fond of me,” Long Caili said.