Read Chapter 10: — THE REAL BADGE

That night Li Sheng prepared to move.

The tribute vessel would depart after the river-god ceremony. His men had already shifted stolen grain, weapons and silver toward the water. Yagyu’s ships waited beyond the shallows for the midnight rise in the river.

A frightened subordinate asked whether the false inspector mattered anymore.

Li Sheng laughed.

“He was never Jinyiwei.”

From the darkness behind him came a quiet voice.

“No.”

Lin Zuo stepped into the light.

“He was not.”

Li Sheng turned.

Lin removed the scholar’s outer robe.

Beneath it was the dark uniform of the Northern Office.

He placed a gold badge on the table.

This one did not bend.

“This is what the real thing looks like.”

Li Sheng’s face emptied.

Lin’s men emerged from every entrance.

The deputy reached for his sword.

Lin moved first.

The fight lasted less than a minute.

Li Sheng was disarmed, bound and informed that the court would have ample time to decide which of his crimes deserved the rope first.

Magistrate Zhou, summoned under guard and furious at having been manipulated, immediately ordered Su Shanhe released.

Tang remained in his cell.

When Lin arrived, Tang sat against the wall with his knees up.

“So you were Jinyiwei.”

“Yes.”

“And you let me make a fool of myself for three days.”

“Yes.”

“And you let everyone arrest me.”

“Yes.”

Tang considered this.

“You are a terrible person.”

“That has been said.”

Lin opened the cell.

Tang did not stand.

“You could have told me.”

“I needed Li Sheng to believe you had no protection.”

“That is not the real reason.”

Lin was silent.

Tang looked up.

“You knew my father.”

The air between them changed.

Lin slowly drew the sabre at his side and laid it across both palms.

Four characters ran along the steel.

Peerless in Service.

Tang’s breath caught.

“This belonged to him,” Lin said.

Tang reached out but did not touch it.

For years he had carried an imitation made from a childhood memory.

Now the real blade lay in front of him.

“Where is my father?”

Lin could not soften the answer.

“He died ten years ago, outside this city, killing men who would have killed two children and half the canal if they had been allowed.”

Tang closed his eyes.

The father he had spent years seeking had been dead almost the entire time.

Lin continued, voice rough.

“He died in my arms.”