A gentle morning breeze drifted through the small window.
Inside the old basement near the Hall of Scriptures, a weathered journal and a hand-sized wooden box were laid neatly atop faded silk.
Xianlan sat silently.
She knew that every passing second was a race—against an opponent who never revealed their face.
Because the true enemy… never needs to be on the field.
A flick of their finger from the shadows could still alter the world.
⸻
The dark brown wooden box bore the faint mark of "Qin Zhi"—
once the emblem of the royal finance secretary, dismissed in the same wave that brought down Consort Yifei.
She lifted the lid gently.
Inside were only three things:
— a single scroll of accounting records
— a piece of old fabric
— and a round jade token, about the size of a coin
⸻
The scroll, made of fang paper, was nearly ten years old.
Most of the ink had faded to near-invisibility.
But certain characters had been traced over in red:
"Imperial Procurement Bureau, Year of Li – 7th"
"Items: black pearls, gold leaf, cloud-patterned silk, white jade — delivered to the residence of the Noble Consort."
Xianlan closed her eyes.
Her mother had been accused of embezzling royal goods—without any real evidence.
And yet now… the trail led to someone else entirely.
⸻
She picked up the scrap of old fabric.
It bore an embroidered phoenix and dragon, the personal emblem of Consort Yifei—
but the design had been smeared with black ink and slashed across with a blade.
"As if someone had tried to erase my mother's existence… from everything she ever touched."
And whoever had done this—
could not have been only the Noble Consort.
There had to be collaborators within the system.
⸻
The jade coin was the most unexpected piece.
It was a Secret Treasury Access Token—
something so rare, even the Crown Prince had to seek verification to use one.
And yet… here it was, buried in the belongings of someone exiled from power.
"If this token is real… it means someone once accessed the Secret Treasury without royal decree."
⸻
She placed the contents carefully back into the wooden box,
closed the lid, and inscribed new words in fresh ink:
"This box belonged to Consort Yifei.
Entrusted to Xianlan until the day of the alliance ceremony."
It was a move—
Not meant to expose the truth today,
but to send a message…
to those who thought she had nothing left in her hand.
⸻
Later that day – Crown Prince's Residence
Feng Yuhan read the intelligence report from court informants.
"Qin Zhi's wooden box reappeared near the Hall of Scriptures.
Someone allowed moderate court officials to see the scroll—
but not all of it."
Wen Yichen asked softly:
"Aren't you afraid Xianlan might reveal everything at the assembly?"
Feng Yuhan set his sandalwood fan aside.
"If she intended full exposure,
she wouldn't use just a sliver of truth as bait."
"I believe she's fishing for the shadowed fish—
those still hiding."
⸻
That night,
Jiang Xinluo received a short poem:
"The crescent moon parts the clouds—
A stormy night seals the wooden box.
Round jade hides the old accounts—
But the old shadows remain."
She smiled.
It was a message from Xianlan.
Short,
but clear—
"I haven't played all my cards.
But I want to see which one you'll play first."
Jiang Xinluo replied with a single image:
A sketch of a similar jade token—
but with a visible crack down the center.
A symbolic answer:
"I hold the same token… but never used it to its full extent."
⸻
Midnight – Shadow Bureau
In the hidden archive of the Intelligence Bureau,
a man in a dark cloak was reporting to a figure seated in shadow.
"Map 3 is leaking from the Hall of Scriptures.
The imperial ledger has reached the hands of reformist officials."
A low voice answered, barely above a whisper:
"Too soon… She's faster than we thought."
"I won't let her keep using 'silence' as her blade."
Who that man was—no one knew.
But the scar running across his wrist matched the legends…
of one who had once held the highest seat within the Secret Treasury of Shadows.