The majority of the departments that handled the nation's political affairs were situated on Tianhe Avenue, in the eastern district of the city. Few citizens lived nearby, and the street was exceptionally wide, with many beautiful and grand wooden buildings on either side. These buildings were the center of the empire's authority. For example, the Department for Army Affairs was located at the crossing and sported a great stone lion at the entrance. Its gaping mouth and powerful claws stood in the direction of the rising sun. The interplay of light and shadow gave it a fantastic yet bizarre look, like some great prehistoric creature; as a representation of the military might of the Qing Kingdom, it was sorely lacking.
But the true center of the kingdom's power lay in the bowels of the palace in the northern part of the city. Save for its tall watchtower, the palace lacked the towering height of the other government offices, but the thick palace walls and magnificent courtyard within made it feel like extremely sacred ground.
The officials of the Kingdom of Qing all knew, rather well, actually, that His Most Revered Majesty didn’t deal with day-to-day matters of the administration. For them, the most terrifying part of the imperial bureaucratic machine was neither the buildings that housed the departments of state nor the imperial palace. It was that square-shaped building in the west end of the city, with its sinister grey-black walls.
That was where the Overwatch Council presided. The Kingdom of Qing was divided into three ministries and six departments, the three ministries being the were the Overwatch Council, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of War, which was a step above the Department for Army Affairs, and of the three ministries, the most powerful was the Overwatch Council. It had the power to investigate, arrest, and in certain situations, held judicial authority. No other department had authority over its powers.
In a sense, it was an unchained beast that acted on the orders of the Emperor, like an agency of His Majesty’s secret agents. Or rather, The Overwatch Council was, in truth, the Emperor's secret police.
The officials of the Kingdom of Qing were always rather concerned. His Majesty was a genius, his powers granted to him by Heaven itself. He could even keep in check the sinister Director Chen and the Council's countless secret agents and hidden powers. But if something were to happen to His Majesty... who could take the reins of this ferocious beast? Bureaucrats who had suffered under the whims of the Council cursed it in secret. The Council was no beast; it was simply a treacherous and despicable wild dog.
Within a hidden room of the Ministry’s chambers, a secret dialogue was taking place.
"The assassin who was caught in the fire at Danzhou was one of the Ministry’s men, under the jurisdiction of the Dongshan Road division," said Fei Jie to the director, his voice hoarse. " The Fourth Bureau has always been in charge of operations abroad. The Department of Internal Affairs discovered during the course of their investigations that an official in the Fourth Bureau was a distant relative of the Master's second wife. That must be how the mission was carried out."
"Has he been identified?" This was the old man's greatest concern.
Fei Jie narrowed his faint brown eyes, filled with uncertainty. "I believe that among the eight people who are aware of this incident, no one will leak it. And although Master Wu was a close confidant of the Lady, he was rarely seen at that time. No one is aware of his identity these days, and Ye Liuyun, the only person who he has met, is now a grandmaster. There is no way he could travel to Danzhou for leisure - it is far too much of a coincidence. So there is no need to worry about anyone figuring out his identity as a result of Master Wu."
The director's thin, prominent fingers drummed on the table as he pondered. "Back then, when I ordered you to dispose of every one of the Black Knights who had laid eyes on Wu Zhu, you asked me for leniency. Now it seems that you were wrong."
Fei Jie laughed. A strange light flashed in his eyes, stained brown by years of exposure to poisons. "There had already been a great many deaths that night."
Fei Jie did not seem - at least on the surface - the least bit afraid of the old bureaucrat before him. His status and experience preceded him. He hissed as he laughed. "It is foolish to kill without good reason. The Lady used to be fond of saying that. Have you forgotten?"
"Mm." The old man smiled. It seemed that he was reminiscing about happy memories. But his smile remained the same even as he gave his sinister orders.
"The Dongshan Road is under the jurisdiction of the Fourth Bureau. As all the necessary signatures were obtained for authorization and there were no errors in the process, there’s no reason to hold accountable for this incident. As for the others, deal with them as you wish." He smiled as he thought aloud. "Using my own power to kill the people under my protection. Is it a coincidence, or do you think someone is trying to probe into something? This second wife is quite a woman.
"Yan Ruohai of the Fourth Bureau is useless at his job," he continued. "He'll sign off on anything and will happily kill anyone as long as it's not his own son. He's causing trouble. Freeze his salary for three years and send his son, the one named Yan Bingyun, to work in the north. Don't let him return until he has risen up the ranks by at least two grades."
The director took the documents from the Department of Internal Affairs that were laid out on the table. Writing down his final concluding remarks, he signed his name: Chen Pingping.
Whenever Fei Jie saw the director's shriveled and unsightly signature, he wanted to laugh, but he had no choice but to hold it in. He knew that this weak and girlish signature was going to send high-ranking officials to their deaths and send an even higher-ranking official's son off to infiltrate the bleak lands behind enemy lines, forbidden to return until he could prove that he was of exceptional worth. That was a fate worth than death.
The old man laughed to himself. "I grew up with Fan Jian. I didn't expect his family affairs to cause me such grief. Send one of your best men to investigate how the second wife is involved in all this."
Fan Jian was Count Sinan's personal name - the name of Fan Jian's father.
Fei Jie knitted his bow, and his brown eyes trembled. "Impossible. They should be under the impression that the child died long ago."
"You misunderstand me. I’m also certain that they are unaware of Fan Xian as the Lady's son."
The director smiled. "His Majesty has always demanded that we keep our distance from the nobility and the bureaucracy. And yet, the year that you were sent to Danzhou, even though it was kept secret, it is still possible that they may have found out. Whether it was the Empress or the Prime Minister, our connection to Count Sinan is a source of great intrigue. There is a power hiding in the shadows, and it lent its services to the second wife in order to test the reactions of both ourselves and Master Fan. For this reason, it is important that we do not react too forcefully. Do you understand?"
Fei Jie suddenly found himself filled with doubts over the attempted assassination in Danzhou. He couldn't be sure that it wasn't a result of the Director's intentional leaking of information.
...
...
The old man wheeled himself to the window, lifted up a corner of the curtain, and gazed out. "Anyway," he said coolly, "we need to talk about the box. Whether or not Wu Zhu is telling the truth, we cannot let it fall into the hands of our enemies in the north."
"It's a pity we don't know how big it is, or even what it looks like," Fei Jie stood next to the director, following his gaze out of the window.
"When I end up in hell, you'd better be right behind me so we can play cards together." The director laughed.
Fei Jie knew that the director was not as old as he looked. "But I'm a good guy," he said, smiling. "I'm going straight to heaven."
A shadow drifted like a gust of wind from a corner of the secret room, pulling down the black cloth and blocking out the strong sunlight from shining on the old man. It moved without a sound. This was the person who had killed the staff-wielding sorcerer outside the walls of the capital many years ago.
Fei Jie pointed at the black shadow. "I reckon he'd be the one who came with you to play chess."
...
...
Outside, the sun shone brightly, and the tiles on the main hall of the imperial palace shone with a deep gold light.
As pedestrians passed by the entrance to the Overwatch Council, they found themselves crossing to the other side of the street. It was as if they feared that its gloomy air would spill out onto the street.
A stone tablet stood by the entrance of the Ministry’s Chambers. Gold words were painted on the table: "I wish for the freedom of all peoples of the Kingdom of Qing. One must suffer mistreatment without surrender; one must suffer great calamities without retreat. Should disaster strike, do not be afraid to face it. Do not submit to the whims of beasts..."
A name was written underneath: Ye Qingmei.
No one knew who Ye Qingmei was, but the people of the capital all knew that the tablet was placed there when the Overwatch Council was built. It shone with a golden light, as if it were in contact with the tiles of the imperial palace far away - as if it hid away the darkness within both buildings.