Thunderclap Shatters the Dust and Noise, Blood Splatters the Green Bricks, the Barbarians Flee

The entire courtyard lay deathly silent, broken only by the heavy breathing of the private guards, like a pack of vicious dogs held tight on the leash, low whimpers rolling in their throats.

Qian Tong stood beneath the cassia tree, his round face flushed the color of pig liver, shock, fury, and hesitation churning in his narrow eyes.

He stared at the figure by the storeroom door, then glanced at the square stones in the corner. It felt as though someone had stuffed a red-hot coal into his chest.

If the hidden storeroom were pried open and the three hundred shi of illicit salt exposed, Myriad Profits Trading House would be guilty of treason. Though such a charge would be hard-pressed to spread beyond Sour Jujube County, there was always that one chance when it came to trouble.

If word did get out, the Zhang Family's ten years of foundations in Sour Jujube County would crumble by half.

But over at the main house... the men he had sent still had not returned with an answer.

Zhang Zhong had only said, "Cooperate," but had never said to let them pry open the hidden storeroom.

In this situation, if he ordered the private guards to swarm forward and hack these two fools to death, only for the main house to have other plans, he would become the scapegoat for acting on his own authority.

But if he did nothing and let this black-faced man truly tear open the hidden storeroom, the first skin the main house would strip would be Qian Tong's.

"Sun Liu."

Qian Tong squeezed out the two words through clenched teeth. His voice was very low, yet it carried a vicious edge.

Sun Liu had been waiting at his side. At once, he leaned closer. "Steward."

"You go."