Ping'an County Town yamen, side entrance.
The red-lacquered main gate had a mottled layer of green rust on its copper studs.
Two runners stood guard at the entrance, clutching their staffs and stamping their feet in a spot sheltered from the wind. Their drooping eyelids made them look half asleep.
Qin Geng and Cao Xiaoliu arrived with a long procession of children behind them.
"Stop!"
One sharp-eyed runner froze, then swung his staff across his body. His face took on the impatient authority of a government officer. "What do you want? This is a yamen. What are you doing barging in with a pack of beggars? Don't you know the rules?"
Cao Xiaoliu wore plain clothes today, and his face was still smudged with dirt from the mountains.
He raised an eyebrow and stepped forward. "Are you blind? Don't you recognize me?"
The runner looked Cao Xiaoliu up and down, then snorted. "Never seen your face before. What, did some young master take a wrong turn on his stroll? Go on, get out of here. This is the registry office's side entrance. If you want to check the records, you need written authorization—and you need to pay the tea money. Think you can walk in just by asking?"
These days, the King of Hell was easy to meet; it was the little demons who made life difficult.
The gate guards were used to squeezing people for money. Seeing this disheveled group with so many filthy children, they took them for disaster victims come to cause trouble.
Cao Xiaoliu was about to flare up when Qin Geng put a hand on his shoulder.
"Go in and announce us. Tell them Qin Geng from the transport firm and the Cao family's Sixth Young Master are here to look something up."
Qin Geng