Yang Ge waited alone outside the palace gates for a long time before the man he was waiting for finally arrived.
Shen Fa emerged from the Purple Tenuity Palace in mourning sackcloth, his bloodshot eyes lowered. He gestured for Yang Ge to enter. "Come on. Those venerable elders from the Imperial Stables Directorate have invited you into the palace."
Expressionless, Yang Ge stepped through the palace gates and into the shadowy gateway.
Shen Fa walked beside him in silence.
They passed through the dark gateway, and paper offerings drifted down all around them like snowflakes as large as goose feathers.
Yang Ge asked, "How did the emperor die?"
Shen Fa studied him. "You don't know?"
Yang Ge answered without thinking, "How the hell would I know..."
His steps abruptly halted. He turned to stare at Shen Fa in disbelief. "You suspect me?"
Shen Fa answered with silence.
Yang Ge seized his lapels and dragged him close, spittle spraying onto his face as he raged, "You fucking suspect me?"
Shen Fa calmly reached up to pry his hand loose. "In my line of work, suspecting you is perfectly normal, isn't it?"
Yang Ge roared, "If I fucking wanted to kill him, I'd have stormed through and cut him down myself! Which of you could stop me?"
"Yes. No one could stop you."
Shen Fa nodded. "So is it wrong... for me to suspect you?"
Yang Ge stood stunned for well over ten seconds before slowly releasing Shen Fa. Expressionlessly, he smoothed out his crumpled lapels. "You certainly are devoted to your duties, Shen."
He was furious, yet somehow not quite that furious.
This was Shen Fa-the Shen Fa who valued loyalty to his sovereign and service to his country more than his own life.
The bastard had never shown him this