"Dao'an, what would you have me do?"
Li Jin fixed his eyes on Xie Lin, his gaze sharp as an awl.
"I would ask you to do one thing, Eunuch Li." Xie Lin met his gaze without flinching or looking away.
"What?"
"Before Wei Zi reaches Suzhou, erase every one of those transactions between the Imperial Silk Bureau and the Everlasting Abundance Firm."
At these words, the rear hall fell silent for a moment.
Light and shadow shifted across Li Jin's gaunt face.
"Xie Dao'an." At last, Li Jin spoke, his voice lower than before.
"Do you know what you are saying?"
"Of course I do." Xie Lin's expression remained unchanged.
"Then how dare you say it!" Li Jin rebuked him loudly.
"The Imperial Silk Bureau's accounts are what His Majesty wishes to inspect.
If I tamper with them without permission, how am I to answer before His Majesty?
Do not forget, I am merely a dog, a watchdog sent to Suzhou!"
"You need not alter the accounts, Eunuch Li." Xie Lin shook his head.
"You need only take the actual goods involved in those transactions.
Grain, silver, silk, for instance, and put them through a 'transfer,' moving them from the Everlasting Abundance Firm's name to another firm's.
The accounts would remain unchanged. Only the merchant firm handling the goods would change.
Even if Wei Zi investigates later, what he finds will be 'another firm,' not the Everlasting Abundance Firm."
Li Jin did not answer. Only when he lifted his tea to drink did he realize it had gone cold.
He set the cup on the table, leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes briefly, then opened them again.
"Dao'an, let me ask you something."
"Please speak, Eunuch Li."
"Are you asking me to erase the Everlasting Abundance Firm's