The sun sank behind the western mountains, and the sky gradually darkened.
On a street over two li from the embassy, quite a few household servants from Northern Liang accompanied their young masters on leisurely strolls.
At the end of the street, the rear-facing window of a private room on a restaurant's second floor stood open, overlooking the somewhat shabby buildings behind the main street.
Shen Lin, dressed as a private secretary, sat in the room with a few dishes before him. Three others sat around him, all hall masters or incense masters of the Thousand Mechanisms Sect, summoned by Shen Lin to Yun'an to help Li Si with his affairs.
Since the orders had gone out midway, most of the experts Northern Liang had summoned had not entered the capital with the diplomatic delegation. Instead, they had arrived in batches from various places. The Thousand Mechanisms Sect experts had only arrived last night and were now eating a simple meal while listening to Shen Lin explain the situation:
"The Left Xian King's people have quite a few connections in Capital City. They sent word again this morning that after Ye Jingtang finished receiving the delegation, he would visit Golden Hall Street to check on his businesses. Tomorrow, he'll accompany people from the Ministry of Revenue to inspect the new medicine workshop outside the city. They're developing Snow Lake Powder there. It's an enterprise the Southern Dynasty entrusted to Ye Jingtang..."
The leader of the three was Han Yuzhuo, a hall master of the Thousand Mechanisms Sect and a disciple of Zhongsun Jin, one of the Four Sages. In personal martial skill alone, he surpassed Shen Lin, but his creativity was somewhat inferior, and he could not master Mechanisms and Formations, leaving his standing slightly lower than Shen Lin's. After