—
SITTING ROOM
Yunjinna had done an excellent job on her face.
Almost excellent.
She'd left the eyes slightly underdone — just a little pink, just a little soft, just enough to look like someone who had been crying and had tried to hide it and mostly succeeded.
She sat curled on the sofa when Chu Jintan came in and stood up immediately, and he crossed the room and pulled her into a tight hug and she pressed her face against his shoulder and let out a long shaky breath."Tell me everything," he said into her hair.
So she did.
She told him about the juice — framed it as an accident she'd had that Yun Jiao made awkward.
She told him about the necklace — framed it as a misunderstanding that Yun Jiao had completely blown out of proportion with her little camera setup.
She told him about the staff gravitating toward her, about Mengqi and Lulu, about the way everyone in the house seemed to just — turn toward her like plants turning toward light.
She didn't tell him about the set up sending thugs and mercenaries after jiaojiao, she wasn't stupid.
"She's not what she looks like," Yunjinna said against his shoulder. "She acts sweet but there's something about her. The way she looks at you. Like she already knows something you don't."
Chu Jintan rubbed her back. "You're overthinking it."
"I'm not—"
"She's a girl from an orphanage, Jinna. She's never had anything. Of course she's trying hard to make a good impression."
Yunjinna pulled back to look at him. "You've seen her?"
"She was in the hallway when I came in."
Something moved across Yunjinna's face. Fast. Gone quickly.
"And?" she said.
"And nothing. She seems fine." He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Stop worrying. In a few days this is all sorted anyway."
Yunjinna looked at him."You mean Liang Boshen," she said.
"Your mother's plan is solid. Two more days."
She should have felt better.
She didn't.
—
RUAN SUYIN was in her study when her phone rang.
She looked at the screen.
Liang Boshen.
She answered immediately. "Mr. Liang."
"Suyin." His voice was the voice of a man who had never once in his life been told no and had therefore lost the ability to consider it as a possibility. Low. Unhurried. "I'm coming today."
She kept her expression perfectly smooth even though there was no one to see it. "The meeting was scheduled for tomorrow—"
"I moved it." A pause. "I want to see the girl."
Ruan Suyin looked at the wall.
"Of course," she said. "What time should we expect you?"
"Two o'clock."
The line went dead.
She sat very still for a moment.
Two o'clock.
She looked at the time.
Ten forty-five.
Three hours from now.
She stood. Smoothed her qipao. Walked to the door and called for Butler Ye.There was preparation to do.
——
Butler Ye received the Madam's instructions with his usual expression of having no expression whatsoever.
Prepare the formal sitting room. Arrange refreshments. Inform the Master that Mr. Liang would be arriving at two o'clock.
He did all of these things.
He also, while doing all of these things, thought about several other things.
He thought about the footage from yesterday. Yunjinna in the east wing. The look on Yunting's face when he saw it.
He thought about the four men who had been found in various states of injury on the east road two nights ago, and the six men from last night who had apparently had a very similar experience.
He thought about Miss Yun Jiao sitting in the kitchen at five forty-six in the morning eating braised pork with the calm of someone who had nothing to worry about and everything under control.
He thought about the small device she'd produced in the sitting room.
He thought about the way she'd looked at the room afterward — not triumphant, not satisfied, just — quiet. Like someone checking something off a list and moving on to the next item.
Butler Ye had worked for powerful people his whole life.
He knew what power looked like when it was performed.
He also knew what it looked like when it was simply — present.
He went to inform the Master about Liang Boshen's visit.He did not tell anyone else.
—
Hawk spoke into her earpiece at eleven fifteen.
"Liang Boshen called Ruan Suyin twenty minutes ago. He's arriving at two o'clock today."
Yun Jiao was in the garden.
She had a stick in her hand and was dragging it through the koi pond water while Tangerine — the big orange one — followed it with focused determination.
"Today?" she said.
"Today."
She watched Tangerine chase the stick.
Liang Boshen.
Fifty-three years old. Built his empire on things that didn't survive daylight. Three marriages, two of which had ended in ways that were conveniently accidents. Seventeen personal security men. A gun under his pillow.
Coming here at two o'clock to look at a girl he thought was already his.
She pulled the stick slowly through the water.
Tangerine followed faithfully.
"Hawk."
"Yes?"
"Is everything in place?"
"The documents from Yunting's study—"
"I got them last night."
Hawk went quiet for a second.
"When last night? You were—"
"After the east road situation. I had eleven minutes before you said anyone would notice." She shrugged. "I only needed eight."
Another pause.
"Master," Hawk said.
"Mm."
"You are going to give me a cardiac event one day and I want you to know I will haunt you forever if that happens"
"You don't have a heart baby"
"Emotionally, Master. Emotionally I have a heart. And it is under enormous strain." he sighed.
She smiled, this silly robot.
"The documents are clean?" she said.
"Everything we need. His signature. The date. The witness." Hawk's voice shifted. Quieter. More careful. "Master. If this goes to the right people—"
"It will go to the right people," she said simply.
She pulled the stick out of the water.
Tangerine surfaced hopefully.
She looked at the koi pond. The pavilion. The west wing roof. The city beyond the estate walls.
Two o'clock.
Liang Boshen walking in expecting a transaction.
She had been preparing for this since before she even arrived.
"Hawk," she said.
"Yes?"
" he has enemies right?"
"Oh, he has enemies," Hawk snorted with his robotic nose. "Several of them. Very powerful. Very patient." A pause. "And very interested in certain documents that have been missing from a particular investigation for two years."
She looked at the city.
"Send them an anonymous message," she said. "Tell them the documents have been found." She paused. "Tell them where to look."
"And when they come—"
"Liang Boshen walks right into them." She turned away from the pond. "He doesn't leave this city the way he came in."
She walked back toward the house.
Behind her Tangerine surfaced once more, looking for the stick.
She'd bring it tomorrow.