Rising Phoenix

Feng Zhiwei turned and faced the respectful Qianshi Officials, handing them letters stamped with the seal of Judicial Commissioner and the seal of Imperial Envoy. "Master Tao has an important matter, so these need to be handled by you."

She had already carefully arranged everything while she was in the study; officials would need to head out and capture the military officials while others raced to intercept the army provisions. Of course, she did not call them army provisions, masking the operation by claiming that the Shangguan Family was smuggling goods that they needed to capture or destroy. No one doubted Feng Zhiwei's words, and everyone rushed off in trembling awe.

Feng Zhiwei brought out another letter and called to Gu nanny. "May I trouble Brother Gu to find Yan Huaishi; tell him that he must use any method, even emptying the private granaries, to send a shipment of grain to Minnan immediately.

Gu Nanyi shook his head and gently flicked a finger; a grey robed man popped out of the eaves above and flicked down to grab the letter before disappearing. Feng Zhiwei stared after the invisible guard; since she had confronted the white robed man, these people had emerged from the shadows.

With everything dispatched, Feng Zhiwei stood quietly under the eaves, her face pale.

She was moving with extreme daring based on sheer speculation; if she were wrong in any of these matters, ten lives would not be enough to survive the aftermath.

But even so, she was afraid that she had not moved boldly enough, not reacted fast enough.

An army marched on its stomach; the hundred thousand soldiers battling Chang Minjiang were winning victory after victory under Ning Yi, shrinking Chang Minjiang's control, but a disastrous mishap with provisions could overturn the entire war. Blood would flood the lands, and the upheaval would sweep out of Minnan into South Sea and the other surrounding provinces.

She clenched her hands, her fingers cold. She had not time for fear, and she leapt atop a horse and rode off for the Commissioner's Yamen.

A big green-wool sedan chair was waiting by the Yamen gates as Feng Zhiwei approached, and the leader of the Yamen Bailiffs called out: "Master Lyu has just arrived."

Feng Zhiwei nodded hurriedly and swept into the study; it was empty, but steam still wafted up from the cups of tea. A servant boy informed her that Master Zhou had brought Master Lyu away to find an old case file.

The Yamen storeroom … typically a remote and dark place.

Feng Zhiwei's suspicions raged and she dashed off in pursuit!

Zhou Xizhong was accompanying Lyu Bo in his search, quite clearly frustrated with the situation.

He could have just had the Private Advisor find the file, why had Lyu Bo insisted on finding the case file himself and even dragged Zhou Xizhong with him?

After Lyu Bo had shut the door, he had accidentally dropped his oil lamp while looking for the file, and now Zhou Xizhong could only hold his peace as Lyu Bo fumbled about in embarrassment.

Zhou Xizhong idly tapped the desk, thinking on the scandal with the military officials. He still needed to talk to Lyu Bo about that business, and he had also heard that there was a shortage of staff managing army provisioning. With at least a dozen officers implicated in this disaster, they might even have to purge the officer corp. Difficult days were ahead, and a well thought out plan was needed.

As Zhou Xizhong watched absent-mindedly, Lyu Bo's shoulder twitched.

He focused, curious. Strange movement shuffled underneath Lyu Bo's robe as if a creature were crawling around on him.

Just as he was about to step forward to get a clearer look, Lyu Bo stepped down from the ladder, smiling triumphantly with a scroll in hand: "Found it."

"What is it?" Zhou Xizhong asked, his curiosity piqued by Lyu Bo's mysterious demeanor.

Lyu Bo opened the scroll, gesturing for Zhou Xizhong to lean in: "Look…"

A green light flashed.

"Peng!"

The storeroom's door flew open, slamming against its hinges.

A person rushed in, yelling: "Close your eyes!"

Just as Zhou Xizhong was lowering his head, the green light flashed and his eyes immediately prickled with pain. As soon as he heard the shout, he knew something was off, so he shut his eyes and retreated. As he stepped back, he heard Lyu Bo sneer and felt something sharp stab for his face.

Behind him, a figure rushed forward, whipping the wind.

Feng Zhiwei flew forward, her eyes closed as she flung out the two pen monkeys.

The two golden lights flashed forward, pouncing towards the green light. The big boss that had just emerged from Lyu Bo's sleeve was so mad at the sight of its old sweethearts that it yelped in anger and skittered away.

Lyu Bo was stunned as his treasure fled, and he immediately fled, but Feng Zhiwei had long prepared for his escape.

Lyu Bo struck with a palm, his technique adept but his Kung Fu lackluster. Although Feng Zhiwei had not fully recovered her strength, the moves that Gu Nanyi had secretly taught her were more than enough to easily block his attack and seal his escape.

"Black Gold!" Lyu Bo cried out loudly.

A yellow clothed man rushed in through the door, a glittering green sabre in his hand.

Suddenly, a sky cyan shadow flashed behind him and seemed to cover Black Gold like a shroud of smoke. The man dashed this way and that, but no matter how fine his body movement technique, he could not escape the cyan shadow.

Lyu Bo's helper was stuck and unforeseen mishaps and struck one after another. His secret weapon had fled and his expert aid could not save him, and Lyu Bo's panicked Kung Fu faltered.

Feng Zhiwei smiled coldly as she spotted an opening, her hand snapping forward and wrapping around the man's throat.

Lyu Bo struggled in despair, his eyes begging as he fumbled at Feng Zhiwei's iron vice grip.

Feng Zhiwei stared placidly.

"Master Lyu," She began, smiling. "You've been working hard."

Lyu Bo's face paled as Zhou Xizhong rubbed at his teary eyes, mumbling: "What's going on? What happened?"

"Simple. Master Lyu belongs to the Chang Family." Feng Zhiwei explained as she restrained Lyu Bo. "Probably the highest ranking official planted in the South Sea Province. Truly impressive… the Chang Family … A leader of one of the Three Departments, a truly powerful official! And he even managed to take no the duties of army provisioning! Leading the South Sea army directly into the Chang Family's trap."

She handed Lyu Bo's file and the identical history of the Qianshi Official to Zhou Xizhong.

"While I was reading this Qianshi Official's file, I thought it familiar. Turns out, he had the exact same achievements as Master Lyu. There was no way this was just a coincidence. This official was exiled to South Sea after his failure in the Barbarian Tribe Rebellion in the Hundred Thousand Mountains, and then next year, Master Lyu was promoted to South Sea after his victories in that same rebellion. For this official to be assigned to Master Lyu… how could such a coincidence happen in this world?"