AUBTN -Chapter 9 It was Su Hewan’s turn to offer a plan

His gaze passed through layer upon layer of courtyards, finally landing on the secluded little courtyard—the guest room where Yu Qing was being held.

Who would have thought that the mighty Commander of the Jinyiwei would need a foolish palace maid to catch a traitor?

Lu Yan’s fingers lightly tapped against the window frame.

Originally, he had planned to interrogate her and then deal with this nuisance.

After all, the secrets of the Jinyiwei are safest with the dead.

But now…

Lu Yan’s expression grew incredibly complicated.

“Yu Qing…”

He murmured her name under his breath.

“Since you enjoy acting so much, I’ll set the stage for you.”

“Guards.”

Lu Yan turned, the hem of his robe slicing through the air with a sharp arc.

“Assign extra personnel to that guest room. Watch her around the clock for twelve hours straight.”

“Also,” he paused, a faintly strange tone creeping into his voice, “next time meals are delivered, send someone with quick legs. And… bring her a few sets of clean clothes.”

Although she was a prisoner, this woman clearly cared about her appearance and was even mentally arranging his uniform…

Lu Yan glanced down at his tightly buttoned collar and snorted coldly.

Keeping her around… might still be useful.

At the Eastern Depot Annex, west wing.

In the courtyard, the begonia was in full bloom, its pale pink and white petals scattered across the ground.

Su Hewan sat on a rosewood chair carved with intricate patterns, holding a cup of pre-rain Longjing tea.

Steam curled upward, blurring her otherwise seemingly gentle, harmless face.

If not for the two guards at the courtyard entrance, each carrying an embroidered spring knife and expressionless, this place could easily be mistaken for the boudoir of a high-born noblewoman in the capital.

Su Hewan gently blew away the tea froth and took a sip.

Setting the cup down, her gaze swept over the young maid in the corner, polishing a vase.

Though the maid kept her head lowered, her back was straight and her breathing measured—clearly trained in martial arts.

Nominally a servant, but in reality, a watcher.

But that was fine. She would make the best of it. As long as she didn’t act recklessly, Shen Jue probably wouldn’t kill this living intelligence repository just yet.

As she thought this, the sound of disciplined footsteps echoed from the courtyard gate.

Then a sharp announcement pierced the courtyard wall: “The Commander has arrived—”

The two maids who had been sweeping immediately prostrated themselves, foreheads pressed to the ground, not daring to breathe.

For some reason, Su Hewan’s knees went weak, and she quickly knelt as well.

The door curtain was lifted by a pale, slender hand.

Shen Jue seemed to be in a good mood today, a faint, almost imperceptible smile tugging at his lips.

“Miss Su, rise. Have you grown accustomed to staying here these past few days?”

Shen Jue’s voice was low and pleasant, yet carried a subtle, chilling androgynous coldness.

Su Hewan hurriedly rose, her voice barely audible, like a mosquito: “Re…reporting to Commander, your servant… everything is well.”

【Yeah, right! Try having a bunch of assassins watching you every day—see how ‘good’ that feels! And this pervert smiles like that every time? There’s definitely trouble brewing!】

Shen Jue paused mid-step, a faint glint of amusement flickering across his eyes.

He walked straight to the main seat and sat down, casually tossing a thick blue-bound dossier onto the desk.

“If everything is as it seems, then let’s take a look at this.”

Su Hewan’s heart skipped a beat as she looked at the dossier.

She cautiously inched closer, not reaching for it immediately, instead timidly glancing up at Shen Jue. “Master… I’m just a palace maid… I… I don’t dare look at these state secrets…”

“If I tell you to look, then you look,” Shen Jue said, adjusting his sleeve nonchalantly, but his tone brooked no argument.

“What, you need me to read it to you?”

Su Hewan shivered all over, trembling as she extended her hands to take the dossier.

Opening the first page, she was met with dense columns of numbers, all annotated in red ink.

It was an account book.

To be precise, it was a top-secret ledger detailing embezzlement in the grain transport system.

Her eyes skimmed over the numbers quickly. On the surface, she furrowed her brows, appearing confused and unable to make sense of it.

But inside, her thoughts ran fast:

【Whoa, the accounts of the Grain Transport Governor’s Office? This… must be the handiwork of that old fox, the Minister of Revenue. Hmph, these accounts are way too sloppy.】

【Just for March, the dredging expenses for the river channels are three times higher than last year. March is the dry season—dredging? Clearly they’re siphoning off silver into a private treasury.】

【And this one, grain ship losses—thirty percent? Did they feed it to the Dragon King? This isn’t loss, this is outright robbery!】

Shen Jue’s fingers tightened slightly around his teacup.

He looked at the little palace maid in front of him, who seemed on the verge of tears, while her sharp, incisive commentary echoed in his ears. This ledger had taken the mathematicians of the Eastern Depot three days to uncover the irregularities.

And she saw straight through it in a few glances?

Su Hewan turned the page, her hands trembling even more as if the paper weighed a thousand pounds.

“M-master… I… I don’t understand… really… I don’t understand…”

Tears welled on her face, though none fell.

【This Shen Jue is trying to fish, that’s obvious. Grain transport is lucrative; the Ministry of Revenue and the Eastern Depot both oversee it, but in reality, it’s Prince Ning’s people who control the governor’s seat. Shen Jue wants to touch Prince Ning’s money bag.】

【But it’s tricky. Grain transport affects the food supply of millions in the capital. One wrong move and everything collapses. If he audits directly, Prince Ning will throw a few scapegoats, cut off grain routes to the capital, prices will skyrocket, public outrage will explode—and Shen Jue would take the blame.】

Shen Jue’s gaze darkened slightly.

She wasn’t wrong.

And this was exactly the headache he had been wrestling with these past few days.

He knew Prince Ning was siphoning funds through grain transport, possibly even using it to move private troops and supplies—but he had to tread carefully, unable to find a proper entry point.

He put down his teacup, a faint, almost-smile on his lips, and looked at her. “Don’t understand? Su, since you can calculate my fate, can’t you make sense of this little account book?”

Su Hewan bit her lip, her eyes slightly red. “I… I am… foolish.”

【So he wants me to come up with a plan? Fine, since you insist, I’ll analyze this.】

“Master, I… I dare to guess… is this… the ledger of the Grain Transport Governor’s Office?”

Shen Jue rested his chin on one hand and nodded casually.

“Continue.”

Su Hewan carefully studied his expression. “I guess… Master wants to investigate the grain transport, but a direct audit would be a poor strategy, harming oneself while attacking the enemy. In my opinion, a pretext is needed.”

Shen Jue nodded again. “What pretext?”

【How would I know what pretext? Don’t you think for yourself? How did this Shen Jue get where he is?!】

Still, she answered cautiously: “I… I guess it should be unrelated to Prince Ning. The best pretext would be one that has nothing to do with him, so he cannot invoke public welfare as a shield.”