Chapter 20: The Second Ledger

"A ledger," said the Empress Dowager.

"Whose?"

"The Marquis's, Your Majesty. The one he left on the table in the Records Hall when he showed me the decree."

The Marquis's smile slipped for the first time that day.

"The taster has no right to read an envoy's private papers."

"I did not read them on purpose," said Ruoxi.

"I read them the way I read a bowl of soup. I can't taste a thing and not know what is in it."

A low ripple of laughter went along the second row and died quickly.

The Empress Dowager lifted one finger.

A captain of the guard came through a side door carrying a flat book wrapped in yellow cloth, with a red seal across the knot.

"Taken from the Marquis's rooms last night, under my hand," said the old woman.

"Sealed in front of three witnesses. It has not been opened."

"Your Majesty," the Marquis began.

"Not yet, Marquis. Taster. Before it is opened. Say what you remember."

Ruoxi closed her eyes, and a page rose in her head.

"On the right page, under the tasting dates, there is a second column," she said.

"The first line says: Beihai, received, spring, three thousand taels."

"The second is the same sum, due at the wedding, and beside both, in smaller writing, it says: for the Marquis's trouble."

Nobody in the hall moved.

"That's invented," the Marquis said sharply.

"The captain will break the seal," said the Empress Dowager.

The captain cut the knot with a small knife and unwrapped the book.

He turned the pages until a clerk from the dais pointed, and then he held it up for the court to see.

The clerk ran his finger down the right-hand page, and his face went grey.

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