The Enforcer Hunting My Pen Name Reads Every Chapter novel · Chapter 7 of 24

Chapter 7: The Receipt

The Hall's red seal hung on the door of Three Pines Press, and two grey-coated guards stood either side of it in the rain.

Shen walked up the lane at the Chief Enforcer's left, nine and a half paces off.

He had counted them.

He said nothing yet.

He had not slept.

The guest cell's lamp across the courtyard had burned late, and his own had burned with it, and neither of them had written a word.

Last night he had put his mouth on a hunter's to learn what the hunter would do.

The hunter had asked to count the planks, and kissed him back until a bell rang, and written nothing down.

This morning the Chief Enforcer said "Sword Saint" in exactly the old voice and walked a careful distance off, and Shen could not tell whether he had been refused or kept.

His mouth still remembered the shape of the answer.

He was a man who had set a hook and found it in his own lip.

Liang Baosheng bowed so deeply that his apron touched the step.

"Honored Peak Lord. Honored Enforcer. I am Liang, a plain tradesman, and I know nothing."

"We are here to inspect," Mo told him.

"Everything is open, Honored Enforcer. Anything you wish."

The apprentice stood behind the counter in an apron three sizes too big for him, wiping a clean bench with enormous attention.

"Master." He clapped a hand over his mouth. "Saint. Saint Shen. I am the sweeper. I have never seen you before in my life."

Liang closed his eyes.

Shen looked at the ceiling and bore it.

Mo went through the shop slowly and without comment.

He lifted a block of carved pearwood from the rack, turned it, and read it backwards without a pause.

He ran a thumb along the stack of damp sheets.

He asked for the guild's stamp ledger and turned its pages one by one.

Each page held a red date, and each date held a sheet.

"The clerk stamps the run before it is sold."

Liang wiped his hands on his apron.

"He writes the date and the count. It cannot be changed, by me or by anyone."

He swallowed.

"The guild would lose its charter."

"That is good practice."

Mo turned back to the first page of the ledger and stood looking at it.

Shen watched his face.

The first page was twelve years old, and nothing on Mo's face changed.

← Chapter 6 · All chapters · Chapter 8 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend