Chapter Thirty: The Shocking Change in Liangzhou
On the eighth day of the fourth month of the twenty-seventh year of Zhenguan, the morning light was just beginning to break.
Inside the main branch of Datong Pharmacy, the clatter of abacuses filled the air as Liu Bao'er checked the accounts from the previous quarter with the managers of the various branches. Since her grandmother's passing, she had never changed the gold hairpin in her hair, as if reminding herself to always remain vigilant.
"Master, all the 'salt permits and silk vouchers' for the Liangzhou branch have been issued." Hu Liu presented the transport documents. "As per your request, they were transported via the Longshan Road, escorted by the most capable guards from the Weiyuan Escort Agency."
Liu Bao'er took the document and lightly traced the three characters "Eagle Beak Cliff" with her fingertips. This was the most dangerous pass on the Longshan Road, and it was also the route she had specially chosen—precise and difficult to traverse, but safe nonetheless.
"Have them send messages by carrier pigeon at each post station they pass."
"It's all arranged," Hu Liu nodded. "According to the schedule, the first letter of reassurance should arrive around noon today."
However, noon passed, and the message of peace still hadn't arrived.
Just as Liu Bao'er was about to send someone to investigate, the sound of rapid hoofbeats suddenly came from afar. The hoofbeats were as frantic as a torrential downpour, sounding particularly jarring on the streets of Chang'an in the early morning, and finally came to an abrupt end in front of the Datong Pawnshop.
Urgent report—Urgent report from Liangzhou—
A bloodied man tumbled off his horse, crashed through the gate, and collapsed to the ground. He was covered in wounds, his armor was shattered, and the silk he clutched tightly in his hand was soaked with blood.
"It's over...it's all over..." The bodyguard's voice was hoarse beyond recognition. "Longshan Road...Eagle Beak Cliff...we've been ambushed..."
The room fell silent; all the abacuses stopped clattering.
Liu Bao'er slowly stood up: "Explain yourself."
"The enemy had at least three hundred elite cavalry... all well-trained soldiers... Our men... were completely wiped out..." The镖师 (bodyguard/escort) wept bitterly, "Eighty thousand strings of cash... all stolen..."
The teacup in Cui Jiulang's hand shattered with a "crack." He stood up abruptly, his face deathly pale: "Eighty thousand strings of cash...that's almost thirty percent of the circulating currency of Datong Pawnshop..."
Liu Bao'er remained standing, her posture ramrod straight. The gold hairpin in her hair gleamed with a cold, hard luster in the morning light streaming through the window.
"Investigate." Her voice was unusually calm. "Immediately verify the serial numbers of all stolen tickets, retrieve the redemption records for the past three months, especially any operation logs related to 'reporting loss,' 'replacement,' or 'change of permissions'!"
The accountants hurriedly got to work. When the heavy book of ticket stubs and transaction records were brought in, Liu Bao'er suddenly remembered the private seal that had slipped off her grandmother before her death, and the sandalwood box that had been switched. A sense of foreboding swept through her heart.
"Master..." The old accountant's voice trembled, his face ashen. "All the stolen tickets... were marked in the main ledger half a month ago under the pretext of 'damaged vouchers, requesting replacement'! The old tickets were invalidated, and the new tickets... the issuance records of the new tickets point to... the special approval channel of my late grandmother!"
"Whose seal is this? Who handled it?" Liu Bao'er's voice remained steady, but her fingertips were already icy cold.
"The seal is undoubtedly my grandmother's private seal... but, but the procedure requires at least one deputy seal from the core accountant, and... the 'auditor' signature of Uncle Dou Dehai, in order to go through this special approval channel!" The old accountant almost collapsed to the ground. "Three days ago, on the seventh day after my grandmother's death, Uncle Dou Dehai, under the pretext of sorting out her belongings and verifying permissions, accessed and 'temporarily kept' my grandmother's private seal and some core accounts... At the time, no one thought anything was wrong."
The room erupted in uproar.
The old grandmother who passed away half a month ago? The private seal that was secretly spied on by various forces at the funeral?
Liu Bao'er closed her eyes. It turned out that the trap had already begun from that moment. Someone had taken advantage of the chaos of the funeral to steal the seal, and then, at the most unexpected moment, delivered the fatal blow.
Just then, a desperate shout came from outside the door: "Master! Ninth Master! Something terrible has happened! The Censorate and the Imperial Guards have surrounded our front and back gates! They say we 'colluded with the Dou family, forged seals, and embezzled a huge amount of official salt vouchers,' and they want to seal up the shop and arrest us!"
Footsteps, the clanging of armor, and shouts approached from afar.
Cui Jiulang grabbed her wrist, his eyes filled with rage and disbelief: "Liu Bao'er! You designed the route! You chose the escort agency! You personally drew the transport map! Now... this internal process, this seal... tell me, why does it all point to you so flawlessly?!"
Liu Bao'er let him hold her, her gaze sweeping over the limp bodyguard, the glaring "hair change" record, and the gleaming blades outside the window.
She suddenly understood her grandmother's dying warning. The person who truly wanted to harm her not only spared no one, even the dead, but also turned the rules she had personally established into a blade that would pierce her own heart.
"Let go." Her voice was soft, yet carried an undeniable force.
Cui Jiulang subconsciously let go of his hand.
Liu Bao'er straightened her sleeves, which he had crumpled, and calmly walked towards the door.
“Remember,” she glanced back at Cui Jiulang, “the third contingency plan.”
Then, she turned around, facing the gleaming blades, and walked step by step toward the cage that had been carefully prepared for her, a cage that exploited her own rules.
The gold hairpin in her hair drew a cold arc in the sunlight.
This show has only just begun.
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