On the morning of the third day, snow fell.
The snow in Great Qian's capital was not white. It fell through kitchen smoke, coated the black-tiled roofs, clung to the window bars, and melted into streams of filthy water. Death row lay silent beneath the gray sky, like a deep well someone had dumped the entire winter into.
Lu Chang'an woke before the watch drum sounded.
He had not slept much, but his mind was clear. On the ground before him was a row of tiny marks: the positions of the bowl of gruel, the shard of the bowl, the silver tray, and the drops of water he had marked with the tip of a wooden stick.
He had considered every possibility the night before.
The silver sample in the vault could have been mixed with copper. But proving the silver was counterfeit would not be enough. The court could say it was the Lu family's fault. They could say the Lu family had delivered low-quality silver. They could say he had deliberately used some sleight of hand to deceive everyone.
If he wanted to live, he had to prove three things.
First, the silver in the vault was not the silver the Lu family had delivered.
Second, the real silver had been taken before the evidence was sealed.
Third, whoever had done it had to have access to the silver vault.
The first could be proven through color and chemical reactions.
The second through weight and traces left by firing.
The third... required someone to let the truth slip.
The cell door opened.
The pockmarked jailer entered with two armed guards. He was not carrying food today.
"It's time."
Lu Chang'an stood and brushed the dust from his sleeves.
"You're early. Does death row have KPIs too?"
The jailer put on a cold face.
"Shut up."
"I just wanted to ask whether I get to complete a satisfaction survey before I die."
One of the armed guards shoved him from behind. Lu Chang'an staggered but did not resist. As he walked, he committed details to memory.
Both guards wore wooden-soled shoes. The one on the left had a heavy step and slightly stiff knees. The one on the right was right-handed, and there was a fresh scuff on his sword hilt. Whenever he was tense, the pockmarked jailer kept touching the pouch that held his keys.
None of them was in charge.
Good.
The person in charge usually did not personally escort a condemned prisoner.
They brought him to the Supreme Court's main courtroom. The snow outside had grown heavier, and the wind lashed his face like cold sand. Constables stood all along both sides of the corridor. No one looked him directly in the eye, but every gaze followed him.
A man about to die always had a special allure.
Lu Chang'an looked up at the Supreme Court's signboard.
"Beautiful lettering."
The jailer cursed.
"You're still looking at the sign at a time like this?"
"I'm trying to figure out whether this is a place that handles justice. If it is, I still have hope. If it only handles people, then decorating the place seems like a waste of effort."
Inside the courtroom, officials sat in two rows. The man seated in the middle wore a dark red official robe. He had a long face and narrow eyes. Beside him sat a Ministry of War official with a square-trimmed beard and a black jade ring on his finger.
Lu Chang'an recognized him.
Yesterday, through a crack in the evidence vault door, he had seen this man standing beside the crates of silver.
The square-bearded official also recognized his gaze and immediately lowered his head to drink tea.
That reaction had been too quick.
An innocent person would usually ask what that look meant. A guilty person would avoid it.
Lu Chang'an filed that away.
The Supreme Court official read out the indictment. Each word landed like a stone:
"The Lu family accepted the Ministry of War's military bullion for transport. En route, they embezzled it and replaced the real silver with adulterated silver, causing losses to the national treasury..."
"Wait."
The official looked up.
Lu Chang'an said, "I want to ask one question."
"You have no right to ask questions."
"I'm about to die. Let me ask one question so I can die peacefully. Otherwise I'll die unhappy, and that might affect the atmosphere in your workplace."
Several constables lowered their heads to hide their laughter. The square-bearded official, however, tightened his grip on his teacup.
The Supreme Court official rapped his tablet.
"Speak."
"Is the missing silver real or counterfeit?"
"Real, of course."
"Then what is the silver in the vault?"
"The silver delivered by the Lu family."
"Has it been tested?"
"It has."
"How?"
The official fell silent for a moment.
Lu Chang'an looked toward the Ministry of War official.
"By weighing it, checking its color, scraping the surface, and firing it?"
The square-bearded official said, "That is the standard method for testing silver."
"Standard doesn't mean correct."
"You're a criminal. On what basis do you presume to lecture the Ministry of War on how to do its job?"
Lu Chang'an smiled.
"On the basis that I haven't been beheaded yet, so I still have time to correct your mistakes."
The official's expression darkened.
Lu Chang'an asked to see the silver being held as evidence. The entire courtroom burst into laughter. The Supreme Court official immediately refused, saying he was only playing tricks to stall for time.
"Then I suggest testing it right here."
"What method do you have?"
"Give me a silver tray, vinegar, salt, kitchen ash, a charcoal brazier, and a scale."
The Supreme Court official looked at him as if he were insane.
"You plan to cook silver in a courtroom?"
"No. I plan to cook the truth."
No one laughed anymore.
A short while later, the items were brought in. The Ministry of War official objected repeatedly, but the Supreme Court official seemed to want to see what trick a condemned man could still pull off.
Two silver ingots were placed on the scale.
Lu Chang'an asked them to weigh both, then switch their positions and weigh them again. The results were identical. He was not surprised. If the discrepancy had been in the weight alone, the case would not have dragged on this long.
He scraped a line across the first silver ingot. Beneath the bright silver surface was a very faint grayish-yellow color.
"This is adulterated silver."
The square-bearded official immediately said, "All silver contains impurities."
"That's true. But impurities don't naturally form an even, thin layer across the outside."
Lu Chang'an took the metal shaving and placed it in vinegar mixed with salt. Then he sprinkled kitchen ash into the solution and stirred it with a wooden stick.
A green tint gradually appeared on the surface of the metal shaving.
The pale green spread through the water, weak at first, then deepening like a smear of ink.
The entire courtroom erupted in whispers.
"Copper."
Lu Chang'an said, "There's copper inside. If this were real silver with naturally occurring impurities, its composition would be distributed relatively evenly. But this ingot has a thin outer layer of silver and a copper-alloy core. It was recast, silver-plated, and deliberately aged."
The Supreme Court official asked, "How do you know it was silver-plated?"
"Because when I fired a small piece, the outer layer melted and changed color first. Pure silver conducts heat well and reacts differently. Also, the edges of the ingot cooled unevenly, proving it was cast in a mold and then dipped in a silver solution."
He paused and looked at the silver ingot.
"This kind of counterfeit isn't meant to circulate. It's meant to fool the people inspecting the vault."
The Ministry of War official shot to his feet.
"Nonsense!"
"I haven't even said you did it."
Lu Chang'an tilted his head.
"Why are you so quick to confess?"
The square-bearded official's face flushed red.
The Supreme Court official slammed his tablet and shouted for everyone to be quiet. But his gaze had changed. He was no longer looking at a criminal trying to stall for time, but at someone who had just opened a crack in the official record.
Lu Chang'an pointed at the edge of the silver ingot.
"There are firing marks from a Ministry of War furnace on this ingot."
The square-bearded official gave a cold laugh.
"Of course. The silver was smelted at the Ministry of War."
"No."
Lu Chang'an said, "These are marks from the eastern furnace, not the western one."
"And what are you basing that on?"
"Ash."
He ran a fingertip across the black dust at the bottom of the silver ingot and lifted it close to his nose.
"Pine charcoal. The eastern furnace uses pine charcoal because it's near the lumber warehouse. The western furnace uses willow charcoal. The smoke smells different, and so does the amount of ash. I've conducted crime-scene examinations before."
"Who are you to have done such things?"
The question burst out too quickly.
Lu Chang'an paused.
He couldn't say he had been a criminal investigator on Earth. That would lead to one of two outcomes: being treated as a madman or being dragged away for alchemy.
He cleared his throat.
"I read a lot. Books say liars often answer a question with another question."
The square-bearded official was speechless.
A young constable couldn't hold back and burst out laughing.
Lu Chang'an did not look at him. He looked at the Supreme Court official.
"Please open the warehouse in-and-out ledger."
"What for?"
"To compare the number of times the silver was fired."
The ledger was brought out. Lu Chang'an flipped rapidly through the pages. His superhuman memory burned every passing number into his mind.
On the twelfth, the Ministry of War received the silver from the southern warehouse.
On the thirteenth, it was transferred to the imperial warehouse.
On the fourteenth, it was sealed.
On the sixteenth, it was inspected again.
The sixteenth... one line had been scraped and altered.
Lu Chang'an lightly rubbed the paper with his fingernail. That spot was thicker than the rest, the ink newer, and the paper fibers frayed.
"Someone opened the warehouse on the sixteenth."
The Ministry of War official said, "For a final inspection."
"Then why isn't there a signature from the inspector?"
"It could have been an oversight."
"In a case involving military bullion from the national treasury, an oversight just happens to appear at the exact moment the evidence was switched?"
Lu Chang'an turned to look at him.
"Those odds are lower than the odds of you confessing on the spot."
The square-bearded official drew his sword half an inch.
The atmosphere in the courtroom instantly went taut.
Lu Chang'an watched the blade flash, yet his heart was strangely calm.
Three days ago, he had still been panicking because he had no idea what was happening.
Yesterday, he had begun to suspect.
Today, he had evidence.
His enemies wanted him dead quickly, because the dead couldn't speak. So he had to speak even more—speak until the entire capital could no longer pretend not to hear him.
The Supreme Court official shouted, "Put the sword away!"
The Ministry of War official slowly pushed the blade back into its sheath.
Lu Chang'an bent down, picked up the piece of silver he had tested, and raised it toward the light.
"The real silver was switched."
He looked straight at the square-bearded official.
"And the person who could change the seal, alter the ledger, and take the real silver from the vault... wasn't the Lu family."
Outside the courtroom, the drum announcing the execution hour sounded.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
The Supreme Court official looked out at the snowy sky, then back at the piece of silver in Lu Chang'an's hand.
For the first time, no one mentioned escorting him to the execution grounds.
Lu Chang'an exhaled and told himself:
"All right. At least I won't die today."
At that moment, the courtroom doors were pushed open.
A man in black robes stepped through the snowfall. He carried no umbrella. A thin layer of snow covered his shoulders, and his cold gaze swept over the officials, who had gone as silent as mice.
Two rows of people wearing bronze masks followed behind him.
The man in black stopped in front of Lu Chang'an.
"You're the one who discovered the silver had been switched?"
"I am."
"Do you want to live?"
Lu Chang'an looked at him.
"That's a somewhat unprofessional question. No one wants to die, except someone who's been hounded by creditors until they've reached enlightenment."
The man in black's expression did not change.
"Then trade your life for merit."
Lu Chang'an glanced toward the Ministry of War official, then looked back at the man.
"Does the merit come with a cash bonus?"
"Yes."
"Room and board included?"
"Yes."
"Life insurance?"
The man in black was silent for a long while.
"What are you talking about?"
"Nothing. I just wanted to confirm whether the new unit has better benefits than death row."
A trace of puzzlement flickered across the man in black's eyes.
Lu Chang'an smiled.
The snow continued falling outside, death row still reeked of blood, and Great Qian's capital remained a gigantic cage.
But at least he had found a crack in the door.
If he wanted to live, he had to squeeze through it.
If he wanted to know who had killed the entire Lu family, he had to live long enough to drag that person down with him.
The man in black turned around.
"Follow me."
Lu Chang'an stepped over the threshold and looked back at the courtroom one last time.
The square-bearded official was bending his head to whisper to an attendant. The Supreme Court official held the piece of silver, his expression grave. The constables looked at him with a mixture of fear and curiosity.
He knew that from this moment on, the case was no longer just the Lu family's affair.
Because he had made others see a truth that should have been buried with the dead.
Lu Chang'an pulled his collar higher and walked into the snow.
"Great Qian, huh?"
He muttered,
"Fine. Starting today, we're playing together."