The Nine-tailed Fox is discovered

Xin Liqin accepts the handkerchief from Wu Yun's hands with a silly grin.

"I made this for him," he says, running his thumb over the delicate painting of two mandarin ducks on the white silk. "I gave it to him on our wedding night."

Shi Er raises a hand to his chest. "So romantic," he murmurs under his breath.

Wu Yun would find the situation more amusing if things weren't currently so dire. "Are you aware the people of Nanpei are considering killing you to send a message to the Emperor?"

Xin Liqin nods, by all accounts unbothered, his eyes still fixed on the silk handkerchief. " That brute, Fu Wang keeps coming in here to threaten me with my eventual demise if the army doesn't share its supplies with him and his family." He lets out a humorless chuckle. "With him, mind you, not with the people of Nanpei."

"That prick in the blue robes?" Wu Yun asks.