Chapter 103

Main Hall of the Prefect Mansion. The scent of sandalwood hung heavy and cloying, an obvious attempt to mask some invisible tension that only made the atmosphere feel all the more guilty. Sunlight streamed through the tall windows, casting bright pillars of light onto the polished bluestone floor where dust motes danced in silence. Prefect Zhou Hong sat squarely in the spacious red sandalwood official armchair at the head of the hall. He wore a brand-new, crimson official robe of the fourth rank, embroidered with the fierce insignia of a black bear on his chest. In his hand, he twirled a string of glossy red sandalwood prayer beads, his knuckles turning them over slowly with a faint frictional sound. A warm smile was plastered across his face, squeezing deep crow's feet at the corners of his eyes as he painstakingly manufactured the benevolent aura of a superior. Yet deep within his slightly narrowed eyes, flashes of scrutiny, wariness, and a tightly suppressed gloom surfaced from time to time.