On the final morning of the three-day deadline, the bronze lock on the door of the Marquis's Mansion council hall was thrown open with a heavy thud. As Jiang Wan stepped inside, cradling a wooden box, the morning light sliced diagonally across the threshold, casting long, distorted shadows of those gathered within. The Marquis’s knuckles were white as he gripped his teacup, while Jiang Rou and her mother cowered in the corner. Madame Li’s fingers were clutching her handkerchief so tightly it seemed she might tear a hole through it.
"What have you found?" The Marquis’s voice sounded like sandpaper grinding against brick, heavy with suppressed agitation.
Jiang Wan bowed, and with a sharp "click," the wooden box was opened on the table. Resting on the top layer was a stack of yellowed ledgers with fresh, striking ink annotations: "Meixiang, ten pounds of peach wood, five ounces of Zhusha, requisitioned by: Jiang Rou."
Chapter 74