Chapter 1: Grand Opening

Ruan Qing had planned a quiet opening. No sign, no announcement, just a door left unlocked and a pot of Silver Needle warming on the stove. By noon he had twelve customers, two of whom he recognised as imperial intelligence agents pretending not to recognise each other, one who was definitely a fugitive, and one who was a child who had wandered in from the street and fallen asleep under the corner table. He poured tea for all of them. He had killed warlords with less composure than this.