Young Master System: My Mother Is the Matriarch-Chapter 202 - 201: Grandmaster Part 1

The parliament grounds were lit sparingly. Lanterns hung low beneath the eaves, casting light downward rather than outward. The courtyard itself was wide and empty, paved in pale stone that left little cover.

Decorative planters sat at measured distances, each trimmed back so nothing taller than a knee remained.

This was a deliberate choice, as he recalled his conversation with his other contact Cheng Rong a few hours back

During his surveillance operation, Cheng Rong had approached the closed doors lining the hall. "I advise serious caution going forward," he said. "Some of the men in that room have developed an ugly reputation of dispatching nuisances"

"I have no intention of interacting with them directly" Li Wei replied. "My only motive here is to discover the place were these leeches keep their most sensitive information."

Another round of voices rose from behind the doors, followed by muted laughter that rang hollow even at a distance. ~murmur~

Li Wei turned toward the stairs. "The parliament building has come up numerous times in their conversation," he said. " It appears that my search has come to an abrupt end, you have my thanks…"

"How did you? No matter…." Chen Rong inclined his head once. "May your instincts prove to be correct, as am placing a great deal of faith in your cause." The owner left in soon after these words were spoken, if he did not attend to his guests they would grow suspicious.

Li Wei had descended the venue without looking back and by the time he reached the lower floors were music had resumed its steady pace, where servants moved as though the matters of the outside world were merely a passing event.

The night had deepened and much of the capital glowed under lantern light, unaware of the gears in motion just beneath them. Li Wei exhaled slowly, 'Direct entry would be a foolish choice.'

He shifted his attention to the surrounding area and the architecture around it. Over to the east part of the complex stood an auxiliary archive building that was far older and drew less attention at this hour.

Its windows were shuttered, but faint lamplight leaked from between the boards on the upper floor. "Hurry up! We are short on time…" Rows of clerks wearing black robes could be seen sorting dozens of shelves and archives neatly placed in horizontal and vertical arrangement.

Li Wei circled the outer wall, keeping to the line where stone railing met midnight's shadow.

A watchtower loomed overhead with a lantern on either side, as its guards were hardly visible, until they leaned forward to look down below.

One of them yawned and shifted his spear. ~clink~

Li Wei waited for the next patrol cycle, counting the seconds in his head. When the rhythm reset he moved forward. 'This can't be a coincidence, there is something happening here…' He crossed the final stretch quickly and pressed himself against the archive's side wall.

The stone here was crude and uneven unlike the main building, which only raised the Young master's suspicion further causing him to reach up higher. Upon elevating himself, Li Wei found a narrow ledge just beneath the fourth-story window.

Using a series of controlled motions, he pulled himself upward again and settled onto the ledge, knees bent and back flat against the wall. The shutter was latched from inside, but the wood was thin and weathered.

Voices drifted through. "…the vote will have to go in the favor of the grandmaster," one clerk muttered. "Whatever the case, it is imperative that the records are kept clean," another replied as he shifted a few papers on his table. ~rustle~

"And the conscription figures?" One of them spoke with an abacus in his hand, "Adjusted just as the Grandmaster instructed." His colleague replied after making some adjustments to his charts, while Li Wei's fingers tightened briefly against the stone. 'My suspicions were justifiable, their preparations have already begun.'

He leaned in closer, extending his awareness inward . The young master had to pay particular attention to the force he used to avoid detection. Simply listening was more than enough for to the room's details to formed in his mind. 'Two desks, a single lamp, ink drying on fresh seals.'

These men were not exactly decision-makers, they were proof that decisions had already been made by a paramount party. A chair scraped the floor inside. ~scrape~

"We should be finished collating and sorting all these documents by the time the patrol makes another round," someone said. "That should be just about right, I really don't like working this late."

Li Wei eased back and dropped silently to the ground, landing with bent knees to absorb the sound. ~soft thud~

He did not linger at the avenue long, as the archive had already given him a confirmation of the things to come. The Young master held the notion, that the conspirators were going to overturn the very law they had vowed to uphold.

He retreated along the wall and slipped into a recessed drainage channel that ran parallel to the courtyard. Water trickled lazily through it, barely ankle-deep. ~trickle~ He followed it until the channel disappeared beneath a service entrance barred with iron grating.

The bars were thick and the lock was rusty from years of use. Li Wei crouched and examined it by touch alone, a portion of the mechanism responded with a faint creak due to pressure was applied at the right angle.

He worked patiently, ignoring the cold seeping through his legs. ~click~

The gate loosened as footsteps approached above, ~step… step~

A shadow rapidly crossed the slats of the grate, followed by a brief pause. A sentry coughed briefly and carried on with his patrol. Li Wei slipped through with relative ease as the gate shut behind him.

Inside, the air was cooler than outside.

The passage sloped upward, leading toward the heart of the complex. Meanwhile, Li Wei's fingers brushed carved stone along the wall were old inscriptions appeared to be worn smooth by time and neglect.

'This place has seen better days,' he thought. 'Unlike the men that operate within.'

The passage narrowed as Li Wei advanced, while the ceiling kept lowering until he had to angle his shoulders to pass without brushing the stone.

Moisture clung to the walls feeling rather cool beneath his fingertips.

Somewhere just ahead, water dripped at a leisurely pace seemingly counting time without care. The slope leveled out and opened into a junction lit by a single wall lamp that had a flame burning low, sparingly.

Beneath it stood a wooden notice board cluttered with outdated decrees and cracked seals.

Li Wei paused, scanning the corners of the space before stepping forward. Boot prints marked the dust along the floor, which appeared to be rather recent. Clerks and guards passed through here without delay, never considering that anyone would arrive uninvited from below.

Li Wei followed a passage that was on the left, As he moved forwards faint echoes reached him through the stone.

Most of the voices were subdued and rather numerous, filtered down through vents carved into the walls. He slowed down for a moment, adjusting his breathing until he could barely be heard.

"…the outer districts will comply first and foremost," a man said somewhere above.

"They always have and always will," another replied. "It's the inner wards that will need some mitigation."

"That's why the edict must be crafted intricately, there cannot be any room for complacency at this juncture."

Li Wei stopped beneath a narrow grate set into the ceiling and tilted his head, eyes half-lidded as he listened.

The metal bars were thick, but the gaps between them were enough to let words fall through. "They'll accept it once the numbers are revised," a third voice added. "The archives already reflect the revised census."

'Thoroughly Revised,' Li Wei noted. 'So this is how they intend to justify it.'

He moved on before the conversation shifted again.

The corridor ended at a stone stair spiraling upward, where a rope handrail ran along its inner edge. It was cleverly frayed in places where years of use had worn it thin, Li Wei placed his foot carefully on the first step and began to climb.

Halfway up, he heard movement above him.

He froze in place, pressing himself against the inner curve of the stair. A lantern bobbed into view from the upper landing, its light sliding across the stone in slow arcs. A guard descended two steps, paused, then turned back with a muttered complaint. ~grumble~

Li Wei waited until the light vanished, then resumed his ascent. At the top, he found himself behind a wooden partition carved with geometric patterns.

Through its openings, he could see into a long hall lined with closed doors. Two guards stood at either end, their posture relaxed but attentive. Between them, a pair of attendants carried a tray of cups and a sealed pitcher toward one of the central chambers. The scent of strong liquor drifted faintly through the air. ~clink~

Li Wei remained still, counting their steps as they passed.

When the hall was clear, he slipped out from behind the partition and moved along the wall.

Keeping his torso close to the darker patches between lanterns. He stopped outside a door marked with a bronze emblem depicting interlocking rings. Inside, voices overlapped in low cadence.

"…the Grandmaster will not attend personally," one man said.

The young master raised his brow, 'Who is this Grandmaster?'.