121 Above (2/2)

”Yes, I am.” Li looked at Ada. Hope was written all over her face, but he could not give her more for now, though he did wish to reward the love she showed her father for taking care of him as an invalid all these years. ”I'll continue to look his condition,” he said simply, tempering her hopes.

”Then is your business done with us?” said Ada's husband as he licked his lips nervously.

”Just one more thing,” said Li as he resumed taking his seat in front of the two. He looked over them to make sure their daughter was still behind her room and asleep. He did not want her to hear how this conversation would go.

”It's about your farmland. Am I mistaken to think you own it? Forgive me if the question is a little sudden, but I'm afraid I do get curious when I see so much land around the city going unused.”

Ada and her husband exchanged looks. Ada nodded, and the husband said, ”Yes, yes it is. We do not have an idea of how to run farmland, and my wife inherited it from her father, so there was not much else but to let it sit.”

”Then let me be direct: what would it take for you to sell that land or part with it in any way?”

”Ah, well, that is, it would be terrible to let father's land simply fall to the hands of strangers.”

Li crossed his arms. He had a hunch that they did not want to admit anything about the true purpose of why they kept the land as a money laundering scheme for Chevrette. They had been tense about the topic of farmland the moment he had walked in, and, to their credit, he had broken in during the middle of the night, but this caution exceeded that.

”Better than letting it rot, no? Well, don't worry about it. I'm not here to grill you two about that. Need to evade taxes somehow, right?” Li watched as the couple's faces blanched. ”But finding a loophole in tax laws alone isn't illegal, so I have no idea why you two are getting so worked up. Honestly, it's admirable that you managed to read through the codified laws without any education or a lawspeaker to help you.”

”Yes, we have done nothing outside the boundaries of the good law,” said Ada's husband with an attempted firmness betrayed by trembling hands.

Li pointed above, to the low ceiling of this cramped room. There was a reason that it was so small despite the size of the building. A reason why he had heard much more than the breathing of this family when he had first stepped in.

”You know what isn't in the 'boundaries of the good law'? Those slaves you're hiding in the attic above.”