Chapter Five: The Twelve-Division Business

“Then we have something to negotiate with,” Shen Yan replied, already sounding like Qi Man. Over the next six weeks, Twelve Divisions became the most expensive quiet business in elite circles. Qi Man rejected clients seeking sexual vigor or gambling luck. Lin Wan collected secrets. Shen Yan chose the frame. Each customer signed a warning no court could interpret: after twelve hours, an unpredictable piece of time would disappear forever. The fifth portrait belonged to neurosurgeon Lu Wen. Medication made his hands tremble, but a sixteen-year-old boy had a tumor against his brain stem, and only Lu had ever removed its like. His secret: the famous earlier operation had cost his patient the sense of taste, a complication he concealed to protect his