( Most excellent of a defense indeed. Truly stellar. The rhetoric feat of a year, a lifetime, a century's generation.

Excuse him as he deceit deepens, Hermione speaks of gold collected, and the paltry veneer of moral legitimacy that Lan Wangji had painted on their venture cracks and crumbles before his eyes.

Just how much of a fine, the guard asks. Can't be upsetting the fish folk, he says.

...at which point, Lan Wangji, awakened from stupor, politely says: )

We have no disagreement with fish. ( ...he does not, after all, consume meat. Ah, the precepts, so very flexible.

This seems to give the guard enough pause, because, Oh, they're in agreement, then? )