To someone like Duan Shisi, who had lived in the Eastern Depot since he was old enough to remember anything, surrounded by killing and bloodshed, what was happening outside really was nothing more than “someone causing trouble.”
But when Jun Huailang pushed open the door and looked outside, he saw that the construction site had already erupted into a full-blown brawl.
The river embankment was naturally quite broad. With the construction schedule being pushed so urgently, there were an enormous number of workers on the embankment—more than a thousand in total.
At this moment, near the broken section of the embankment, a large group of people had gathered and were fighting. The construction tools and materials around them had been knocked into complete disarray. Many of the tents originally set up along the embankment for the workers to rest in had also collapsed.
From a distance, the construction site that had originally been so orderly was already a complete mess.
There were even several laborers involved in the fighting trying to charge toward the building where Jun Huailang was staying, only to be firmly forced back by the Imperial Guards stationed outside.
Jun Huailang was startled, his brows drawing together.
How could a mass brawl suddenly break out when they had been repairing the embankment perfectly well?
But Jun Huailang had no time to investigate the matter in detail. He immediately instructed Jinbao, “Go. Bring over the officials responsible for this afternoon immediately. Have them quickly gather all the soldiers stationed around the camp and bring them in. Get the people fighting under control first. Don’t let anyone get killed.”
Jinbao acknowledged him and hurried out at a jog.
Once Jinbao had gone, Jun Huailang stepped outside, intending to find a nearby official and ask what had happened and why.
But an unsheathed embroidered saber suddenly blocked his path.
Jun Huailang glanced sideways and saw Duan Shisi standing in front of him.
“Please leave with me, Your Highness,” he said.
“There’s been an incident at the embankment construction site. How can I leave first?” Jun Huailang said. “I can handle it myself. Don’t worry.”
But Duan Shisi merely lowered his eyes, looking completely unmoved.
“The Prince has ordered me to protect the Heir’s safety,” he said.
Jun Huailang understood.
Duan Shisi meant that his only responsibility was to protect Jun Huailang’s safety. As for everything else, he wouldn’t concern himself with it.
Jun Huailang looked at the increasingly chaotic situation outside. Several people in official uniforms were mixed among the crowd, but they were completely unable to control the scene. Instead, all they could do was get beaten.
In a situation like this, someone had to step forward and organize everyone and stabilize the situation.
Jun Huailang grew anxious and explained, “I’m only going to arrange the men and stop them from causing trouble. I won’t be putting myself in danger. You have your responsibilities, and I have mine.”
Duan Shisi’s saber remained stretched across his path.
“The Heir can leave through the western side gate. There is no one there.”
Jun Huailang understood.
The boy who followed Xue Yan might be powerful and dependable, capable of handling anything well, but he was missing something human. He was fundamentally different from ordinary people.
He was like a hidden weapon or a sharp sword in Xue Yan’s hand—plenty of sharpness, but ultimately just a weapon.
If given an order, he could carry it out.
But if someone tried to explain or reason with him, it simply wouldn’t work.
—Because he fundamentally didn’t understand.
Jun Huailang changed tactics.
“Xue Yan didn’t tell you merely to protect my safety, did he?”
This time, Duan Shisi raised his eyes to look at him.
His pitch-black, cold eyes held a trace of awkward confusion.
Jun Huailang looked at him and took the piece of green jade from his sleeve.
“He told you to obey my orders, didn’t he?”
Duan Shisi’s gaze fell on the jade.
“Yes,” he said.
Jun Huailang slipped the jade back into his sleeve.
“Then I order you to accompany me to the construction site,” he said. “As for how you protect my safety, that is your responsibility.”
This time, Duan Shisi understood.
He had always understood orders and nothing else. He had never been taught anything beyond that since childhood.
“Yes.”
He acknowledged the order while holding his saber and stepped aside to let Jun Huailang pass.
Jun Huailang indeed didn’t really need Duan Shisi’s protection.
The handful of laborers who had dared to charge toward his quarters had already been subdued by the Imperial Guards. The moment he stepped outside, a middle-aged official with a bruised, black-and-blue face and disheveled hair hurried over and bowed to him.
“Your Highness, please forgive me. This subordinate failed in his duties and allowed an incident to occur at the construction site…”
Jun Huailang hurriedly asked, “What exactly happened?”
The official said, “It was those dozen or so workers who were injured at the construction site today. The compensation money and medicine were clearly handed over to them, but they claimed they never received anything. They also said that a minor official was trying to drive them all away… So those workers went to demand an explanation together with some fellow townsmen and friends from their hometown. Somehow, the whole thing turned into a fight…”
Jun Huailang frowned.
Just then, Jinbao hurried over with the official in charge of patrols in this area.
“Quickly send soldiers to pull them all apart,” Jun Huailang ordered. “Don’t leave out a single person involved in the fighting. Take them all into custody for now. Then take half of the Imperial Guards stationed here with you. Make absolutely sure no one gets beaten to death.”
Jinbao and the official accepted the order and hurried to the construction site with their men.
The official who had come earlier hesitated before speaking.
“Your Highness… Are we really to detain all of them?”
Jun Huailang looked at him.
The official lowered his voice.
“Perhaps we should wait until things have stabilized, and then let this subordinate investigate first. If it really was someone under our authority who made a mistake, it wouldn’t be right to wrong these common people…”
Jun Huailang knew what he was afraid of.
With a great disaster upon them, what the government officials feared most was chaos—and losing the people’s trust.
There were already civilians rioting because of a mistake made by the authorities at the construction site. If they blindly detained even more people and worsened the conflict between the people and the government, what would they do then?
Right now, they could still control the situation at a single construction site.
But if they caused the entire city’s population to lose faith in the government, and the people rose up, there would be no controlling it.
Jun Huailang listened, then turned to look at the chaotic construction site without saying a word.
The official urged, “Your Highness, Jinling is already in an extremely precarious state. We cannot allow it to descend into further chaos.”
Jun Huailang shook his head.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I have my own decision to make.”
——
Before nightfall, Jun Huailang received the written statements from the officials who had interrogated those who had caused trouble at the construction site.
Sure enough, just as he had expected, because the accident at the construction site had happened so suddenly, the compensation had been distributed directly without strict records being kept. Therefore, there was no way to determine whether anyone had actually embezzled it.
But Jun Huailang knew they hadn’t.
From the moment he had seen the chaos at the construction site that day, he had already begun to consider the matter.
That official had been right. Jinling could no longer withstand any more unrest.
And precisely because of that, someone would inevitably want to see Jinling thrown into chaos, making the disaster even more severe until it became completely uncontrollable.
Hadn’t that been exactly what happened in his previous life?
It had begun with “refugees” storming into the academy and beating the scholars.
Then came the brawl at the embankment construction site today.
And in his previous life, there had been multiple riots at the refugee camps, eventually reaching the point where people even openly raised banners in rebellion.
These disturbances erupting alongside the disaster could not only turn Jinling into a complete mess, but also cause the officials in charge to bear serious criminal charges.
And amid the chaos, embezzling funds and framing others would also become much easier.
Jun Huailang suspected that what had happened today was an act.
Xue Yan had only just left, and the construction site had immediately descended into chaos.
How could that possibly be such a coincidence?
Fortunately, that day he had interrogated the minor ringleader who had caused trouble and learned that he had been a local man who had been bribed, while having no contact with the other troublemakers.
With that clue, Jun Huailang suspected that the masterminds and participants behind today’s disturbance had also been mixed in among the civilians.
The most important thing now was to identify every one of them.
Otherwise, as long as they were allowed to remain mixed among the people for even one more day, Jinling would remain unsafe.
But just like today, those people were mixed among the civilians. Once they stirred up trouble, some ordinary people would inevitably be incited into joining in.
The larger the crowd became, and the more the masterminds were mixed together with innocent people, the harder it would be to identify them.
Jun Huailang fell into deep thought.
Just then, there was a knock on his door.
He told them to come in and saw that it was the official in charge at the embankment that day.
“Your Highness,” the official said with a bow. “All the refugees who caused trouble at the embankment today have been detained. There are about a hundred who were injured, so this subordinate came to ask what should be done with them.”
Jun Huailang pondered for a moment.
“Take medicinal supplies from the government stores and send physicians over. Treat them as quickly as possible,” he said. “Report their condition to me every day. There must be no delay.”
The official acknowledged the order.
Jun Huailang continued, “As for the rest… release them all.”
The official froze, bewildered.
“…All of them?”
This… They had been ordered to arrest people in the morning, so why were they being released again by nightfall?
Jun Huailang gave a quiet hum.
“Listen carefully to what I’m about to say,” he said. “Every sentence must be carried out exactly as I instruct. Understand?”
The official looked at him.
Although this Heir was extraordinarily noble and refined, and his personality was somewhat cold and distant, he had an exceptionally mild temper and was very easy to get along with.
Yet for some reason, at this moment, there was an unmistakable pressure emanating from him, making the official instinctively want to obey his words.
For a moment, he even seemed somewhat like that terrifying Guangling Prince—the living King of Hell.
“Yes. Please give your orders, Your Highness,” he hurriedly replied.
Jun Huailang nodded.
“When you release them, simply spread the word that there was unrest at the embankment this time, and I am extremely furious about it. I will definitely investigate the matter thoroughly, and not a single person involved in causing trouble will be spared,” he said.
“But Jinling is desperately short of manpower and resources, so there is no way to imprison so many people. My subordinates repeatedly urged me to reconsider, while my father and Magistrate Shen also pressured me. In a fit of anger, I released them all.”
The official stared at him in utter bewilderment.
This… Who would deliberately ruin their own reputation like this?
But that was precisely the result Jun Huailang wanted.
Once such news spread, the ordinary civilians among those who had caused trouble would certainly be intimidated.
After all, if they had angered a powerful noble who was in charge, how could they dare gamble with their own lives?
But the bandits mixed among them would be different.
Once they saw that they had successfully provoked him into anger, while the authorities lacked the ability to imprison them, they would certainly assume that their plans were beginning to bear fruit and that they should press on.
Next, he needed to put down some bait and give them a reason to continue causing trouble.
“Then make the following arrangements. Because I am furious, wages at the construction site will henceforth be cut in half. The money saved will be treated as compensation for the losses at the construction site. Then send that money to Magistrate Shen and have him, in his own name, provide an additional meal each day to the women and children in families with laborers working there.”
Jun Huailang continued.
After all, ordinary civilians would never care which official had actually ordered the reduction in wages.
Even though they would be receiving less money, the pressure of feeding their families would immediately be reduced by more than half. In the end, they would actually benefit from it, so naturally they would have no reason to cause trouble again.
As for those who had deliberately caused the unrest…
All they wanted was a reason to cause trouble.
And he had given them plenty.
The official repeatedly nodded, yet he still didn’t understand why Jun Huailang wanted these things done.
“And then?” he asked.
Jun Huailang looked at him and smiled faintly.
For a moment, it was as though ice melted and snow vanished, like an orchid blooming for the first time.
“Then,” he said, “we wait.”