After Xiao Yuan left, Gui Chen Zhai fell quiet again.
Su Mu Chen lowered his head and organized the papers on the table, but his heartbeat was still a little fast.
He felt that he was probably really tired.
Otherwise, why would Xiao Yuan smiling just once make him feel as though something had lightly bumped against his chest?
Xiao sat beside him and, unusually, did not immediately make a teasing remark.
Su Mu Chen found that strangely unsettling instead.
He looked up at Xiao. “Why aren’t you saying anything?”
Xiao slowly took a sip of tea.
“I’m afraid you’ll dock my meals.”
Su Mu Chen: “……”
He lowered his head and continued tidying up.
Xiao suddenly said, “What you just gave His Highness was only a method, not an answer.”
Xiao looked at the door that had fallen silent again. His voice was lazy, but his eyes were exceptionally clear.
“He won’t rely on you for everything. He asked you because you can provide a perspective from another world. The one actually holding the knife is still him.”
Su Mu Chen was silent for a moment.
“I know.”
He really did know.
Xiao Yuan was not someone who needed to be led by the hand.
For him to survive until now in a place like Da Sheng, and to secure the authority to act at his own discretion amid the schemes of the entire court, had nothing to do with luck.
Su Mu Chen simply forgot sometimes.
Because Xiao Yuan was too quiet and too obedient inside Gui Chen Zhai.
Like a patient who was willing to sit down and let him bandage his wounds, willing to finish his medicine, and willing to hand over each day’s gold to be recorded in the accounts.
But once he stepped through this door, he was Prince Su.
He was someone capable of making the Prefect of Linzhou kneel on the ground without daring to raise his head.
Su Mu Chen put down his pen and said quietly, “That’s good, too.”
Xiao asked, “What is?”
“He doesn’t need to rely on me for everything.”
Su Mu Chen raised his eyes toward the door.
“Otherwise, what will he do if one day the door really closes?”
After those words fell, the two of them were silent for a moment.
Xiao did not smile again.
Because that sentence was too realistic.
So realistic that it was like a knife, gently slicing open those things inside Gui Chen Zhai that had gradually begun to soften.
Su Mu Chen quickly lowered his head and opened the account book again.
“We need to restock tomorrow.”
It was as though he had pushed those emotions back into his heart.
“We need more oral rehydration salts, more soap. And…”
He paused.
“Prepare some energy bars and softer masks for Xia Lan Shi. With his health, going to the northern frontier will probably be even more troublesome.”
Xiao looked at him and finally smiled again.
“Got it, Boss.”
◆◇◆◇◆
Da Sheng, outside Linzhou City.
When Xiao Yuan returned to camp, it was already late at night.
Xia Lan Shi was still awake.
Wrapped in a white fox-fur cloak, he sat beneath the lamp, flipping through Linzhou’s grain ledgers.
The candlelight illuminated his sickly pale face. His red eyes were lowered, and his lips were so pale that they were almost bloodless.
Chi Ban Yue sat opposite him with her arms folded, her expression rather displeased.
“Chief Historian Shen, Doctor Su said you can handle official documents for at most two shichen a day.”
Xia Lan Shi did not even raise his head. “This matter is urgent.”
“Everything is urgent with you.”
“This time, it really is urgent.”
Chi Ban Yue laughed. “Which time did you say it was fake?”
The tip of Xia Lan Shi’s brush paused, and he raised his eyes to look at her.
“Miss Ban Yue, if I don’t look into this, His Highness will lose one point of advantage tonight.”
Chi Ban Yue was momentarily speechless.
She hated Xia Lan Shi’s manner the most.
He looked gentle and frail, but the moment he opened his mouth, he could leave a person with nothing to say.
When Xiao Yuan lifted the curtain and entered, he happened to see the two of them facing off.
“What did you find?”
Xia Lan Shi immediately composed himself and presented the papers he had organized.
“There is indeed a problem with Linzhou’s grain ledgers.”
Xiao Yuan took them.
Instead of the densely packed accounts they had originally contained, the pages had been reorganized by Xia Lan Shi into a four-column table.
Incoming grain.
Outgoing grain.
Losses.
Balance.
This was Su Mu Chen’s method.
But Xia Lan Shi clearly had not merely copied it.
He had added three more columns beside them.
Approving official.
Escort.
Destination.
Xiao Yuan glanced at them, and coldness rose in his eyes.
“Speak.”
Xia Lan Shi coughed twice and said gently, “First, the losses recorded in Linzhou’s official granaries are excessively neat. For six consecutive months, the monthly grain loss has remained around three hundred shi, with a difference of no more than one or two shi. This is not natural loss. It looks like the accounts were filled in afterward.”
Chi Ban Yue leaned over to look.
“You can tell that?”
Xia Lan Shi said indifferently, “Actual warehouse losses caused by moisture, rats, transportation, and private withdrawals will all fluctuate. The neater they are, the more false they are.”
He pointed to another page.
“Second, from the end of last winter to the beginning of this spring, Linzhou had five large-scale grain withdrawals. They were nominally for providing relief to refugees fleeing north. Yet on the corresponding dates, the Linzhou government office did not establish any porridge sheds, nor are there records of large numbers of refugees entering the city through the gates.”
Chi Ban Yue’s eyes turned cold.
“In other words, the grain was not given to the refugees.”
Xia Lan Shi nodded.
“Third, the five orders were approved by different officials, but three times, the person responsible for escorting the grain was the same.”
Xiao Yuan looked at the name.
“Zhao Ling.”
Xia Lan Shi said, “Zhou Jin’s wife’s younger brother. On the surface, he oversees patrols outside the city. In reality, he handles private affairs for Zhou Jin.”
Chi Ban Yue smiled.
“So this is where the weak point is.”
Xiao Yuan put down the papers.
“Where is he?”
Xia Lan Shi said, “News came from the city tonight. Zhao Ling went to Yongfeng Grain Shop outside the southern part of the city.”
Chi Ban Yue immediately understood.
“Fencing the stolen goods?”
Xia Lan Shi shook his head. “Not necessarily just that. I suspect some of the grain from Linzhou’s official granaries flowed into the grain shops of the local gentry, and was then sold at high prices to refugees fleeing north and merchants from other regions.”
The tent fell silent for a moment.
The smile on Chi Ban Yue’s face disappeared completely.
“Making money from a national disaster.”
Xia Lan Shi said softly, “It is not merely about making money. If the Crown Prince’s people gave instructions from behind the scenes, this grain may also become a bargaining chip used to obstruct His Highness from heading north.”
Xiao Yuan lowered his eyes, looking at the string of names on the paper.
He did not ask Su Mu Chen what to do, nor did he wait for anyone else to give him an answer.
He simply ordered in a low voice:
“Chi Ban Yue, take people and keep Yongfeng Grain Shop under surveillance.”
Chi Ban Yue immediately stood. “Yes.”
“Do not alert them.”
“Understood.”
Xiao Yuan looked at Xia Lan Shi again.
“Write a memorial. Do not submit it to the capital. Keep it for now.”
Xia Lan Shi was slightly stunned, but quickly understood.
“His Highness intends to force Zhou Jin?”
“No.” Coldness surfaced in Xiao Yuan’s eyes. “Forcing him would be too lenient.”
His voice was very calm.
“This prince wants him to personally bite out the person behind him.”
Xia Lan Shi lowered his head.
“I understand.”
Xiao Yuan looked at him.
“Go to sleep once you finish writing.”
Xia Lan Shi: “……”
Chi Ban Yue laughed from the side.
Xia Lan Shi helplessly looked at Xiao Yuan.
Xiao Yuan remained expressionless. “If Doctor Su asks, what will you say?”
Xia Lan Shi was silent for a moment.
“I will sleep after I finish writing.”
Chi Ban Yue laughed even harder.
◆◇◆◇◆
Yongfeng Grain Shop was outside the southern part of Linzhou City.
On the surface, it was merely a medium-sized grain store. Its storefront was not particularly conspicuous, but its rear courtyard was enormous.
Late at night, the back door of the grain shop quietly opened a crack.
A carriage silently entered.
Chi Ban Yue stood on a nearby rooftop, wrapped in a dark cloak. The night concealed most of her overly delicate features.
Two hidden guards crouched beside her.
One of them asked in a low voice, “Should we make our move?”
Chi Ban Yue smiled faintly.
“Not yet.”
She watched the carriage enter the rear courtyard and then saw several men unload wooden crates that looked like they contained account books.
“His Highness said not to alert them.”
The hidden guard nodded.
Chi Ban Yue took a thin silver piece from her sleeve and flicked it with her fingertip.
The silver piece flew silently through the darkness and lodged in a crack beneath the carriage.
“Let it lead the way first.”
The hidden guard stared in surprise.
“What is that?”
“Su-dafu isn’t the only one who has interesting gadgets.” Chi Ban Yue smiled. “This is one of my own little toys.”
Although she appeared delicate and weak, she had learned poison, hidden weapons, concealment, and killing from a young age.
Xiao Yuan had saved her life and given her a path forward.
So she had honed herself into a blade that looked soft, but in truth drew blood and sealed a person’s fate with a single strike.
Half an hour later, the carriage came out again.
Chi Ban Yue raised her hand.
“Follow it.”
◆◇◆◇◆
At Gui Chen Zhai, trouble also came knocking that same night.
It was not Sheng Cheng Xiu.
It was one of Su Mu Chen’s university classmates.
His name was Chen Yu. He was not particularly close to Su Mu Chen; they had simply been classmates.
When Su Mu Chen received his call, the other man sounded rather awkward.
“Mu Chen, have you gotten on the wrong side of someone recently?”
Su Mu Chen stood behind the counter, his expression darkening slightly.
“What happened?”
Chen Yu lowered his voice. “Someone came looking for me today and asked about you.”
“What did they ask?”
“They asked what your relationships with people at school were like, whether you had ever borrowed money, whether you had ever accepted anything from anyone else, and whether you had always been interested in studying antiques.”
Su Mu Chen’s fingers tightened slightly around the phone.
As expected, the Sheng family had begun investigating the people around him.
Chen Yu continued, “He also said that if I was willing to provide some ‘valuable information,’ he could give me a sum of money.”
Su Mu Chen was silent for a moment.
“What did you say?”
Chen Yu gave an awkward laugh.
“What could I say? Back then, besides attending classes, working part-time, and hanging around the library, you were always in the laboratory. You barely even attended class gatherings. I couldn’t make up any dirt on you even if I wanted to.”
Su Mu Chen: “……”
He could not tell whether that was supposed to be praise or an insult.
Chen Yu sighed. “I just wanted to warn you. That person didn’t look like an ordinary person. Be careful.”
Su Mu Chen felt a warmth in his heart.
He and Chen Yu could hardly be considered friends.
The fact that the other man had gone out of his way to call and warn him was already rare.
“Thank you.”
Chen Yu said, “Don’t mention it. You helped submit my report for me when I nearly fainted during dissection class.”
Su Mu Chen was stunned.
He had almost forgotten about that.
Chen Yu continued, “Anyway, be careful. And about the hospital…”
Su Mu Chen fell silent.
Chen Yu’s voice lowered.
“I heard about it. Don’t be too upset. You’re very capable. There will definitely be other opportunities in the future.”
Su Mu Chen closed his eyes.
“Mm.”
After hanging up, he stood there for a long time.
Owl came out from the back courtyard, still holding the soap he had just finished wrapping.
“Sheng Corporation?”
Su Muchen nodded.
“They’ve traced it to my classmates.”
Owl’s expression darkened slightly.
“Faster than I expected.”
He lowered his eyes, seemingly deep in thought.
Su Muchen picked up his pen and added another item after Sheng Corporation’s methods of probing.
Five. Contact classmates and buy interpersonal information.
After writing it, he paused.
Then he added a sentence beside it.
—Fortunately, I have a pitiful social life. There’s nothing to dig up for now.
Owl caught sight of that line and fell silent for a moment. In the end, he could not hold back his laughter.
Su Muchen gave him a cold look.
Owl immediately said, “That’s a good thing.”
Su Muchen said, “Thank you. I’m not very happy about it.”
He lowered his head and looked at the sheet of paper, the anger in his heart slowly settling.
Sheng Corporation wanted to dig up his past.
They wanted to start with his classmates, teachers, and the hospital.
They wanted to break, one by one, the paths he had once struggled so hard to walk.
Unfortunately.
There actually weren’t many things they could break.
From childhood onward, he had possessed very little—so little that even Sheng Corporation had to go to considerable trouble to find something they could use to threaten him with.
The thought was sorrowful, yet it also allowed him to remain calm.
“Owl.”
“Hmm?”
“Help me investigate something.”
Owl raised an eyebrow. “Who?”
Su Muchen looked at the vehicle outside the window—the replacement car.
“All medical institutions under Sheng Corporation.”
Owl’s eyes shifted.
Su Muchen’s voice was calm.
“Especially information on grassroots medical workers who, in recent years, have been laid off, had their salaries reduced, or been exploited because of AI medical replacements.”
Owl looked at him for a long time.
“What are you planning to do?”
Su Muchen said, “Doesn’t Sheng Corporation like blocking my path to becoming a doctor?”
He lowered his head and saved a screenshot of the notice postponing his employment.
“Then I’ll take a look at how many people’s paths are being crushed beneath their medical empire.”
A smile slowly appeared on Owl’s face.
This time, it was not teasing.
It was genuine admiration.
“Muchen, are you planning to bite back?”
Su Muchen said lightly, “I just want to organize some data.”
“Organize data?”
“Mm.”
Su Muchen looked at him, a faint smile at the corner of his lips.
“I’m a medical student. Organizing case records is perfectly reasonable, isn’t it?”
Owl chuckled softly.
“Reasonable.”
◆◇◆◇◆
Linzhou, midnight.
Chi Banyue followed that carriage all the way to an abandoned dyeing workshop in the western part of the city.
The dyeing workshop looked dilapidated from the outside, but there were people keeping watch inside.
She lay prone on the roof and saw Zhao Ling get down from the carriage after it stopped.
Someone else was already waiting in the courtyard.
The man wore a cloak, and his voice was kept very low.
“Where’s the thing?”
Zhao Ling said, “The account books have already been switched. That old bastard Zhou Jin was scared out of his wits. He probably won’t hold out much longer.”
The cloaked man said coldly, “He has to hold out even if he can’t. What His Highness the Crown Prince wants is for Prince Su to draw his blade in Linzhou. Ideally, things should become so chaotic that the locals are filled with resentment.”
Zhao Ling frowned. “But Prince Su hasn’t entered the city. Instead, he’s settling the refugees outside the city. Now the local gentry are all afraid of the epidemic entering the city and have begun siding with him.”
The cloaked man was silent for a moment.
“Then let the epidemic into the city.”
On the rooftop, Chi Banyue’s eyes instantly turned cold.
Zhao Ling was also startled.
“Are you insane? If the epidemic enters the city, Linzhou will descend into chaos too!”
“Chaos is better.” The cloaked man said, “Once the epidemic causes chaos, grain prices will inevitably rise. If Prince Su cannot suppress it, he is incompetent. If he kills people to suppress it, he is tyrannical. Either way, the Eastern Palace will have grounds to impeach him.”
Zhao Ling’s voice trembled.
“How many people will have to die?”
The cloaked man gave a laugh.
“A few commoners dying—what does it matter?”
The short blade in Chi Banyue’s sleeve had already slipped into her palm.
She wanted to kill them.
Very much.
But in the end, she restrained herself.
Xiao Yuan had told her not to alert them.
Xia Lansi had also said that if the Crown Prince’s people wanted to tamper with the epidemic, they would certainly leave something behind.
If she acted now, she could only kill these two people.
It was not enough.
She needed to know how they intended to bring the epidemic into the city.
A moment later, the cloaked man took something from his sleeve and handed it to Zhao Ling.
“Tomorrow, put this into South Well.”
Zhao Ling’s face went deathly pale.
“What is this?”
The cloaked man said indifferently, “You don’t need to know.”
A deeper killing intent filled Chi Banyue’s eyes.
South Well.
She remembered it.
◆◇◆◇◆
Before dawn, Chi Banyue returned to the camp.
Xiao Yuan and Xia Lansi were both still awake.
She recounted every word she had heard.
The temperature inside the tent seemed to drop to freezing in an instant.
“They want to use the epidemic to harm all of Linzhou.”
Xiao Yuan’s eyes were cold and dark.
“Not just Linzhou.”
He looked at the map on the table.
“If Linzhou falls into chaos, the refugees will continue fleeing north, and the epidemic will spread along the way. By then, before the northern border has even seen battle, half the official roads will already have become paths to death.”
Chi Banyue cursed under her breath.
“What beasts!”
Xia Lansi’s white lashes lowered, but he quickly regained his composure.
“Your Highness, South Well cannot be sealed directly.”
Chi Banyue frowned. “Why?”
Xia Lansi said, “If we seal the well directly, they will know the information has leaked and will strike somewhere else.”
Xiao Yuan nodded.
“Set a trap.”
Xia Lansi unfolded the map.
His finger pointed to South Well, the dyeing workshop, and the grain shops one after another.
“First, secretly replace the guards at South Well without changing anything on the surface.”
“Second, let Zhao Ling enter the trap and make him believe he has succeeded.”
“Third, arrest them on the spot, confiscating the poison, witnesses, and account books together.”
Chi Banyue asked, “What about the cloaked man?”
Xia Lansi’s gaze turned cold.
“Let him go a little farther. Let him return and report the news.”
Chi Banyue immediately understood.
“Follow the vine to find the root?”
Xia Lansi nodded.
“If we only arrest Zhao Ling, Zhou Jin can claim ignorance. If we only arrest the cloaked man, the Crown Prince can sacrifice a pawn to protect the commander. But if Zhao Ling, the grain records, the poison, and Zhou Jin’s private grain stores are all connected, Zhou Jin will have no choice.”
Xiao Yuan calmly picked up the thread.
“Choose between dying and biting someone.”
Xia Lansi lowered his head.
“Precisely.”
Chi Banyue looked at the two of them and suddenly laughed.
“Looks like we don’t need to ask Doctor Su tonight?”
Xiao Yuan glanced at her.
“No need.”
His voice was very calm.
“This is the Great Sheng’s game.”
Su Muchen could give him another way of looking at a problem.
But where the blade should fall was something he had to decide himself.
Xia Lansi looked at Xiao Yuan, a trace of relief appearing in his eyes.
This was the Prince Su he knew.
That doctor from another world had lit a lamp for them.
But the ones who truly had to walk through the darkness were still themselves.
◆◇◆◇◆
The lights were still burning late into the night at Returning Dust Studio.
Su Muchen was organizing a new data sheet.
Its title read:
Investigation into the Elimination of Grassroots Positions and AI Replacement within Sheng Corporation’s Medical System
Owl sat beside him, providing a pile of public data, semi-public data, and data that was quite obviously not supposed to be public.
Su Muchen got a headache just looking at it.
“Are these things legally sourced?”
Owl smiled.
“As legally as possible.”
Su Muchen: “…”
He knew better than to ask.
When the door sounded, Su Muchen raised his head.
Xiao Yuan appeared later than usual this time.
He had not brought the grain records.
He had only brought a box of gold and a short note written by Xia Lansi.
Xiao Yuan placed the note on the table.
“As for what happened in Linzhou, I won’t ask you tonight.”
Su Muchen froze.
Xiao Yuan looked at him, his voice low and deep.
“Xia Lansi has already decided on a strategy. This king has already made the arrangements.”
Su Muchen slowly nodded.
“That’s good.”
He genuinely thought so.
Xiao Yuan was able to handle things himself, and Xia Lansi was able to play his part. It meant that the Great Sheng was not a place that could only be supported by him from across the door.
That reassured him.
And yet there was also a faint, indescribable sense of melancholy.
Xiao Yuan seemed to see it.
“But I still came.”
Su Muchen raised his eyes.
Xiao Yuan said, “Not to ask for your advice.”
He paused.
“I came to tell you that I’m still alive.”
Su Muchen’s fingers suddenly tightened.
The shop remained silent for a long time.
Only then did Su Muchen say softly, “…I know.”
He wanted to say, You don’t have to come and tell me every day.
He wanted to say, As long as you’re alive, that’s enough.
He wanted to say, Actually, I’m waiting too.
Yet in the end, all he managed to squeeze out was one sentence.
“Remember to come and tell me you’re safe tomorrow too.”
Xiao Yuan looked at him.
The coldness in his eyes slowly dissipated.
“Okay.”
That single okay was very soft.
Yet it left Su Muchen unable to concentrate on finishing the Sheng Corporation medical data for the rest of the night.