At the third night in Hanchuan, Xiao Yuan brought back the first batch of seeds.
Those things were packed in several inconspicuous little wooden boxes, with no markings on the outside, only two loops of thin hemp rope wrapped around them. If Su Muchen had not personally handed them to Xiao Yuan, anyone who saw them would only have thought they were several boxes of ordinary medicinal herbs or spices.
Xia Lanshi knew that the weight of these little wooden boxes was far greater than the grain they had uncovered today.
Grain could save Hanchuan for a while.
But the seeds might save the Northern Frontier for many years to come, and might even change history.
Xiao Yuan did not bring the wooden boxes into the main hall of the government office. Instead, he ordered them sent to an enclosed side room in the rear courtyard. It had originally been used by the Hanchuan government office to store old case files. The windows were narrow, the door could be guarded from outside, and the room itself was dry. For the time being, there could not have been a more suitable place to store these things.
Xia Lanshi sat at the table in a thick cloak, reading through the instructions Su Muchen had written, page by page.
Potatoes, winter wheat, oats, buckwheat, winter vegetables.
After every name was a brief and clear set of planting instructions. The handwriting was still as less than neat as Su Muchen’s always was, yet meticulous to the point of being almost strict. When to sow, where to conduct trial planting, how to sample the soil, what kinds of terrain to avoid—even the words “Do not hand all the grain seeds to the same person at once” had been circled in red.
Chi Banyue leaned over to take a look. At first, she could barely make sense of the crooked handwriting, but after looking at it for a while, she actually managed to make out more or less what it said.
She laughed. “Is Doctor Su afraid we’ll all get wiped out in one fell swoop?”
Xia Lanshi did not smile. He merely nodded lightly.
“He’s right.”
Chi Banyue was startled.
Xia Lanshi set the sheet of paper down, his fingertips resting on the four words dispersed trial planting. His voice was soft.
“This time, Hanchuan nearly ran out of food because the grain routes, grain warehouses, and control over the grain were all held within the same system. If the Northern Frontier is truly going to rely on these grain seeds to survive in the future, then we cannot hand our lives over to one place again.”
Xiao Yuan stood by the window. Hearing this, his gaze darkened slightly.
That was Su Muchen’s way of thinking, and it was also the thought currently taking shape in his own heart.
If the Northern Frontier wanted to survive, it could not rely solely on grain allocated by the imperial court.
Still less could it rely solely on Guichen Studio.
That door could be a path to salvation, but it could not become the Northern Frontier’s only lifeline. Otherwise, if the door were ever cut off, or if someone discovered it and seized control of it, then the Hanchuan they had saved today would still walk back into the same dead end next year.
Qin Feng stood to one side. He understood only half of what they were saying, but he also understood that these little wooden boxes were anything but ordinary.
He had wanted to ask where exactly these seeds had come from.
But when the words reached his lips, he ultimately swallowed them back down.
Over the past few days, he had already become very clear about one thing: Prince Su had secrets.
That Doctor Su, who had never shown himself, was a secret.
The medicinal meal powder sent from Linzhou was a secret.
The marching pills that could let starving commoners hold on for another day were also a secret.
And now, these several boxes of “overseas grain seeds” were naturally secrets as well.
But Hanchuan had survived until today precisely because of those secrets.
He knew that sometimes, people could not know too much.
Especially when they were not yet strong enough.
The more secrets one knew, the easier it was to die.
Qin Feng lowered his head and cupped his fists. “Your Highness, rest assured. This subordinate will personally select people to collect the soil. The military farms outside the city, the river valleys, the slopes, sheltered areas, and places covered in snow year-round—we’ll take one sample from each and absolutely won’t mix them together.”
Xiao Yuan glanced at him.
“This matter cannot be known by too many people.”
“This subordinate understands.” Qin Feng paused, then lowered his voice. “We’ll tell the outside world that Your Highness has ordered an inspection of the military farms for spring plowing.”
Xia Lanshi smiled faintly.
“Very good.”
Qin Feng secretly breathed a small sigh of relief.
It was truly not easy to get Chief Secretary Xia to say “Very good.”
Chi Banyue picked up several little cloth bags and turned them over, looking at the markings Su Muchen had written on them. Suddenly, she could not help laughing.
“This Doctor Su even has rules for collecting soil. If anyone really ends up farming in the Northern Frontier in the future, I’m afraid he’ll manage them so tightly they won’t dare slack off.”
Xia Lanshi looked at her.
“That’s not a bad thing.”
Chi Banyue put the cloth bags back and rested her chin in her hand as she looked at him.
“You’re taking his side more and more now.”
Xia Lanshi’s expression remained calm.
“Because he’s useful.”
The smile in Chi Banyue’s eyes deepened.
“Only useful?”
Xia Lanshi lowered his eyes and took a sip of nutrient solution, avoiding the question.
He could admit that Su Muchen was attentive. He could admit that Su Muchen had saved him. He could also admit that although all these rules were troublesome, they had indeed kept him from developing a fever again these past two days.
But with Chi Banyue using that tone, she was obviously not merely asking about Su Muchen.
There was another person hidden in her words.
Xia Lanshi did not want to respond.
Ever since hearing what Chi Banyue had said, ever since seeing Owl that day, he had felt that something was wrong with him.
The vague and ambiguous figure of his benefactor in his memories had somehow, without his noticing, been replaced by Owl’s face.
His fingertips lightly touched the white jade peace pendant at his wrist. Reason told him that it still had not been confirmed that it was definitely him.
Fortunately, Xiao Yuan spoke at that moment, cutting off the conversation for him.
“First thing tomorrow morning, collect the soil. Don’t distribute the seeds yet. Wait until Su Muchen’s side has examined the soil samples before making a decision.”
Qin Feng acknowledged the order.
Xia Lanshi put away Su Muchen’s document titled First Stage of Northern Frontier Trial Planting and was just about to look through the Hanchuan grain records again when Chi Banyue had already reached out and pressed the ledger shut.
“Lord Chief Secretary Xia, your time is up.”
Xia Lanshi: “…”
Qin Feng stood to one side, looking at his nose and then at his heart. He had already learned how to pretend he did not exist.
Xiao Yuan, meanwhile, very naturally took the ledger.
“This King will look over the rest.”
Xia Lanshi was silent for a moment before finally resigning himself to standing.
Recently, he had become increasingly clear about one thing.
Although Doctor Su himself was not in Hanchuan, his influence had already spread everywhere around Prince Su. Chi Banyue was an enforcer, Xiao Yuan was a supporter, and even Qin Feng had now learned to consciously shut his mouth whenever he heard the words “Doctor Su said.”
This was truly a terrifying thing.
What was even more terrifying was that he had actually begun to slowly get used to it, obediently following those so-called “medical instructions.”
◆◇◆◇◆
On the morning of the fourth day in Hanchuan, the sky was still overcast, but the situation in the city was much more stable than it had been the previous two days.
After the hidden grain at Wanfeng Temple had been uncovered, the number of people concealing grain in the city visibly dropped by more than half. Merchants and wealthy households that had originally still been harboring hopes of getting away with it came to the government office one after another to report their supplies voluntarily. Even if their reports were not entirely truthful, it was still far better than stubbornly insisting, as they had before, that they had no grain at all.
The edible grain in the warehouses, combined with the stock uncovered at Wanfeng Temple and the grain shop in the Eastern District, along with the marching pills, nutritional powder, and dried vegetable soup ingredients Su Muchen had secretly sent over, finally changed Hanchuan’s situation from “certain death in five days” to “able to hold out for ten days.”
Those ten days did not mean they could live comfortably.
It merely meant they would not collapse immediately.
Xiao Yuan stood atop the city wall, looking down at the long streets gradually returning to order, yet he did not relax in the slightest.
Because Hanchuan’s real trouble had not yet been resolved.
—Du Wenzhou, the commander defending Hanchuan, still claimed to be too ill to come out.
Qin Feng had been so busy these past few days that his feet barely touched the ground, practically being used as the commander in place of the commander.
At first, everyone had thought Du Wenzhou had truly fallen ill. There were already epidemic diseases and patients with high fevers throughout Hanchuan, so there was nothing strange about the commander contracting an illness. However, after Xiao Yuan entered the city, all matters large and small in the army were reported by Qin Feng. When problems arose with the grain warehouses, Du Wenzhou did not appear. When hidden grain was discovered at Wanfeng Temple, Du Wenzhou still did not appear. When the Crown Prince’s hidden agents were captured, Du Wenzhou continued not to appear.
When an illness came at too convenient a time, it no longer seemed like an illness.
Xia Lanshi had brought up the matter the night before.
“Hanchuan ran out of food. There was fake grain in the warehouses. The transport routes were tampered with. And the commander fell ill just before Your Highness entered Hanchuan. Each matter can be explained if considered separately, but when placed together, they’re far too neatly arranged.”
At the time, Xiao Yuan had asked only one question.
“You think he’s not sick?”
Xia Lanshi had not answered immediately. He had merely slowly rubbed the hand warmer in his hands.
“Perhaps he is sick,” he said.
“But it may not be a physical illness.”
Xiao Yuan understood what he meant.
Therefore, early that morning, he personally went to the commander’s residence.
The commander’s residence was located in the northern part of Hanchuan City, not far from the military camp.
The snow at the entrance had not been completely cleared. The servants inside the residence looked flustered, and when they saw Prince Su arrive in person, they were so frightened that nearly all of them dropped to their knees.
“General Du is gravely ill and may be unable to receive Your Highness…”
The steward was drenched in cold sweat. Before he could finish speaking, Xiao Yuan had already passed him and walked inside.
Qin Feng followed behind, his expression even worse than those of the servants in the residence.
He had always respected Du Wenzhou.
The Hanchuan garrison had endured hardship for many years. Du Wenzhou might not have been a famous general, but at the very least, he was not someone greedy for life and afraid of death.
Yet too many things had happened these past few days, and even doubts had gradually begun to arise in Qin Feng’s heart.
If the commander were truly gravely ill, why did the military physician always say only that his high fever would not go down, while refusing to let anyone approach him?
If he were truly too ill to manage affairs, why had several private letters still been sent out from the commander’s residence?
If he truly knew nothing, then how had all that spoiled grain in Hanchuan’s warehouses made its way into storage?
Each question was heavier than the last.
Chi Banyue had come along today as well.
She wore a dark cloak and walked beside Xia Lanshi, lowering her voice. “Are you sure you want to go inside? What if he really has an epidemic?”
Xia Lanshi glanced at her.
“That’s why I’m wearing the mask Doctor Su gave me.”
Chi Banyue: “…”
She looked at the mask on Xia Lanshi’s face, modified from soft cloth, and fell silent for a moment.
“You’re listening to Doctor Su more and more.”
Xia Lanshi calmly replied, “This is called accepting reasonable advice.”
Chi Banyue gave a soft snort.
She was wearing one herself.
Although the thing looked strange, it had already proven useful in both Linzhou and Hanchuan. Especially when entering a room that might contain a sick person, Chi Banyue no longer found it strange. Instead, she found those who did not wear one strange.
Outside the inner chamber of the commander’s residence, the military physician was standing guard. Upon seeing Xiao Yuan arrive, he immediately knelt.
“Your Highness, General Du’s illness is severe. There may be a risk of transmission…”
Xiao Yuan stopped and looked at him.
“If there’s a risk of transmission, why aren’t you wearing a mask?”
The military physician froze.
Xia Lanshi lowered his eyes, seeming to smile slightly.
Chi Banyue raised a hand and touched the mask on her own face, a trace of coldness flashing through her eyes.
It was a very simple question.
But the simpler it was, the harder it was to explain away.
The military physician’s face instantly turned pale.
“I-I overlooked it for the moment…”
Xiao Yuan did not ask again. He directly pushed open the door and entered.
Charcoal burned inside the room. The doors and windows were tightly shut, and a wave of heat mixed with a strong medicinal smell rushed toward them.
On the bed, Du Wenzhou lay with his eyes closed, a wet cloth covering his forehead. His face was flushed, and his breathing was heavy. He really did appear to be burning with a high fever.
Only, the redness was somewhat unnatural.
Chi Banyue stepped closer, her gaze sweeping over the medicine bowl and incense burner beside the bed.
She reached out, picked up the half-finished bowl of medicine, and sniffed it.
“Ephedra, cinnamon twig, ginger… They’re all medicines used to induce sweating.”
The military physician knelt by the doorway, cold sweat appearing even more heavily on his forehead.
Xia Lanshi did not look at the medicine. Instead, he looked toward the small table beside the bed.
A wine jug sat there.
Although the mouth of the jug had already been wiped clean, a faint spicy scent still lingered.
He softly asked, “Drinking alcohol while sick?”
Du Wenzhou’s eyelashes trembled almost imperceptibly.
Xiao Yuan stood before the bed and silently looked at him for a moment.
“Du Wenzhou.”
The person on the bed did not react.
Xiao Yuan spoke again.
“If you don’t get up, this King will have someone carry you to the front of the government office right now and let the people of Hanchuan see what state their commander is in.”
The moment those words fell, the room became so quiet that even the crackling of the charcoal fire sounded unusually clear.
Qin Feng’s expression changed.
“Your Highness…”
Xiao Yuan did not look at him. He merely stared at the person pretending to sleep on the bed.
The man still had his eyes closed, but one of his fingers moved slightly.
Seeing that he still intended to keep pretending, Xiao Yuan turned and ordered, “Someone.”
“Your Highness!”
The person on the bed finally opened his eyes and abruptly pushed himself upright.
The wet cloth on his forehead slipped down.
He had risen too quickly and was even choked into coughing several times. However, compared with a truly ill person, that cough was a little too strong and full of force.
Qin Feng stood frozen where he was.
The military physician was trembling so violently that he could barely remain on his knees.
Du Wenzhou’s face had turned ashen.
He sat on the bed, sweat on his forehead, but it was not the sweat of illness.
It was sweat born of fear.
Xiao Yuan looked at him and coldly asked, “Recovered?”
Du Wenzhou’s lips moved, but for a moment, he could not say anything.
Qin Feng finally could not stop himself from stepping forward.
“General, what exactly is going on?”
Du Wenzhou looked at Qin Feng. Shame flashed through his eyes before he quickly lowered his head.
Xia Lanshi stood to one side, his voice even.
“General Du is not seriously ill. He’s feigning illness. The charcoal fire in the room is too strong, the doors and windows are shut, and sweat-inducing medicine and strong liquor were used to redden his face and make his breathing heavy. It makes him look as though he has a high fever, but his pulse should actually be steady.”
Chi Banyue reached out and pressed her fingers to Du Wenzhou’s wrist.
Du Wenzhou tried to pull away, but she gave him one look, and he stiffened.
A moment later, Chi Banyue withdrew her hand.
“His pulse isn’t floating and isn’t rapid. He’s actually healthier than Chief Secretary Xia.”
Xia Lanshi: “…”
There had truly been no need to drag him into that sentence.
Qin Feng’s expression completely changed.
He looked at Du Wenzhou, his voice hoarse. “General, Hanchuan was on the verge of starving to death. And you pretended to be sick?”
Du Wenzhou’s face turned deathly pale. His lips trembled.
“I… I had no choice.”
Xiao Yuan coldly asked, “Who gave you no choice?”
Du Wenzhou closed his eyes.
After a long time, it was as though all the strength had finally been drained from him. He turned, climbed down from the bed, and heavily dropped to his knees.
“Your Highness, please forgive me.”
The moment those words were spoken, it amounted to an admission.
Qin Feng’s fists clenched fiercely, and even his eyes turned red.
It was not as though he had never suspected.
But when he truly saw Du Wenzhou rise from his sickbed, the disappointment was still like a dull blade viciously stabbing into his chest.
These past few days, he had led soldiers to investigate the grain, defend the city, open porridge kitchens, and calm the people. He had barely slept for three days. He thought his superior was gravely ill and that Hanchuan had no one left to take charge, so he gritted his teeth and held on.
Yet Du Wenzhou had been lying in his residence all along.
Pretending to be sick.
Watching Hanchuan walk step by step toward the edge of death.
Du Wenzhou knelt on the ground, his voice hoarse. “Half a month ago, the Crown Prince’s people sent me a letter. They ordered me to remain inactive after Your Highness entered Hanchuan, not to cooperate too readily with Your Highness in investigating the grain, and not to testify for Your Highness that the grain supplies had been intercepted and diverted. If chaos broke out in Hanchuan, I was to direct the people’s resentment toward Your Highness and say that Your Highness had forcibly seized grain after entering the city, driving the people to their deaths…”
Qin Feng abruptly raised his head.
“You agreed?”
Du Wenzhou’s face turned even whiter.
“I didn’t agree completely.” He hurriedly said, “I didn’t dare harm Your Highness’s life, nor did I dare truly let Hanchuan descend into irreparable chaos. So I claimed illness and handed the military affairs to Qin Feng. I thought… if Your Highness could stabilize Hanchuan, I would continue pretending to be sick. If you couldn’t stabilize it, then I… I at least wouldn’t be held accountable by the Crown Prince.”
Dead silence filled the room.
Chi Banyue slowly said, “So you didn’t want to offend either side, and you let Hanchuan wait to die on its own?”
Du Wenzhou looked as though that sentence had slapped him across the face. His complexion became utterly ashen.
“I…”
He could not continue.
Because that was the truth.
He did not dare defy the Crown Prince. He did not dare kill Xiao Yuan. And he did not dare step forward and shoulder the responsibility that a commander defending Hanchuan was supposed to shoulder.
So he chose the most cowardly and cleanest method.
Feign illness.
Lie in bed and wait for the situation to reach its own conclusion.
If Xiao Yuan lost, he could say that he had been gravely ill and powerless to help.
If Xiao Yuan won, he could still say that he had been gravely ill and had committed no wrongdoing.
He saw all the suffering endured by the people and soldiers of Hanchuan during that time.
It was only that…
He chose not to see.
Xiao Yuan looked at the kneeling man, his eyes so cold that there was not a trace of warmth in them.
“Where is the Crown Prince’s letter?”
Du Wenzhou trembled. “I burned it.”
Xia Lanshi gave a light cough.
“General Du, there’s no need to rush into lying. If you had truly burned the letter, you wouldn’t have continued pretending to be sick until today.”
Du Wenzhou’s body instantly stiffened.
Xia Lanshi looked at him, his tone so gentle it was almost cruel.
“You fear the Crown Prince, and you fear His Highness as well. Since you fear both sides, you would definitely leave yourself a way out. That letter may not be in the main residence, nor in the study. With General Du’s temperament, you most likely hid it somewhere you believe is safest, yet where you can retrieve it at any time to save your own life.”
Cold sweat rolled down Du Wenzhou’s forehead.
Xia Lanshi raised his eyes and slowly said, “For example, the ancestral shrine.”
Du Wenzhou abruptly looked up.
Xia Lanshi knew immediately that he had guessed correctly.
Qin Feng immediately turned and ordered his men to search.
In less than a quarter of an hour, the personal guards found a sealed letter tube, its wax seal already broken, inside a hidden compartment beneath the incense table in the small ancestral shrine of the commander’s residence.
Inside were not only a secret letter bearing the private seal of the Crown Prince’s residence, but also several lists of names connected through correspondence.
The transport commissioner.
The Ministry of Revenue official escorting the grain.
The abbot of Wanfeng Temple.
The Eastern District grain merchant.
The pharmacy shopkeeper.
A web within Hanchuan City was connected by that single letter tube.
After Qin Feng finished reading it, even his hands were trembling.
He turned back toward Du Wenzhou, his voice low and hoarse.
“General, do you know that the person who froze to death outside the city gate was clutching an empty cloth bag in his hand?”
Du Wenzhou closed his eyes, his shoulders trembling slightly.
Qin Feng gritted his teeth. “Do you know that yesterday, there was a child in front of the porridge kitchen who asked whether there would be any more after he finished his bowl?”
Du Wenzhou did not answer.
Qin Feng’s eyes were red.
“You knew… You knew all of it.”
At last, Du Wenzhou collapsed forward onto the ground.
“I am guilty,” he said hoarsely.
Xiao Yuan took the secret letter and read it. Afterward, his expression instead became calm.
An extremely cold calm.
“Du Wenzhou, as the commander defending Hanchuan, accepted a secret order from the Eastern Palace, feigned illness to evade responsibility, and tolerated the corruption surrounding the grain supplies, nearly causing the soldiers and civilians of Hanchuan to run out of food. Take him into custody immediately. After the entire case has been thoroughly investigated, he will be dealt with under military law.”
Du Wenzhou’s entire body trembled, but he did not argue again.
The personal guards stepped forward and dragged him away.
Qin Feng remained standing where he was for a long time without moving.
Xiao Yuan looked at him.
“The Hanchuan garrison will temporarily be under your command.”
Qin Feng abruptly raised his head.
“Your Highness, this subordinate…”
“You’ve done very well these past few days,” Xiao Yuan said. “From now on, Hanchuan’s military affairs are yours. If anyone uses the Eastern Palace to pressure you again, tell them to come find this King.”
Qin Feng’s eyes suddenly burned with emotion, and he dropped heavily to his knees.
“This subordinate accepts the command!”
Xia Lanshi stood to one side, watching the scene, and finally let out a soft breath.
The Hanchuan grain warehouses had been investigated.
The hidden agents had been captured.
The temple grain had been recovered.
And now, even the commander who had been pretending to be sick had been dragged out of hiding.
The web the Crown Prince had laid across Hanchuan had finally been torn open at its most crucial point.
Only…
It was still not enough.
The letter tube could serve as evidence, but it might not be enough to directly harm the Crown Prince.
The Eastern Palace would not allow this line to lead cleanly back to itself.
Xia Lanshi was just about to speak when his throat suddenly tickled, and he could not help coughing softly.
Chi Banyue immediately supported him.
“You’ve gone overtime today.”
Xia Lanshi: “…”
Xiao Yuan immediately looked over.
Xia Lanshi suddenly had a bad feeling.
Sure enough, Xiao Yuan calmly said, “Take him back and make him rest.”
Chi Banyue smilingly accepted the order.
“Yes.”
Xia Lanshi looked at Xiao Yuan, then at Chi Banyue, and ultimately chose not to struggle anymore.
Today had indeed been enough.
◆◇◆◇◆
That night, the matter of Du Wenzhou feigning illness was not immediately announced throughout the city.
Xia Lanshi’s suggestion was to seal off the news for now and announce only to the military that Du Wenzhou had confessed after recovering from his illness and was temporarily being held in the government prison, while the Hanchuan garrison would temporarily be led by Qin Feng. As for the secret letter from the Eastern Palace and the list of names, Xiao Yuan would personally keep them for the time being and not release them.
Chi Banyue initially did not understand.
“Why not post it everywhere immediately? Let everyone see how the Crown Prince harmed Hanchuan.”
Xia Lanshi sat in a side room with a bowl of hot soup and a packet of nutrient solution before him. He had originally wanted to read the confessions first, but Chi Banyue glared at him, so he could only pick up the soup.
“If we post it now, the people will be angry, and the military will be angry too. But after the anger passes, all the Crown Prince has to do is say that someone forged a secret letter from the Eastern Palace, and he can drag the matter into a debate at court. What Hanchuan needs most right now is stability, not turmoil.”
Chi Banyue frowned.
“So we’re just letting him off?”
Xia Lanshi lowered his head and took a sip of soup. Only after a moment did he say, “We’re not letting him off. We’re keeping it. If evidence is meant to kill, it can’t merely break the skin.”
Chi Banyue raised an eyebrow.
“Then where should it stab?”
Xia Lanshi smiled faintly.
“Into the bone marrow. The deeper, the better.”
Chi Banyue looked at him and suddenly felt that Su Muchen had been right.
This man had to be nursed back to health.
A person who could turn sickly bones into a scabbard for a blade would indeed be a great pity if he truly collapsed.
As long as Xia Lanshi was nursed back to health, he would surely be able to plan many more things for Xiao Yuan.
She pushed the packet of nutrient solution toward him.
“Finish it.”
Xia Lanshi: “…”
He lowered his head and looked at the packet of nutrient solution. For the first time, he deeply realized that if this blade of his wanted to continue leaving its scabbard, he would probably first have to listen to Doctor Su and nurse his body until it would not break halfway through.
The realization left him somewhat helpless.
Yet he did not particularly dislike it.
◆◇◆◇◆
At midnight, Xiao Yuan opened the door again.
This time, what he brought back to Su Muchen was not only news from Hanchuan, but also a copy of the secret letter found in Du Wenzhou’s ancestral shrine.
The original could not leave Hanchuan, so Xiao Yuan had only asked Xia Lanshi to copy the crucial contents. When the paper was handed to Su Muchen, he looked at it for a long time, and his expression gradually turned cold.
“So the commander defending Hanchuan wasn’t sick at all?”
“Mm.”
“He’s the Crown Prince’s man?”
“Not entirely,” Xiao Yuan said. “He’s merely afraid of the Crown Prince.”
Su Muchen raised his eyes, unable to hide the anger in them.
“He was so afraid that he pretended to be sick and watched an entire city starve to death?”
Xiao Yuan fell silent.
There were some things that, no matter how often he had seen them, did not mean he could grow accustomed to them.
Su Muchen set down the copy and suddenly felt a little tightness in his chest.
He thought of those people in the modern world who sat in conference rooms deciding whom to lay off, deciding to cut frontline medical staff, deciding to let AI replace human workers.
He thought of those bloodless documents from the Sheng Corporation.
He thought of Advisor Xu standing outside the door, gently saying the word “reminder.”
The two worlds appeared different.
Yet the ways some people committed evil were actually so similar.
They never killed anyone with their own hands.
They merely took away the resources, pushed away the responsibility, forced people into desperate situations, and then said that they had no choice either.
Su Muchen gave a cold laugh.
“How convenient.”
Xiao Yuan looked at him.
Su Muchen said, “As long as you say you had no choice, it seems like nobody has to take responsibility.”
Owl stood to one side. For once, he did not make any jokes.
Xiao Yuan said quietly, “He’ll face military law.”
“He should,” Su Muchen said.
After saying that, he lowered his head and opened the Hanchuan chart. In the column for the commander, he wrote: Du Wenzhou, feigned illness, involved in secret order from the Crown Prince.
After writing it, he looked at Xiao Yuan again.
“Can Qin Feng handle Hanchuan’s military affairs?”
Xiao Yuan nodded.
“He can. He held up for these three days.”
“That’s good.” Su Muchen let out a breath. “At least the military won’t hold us back anymore.”
As he spoke, he pushed the soil sample bags and seed record forms back over.
“There has been progress here too. The agricultural AI’s preliminary assessment is that, if the Northern Frontier’s soil isn’t too bad, potatoes have the highest chance of success. Oats and buckwheat can also be tried. Winter wheat will depend on the snow season and sowing time. Winter vegetables can first be grown in small quantities in a sunken bed.”
Xiao Yuan listened attentively.
Although those terms were still unfamiliar to him, he already knew that these little things would be more important than a cartload of gold.
Su Muchen added, “Also, don’t rush to let too many people know about the trial planting. Du Wenzhou’s case shows that Hanchuan’s interior may not be completely clean. Seeds are more dangerous than marching pills because they will change the future.”
Xiao Yuan said, “I’ll entrust them to the people Qin Feng trusts most.”
“No.” Su Muchen shook his head. “Leaving everything to Qin Feng isn’t enough either. People can have accidents. They can be transferred away, and they can be threatened. You need to establish a system.”
Xiao Yuan was slightly startled.
Su Muchen wrote several phrases on the paper.
Trial planting register.
Seed distribution supervisors.
Harvest records.
Seed retention ratio.
Dispersed grain cellars.
Military farm confidentiality levels.
“Where every batch of seeds goes, who’s responsible, how much is harvested, and how much is kept—you can’t rely only on people remembering, and you can’t rely only on trust. Trust is important, but a system can prevent the whole thing from collapsing when one person falls.”
Xiao Yuan looked at those lines and did not speak for a long time.
Su Muchen raised his head.
“What is it?”
Xiao Yuan said quietly, “If you were in Dasheng, you would be a very good minister of governance.”
Su Muchen froze for a moment.
Then he refused expressionlessly.
“No, thank you. I’m not going. I don’t even have household registration over in your world. Besides, I look up a lot of this knowledge online.”
His actual profession was that of a doctor, yet for Xiao Yuan’s sake, he had practically forced himself to research a great deal of knowledge unrelated to his profession.
Fortunately, the internet was highly developed on this side. Whatever he wanted to know, he only needed to search for it online or ask AI, and he could get an answer.
A trace of amusement appeared in Xiao Yuan’s eyes.
“What if one day the door lets you come over?”
Su Muchen’s fingers paused slightly.
The question had come too suddenly. His first instinct was to say that it was impossible.
But before the words could leave his mouth, he remembered that line from the ancient records—
When karma remains unfinished, the road cannot be cut off.
The door had never acted according to his wishes.
Perhaps one day, he really would walk through it.
Perhaps that day was closer than he imagined.
Su Muchen lowered his eyes and picked up his pen again.
“We’ll talk about it when it lets me go over.”
Xiao Yuan did not press him.
He merely softly said, “All right.”
Just one short word, yet it sounded like some kind of promise.
He thought that if one day Su Muchen really could come over, he would take him to meet Xia Lanshi, his second patient, as well as Chi Banyue.
He would also take him all around Dasheng to see its scenery.
At the thought that such a day might truly come, he secretly made up his mind as well.
His “plan” had to succeed.
The wind and snow outside the door still had not stopped.
The fourth day in Hanchuan was about to pass.
The commander who had feigned illness had been dragged from his bed. A corner of the Crown Prince’s web had been torn open. The seeds were about to enter the soil of the Northern Frontier.
And inside Guichen Studio, Su Muchen placed the wooden token from the Hanchuan porridge kitchen into the very back of a drawer.
Beside it was the first medicine record Xiao Yuan had left behind.
One end was wounds.
The other was grain seeds.
What that door had brought was no longer merely gold and debts.
Little by little, it was winding together the destinies of two people, along with the wind and snow and lights of two worlds.