Unpacking sounded simple, but in practice, it was anything but easy.
Especially when those things were not being sent to modern customers, but to an ancient dynasty that had never been recorded in history, where imperial authority was absolute and where any random foreign object could potentially bring about a death sentence.
Su Mu Chen squatted on the floor, with several large bags of newly delivered supplies laid out in front of him.
One bag of medical supplies.
One bag of drinking-water supplies.
One bag of hygiene products.
One bag of food and cold-weather supplies.
Xiao, meanwhile, sat on a small stool beside him, lazily removing the outer boxes from the bars of soap.
He worked quickly.
As his fingers moved, the paper boxes printed with modern brand names and barcodes were swiftly peeled away, leaving only the white, pale-yellow, or transparent bars of soap. They were then rewrapped in plain oil paper.
They really did look like some kind of exotic foreign goods.
Su Mu Chen glanced at him and noticed how practiced his movements were.
“You’ve done this kind of thing before?”
Without even looking up, Xiao said, “Running a shop. You have to package all kinds of goods.”
Su Mu Chen rolled his eyes. “Every time I hear you say ‘running a shop,’ I get the urge to wrap you up and mail you away.”
Xiao grinned. “Would you really be willing to?”
Su Mu Chen said coldly, “You can try.”
Xiao wisely shut up for three seconds.
Then he leisurely added, “There aren’t enough bars of soap.”
Su Mu Chen lowered his head and looked at the list.
“The first batch is only for trial use. We can’t send too much. If Xiao Yuan really does have an epidemic over there, we’ll need to purchase a large quantity later. We’ll also have to find cheaper varieties with less packaging and less noticeable scents.”
He paused, then added, “Preferably fragrance-free, with simple ingredients.”
Xiao propped his chin on his hand and looked at him. “Young Master, you’re becoming more and more like a boss.”
“I don’t want to be a boss.” Su Mu Chen opened a box of masks. “But fate insists on making me a boss with debts.”
“Promising.”
“Thanks. If you like it, I’ll give that promise to you for free.”
Xiao laughed.
“Also, stop calling me Young Master. It sounds weird.”
“Then what should I call you? Young Sir? Boss?”
Su Mu Chen rolled his eyes again. Could this man just talk normally for once?
“Just call me Mu Chen. That’s what my friends call me.”
“Okay.”
Su Mu Chen ignored him and continued sorting the supplies.
All modern packaging had to be removed.
Plastic bags, instruction sheets, barcodes, brand logos, batch numbers, manufacturing dates—none of them could be left behind.
The medicines were the most troublesome.
Su Mu Chen did not dare hand the entire boxes of medicine directly to Xiao Yuan. He could only divide them into small portions, wrap them in clean oil paper, and write simplified instructions for use on the outside.
Antipyretic and painkiller: twice a day. Use for high fever. Do not exceed the dosage.
Anti-inflammatory medicine: twice a day, after meals, for three consecutive days. Do not stop midway without reason.
This time, he wrote very slowly.
Not because the characters were difficult to write, but because every single character could mean the difference between life and death.
There were no modern testing devices in ancient times, nor any monitoring of medication use.
Once the medicine was taken over there, how it was used would depend entirely on Xiao Yuan and the chief aide beside him.
That made Su Mu Chen very uneasy.
But if he did not bring the medicine over, even more people might die.
He held the brush and remained silent for a long time. Finally, he added another line to the outside of several packets of medicine.
—Observe the symptoms before use. Do not take it indiscriminately if the symptoms are unclear.
Xiao noticed that line and raised an eyebrow slightly. “Will they understand that?”
“At least Xiao Yuan will.”
“You trust him?”
Su Mu Chen’s fingers paused.
“It’s not that I trust him.”
He lowered his head and continued writing.
“It’s that he temporarily has no one else to rely on, and I have no one else I can trust.”
The smile at the corner of Xiao’s lips faded slightly.
Those words were too realistic, and too much like Su Mu Chen.
This young man looked gentle and refined, but his heart was hard.
Not the cold, ruthless kind of hard, but the kind of hardness life had forced upon him.
Like a stone worn smooth by water. Its edges were no longer sharp, but neither was it easy to break.
The two of them worked until the afternoon, and the front hall of Guichen Studio had been completely transformed.
The shelves that had originally been piled with clutter were reorganized.
Scent sachets, old books, porcelain, tea tins, handmade soap, paper umbrellas, and wood carvings were all neatly arranged by category.
After the tables and chairs by the window were wiped clean, the place unexpectedly took on a somewhat rustic and tranquil atmosphere.
Su Mu Chen then rummaged through the storage room and found a small wooden sign. He wiped away the dust and rewrote a few words.
—Guichen Studio, Now Reopened.
Beside it, he wrote another line in smaller characters.
Antiques, Secondhand Goods, Tea, Incense, Exotic Foreign Goods.
Xiao stood beside him and whistled.
“Mu Chen, your handwriting… has a lot of character.”
Su Mu Chen looked up and said irritably, “If you want to say it’s ugly, just say it.”
“It’s not ugly.”
“Then what is it?”
“It looks like a doctor’s prescription. Only the person who wrote it can understand it.”
Su Mu Chen: “…”
He silently took the wooden sign back and rewrote it.
It still looked like a doctor’s prescription.
Forget it. As long as he could read it himself, that was enough.
In the evening, Guichen Studio welcomed its first customer after reopening.
An elderly woman who lived nearby.
She leaned on an umbrella as she slowly walked into the shop. She first looked at the newly displayed handmade soap, then at the tea tins by the window. In the end, she bought a packet of aged tea and two bars of the repackaged soap.
While paying, she stared at Su Mu Chen for quite a while.
“Are you that child from the Su family?”
Su Mu Chen froze.
“You know me?”
The old woman smiled. “You came here once when you were little. Your grandfather was holding your hand. You were only this tall back then.”
She held out her hand to indicate a height only as high as the counter.
Su Mu Chen was silent for a moment.
“You still remember?”
“I remember.” The old woman said, “Your grandfather doted on you very much back then. He bought you some candy. You didn’t like to talk, so you just clutched the candy wrapper and stared at the door.”
Something suddenly pricked lightly at Su Mu Chen’s heart.
He had forgotten about this long ago.
Or rather, he had thought he had forgotten.
But when the old woman mentioned it, vague images unexpectedly surfaced in his mind.
His grandfather’s dry, warm hand.
The candy in his palm.
And that silent door.
Before leaving with her purchases, the old woman looked back at the shop and sighed.
“After your grandfather passed away, this shop never had much business. Now that you’re back, that’s a good thing.”
Su Mu Chen stood behind the counter and said nothing for a long time.
Xiao leaned against the shelf and, unusually, did not make any jokes.
Only after the sound of the brass bell had completely faded did Su Mu Chen speak softly.
“I actually don’t remember much about him.”
Xiao looked at him.
Su Mu Chen lowered his eyes. “I was too young when my grandfather died. Later, I lived alone for too long, and some things became more and more blurred.”
He paused, then smiled somewhat self-deprecatingly.
“I only remember that he treated me well.”
But the word “well” was too short.
So short that it was not enough to support all those years of loneliness.
Xiao was silent for a moment before saying, “The old man really did love you very much.”
Su Mu Chen looked up. “You were really there back then?”
Xiao smiled. “I told you. Your grandfather hired me.”
“How old are you, anyway?”
“Personal privacy.”
Su Mu Chen rolled his eyes and could not be bothered to ask anymore.
After all, whenever Xiao did not want to say something, his mouth was harder to pry open than that door.
But at that moment, he suddenly felt that inheriting this shop was not such a bad thing after all.
Although its source of income was unstable, it was filled with stories and human warmth.
When night fell, all the supplies in the shop had been prepared.
The first batch was not very large.
Two boxes of medical supplies.
One box of water-treatment supplies.
One box of soap and hygiene products.
Half a box of compressed biscuits and nutritional powder.
And several sets of instructions handwritten by Su Mu Chen.
Xiao looked at the boxes and said, “These things should be fine when they pass through the door.”
“Should?”
“When it comes to the door, no one can guarantee anything one hundred percent.”
Su Mu Chen glanced at him.
“You’re exactly the kind of person who would say that before surgery and scare the patient to death.”
Xiao laughed. “That’s why I’m not a doctor.”
Su Mu Chen crouched down and checked the list one final time.
He placed the medication instruction sheets into a separate waterproof bag and wrote four words on the bag:
“For Xiao Yuan’s Attention.”
After writing those four characters, he himself froze for a moment.
For his attention.
It made it sound like a letter.
He frowned and wanted to cross out those words.
But before the pen could touch the paper again, he stopped.
In the end, he left them there.
Xiao watched from the side, his smile meaningful.
Su Mu Chen said coldly, “What are you looking at?”
“Watching you write medical instructions.”
“…”
Su Mu Chen stuffed the waterproof bag into the box and decided not to bother with him.
Eleven-thirty at night.
Guichen Studio became quiet right on schedule.
Su Mu Chen sat behind the counter, with a notebook, the supply list, and a newly purchased cheap backup phone in front of him.
His original phone had been completely ruined after Xiao Yuan touched it.
His heart had ached over it for the entire day.
In the end, he had gritted his teeth and bought a cheap replacement.
When he bought it, he had specifically reminded himself—
This expense had to be charged to Xiao Yuan’s account too.
11:57 p.m.
A familiar sound came from deep within the corridor.
Click.
Cold white light once again seeped through the crack in the door.
Su Mu Chen raised his head.
This time, he did not lose control of his heartbeat like he had the previous two times.
Or rather, his heart was still beating quickly, but he seemed to be gradually getting used to everything happening before his eyes.
Xiao Yuan stepped out from the light.
He was still wearing dark-colored robes today, but the cloak over them had been replaced with one bearing subtler patterns. His complexion looked better than it had the previous night. His lips were still pale, but his eyes were much clearer.
At least, he no longer looked as though he might collapse at any moment.
In his hands, he was still holding a wooden box that looked quite heavy.
Su Mu Chen’s first reaction was to pick up the infrared thermometer.
When Xiao Yuan saw the object, his footsteps paused almost imperceptibly for a moment.
Su Mu Chen said coldly, “Come here.”
Xiao Yuan was silent for a moment, placed the wooden box on the counter, and then walked over.
Beep.
37.6°C.
Su Mu Chen glanced at the number, and his expression softened slightly.
“It’s down.”
Xiao Yuan said, “I took the medicine.”
His tone was calm.
But for some reason, Su Mu Chen heard a faint sense of having completed a task in those words.
He wanted to laugh, but held it back.
“What about the wounds?”
“They haven’t reopened.”
“I’ll be the judge of that after I look.”
Xiao Yuan: “…”
Su Mu Chen finished examining Xiao Yuan’s wounds and found that they were indeed more stable than they had been the previous night.
Although they were still red and swollen, there was no longer any significant bleeding.
For some reason, his mood improved considerably, and he even felt a trace of pride. It proved that his treatment had been effective.
“Not bad. You’ve been obedient.”
Xiao Yuan lowered his gaze to look at him.
“Obedient?”
Su Mu Chen’s hands paused.
Only then did he realize that he had used the same tone he normally used with patients on an ancient prince.
But the words were already out. There was no point taking them back.
His expression remained unchanged.
“Yes. Patients should follow medical instructions.”
Xiao Yuan looked at him for a moment but did not argue.
He merely said quietly,
“Your medicine works.”
“Of course it does.”
Xiao Yuan: “…”
This person was truly unsuited to receiving praise.
The moment he was complimented, he immediately became prickly.
Su Mu Chen re-bandaged the wound and nodded in satisfaction.
“Follow-up examination complete. But you still need to be careful. Watch the wound and avoid infection. Continue taking the medication.”
Xiao Yuan pointed to the wooden box on the counter.
“The remainder of the medical fees, as well as procurement funds.”
Su Mu Chen glanced at it. The box looked about the same size as yesterday’s, so the amount was probably similar as well.
He had Xiao deal with the gold.
Then he asked,
“Did you bring the information?”
Xiao Yuan took a rolled-up sheet of paper from his sleeve.
The paper was yellowed with age. After it was unfolded, it revealed a simple map of the Northern Frontier.
The lines were clean and concise, roughly marking mountains, cities, water sources, and military camps, making everything clear at a glance.
Su Mu Chen’s eyes lit up.
It was even better than he had imagined.
“You drew this?”
“Xia Lan Shi drew it.”
Su Mu Chen paused.
An unfamiliar name.
“Your Chief Secretary?”
Xiao Yuan nodded.
“He asked many questions.”
“What kind of questions?”
“Who you are. Why you wanted this information. Whether you are trustworthy.”
Su Mu Chen asked,
“And what did you say?”
Xiao Yuan replied calmly,
“I said you are a physician from another world and my lifesaver.”
Su Mu Chen: “…”
After a moment of silence, he said helplessly,
“Why does that sound like something a swindler would say?”
A trace of amusement flashed through Xiao Yuan’s eyes, but he did not answer.
He pushed another sheet of paper toward him.
It was densely covered with writing, the handwriting lean and orderly.
Su Mu Chen lowered his head and read for a while.
The writing system of Great Sheng was similar to modern Traditional Chinese. Although there were some variant characters, most of it was understandable.
The document recorded the current situation in the Northern Frontier.
Three cities had been affected by the epidemic.
One of them was the most severely affected.
Symptoms included high fever, diarrhea, vomiting, and fatigue.
The water sources were murky and foul-smelling.
Large numbers of refugees were gathered outside the cities.
There were approximately eight hundred wounded soldiers in the army.
Less than thirty percent of the necessary medicinal herbs remained available.
Food supplies could only last for half a month.
Clean water was insufficient.
The further he read, the deeper Su Mu Chen’s frown became.
“This isn’t just a problem of ordinary injuries.”
Xiao Yuan watched him.
Su Mu Chen pointed at one section.
“High fever, diarrhea, vomiting, combined with contaminated water sources. This could be a waterborne infectious disease. I can’t determine exactly what it is, but the water sources must be controlled immediately.”
Xiao Yuan’s voice turned serious.
“How should they be controlled?”
Su Mu Chen picked up a pen and circled several water sources on the map.
“Immediately assign guards to these locations. Sick people and healthy people cannot use the same water collection points. All drinking water must be boiled or treated with the purification tablets I gave you.”
Xiao Yuan listened very carefully and committed every word to memory.
“What about the bodies?”
Su Mu Chen asked.
Xiao Yuan was silent for a moment.
“They were buried hastily.”
Su Mu Chen closed his eyes briefly.
“That won’t do. They must be buried deeply, far from water sources. Cremation would be best, but that may not be practical where you are. At the very least, they cannot be near rivers or wells.”
Xiao Yuan nodded.
“The Northern Frontier is cold. Firewood is needed for heating. There is no surplus. We can only conduct centralized deep burials.”
Su Mu Chen continued,
“The sick must be isolated in designated areas. Caregivers should be fixed personnel and must not move around freely. Wash hands before and after providing care. Use soap. If there is no soap, use wood ash and hot water. But for now, I’m giving you soap.”
As he spoke, he opened the boxes.
Xiao Yuan looked at the neatly packed items and paused slightly.
Every single item had been repackaged.
Some even had writing on the outside.
Purpose.
Instructions.
Warnings.
There were even simple illustrations.
This was not a batch of goods that had been hastily thrown together.
These were things Su Mu Chen had carefully prepared.
Xiao Yuan reached out and picked up a package of soap.
Four characters were written on the oil paper.
Soap for handwashing.
The writing was barely recognizable as words.
Below it was a crude drawing of something resembling a strange insect.
Xiao Yuan looked at it for a moment and asked suspiciously,
“Is this a hand?”
Su Mu Chen: “…”
Behind him, Xiao burst out laughing.
Expressionless, Su Mu Chen took the soap back and stuffed it into the box.
“As long as you can understand it, stop being picky.”
Xiao Yuan said quietly,
“It’s quite good.”
Su Mu Chen froze.
Xiao Yuan’s expression remained calm.
“It’s more thorough than I expected.”
For some reason, Su Mu Chen suddenly felt uncomfortable.
“This is only the first batch. A lot of things are still insufficient. Have people test them first. If they prove effective, then expand their use.”
Xiao Yuan nodded.
Su Mu Chen took out a packet of compressed biscuits and broke off a piece for him.
“This can be eaten. It doesn’t taste good, but it fills the stomach.”
Xiao Yuan accepted it and examined it.
“Can it be stored for a long time?”
“Yes.”
“It can be used by the army.”
Su Mu Chen said,
“But don’t let people know you have a lot of it. Starving people will steal. Armies are no different.”
Xiao Yuan looked up at him.
Su Mu Chen’s tone remained calm.
“I told you before. It’s not enough to have supplies. You also need to be able to distribute them. First, you must control the right to allocate them.”
Xiao Yuan said quietly,
“I understand.”
Of course he understood.
Food supplies had never been merely food supplies.
They were morale.
They were power.
And at the same time, they were also a blade.
Su Mu Chen pulled out a thicker stack of papers from the box.
“This is the first version of the emergency handbook I wrote.”
Xiao Yuan accepted it.
Several words were written on the cover page.
—Brief Emergency Guide for Epidemics and Wounded Soldiers in the Northern Frontier
The handwriting was still not particularly attractive.
But the contents were clear and well organized.
One: Drinking Water.
Two: Isolation.
Three: Hygiene.
Four: Wound Treatment.
Five: Medication Precautions.
Six: Supply Distribution.
Seven: Reporting Unusual Situations.
Xiao Yuan turned the pages one by one, moving very slowly.
The papers were light.
Yet they felt heavy.
Heavier than gold.
Gold could buy things.
But these words could save lives.
“I will have Xia Lan Shi make copies.”
“You can, but don’t let too many people know where it came from.”
“I will say it came from a foreign medical text.”
“…Fine.”
Su Mu Chen could not help thinking to himself that overseas trade routes really were the universal scapegoat.
Xiao carried the last box of supplies to the door and clapped his hands.
“Alright. Here’s the problem. How is Your Highness planning to move all of this back tonight?”
Xiao Yuan looked at the boxes.
Given his injuries, personally carrying them was obviously inappropriate.
It was not that he lacked the strength.
It was simply that his physician—Su Mu Chen—was staring at him with a warning look.
But he could not bring anyone else through the door.
Su Mu Chen thought for a moment.
“Can we push the boxes through the door?”
Xiao said,
“We can try.”
Xiao Yuan grasped the bronze ring.
White light appeared within the crack of the door.
Standing nearby, Su Mu Chen still felt somewhat nervous.
The first box contained soap and hygiene supplies and was fairly heavy.
Xiao pushed it to the doorway but did not immediately send it through. Instead, he looked at Xiao Yuan.
Xiao Yuan placed a hand on the box and gently pushed.
A moment later, he said,
“It can pass through.”
Then he pushed it forward.
The box disappeared into the white light.
There was no sound.
No terrifying mutation.
The box vanished beyond the door.
Su Mu Chen let out a breath of relief.
“It worked.”
Then came the second box.
And the third.
But when the fourth box was pushed through, the cloud-and-water pattern on the door suddenly flashed.
The white light wavered slightly.
Su Mu Chen’s heart tightened.
“What happened?”
Xiao raised a hand to stop him.
“We’ve reached the limit.”
Xiao Yuan’s expression also darkened.
The light in the crack of the door was noticeably dimmer than before.
Looking at the remaining half-box of supplies, Su Mu Chen frowned.
“We can’t send any more tonight?”
“Best not to.”
Xiao Yuan said in a low voice,
“And if we force it through?”
Xiao glanced at him.
“If Your Highness wants these supplies shattered inside the crack of the door, or wants the door to never open again tomorrow, feel free to try.”
Su Mu Chen immediately said,
“Then we’re not sending any more.”
Xiao Yuan looked at him.
Su Mu Chen’s tone was firm.
“The rest can wait until tomorrow night. We can’t gamble the entire door over half a box of supplies.”
After a moment of silence, Xiao Yuan nodded.
“Very well.”
Su Mu Chen picked up a notebook and recorded the supplies that had been sent over and everything that had happened tonight.
Once they gradually figured out the rules, it would be much easier to plan future deliveries.
Holding the emergency handbook, Xiao Yuan stood before the door.
Su Mu Chen handed him the final bag of medicine.
“Keep this one with you. Your medicine is different from theirs. Don’t mix them up.”
Xiao Yuan nodded and accepted it.
“Will you come again tomorrow night?”
The moment the words left his mouth, Su Mu Chen realized that the question sounded a little strange.
He had only meant to confirm the handover of the next batch of supplies.
Yet somehow, it sounded like he was asking something else.
Xiao Yuan looked at him.
“I will.”
He answered very quickly.
Su Mu Chen lowered his head, avoiding his gaze.
“Bring feedback. Whether the supplies are useful, where there are problems, and what is still lacking—all of it must be recorded clearly.”
“Okay.”
“And take your medicine.”
“I know.”
“Don’t get into fights.”
Xiao Yuan fell silent.
Su Mu Chen looked up. “Why are you silent?”
Xiao Yuan said, “I can’t guarantee that.”
Su Mu Chen: “…”
He suddenly really wanted to throw the remaining half-box of soap at him.
Seeing his expression, a faint trace of amusement appeared in Xiao Yuan’s eyes.
“I’ll do my best.”
Su Mu Chen said coldly, “You’d better. If your wound splits open again, next time I’ll stitch it without anesthesia.”
The white light lit up again.
Xiao Yuan turned around and walked into the door.
This time, he was still solitary and cold, and his circumstances were still dangerous.
But he now had a bag of medicine in his hand and an emergency handbook in his arms.
Behind him were several boxes of supplies from another world, like someone about to return to the battlefield.
Carrying with him a faint but real chance of survival.
It seemed that the road he was about to take had become just a little less arduous.
After the door closed, Su Mu Chen stood there for a long time.
Xiao looked at him. “Worried?”
Su Mu Chen came back to himself and said indifferently, “I’m worried that my only customer will die.”
Xiao laughed. “Mm. Customer.”
Su Mu Chen turned and walked toward the counter.
“Stop being so sarcastic.”
Xiao followed behind him, his tone lazy.
“Mu Chen, have you noticed?”
“What?”
“You don’t seem as eager to sell the shop as you were the day before yesterday.”
Su Mu Chen’s footsteps stopped.
Xiao smiled.
“Guichen Studio is really starting to become your shop.”
Su Mu Chen did not answer.
He looked at the reorganized shelves, at the words “Now Reopened” on the wooden sign, and then at the silent door deep inside.
Before the day before yesterday, his life had been simple.
Work.
Pay off his debts.
Stay alive.
Now, his goal was still to stay alive.
It was just that the path had changed.
He had gained a shop, a door, a mysterious employee who was full of riddles, a troublesome heir to a conglomerate,
and a prince who never seemed willing to properly recover from his injuries.
Su Mu Chen remained silent for a long time before finally saying quietly,
“Let’s just survive this month first.”
Xiao’s eyes curved slightly.
“That’s true.”
◆◇◆◇◆
At the same time.
Great Sheng, inside the secret chamber of Prince Su’s Residence, cold white light illuminated the darkness.
Several wooden boxes suddenly dropped onto the ground.
The sound immediately caused the people guarding outside the secret chamber to draw their swords.
“Who is it?!”
Xiao Yuan stepped out from the light.
“It’s me.”
The guards immediately knelt.
“Your Highness!”
In a corner of the secret chamber, a young man walked over gracefully.
He wore a moon-white cloak, its collar trimmed with a ring of soft white fox fur that made his face appear even paler.
Underneath was a plain white brocade robe. His entire figure resembled a slender bamboo growing from a field of snow—cold, delicate, and easily broken.
His long, snow-white hair was not completely tied up. Only half of it was loosely gathered with a white jade hairpin, while the rest cascaded down over his shoulders like a waterfall.
Beneath the loose strands falling beside his temples was a pair of extremely pale red eyes, like cinnabar washed clean by frost and snow in winter—clear and translucent, yet carrying a trace of something inhumanly strange.
His skin was unnaturally pale, and even his eyelashes were white.
The lamplight fell across his face. As the light and shadows shifted, his features possessed an almost transparent fragility, as though he might shatter at the slightest touch.
Yet deep within those red eyes lay a calmness and sharpness completely at odds with such fragility.
He coughed softly twice, covering his lips with his sleeve. After his breathing steadied, he slowly raised his eyes and let his gaze fall upon the several boxes he had never seen before.
“Your Highness.”
His voice was warm and gentle like jade. Upon closer listening, however, there was an unrestrained sharpness hidden beneath the gentleness, like the edge of porcelain—rounded in appearance, yet capable of cutting the hand.
“Are these the things you mentioned that the physician from another world gave you?”
Xiao Yuan handed him the emergency handbook.
“Xia Lan Shi, make arrangements according to this.”
Xia Lan Shi accepted the stack of papers and lowered his head to examine them carefully.
After a moment, his originally calm expression changed slightly.
“This person…”
He turned another page, astonishment appearing in his eyes.
“He understands epidemics, and he understands military order as well.”
Xiao Yuan said nothing.
Xia Lan Shi raised his head and looked at him.
“Your Highness trusts him?”
The secret chamber fell silent.
Xiao Yuan remembered Su Mu Chen lowering his head as he wrote.
He remembered him coldly handing over the medicine.
He remembered him saying, “Solve them one by one.”
After a long while, Xiao Yuan said calmly,
“For now.”
Xia Lan Shi heard the subtle difference in those words, and his brows moved slightly.
He had followed Xiao Yuan for many years.
He understood all too well that this prince never trusted anyone easily.
Even the words “for now” were already extraordinarily rare.
Xia Lan Shi lowered his eyes and looked at the papers in his hands.
The handwriting was not particularly attractive, and was even somewhat hurried.
But every single instruction was astonishingly practical.
He said softly,
“If this method works, the Northern Frontier may have hope.”
Xiao Yuan looked toward the several boxes, his gaze as deep as the night.
“It must be made to work.”
He paused, then continued,
“Before tomorrow, select the most trustworthy people. Isolate the patients, guard the water sources, treat the wounded soldiers, and distribute the supplies.”
Xia Lan Shi was slightly startled.
These arrangements were almost identical to the sections in the handbook.
It seemed Xiao Yuan had already memorized them.
He lowered his head.
“Yes.”
Xiao Yuan tightened his grip around the medicine bag.
The edge of the oil paper in his palm was somewhat rough.
Written on it were several words in handwriting that was not particularly attractive.
—Xiao Yuan, do not take indiscriminately.
He stared at those words for a long time.
The corner of his lips moved almost imperceptibly.
Xia Lan Shi happened to raise his eyes and saw this scene. His expression subtly froze.
Had His Highness just… smiled?
He already found Xiao Yuan’s circumstances these past few days strange enough—the door that could lead to another world, the physician from another world.
But compared to those things, Xiao Yuan smiling was even more bizarre.
Because from the time Xiao Yuan was young until now, almost no one had ever seen him smile.
The candlelight in the secret chamber flickered gently.
The wind and snow of the Northern Frontier had yet to reach the capital.
But some things had already arrived ahead of them from another world.