The small courtyard suddenly became quiet. Steward Old Qian gently knocked on the open courtyard gate. Only after receiving Dan Ying’s permission did he enter, saying to Yun Ye: “Marquis, someone from the academy says everything is ready.” After speaking, he stood bent at the waist behind Yun Ye without moving.

It had been agreed upon beforehand—if the academy was prepared, Old Qian would come report that they weren’t ready yet, and if they weren’t prepared, he would say they were ready. This way, whatever scheme Yun Ye had, there would be ample room to maneuver. Hearing Old Qian say this, Yun Ye knew the academy must have encountered a problem. Needless to say, that old fellow Gongshu Mu must have devised even more vicious mechanisms, preparing to test them on Dan Ying.

“I never leave loose ends in my affairs. Rest assured, no one will think I did anything I shouldn’t have. Everyone who saw my face is dead.”

Apart from being somewhat young, Dan Ying still had quite a good grasp of human nature. Seeing Yun Ye hesitate, he knew he was worried about being exposed and inviting other troubles, so he spoke up to explain.

“I just don’t understand how you made contact with that person. You should be people from two different worlds.” No matter how he thought about it, Yun Ye couldn’t figure out the ins and outs of the matter.

“One day I went to the countryside to buy pigs. A woman carrying a child on her back was fleeing, with two big men chasing behind her. When they caught up, they tore at the woman’s clothes. Originally it wasn’t my business—rape and pillage is a bandit’s trade. If bandits don’t do bad things, should they do good things? They could rape their people properly, I could herd my pigs properly—the well water doesn’t interfere with the river water.”

“Who knew when they saw me coming, they stopped raping and took out a broken knife, preparing to kill me. That was where they went wrong. I could only reluctantly sell those two fellows to the hard labor pit run by the court. That place accepts anyone—as long as they’re strong and able-bodied. The officials always feel there aren’t enough people to dig coal, and they die quickly. The prisoners can’t keep up with the supply. I said those two fellows were bandits. The officials didn’t even ask questions, just rewarded me two strings of cash. More profitable than selling pork, and they told me that in the future, if I have more bandits, just send them there. Fixed prices, fair to young and old alike.”

Dan Ying spoke plainly, but Yun Ye and Steward Qian listened with cold sweat pouring down. That coal workshop was an enterprise of Yun Ye and Zhangsun. The Yun family held twenty percent shares, while Zhangsun alone swallowed eighty percent. The Yun family only ever collected copper cash each month, never caring where the cash came from or how it came. Hearing Dan Ying describe it so horrifyingly, it seemed that as long as people were sent there, the workshop didn’t care at all how they arrived, whether they were good people or bad people.

Yun Ye glared at Qian Tong. When had the Yun family become bloodsuckers? For a few copper coins, risking their reputation—it was too worthless. This fellow Dan Ying probably knew this was a Yun family enterprise and deliberately said it to disgust people.

“What business is it of yours what people the workshop uses? You still haven’t explained your own affairs.” The Yun family could correct mistakes and must correct them, but didn’t allow others to nitpick—this was a matter of principle.

“Didn’t I just say it? Those two fellows were sold to the hard labor pit by me. Before selling them, I had to ask about the situation clearly. Hearing them say they burned Chang’an city, I was naturally pleased, so I inquired who actually did it. The result—I really did find out. The ringleader was the boss of that fish shop in the market. Who would have thought that the chubby Zhou Dafu was actually such a fine person? So I casually told him about my family affairs. He tested me several times, and finally, seeing my skills were decent, invited me to do great deeds. That’s how it happened.”

If Dan Ying said he left no loose ends, then he definitely wouldn’t leave any flaws. As for those few Bai Qi Si agents who died, if they died, so be it. How many good people worked in espionage? Even if Hong Cheng died, at most Yun Ye would go to his home to pay respects and send a generous gift to the orphans and widows, and that would be that.

The main thing was this Dan Ying. Yun Ye desperately wanted to bring him into the Yun family. Young and naive, with superior martial skills, and born into a bandit family—those underworld tricks and schemes probably couldn’t escape his eyes. He was a highly cost-effective talent. It was just that this fellow kept scheming after Daya, which was somewhat regrettable. Yun Ye didn’t plan to marry his sister to a genuine desperado. As a hired hand, it could be considered, but as a brother-in-law, forget it.

“The academy’s maze changes in myriad ways. I’m worried you’ll be injured. Since it’s already late, I think it should be held in daylight tomorrow. You like butchering pigs, so stay in your butcher shop. No one will come looking for you. After you fail to break through the formation tomorrow, go study at the academy. In the future, get yourself some official position, properly find a wife to continue the family line. Stop drifting about.”

“Are you so certain I’ll definitely fail to break through the formation?” Dan Ying refused to accept it, asking with his neck stiffened.

“You ask my steward if he has confidence in you breaking through the formation.” Qian Tong immediately shook his head like a rattle drum, indicating he had not a bit of confidence.

“Even if I marry a wife, I’ll only marry Daya. Big brother-in-law, you prepare the dowry. Here are several letters—my master wrote them to Qin Qiong, Cheng Zhijie, and Li Shiji. You know people well, so I won’t go. Just deliver them for me.”

Dan Ying pulled three letters from his clothes and handed them to Yun Ye. Yun Ye took the letters and looked at the signature—it read “name withheld” in four characters. Currently, of these three, only Qin Qiong was still in Chang’an. The other two were commanding troops in the military and would need at least a month to return. However, having connections was good. These three could worry about this fellow’s identity problem. He just needed to capture the person.

“Those three are your elders. Would calling them uncle or elder kill you?” It was clear this kid still harbored resentment in his heart after all.

This time Dan Ying didn’t contradict Yun Ye. He lowered his head to think, then said: “Tomorrow at sunrise, I’ll go to the academy to see for myself.” After speaking, he leaped up onto the wooden frame, then onto the roof, disappearing from sight.

Returning home, the first thing Yun Ye did was call Daya over, instructing her to sleep with Xinyue tonight while he slept in the outer room. He had to watch carefully—if she were snatched away by that wolf Dan Ying, wouldn’t he cry himself to death?

He gave the old soldiers a kill order—if anyone dared come to the rear courtyard, greet them with longbows and crossbows, showing no mercy.

Staring with wide eyes all night long, nothing happened at home. Seeing dawn about to break, Yun Ye stretched, poked his head in to look at the inner room—Daya and Xinyue were still sleeping. Only then did he relax, rubbed his face, and pushed open the door to go out. But he heard Daya’s voice come through: “Brother, can you not hurt that pork seller? He means no harm.”

“Sleep. You don’t need to worry about outside affairs. Just grow up happy and carefree.”

Could this girl have developed favorable feelings toward Dan Ying? Yun Ye muttered as he finished washing up, packed a bundle of food, harnessed Wang Cai, and rode in a light carriage to the academy. The old soldiers also mounted horses, guarding all around.

Arriving at the academy entrance, Old Gongshu, with reddened eyes, was extraordinarily spirited. From afar he said to Yun Ye: “Where’s the person you found to break through? Last night this old man designed two more mechanisms. I don’t know if the person you found can safely pass today. Although they’re not vicious life-threatening mechanisms, wanting to emerge completely unscathed—in this old man’s view, that’s wishful thinking.”

“We’ll know after the contest. What you’re saying now is still premature.” Dan Ying jumped down from a cypress tree at the academy’s main entrance. Dressed in fitted clothing with his hair tied in a ponytail hanging behind his head, he naturally possessed a heroic air.

Yun Ye took the bundle from his shoulder, preparing to hand it to Dan Ying so he could eat his fill before attempting the formation. Li Tai’s hand reached over from the side, unceremoniously taking the bundle away. He spread it on the ground and opened it, stuffed a bun in his mouth, grabbed several more in his hand, mumbled something while speaking, and handed the buns in his hand to Old Gongshu.

Dan Ying looked viciously at Li Tai and asked Yun Ye: “What’s this fellow saying?”

“He says there’s no need to give you so much food. You’ll only need a quarter hour before you escape. What’s the point of eating so much?” Yun Ye translated for Li Tai.

“Can I beat him up?”

“If you become a student at the academy, on the premise of not injuring him, as long as it’s during martial arts class, theoretically you can.”

Dan Ying ate very quickly. More than ten buns rapidly entered his stomach. He opened the bamboo water bottle, drank a bottle of cold tea, then wiped his mouth and walked toward the main gate. Halfway there, he turned back to Yun Ye and said: “Yesterday you tricked me, wasting an entire night for nothing, letting you perfect the mechanisms. But considering you brought me breakfast, I forgive you.”

It wasn’t yet time for morning lessons. All the busybodies in the academy poured out, mouths holding steamed buns or meat buns, hands holding bowls of porridge, chopsticks skewering two more buns or steamed buns, watching the monkey show with great interest.

Sure enough, Dan Ying quickly poked his head out from the opposite doorway, looking out, somewhat embarrassed. The academy students immediately erupted in boos. Under forceful spectating, the sure-footed Dan Ying returned to the door entrance preparing to enter again, but amid the students’ roaring laughter, he stepped into empty air and nearly fell. Fortunately his movements were agile—supporting himself with one hand, he stood up again, causing the academy students to laugh themselves silly. Truth be told, they all had the bad habit of watching newcomers make fools of themselves in the maze.

This time took longer. A series of clattering sounds came from inside the maze. “This kid triggered the crossbow formation. Don’t worry—there are no arrowheads. Landing on the body will at most hurt a bit and get dusted with white powder. Oh right, Xiao Tai, I told you to adjust the mechanism’s force to three. Did you adjust it properly?”

“Aiya, your disciple heard wrong and adjusted the mechanism to four. Next time I definitely won’t make this mistake again. Master, please forgive me.” Li Tai still had that punchable appearance. Yun Ye could only pray Dan Ying’s skills were good enough. Before he could think up the prayer, he heard a thunderous rumbling from inside the corridor, as if something was rolling. Dan Ying suddenly shot out from the door, panicked like a stray dog that lost its home. Immediately after, an enormous stone ball rolled out from the doorway with tremendous force, making Yun Ye’s face turn deathly pale.

“No harm. It’s a hollow wooden ball, just painted with a layer of cement. Won’t kill anyone.” Old Gongshu glanced at Dan Ying lying on the ground and slowly said: “If it were a stone ball, he’d already be crushed into a meat patty.”

Lying on the ground, Dan Ying heard these words and was too ashamed to face anyone. Those damned students, biting their steamed buns while surrounding Dan Ying commenting and critiquing, some offering advice, but most were just watching his humiliation.

Dan Ying practically wanted to bury his head in the earth, roaring internally: “You bastards, once this old man enters the academy, I’ll beat each of you one by one!”