When Manlai Yaman returned from outside, his attendants followed behind him, carrying a pole with two large baskets hanging from each end — both filled to the brim with books.

This elderly man from the Western Regions, who had devoted more than half his life to studying Central Plains culture, was at that moment as happy as a child who had just received a beloved toy.

The moment Dong Qianyuan saw Manlai Yaman return, he immediately rushed over to greet him: “Uncle, you’re finally back.”

Manlai Yaman had already been a powerful minister of the Xiaoyueshi Kingdom back when Dong Qianyuan’s father was on the throne — one could even say he was the foremost figure beneath the king himself.

Before the old king passed away and handed the throne to his eldest son, Baolong Hua, he had admonished him to always respect Manlai Yaman and to govern the kingdom well.

The old king then summoned his second son, Dong Qianyuan, and astonishingly asked him to acknowledge Manlai Yaman as his adoptive father.

This startled everyone present at the time, especially Baolong Hua and Manlai Yaman himself.

Dong Qianyuan was a simpleton — the moment the old king told him to acknowledge Manlai Yaman as his adoptive father, he turned around and called out “Father” to Manlai Yaman on the spot.

This so frightened Manlai Yaman that he immediately knelt down and refused to accept the title no matter what was said. The old king had no choice but to say that Dong Qianyuan should simply treat him as a dear uncle instead.

Manlai Yaman had no way to refuse again and could only agree. From that day forward, Dong Qianyuan had always called him “Uncle.”

Perhaps the old king understood his eldest son far too well — a man who was ruthless and cruel, but absolutely a capable king.

Originally, the old king had four sons. Among them, the third was the most brilliant. But one day, the eleven-year-old third son took the seven-year-old fourth son out to play, and somehow, by some unknown cause, both fell into a lake. With so many guards present, not one was able to save either of the two princes.

The old king flew into a towering rage. The eldest son, Baolong Hua, also flew into a rage — the moment he learned the news, he led his personal troops and killed every last one of those guards.

But even that was not enough to appease his fury. He further ordered the slaughter of those guards’ entire families — men, women, old, and young alike — leaving not a single one.

Before the old king died, he had been thinking to himself: even if his second son was a simpleton… in the end, the eldest would likely still be unable to tolerate him.

He also thought back to when the second son was a teenager and went out to play with the eldest one day — how conveniently a stone had rolled down from the mountain and struck the second son directly on the head.

The second son had simply been lucky and did not die, but the blow had left him simple-minded.

The old king feared that this foolish son of his might one day be killed by the eldest for no apparent reason, and so he had arranged for the second son to acknowledge Manlai Yaman as his adoptive father.

Because the old king saw things with perfect clarity — he knew that the eldest could kill anyone, but he would never dare kill Manlai Yaman.

First, Manlai Yaman’s reputation within the Xiaoyueshi Kingdom was immense. He was revered as the foremost sage of the Xiaoyueshi Kingdom, and his disciples were too many to count — so many that if anything were to happen to him, it could destabilize even Baolong Hua’s throne.

Second, Manlai Yaman was also the Grand Shaman of the Xiaoyueshi Kingdom’s Sun Worshipping Faith, and the old king had even conferred upon him the title of National Advisor.

A person of such complex standing — unless Baolong Hua had gone completely mad, he would absolutely never dare lay a hand on him.

With Manlai Yaman watching over the second son, even after the eldest became king, he would still give Manlai Yaman a measure of respect.

And so, under Manlai Yaman’s protection, the foolish second son had managed to survive until now.

Yet this time, Baolong Hua had sent him and Manlai Yaman together to the Central Plains — whatever intentions he harbored, only Baolong Hua himself truly knew.

“Your Highness.”

Manlai Yaman bowed respectfully toward Dong Qianyuan. Dong Qianyuan quickly returned the bow, and the two of them bowing to each other looked rather like a husband and wife exchanging wedding bows.

“Uncle bought so many books.”

Dong Qianyuan looked at the volumes filling both large baskets and asked curiously: “What books are these?”

Manlai Yaman said with great satisfaction: “These are all books printed and published by the Ning Kingdom’s official government offices. In the past, I used to buy Central Plains books through traveling merchants — but those merchants were dreadful people.”

“They knew I cherished books above all else, and for any book I wanted, they would charge whatever price they liked and I would pay.”

“But they couldn’t obtain genuine books, so they found ways to copy them by hand — and when they couldn’t even copy them, they simply fabricated the contents themselves…”

“Later I found out that the most outrageous case involved a book where only the author’s name was genuine — nothing inside it had any relation to the actual author whatsoever.”

After sighing, Manlai Yaman continued: “Worse still, one merchant, knowing how much I loved Central Plains books, simply hired a Central Plains scholar, found lodgings for him, and had him write books to sell to me…”

“At the time I immediately noticed something was off about the books. Though the prose was brilliant and the style masterful, there were simply far too many writing errors.”

“The merchant himself was an uneducated man and naturally couldn’t spot the problem — but I could.”

“At first I assumed it was one of those pirated copies again, carelessly transcribed by uneducated people, which explained the abundance of errors.”

“Later I investigated and discovered that the merchant had hired a scholar to write them himself, which greatly piqued my curiosity, so I went in person to meet this scholar.”

“Only then did I learn that the reason there were so many errors was that this scholar wrote at extraordinary speed. He was brilliantly minded and gifted beyond measure — his writing was fast and exceptional. At his peak, when he first began writing books for me, he could produce more than ten thousand characters in a single day, so naturally there were quite a few errors.”

Dong Qianyuan asked: “And then what happened?”

Manlai Yaman said: “Then I expelled that merchant from the kingdom and kept the scholar to write books for me. I also set him a rule — no more than six thousand characters per day. Write more slowly, stop writing ten thousand characters a day. After all, it was clearly becoming bloated with filler, and riddled with errors throughout.”

Dong Qianyuan: “And then what happened after that?”

Manlai Yaman sighed: “I overestimated the fellow. Even at six thousand characters a day, it was still riddled with errors the same as before. Once he finished writing, he wouldn’t even revise — he’d hand it straight to me, pocket his silver, and go to sleep. And the further along it went, the more bloated with filler it became. The more I thought about it, the angrier I got, so I had someone give him a good beating.”

Dong Qianyuan: “Well, he truly deserved to be beaten.”

Manlai Yaman pointed at the books filling the baskets: “Every single one of these is a volume printed by the Great Ning government offices — there won’t be a single error.”

Dong Qianyuan said: “Is that so — thinking about it makes me genuinely happy for you, Uncle.”

Manlai Yaman said: “By the way, Your Highness didn’t go out today, did you?”

Dong Qianyuan immediately replied: “No, no — without Uncle here, I didn’t dare wander about. I didn’t go anywhere.”

He lowered his voice and asked: “Uncle, it wasn’t only books you bought, was it?”

This question had been coached into him by Ao Lou before Manlai Yaman returned — Ao Lou was very eager to know what exactly Manlai Yaman had gone out to do.

Manlai Yaman smiled and gestured for Dong Qianyuan to follow him into the inner room. Dong Qianyuan immediately followed him inside.

Once in the inner room, Manlai Yaman had someone close the door securely before turning to Dong Qianyuan: “I’ve traced the location where the Jialou Kingdom’s people are staying. It appears they have indeed reached many agreements with the Ning people, because they are actually residing in the Qing Garden.”

Dong Qianyuan asked: “What is the Qing Garden?”

Manlai Yaman said: “The Qing Garden is an imperial garden within Chang’an City. Without the permission of His Majesty the Great Ning Emperor, even Ning Kingdom nobles cannot enter or exit freely. The fact that the Jialou Kingdom’s Mu Yan, Mu Di, and the others are lodged inside the Qing Garden is sufficient proof that the Great Ning Emperor has already reached some kind of agreement with them.”

Dong Qianyuan asked: “So what do we do? These fellows have already gotten ahead of us — how about we also move into the Qing Garden?”

Manlai Yaman: “…”

He was momentarily left speechless. The trusted attendants and others in the room were also rendered speechless — and some could not even suppress their laughter.

Ao Lou was among those who laughed out loud. As the third-ranking figure in this diplomatic mission and also the captain of the Xiaoyueshi Kingdom’s imperial guard, even Manlai Yaman had to give him a certain degree of face.

Others said Ao Lou was also a dim-witted fellow, yet Manlai Yaman knew clearly — how could a truly dim-witted person be entrusted with important duties by someone like Baolong Hua?

This dim-wittedness of Ao Lou was entirely an act he put on himself. The true purpose behind this man accompanying the diplomatic mission was most likely to keep watch over both him and Dong Qianyuan.

Manlai Yaman walked to the window and looked outside, then closed it shut again.

He then turned to Ao Lou: “I have already arranged for someone to work as an informant within the Jialou Kingdom’s diplomatic delegation. If we wish to assassinate the Ning Emperor, it is best for the Jialou Kingdom’s people to make the move.”

Ao Lou said: “Will the Jialou Kingdom’s people actually act?”

Manlai Yaman smiled with confidence: “As you know, my students are spread across many kingdoms, and quite a few people in the Jialou Kingdom have also studied under me.”

“I only need a small scheme to mix my disciples in among the Jialou Kingdom’s delegation. Moreover… you previously asked me where all the skilled fighters His Majesty assigned to me had gone. Now I can tell you — I arranged them all within the Jialou Kingdom’s delegation.”

When they had come to the Central Plains this time, in order to please the Heiwu people, Baolong Hua had specially assembled a large number of powerful fighters.

Yet these fighters had not appeared in the Xiaoyueshi Kingdom’s own delegation, which had greatly puzzled Ao Lou.

Now he finally understood — all of those people were embedded within the Jialou Kingdom’s delegation.

Manlai Yaman continued: “They are residing in the Qing Garden. Now that the Ning Emperor has returned to Chang’an, before long he will surely go to the Qing Garden to meet with the Jialou Kingdom’s people.”

“At that moment, the people I have arranged will be able to act. If they can successfully assassinate the Ning Emperor, so much the better. But even if they cannot kill the Ning Emperor — would the Jialou Kingdom still be able to maintain close ties with the Ning Kingdom?”

“Once the assassins I’ve planted make their move, the Jialou Kingdom will become the Ning Kingdom’s foremost enemy. At that point, the Ning Kingdom, seeking retribution, will launch a western campaign against the Jialou Kingdom.”

“The Ning Kingdom’s greatest military commander, Grand General Prince Tang Pidi, is currently stationed at the Ning Kingdom’s western frontier training troops. They call it troop training, but isn’t he clearly preparing to go to war with us?”

“Originally, our Xiaoyueshi Kingdom would undoubtedly have been the Ning Kingdom’s primary target. But once the Jialou Kingdom’s people assassinate the Ning Emperor — whether they succeed or not — the Jialou Kingdom becomes the Ning Kingdom’s primary target instead, and we can sit back and watch two tigers fight.”

Ao Lou finally understood Manlai Yaman’s complete plan, and immediately felt a surge of deep admiration for the National Advisor.

This plan — perhaps aside from the National Advisor and His Majesty himself — no one had known of it until today.

The reason it was being revealed to them now was that the Ning Emperor had returned, and would soon be meeting with the Jialou Kingdom’s people.

As one might say, it was also heaven’s will at work — although the Jialou Kingdom’s delegation had arrived in Chang’an at least half a month before them, the coincidence lay precisely in the fact that for this very stretch of time, the Ning Emperor had been away from Chang’an.

Word was that he had gone to see off an important minister to Jizhou, and had even stayed there for several days. Between the journey there and back, more than ten days had passed.

Ao Lou could not help but ask: “But National Advisor, if the Ning Emperor wants to meet with Mu Yan and Mu Di, he could simply summon them into the Weiyang Palace to speak. Why is the National Advisor so certain that the Ning Emperor would go to the Qing Garden?”

Manlai Yaman smiled: “Right now, the Ning Kingdom does not yet want the Western Regions nations and the Ning Kingdom to come into direct conflict openly, nor does it want the Jialou Kingdom to fall out with the Western Regions nations just yet.”

“The Ning Emperor’s arrangement of the Jialou Kingdom’s people inside the Qing Garden is a secret — my student is the one who told me, and the other kingdoms are unaware.”

“Why have the Jialou Kingdom’s people secretly lodge in the Qing Garden? Precisely to make it convenient for the Ning Emperor to communicate with them in secret.”

Manlai Yaman said with confidence: “My student informed me that just yesterday, someone from the Weiyang Palace had already come to relay a message, saying the Great Ning Emperor would be visiting the Qing Garden very soon to meet with them.”

“And so this most opportune moment has arrived with such ease.”

Manlai Yaman looked toward Ao Lou: “Go and bring Gan Luo here. I need his people to coordinate.”

Ao Lou immediately answered and turned to run out.

Manlai Yaman looked once more at Dong Qianyuan. Dong Qianyuan waited for him to assign him a task, his eyes filled with eager anticipation.

“Your Highness, rest well and do not wander about.”

With those words, Manlai Yaman turned and walked out.

—