Grand plans naturally required thorough consideration. The matter of developing the two-lake region was like tossing a stone into a pond—once the ripples dispersed, no one would pay attention anymore. But Yun Ye knew that in the side hall of Wanmin Palace, that detailed map had always hung on the wall and had never been taken down. The courier reports coming and going to Yuezhou arrived almost daily. If the timing was right and preparations were adequate, it would be difficult for him not to go to Yuezhou, because Guan Tinglong had already become the Deputy Governor of Yuezhou, and Yuezhou had no Governor.

After a heavy rain, the weather turned cool. Yun Ye in Chang’an seemed able to hear the coughing of young Yun on the grasslands. The Yun Family’s chief steward had already set off toward the grasslands day and night with a large cartload of medicinal ingredients. If the girl’s illness didn’t improve, he would bring her directly back to Chang’an. Penicillin had also been taken along, out of concern that a mild cough might turn into pneumonia.

Yun Ye strolled through the garden wearing a long robe. Since the beginning of autumn, not a single thing had made him happy. He Shao had happily opened a Ci’an Hall pharmacy in Chang’an. After only a few days of operation, it was smashed to pieces by a group of profligate sons. Those people didn’t even spare He Shao—they hung him up beside the pharmacy and whipped him.

From beginning to end, He Shao’s face bore a smile. When the whip struck his body, he only wailed a couple of times. He couldn’t afford to offend these people—they were all young masters from meritorious noble families. He Shao saw that Chai Lingwu was among them. Though he didn’t participate, he didn’t stop the others either.

The He Family members sorted out the scattered medicinal ingredients bit by bit and repaired the storefront. Three days later, they still opened for business, continuously apologizing to visiting customers. With low prices and good medicinal ingredients, naturally customers thronged the door. Even five shop assistants picking medicines in the single shop couldn’t keep up—the line of people waiting for prescriptions to be filled stretched very long.

The profligates came again. He Shao was accompanying a young girl looking for medicinal ingredients. The young girl wore a conical hat, so no one paid attention. Though He Shao wasn’t as fat anymore, his build was still imposing. Seeing the profligates about to get rough, he desperately shielded the young girl and took countless kicks himself. Some sharp-eyed profligate saw the handsome face beneath the young girl’s veil and spoke some lewd remarks. The young girl held back tears without making a sound. He Shao pleaded with the profligates—smash the pharmacy as you please, beat him as you please, but don’t disturb the customers.

No one paid attention—they continued as before. Several even touched and groped the young girl. Fortunately this was in Chang’an. If it had been in some wilderness village, who knows what might have happened.

Chai Lingwu always felt the young girl’s back looked familiar. After stepping forward and lifting the young girl’s veil, his face immediately turned as white as powder.

The one who was furious wasn’t He Shao, but Li Er. A long line of people knelt before Zhuque Gate, with a large row of stretchers placed in front of them. Including Chai Lingwu, each person’s trouser legs had been pulled up so everyone could see their legs had already been broken.

No message came from the palace, so they could only kneel outside the gate waiting. After being drenched by torrential rain for nearly half an hour, Zhangsun came out and only invited the most high-ranking Chai Shao inside. After Zhangsun explained the situation, Chai Shao wished he could immediately tear Chai Lingwu to pieces.

Li Er’s throat was uncomfortable. The hot weather had accumulated fire toxins. He had taken countless medicinal ingredients from the palace with no effect. Sun Simiao said it was a minor problem—just take some fire-reducing medicinal ingredients, preferably superior bezoar. The palace’s bezoar was somewhat old. Lanling recalled that He Shao’s pharmacy should have fresh bezoar and volunteered to go to the pharmacy. Who knew that when she got the bezoar and was about to leave, she was harassed by the profligates. Li Er, whose throat already hurt unbearably, flew into a rage. He immediately ordered that each family head break the profligates’ legs before sending them over.

Since when was selling medicines at low prices forbidden in Chang’an? In Li Er’s view, as long as the medicinal ingredients were fine, there should be more such pharmacies. Fortunately the buyer was Lanling. If it had been a woman from a commoner household, who knows how she would have been treated. If this continued, would daughters from good families in Chang’an dare go out on the streets?

The profligates still received punishment. Before the wounds on their legs could heal, they were all sent to Liaodong military camps to garrison the border for three years before being allowed to return home. During this period they would receive no special treatment. Chai Lingwu hadn’t participated, so his crime was reduced by one degree—confined to his home to reflect for one year, the marriage arrangement with the imperial family cancelled. If there were further misdeeds, both crimes would be punished together.

After this incident, no one disturbed Ci’an Hall anymore. Only now there were two proprietors, both competing to lose money, creating a harmonious atmosphere. Even Zhangsun from time to time bestowed upon Ci’an Hall pharmacy some surplus medicinal ingredients from the palace. Lanling’s first crisis management achieved great success. She was honored to become Ci’an Hall’s second-largest shareholder and began her journey of losing money.

He Shao’s matter was a small affair—nothing more than other pharmacies having objections to him selling medicinal ingredients at fair prices. They had paid handsomely to hire some profligates to cause destruction so Ci’an Hall couldn’t continue operating. Once the profligates were dealt with, the merchant families selling medicinal ingredients would naturally have the profligates’ family heads come looking for trouble. It wasn’t Yun Ye’s turn to worry. But the academy constantly carrying out human skeletal frames was not a good thing.

“Sir, this is already the third set of human bones this month. The Maze Forest isn’t very peaceful now. People always enter in the middle of the night. This time it was actually during the day. The strange thing is there wasn’t a sound at all.”

“How did the person die?” Yun Ye asked Huozhu while looking at the bones that had been picked completely clean by ants.

“Sir, they were all poisoned to death. Look here—the bones are still black. This is a symptom of poison entering the marrow after being stung by centipedes. Centipede poison is fire toxin, extremely fierce. I’m afraid they were bitten by those red centipedes.”

“Ants eat flesh but wouldn’t eat clothes too. Besides, would these thieving bones enter the Maze Forest without weapons? Could they have entered the Maze Forest naked? Check whether any academy students got careless while fooling around and accidentally went in.”

“Already checked. None of the academy students entered here. Ever since you drove a sheep into the Maze Forest in front of all the students, and an hour later dragged it out as a skeleton, not a single student has gone near there. They won’t come even if invited.”

“Then hand the case over to the Lantian County Magistrate for disposal. As for the skeletal frames, after brushing them with tung oil and dry processing, string them together with iron wire and send them to Master Sun’s medicine hut to use as specimens. What a pity—they’re all male. If there were a female skeleton too, that would be even better. Master Sun has mentioned this to me several times. I can’t help him steal corpses. Sending him three skeletal frames now is better than nothing—at least it puts him off for a while. Why does he insist on needing human corpses anyway?”

“Sir, Master Sun’s medical skills are becoming increasingly profound. He used to only examine people’s exteriors, now he’s started researching the insides. What a pity that the people here were all eaten by ants. This student thinks more people will come in. What if we collect the ants and put in more centipedes instead? Then wouldn’t Master Sun have corpses? If female corpses are needed, what about spreading word that only women can enter the Maze Forest, and men who enter will certainly die? That way there will definitely be female thieving bones coming in. What do you think?”

Yun Ye looked at Huozhu for a long time before saying, “Have all the people at the academy become like you now? Use your brain. Don’t always be drilling away in the laboratory all the time. Have more contact with the outside world. You’re eighteen this year—it’s time to get married. Your sister has also reached marriageable age. If this continues, who would dare marry you, and who would dare marry your sister?”

“Sir worries too much. My sister and Baolin have a very good relationship. Baolin hasn’t sought marriage these years because he’s waiting for my sister. Her marrying Baolin is very suitable. I already asked Uncle Yuchi. Uncle said before Baolin takes up his post in Zhuozhou next spring, they’ll marry. As for me, let’s talk about it in a few more years. Do you think my earlier idea was appropriate? If so, this student will arrange for people to spread rumors.”

“The absence of clothes represents something—it represents they aren’t alone. If you spread rumors like that, women will indeed come, but the remaining people will take the corpses away to avoid exposure. These people have strong martial arts skills. Look at this corpse—there are many scars on the arm bones. This shows this fellow was long experienced in battle. Ordinary people couldn’t handle him. Withdraw the servants at night to avoid injuries. I already roughly know who these people are.”

Yun Ye carefully passed through the Maze Forest and came to the pavilion with many iron cabinets. Seeing many pry marks on the iron cabinets—but only pry marks. The cabinet material was better than the steel of many weapons. Opening them was impossible. Of course it would be easy with a welding torch, but Yun Ye didn’t think such a thing would appear in this era. He himself had failed to produce calcium carbide using lime kilns. Other people simply had no way of dealing with these iron cabinets weighing five hundred kilograms.

Each of the academy’s senior teachers had an iron cabinet to store their belongings. Li Tai had one too. Yun Ye opened his own cabinet and saw three jade tokens inside. He took out another from his bosom and placed it inside, then took out the fake jade token from within. He wanted to see if his speculation was correct.

Who besides Koreans and Japanese could do something as stupid as taking away clothes? Didn’t these people know to change their clothes before coming to commit theft? Did they really have to waste time and effort waiting for people to be eaten clean by ants before taking away the clothes?

While Yun Ye was lamenting, Gai Suwen was also lamenting while looking at three sets of clothes. Why was it so difficult to find a few capable subordinates in this world? After losing so many personnel and ultimately gaining nothing, they even left evidence for Yun Ye. He could say with certainty that by now, Yun Ye definitely already knew it was either him or the Japanese who had gone to the academy’s Maze Forest.

The Japanese were all mindless fools. Apart from not fearing death—this single advantage—they were utterly useless in every other respect. He had expended great effort to discover that Yun Ye’s valuable items weren’t kept at home but were stored in the academy’s Maze Forest. Supposedly there were traps everywhere inside, with lethal dangers at every step. Only the cleverest and bravest people could break through. Once the academy’s Maze Forest was breached, not only would no one pursue criminal responsibility, but one would receive a reward of five hundred strings of cash. However, over the years, it seemed no one had ever obtained the money. Even if academy servants saw someone jump in during broad daylight, they never stopped them. At most, the next day they would drag out a skeleton.