Bold as Mo Zi was, she still retreated a step in fright and exclaimed, “Who’s there?”

Zhou Wen hastily cupped his fists, bowing repeatedly. “Mo-ge, lower your voice, keep it down. Don’t bring my clerks in here.”

“Zhou Wen, stop playing tricks with ghosts and spirits. Even if you gave me these beads, I wouldn’t want them. Farewell!” Mo Zi turned to pull open the door. She really couldn’t trust people casually. In her view, what Water Purification Pearls? Dirty Water Pearls would be more accurate—a ghostly voice appearing out of nowhere.

“Mo-ge, Brother Mo, wait, please wait.” Zhou Wen thought to himself that if this person left, his last hope would be gone too. Then what—what should he do?

Mo Zi furrowed her brows tightly, staring at the hand gripping her sleeve. Originally she thought sleeves were quite useful, but now they were like a tail—once grabbed, they became a burden.

“Zhou Wen, I’m not your brother.” Of course she knew this was a human voice, not a ghostly one, but her instinct told her nothing good would come of this. She deliberately wanted to lose her temper and slip away. “We’ve only met twice in total, with no old friendship to claim. Your beads—silver truly isn’t the problem, but my mistress and I don’t have the fortune to enjoy them. Find another buyer.” She turned sideways, cupped her fists, and pulled the secret chamber door open a crack.

“This one is Yuan Cheng. May I wonder if Mo-ge would honor me with a meeting?” The voice was weak yet forcibly sustained without rest, polite and courteous despite evident pain.

With a voice like that, her heart wasn’t ruthless enough to refuse.

Mo Zi exhaled heavily. When she spoke, she was already being polite. “Master Yuan… meeting once wouldn’t be a problem.”

She hesitated over how to address him, unable to discern the man’s age from his voice. He seemed aged, yet perhaps it was just vocal changes caused by serious illness. Calling him “young master” risked him being too old. Calling him “mister” risked him not having that education level. Calling him “lord” risked him being a middle-aged uncle.

She gently pushed the door crack closed, turned to glance at the sweating Zhou Wen. “Boss Zhou, if you hadn’t played mysterious tricks, why would I have acted this way? Being deceived once is a mistake; being deceived twice is being a fool. I truly dislike how you conduct business without sincerity, dragging things out without getting to the point, always trying to confuse people before scheming against them.”

Zhou Wen smiled bitterly, not daring to argue a single word, afraid that with one misstep the person would leave again. In his belly, though, he grumbled—he had indeed deceived her once, but she had seen through it. As for this time, he had just thought he’d lured her in when who knew she’d be that formidable, not at all greedy, withdrawing the moment she said so.

“Mo-ge, if I ever dare play mysterious tricks with you again, I curse my son to be born without an anus.” Having just heard Mo Zi say she didn’t believe in vows, but wasn’t this oath vicious enough? Zhou Wen walked ahead, muttering under his breath.

Mo Zi still didn’t believe it. “Many people make this kind of vow, but I’ve never seen a child born without an anus.”

Zhou Wen’s eyeballs bulged out. Curses welled up from his throat and blocked inward, blocking until his chest felt stuffy, blocking until his heart burned with suppressed anger. But what the person said was truly correct—where were there children without anuses?

“Vows are just to show a sincere intent… not spoken for others to hear, but for oneself to hear. This Yuan…” The voice suddenly cut off, followed by a violent bout of coughing that made one feel all five internal organs were about to be coughed out. “This Yuan doesn’t believe in them either, but sometimes observes the true heart and measure of those who make vows.”

As these words were spoken, Mo Zi saw Yuan Cheng.

Behind a tall screen, in the corner of the secret chamber, bedding was spread on the floor with a person sitting upon it. His hair was disheveled like grass, scattered over his shoulders, also covering most of his face. Only a bruised and swollen chin and blood-cracked lips were visible. His filthy clothes and pants were repeatedly interwoven with dark red and bright red, nearly covering the original white color. The tattered short upper garment had a large character on the chest, drawn with a black brush in a circle.

Prisoner.

“Great…” Zhou Wen respectfully bowed, about to address him, then remembering Mo Zi was present, didn’t complete the title. “You should lie down and rest. When night falls, I’ll invite a physician to treat you.”

“No need for a physician. I probably still won’t… die.” This time he only coughed a few times. “Still won’t die. Doesn’t the saying go that disasters linger for a thousand years?”

As he laughed lightly, Mo Zi saw that prisoner’s garment gain several more bright red patches.

“You’d better listen to Boss Zhou and have a physician take a look, take some medicine. Lord Yuan, ‘disasters linger for a thousand years’ isn’t used that way—it has nothing to do with how long you live.” She could guess who this was.

The first corrupt official—his surname was Yuan.

Truly a pitiful sight. Looking at his near-death appearance, he must have suffered considerable living torment. Well, the title “first corrupt official” wouldn’t be given for nothing—who knew how many people resented and hated him.

“You… you know?” Zhou Wen shrank his head back, his expression both shocked and fearful.

“It’s hard not to know. This morning while eating breakfast at the inn, I heard a freshly served dramatic tale of prisoner rescue. Now the streets are full of soldiers capturing escaped criminals, yet Lord Yuan sits here in prisoner’s clothes. I had thought the lord would have been rescued out of the city by his martially skilled helpers.” At this moment, Mo Zi thought Zhou Wen was truly both dull and stupid. For profit, he was shrewd. For his life, he was neurotic. Could he possibly think she’d believe that such a person appearing in his secret chamber was his customer?

For an instant, she seemed to see bright, crystalline eyes beneath the disheveled grass-like hair. However, looking again, there was only a blood-covered dirty shadow.

“Mo-ge, could you bring Yuan out of the city?” Yuan Cheng leaned against the wall, hands spread open on his knees, ten fingers withered, nails blackened, joints swollen and deformed.

“Why does Lord Yuan think I can accomplish this?” His helpers hadn’t been able to take him out, and in her conversation with Zhou Wen, she had never mentioned her contraband business.

“Zhou Wen brought you here, tempting you with Water Purification Pearls. It seems you must know a way out of the city and have some degree of confidence.” Yuan Cheng coughed lightly again, his voice even weaker.

“Since Lord Yuan speaks frankly in asking, I’ll also speak honestly with you. I came from Great Zhou to conduct contraband business for my mistress. But after finishing this time, I’m quitting. Lord’s matter, I’m afraid I cannot help with.” Though he was Nande’s first corrupt official, and his post-torture appearance inspired sympathy, he was still treacherous and moreover a rat crossing the street that everyone wanted to beat. How could she help such a person?

“Mo-ge, those Water Purification Pearls are worth two hundred thousand taels. For just five thousand taels of silver, you return to Great Zhou, conveniently bringing one extra person along. What a tremendous bargain.”

“If we’re caught, what use would these beads be even if worth a million taels? If you asked me to conveniently bring along a relative of yours, fine. But Lord Yuan’s fame spreads far and wide—one person below, ten thousand above. How could I conveniently bring you along? I fear my boat is too small, the passenger too weighty—it would sink.” Mo Zi still refused. Wasn’t this just like Farmer Dongguo saving the wolf, and moreover there was that story of the frog carrying the scorpion as supporting evidence.

“Mo-ge, how about this? I’ll give you one bead for free. With no shortage of silver, your mistress naturally won’t suspect you of hiding private gains. In the future when there’s opportunity, you can sell the bead to Buddha Treasures Studio. You’ll no longer need to be a servant running errands for others, but rather a person above others with hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.” Gritting his teeth, Zhou Wen simply threw caution to the wind and gave up his capital.

Facing such great temptation, Mo Zi remained very calm, smiling as she said, “Boss Zhou is wrong. I was born with an errand-running fate. Even if you gave me the beads for free, I would still have to turn them over to my mistress.”

Don’t try to deceive her like a child. She had a whole boat of people, not to mention that although she and Cen Er had friendship, the Cen family was loyal to Qiu Sanniang. Bringing Yuan Cheng aboard without reason was different from bringing Bai Yu and his group. “First corrupt official”—this title carried too much weight. If Qiu Sanniang found out, it couldn’t be casually brushed aside with three hundred taels.

“Isn’t that simple?” The first corrupt official laughed through his cough. “You help your mistress pay five thousand taels to buy one bead, and I’ll give you another one. How about that?”

How about that?

Not bad at all.

That is—he was being reasonable.

Mo Zi lowered her head, pursed her lips, hiding a smile.