Clues About the Mastermind

After giving instructions to her family and sorting things out, Su Li finally felt less worried.

Then she suddenly remembered something and called Yuanbao over, asking, "Yuanbao, how did you come up with the idea to use data on the map?"

Such a clever modern statistical method—charts and graphs—look simple, but for ancient people who hadn't invented this method, it was unimaginable.

Yuanbao scratched his nose and blinked his innocent eyes. He thought to himself, I used to command troops and would mark everything on military terrain maps—who was guarding which city, how many soldiers, how much grain—it was all clearly marked, easy to see at a glance.

But he couldn’t say that out loud, so he just blinked innocently and mumbled, "I... I saw the ledgers full of numbers and got a headache. Writing it on the map looked simpler, so I just wrote it on the map."

"Oh, really?" Su Li looked at Yuanbao suspiciously, but seeing his goofy, carefree expression, she felt he wasn’t lying.

"Yes, yes, exactly like that!" Yuanbao nodded firmly, though he felt quite guilty inside.

Su Li trusted Yuanbao and didn’t press the matter further. Instead, she started thinking about reopening the vegetarian bistro in the first month of the lunar year.

The memberships at her vegetarian bistro were sold for a high price; she couldn’t just close it down. It was like if she spent fifty thousand yuan on a beauty salon membership card in modern times, only to find the salon had closed and run away—that would be infuriating.

Yuanbao wandered off into the courtyard, standing under the corridor. Xiao Yun nervously approached, and seeing no one around, he thought, This isn’t good. He bowed to Xiao Zetian, "General Xiao, any orders?"

Xiao Zetian instantly transformed into the cold-faced war god general, his aura so strong that Xiao Yun lowered his head and stood still, not daring to be disrespectful.

"Have you found any clues about the group that chased me back then?" Xiao Zetian asked.

Xiao Yun immediately shrank his head, "The brothers have been investigating, but... but..."

"Tsk... no leads?" Xiao Zetian snorted lightly, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

Xiao Yun broke out in a cold sweat instantly.

"Any clues about the person who poisoned me?" Xiao Zetian continued.

Xiao Yun’s cold sweat grew even worse. He lowered his head and mustered the courage to reply, "N-no clues either."

"Hmm... nothing found, tsk tsk," Xiao Zetian said, lightly tapping a pillar of the side corridor.

Xiao Yun’s legs went weak, and he fell to his knees at Xiao Zetian’s feet. "I am incompetent, please punish me, General!"

"No, it’s not that you’re incompetent. You’ve already found clues about the mastermind behind it all," Xiao Zetian said with a cold laugh.

"Ah?" Xiao Yun grew even more nervous, lowering his head. "I’m dull-witted, please enlighten me, General."

Xiao Zetian looked into the distance, a calm confidence flashing in his deep eyes. He said to Xiao Yun in a cold and authoritative voice, "My secret guards and spies are carefully selected from over a million soldiers, the strongest elite of the dynasty. Few things in this world can escape my ears and eyes. Xiao Yun, think carefully—if my men can’t find the information no matter how hard they try... who in the world has the power to hide it?"

Xiao Yun shuddered all over, suddenly enlightened, and murmured with wide eyes, "Yes, in this world, the only one who can hide things from the General’s spies is..."

Xiao Yun’s words caught in his throat, suddenly stopped, feeling an intense chill rising from his feet to his heart...