Volume 1, Chapter 191 – Turmoil

Beef can only come from draught cattle, and slaughtering a healthy working ox is a top-grade felony under the laws of the Qianyuan Dynasty.

Those oxen that die of old age or by accident are basically all reclaimed by the authorities; in ordinary restaurants you can hardly even see a trace of beef.

If anyone is discovered secretly selling large amounts of beef, the officials will definitely investigate them thoroughly.

If it’s found that they’ve secretly slaughtered draught cattle, never mind just a stint in prison—there’s even a chance they’ll be exiled.

So that casual line about “over ten jin of beef” really shocked quite a few people, and the surroundings grew noisy for a moment.

Shi Lan didn’t know the inside story. Seeing the waiter’s reaction, she just felt a bit disappointed.

The blood and flesh essence contained in beef was certainly much higher than in those chickens, ducks, and pork…

“Where did you come from? Who sent you here to smear the reputation of my Manxiang Restaurant?”

The portly old shopkeeper walked out from behind the counter, his expression stern.

Several odd-job workers simultaneously surrounded them, their faces unfriendly.

Shi Lan frowned, baffled. She’d only ordered a dish. If they couldn’t serve it, so be it—why this kind of attitude on top of that?

Seeing that Old Hongtou and A Qi both looked wrong, then sweeping a glance over the rest of the patrons in the restaurant, Shi Lan realized that she’d probably ordered the wrong kind of dish.

“For troublemakers who spread such rumors, we should haul them to the prefectural yamen. Once they’re there, the truth will naturally come to light.”

Just as one of the workers finished speaking, a calm question came from one side of the main hall.

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“What’s going on? Who are you planning to haul to the yamen?”

Following the voice, they saw a group of three walk slowly into the hall from the door.

At their head was a pale-faced middle-aged man of about forty, bearded, wearing a black brocade robe embroidered with patterns. Though he showed no anger, he naturally carried authority.

Standing behind him were two people: one was a young man around twenty-three or twenty-four, dressed in cyan brocade, carrying an indescribable air of nobility; the other was a black-faced burly man whose aura was deep, his steps silent when he landed—clearly an inner-school expert whose internal cultivation was quite advanced.

The shopkeeper hurried up to greet them with a bow. “Lord Prefect… please don’t laugh at this foolishness…”

After listening to the shopkeeper explain the whole sequence of events, the middle-aged man waved his hand and said,

“It’s nothing serious. No need to make a fuss. It was likely just a slip of the tongue. Let these three go. The yamen is extremely busy right now and has no time to deal with such trivial nonsense.”

“I respectfully obey, Lord Prefect.” The shopkeeper naturally wouldn’t offend a noble by contradicting him, and agreed respectfully.

The young man behind the middle-aged man kept his gaze on Shi Lan the whole time, the space between his brows tightening ever so slightly.

After the shopkeeper signaled for the workers to step back, he respectfully led the three of them up to a private room on the second floor.

With this whole scene stirred up, Shi Lan no longer felt like eating and walked straight out of the restaurant.

Once outside, she asked Old Hongtou a few questions and finally understood what the issue with the beef was.

Shi Lan hadn’t expected that just eating some meat would come with this kind of rule. For someone already somewhat used to being free and unrestrained, she suddenly felt a hard-to-describe sense of constraint.

As for that pale-faced middle-aged man just now, he was the prefect of Qingzhou City, Shen Mingyi. His reputation as an official wasn’t bad, and he was quite well-liked by the common folk.

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…

Inside a private room in Manxiang Restaurant.

“Your Highness, have you taken a liking to that young woman from just now?” Shen Mingyi filled the young man’s teacup and smiled.

“Prefect Shen jests.”

The young man shook his head. “I followed my master from a young age to study the Dao, and I’ve dabbled a little in the art of physiognomy. That young woman just now…”

At this point, he hesitated a little.

“What about that young woman’s features?” Shen Mingyi grew somewhat curious.

“That woman bears the signs of one who can upend heaven and earth, and may have no small impact on our dynasty’s national fate…”

As soon as he said this, the young man himself laughed and shook his head. “Perhaps I’ve muddled my eyes from probing the national fate these days and misread her.”

How could the fate of a dynasty be shaken by a single woman?

“Haha, it’s not entirely impossible for that woman to affect the national fate.” The smile on Shen Mingyi’s face didn’t fade.

“Oh? And why is that?”

The young man was slightly surprised.

“If Your Highness marries her, then on the day she presides over the harem as empress, she’ll naturally have the power to shake the foundations of the state. I wonder if this humble official’s words are not off the mark?” Shen Mingyi said jokingly.

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“Prefect Shen, mind your tongue! Father Emperor sent you down here in demotion for three full years, and you still haven’t corrected this habit of speaking without restraint?”

The young man frowned. “The matter of the crown prince has yet to be decided. Father Emperor is still in his prime. It’s far too early to be talking about such things now.”

Shen Mingyi smiled and shook his head, took a sip of clear tea, and said nothing more.

The black-faced burly man stood beside the table, eyes lowered, mind inwardly focused, like a sculpture.

“Why has His Majesty suddenly decided to move the capital?”

After a period of silence, Shen Mingyi put down his teacup and looked up as he spoke.

“Master observed the heavens at night and found the stars shifting position, fearing impending turmoil. After casting the hexagrams, he discovered the dragon vein’s fortune moving south. Only then did he advise a relocation of the capital. Father Emperor thought it over for two days, then issued the decree to move the capital and sent me ahead to survey the situation.”

“Moving the capital exhausts the people and drains the treasury. It’s no trifling matter. Perfected Wuxu truly holds a weight before His Majesty that no one can compare to.”

“With Perfected Wuxu around, Your Highness’s position is as solid as bedrock.” Shen Mingyi said meaningfully, “For His Majesty to entrust such an important matter as relocating the capital to Your Highness is proof enough of how much he values you.”

A flicker passed through the young man’s eyes, then returned to calm as he quietly drank his tea.

…

Not long after Shi Lan left the restaurant, Old Hongtou and A Qi both had trouble with their stomachs. Having gone without meat for so long, then suddenly eating so many greasy dishes at once, it was only natural their guts would rebel.

Helpless, Shi Lan had no choice but to first find an inn, settle the two of them in, and then go look for a tailor shop.

There were no shops here that sold ready-made clothes. If you wanted clothing, you had to order it in advance.

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The tailor shop happened to have ready-made clothes suitable for Old Hongtou and A Qi, but none that would fit Shi Lan.

Shi Lan paid three times the usual price before the tailor finally agreed to work through the night and make her clothes first, to be delivered the next morning.

Leaving the tailor shop with the clothes for the two men, Shi Lan headed straight for the largest pharmacy in Qingzhou City.

Although there were still pills left in the system’s temporary storage, they were consumables after all and would be used up sooner or later; she definitely had to find another source.

Right now, relying on eating flesh to replenish the essence of her blood and flesh was far too slow, so Shi Lan could only turn her attention to medicinal herbs.

However, after asking around about the prices of herbs with some age to them, Shi Lan felt even more helpless. The prices were outrageously high.

Giving up on the idea of buying in bulk, Shi Lan only purchased some basic herbs for nourishing the body, then carried two bundles back to the inn.

…

Inside the inn room, steam curled in the air, carrying a faint medicinal scent.

“Splash—splash—”

Shi Lan sat by the wooden tub, stirring the water that filled it over halfway. After testing the temperature, she glanced at A Qi, who was clutching his collar and looking a bit uneasy to the side, and said,

“Take off your clothes and get in.”