The first day of the siege.

At cockcrow, a long queue had already formed outside the gruel stalls on Guizi Street. In the queue, singing girls and dancing women wrapped themselves in thick camel-hair blankets, with only their faces visible. Servants, brothel keepers, and customers stood in line, holding ceramic bowls, waiting for the line to inch forward.

Border soldiers, not wearing armor and with grey headscarves wrapped around their heads, carried long iron ladles, serving thin gruel to the waiting populace.

Qi Zhenzhuo returned early from the gruel stall, holding his bowl. He pushed aside the cotton curtain and hurried up the wooden stairs to the second floor, his footsteps thudding, then knocked on Li Xuan’s door.

Inside, Li Xuan put on his clothes and opened the door, asking doubtfully, “What’s the rush?”

Qi Zhenzhuo handed the ceramic bowl to Li Xuan and said angrily, “Brother-in-law, look at this! The gruel the border army is serving is so watery! A whole bowl only has a dozen grains of corn. What’s the difference between drinking this and drinking water?”

Li Xuan looked down at the ceramic bowl, and his heart sank immediately. He saw that the thin gruel in the bowl was so clear it was translucent to the bottom, as bland as dishwater.

Holding the ceramic bowl, he didn’t even have time to fully dress and rushed out the door.

Qi Zhenzhuo stopped him, asking, “Brother-in-law, where are you going?”

Li Xuan grabbed his collar and lowered his voice, saying, “Go quickly and take people to buy grain later. Buy it back at all costs, even if it’s one tael of silver per jin, buy it!”

Qi Zhenzhuo was stunned. “One tael per jin? That’s a hundred-fold increase! Brother-in-law, at that price, the silver we brought won’t buy much grain. It won’t even be enough to feed the Imperial Forest Army!”

Li Xuan said angrily, “All grain merchants have had their grain requisitioned by the border army. Those traders didn’t even have a chance to hoard and manipulate prices. Now that the border army is distributing gruel like this, everyone in Guyuan is starving. It’s a miracle if we can still buy any grain at all! Our starvation is a minor matter. If His Highness has to starve along with us now, we should die to atone for our failure! Spend all the silver; securing His Highness’s survival is the priority!”

He roughly pushed Qi Zhenzhuo aside, ran up to the third floor, and knocked on the Crown Prince’s door.

The Crown Prince opened the door. “Minister Li, what’s wrong?”

Li Xuan said gravely, “Your Highness, look at this gruel. I fear in half a month, people will resort to cannibalism. If the Jing Dynasty army besieges the city for a month… the consequences would be unimaginable.”

The Crown Prince looked at the gruel in Li Xuan’s hand and frowned. “Immediately dispatch Imperial Forest Army soldiers to find grain. If anyone can acquire ten shi of grain, they will be rewarded with a hundred taels of silver upon returning to the capital. If anyone can acquire a hundred shi of grain, they will be promoted one rank upon returning to the capital! Also, go call Minister Chen and the others up; we need to discuss new countermeasures immediately!”

Li Xuan left in a hurry.

The Crown Prince paced back and forth in his room, pondering how to solve the grain problem and who among his retinue could resolve it.

Chen Liqin? No, not Chen Liqin. This Minister Chen still placed his hope in the border army and would only follow established procedures, lacking the ‘unconventional’ ability needed in a crisis.

Li Xuan? No, not Li Xuan either. This high-ranking official had the skill to fight a hundred in a chaotic battle, but he was not an ‘able administrator.’

Qi Zhenzhuo? He was merely a profligate son sent by the Qi family for a veneer of experience. While he needed to be given face on ordinary days due to his family’s influence, he could not be entrusted with such a vital task now.

Chen Ji…

The Crown Prince pondered for a long time and finally walked to the adjacent room and knocked on the door.

Knock, knock, knock.

Knock, knock, knock.

The Crown Prince knocked for a long time, but no one opened the door.

Just then, Li Xuan led Chen Liqin, Chen Wenzong, and Qi Zhenzhuo upstairs. The Crown Prince asked in confusion, “Where is Chen Ji?”

Chen Wenzong bowed and replied, “Reporting to Your Highness, I saw my third brother leave with Young Master Zhang and Second Miss Zhang before cockcrow. I asked him where he was going, and he said to get gruel.”

Qi Zhenzhuo paused, startled. “I went to get gruel too; I didn’t see him.” After saying that, he muttered quietly, “That fellow wouldn’t just watch us run out of food and then run off by himself, would he?”

Everyone exchanged glances. The Crown Prince said slowly, “Let’s put Chen Ji aside for now. Everyone, come inside and discuss our countermeasures.”

At Taohuai Fang, Zhang’s Grain and Oil Shop was in complete disarray. All the shelves inside had been knocked over by the border soldiers who had requisitioned grain the previous night. Even the mud walls and ground had several holes smashed into them, and baskets lay scattered everywhere. Presumably, when the border army found no one answering the door yesterday, they simply climbed over the courtyard wall to search and seize. The salt jars, rapeseed oil, flour, sesame seeds, mung beans, and vinegar on the shelves—everything edible was taken. Even the dried radishes left on the roof to dry were not spared.

At this moment, Zhang Zheng, Zhang Xia, and Xiao Man were gathered around a stone well, waiting silently.

A short while later, Chen Ji climbed out, clinging to the hemp rope at the mouth of the well. Zhang Zheng stepped forward and extended his hand, pulling him up.

Chen Ji brushed the dust from his clothes and said in a low voice, “The grain is still there. The cellar is large, and its walls are plastered with lime, so we don’t need to worry about the grain getting damp for a while. There’s corn, millet, and rice inside. We also stored some air-dried cured meat and pickled vegetables. It’s enough for us to eat.”

Then, he unslung the cloth bag from his back and handed it to Xiao Man. “Pack it away. This is our rations for the next few days. We can’t light a fire and cook here, lest we arouse the suspicion of our neighbors.”

In those days, selling private salt was forbidden. If caught, one would be exiled three thousand li to perform forced labor. So small salt dealers would cure private salt into meat and vegetables and then air-dry them for sale, which was more clandestine. With these items, salt would not be lacking either.

Chen Ji sighed, “Just now, on the way here, I saw that the gruel at the stalls was so thin. It’s fine for now, but in ten days to half a month, I fear many people will starve to death.”

Xiao Man hugged the cloth bag tightly to her chest. “Young Master, please don’t be so charitable as to give away all the grain. Two thousand shi of grain might seem like a lot, but if it’s truly given out, it won’t save all the city’s inhabitants.”

Chen Ji said helplessly, “Don’t worry. Even if we wanted to save people, we couldn’t rely on this small amount of grain. Don’t hug the cloth bag so tightly, otherwise everyone will know there’s treasure inside.”

Zhang Zheng sat on the stone rim of the well, sighing, “The Imperial Forest Army and the Crown Prince must have quite the nerve to sleep soundly last night. If I were Li Xuan, I would have gone door-to-door buying grain all night. However, Chen Ji, if you want to get close to the Crown Prince, now is the best time.”

Chen Ji’s eyes showed no ripples. “Let them starve for a while first,” he said.

Knock, knock, knock. A pounding on the door was heard.

All four simultaneously looked at the tightly closed front door of the grain and oil shop. A shouting voice came from outside, “Shopkeeper? Shopkeeper! Is there any grain left in the shop?”

Zhang Xia whispered, “That’s Qi Zhenzhuo’s voice. They’ve come to buy grain.”

A moment later, Qi Zhenzhuo, seeing no response, immediately went to knock on the door of the shop next door. He heard the shop assistant next door say impatiently, “None left, none left! The border army took everything last night. If you want to buy grain, go somewhere else. Don’t bother us!”

Qi Zhenzhuo retorted angrily, “If there’s none, there’s none! Can’t you speak properly? Believe it or not, I’ll smash this shop of yours!”

As he spoke, his voice gradually faded away, as if he had been pulled away by other Imperial Forest Army soldiers.

In the backyard of the grain and oil shop, Zhang Zheng said disdainfully by the well, “If they buy like this, it’ll be too late. What they should be doing now is going to the neighbors and buying any surplus grain from house to house with heavy sums of money. They might still find some hidden stashes, big or small. Places like grain shops would have been plundered clean by the border army long ago!”

Xiao Man glanced at him sideways. “Young Master Zhang likes to be wise after the event. I didn’t see you suggesting buying grain earlier.”

Zhang Zheng said cheerfully, “Isn’t Xiao Man here? Why would I be needed?”

Xiao Man was slightly taken aback. Zhang Zheng suddenly wasn’t arguing with her but was flattering her instead. She was a little unaccustomed to it.

Chen Ji brushed the white lime powder from his clothes. “Let’s go, ignore them,” he said.

The group quietly left the grain and oil shop before dawn. Along the way, countless homes seemed desolate. Bun shops, breakfast stalls, noodle stands—all had their doors boarded up. Outside the simple gruel stalls, long queues had formed, and the waiting people seemed to have had their vitality drained by spirits, utterly lifeless. Peddlers still came out to set up their stalls, but their wares attracted no buyers.

Just then, two people brushed past them.

After a few steps, Zhang Xia suddenly let out a soft ‘Eh?’ and looked back. “People from Luocheng?”

Chen Ji frowned and followed Zhang Xia’s gaze. He saw only two burly men, dressed in single layers of clothing in the winter cold, striding quickly.

Zhang Zheng thought for a moment. “Could they be merchants or escorts from Luocheng here on business?”

Zhang Xia closed his eyes, recalling. “I’m not sure. The last time I saw him was at the Lantern Festival in Luocheng last year, by Wenfeng Pagoda. He was holding a little girl in his arms. The little girl had two topknots tied with red ribbons and was holding a colorful pinwheel…”

“The other one, I’ve seen him twice, both times in the East Market. The first time, he was coming out of a silk shop as I was about to go in; the second time, I was riding Zaobao, and he was driving the Liu family’s carriage, passing me head-on…”

Silk, Lantern Festival, carriage, Liu family.

Chen Ji felt that something was amiss, but couldn’t pinpoint at the moment what exactly was wrong.

“No,” Chen Ji frowned. “They aren’t carrying bowls. Leaving so early without going for gruel, they must have more important matters to attend to.”

Chen Ji stepped forward to follow the two burly men, wanting to investigate further. Subconsciously, he felt there was an astonishing secret hidden within this.

However, just as they turned a street corner, Chen Ji suddenly turned around and led Zhang Zheng and the others into a brokerage shop facing the street, which had just removed its door panels. Across the street from the shop, a scar-faced middle-aged man brushed past the two burly men and seemed to slip something into their palms.

Zhang Xia turned his head to look. The scar-faced middle-aged man was none other than Old Wu, the border army deputy general suspected of poisoning thirty-four members of the Chen family!

Chen Ji felt an inexplicable tremor in his heart. Thirty-four members of the Chen family, a border army deputy general, men from Luocheng… What was the connection between them all?

‘No, wait!’ Chen Ji thought. ‘And the cotton gloves Prince Jing sent to the border army, the border soldiers seeking revenge for Prince Jing… Guyuan felt like a gigantic labyrinth, and this intricate maze had only one exit.’

In the vast city of Guyuan, those who could reach that exit alive would be few and far between.

He said in a low voice, “You all take the grain back first. I’ll follow Old Wu and see where he’s going. Old Wu might be the link that connects the border army to various parties, the key to unraveling the mystery.”

Having said that, Chen Ji turned and left the shop. As he passed a small stall outside the door, he picked up a conical hat and placed it on his head. The stall owner was about to shout, but then saw twenty copper coins clatter onto the stall. By the time the stall owner looked up again to search for Chen Ji’s figure, Chen Ji had already vanished.