Under the humble thatched porridge shed, officials had built a stove of green bricks. A faint aroma of rice wafted from eight boiling cauldrons.

Wang Daosheng patiently explained to the official, “In a year of great disaster, even if it hasn’t come to the point of cannibalism, brothels will surely come to buy young girls. Don’t worry, I won’t make trouble for you. Just report my name to Lord Zhang; he and I are old acquaintances.”

Just as Chen Ji thought the official was about to retort, he saw the official had already backed down, his expression sheepish. “So it’s Lord Wang,” he said. “This humble subordinate failed to recognize your eminence!”

Chen Ji cautiously asked, “Princess, is Master Wang very famous?”

Bai Li glanced at him in surprise, then leaned closer and whispered, “You haven’t heard of Master Wang’s name? He was already renowned throughout the land years ago when he placed second in the imperial examination.”

Chen Ji grunted in acknowledgement. He truly hadn’t known that his new teacher held such a prestigious reputation, one that could make even yamen officials treat him with such courtesy just by hearing his name.

At this moment, the official looked at Wang Daosheng, somewhat troubled. “Lord Wang, we can handle the registration, but as you can see, there are only a dozen or so officials here at the porridge shed. We’ll be too busy later just distributing the porridge. Could we wait until we’ve called for more people?”

Wang Daosheng glanced at the porridge shed, then at the number of officials. “You may go and handle the registration. We will manage the porridge distribution.”

The official was taken aback. “Sir, ladling out thousands of portions of porridge is strenuous work. How can we let you do it?”

Wang Daosheng didn’t answer him, instead looking at Chen Ji and the others. “Do any of you have a problem with that?”

Chen Ji replied, “Master, don’t worry, I have no problem!”

Bai Li also smiled, rolling up her sleeves. “Master, I have no problem either.”

Seeing this, Zhang Xia immediately tied Zaobao’s reins near the porridge shed, then rolled up his sleeves and walked over. “Master, we’re fine with it.”

At this moment, the Prince said, “There aren’t enough people.”

On the ox cart outside the porridge shed, Chen Wenzong watched the scene silently for a long time.

When the Prince’s gaze swept over, he immediately moved to stand up, but Chen Wenxiao tugged his arm, pulling him back. “Brother, what are you doing? We’re here for an academic tour! We’re not here to do manual labor. I’ve seen those officials distribute porridge; ladling out thousands of scoops makes their arms swell. Usually, it’s the unpopular officials from the yamen who get assigned this kind of freezing, hard labor.”

Chen Wenzong’s expression was stern. “No need for further words. You and I have studied the classics for over a decade; how can we not distinguish right from wrong on such a basic matter? Previously, I didn’t get off the cart because Chen Ji had made a mistake, and the others shouldn’t be burdened by him. But now we are serving the people; how can we shrink back? Let go!”

He shook off Chen Wenxiao’s hand, jumped off the ox cart, and rolled up his sleeves. “Master, I’ll help too.”

Chen Wenxiao sat alone on the cart, hesitating for a long time. Finally, he lowered his head, jumped off the ox cart, and stood with Chen Wenzong.

Wang Daosheng lifted a pot lid, only to see cloud-like steam rising.

As the white steam dissipated a bit, everyone frowned. “The rice gruel is thin and watery; you can see the grains at the bottom of the pot at a glance.”

Chen Wenzong looked gravely at the official. “Why is the porridge so thin? Our dynasty’s strict rule for distributing porridge is that a stick inserted into it must not fall over. How dare you cook such watery porridge?”

The official’s face turned pale with fright. “It’s not that we wanted to cook it so thin; Lord Zhang ordered us to!”

“Lord Zhang?”

“That’s right!”

The official explained, “Lord Zhang said there isn’t enough grain. To ensure the people of the west and south parts of the city survive the winter, we absolutely cannot cook thick porridge. If we were to distribute porridge according to the imperial court’s regulations, the porridge sheds would run out of supplies in just fifteen days!”

“Is there no grain left in Luocheng’s granary either?”

Chen Wenzong was puzzled. “I recall the autumn harvest being transported to Luocheng just last month.”

The official quickly replied, “Lord Zhang said the grain in the official granary cannot be touched anymore. If a military order comes to requisition grain and there isn’t enough in the granary, heads will roll.”

“Are there no other solutions? Where is Lord Zhang?”

“Lord Zhang said he went to find a solution.”

Zhang Xia asked curiously, “What about Lord Chen? I remember Lord Chen is the most principled; he surely wouldn’t just stand by, would he?”

The official hesitated.

Zhang Xia, impatient, pressed him, “Well, speak up!”

The official stammered, “Lord Zhang found a group of shyster lawyers and old bachelors to file lawsuits at the yamen. They’ve tied up Lord Chen at the prefecture yamen.”

Zhang Xia was stunned. “Oh, this…”

Wang Daosheng raised a hand, stopping the conversation. “Officials, go and handle the registration. We will manage the porridge distribution here.”

With that, he spoke to the disaster victims, “Step forward to receive porridge. The elderly, weak, women, and children have priority.”

The voice drifted outward, seemingly not loud, yet it distinctly carried for hundreds of meters.

Chen Ji was surprised. He saw the disaster victims slowly standing up, and indeed, one by one, they let the elderly, weak, women, and children move to the very front of the line.

He had witnessed porridge distribution before at the West Gate, and he knew what disaster victims were like.

With everyone starved to skin and bones like this, who would still care about respecting the old and cherishing the young?

Yet, Master Wang’s single sentence had such an effect. Could Master Wang also be an official?

Chen Ji quietly looked at the Prince and Bai Li. “Master Wang just now…”

Bai Li whispered, “My father says Master walks the path of a sage, speaking with divine authority, capable of educating all beings. However, he also said that Master still has some things he hasn’t fully understood, so he cannot be considered a true sage.”

Chen Ji glanced at Master Wang, then silently picked up a large wooden ladle and began scooping rice porridge for the waiting disaster victims one by one.

The wooden ladle was too heavy for a girl.

Bai Li’s arm ached so much after just a few dozen scoops that she could barely lift it. She could only grit her teeth and persist. “If Big Brother Mao’er were here, it would be great. His strength is inexhaustible.”

Chen Ji suddenly realized that as he ladled out the rice porridge scoop by scoop to the disaster victims, the color of the twenty-six inner furnaces within his body subtly changed. Though very slight and slow, each tiny shift was real.

It was like the firing temperature in a downdraft kiln: cherry red at 600 degrees, orange-yellow at 900 degrees, and turning white above 1300 degrees.

When the twenty-six furnaces first ignited, they were cherry red. Now, that red was slowly fading away.

What followed was an even more surging vitality.

Chen Ji recalled that in a dream, there was a moment when all the furnaces throughout his body burned, and at that time, the furnaces were white.

Strange!

Why did the furnaces change?

Was it because he was helping the disaster victims?

But hadn’t he helped disaster victims before, when he was at the West Gate?

Wait!

The only difference between now and then was that back then, he had been masked.

Before Chen Ji could figure it out, the creaking sound of wooden wheels echoed from outside the city gate.

Dozens of flatbed carts, laden with sacks of grain, were driven out of the city, followed by an official sedan chair.

The grain was piled on the flatbed carts like small hills.

Even the official sedan chair looked somewhat insignificant by comparison.

The next moment, the sedan bearers set the chair down, and Zhang Zhuo, dressed in his red official robe, stepped out triumphantly.

He looked at the group under the porridge shed, surprised. “Oh, why are you all here?”

Zhang Xia rushed forward like a gust of wind and hugged his arm. “Dad, where did you find all this grain?”

Zhang Zhuo chuckled, stroking his beard. “Your old man conjured it up with magic. Pretty impressive, huh?”

Zhang Xia gave a thumbs up. “Impressive!”

Wang Daosheng walked to the side of a flatbed cart, casually squeezed a sack, and immediately knew. “It’s fresher than the official grain. This is the autumn harvest merchants just hoarded this year. They were willing to donate it to you? No, you bought it.”

Zhang Zhuo laughed. “You led troops for several years, and you can still tell if grain is fresh just by feeling it through the sack? I thought you’d become a bookworm from all that studying!”

Wang Daosheng, however, couldn’t laugh.

He frowned at Zhang Zhuo. “When you were serving in Yangzhou, you did outrageous things because of this. After you left office, impeachment memorials against you flew into the capital like snowflakes. If Grand Secretary Xu hadn’t suppressed the matter of you buying and selling official titles, you would probably be in prison by now. But you always do this. Sooner or later, something will go wrong. When that happens, if a Censor investigates and uncovers irregularities, all it takes is a single accusation before the Emperor, and all your efforts will be ruined.”

Zhang Zhuo’s expression was arrogant, his aura overbearing. “As long as Grand Secretary Xu remains the Senior Grand Secretary, no Censor will dare to impeach me.”

Wang Daosheng sighed, “What if Grand Secretary Xu is no longer the Senior Grand Secretary?”

Zhang Zhuo said proudly, “By then, I will be the Senior Grand Secretary.”

Wang Daosheng gently shook his head, stating again, “Even a Grand Secretary cannot cover the sky with one hand. Dong Shi wrote to me saying he has been promoted to Censor-in-Chief supervising the state, and is about to inspect your tenure in Yangzhou. He and the Xu family have been at odds for a long time. If he…”

Zhang Zhuo impatiently waved his sleeve.

Seeing no officials or disaster victims nearby, he immediately retorted angrily, “You’re only a few years older than me; don’t constantly preach to me. What’s wrong with me using the money of corrupt officials to help the people? If I didn’t do this, what would these victims eat or drink? Wait for the imperial court’s money? How long would that take? The victims would have starved to death long ago!”

Upon hearing this, Chen Ji suddenly remembered the rumors about Zhang Zhuo and Manager Yuan’s account book, and finally realized where this batch of grain came from.

But then Zhang Zhuo continued, speaking to Wang Daosheng, “If you can’t stand my methods, you can certainly report me to Dong Shi. Let me ask you one thing: Do you want these disaster victims to survive this winter?”

Zhang Zhuo and Wang Daosheng stood facing each other: one in a vibrant red official robe with a lifelike white crane embroidered on his chest badge, the other in a faded, starched blue scholar’s robe.

It was as if two people, whose destinies were never meant to cross, had accidentally met and were now sharply at odds.

Everyone held their breath, as if two great mountains were pressing down on them, not daring to utter a sound.

Finally, Wang Daosheng said softly, “I am acquainted with Dong Shi. I will send him a letter once I return from my academic tour in a few days, asking him not to investigate the Yangzhou matter.”

Zhang Zhuo burst out laughing and clapped Wang Daosheng’s shoulder. “I knew it! Even after all these years, you’re still different from those rigid scholars. Dong Shi reveres your scholarship and treats you as his mentor. If you’re willing to speak, he’ll surely stop. When you return from your academic tour, I’ll come find you for a drink.”

Wang Daosheng casually swatted Zhang Zhuo’s hand away. “Sooner or later, you’re going to take a big fall over this.”

Zhang Zhuo’s expression changed. “You can’t just say things like that! Quick, spit, spit, spit!”

Wang Daosheng ignored him, turned, and walked back to the porridge shed, continuing to ladle porridge for the disaster victims. “Don’t worry, I’m not that powerful.”