There is a happy inn in the capital.

Chapter 423 Adventure Plan

During the three days of waiting, Suleiman remained outwardly calm and composed.

outside the post station

The royal guards appeared respectful, but their surveillance was becoming increasingly apparent, and the delegation's movements were subject to more subtle restrictions.

"This is so annoying, I can't even go out to get some medicine for the injured child."

Princess Changning grumbled to herself, having been turned away by the guards at the inn's entrance. She stormed back to Li Shuchen's room and angrily slammed her plop down on a chair.

"I can sneak you out, don't worry," Li Shuchen said softly.

“Yes, let’s climb over the wall and get out,” Princess Changning nodded happily. “I wish I had learned some light-body skills from you.”

"It's not too late to learn now, I'll teach you."

"Okay, let's go."

The two walked out of the room and bumped into Liang Yuying.

Her brows furrowed deeply, and Li Shuchen knew that his request to see the king had failed again.

"Where is the King?" Princess Changning asked.

"They say the king has caught a cold and shouldn't receive guests," Liang Yuying said helplessly.

"Ha, in May in Boyu Kingdom, it's so hot that people get heatstroke. There are women and children fainting everywhere outside, and he's caught a cold? What a joke," Princess Changning sneered.

Liang Yuying drew her sword and practiced it in the cramped courtyard of the inn. The sword's sharp edge seemed to shatter her pent-up resentment.

"Changning, come here. I'll teach you a few more moves and, while I'm at it, replace the poison needles in your bracelet," Li Shuchen beckoned to Princess Changning.

"coming"

After finishing his lesson, Li Shuchen ran off, while Princess Changning practiced diligently in the courtyard.

They do not disturb each other.

Ye Bingli was fiddling with the strings of her zither in her room, seemingly studying something.

Gu Ziying chatted idly with the maids and nannies at the post station, trying to glean some information.

Xiao Xiuyuan coldly observed the pattern of the palace guards' rotation, as well as the occasional well-dressed but sly-eyed spies appearing near the post station.

Li Shuchen appeared to be the most well-behaved, but he went to the stables to braid Wan Bai's tail in the style of the Bo Yu Kingdom.

After finishing the writing, I praised Wanbai's beautiful tail a hundred times.

Wanbai loves to listen

Then, he took out some rough colored gemstones he had bought at the market from his crossbody bag and sighed to Wanbai, complaining about their poor quality and how he had been cheated by a dishonest merchant.

Only she knows

The leather whip in his arms and the small, peculiar fluorite given to him by Zoya for emergency communication, hidden in a secret pocket in his sleeve, were both slightly warm.

The night of the third day

On a dark and windy night, the desert temperature plummeted.

Li Shuchen pulled his cloak tighter around himself and, just as before, skillfully avoided the gaps in the guards' laxity, slipping into the labyrinthine alleyways in the west of the city with practiced ease.

In the dead-end alley filled with discarded pottery jars, Zoya was already waiting, still wearing that inconspicuous gray robe, her emerald green eyes sharp as an eagle's in the darkness.

You're certainly on time.

Zoya's voice was colder than the desert night wind, but it carried a barely perceptible hint of urgency.

Without saying a word, she directly handed Li Shuchen a small roll wrapped in oilcloth.

"The details of the 'Golden Camel,' including key names, locations, and times—everything we could find out—are on it. The best craftsman was named Hassan, and his entire family was being held captive in the courtyard behind the workshop in the east of the city. His son had tuberculosis and needed a Western herbal medicine available only in the royal pharmacy to keep him alive."

"I can't draw a map of the mining area and the main transport routes, but I know that every five days, a small leader will take stock of the 'smuggled goods' they've looted from Wind-Eroded Valley in the backyard of the 'Night Owl Tavern,' where there are relatively fewer guards."

Li Shuchen quickly glanced at the densely packed tiny characters and simplified diagrams on the oilcloth roll by the moonlight, and his heart trembled.

The intelligence was far more detailed than she had expected, enough to show how much risk Zoya had taken and how many deeply hidden connections she had used over the past three days.

"Princess, this..."

"Stop talking nonsense," Zoya interrupted her, "There are two more pieces of news."

"First, Azim, the market's uncle and the owner of the 'Golden Camel,' is holding a small 'treasure appraisal' at his private villa in three days. He has invited several wealthy merchants from the capital and a passing Arab merchant to show off a batch of newly acquired rare treasures."

"Second," she paused, lowering her voice even further, "the mining area is not peaceful. Seven days ago, an abandoned mine pit on the east side collapsed, burying more than a dozen miners. The foreman suppressed the report, and when relatives of some miners tried to inquire, two were killed by the patrol team. They are very resentful, but no one dares to speak up."

Li Shuchen's mind raced.

"The appraisal event... will definitely be heavily guarded, and the resentment in the mining area... perhaps we can make something of it. The key is that artisan Hassan who needs the herbs."

"You want to start with Hassan?" Zoya immediately understood her intention. "I can find a way to steal some herbs from the medicine storehouse, but how do I get them in? Even if I did, would Hassan dare to betray Azim for his son? His other family members are still in their hands."

“It’s not betrayal, it’s… a mistake,” a sly glint in Li Shuchen’s eyes. “For example, when processing a particularly important batch of gemstones, the gemstones were ‘accidentally’ damaged due to ‘distraction’ or ‘improper handling’?”

"Not many are needed, just one is enough, especially if this batch of gems happens to be displayed at an appraisal event..."

Zoya paused for a moment, then said, "Are you crazy? Those gems are priceless. Even if Hassan had ten sons, he couldn't afford them."

"Therefore, it cannot be that Hassan made a deliberate 'mistake'."

Li Shuchen's thoughts became clearer and clearer. "Could we find a way to let something... well, something inconspicuous but that would affect the luster or stability of a gemstone, 'accidentally' get mixed into the tools or materials he's using?"

"For example, some kind of specially made, slowly evaporating oil? Or extremely fine powder that can embed itself into the cracks of a gemstone? After the incident, Azim would first suspect Hassan, but without concrete evidence, at most he would be severely punished."

"As for us, we have the opportunity to contact his desperate family, perhaps leaving a way out, and also planting a seed for the future. At the same time, with the treasure appraisal meeting going wrong and Azim losing face, will the king become dissatisfied with him?"

Zoya remained silent for a long time, her emerald eyes gleaming in the darkness as she weighed the risks and possibilities.

"Special oils or powders... There was an old perfumer in the palace, from my mother's tribe, who was later recruited to the palace because of her skills. She took good care of me. She knew many strange formulas, but how to get them to Hassan and ensure that they were used only on that particular batch of gems?"

“This is where Your Highness’s skillful arrangements are needed,” Li Shuchen said. “For example, replacing the special oil that Hassan uses and that is unique to him for grooming?”

"Or, could the powder be mixed into a batch of fine lime powder from a specific origin, supplied only to that batch of top-quality gemstones for polishing? It needs to be done very naturally, as if there was a mistake in the procurement or storage process."

"It's too risky. If anything goes wrong, it will implicate a whole bunch of people," Zoya said, her voice hoarse.

“What we’re doing right now, isn’t it all risky?” Li Shuchen retorted, his tone unusually serious.

"Princess, you're helping me not just to create opportunities for our delegation, but also for the people of your mother's tribe who are still suffering, for the innocent souls buried beneath the mines, right? Only by prying open the cracks little by little can light possibly shine in."