Chapter 2: The Saboteur
Han Min drank some ginger soup at the post station, casually ate a little something to fill his stomach, then followed Fu Xun out to inspect the disaster situation.
The earthquake had collapsed many homes, and the common people had built grass huts on open ground, living inside shelters that let wind pass through from every direction.
Looking around, Han Min asked Fu Xun, “You didn’t bring troops with you?”
Fu Xun had commanded troops on the northwestern border for years and held military power, so Han Min asked such a question naturally.
Fu Xun said, “I originally intended to bring men. But the court said moving garrisons is no small matter and cannot be done lightly. The situation was urgent, there was no time to argue, so I came directly. These are all local militiamen from Liuzhou.”
Han Min nodded and continued walking.
Earlier, the food and medicinal supplies Han Min brought had also arrived in the city.
Wen Yan and Magistrate Liu were overseeing everything. After receiving the supplies, they first cooked several pots of rice porridge and boiled some herbs to dispel cold. The common people were lining up with bowls in hand.
Han Min walked forward and took a look.
To conserve grain, the porridge was very thin.
But there was no helping it.
He sighed and asked Fu Xun, “The court officials… will they definitely arrive tonight?”
Fu Xun clasped his hands behind his back. “Originally, they wouldn’t have been able to.”
Han Min stepped out of the grass hut. “Why not?”
“The one in charge of dispatching is Fu Quan.”
Fu Xun only said this one sentence, and Han Min immediately understood.
Fu Xun was the third son. Fu Quan, the fourth, had been granted the title the Duke of Gong years ago.
The crown prince had died early, and the emperor never named another.
The brothers fought fiercely for the position of crown prince, with the Duke of Gong (Fu Quan) being the most aggressive.
Fu Quan was vicious by nature.
If he were in charge of disaster relief allocations, he would certainly try to trip Fu Xun up—and skim profit off the top. Naturally, he wouldn’t easily give approval.
For Fu Xun to pry a piece of meat out of his mouth must have taken considerable effort.
Fu Xun reminded him, “The Magistrate of Liuzhou is also his man.”
Fu Xun tilted his head slightly, and in a soft voice beside Han Min’s ear, said casually, “He wants me to lose my life in Liuzhou.”
Han Min froze.
Fu Xun explained quietly, “Food and medicine were delayed for so long. Magistrate Liu is corrupt inside and out. The uninformed citizens started to panic and stir trouble. Tonight, they originally planned to revolt and attack the post station.
“Before you came, up on the city tower, Magistrate Liu told me he was going out to hurry the grain shipment. In truth, he meant to slip away, wait for me to die, then return.”
“I didn’t bring troops. If the people rioted, I would surely die in this city.”
Han Min jerked his head up to look at him.
Fu Xun’s expression was calm, watching him with a faint, mocking smile.
Han Min clutched his chest in fear.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Seeing his expression, Fu Xun still chuckled and reassured him, “I won’t die.”
If the riot was scheduled for tonight and the supplies also arrived tonight, then the timing had been arranged perfectly.
Han Min ignored him, covered his chest, and walked away.
He asked his system inwardly, “the Duke of Ding is just a title, right? They can give it to someone else, right? Fu Xun’s position as future emperor… is it not stable?”
The system replied in its cold robotic tone, “I can only tell you that the Duke of Ding will become emperor.”
Han Min’s face showed nothing, but inwardly he exploded: “I just got here and you told me the Duke of Ding would become emperor, but you didn’t tell me who the Duke of Ding actually is. After all these years—over ten years!—you still haven’t told me.”
Damn it!
The system didn’t reply.
Han Min continued, “More than ten years… even raising a—”
A dog.
Han Min lifted his eyes and saw a big yellow dog, tied to a stump nearby.
He flinched. “System, calm down!”
The system said nothing further—its consciousness had already attached itself to the dog.
The yellow dog, now with the system’s consciousness, broke free from the rope and charged toward him, barking furiously.
Han Min panicked and stumbled backward.
His foot slipped and he fell into someone’s arms. That person caught him.
Han Min looked back. It was Fu Xun.
“Thank you.”
The system-possessed yellow dog barked wildly at him.
Fu Xun steadying Han Min, pulled him back a little. When he saw the frightened expression on Han Min’s face, he couldn’t help laughing.
Because he couldn’t hold back the laughter, Han Min shot him a glare.
Fu Xun touched his nose, suppressed his amusement, and waved for someone to take the dog away.
—
There was still time, so Han Min went to check the supplies he brought.
The transport workers were also people he brought from Tongzhou, loaned to him by the Magistrate there.
They were quickly eating something to fill their stomachs and unloading cargo. Seeing him arrive, they all greeted him.
“Min boy!”
Han Min waved back. “Uncles, how are you all?”
“All good, all good.”
He pulled Manager Zhou aside. “Uncle.”
Uncle Zhou had been helping unload, and tugged at his sleeves. “What is it?”
Han Min quietly asked, “Before coming, we didn’t know how many people Liuzhou had. Now that we’re here—how long will the supplies last?”
“Barely… ten days.”
Han Min thought it over. Uncle Zhou misunderstood and thought he was dissatisfied, so he reassured him, “You gathered all this with your own money. This is already a lot.”
Han Min said, “The court officials will arrive tonight.”
Uncle Zhou clapped his hands. “Then it’s fine. Let the court handle the rest.”
Han Min shook his head and lowered his voice. “Uncle Zhou, to be honest, Magistrate Liu is a saboteur.”
Uncle Zhou blinked. “What? A ‘junk collector’?”
“A saboteur—someone who causes sabotage. While we’re still in Liuzhou, I’ll need you to assign men to guard the supplies.”
This time, Uncle Zhou understood.
He patted his chest. “Don’t worry. I’ll arrange everything.”
Relieved, Han Min turned to leave, but then thought of something. He turned back and reminded, “Uncle, I’m a criminal on probation. It’s inconvenient for me to be seen. If anyone in Liuzhou asks who prepared these supplies, say it was the Magistrate of Tongzhou. Don’t mention me. If they ask why I’m here, say he sent me to earn merit.”
Uncle Zhou nodded. “Got it.”
After saying goodbye, Han Min left.
Fu Xun waited not far away.
“Finished giving orders?”
Han Min nodded and repeated what he told Uncle Zhou.
—Do not say the supplies were from him; give the credit to the Tongzhou Magistrate.
He had been wronged, yet didn’t even realize it.
Fu Xun, displeased, didn’t respond, his expression cold.
Han Min didn’t notice. Just then, Wen Yan came looking for Fu Xun, so Han Min told them to go handle business and not mind him.
He wandered the city on his own before returning to the post station.
They had prepared a room for him, now cleaned and ready.
He opened the window for fresh air, sat at the desk, and took out paper and brush from his traveling case.
The system asked, “What are you writing?”
Han Min ground ink with his left hand. “A memorial to the throne.”
“To impeach Magistrate Liu? Or the Duke of Gong Fu Quan?”
“Both.”
“Neither of them has committed a major offense yet. It may be useless.”
Han Min dipped his brush. “Believe in the power of words.”
The system fell silent.
Han Min explained, “I can’t impeach now. But by tonight, I’ll be able to.”
“What do you mean?”
Han Min didn’t answer directly. Resting his head in his hand, he said, “I’ll start with a strong opening—something engaging. System, search for ancient memorials criticizing corruption and negligence. Something stirring.”
“…Okay.”
“Let’s do our best. We are establishing a heart for Heaven and Earth, and a destiny for the people!”
The system replied dryly, and began searching.
Soon, it said, “Sent to you.”
“Great, thanks, system.”
“You only call me ‘system’ when you need something. Otherwise it’s ‘yellow dog.’”
Han Min had been an ordinary Chinese major in modern society.
After dying unexpectedly, he transmigrated here and bound with a system.
The system had only three functions.
First was spoilers.
It would tell him what would happen next, but—
It never spoiled everything.
For example, when he was six or seven, it would constantly say, “the Duke of Ding will become emperor.” Hearing this repeatedly made Han Min want to find a backer.
But when he looked at a dozen princes of varying shapes and faces, he couldn’t tell who the Duke of Ding was.
Finally, he gave up on finding a backer.
Therefore, the spoiler function was… pretty useless.
The second function was consciousness attachment.
Like earlier, when the system got angry, it attached itself to the yellow dog to scare him.
It could only attach to small animals, or Han Min would’ve had it possess the emperor long ago.
The third was literature retrieval.
Like finding sample memorials—which it also used for plagiarism checking.
Honestly, very academic.
Fortunately, Han Min had studied well before transmigrating. Born into a scholarly family here, he had learned a lot.
He knew poetry and essays and wasn’t bad at writing memorials.
He bent over the table and wrote.
A sparrow chirped outside the window. The system possessed it. The bird fluttered inside and perched quietly on the desk.
Han Min patted its head and continued writing.
He ate a quick lunch in the room, then kept writing until night.
Hearing noise outside, he looked up and saw torches in the distance.
The court’s supply convoy must have arrived.
He put down his brush, stood, and said to the sparrow, “Let’s go take a look.”
It flew around him.
Just as he exited, he caught a glimpse of a sneaky figure in his peripheral vision.
He immediately changed direction and followed.
The person headed toward the grain warehouse.
Han Min, weak as he was, jogged over and hid in the shadows, panting.
Most people were at the city gate waiting for the imperial convoy.
That person circled the warehouse doing something he couldn’t see. But then he took out a fire starter.
Arson?
Han Min grabbed a stick and threw it—hitting the man’s hand precisely.
He forgot to mention—ever since coming here, he’d been first place in the pitch-pot game.
He couldn’t win in a fistfight, but he could throw things.
The man picked up the fire starter, lit it, and again prepared to toss it into the warehouse.
This time Han Min couldn’t interrupt in time. The flame flared, and the man turned to him.
Han Min froze for a split second, then ran.
As he ran, he yelled, “Fu Xun! Someone—”
But unexpectedly, Fu Xun was right behind him. Han Min had barely taken a few steps before crashing into his arms.
Fu Xun held him by the shoulders. “It’s alright. I’m here.”
He signaled with one hand, and the guards rushed forward, extinguished the fire, and pinned the arsonist.
Standing before Fu Xun, Han Min didn’t dare look at him. He whispered to the system, “System, I feel so embarrassed.”
The system, possessing the yellow dog again, baring teeth and barking wildly—ready to fight the criminal to the death—replied, “…Me too.”
Author’s note:
Han Min: So embarrassing.
System: So embarrassing.
Prince: So adorable. Cute and brave. (99999× beauty filter)
