Chapter 36: Candidates for Infiltrating the Imperial City

Seeing these children, he immediately turned left.

Ning Lan lowered his head and pleaded, “Brother-in-law, my good brother-in-law, are you really going to punish us?”

Lin Qian nodded grimly. “Go. While I have not yet changed my mind. Otherwise, I’ll make you kneel in the ancestral hall all night!”

At the mention of kneeling, Ning Lan was reluctant, but he ran faster than anyone else. In the ancestral hall, they would receive neither water nor food and would have to kneel stiffly on the cold, hard brick floor.

Not only were they forbidden to move, but if they failed to kneel perfectly straight, they would be beaten with a cane.

Leading his companions, Ning Lan hurried toward the reception hall.

Inside, a meal had been laid out, reheated so many times that no one knew how long it had been sitting there.

The children looked at one another helplessly. They could only swallow as they breathed in the enticing aroma of the food. Even Ning Lan did not dare take a single step forward.

This, too, was part of Lin Qian’s test.

Time passed, yet no punishment came, and Lin Qian did not appear.

The children gradually grew restless.

Ning Lan glanced around before suddenly saying, “We’re going to be beaten anyway. Why don’t we eat everything here? Even if we get thrashed afterward, at least we’ll have full stomachs!”

“No! We absolutely cannot eat it…”

The child who had earlier been standing in the middle hurriedly objected.

But Xu Min’an, a refined boy with the air of a scholar, shook his head. “Ning Lan is right. If we do not eat now, we will still be punished, and we probably will not be released until dawn tomorrow. How could we endure that without food?”

“Besides, the three of us might manage without eating, but what about them?”

The remaining children were nearly the same age as Ning Lan, yet they were much smaller and thinner than the other three.

“Eat! What’s another beating? At least we’ll have the strength to endure it if we’re full, won’t we?” Ning Lan said through clenched teeth.

Liu Tonghu, who was fiercely loyal, suddenly spoke up. “Exactly. The three of us might be able to go without food, but they need to eat. If we’re questioned later, we’ll say that the three of us forced them to eat. We’ll take the beating!”

“Not quite, not quite!” Xu Min’an smiled. “Think about it. The City Lord told us to come to the reception hall and reflect facing the wall. We are indeed facing the wall, but he never said we weren’t allowed to eat the food on this table, did he?”

“We can eat first and then face the wall. It amounts to the same thing.”

“Besides…”

As he spoke, Xu Min’an’s brow furrowed, and an unusual light flickered in his eyes.

“I have a feeling the City Lord is testing the bond between us. Otherwise, why would he prepare an entire table of food here, knowing full well that we were going to be punished?”

Ning Lan could no longer bear his hunger. He hurriedly said, “Then let’s eat! Sit down, all of you. We’ll face the wall after we finish. We’re going to be beaten anyway, so we might as well commit one more offense. Eat!”

At Ning Lan’s urging, all the children sat around the table and devoured the food like a whirlwind.

What they failed to notice was that Ning Lan had brought eight companions with him—and there were exactly eight stools arranged around the table in the reception hall.

Once the children had eaten their fill, Lin Qian emerged from behind them with a smile.

“You seem to be enjoying the food.”

Ning Lan still had the last bite of meat in his mouth. He was so frightened that he immediately choked.

Xu Min’an vigorously patted him on the back while staring directly at Lin Qian, utterly unafraid.

“The City Lord prepared this meal for the eight of us. If we had not eaten it, would that not have disappointed the City Lord’s kindness?”

Lin Qian was momentarily taken aback.

“Oh? And how did you arrive at that conclusion?”

Xu Min’an pointed at the food on the table and said calmly, “There are eight stools, and there are exactly eight of us. Does that not explain everything?”

“Clever.”

Lin Qian made no attempt to hide his appreciation for Xu Min’an.

Ning Lan’s fortune was far greater than his own.

To think that he had encountered such promising talent—someone skilled in both letters and arms. At his side was a future general capable of standing on his own, while Xu Min’an was so intelligent that he would surely become an excellent administrator in the years to come.

By comparison, Ning Lan was far luckier than he had ever been.

The next moment, Lin Qian said calmly, “That is correct. This is the punishment I prepared for you.”

“I want you to learn to follow the rules and understand what actions will bring disaster. But I also want you to know that, at times, disobedience can itself be a way to solve a problem.”

“If all of you had obediently stood here facing the wall without eating this meal, then I truly would have beaten you with my cane!”

Standing outside the reception hall was another person: Jin Jun.

Before Lin Qian emerged, Jin Jun had already been standing there for six hours, from noon until nightfall.

His lips were dry, cracked, and pale. His expression was dazed, and even his body was beginning to give out. He was both hungry and thirsty, his stomach twisting with emptiness.

He had watched the group of children rush into the reception hall from behind him, yet he could only continue standing where he was.

That was because Lin Qian’s order had been for him to remain there.

“Jin Jun, come in.”

The children had finished their meal and received their “punishment.” After explaining the purpose behind it, Lin Qian dismissed them.

The leftovers remained on the table, and Jin Jun could not stop himself from salivating at the sight.

“Jin Jun, I made you wait here for an entire day. Do you have any complaints?”

Jin Jun froze.

He had no real complaints, though he did have a few grievances.

But he could not voice them in front of Lin Qian. He could only gaze at the cold leftovers on the table and answer flatly, “No.”

“Good. If you had failed to endure it and left without permission, I certainly could not have given you such a future.”

At the word “future,” Jin Jun suddenly forgot his hunger, and his eyes lit up.

“Now I know that you can remain patient and keep your grievances buried inside. You will never speak of them.”

“So I can confidently send you to the capital!”

What?

The capital?

That was the heart of the Great Qian Dynasty, a place of unparalleled splendor and prosperity!

“I want you to go to the capital and open the largest restaurant there. You will gather intelligence for me and, at the same time, establish connections with people at every level so that useful information can reach us. You must be socially adept, bold when necessary, calm, and restrained. More importantly…”

“You must build an intelligence network. Whatever you need, I will provide. You will be the head of this network. Is that clear?”

In that instant, Jin Jun felt as though happiness had descended upon him far too quickly.

He had never imagined that Lin Qian would entrust him with such a secret mission. And opening a restaurant in the capital—what a position of wealth and influence that would be! He would practically be the God of Wealth himself.