A Battle of Wits (Seeking Follow-ups)

The night was as cold as water, and Chen Yuan's heart felt just as chilled.

Judging by Zhang Hong's implication, he clearly wanted the two of them to share the responsibility.

From Chen Yuan's perspective, if you hadn't gone to relieve yourself, none of this would have happened. But nature calls, and one can't exactly hold it in forever.

From Zhang Hong's perspective, he was gone for less than five minutes, and the precious herbs were already gone—wasn't he the one who was wronged? Yet, Chen Yuan couldn't be expected to fight a thief empty-handed.

One could only say their luck was rotten.

About ten minutes later, Li Song arrived on the scene, alone.

Chen Yuan had anticipated this; given Steward Li's formidable strength, it was no surprise he was the first to arrive.

Zhang Hong felt the same, his eyes showing no sign of astonishment.

Catching this out of the corner of his eye, Chen Yuan's thoughts stirred.

Seeing only Zhang Hong and Chen Yuan in the herb garden, Li Song immediately demanded an account of the situation.

Chen Yuan recounted the events once more, while Zhang Hong nodded from the side, corroborating his story.

Li Song frowned. "Zhang Hong, in which direction did the thief flee? Do you have a general location?"

Zhang Hong described the scene with a convincing air, then added with a look of self-reproach:

"Steward Li, this subordinate is incompetent for letting the thief slip away right under my nose. Please punish me!"

Li Song let out a cold snort. "Whether he can actually escape is another matter. I will have people comb through that area. Do they really think the Li Family's herb garden is so easy to raid?"

Clearly, beyond the two of them as visible guards, there were others stationed in the shadows, likely with even greater strength.

After a while, Huang Yongbo and the steward in charge of the herb garden's accounts arrived as well.

Chen Yuan glanced at Zhang Hong, noting that his expression remained calm and thoughtful.

The steward immediately began assessing the damage to the Stone Scale Flowers, finally saying in a low voice:

"Over a dozen mature Stone Scale Flowers are missing, a loss of several dozen taels of silver."

Li Song's expression softened slightly.

The only silver lining was that the thief hadn't gone to extremes; harvesting took time, but destruction was instantaneous. Had the thief truly wanted to cause chaos, this entire patch of Stone Scale Flowers would have been left in ruins.

He looked at Zhang Hong and Chen Yuan, his voice stern:

"Although the thief came prepared, your negligence was a factor. If the precious herbs are not recovered, your monthly wages will be halved, and your share of Bone-Strengthening Pills will be revoked. Do you have any objections?"

Both men lowered their heads and cupped their hands, accepting the punishment.

This was already quite merciful; the loss was several dozen taels, yet they were only being penalized less than twenty taels in total, without the blame being placed entirely on their shoulders.

"Fine, you may go." Li Song waved his hand, signaling their dismissal.

He needed to coordinate manpower—partly to hunt down the thief, and partly to warn the guards of other herb gardens to remain vigilant.

Chen Yuan breathed a sigh of relief; this punishment was within his capacity to bear.

Still, losing seven taels of silver for nothing made his heart ache.

Moreover, the more he thought about today's events, the stranger they seemed. When he went to the back room of the herb garden to retrieve his pack, his eyes swept over the spot where the bow and arrows were usually kept, and it remained empty.

He scanned the room and found the bow bag and quiver in a dim corner, only to discover the quiver was completely empty.

A chill ran through Chen Yuan's heart as he realized something.

Stepping out of the room, he saw Zhang Hong still whispering to Huang Yongbo, seemingly complaining about what had just happened.

Chen Yuan calmly shouldered his pack and walked toward the exit of the herb garden, his footsteps quickly fading into the night.

He didn't go far, instead lying in wait along the path Zhang Hong usually took after his shift ended.

Soon, footsteps echoed, and Zhang Hong's figure appeared on the road.

He was quite vigilant, stopping at one point to look left and right. Satisfied that no one was around, he ducked into the nearby dense forest.

Within a few heartbeats, he emerged from the forest, a bulging pack now slung over his shoulder.

Under the moonlight, a clear smile appeared on his face as he hummed a little tune and walked away with a light step.

Chen Yuan's face was filled with icy rage, his heart cursing, Are you kidding me? Treating me like a monkey?

He had completely unraveled the sequence of events.

This attack was a play entirely directed and performed by Zhang Hong.

First, Zhang Hong used the excuse of needing to relieve himself to leave, leaving only Chen Yuan behind to create an opportunity for his accomplice to strike.

There were no flaws in this; relieving oneself was human nature, and the thief seizing that opportunity could be explained as him having been lying in ambush nearby, waiting for the right moment.

But the bow and arrows were the suspicious point. Why was the place where they were kept empty, and why was the quiver devoid of arrows?

Obviously, Zhang Hong was worried that Chen Yuan might shoot his accomplice dead, so he had tampered with them beforehand.

At the time, the situation was urgent, and Chen Yuan hadn't had time to think, assuming Zhang Hong had just tossed them elsewhere. But upon checking later, the empty quiver was highly suspicious.

Of course, this could only serve as corroborating evidence.

Afterward, Zhang Hong arrived to "scare off" the thief—yet he had dared to chase an unknown, potentially dangerous thief while completely unarmed?

How dare he? Is he emboldened by his own skill? Willing to go through fire and water for the Li Family? Heh.

Thinking back now, it was clearly a play performed by him and his partner. Both of them running out was obviously to carry out the next phase of their plan.

Zhang Hong's partner—Huang Yongbo! He came running over, feigning concern to ask what happened, naturally inserting himself into the scene. Who could possibly catch the thief under such circumstances?

I suspect these two knew the Li Family had hidden sentries posted, so they didn't dare run toward the perimeter at all, opting instead to stage this performance.

As for Zhang Hong, he naturally went to hide the medicinal herbs. Looking at it now, he must have stashed them in the dense forest along the path he took back, allowing him to retrieve them easily and dispose of the stolen goods.

The scheme was quite ingenious and thorough. Who would have thought the precious herbs would be carried out by the very person involved in the incident?

The Li Family's hidden sentries could search until the heavens collapsed and never find the so-called thief, because he never fled outward in the first place.

Chen Yuan couldn't help but feel a sense of admiration; Zhang Hong had entered the game himself, hoping to outplay fate by half a move.

All of this could only be deduced after knowing the outcome; the planning and execution were essentially seamless.

After all, who would suspect the victim of the incident? Because of this, Chen Yuan had almost been fooled.

With the herb garden attack from a few days ago providing cover, it served as a natural scapegoat; once the incident occurred, everyone would naturally assume that same group was responsible.

Chen Yuan had also been misled by this preconceived notion, subconsciously believing it was that same gang.

Unfortunately, even the best-laid plans have flaws. Despite his meticulousness, Zhang Hong still revealed a crack, which sparked Chen Yuan's suspicion.

It was when Li Song suddenly arrived; Zhang Hong showed no surprise, as if he had anticipated it.

Yet Chen Yuan remembered that he had never told Zhang Hong that Huang Yongbo had just been there and had already gone to report to his superiors.

And when Huang Yongbo arrived, Zhang Hong's eyes remained calm.

Clearly, as the mastermind behind it all, he knew Huang Yongbo would come and had anticipated everything, which was why he had no reaction.

Little did he know that from Chen Yuan's perspective, there was an information gap between the two regarding the appearance of someone like Huang Yongbo.

Zhang Hong's subconscious smoothed over this information gap, which made him appear highly suspicious in Chen Yuan's eyes!

This single detail immediately aroused Chen Yuan's suspicion.

Then, he went to the back room to check the state of the bows and arrows, which further corroborated his guess, and this recent scene completely confirmed his theory, allowing him to deduce everything.

Zhang Hong and Huang Yongbo are the thieves who stole the precious herbs!