The night was cool as water, and Chen Yuan's heart was just as cold.
From Zhang Hong's tone, it seemed he wanted them to share the blame.
From Chen Yuan's perspective, if Zhang Hong hadn't gone to relieve himself, none of this would have happened. But everyone had to answer nature's call; he couldn't exactly hold it in.
From Zhang Hong's perspective, he'd been gone less than five minutes, and the precious herb was already gone. Wasn't that unfair? But Chen Yuan couldn't exactly fight a man to the death with his bare hands.
They could only blame their rotten luck.
A little over ten minutes later, Li Song arrived first, all alone.
Chen Yuan had expected as much. Steward Li was highly skilled, so it was no surprise he had arrived first.
Zhang Hong seemed just as unsurprised.
Chen Yuan caught sight of this from the corner of his eye, and a thought stirred in his mind.
Seeing only Zhang Hong and Chen Yuan in the Herb Garden, Li Song immediately asked what had happened.
Chen Yuan recounted the whole incident again, while Zhang Hong nodded alongside him, corroborating his account.
Li Song furrowed his brows. "Zhang Hong, which way did the thief run? Do you have a rough idea where he went?"
Zhang Hong gave a detailed description, then said with a look of guilt,
"Steward Li, I was useless. I let that thief escape right under my nose. Please punish me!"
Li Song snorted. "Whether he can escape is another matter. I'll have people search that area. Does he really think the Li Family's Herb Garden is so easy to break into?"
Clearly, in addition to the two guards posted in the open, others were keeping watch in secret—and they were probably even more formidable.
A little while later, Huang Yongbo and the steward in charge of the Herb Garden's accounts arrived as well.
Chen Yuan glanced at Zhang Hong and saw that his expression was still calm. He seemed deep in thought.
The steward immediately began checking the damage to the Stone Scale Flowers. At last, he said solemnly,
"More than a dozen mature Stone Scale Flowers are missing. The loss comes to several dozen taels of silver."
Li Song's expression eased somewhat.
The only silver lining was that the thief hadn't gone too far. Harvesting the flowers took time, but destroying them would take only an instant. If he had really done that, this patch of Stone Scale Flowers would have been left in ruins.
He looked at Zhang Hong and Chen Yuan, his voice grave.
"Though the thief came prepared this time, your carelessness played a part as well. If we can't recover the precious herb, half your monthly wages will be withheld this month, and you'll forfeit your Bone-Strengthening Pill allotment. Any objections?"
Both men lowered their heads and cupped their hands, accepting the punishment.
This was already quite lenient. The loss amounted to several dozen taels, while their combined penalty came to less than twenty. He hadn't put all the blame on them.
"That's enough. You may go." Li Song waved a hand, dismissing them.
He still had to coordinate the search—sending people to catch the thief while warning the guards at the other Herb Gardens to stay alert.
Chen Yuan breathed a sigh of relief. This punishment was still within what he could bear.
Still, losing seven taels of silver for nothing made his heart ache.
And the more he thought about what had happened that day, the stranger it seemed. As he went into the back room of the Herb Garden to collect his pack, his eyes swept over the place where the bow and arrows had been stored. It was still empty.
He glanced around and spotted the bow case and quiver in a dim corner of the room, only to find the quiver empty.
Chen Yuan's heart tightened. He seemed to realize something.
When he stepped outside, Zhang Hong was still speaking quietly with Huang Yongbo, apparently complaining about what had just happened.
Without drawing attention to himself, Chen Yuan slung on his pack and headed for the Herb Garden's exit. His footsteps soon faded into the night.
He didn't go far. Instead, he hid along the path Zhang Hong usually took after his shift.
Before long, footsteps sounded, and Zhang Hong appeared on the path.
He was quite wary. At one point, he stopped and looked around. After making sure no one was there, he plunged into the woods beside the road.
Just a few moments later, he emerged from the woods again, a bulging pack now slung over his shoulder.
Under the moonlight, a distinct smile spread across his face. Humming a little tune, he walked away with a light step.
Chen Yuan's face, however, was grim. He cursed inwardly, You shameless bastard. You took me for a fool!
He had now pieced together the whole affair.
The attack had been a show staged entirely by Zhang Hong.
First, Zhang Hong had used the excuse of going to relieve himself to leave, leaving Chen Yuan alone and giving his accomplice a chance to make his move.
There was no flaw in that part. Answering nature's call was perfectly normal, and the thief's appearance could be explained by saying he'd been lying in wait nearby, biding his time.
But the bow and arrows were a suspicious point. Why had the place where they were usually kept been empty? Why had there been no arrows in the quiver?
It was obvious: Zhang Hong had worried that Chen Yuan might shoot his accomplice dead, so he had tampered with the weapons in advance.
At the time, things had happened too quickly for Chen Yuan to think it through. He'd assumed Zhang Hong had simply left them somewhere else. But when he checked afterward, finding the quiver empty had seemed highly suspicious.
Of course, that alone was only supporting evidence.
Afterward, Zhang Hong had arrived and driven off the thief. But why had he dared to chase an unknown opponent with no weapon in hand?
Where had he gotten the nerve? Was he that confident in his skills? So devoted to the Li Family that he would brave any danger? Ha.
Looking back now, it was clearly a performance put on by him and his accomplice. The two of them had run off together to carry out the next part of their plan.
Zhang Hong's accomplice—Huang Yongbo! He'd come over pretending to ask what had happened, smoothly worked his way into the scene, and who would suspect him of being the thief?
The two of them had probably known the Li Family had Secret Stakes set up, so they hadn't even dared to flee beyond the perimeter. Instead, they'd arranged this little act.
As for Zhang Hong, he'd gone to hide the precious herb. It seemed he'd stashed it in the woods beside the road he took home, where he could retrieve it easily and get rid of the evidence.
The plan had been meticulous and well thought out. Who would have guessed that the precious herb had been taken out by one of the very people involved in the incident?
The Li Family's Secret Stakes could search until the sky fell and still never find the so-called thief, because he hadn't fled outside at all.
Chen Yuan couldn't help admiring Zhang Hong. He'd thrown himself into the game, hoping to outwit fate by half a move.
Only after learning the truth could Chen Yuan work backward and figure it all out. The plan and its execution had been nearly flawless.
After all, who would suspect the victim of the crime? Chen Yuan had nearly been fooled for that very reason.
The attack on the Herb Garden from a few days earlier had also served as perfect cover—a ready-made scapegoat. As soon as this incident happened, anyone would naturally assume that same group was responsible.
Chen Yuan had been misled by that first impression, too. Subconsciously, he'd believed it was that very gang.
But no plan was perfect. Even the most careful scheme had its flaw, and Zhang Hong had let one slip, enough to make Chen Yuan suspicious.
It was the fact that Zhang Hong hadn't been surprised when Li Song suddenly arrived, as though he'd expected him.
But Chen Yuan remembered that he hadn't told Zhang Hong that Huang Yongbo had just come by and reported the matter to his superior.
And when Huang Yongbo arrived, Zhang Hong's expression had still been calm.
Clearly, as the man who had planned everything, Zhang Hong had known Huang Yongbo would come and anticipated what would happen. That was why he hadn't reacted.
He hadn't realized that, from Chen Yuan's perspective, Huang Yongbo's appearance had created a gap in what the two of them knew.
Zhang Hong's subconscious had smoothed over that gap, making him seem deeply suspicious to Chen Yuan!
That one detail had immediately made Chen Yuan suspicious.
Then he'd gone to the back room to check on the bow and arrows, further confirming his theory. What he'd just witnessed had proved it beyond doubt, allowing him to work out the whole scheme.
Zhang Hong and Huang Yongbo were the thieves who had stolen the precious herb!
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