Daming: Internship also counts as work experience

Chapter 168 is down.

Jia Chuan thought for a moment and said:

"Those body parts are meant to stop us. They knew I would find my way here. Actually, I arrived a step too late, but I can't possibly deduce what they've been up to just by seeing Zhou Cheng's body. They're setting up obstacles for me based on the direction I'm investigating. If we're delayed by those body parts in the hut, what will they gain? I think it's most likely a cleanup, to prevent me from finding any trace of them. Since they've set up such an obstacle, there might be something else going on. It's better to be careful. We can only clean things up little by little. Fortunately, we should still have enough time."

Shunzi quickly said, "That means we still have their people around us."

Gao Yuntian said, "There are so many skeletons in the Grass and Tree Garden. Could it be that Zhou Cheng carried them all there himself? Of course, someone else must have been involved. At this point, these people would rather bury their heads in the ground. Didn't you see that you couldn't get any information out of them?"

Chen Mo also said, "They don't necessarily have to be by our side. Who Jia Chuan questioned and where he went will spread quickly, and it's only a matter of time before they find this place."

Old Zheng snorted and said, "Even if they can predict everything, they wouldn't have predicted that this girl would appear."

Jia Chuan nodded and said, "So, Zhao Dewen is trustworthy. Have him lead you to draw a boundary line. You should be able to make a round trip before dark today. If I'm not mistaken, there are quite a few underground paths."

……

Demolishing the two small houses was easy; all that was needed was to carefully leave the tunnel exit intact. By the time Zhao Dewen was brought here, the place was already a ruin.

Zhao Dewen was filled with trepidation the whole way. He thought he had been asked to bring people into that haunted courtyard, but it turned out to be in ruins.

Zhao Dewen did perform very well. He had a good understanding of the herb-gathering bureau and a strong comprehension ability. His initiative greatly reduced the time Chen Mo and Gao Yuntian spent. In particular, when Gao Yuntian led people to clean the courtyard, Zhao Dewen's presence saved Gao Yuntian from having to give a loud speech and the opportunity for the Imperial Guards to show off their livestock.

Zhao Dewen was able to persuade the people in each courtyard to line up and follow the Imperial Guards to the front courtyard in an orderly manner.

While Gao Yuntian's operation went smoothly, Chen Mo led his men to measure the area in large strides. With Zhao Dewen's help, they drew a simple sketch. Then, carrying torches, Chen Mo and his men carefully descended through the hidden door.

They had just eaten breakfast when they arrived. Jia Chuan and Old Zheng had already vomited and were busy with all that. Although Jia Chuan only followed along without offering much of an opinion, he must have walked a lot back and forth. Shunzi helped Old Zheng back to the courtyard to rest, so they must have eaten lunch without any problems. Jia Chuan had been following them closely, completely focused, until Chen Mo led his men down. He wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, but he didn't know if there were any traps, poisons, or ambushes down there. Jia Chuan's heart had just settled down when it started to race again.

He originally wanted to go down with them, but Chen Mo said, "There has to be someone sensible left up above."

Gao Yuntian went with Zhao Dewen to maintain order in the front yard. Without the Embroidered Uniform Guards around, there were too many people in the front yard, which could easily lead to trouble. Moreover, Jia Chuan didn't know how long it would take to get back up, and he didn't know if there were any fake Shunzi among those people in the front yard, or if they would cause any other trouble. So he didn't insist on going with them.

But the anxiety in his heart was probably no less than that of those who went down. Jia Chuan took a deep breath, his body swayed, and he immediately felt panicked again.

"Your health isn't very good."

Jia Chuan looked to the side in astonishment. Mu Lian was still there, and only Mu Lian was there.

It was clear that everyone was focused on their own tasks. When Chen Mo waved goodbye, he was completely oblivious to the fact that only Mu Lian was behind Jia Chuan. His mind was entirely absorbed in the darkness below.

It was only at this moment that Jia Chuan realized that Shunzi had already helped Old Zheng back to the courtyard, and apart from those who followed Gao Yuntian, the rest of the Imperial Guards had gone down with Chen Mo. So, who else could be by his side?
Why didn't you go back?

"They didn't let me go back."

Jia Chuan turned his head and looked around: it was empty and quiet.

"Are you hungry? I'm very hungry. Should we go back and get something to eat?" Mu Lian asked.

Jia Chuan stared at the hidden door and said, "You go back, I..."

"You're really not afraid of death."

Jia Chuan licked his dry lips but didn't say anything.

Mu Lian continued, "If I leave, leaving you all alone here, how can I explain myself if you die?"

Why did I die?

"Others may not know who is in charge among you, but the person who put the dismembered body in the hut must know. You said their purpose was to stop you from investigating, or at least to delay you. If they find you here alone, killing you would be much more useful than dismembering you."

Jia Chuan cleared his throat and said, "I'm not so easy to kill. There are plenty of people who want to kill me, but they don't even make the cut."

Mu Lian snorted and said, "I think you underestimated your opponent."

Jia Chuan turned to look at Mu Lian.

Mu Lian continued, "I don't know what kind of people you've met before, but this group is at least extremely cruel. You saw those dismembered bodies, did you notice whether they were cut with a knife or..."

Jia Chuan felt a chill run down his spine. He had indeed noticed that the break was not clean; it wasn't a cut or slash, but rather... it looked like it had been torn apart.

But Mu Lian only went in briefly and then ran out. How could she have known?

Jia Chuan unconsciously took a step back, lowered his head, and asked, "I had no choice but to see it. You only took one look and you could tell. Is that what your mother taught you?"

Mu Lian pursed her lips and said, "I can tell it's a dismembered body, so naturally I can tell whether it's cut into pieces or torn apart. Otherwise, why would I be so scared? Don't tell me you squatted down next to it and observed it carefully before you found out." Jia Chuan breathed a sigh of relief.

Mu Lian looked up at the sky and said, "Shouldn't someone come out and say something?"

Jia Chuan and Chen Mo agreed that after going down, they would first find out whether there was a secret room or only a secret passage, which direction the secret passage led, and whether it was easy to walk through, and then send someone up to let them know.

Because this result doesn't require leaving the underground cabin much, an answer can be obtained quickly, and Jia Chuan can also make further inferences based on this.

But there was no movement from the hidden door.

"Should I go down and take a look?" Mu Lian asked, turning her head.

Jia Chuan shook his head and said, "Wait a little longer."

Jia Chuan was a little scared. He wondered if he had been too hasty in arranging for Chen Mo and the others to go down.
Were those dismembered bodies there to prevent him from finding something?
Jia Chuan secretly calculated the time. Although only three days had passed since Zhou Cheng was killed, it should have been enough time for the people on the other side of the fake Shunzi to finish up. In particular, the fake Shunzi should have made all the necessary arrangements before poisoning Zhou Cheng. At least the important things should have been moved away. The fake Shunzi must have thought about how to get away if the case was not handed over to the government. Why wouldn't he have sent the important things out of the herb-gathering bureau beforehand?

"That fake Shunzi said that if he is taken to the government office, you don't need to do anything. If he stays in the herb-gathering bureau, you just need to send him out. Didn't you ask him how a herb worker like you can send him out?" Jia Chuan turned to ask Mu Lian.

Mu Lian frowned and asked, "You still have time to think about this now? Why would I have thought of asking such a question back then? I never intended to help him; I just wanted to know where the medicine he was using came from."

"Let's assume that if you agreed, how would you help him? Or, to put it another way, if you can get him out of here, can't the others in the herb-gathering bureau do the same?"

Mu Lian thought for a moment and said, "That depends on whether anyone knows that he killed Zhou Cheng."

Jia Chuan took a deep breath. The fake Shunzi was definitely trying to take advantage of this loophole. As long as no one suspected him for the time being, they would definitely put him away and have someone keep an eye on him. He wasn't afraid of going to the government office. No, they wouldn't send him to the government office at all. He wasn't afraid of being put away either. As long as no one suspected him, it would be reasonable for him to pretend to be too frightened and let him rest before interrogating him. He should have already arranged how to leave the herb-gathering bureau. Why did he still ask Mu Lian for help?
Jia Chuan turned his head and glanced at Mu Lian.

Mu Lian glared at him and asked, "What are you looking at? Are you wondering again if I'm lying? You believed him when he asked me for help? He just sensed that I really had murderous intentions and was just looking for an excuse to tie me to the same vine as him to dispel those thoughts. If I had really believed him, what you're seeing now would be my appearance after I'm dead."

Jia Chuan nodded. He believed that the fake Shunzi would not spare Mu Lian and was capable of killing her. There must still be people from their group in the herb-gathering bureau. But the problem was that the fake Shunzi was thinking about his own survival and had arranged everything before taking action. So what was the purpose of stopping him now?

As Jia Chuan was lost in thought, a head suddenly peeked out from the hidden door. Jia Chuan immediately stepped forward and asked anxiously, "How is it?"

"Commander Chen instructed his servant to tell the superior that there were only secret passages below, winding and twisting. After walking for a while, they lost their way and asked the superior whether they should continue."

Mu Lian snorted and said, "Why don't we just find a compass? Water compasses are hard to find, so we'll just find a dry compass."

Jia Chuan looked at Mu Lian with surprise, but he didn't have time to ask her about the difference between water and drought. He looked up at the sky; the sun was already heading towards the end of its day. He looked around and saw no one. He said to Mu Lian, "You go back. I'll go down with you."

"No! If you go down there and die, who will uphold the innocence of the Duke of Qian's mansion?" Mu Lian cried out anxiously.

The Jinyiwei guard who had shown his face hurriedly said, "Commander Chen specifically instructed that no one should go down under any circumstances. Commander Chen meant to continue walking around and taking a look. If there were really a powerful ambush, they wouldn't have gone to such lengths to put so many pieces of corpses inside the house."

Jia Chuan thought for a moment and said, "Here's what you'll do: tell Commander Chen that you've all measured the distance and are keeping track of the time. If it's too far off, turn back immediately."

……

The waiting time was the hardest to endure. Jia Chuan was very annoyed that he hadn't gone down. It wasn't that he was afraid of dying, but that he was afraid of encountering something and being a burden. The secret passage below was definitely not very wide, and what Chen Mo could handle might be difficult for him. But waiting like this was really making him anxious.

As the sun set and only its afterglow remained, Jia Chuan clenched his fist, turned around, and was about to tell Mu Lian his last wishes when he saw three people and a dog striding towards him in the afterglow.

Jia Chuan subconsciously shifted his feet, creating some distance between himself and Mu Lian, before remembering that he needed to go to meet her.

Gao Yunduo carried a food box and walked at the front, while Dong Yuanyuan held a big yellow dog and chased and dodged Han Guang. Han Guang would also take the opportunity to claim a spot. Shunzi walked at the back, watching Dong Yuanyuan skipping and jumping, with a satisfied look on his face.

It must be said that Gao Yuntian was more observant. At first, the people in the front yard were making a ruckus, and he didn't have time to think about anything else. After Zhao Dewen scolded them a few times, they quieted down for a while. It was during this short time that Gao Yuntian remembered Jia Chuan.

If Chen Mo led his men down the secret passage, who else was with Jia Chuan? Mu Lian! And then? Would Chen Mo leave a Jinyiwei (Imperial Guard) behind when he went down? No! Because when Chen Mo and Jia Chuan divided their forces, neither of them had even considered leaving someone to accompany Jia Chuan. Even so, they didn't have enough men to go around.

Gao Yuntian immediately became anxious and hurriedly ordered someone to go to the small courtyard. There were still two young ladies in the courtyard. When would be a better time to use them?
As for why Jia Chuan didn't think of calling these two people? Before Chen Mo went down, he hadn't even thought of them. When he did, Mu Lian refused to leave Jia Chuan, and her reason was valid: "What if it's just a coincidence that I leave and you die? I can't explain myself no matter how hard I try. Even if I just go to the nearest place to find someone to pass on a message, the result will be the same. If nothing happens, nothing happens. If something happens, I can't explain myself."

Jia Chuan didn't think there would be any danger on the ground, Mu Lian said:
“I’ve been here for over seven years. I don’t know how many doors or dog holes the herb-gathering bureau has in total, and neither does Zhao Dewen. It’s not that he doesn’t want to know; he definitely would have known a year ago. But in the past year, they’ve been closing one door today and opening another tomorrow. And now, on top of that, there are these snake-nest-like underground caves…”

Mu Lian was getting a little annoyed by what she said, and couldn't help but stomp her foot:

"If it were guards from the Prince's mansion on patrol, they might be somewhat effective, but if it were yamen runners from the government office, who do you expect them to stop? Don't you know how big the Herb Gathering Bureau is? The people you brought are just stationed in sections outside. Let alone any intentional actions, even if they're not paying attention... if there really is a secret passage leading outside, even if the Embroidered Uniform Guards were stationed two steps apart, who could they stop? They know the Herb Gathering Bureau better than you do. That night alone, I saw more than twenty people. I haven't seen these people in the Herb Gathering Bureau before, at least not the ones at the back. If they wanted to sneak in and then suddenly appear in front of you, how difficult would that be..."

Mu Lian kept rambling on about plotting and imagining all sorts of ways the two of them would die, finally concluding: "...I'm not going anywhere! If we're going to die, we'll die together!"

Jia Chuan's mind was spinning. He had never seen a woman so eloquent. Seeing that Mu Lian was unresponsive, he dared not take her back with him to call for help. What if, while he was away, Chen Mo encountered danger down below and sent someone up to consult him, only to find Jia Chuan missing...? Jia Chuan dared not think any further.

(End of this chapter)