Chapter Seven: The Quest for Sword Seven!

Seventy-two dishes were densely arrayed on a long table, each vibrant in color, aroma, and flavor. Xue Yuan finally experienced firsthand what it truly meant to live a life of indulgence and excess. After dismissing the few maidservants who had come to attend to them, Xue Yuan and Jian Qi took their seats at opposite ends of the table.

Jian Qi swallowed audibly, clearly very hungry. Yet, awkwardly, Xue Yuan said, “I heard there used to be a prince who was poisoned by his servants. I wonder if I’ll be poisoned too—so scary!”

Yes, he was afraid someone would poison him again.

Upon hearing this, Jian Qi’s usually impassive face suddenly showed a flicker of emotion, though it was somewhat strange, as if an ice cube had suddenly grown warm.

He said seriously, “Has the prince read the story ‘Meeting the Princess on the Road to Famine’? Indeed, in that tale, the prince is poisoned right at the beginning!”

Xue Yuan's mouth twitched uncontrollably. Brother, how many of those melodramatic romance novels have you read? How did you develop such an intense hobby? And seriously, ‘Meeting the Princess on the Road to Famine’—the prince dies at the start, so does that mean the princess ends up with the protagonist? How the heck am I supposed to relate as a prince?

Xue Yuan stared at Jian Qi as if he were an idiot.

Jian Qi caught that look and suddenly remembered that Xue Yuan was indeed a fool. Draw.

But Jian Qi was disappointed. “Forget it, you probably haven’t read it…”

The regret in his voice was palpable, as if he had lost a kindred spirit.

Xue Yuan said nothing.

Jian Qi picked up his chopsticks again. “Don’t worry, I’ll start eating first.”

“What if you get poisoned?”

“There aren’t many poisons in the world that can kill me.”

With that, Jian Qi sampled a bit of every dish.

“No poison. Eat with confidence.”

Relieved, Xue Yuan began to eat heartily. Indeed, the palace chefs were skilled; every dish had its own unique flavor, and Xue Yuan’s mouth was flooded with juices.

Jian Qi was equally unreserved, feasting energetically and clearly able to eat far more than Xue Yuan.

Yet even after their bellies were full and only about twenty percent of the food was touched, many dishes remained barely touched.

“It really is a feudal society,” Xue Yuan sighed. “I hear countless refugees outside can’t get enough to eat, yet the prince’s mansion wastes so much food at a single meal.”

His thoughts soon returned to reality.

He desperately wanted Jian Qi to investigate Wang Sheng, but clearly if he spoke up, he would reveal his act of feigning stupidity—after all, a fool couldn’t possibly be so scheming!

Jian Qi, loyal and righteous, was straightforward to a fault; if he learned he had been deceived and manipulated, he might well abandon Xue Yuan.

Ironically, someone addicted to melodramatic romances might be even more sensitive to emotional deception...

“Unless I can do him a great favor! He’s so loyal and righteous that he must repay kindness. Then I can sincerely explain everything, and maybe he’ll forgive me and help me with the real matters!”

“If that works, I can keep pretending to be a fool in public to confuse my enemies, while secretly having a powerful ally to help me achieve my goals. Is there a better partnership than this?”

But to truly do Jian Qi a favor, it seemed the only way was to help him find his sister. Yet in this vast sea of people, where to even start?

In this moment of difficulty, Xue Yuan suddenly recalled something.

“Right, his eyes must have some problem. Otherwise, why would he cover them with a cloth and not fully enjoy his melodramatic novels?”

“If only I could cure his eyes…”

With that thought, he asked Jian Qi, “Jian Qi, why do you cover your eyes with a black cloth? Isn’t it suffocating?”

Jian Qi, now reading “The Queen Who Dominates the World” by candlelight without looking up, said, “I was poisoned.”

“But didn’t you just say poison doesn’t affect you?”

“I said it can’t kill me, but I didn’t say it won’t blind me. In another year, I might go blind.”

How precise! And only one year left?

Suddenly, Xue Yuan understood why Jian Qi was so desperate to read those novels.

“Have you tried to find an antidote?”

“This is poison from White Cloud Mountain. Only those on White Cloud Mountain can cure it.”

Xue Yuan’s heart sank, and he instinctively looked at Jian Qi’s eyes.

At that moment, a line of text suddenly popped up.

[A pair of sharp eyes | Poisoned, cannot see light | Antidote: millennium pearl, black-scaled grass, kudzu root, whitehead frost, wild exquisite powder, mixed in a ratio of 1:3:2:2:3, taken with water, one qian each time for effectiveness.]

“Holy crap!”

Xue Yuan was filled with joy.

This tag not only revealed a person’s condition but also the problem’s nature and even provided a solution?

He apologized silently for underestimating this supernatural aid before.

“Judging by the antidote’s ingredients, all are easy to acquire except the millennium pearl, which is extremely rare. After all, this isn’t an immortal cultivation world where ancient treasures abound.”

But then he remembered that Li Yuanwang, the county magistrate of Ning’an, had one.

That millennium pearl originally belonged to the Ning Prince’s mansion but was given by Qian Zhongxian to Li Yuanwang as a gift to curry favor.

Don’t underestimate the county magistrate of Ning’an.

The emperor personally controlled Ningzhou; all officials, from magistrates to governors and military commanders, were his direct appointees, with direct channels to report to the throne.

“So Li Yuanwang only answers to the emperor, not me, the prince. How can I get the pearl back?”

Xue Yuan pondered for a moment, then suddenly had an idea.

He grinned at Jian Qi. “Jian Qi, I want to go out and have some fun. It’s been a long time since I’ve strolled the city at night!”

...

Ning’an city had no curfew, so outside farmers often set up stalls and small businesses during their free time at night.

Nowadays, taxes on land, labor, and a special levy to resist the northern Yan Kingdom totaled over sixty percent of a year’s harvest. Without side jobs, survival was impossible.

Thus, the city was brightly lit, the street food fragrant, and shops, taverns, and brothels all stayed open till dawn.

Xue Yuan and Jian Qi wandered through the night market, then casually entered a gambling house.

The Hengtong Gambling House—the largest in town.

Behind the scenes, it was owned by Li Changheng, son of Magistrate Li Yuanwang, a prodigal who disliked gambling, preferring instead to revel in eating, drinking, and carousing.

Sometimes, when in the mood, he wouldn’t even eat or drink.

He was known as the ultimate playboy of Ning’an’s pleasure district.

Inside, the gambling house was crowded. At the sight of Xue Yuan, the room fell briefly silent.

The “foolish prince” at a gambling house? How rare!

But excitement quickly returned.

“Foolish prince” meant one thing: rich but clueless!

They were eager to win tens of thousands of taels from him, lest the day’s fortune be wasted.

A group of gamblers swarmed him.

“We bow to Your Highness! Which table would you like to join? Want to play with us?”

“Your Highness, the dealer at our table is on a losing streak. Come over here!”

“Nonsense! With Your Highness's status, if he plays, he should be the dealer, not some casual player!”

Jian Qi whispered to Xue Yuan, “These are seasoned gamblers; you can’t beat them.”

At that moment, a laugh rang out from the crowd.

“What are you talking about? Gambling is all about luck. The prince, a dragon’s son, how could his luck lose to us commoners? Your Highness, don’t you agree?”

The crowd parted to reveal a young man holding a paper fan, sporting two dark circles under his eyes, looking somewhat listless.

Xue Yuan smiled slightly, thinking his luck was good—this fellow was here and not in the brothel.

He was Li Changheng.