“Teacher, could you... come with me?”

Looking at the three men in black uniforms waiting not far away, Zhang Bowen hid by the window and peeked out. In the end he lost his nerve.

When she left in the morning, Zhang Min had told him several times what to watch out for.

But when it came to actually facing the Inspectorate’s overbearing pressure, how could a child who had only just come of age like Zhang Bowen hold up?

“Sure, I’ll go with you.”

Su Mo had been curious for some time about how the institution he himself had founded had developed to this size.

Now that he had the chance, naturally he would not decline.

With someone to give him courage, Zhang Bowen immediately stopped feeling shaky. He forced a bit of a smile, opened the door, and walked out.

“And you are?”

“I’m the current acting shop manager of Zizai Liang Lane. My sister has gone to Murloc City on business and probably won’t be back for two or three days. I can make decisions and deal with you on her behalf.”

“And he is?”

“He is my teacher, and also a registered electrician in the Liberty Market, qualified to take part in the operation of our shop.”

He had prepared for this long ago, so naturally Zhang Bowen’s answer was watertight.

Looking at the pair, one tall and one small, the three Inspectorate members nodded. The five of them went together to the inner hall where they had spoken with Zhang Min that morning and sat down.

“Ahem. We’re here tonight because the higher-ups have sent down new instructions.”

“First, and most importantly, the Summer Harvest. On the orders from above, this year’s Summer Harvest must start early, on June fifteenth or sixteenth, and must not go later than June twenty-fifth.”

“Ten days is the maximum the higher-ups have allowed. If it goes past that, all other consequences will be your responsibility.”

The leader of the black-clad men took out a slip of paper and began to read it out, leaving not a hint of room for argument.

Listening to the terms on it one by one, which were nearly overlord clauses, Zhang Bowen’s face turned ugly, and he nearly could not stop himself from objecting.

In past years, the Summer Harvest began on June twentieth and lasted until about July twentieth. The span in between was as long as a whole month.

But this year, the time had suddenly been cut by two thirds, and at the moment when Zizai Liang Lane was in its most difficult position.

It was hard not to connect this with other factors.

Perhaps seeing the change in Zhang Bowen’s mood, the man in black was not unreasonable. “I know what you want to say, but this is a rule handed down from above. You understand, right? All we can do is pass it on.”

“And the ten days will also be pressed down on Qiankun Grain Store. We are not deliberately targeting your family...”

“Excuse me, may I ask why it has to be so tight?”

While the man in black was explaining, a calm voice cut in.

They turned to look. The one who asked the question was none other than Su Mo.

But unfortunately, faced with his question, the three uniformed men looked at each other, and in the end none of them answered.

“Sorry, we don’t know that either. We only pass on orders.”

Having said something against his own heart, the leader in black looked rather uncomfortable.

But in Su Mo’s eyes, the meaning of this refusal was no less than telling him the truth of the matter!

“Hello, is Prince Yu Chenghui available right now? We are old acquaintances come to visit from Mulberry Field Town, Hope City. This is the token Prince Chenghui once gave us.”

With the convenience of the train, half a day was enough for Zhang Min to travel from Hope City to Murloc City at the far eastern edge of the territory.

Before her stood two tall murloc guards, over two meters twenty in height, each holding an iron trident that gleamed with cold light.

Standing in front of an ancient castle with an exotic flavor, Zhang Min nervously took a patterned horn from her bosom and respectfully handed it up.

“Sorry, the Second Prince went out to other territories to have fun three days ago and isn’t home right now. If you want to find him, please come back in a couple of days.”

After checking that the horn was genuine, one of them lowered his head and spoke in a rumbling voice. “Ah... did Prince Chenghui say when he would return?”

“Hard to say. It depends on the Second Prince’s mood. If he’s quick, maybe tomorrow. If he’s slow, at least a week...” the murloc answered in a muffled, droning voice.

“All right, thank you!”

She took back the token horn and stood in the curtain of rain gazing at the castle for a long time. Only when she was sure that the so-called “Second Prince” really would not appear did

Zhang Min leave the castle, turning back at every third step, and head for an inn in the city for which she had already paid the rent. Compared with the other workaholics in Murloc City, the Second Prince Yu Chenghui had a very odd temperament. He loved traveling outside above all, experiencing all kinds of different customs and local ways.

Long before she came, Zhang Min had mentally prepared herself to wait three to five days.

But as she walked in the rain, listening to the pattering of raindrops on her umbrella and recalling the Inspectorate’s warning-filled inquiry that morning,

for some reason, a bleakness suddenly rose in her heart like a fishbone stuck in her throat, and for a long time it would not go away.

At that moment

she suddenly regretted it very much. Why had she, for the past two years, kept inciting her father Zhang Da to compete viciously with the other grain stores and to fight pointless internal wars?

She regretted even more that, because of her ambition, she had repeatedly expanded recklessly, so that the foundations of the Zhang Clan had long since rotted through.

But alas, where in this wasteland could one find medicine for regret?

She looked far off in the direction of Hope City, and could only force back the tears sliding from her eyes and quicken her steps.

“I can’t fall. The Zhang Clan relies entirely on me now. If I’m gone, everyone in the Zhang Clan will be buried with me!”

“I have to hold on!”

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