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Seeing an old acquaintance here with whom he had crossed paths only once before indeed surprised Xu Yuan slightly. As a covert agent embedded by the Prime Minister's Manor within the upper echelons of the Secret Investigation Bureau, Huang Shiwei could never have been dispatched to the Western Desert as reinforcements. Yet that surprise lasted only an instant. Information subconsciously pieced together in his mind swiftly deduced the purpose of this burly man with the righteous countenance. Before the other man could speak, Xu Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly and asked immediately, "Did something happen over at the Imperial Prison?" Huang Shiwei did not answer right away. His rough, heavy palm brushed across the wood grain on the counter to activate an array. Casting a wary glance outside the door, he transmitted his voice: "Young Master, please join me in the inner hall to discuss this." With that, his burly frame shifted slightly aside, raising a hand toward the curtain behind the counter in a subtle gesture. Rounding the counter, they lifted the curtain and entered the back hall. Since slave trading walked the very edge of Great Yan law, typical slave shops were divided into two sections: a front hall for receiving guests and a back hall for storing "goods." Only after guests finalized terms with the manager in the front hall would they be led into the back to inspect the merchandise. The moment he stepped inside, Xu Yuan's brow knitted involuntarily. The back hall was a long, narrow corridor. In the dim, murky light, cages that looked like animal pens lined both sides, though at present they were all draped with shroud-like leather blankets. Xu Yuan casually lifted a corner of one blanket. Seeing the crowded scene inside, he pulled his gaze back with a frown. Inside, he saw pairs of eyes filled with hatred, fear, or total vacancy. It was reminiscent of the sixteenth-century slave ships in movies from his previous life. Even though incense had been scattered throughout the room, it still failed to mask the foul, nauseating stench blended from various human secretions in the air. As he was thinking this, the burly man leading the way ahead handed over a square cloth, his voice low and thick: "The slave blankets are filthy. They have dirtied your hands, Young Master." Xu Yuan raised a brow and took it, wiping away the grease that clung to his fingertips as he asked softly, "Is the slave market always this foul?" Huang Shiwei's reply was as calm and resonant as ever: "The Dachao slaves you have seen in Great Yan's heartland were screened through multiple tiers. Zhenxi Prefectural City is the initial transfer station for trafficking Dachao people. After chivalric bands venture into the desert to capture and enslave them, they gather here in Zhenxi to sell them to slave merchants. With such large numbers and mixed quality, the conditions naturally cannot compare to the markets within Great Yan." "..." A wholesale market. The term flashed subconsciously through his mind. A wisp of black flame ignited in Xu Yuan's palm, incinerating the soiled cloth into ash, and he said softly, "Without seeing it with my own eyes, this would have been difficult to imagine. But these people certainly know how to turn a profit." Hearing his tone, Huang Shiwei immediately cast a sideways glance at Xu Yuan's expression and murmured, "Third Young Master needn't be troubled by this. Dachao treats our Great Yan commoners in the exact same manner." "Troubled?" Meeting the burly man's eyes for a moment, Xu Yuan smiled faintly and asked in return, "I merely made a passing observation. Why would you say that, Mr. Huang?" Huang Shiwei looked away, remained silent for a moment, and bowed his head. "I overstepped." Xu Yuan fixed his eyes on the burly man's back, shook his head, and said slowly, "Setting our meeting place inside this slave shop... you had something you wanted to say to me, didn't you?" Every move made by someone moving through Great Yan's center of power had a purpose. Huang Shiwei knew who he was, and even more so that he was bound to inherit the massive Chancellor's Manor in the future. It would actually have been stranger if he hadn't seized this chance to test the waters. Stiff boots struck the floor, their footsteps echoing through the narrow corridor. Perhaps because Xu Yuan's words were too direct, Huang Shiwei remained quiet for a long while before slowly speaking: "The people captured by these chivalric bands are not just Dachao folk." Hearing this, Xu Yuan raised a brow slightly and responded with a soft chuckle: "As a high-ranking official of the Secret Investigation Bureau, Mr. Huang, shouldn't you have the authority to deal with those who break the law?" Huang Shiwei glanced at the felt-covered cages on either side and said slowly, "The forces entangled in the slave trade run deep within Great Yan. My words carry little weight; I can only deal with a few minor pawns on the surface." With those words, the two reached the end of the corridor. Lifting the curtain for Xu Yuan, the lamp light from the inner chamber spilled into the gloom, edging along Huang Shiwei's square, broad face. He looked at the noble Third Young Master behind him for a brief moment, then slowly lowered his head. Stepping past the respectfully bowed man, Xu Yuan glanced at him, showing no stance whatsoever toward what had just been said. That old auntie Lou Ji had once mentioned that Huang Shiwei and Xu Mengxi were once cut from the same cloth. What Huang Shiwei had just raised could be understood as his political aspiration—or rather, his ideal. Pleading for the people. For a fleeting moment, Xu Yuan indeed wanted to agree outright, but he held back. Any edict lacking a foundation in reality would become nothing more than empty talk. The moment a decree was issued from above, those below would instantly devise hundreds of counter-strategies. The instant he stepped into the inner chamber, the unbearable stench from the corridor was immediately sealed off by an array. The layout was simple and clean: a writing desk, two chairs, and a bookshelf. Walking over to sit in one of the chairs, Xu Yuan gestured toward the empty seat across from him: "Mr. Huang, let us discuss proper business first." Stepping closer at a measured pace without taking a seat, Huang Shiwei stood before the desk with an impassive face, seemingly entirely unfazed by hitting a wall just now. After carefully weighing his words, he said slowly, "You were correct, Young Master. The reason I came to Zhenxi is indeed because an incident occurred at the Imperial Prison." "So Qin Weishu broke out of prison, and he successfully obtained what they wanted?" "Young Master's foresight is divine." Huang Shiwei cupped his hands. Xu Yuan gave a slight wave of his hand at the perfunctory flattery and asked solemnly, "If I recall correctly, I had already passed all of Qin Weishu's intelligence to you in advance back then." Huang Shiwei's tiger-like eyes were calm and placid as he said, "In reply to Young Master, his jailbreak was actually authorized by Lady Lou Ji." Hearing this, Xu Yuan's expression relaxed slightly. "That old woman intended to play a long line to catch a big fish? ...So, did she catch it?" "They took the bait. And their destination happens to be the Western Desert." "..." Hearing this information, Xu Yuan pondered for a moment before asking instead, "What did Qin Weishu enter the Imperial Prison for?" "For a heart." "What?" "For the heart of a prisoner inside the Imperial Prison." Huang Shiwei drew a portrait scroll from his robes and spread it out on the desk. "By the time we discovered it, both the Qin family's second young master and this person's heart had already vanished." Xu Yuan swept his gaze across the portrait, and his pupils abruptly constricted. His voice carried a tremor of disbelief: "This person... is the late king of Dachao?"