Chapter Thirty-Three: Intent to Rebel?

When the rain came in the yellowing season of plums, the city seemed veiled in mist and drifting willow fluff. From Zhou Lin’s words, Li Zisheng had already grasped what he must do now: first and foremost, he needed to uncover the connection between Heavenly Mechanism Academy and the restaurant called Flavors Pavilion. He had always had a strange intuition that his inexplicable arrival in the Great Tang might be tied to Heavenly Mechanism Academy.

That was the matter he had to unravel next, and the best point of entry was none other than Flavors Pavilion.

Having made up his mind, he held his great umbrella and followed Zhou Lin all the way to the restaurant.

Yet they still took the same secret tunnel he had used before, the one that led directly into the military encampment of Azure Spirit Prefecture. He did not know whether Deng Qing knew of the tunnel, or whether he knew and simply chose to turn a blind eye. Otherwise, for a rash little soldier to have reached the heart of the camp, Deng Qing would surely have noticed.

Under Deng Qing’s control, the Azure Spirit garrison was as sealed as an iron barrel. Li Zisheng would never believe that some insignificant soldier could so easily have slipped into the military camp; he could only have reached the outer tents with Deng Qing’s tacit permission.

So why would Deng Qing allow an unknown man into the tents? There was only one explanation: the force behind Zhou Lin was one Deng Qing did not dare offend, or rather, could not afford to offend.

If that was so, then there was far more to this than met the eye.

From this angle, the waters behind Flavors Pavilion were far deeper than he had imagined. If he could make use of them properly, he might yet reap unexpected gains.

As Li Zisheng walked on, he could no longer hear the rain. It seemed they had gone deep into the tunnel.

The passage was extremely long. Last time, escorted by the fat shopkeeper, he had not been able to sense it clearly, but this time Zhou Lin had not covered his eyes, and his awareness of the outside world was sharp and clear.

The tunnel beneath Flavors Pavilion had been engineered with branching passageways in every direction, its extent far beyond anything he had imagined.

He could not memorize such a labyrinth, so he no longer bothered to pay close attention to the route itself. Still, he did study the directions the passages led toward. Though the tunnel system spread in all directions, there was one peculiar thing: the routes seemed to point only to eight destinations, as if they had been arranged according to some deliberate pattern rather than laid out at random. Clearly, this was intentional on the part of the tunnel’s builders, namely Flavors Pavilion itself.

Li Zisheng searched his memory for the buildings surrounding the area. When he had first arrived in Rose City, he had asked Master Zhong for a map of the city. He could not claim to know the city well, but he had at least a general sense of it.

So, using the place where he had entered as his reference point, he walked while thinking.

He did not think for long before suddenly jolting in shock.

He realized that every direction these tunnels led toward was into the mountain ranges encircling Azure Spirit Prefecture—in other words, the shadowed mountains.

Li Zisheng seemed to have discovered something extraordinary.

The tunnel system was almost impossibly extensive, yet the places from which it began were oddly concealed. It would be very difficult for anyone to discover where the passages started, let alone where they ended.

Who, exactly, was the master behind Flavors Pavilion?

A tunnel system of this scale could never have been built casually, and it was certainly not the sort of thing a mere merchant should be involved in.

The time, manpower, and cost required for something like this would far exceed any profit such tunnels could bring. Undertaking such a project was practically inviting hardship. In Li Zisheng’s mind, there was only one possible explanation: rebellion.

He did not know whether his guess was true, but he knew one thing for certain: the depths behind Flavors Pavilion were real enough.

He had no idea how long he had walked through that network of passages, but he knew it had certainly not been a short time.

The dim tunnel, even with torches packed densely along its walls, still could not be fully lit.

The tunnel’s end was now in sight. Based on his previous experience, this time it ought to open within Flavors Pavilion in Rose City—but the result had once again exceeded Li Zisheng’s expectations. It did not lead to the attic as he had imagined.

This time, the exit was actually something like a cave.

Although the cave had been heavily carved and decorated, nothing could conceal the faint smell of brine and dampness within it. Li Zisheng’s nose was exceptionally sensitive; the moment he arrived, he caught the odor at once, along with the heavy, moist air.

Still, he was not surprised. After all, he had already witnessed the sweeping scale and intricate branching of the tunnels. For them to lead to a cave was within the range of what he could accept. What he did not know was whether, as he had suspected, it lay beneath the shadowed mountains. The mountain veins there were interconnected and deep; if someone truly meant to stockpile troops and rise in rebellion, it might well be an ideal strategic location.

Li Zisheng brushed aside the thoughts circling in his mind. Although his understanding of Flavors Pavilion had changed, what remained foremost was caution.

In his view, the first sort of people one should never get close to in this world were rebels and traitors. Such people never met a good end, and their reasons for rebellion were often bizarre and absurd.

Having recognized that, he knew he must be all the more careful in what he said and did. After all, he was still a modern man. The treacherous villains seen on television, when displeased, would flay a man alive without hesitation. It was a truly terrifying thing. He had best tread carefully.

Inside the cave, apart from Zhou Lin, Eight Taels, and himself, there was no one else. Yet though it was only a cave, the furnishings were rather elegant, and the lighting was unexpectedly ample. One could say that the whole terrain and decor of the place were laid bare before Li Zisheng’s eyes, clear as day.

Li Zisheng knew that if the master of Flavors Pavilion were to simply appear at will, he would hardly deserve the title. To him, that was perfectly reasonable. So he reached at once into the cloth bag that never left his side, took out the books he had copied down, and began reading again.

Zhou Lin watched from the side, marveling again and again. Li Zisheng truly was an unusual man; even after coming to a place like this, he still could not break his habit of reading. He was, beyond doubt, a man devoted to study.