Mu Yunchuan had also completed the imperial examination, so he couldn’t become a cultivation target of the system. However, the members of the academy were not only students but also teachers and miscellaneous workers.

Just giving him any identity would allow the academy to shield him from most of the power of the rules.

Shen Cui finished her operation in the system, and everyone else had also finished taking the pills.

Their symptoms varied. Some, like Mu Er Pang, felt drowsy, while others felt perfectly fine and even a bit lighter.

Taking advantage of the moment, Shen Aoshuang revealed his identity.

“You sneaky brother Shen, keeping us in the dark like that!” Mu Er Pang grinned and playfully hooked his arm around Shen Aoshuang’s neck as usual.

The others didn’t change their attitude towards Shen Aoshuang either and joked around with her as usual.

It was instead Lao Buyu who changed his expression, stuttering, “The one we saw at the inn last time, isn’t it Shen… Shen…”

He struggled to say the rest of the words, and the young men stopped laughing, their expressions turning serious.

Fortunately, Shen Aoshuang hadn’t told them in advance.

Otherwise, if they had realized that the old man was the renowned Grand Minister Shen, it would’nt have been enough for them to digest for a while!

That evening, Shen Cui didn’t keep them for dinner.

Wei Shu, Wei Xi, and Shen Aoshuang had to go home to share their joy, so they arranged to meet at the palace gate the next day for the En Rong Banquet.

Mei Ruochu and Cui Fei also went back to their rooms to write letters sharing the good news.

Zhou Shi also felt drowsy and was about to head to the kitchen in a daze.

Shen Cui stopped her and sent her back to bed, then took care of dinner herself.

Now that she was free from the constraints of the original owner’s settings, Shen Cui was in charge of cooking again.

Over the past few years, she had improved her cooking skills significantly compared to her modern days.

She made clay pot rice, steaming a pot of rice and then layering it with Chinese sausage, preserved meat, and cabbage, drizzling soy sauce and sesame oil on top. After a while, when she lifted the lid, a delicious aroma filled the air without any burnt smell.

Once the meal was ready, she quickly stir-fried some vegetables and boiled soup.

After finishing the chores, the sky outside had darkened, and it was time for dinner.

As Shen Cui took off her apron and called Mu Er Pang and the others to help, she wondered if Mu Yunchuan had noticed the changes in himself by now, so she reopened the light curtain.

…

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, Mu Yunchuan was also having dinner.

He only had two subordinates with him, and there were no other outsiders.

Although the dinner was simple, with only four dishes and one soup, the two subordinates enjoyed it very much and sighed in unison after finishing.

One of them said, “Finally, we can have a peaceful meal today.”

The other agreed, “Indeed. After several months of hardship, we’ve finally cleared all obstacles, and we can truly start our mission now.”

Disaster relief sounds simple, just distributing grain and rice provided by the court to the affected people.

But it’s also difficult because when they arrive in other people’s territories, despite being appointed officials, there’s a saying that “a strong dragon can’t defeat a local snake.”

There are many “local snakes”, including local officials and wealthy landowners.

Without understanding the situation and smoothing out these interpersonal relationships, even if the money and grain are distributed, probably only a fraction will reach the hands of the disaster victims.

So, although they had left the capital for several months, after arriving here, they had been doing this preparatory work all along.

Now that they were finally done with the preparations, the next step would be to distribute the money and grain to help the disaster victims.

Ironically, while the preparatory work took months, the actual relief work, based on their current understanding of the disaster situation, would only require one or two months.

That means they could return to the capital after one or two months.

Therefore, the tone of these two aides was much lighter than usual.

After chatting for a while, they noticed Mu Yunchuan was silent, so they immediately straightened up and asked him what was wrong.

When they received their assignments in the capital, these two aides had thought that Mu Yunchuan, with his background as a Jinshi scholar, even though he was a top talent who had passed the imperial examinations with top honors, might not be so capable in practical matters since he had likely spent most of his life buried in books.

But after they actually received their assignments and left the capital, they realized Mu Yunchuan was not the bookish type they had imagined.

He had been studying and taking care of himself since he was young, and later he traveled to different places, taking exams everywhere.

In this aspect, he was much stronger than the two aides from respectable families.

When they arrived in this disaster-stricken area, Mu Yunchuan was adept at diplomacy, pretending to be weak in front of the local power figures, while secretly sending people to gather information undercover.

In summary, it could be said in a few words, but a slight mistake could easily lead to their demise, leaving nothing but bones.

Therefore, after several months of being together, the two aides deeply respected Mu Yunchuan and followed his lead in everything.

Seeing his still serious expression, the two aides subconsciously thought they might have oversimplified things and even held their breath.

Fortunately, Mu Yunchuan smiled lightly and said, “It’s just that I’ve been away for a long time and miss my family.”

The two aides breathed a sigh of relief, “Master Mu is right. It’s been almost half a year since we left, and I miss my wife and son too.”

After chatting for a while longer, and with the day getting late, they didn’t want to disturb Mu Yunchuan anymore and went back to their rooms to rest.

After they left, the faint smile on Mu Yunchuan’s face quickly faded away.

What he was truly worried about stemmed from a strange dream he had had earlier concerning Zhou Shi.

After that strange dream, he hadn’t followed the dream’s guidance and insisted on letting Zhou Shi live with his stepmother, Mrs. Shen, according to the original plan.

Later, when Zhou Shi left home, he received news about the chief examiner for the imperial examination.

He wanted to inform Mu Er Pang and give him some advice.

But then, he felt a sharp, stabbing pain in his head again.

He immediately stopped talking unconsciously, and the stabbing pain disappeared as suddenly as before, leaving no trace.

Actually, he had endured many hardships in his early years, so this instant pain wasn’t something he couldn’t bear.

What he found unbearable was not knowing what was trying to control him?

The last time someone tried to control him was his foolish stepmother, Mrs. Shen.

If it hadn’t been for the fact that he was sure she had changed over the years, and had taken care of Zhou Shi and raised Mu Er Pang, he would have surely settled that old score.

Now it was even more troublesome. Whatever was trying to control him wasn’t a person, but rather something mysterious and otherworldly.

He had never believed in such things, but after returning home, he had had the same dream several nights in a row.

It was about keeping Zhou Shi locked up at home, waiting for her to die, and then marrying a noblewoman.

He didn’t believe it anymore, but he was pushed to the limit.

Before the new year, during a break, he sought out a reliable official from the Astronomical Bureau to inquire about relevant matters.

Of course, he couldn’t reveal too much, only mentioning that he’d been having strange recurring dreams lately, often hearing voices in his ears.

The official thought he was asking about luck for his upcoming official duties, not expecting inquiries about these matters.

After the surprise, the official asked if the pressure of his duties was too much, causing him to think during the day and dream at night, unable to sleep peacefully.

Learning that he had already seen a doctor, who declared him physically healthy, the official suggested giving him some talismans, but it would take some time.

Since the official himself couldn’t draw talismans, but he believed in them and regularly visited the bustling Qingxu Temple outside the city to pray for blessings, and had some acquaintance with the temple master.

Since Mu Yunchuan encountered this issue and happened to ask him, he said he would personally visit Qingxu Temple after the new year to pray for talismans for him.

At that time, Mu Yunchuan was too busy to go himself, so he thanked the official and informed the Zhou Shi when he sent New Year’s gifts, preparing a small gift for the official’s family.

After the New Year, Mu Yunchuan received the talismans and set off the next day.

On the way, he didn’t have any more strange dreams or feel the discomfort that had been bothering him. He thought the talismans had really worked, scaring away the “evil spirits.”

But when he arrived at his destination, they started acting up again, even worse.

During the day, he cautiously flattered the official, but at night, when he fell asleep, a voice would say in his ear, “See, if you didn’t lack background and had more experience, why would you have to deal with these people so cautiously?”

He received a letter from the Zhou Shi, saying that Mu Er Pang and the others had passed the imperial examination.

In his dreams at night, the voice would angrily say, “Why… why can they also be so successful? They are only worthy of being your control, your foil, your stepping stones!”

…

In the past, when he was studying, if he decided not to sleep and stayed up all night studying, it was simple.

But recently, even if he found other things to do, he didn’t know when he would inevitably fall asleep.

And once he fell asleep, he would inevitably encounter those “evil spirits.”

And today, counting the days, it was the day when Mu Er Pang and the others’ examination results would be announced.

So logically, after he fell asleep later, those “evil spirits” would come looking for him again.

After a long period of inadequate rest and being troubled by these “evil spirits,” he couldn’t help but show some signs at the dinner table, which led his two adjutants to misunderstand and act like they were facing a major enemy.

But what truly mattered lay ahead, requiring him to conserve his energy.

Since there was no escaping it, he decided not to waste any more effort trying to evade it.

After washing up, he lay down on the bed.

No dreams came that night.