You're being a bit passive-aggressive.

Yan Liang woke up in the middle of the night with a start, staring blankly into the darkness, when the system suddenly reminded him.

Where is it?

Yan Liang lazily propped his head up with his hand, while Pang Yu across from him clicked his tongue and murmured indistinctly, seemingly having a sweet dream.

Although there are no mandatory missions in this world, I hope you can remember one thing—

If you want to survive, I am necessary to you.

Hearing the system's serious tone, Yan Liang remained silent for a moment before asking, "Are you hungry?"

【……yes. 】

"No... what exactly do you eat?" Yan Liang, who happened to be bored, became curious and asked the system. "I get points for completing tasks, what do you get in return?"

Human emotions—anger, sadness, joy…these are my sources of energy. The system also felt it necessary to explain this to this person to prevent incidents like this one, where someone was awakened from a deep sleep by hunger, from happening again.

Does mine count too?

"Yours counts too," the system said. "But it gets boring if it's too monotonous." It paused, then added, "The points you earn are, in a sense, my energy... but they're not very palatable, you know. Human emotions are like a feast to me, while points are like compressed biscuits..."

Yan Liang suddenly realized.

So, is the system's client (Party A) coming to talk to him (Party B) in the middle of the night?

A feeling of guilt welled up within him, and Yan Liang sincerely apologized to it, deeply reflecting on his passive and negligent behavior.

The system, which could always sense this person's emotions, savored the new food while listening to Yan Liang's apology, and vaguely felt that something was amiss.

This bittersweet, unpleasant taste... is it a combination of guilt and suppressing laughter?

The system went offline in frustration.

Yan Liang called it a few times but received no response. He belatedly realized that it didn't want to talk to him anymore.

Wait, are you that sensitive to emotions?

He just chuckled for a second, didn't he?

Yan Liang gained a profound understanding of the fact that the food of the system is human emotions.

He counted the tasks he owed, which he hadn't paid much attention to before because the system hadn't been active much. Now, after reviewing them, he found that completed tasks included escorting Pang Yu back to the capital, solving the mystery of the disappearance of Tanhua Village, and some smaller tasks; currently, ongoing tasks included uncovering Xu Yiwei's true identity…

really--

Yan Liang's eyes lit up. Even if Xu Yiwei wasn't the mastermind, he must have some connection with him. Thinking of this, he felt a pang of regret that Xu Yiwei had retrieved the bugging device when he left Donghua Town.

At that time, he wasn't thinking about finding out who was behind it all; he just wanted to send his little brother Pang Yu back to Bianliang and then have some fun, so he didn't care about Xu Yiwei and the others.

All was silent. Yan Liang stroked his chin, pondering how to find Xu Yiwei's whereabouts. As he was deep in thought, he suddenly heard someone talking in their sleep.

"I—no! It wasn't me...!"

Pang Yu rolled over in bed, his head hanging off the edge, muttering incoherently, seemingly having a nightmare.

Yan Liang considered his sleep time over the past few days and decided not to move Pang Yu's head back.

"My neck... I have a stiff neck..."

Pang Yu clutched his neck, looking distressed. He had woken up with a terrible neck pain, which he figured was due to his poor sleeping posture.

Yan Liang said casually, "Would you like me to twist it for you?"

"Twist it? No, no, no, I'm afraid you'll twist my head off." Pang Yu quickly refused.

"I'm not that strong. Do you think I'm some kind of invincible martial arts master?"

"Then don't use the word 'twisting'."

The drunkard and gambler watching them chat idly, though they knew the young man was Marquis Anle, Pang Yu, they couldn't connect him with the person in the rumors; and Yan Liang was supposedly the one who escorted Marquis Anle back to the capital, someone who colluded with Marquis Anle—but after spending so many days together, they found both of them quite interesting, and not at all unlikeable.

"If you have a stiff neck, you can find Old Zhou on East Street to cure it. He's an expert in acupuncture and massage. I used to go there often when I was a kid," the drunkard interjected.

Pang Yu was taken aback. He had been in prison for many days, and after everyone else learned that he was Marquis Anle Pang Yu, they were unwilling to speak to him, but they all got along well with Yan Liang. This drunkard was the first person to speak to him.

"Old Zhou's skills are pretty good, but Master Li from West Street is alright too," the gambler chimed in.

Pang Yu: "...Thank you...?"

He was inexplicably moved, but soon realized that he had been stuck in prison and hadn't had a chance to visit Old Zhou on East Street or Master Li on West Street.

Yan Liang stared at Pang Yu for a while, then laughed.

Pang Yu's personality wasn't exactly wicked; at most, he had the spoiled nature of a pampered young master. Now, after suffering so much, he'd become somewhat more restrained. Yan Liang, having been with him all along, was extremely familiar with his changes.

The gamblers and alcoholics are now showing him some goodwill, probably because his behavior during this period does not match the rumors.

It's a pity that they were unfairly blamed.

Previously, the atmosphere in Pang Yu's cell was always very oppressive, but after the conversation started, the atmosphere became much more pleasant. At least Pang Yu had a smile on his face when he learned that Lord Bao wanted to talk to them.

As soon as Zhan Zhao entered the dungeon, he heard several people talking, which sounded very lively.

With a smile, he opened the cell doors of Yan Liang and Pang Yu, saying, "Lord Bao wishes to speak with Brother Yan and the young marquis."

Yan Liang laughed, grabbed the still-dazed Pang Yu, and pulled him out of the cell. He greeted the two people in the next cell and followed Zhan Zhao out of the dungeon.

"Where is Master Bai?" Yan Liang asked him.

Zhan Zhao said, "Brother Bai took Xiao Shizi boating on the lake today."

A boat trip on the lake?

Yan Liangxin thought that if he went boating on the lake with Xiao Shizi, it would probably turn into eating and drinking.

As the two were talking, they arrived at Judge Bao's place. Pang Yu had been mentally preparing himself, but when he saw Judge Bao's dark face, his legs went weak and he almost knelt down.

He finally understood what "imposing without anger" meant; this was exactly what this bag of black sesame seeds was all about.

This was the first time Pang Yu had faced Bao Zheng face-to-face. He used to run away at the sight of him, but now he was forced by circumstances. Fortunately, Yan Liang was there. Pang Yu grabbed Yan Liang's sleeve and stood stubbornly under Bao Zheng's gaze.

Gongsun Ce, the registrar of Kaifeng Prefecture, and Zhan Zhao were both standing beside Bao Zheng, one a scholar and the other a warrior, exuding great authority.

Pang Yu felt a chill run down his spine. He stole a glance at Yan Liang and found that he was actually smiling.

Judge Bao clearly saw through their expressions. After asking them to sit down, he inquired about Yan Liang's escort of Pang Yu back to the capital.

After Yan Liang and Pang Yu were caught by Bai Yutang, they told him about these things on the way. Bai Yutang did indeed relay them to the Kaifeng Prefecture, but there were still some unclear points. Therefore, after the matter was settled in the court, Lord Bao summoned the two men for questioning.

Judge Bao first asked Pang Yu, "If the Chenzhou affair has nothing to do with you, then where were you during those two months?"

With a pained expression, Pang Yu recounted everything that had happened in Chenzhou, answering all the questions. He was eager to clear his name so he could return home and live a happy life, and therefore cooperated fully.

Qiu Qi and Sun Haoqing are dead, but both of them said before they died that Marquis Anle ordered them to do so. However, Pang Yu's account is completely different from theirs.

Judge Bao looked solemn. The people of Chenzhou City unanimously pointed out that Pang Yu was the mastermind. But if what Pang Yu said was true, then who was the real mastermind?

Yan Liang listened from the side and sorted out the clues. When Lord Bao asked him, he answered them one by one in a clear and organized manner. He also talked to Lord Bao about Xu Yiwei.

"The man who knocked out the young marquis is named Xu Yiwei. He had his fortune told by me in Donghua Town." Yan Liang took a sip of tea.

Judge Bao asked, "Do you remember what he looked like?"

Yan Liang thought for a moment and said, "He has a scar on his forehead. If I saw him, I would definitely recognize him." He paused and then said, "I think they are the same kind of people that Brother Bai met in Guang Prefecture."

The time when Bai Yutang encountered the two men in black in Guangzhou was close to the time when Xu Yiwei left after receiving the message by carrier pigeon, so it's likely that those people were traveling together.

Xu Yiwei was not the mastermind. Judging from the attitude of the two people who were with him, they were colleagues, not master and servant.

If Yan Liang could meet Xu Yiwei again, he was confident he could find out who was behind it all.

Yan Liang spoke with certainty, which made people believe him, but the worst thing in judging a case is relying on one person's one-sided account.

Gongsun Ce noted Yan Liang's guesses into a book, and then found pen, ink, paper and inkstone, asking Yan Liang to describe Xu Yiwei's appearance, intending to draw a portrait so that the yamen runners could find him.

Yan Liang gestured with his hand.

"There's a scar on his forehead..."

He fell silent.

Gongsun Ce looked at him, pen in hand, and asked in confusion, "What's wrong?"

Yan Liang scratched the back of his head and said, "Two eyes, one nose, and one mouth."

Everyone: "..."

Yan Liang was also helpless. Just because he could recognize the person did not mean he could describe every detail on that person's face.

Besides, most people wouldn't remember the face of someone they've only met a few times, right? A normal person can only remember the general outline.

Gongsun Ce was caught between a dilemma – whether to put down the brush or pick it up again – feeling both annoyed and amused. He said, "Are you skilled in painting? If words fail to describe it, then paint it yourself."

Yan Liang shook his head and said, "Besides fortune telling, I don't know anything else."

Gongsun Ce paused for a moment. In his early years, he had also disguised himself as a fortune teller to solve cases, and he knew that fortune telling was mostly related to the thoughts of the person seeking divination, and actually had little to do with the natural world. But Yan Liang said it so frankly, as if it were really true.

He paused, then looked at Pang Yu and asked, "Young Marquis, could you describe Xu Yi's appearance?"

Pang Yu shook his head vigorously: "No, no, I only saw him up close once, and I only remember the scar on his forehead and his fierce eyes."

Helpless, Gongsun Ce could only ask about some details and try to draw it based on Yan Liang's description, but Yan Liang thought the result was only about 50% similar.

In the end, the matter was dropped. Gongsun Ce gave the portrait, which only showed a five-tenths resemblance to the person, to Zhan Zhao, instructing him to show it to Wang Chao, Ma Han, and others, and to notify them if they noticed anyone who looked similar while patrolling the streets.

After the questioning, Yan Liang and Pang Yu were arranged to stay in side rooms, which were next to each other, next to Zhan Zhao's room.

Judge Bao said, "Grand Tutor Pang asked me to arrange a good room for the young marquis after the morning court session today."

Pang Yu was deeply moved, thinking to himself that his father was truly worthy of his name, always thinking of him.

Yan Liang glanced at Lord Bao's dark face—although Lord Bao's face was always so dark—and felt that the conversation between the two after the morning court session must not be as simple as Lord Bao had said.

Author's Note: I'm here!

Happy Saturday!