As the entire capital was in a slight state of tension due to Ding Yun's extensive shopping spree, and the Imperial City Department, acting solely on the Emperor's orders, had personally begun a thorough investigation.
Ding Yun, however, was completely oblivious.
This was because she had been constantly shuttling between two worlds, buying and selling resources. Normally, she only dealt with her few bodyguard robots for the exchange of silver and supplies.
She didn't even have time for personal shopping.
Let alone gathering gossip and information about her surroundings.
Of course, this didn't mean she didn't care about the situation of her parents and family. In fact, she had specifically left a fly-shaped robot to stay in the capital, solely to monitor movements at the imperial prison.
Although the fly-shaped robot's intelligence wasn't high, it could still perform basic commands. Ding Yun's basic command for it was to notify her immediately if an imperial decree for an execution was issued.
At that time, executions weren't carried out immediately upon the decree. Generally, the decree would be issued at least a day in advance, and the execution would take place at noon the following day.
Ding Yun could travel back and forth more than ten times a day.
So, there was no need to worry about not making it in time for a rescue.
Currently, Ding Yun's biggest concern was her family in the imperial prison. Other matters were of no consequence. With the fly-shaped robot monitoring her family in the prison, she would be promptly informed of any trouble.
Therefore, she naturally kept her ears closed to outside affairs.
She was solely focused on her trading business.
However, after two days of business, she eventually had to temporarily halt her frequent transactions.
It wasn't that something had happened in the level-two technological civilization, or that her cargo's origin was being traced.
The main reason was that she had run out of things to sell.
All the bodyguard robots she had dispatched reported back that they could no longer purchase many items from the acquisition list in the market. Even if they could find them, they would have to pay several times the price.
Ding Yun had not instructed them on this matter,
Nor had she granted them related permissions.
Therefore, they naturally dared not act on their own initiative.
They could only return empty-handed and inform Ding Yun of the situation.
"That's strange. How much have I bought? I've only spent less than thirty million taels of silver on goods. How could there be nothing left to sell? And I was buying so quickly. Logically, they shouldn't have had time to get wind of someone bulk-buying across the country, leading them to hoard their goods and sell them at inflated prices!"
Ding Yun had always been cautious about merchants. Even ancient merchants, while they might not have formalized theories on scarcity and market dynamics, certainly understood and excelled at them.
Most importantly, there was the issue of collusion between officials and merchants.
And they were often very bold.
It was common for rice prices to be inflated during times of famine or disaster.
Therefore, Ding Yun knew very well that if she slowly acquired these items, letting all the merchants in the country know that she was purchasing them in large quantities, the prices of these items would inevitably skyrocket. If she continued to buy even after the prices had soared, they would rise further, and it was even possible they would refuse to sell, demanding exorbitant prices.
After all, she was buying such a large quantity.
If not her, then who else would they exploit?
It was precisely for this reason that Ding Yun had been particularly anxious and had quickly purchased so many bodyguard robots, having them travel to various cities in personal high-speed flying vehicles to make purchases.
But she hadn't expected that even with her speed, she still couldn't buy much.
After thinking for a moment, Ding Yun asked the bodyguard robots again:
"Did you ask the shopkeepers why they didn't have the goods, and where else we might find them?"
"We did, but after analysis by the intelligent system, only the owners of two shops were likely telling the truth.
Their general sentiments were consistent.
In summary, the items we were buying had a limited annual sales volume. Bulk hoarding would only strain their cash flow, so the available stock was naturally limited.
Since we bought so much, it naturally became difficult to purchase.
Even if we were willing to pay a deposit, they would need time to mine ore, find jade, or even pick wild medicinal herbs, making delivery difficult in a short period.
Also, truly valuable items were generally only supplied to the upper echelons as tribute, or retained by the channels controlled by powerful aristocratic families. For example, with ginseng, the market mostly had ginseng around a hundred years old. Ginseng that was four to five hundred years old was rarely seen for sale, unless one directly connected with a lucky ginseng picker.
Otherwise, it would only be found in the storerooms of aristocratic families.
Many valuable items, even if they rotted or lost their efficacy in storage, would not easily find their way into the hands of the common people.
This was because it represented the foundation of a family's prestige. One of the owners also said that if someone from a family fell ill and needed precious medicinal herbs, having to send someone to buy them from an external pharmacy would be a great embarrassment."
When purchasing the bodyguard robots, Ding Yun had specifically chosen those that were average in all aspects but were all-rounders. While their capabilities were average in the level-two technological plane, they were considered top-tier in ancient times, possibly unmatched.
The ability to judge the truthfulness of a person's words based on their physical condition was a basic function.
Unless someone had undergone extremely specialized and scientific training that allowed them to control their physiological responses, they generally couldn't escape this detection. Therefore, the bodyguard robots' replies could largely be trusted as truthful.
Ding Yun considered it herself and found it quite reasonable. After all, some things were simply inaccessible to the common folk, and it was a perfectly logical situation.
Moreover, this principle was applicable in many worlds. The governments of various countries on the level-two technological plane also only sold lower-grade space exploration vessels to the public.
The highest-grade space exploration vessels could not be bought with any amount of money because the government had to ensure that its technological level always remained ahead of the civilian grade.
In ancient times, keeping good things secret and using them for oneself instead of offering them as tribute could even be considered overstepping boundaries and disrespect.
After learning this information, Ding Yun knew there were only two ways for her to continue acquiring those items to sell to the level-two technological plane: either she could resort to direct robbery, raiding all the aristocratic families, the imperial palace's inner treasury, the Emperor's private coffers, and other such valuable locations.
Or, she would have to find ways to mine and prospect herself.
And pick high-year medicinal herbs, and so on.
Both methods were good, and frankly, Ding Yun was tempted by both. She even considered doing both simultaneously.
For her, whether it was robbing aristocratic families, the imperial palace, or mining and finding things herself, none of it was difficult. The level-two technological plane had plenty of equipment and instruments to help her accomplish these tasks. However, after some thought, she decided to keep a lower profile and focus on mining and finding things herself first.
If she still couldn't accumulate enough money to buy a space exploration vessel, then she would have to "borrow" from the aristocratic families.
She imagined they wouldn't be stingy.
With her idea and decision made, Ding Yun of course made another trip to the level-two technological plane to purchase mining equipment, prospecting tools, herb-gathering tools, satellite scanning equipment, and even deep-sea mining equipment.
So she could bring them back to continue collecting resources.
And resume her previous trading activities.
The items she intended to buy were no longer difficult to acquire. It was a joke; they were even selling space exploration vessels. What's more, most people who bought space exploration vessels came equipped with many sets of these tools. Even if they couldn't find new mineral planets, they could obtain a considerable amount of minerals by capturing a few large meteorites or comets and selling them to recoup their costs.
Those who couldn't afford space exploration vessels might still buy a set, and then take spaceships to the large mineral planets already under national control to help out, earning something. In any case, they generally wouldn't lose money.
Therefore, Ding Yun purchasing a few sets of mining-related equipment
was hardly noticeable.
However, as these machines were brought back, to ensure she had enough personnel to operate and utilize them, Ding Yun had to purchase a considerable number of specialized robots to control these machines and help her mine.
Compared to humans.
Ding Yun currently trusted robots more.
Because she was confident that the robots she purchased would be under her control.
Her consciousness chip was more than capable of replacing the highest administrative privileges within those robots, controlling their life and death.
Humans, on the other hand, were more unpredictable.
But even with the advanced technology of the level-two technological plane, mining was not an instantaneous process.
Especially when trying to mine quietly with minimal disturbance.
The speed would undoubtedly be slower.
Combined with the constant danger her family faced, she couldn't permanently reside in the level-two technological plane. Therefore, she needed a place to stay in ancient times.
After all, she couldn't live in a secluded alley, could she?
But another problem arose at this point.
Buying a house now required household registration proof.
And she was considered dead in this world. Even if not dead, she should be in the imperial prison. Therefore, the original body's identity information could no longer be used.
Forging it, however, was proving to be difficult.
Ancient times were different from technological planes. On technological planes, with sufficient network technology, one could create a household registration in minutes even without connections.
But in ancient times, those with power, influence, and connections could easily obtain a few household registrations. For those without, it was quite troublesome, and even spending money to resolve it carried risks.
For this reason, Ding Yun had to dispatch a few more fly-shaped robots to gather information about the household registration policies here. Only by understanding the situation could she attempt to forge one!
It was only at this point that Ding Yun learned what had transpired in the capital and realized that her earlier extensive shopping spree had attracted attention and had now escalated to a matter of capital defense security.
The entire capital was searching for her.
And the first batch of bodyguard robots she had brought.
The strictness of identity verification, travel permits, and other checks had also significantly increased compared to before, undoubtedly making it more difficult for her to forge a household registration. Furthermore, she didn't just need to forge one for herself; when she managed to rescue her family, they would also need household registrations.
Therefore, Ding Yun quickly abandoned the idea of forging a household registration for the time being. She decided that after rescuing her family, she would discuss with them what kind of household registration to forge and where to register them, to avoid them being dissatisfied with her choices.
As for her current accommodation, since the scrutiny in the capital was so strict, she would find a place to stay elsewhere for now. Cities might check household registrations, travel permits, and identity proofs, but surely the deep mountains and old forests wouldn't have such checks. There were plenty of mountain dwellers in the deep mountains and old forests who had no identity proof, no household registration, and no travel permits.
If she hid there, who could find her?
The issue of accommodation was also easily solved. She could purchase an automated assembly, foldable house from the level-two technological plane. As long as her bodyguard robots leveled a small area in the deep mountains and old forests, she could easily set up a house, complete with various smart devices. In short, she had nothing to worry about.
Her living conditions would not decline.
With this thought, Ding Yun immediately activated the stealth mode of her personal high-speed flying vehicle and began searching for her preferred deep mountains and old forests to reside in.
Meanwhile, the news of Ding Yun's bodyguard robots extensively purchasing those items in large cities near the capital finally reached the capital.
And it further enraged Emperor Minghui.
Although Ding Yun was simply spending money to buy goods, without shortchanging or using counterfeit silver, it was a purely normal commercial economic activity.
But emperors were very good at conspiracy theories.
If he could easily uncover Ding Yun's background information, he might not have thought too much about it. After all, if he could find out her background, it would prove that the situation was within his control.
But now, he couldn't find out anything, absolutely nothing. And the other party was not only active within the capital but also showing signs of activity in cities near the capital, and it was hard to say if they were active even further afield; they likely were.
What did this imply?
It meant that a vast force, beyond his control and unknown to him, was slowly emerging, and he didn't even know their intentions.
So, how could he not be shocked and enraged?
In his shock and anger, he naturally began to mobilize all the forces at his disposal, sparing no effort in conducting a comprehensive search of the entire capital, house by house, without missing any location. Simultaneously, he dispatched rapid couriers to all parts of the country to gather relevant information.
At this moment, he was no longer just paying attention; he was treating this matter as a paramount issue and investigating it.
Thus, six hours after Ding Yun's departure,
The entire capital was under martial law.
Every household was being searched, checking for household registrations, population counts, and any irregularities within their homes. Even the residences of nobles were not spared.
However, overall,
This proved to be a good thing for Ding Yun's family.
Because Emperor Minghui was so busy investigating this matter that he forgot about the Crown Prince's officials who were imprisoned and awaiting execution.
The specific decree was never issued.
Therefore, they naturally got to live a little longer, until Emperor Minghui remembered them.