"Since you suspect him, you can use your ability to read his memories. Lu Qin is dead, no one can restrict you anymore," Jiang Cheng said, looking at him.

Shao Tong frowned upon hearing this, his expression also becoming serious. "Of course, I've tried, but without Lu Qin's assistance, my abilities are greatly limited. I can only extract a small portion of Yao Shunyu's memories, and they're all from the recent past. This part of his memory... is very clean."

Jiang Cheng keenly sensed the implication in Shao Tong's words. He said it was very clean, not that there were no problems. "What did you find?"

"This part of his memory is too clean, so clean that you can't find a single problem. Everything seems so well-organized, like..." Shao Tong paused, searching for the right adjective, "a precise machine."

Jiang Cheng understood just how complex a person's memory could be, and that a seemingly flawless memory was precisely the biggest problem.

Wu raised a hand and pointed towards the door. "The villagers are banging on the door."

Dealing with the villagers was clearly a higher priority than Yao Shunyu, especially since Li Bai was still in critical condition. Jiang Cheng asked Shao Tong to go out first, appease the agitated villagers, and tell them that Li Bai was about to eat.

After Shao Tong left, Li Bai shook her head in pain. Physical weakness combined with mental torment had left her utterly exhausted. "Yao Shunyu... I don't believe he would betray us!"

"I don't believe it either, but things will be investigated." Jiang Cheng sat on the edge of the bed to comfort Li Bai. "Leave this to me, you just focus on doing your part."

Li Bai looked at Wu with a complicated expression. That black figure had once brought endless pressure to her and Yao Shunyu. The seemingly powerful Bai Yu had been kicked to pieces by him, and the eyeball that had popped out had been crushed. But... this time he was on their side.

Without another word, Wu picked up the bowl of white rice, examined it for a moment, then opened his mouth to an impossible angle and poured the rice in.

Knowing that Wu was taking the disaster upon himself, Li Bai repeatedly thanked him, but Wu didn't care about that at all. He stared at the bottom of the bowl, seemingly having discovered a clue.

Jiang Cheng went over and was surprised to find a pattern at the bottom of the bowl. The pattern was exquisite, and most importantly, it looked familiar. After a brief moment of recollection, he suddenly remembered seeing a similar pattern on a map, the old map that Yao Shunyu had brought back from the bookstore.

That old map highlighted the information about the Chun Shen Lake, and even more remarkably, when the map was held up to the light, a pattern would appear. After analyzing it, they believed that this pattern was most likely the totem of the family to which the old map belonged.

Following this line of thought, this totem most likely belonged to General Guo's lineage, and the location marked on the map must be very important to General Guo.

Joy Pavilion!

That triangle marked near the center of the Chun Shen Lake was most likely the location of the Joy Pavilion, the very thing that the Zhennan Marquis was desperately searching for!

However, Jiang Cheng couldn't be sure if there was any explanation for how Yao Shunyu had obtained such a valuable thing so easily.

As time drew closer, Li Bai's complexion worsened. Without delay, Jiang Cheng put the wooden牌 (pai, plaque) into Li Bai's pocket, and as expected, the sheng (life) side of the wooden牌 (pai, plaque) was facing up when he took it out.

"Do it," Jiang Cheng signaled to Wu.

Wu's figure melted, transforming back into the shadow on the ground. This time, the shadow moved like smoke on the ground, finally reaching Li Bai's side and beginning to invade her shadow.

The intense pain caused Li Bai to curl up, her forehead covered in cold sweat. The invasion of the shadow stopped, and Wu reappeared, standing beside Li Bai's bed, his palm covering Li Bai's face, which was twisted in pain. "Sleep, just think of it as a dream."

As those words were spoken, Li Bai actually stopped shaking. After a moment, her curled-up body relaxed, and she fell into a deep sleep.

Wu's figure also merged with Li Bai's shadow.

But in Jiang Cheng's eyes, Li Bai lying on the bed looked more like a corpse, because her chest no longer rose and fell, and her breathing had stopped.

This time, when he put the验身牌 (yanshen pai, body check plaque) into Li Bai's pocket and took it out again, the original sheng (life) side had changed to the si (death) side.

Even though he knew that this was only a temporary separation, and that with Wu's help, Li Bai might not die, he still felt complicated as he watched Li Bai's body gradually turn cold.

Just as he turned around, preparing to leave, a slight sound entered his ears. But as Jiang Cheng turned back, the sound disappeared again, leaving only Li Bai lying quietly on the bed, her shadow beneath her returning to calmness.

"I understand."

After saying this, Jiang Cheng opened the door and walked out.

The courtyard was already in chaos. Fatty and the others had brought tables, benches, and everything else they could find to prop up the courtyard door. Seeing Jiang Cheng come out, everyone finally felt like they had a backbone.

"Shao Tong said Li Bai has already eaten the white rice, is that true?" People didn't trust Shao Tong, so they felt more assured asking Jiang Cheng directly about such an important thing.

"Yes."

As soon as these words were spoken, Fatty seemed to have all his energy drained away, wilting like a flower. He wanted to go in and see Li Bai, but Yao Shunyu stopped him. "Brother Fugui, don't be like this. Brother Jiang and everyone else have already done their best, and this is also Li Bai's last wish."

Fatty was still unaware of Wu's existence, and Jiang Cheng didn't intend to tell him. Although Fatty's acting skills had improved a lot, it was still hard to say whether he could fool the eyes hidden in the crowd, so everything had to be done with caution.

After receiving a definitive answer, the villagers outside the door finally left, satisfied. They left word that if Li Bai showed any unusual symptoms, they should be notified immediately, as the village's barefoot doctor had decent skills and a lot of experience in treating this kind of ailment caused by unfamiliar environments.

Fatty cursed under his breath that these damned villagers were dishonorable. If they had the guts, they should fight them with real swords and spears. What kind of skill was it to hide in the shadows and curse people? Old schemers should all die!

Most of the afternoon passed. Because of Li Bai's situation, everyone's mood was low, and the courtyard was filled with a somber atmosphere. Fatty was wiping away tears, repeatedly trying to go into the room to see Li Bai one last time, but he was stopped by Jiang Cheng and Yao Shunyu.

Zhu Jie used the herbs left by Li Bai to brew medicine for everyone, saying that the village had heavy damp瘴气 (zhangqi, miasma), and drinking some medicinal soup would be beneficial for the body. But in the end, only Zhu Jie and Tang Qisheng drank it, and everyone else politely declined.

Of course, Shao Tong was an exception. Zhu Jie didn't even ask him. It seemed that no one in this courtyard liked him except for Jiang Cheng. He sat alone in the shadows by the wall, leaning against it, with a piece of grass in his mouth, not knowing what he was thinking.