AUBTN -Chapter 374 Dark Cuisine

Zhao Zhou wore an unprecedentedly grave expression. Without even stopping to formally greet anyone, he quickly walked over to Shen Jue’s side.

“Your Highness!” he lowered his voice.

“Urgent secret report from the prison!”

The lively atmosphere in the warm pavilion instantly cooled the moment the word “prison” was spoken.

Su Hewan’s laughter caught in her throat. Lu Yan put down his chopsticks and looked sharply at Shen Jue.

The lazy smile on Shen Jue’s face vanished without a trace in an instant.

“Speak!”

Zhao Zhou immediately said, “He Wenyuan, before his death, in order to protect his family, revealed something!”

Lu Yan was even more anxious than Shen Jue and immediately frowned. “What did he say?”

Zhao Zhou’s eyes darkened. “He Wenyuan confessed that the reason he was able to obtain the South Frontier’s rare medicinal drug was because of an extremely mysterious intermediary organization.”

“That organization provided him with intelligence, channels, and the medicine itself. They even helped him plan the entire assassination of the Emperor and frame the Embroidered Uniform Guard.”

“As for He Wenyuan, he was nothing more than a pawn pushed to the front.”

“That organization is called… the Tianji Pavilion.”

“Tianji Pavilion…” Su Hewan murmured, her eyes filled with shock and confusion.

【What is this? This didn’t exist in the original plot at all! Could it be hidden content?!】

Yu Qing also widened her eyes, disbelief written all over her face.

【What the hell! What’s going on? This plot is getting more and more ridiculous!】

After hearing this, both Lu Yan and Shen Jue’s expressions turned so dark they seemed ready to drip water.

As the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, he controlled the Great Wei’s largest intelligence network—yet he had never even heard of this “Tianji Pavilion.” That alone was a massive failure and threat.

“It seems,” Shen Jue said coldly, his voice carrying a hint of self-mocking chill,

“we’ve all underestimated things.”

His gaze swept across the three of them.

“He Wenyuan is only the tip of the iceberg.”

Inside the study at the imperial villa.

Lu Yan and Shen Jue both had dark, heavy expressions.

Zhao Zhou and Chang Lin knelt side by side below them, their backs already soaked with cold sweat.

“Three full days,” Shen Jue said, his voice icy.

“East Depot’s spies, the Embroidered Uniform Guard’s covert agents—we’ve turned the entire capital upside down. And now you come to tell me there is no trace of this person, no trace of this organization?”

Chang Lin braced himself and bowed deeply. “Replying to Your Highness, we have combed through the past ten years of all martial sects, assassination organizations, even underground banks and black markets. The three characters ‘Tianji Pavilion’ are like they were conjured out of thin air—there is not even the slightest trace of them.”

Lu Yan’s gaze was cold. “He Wenyuan used this organization to save his life even at death’s door. It cannot be baseless! Even if it’s a ghost, it would leave a trace of cold wind behind! Keep investigating!”

“Yes!” The two of them were as if granted amnesty and hurriedly scrambled out.

The door closed again.

Lu Yan pressed his throbbing temples, his eyes filled with shock.

In theory, with the East Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard working together, there should be no secrets in Great Wei that could escape them.

Yet this Tianji Pavilion had managed to infiltrate the Six Ministries, manipulate officials, and even plan an assassination against the Emperor right under their noses—without leaving a single trace.

Such a deeply hidden behemoth was truly terrifying.

At that moment, Su Hewan walked in carrying freshly brewed tea.

She lifted her eyes and swept over the two men with tightly furrowed brows.

“Of course you can’t find them by investigating people directly. Ancient—your investigative methods rely too heavily on informants and confessions. Since the other side is a highly covert organization, they must have a cut-off survival mechanism. The moment He Wenyuan is exposed, all contact points would have already been cleaned out completely.”

Shen Jue’s hand, which was lightly rubbing his thumb ring, paused slightly. There was a faint smile in his eyes.

“Does Madam have another idea?”

Su Hewan poured tea for both of them, then spoke unhurriedly.

“No matter how tight an organization is, it can’t escape a basic physical law—conservation of energy. There must be consumption.”

Lu Yan raised his teacup, his expression serious. “Please elaborate.”

Su Hewan smiled and walked to the desk, casually picking up a wolf-hair brush and drawing two circles on the rice paper.

“For an organization to operate—especially one that can provide He Wenyuan with rare southern poisons, dead soldiers, and smooth over countless layers of bureaucracy—what does it need most?”

She tapped the desk slowly, word by word.

“Money, and people.”

Lu Yan raised a brow. “Anyone knows that.”

“But you’re looking in the wrong direction,” Su Hewan analyzed calmly.

“You’re investigating assassins. Those are the sharpest blades they hide deepest. What we should be investigating is the handle.”

She drew a line on the paper.

“Since we can’t trace the Tianji Pavilion, then investigate all abnormal large financial flows in the capital and surrounding areas over the past three years—banks, pawnshops, merchant guilds. With such a massive organization, the daily cash flow must be astronomical. Even if they launder money through scattered accounts, there will still be traces.”

“Secondly,” Su Hewan’s gaze turned sharp.

“Investigate those who seem insignificant but suddenly became wealthy—or entire families that suddenly disappeared. For example, night-soil collectors, city gate guards, dock laborers. These people are often the best messengers and informants. They may think they’ve erased all traces, but the flow of silver never lies.”

Lu Yan’s eyes lit up.

“Before troops move, provisions come first!”

“Excellent move—striking at the root!” he said, looking at Su Hewan with genuine admiration.

Shen Jue watched his wife’s composed and strategic demeanor, the corner of his lips curling into a proud smile.

He immediately called out loudly, “Zhao Zhou! Pass the order—notify the Ministry of Revenue to check the accounts of all major shops in the capital!”

A tense atmosphere of investigation shrouded the entire Yu Garden.

To “replenish energy” for everyone working nonstop day and night, Yu Qing volunteered herself and rushed into the small kitchen in Yu Garden.

Half an hour later, an indescribable smell drifted out of the dining hall… a mix of burnt food and strange sweet-sour fumes.

Yu Qing, her face smudged with soot, proudly placed three dishes on the table.

“Ta-da! Love-special secret feast! Try it!”

Lu Yan stared at the plate in front of him—a pitch-black “charcoal fish” whose original species was impossible to identify, and a bowl of suspicious green-glowing unknown vegetable soup. His eye twitched violently twice.

Can this even be eaten? This would kill someone…

【Sobbing… if they dislike it, I’m never cooking again!】

Yu Qing’s inner voice kept whining anxiously, her big eyes fixed full of expectation on Lu Yan.

Lu Yan heard that pitiful, aggrieved voice in his mind and took a deep breath.

I chose this woman. I’ll spoil her—no matter what.

Without changing his expression, he picked up a large piece of the charcoal fish and stuffed it into his mouth.

He chewed twice, his Adam’s apple rolling with difficulty as he swallowed it down.

“How is it?” Yu Qing asked nervously.

“…Crispy on the outside, tender on the inside. Very unique,” Lu Yan said blankly, as if facing death, then picked up the glowing green soup and drank it in one go.

“Not bad.”

“I knew I had talent!” Yu Qing instantly puffed up with pride.