Chapter 91: Two Months and Seventeen Days

Chapter 91: Two Months and Seventeen Days

Ji Zichen thought the key point of the staff's statement lay in the first half.

After some consideration, he found it reasonable.

In the Hui Dynasty, even envoys from remote minor states would be courteously received by the Honglu Temple (the imperial diplomatic office), much less a visiting monarch.

Since he still held what they desired, before obtaining it, no matter what the local officials truly thought, they wouldn’t risk dismissing him and damaging relations.

Given this, to lay a solid foundation for cooperation, even if they couldn’t host him at a place like the Honglu Temple, they should at least arrange for the nearest government office or official residence.

That would demonstrate respect and importance.

Using a civilian residence was inappropriate—not to mention the owner was still present without prior clearance. Not only would this invite criticism, but if negotiations failed, wouldn’t it practically gift him hostages? While elites might dismiss a few lives, if word got out, it could easily incite public outrage.

Having just witnessed the paintings here, Ji Zichen understood clearly that if someone depicted this situation—using those animated depictions to recreate the entire process—and spread them, it wouldn’t just undermine trust but also spark unrest.

Why would they take such a risk?

Moreover, upon closer reflection, apart from them knowing his name, there were no other red flags. It didn’t seem like they had prior knowledge.

The staff didn’t conceal the truth either: "Your coming here was unexpected. We only received the news after you appeared."

"By our estimates, you’ll probably be here for about two to three months..."

"More accurately, two months and seventeen days."

Sheng Qingquan thought to himself.

While the Little Emperor was watching a video earlier, he had also taken the opportunity to skim through the novel.

He narrowed down the vague estimate of two to three months to an exact count of days.

The novel stated that the Little Emperor returned to his own time when the group that captured him began using martial arts manuals to build connections. At that time, they were busy networking with others, and the Little Emperor vanished right under surveillance. Though startled, they shrugged it off—they already had the manuals.

As previously mentioned, it took at least two to three months of practice for the martial arts techniques to show any noticeable effects—enough to dazzle outsiders. Working backward from that, they could estimate how long the Little Emperor would stay here.

Earlier, they only knew it was two to three months. Now, Sheng Qingquan pinpointed it to two months and seventeen days based on his reading.

"After the first person suffered a qi deviation (a catastrophic loss of control over internal energy), the rest pored over the surveillance footage again and again."

"They tried to figure out exactly how the Little Emperor had escaped, hoping to bring him back and continue teaching them martial arts."

"Martial arts training turned out far deadlier than they had imagined."

"Without proper guidance, the consequences of self-teaching were unbearable—not just for themselves but for their families too. They weren’t about to end up like their boss."

"When their leader died, it happened at home. In his frenzy, he killed his entire family, along with two maids and a bodyguard."

"Blood soaked the villa’s floors and walls."

"Only an associate, who happened to be near the garage, reacted quickly enough to escape by car. He alone escaped—without him, there’d have been no one left to tell the tale."

"Even though they had lived dangerous lives in the underworld, the carnage they witnessed still turned their stomachs."

"So these people pored over the surveillance footage. But no matter how hard they looked, even spending a fortune to hire several skilled hackers to examine the videos, they found nothing wrong."

"No edits, no overwrites, the footage hadn't been tampered with. The person simply vanished into thin air."

"This led to finger-pointing among them, even taking it out on whoever was supposed to be watching the Little Emperor that day."

["'If you hadn't left early, maybe this wouldn't have happened. If you'd stayed in the room with him, I don't believe he could've disappeared right under your nose!'"]

["'You left because you thought the room had surveillance? I told you you can't rely on these gadgets.'"]

["'What, it was the Kitchen God's birthday that day, so you had to run home to make offerings? Since when did you get so superstitious? Besides, couldn't someone else in your family have handled it? Why did it have to be you?'"]

If it had been someone else's birthday, Sheng Qingquan would've been stumped. Especially since, often, you wouldn't know whether they celebrated their lunar or solar calendar birthday—the two hardly ever line up, and it's easy to mix them up.

But for the Kitchen God...

As everyone knows, his birthday falls on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month. People make offerings to send the Kitchen God up to heaven on that day.

Sheng Qingquan quietly took out his phone to check the calendar. Counting from today, the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month was exactly two months and seventeen days away.

Realizing this, Sheng Qingquan informed the officials of the updated timeline.

Before the staff member could finish speaking, his phone screen lit up. Normally, he wouldn't check his phone during official business, but knowing what this was about, he glanced at the screen while listening to Sheng Qingquan mentally review how he'd determined the date.

Playing like he'd just gotten new intel.

"Two months and seventeen days," the staff member said to Ji Zichen with certainty. "After staying here for that long, you'll be able to return on that very day."

The staff member didn't explain how he knew this. Ji Zichen didn't press further—aside from the absence of martial arts, plenty of things here were pretty amazing.

They probably had some kind of treasure at work here.

Asking too much might poke at such a sensitive subject. There was no need to stir things up.

So once Ji Zichen confirmed the staff weren't lying, they let it go.

Just over two months. For him, this was no big deal—he could handle the wait.

But as Ji Zichen was led out of the room and got his first real look at this world, he suddenly wondered: Was two and a half months perhaps a bit too short?