Li Yuan returned to the inn in the afternoon with a mind that had fundamentally changed. His face remained as calm as ever, but there was a coldness in his gray eyes that had not been there before—not the coldness of indifference, but the coldness of a resolve that had crystallized into something unshakeable.
He sat in his room facing the inn's small garden, but this time the view of the terraced city outside the window no longer looked beautiful. What he saw now was a physical manifestation of systematic cruelty—beautiful architecture built with the blood and sweat of people who were forced to live in despair.
Through the small radius of his Wenjing Realm, Li Yuan could hear the city's activity continuing around him. From the noble level, there were shallow and self-absorbed intentions—worry about fashion, gossip about social status, boredom from lives that had no real purpose. From the merchant level, there was anxiety about maintaining position and fear of falling to the lower class. And from the common folk level, there were intentions that broke his heart—hunger, fear, a pervasive hopelessness.
An obscene contrast, Li Yuan thought with a deepening coldness. People worrying about which silk to wear while children starve two hundred meters away.
There was a knock on his door. Li Yuan opened it and found a young man in the inn's uniform—perhaps in his twenties, with a nervous expression.
"Pardon the intrusion, sir," the young man said. "There is... there is someone who wishes to meet with you."
Through his Wenjing Realm, Li Yuan heard a complex intention from this young man: fear mixed with curiosity, and an underlying desperation.
"Who?"
"Someone from... the lower level. She said you spoke with Madame Mei today, and there is... there is something important that needs to be discussed."
Li Yuan nodded. "Where?"
"In the inn's basement. There's... there's a small meeting room that is usually for storage. It's private."
Li Yuan followed the young man down to the inn's basement. The room he was shown was indeed small and slightly damp, with boxes and supplies stacked in the corners. But in the center, there was a small circle of people sitting on crates and makeshift seats—perhaps seven or eight people, all with an appearance that suggested they were from the common folk level.
What was immediately noticeable was the composition of the group: there was Mei, the woman he had met at the soup stall, but there was also a middle-aged man whose hands were stained with ink—perhaps a clerk or record keeper, a young woman with calloused fingers from textile work, an elderly man with a dignity that was unbent despite his obvious poverty.
Representatives from different occupations, Li Yuan observed. And they have gathered despite the rules against group meetings.
Mei stood up when Li Yuan entered. "Sir, thank you for coming. We... we need to talk to you."
"About what?"
The elderly man—who introduced himself as Uncle Wu—cleared his throat. "About what you said today. About... about change being possible."
Li Yuan looked around the circle, studying the face of each person. Through his Wenjing Realm, he heard a mixture of hope and terror, desperation and determination.
"You are taking a big risk by gathering like this," Li Yuan said.
"We know," the young woman—Ling, the textile worker—replied. "But after so many years... after watching our children starve, watching our friends die from diseases that could be treated, watching our spirits slowly get crushed..." she paused, "the risk of doing nothing feels greater than the risk of trying to change something."
Uncle Wu leaned forward. "Sir, you told Mei that systems that seem permanent can change quickly. What did you mean?"
Li Yuan studied the group with careful attention. These were people who were desperate enough to risk severe punishment, intelligent enough to organize a secret meeting, and brave enough to approach a stranger with dangerous questions.
The moment of truth, he realized. Either I help them understand what's possible, or I send them back to lives of quiet desperation. But if I help them, I'm committing to a course of action that will fundamentally change this kingdom.
Li Yuan's expression remained cold and controlled, but in his voice there was an undertone of something that made everyone present feel that they were talking to someone who truly understood power.
"Systems like the one that operates in this kingdom," Li Yuan said with measured precision, "depend on several things to maintain stability. First, they depend on people accepting that the current situation is natural and unavoidable."
He paused, looking at each face in the circle.
"Second, they depend on people being too isolated, too frightened, or too exhausted to organize resistance. And third, they depend on those in power believing that they are invulnerable."
The clerk—the man with ink-stained hands—spoke up: "But sir, we are just common folk. We have no weapons, no money, no influence. How could people like us possibly challenge a system that is so entrenched?"
Li Yuan's smile was cold but not unkind. "Which is exactly the thinking that the system wants you to have. But consider this: who grows the food that feeds everyone in the kingdom? Who builds the buildings? Who maintains the infrastructure? Who creates the goods that provide prosperity?"
The realization slowly dawned in the eyes of the group members.
"People like us," Ling whispered.
"Exactly. This system is dependent on your labor, your cooperation, your acceptance. Without that, the system collapses in days."
Uncle Wu frowned. "But if we stop working, we starve first."
"Not stop working," Li Yuan clarified. "Stop working for them. Start working for yourselves and each other."
Li Yuan leaned forward, his voice taking on a quality that was both gentle and absolutely certain.
"Uncle Wu, you mentioned watching friends die from treatable diseases. What would happen if people with medical knowledge—herbalists, midwives, folk healers—organized to provide care directly to the community, without going through the noble-controlled medical system?"
"Ling, you create textiles. What would happen if textile workers coordinated to produce clothes for the common folk first, rather than luxury goods for the nobles?"
"Mei, you know food preparation. What would happen if food vendors organized to ensure that the children in the community get proper nutrition before worrying about fancy banquets for the upper levels?"
The group was silent, processing the implications.
"But sir," the clerk said nervously, "the system will fight back. There's enforcement, punishments..."
Li Yuan's expression grew colder, but his voice remained steady. "Yes, they will fight back. A system like this never gives up power voluntarily. But consider: enforcement depends on people being willing to enforce. Punishment depends on people being isolated and defenseless."
"What do you mean?"
"The guards who patrol the common folk areas—where do they live? In the upper levels with the nobles? Or in the same housing as you?"
"The same as us," Uncle Wu answered slowly.
"And their families—do they eat luxury food, or do they struggle with the same problems you face?"
"The same problems."
Li Yuan nodded. "So when push comes to shove, will their loyalties be with the system that oppresses their families, or with the community they actually belong to?"
Silence fell in the room as the implications sank in. Li Yuan could hear through his Wenjing Realm that a shift was occurring in their thinking—from the assumption that resistance was impossible to an understanding that the system was actually vulnerable if people worked together.
"Sir," Mei said in a voice that was stronger than before, "if... if we decide to try something like you describe, how do we begin?"
Li Yuan's smile was still cold, but there was satisfaction in it.
"Start small. Start with mutual aid—help each other with immediate needs. Share resources, share skills, share information. Build networks of trust and cooperation."
"And then?"
"And then, when those networks are strong enough, you begin to withdraw your cooperation from the systems that exploit you. Refuse to work in dehumanizing conditions. Refuse to accept degrading treatments. Create alternative structures that serve your needs directly."
Li Yuan paused, studying the group carefully.
"But understand—this will not be easy or safe. People in power will try to crush your resistance with force, with propaganda, with attempts to divide you. Success requires unity, courage, and a willingness to sacrifice in the short term for long-term change."
Uncle Wu asked the question that everyone was thinking: "And you, sir? Will you help us? Or will you leave and let us face the consequences alone?"
Li Yuan looked at the elderly man with an expression that was completely serious.
"Uncle Wu, I came to this kingdom to learn. But what I have learned is that there are times when learning must become action. There are times when witnessing injustice without acting becomes complicity in that injustice."
Li Yuan stood up, and his presence seemed to fill the small room.
"The system in this kingdom is deliberate cruelty masquerading as a natural order. The people in power have chosen to build wealth for themselves on a foundation of others' suffering. And they have created enforcement mechanisms that maintain that suffering through fear and violence."
Li Yuan's voice remained controlled, but there was an undercurrent of something that made everyone present understand that they were talking to someone far more powerful than his appearance suggested.
"I will not leave you to face the consequences alone. But understand—if we begin this, we finish it. Either the system changes fundamentally, or..." Li Yuan paused, "or those responsible for maintaining the system through cruelty will discover that cruelty can be turned back upon them."
The group was silent, absorbing the weight of the commitment that had just been made.
Finally, Mei spoke for all of them: "Sir, we are ready to try. We have no acceptable alternatives. Either we live like animals for the rest of our lives, or we risk everything for a chance at something better."
Li Yuan nodded, his expression still cold but with an underlying satisfaction.
"In that case," Li Yuan said with a finality that settled over the room like both a promise and a threat, "we begin tomorrow."