Back in the capital city, the rain gradually stopped.
Ye Jingtang put away the oil-paper umbrella and handed it to Luo Ning beside him. "I still have to go to the palace later. I might come back quite late..."
Luo Ning was holding a small medicine packet in her hand and paused slightly in her steps. "Aren't you going to practice martial arts at Minglongtan? What are you coming back for?"
Do...
Ye Jingtang said seriously, "After all, Chengan Hall is where the Empress Dowager sleeps. Even if I practice martial arts, I can't really stay there overnight. I'll try to come back early so as not to make Miss Luo worry."
Luo Ning felt that the little rascal wanted to see the clothes she bought today. She said coldly, "Come back if you want. I'll decoct the medicine for you first." Then she turned and walked away along the street.
Ye Jingtang watched her leave from a distance, stroked the bird that was hungry again, first bought some food on the street, and then came to the vicinity of the Imperial College in the north of the city.
The Imperial College was full of imperial students, and the surrounding area was filled with a strong scholarly atmosphere. More than half of the people on the street were Confucian scholars, and there were also quite a few young ladies from scholarly families.
Ye Jingtang walked along the street for a while and found an old-looking bookstore. He went in and searched around.
"Heroine's Tears" was a miscellaneous book about the martial arts world. Although it had offended Yuxu Mountain, no matter how powerful Yuxu Mountain was, it couldn't interfere with the court's banning of books. So, there were few copies on the market, but the limited-edition versions were rare.
As for the book "The Secret History of the Beautiful Empress", just by looking at the title, one could tell it was a banned book. It was about an empress dowager of the previous dynasty. A hundred years ago, anyone who possessed it would have been put to death. Although it wasn't banned anymore in the present dynasty, it was really not easy to find.
Ye Jingtang looked around the bookstore for a long time but didn't find "The Secret History of the Beautiful Empress". Instead, he discovered an illustrated book titled "The Compendium of Beautiful Women in the Martial Arts World". He picked it up and flipped through it. Sure enough, there was the "Goddess of the Moon Palace", and there were also illustrations next to it.
However, Miss Luo had been wandering in the martial arts world before the Empress Dowager ascended the throne, and then she rarely showed her true face. The illustrations were printed from engraved blocks, and they looked more like a lower-quality version of Xiaoyunli.
Ye Jingtang casually glanced at it and then put it aside. After searching for a long time without any result, he had to find the old shopkeeper of the bookstore, show the token of Prince Jing's Mansion, and ask for help in searching on the pretext of investigating a case.
The shopkeeper was accommodating and took out an old book from his private collection. He reluctantly sold it to Ye Jingtang.
After getting the book, Ye Jingtang rushed to Prince Jing's Mansion. On the way, he read it while walking, searching for any hidden clues.
A miscellaneous book that could circulate in the market for hundreds of years, no matter how unseemly it was, was still a famous classic and ancient book, and it must have its merits. This "The Legend of the Beautiful Empress" was like that. Although the author liked to show off his learning, whenever he mentioned various buildings, he would start a long discourse on historical allusions, but the plot was also full of ups and downs and dangerous situations.
After reading for a quarter of an hour, Ye Jingtang could confirm that this book was not made up out of thin air. For example, the ginkgo tree in Fushou Palace, its orientation and specific location were described accurately. It even pointed out that in one of the rooms in Fushou Palace, there was a secret passage that could lead directly to the Prince's Mansion outside the imperial city.
This piece of news seemed quite crucial, but since it could be openly recorded in the book and more than two hundred years had passed, even if there was a tunnel, it had long been sealed by the court. It was highly unlikely that the Prince of Wu State's son intended to use this to sneak into the imperial city and assassinate someone.
Ye Jingtang continued to read further and found that this pretentious author, who liked to show off his learning throughout the book, actually wrote the crucial plot unexpectedly well...
——
On the other side, on the top floor of Mingyu Tower, in the study.
Dongfang Liren sat upright behind the desk, looking at a letter in her hand with a puzzled expression:
"There were thieves in the Prince of Wu State's Mansion... What's going on?"
An old woman with white hair stood in front of her and said softly, "Shang Jianli went to take a look. According to Nangong Shaofeng's account, the person who came had extremely high martial arts skills. According to Nangong Shaofeng, the other party used the 'Fourteen Hands of Sticking Clouds' and defeated Nangong Shaofeng with one move and then fled far away."
"One move?"
Dongfang Liren knew the "Fourteen Hands of Sticking Clouds" and was also clear about Nangong Shaofeng's level of skill. After a little consideration:
"Could it be that the Master secretly entered the capital?"
"If it were True Lord Xuanji, Nangong Shaofeng wouldn't even be able to see her shadow, let alone be aware of her presence... I guess it's someone related to True Lord Xuanji. True Lord Xuanji is benevolent and often enlightens martial artists in the martial arts world. It's really hard to guess who it is exactly."
Dongfang Liren thought it made sense and asked, "Did the Prince of Wu State's son lose anything?"
"No. The valuable items were placed in the secret room under the study. Shang Jianli went in and checked. They were all calligraphy, paintings, and treasures bestowed by the palace. Nangong Shaofeng was inside copying a painting and happened to run into the thieves head-on."
Dongfang Liren couldn't figure out the reason, so she asked the old woman with white hair to arrange for someone to investigate. Just as she was continuing to read the news, a maid from the mansion came up and said that Ye Jingtang had arrived.
Seeing this, Dongfang Liren put aside her official business, got up, went down from Mingyu Tower, and came outside the mansion.
Just after turning the screen wall, she saw Ye Jingtang in a black robe standing outside the mansion gate. With his left hand behind his back and a book in his hand, he was reading intently.
The fluffy bird squatted on his shoulder, lowering its head and also looking at the book carefully with its head tilted.
Dongfang Liren was slightly taken aback. The Ye Jingtang she had seen before was always stern, resolute, and standing as straight as a pine. This scholarly and refined appearance of being absorbed in reading was truly the first time she had seen it.
Dongfang Liren raised her hand to let the maid wait and walked softly towards the gate. However, when she was still more than ten steps away, Ye Jingtang closed the book, put it in his arms, and turned around:
"Your Highness, why did you come out in person?"
Dongfang Liren regained the demeanor of a princess and walked up to him unhurriedly:
"I said I would take you to the palace, so of course I had to come out. What are you reading?"
Although Ye Jingtang suspected that the murder case on Zhujie Street was most likely related to the Prince of Wu State, the clues about the Prince of Wu State were provided by the leader of the Pingtian Sect. He didn't have conclusive evidence. He couldn't just say that he had a sudden idea to sneak into the Prince of Wu State's son's study, found "The Secret History of the Beautiful Empress", and then inferred from this erotic book that the Prince of Wu State's son had malicious intentions.
In the face of Dongfang Liren's question, Ye Jingtang just smiled and replied:
"Just some reference books for handling cases. I know nothing about investigating cases and am currently learning."
Dongfang Liren suddenly understood, but she still wanted to see what book Ye Jingtang was reading to learn about handling cases. So she raised her hand:
"Show it to me. If there are any difficult points, I can just explain them to you."
Ye Jingtang didn't decline either. He motioned to the approaching carriage:
"Your Highness, please get in the carriage first. I do have some things I don't understand and would like to ask for your advice."
Seeing this, Dongfang Liren didn't say anything more. She stepped into the carriage, sat in the middle of the spacious carriage, took out some snacks for the bird, and let it eat by itself.
Ye Jingtang followed and boarded the carriage. He sat on the small couch by the window, took out the old book from his arms, covered the title with his hand, directly turned to the page about digging the tunnel, and pointed to the words on it:
"The last person who died was a small official from the Ministry of Works and was also tortured. So I wanted to find some books related to architecture to read. I saw in this book that it wrote about an oil that can dissolve stones. Does the yamen have such a thing?"
It was inconvenient for Dongfang Liren to lean over and look, so she got up and sat beside Ye Jingtang, shoulder to shoulder, and carefully examined the small characters on the paper - it described the details of digging the tunnel, and the technical terms were all very professional, but it looked like a miscellaneous book, and the protagonist was a prince of a vassal state in the previous dynasty...
Dongfang Liren was a bit confused, but she still replied:
"You mean the oil for dissolving stones? There is indeed such a thing. It was an item researched by the craftsmen of the previous dynasty. After soaking for a day or two, it can make most stones brittle."
"Make it as brittle as cinders, so that it can be crushed with a single step?"
"Yes. Although it takes a long time to take effect, it has a remarkable effect when used secretly against city walls, prisons, bridges, etc. It is strictly prohibited by the court. There was a case last year where some thieves damaged the foundation of a Buddhist pagoda, causing the seven-story Buddhist pagoda to collapse and killing more than thirty common people..."
When Ye Jingtang heard this, he immediately had a conjecture - the stone bricks outside the viewing tower of the Prince of Wu State's Mansion had corrosion marks, and it was highly likely that it was caused by accidentally dripping the oil for dissolving stones when handling it.
The Prince of Wu State's son was studying books on digging tunnels and had also obtained the oil for dissolving stones. Then his purpose must be to secretly damage a certain building...
Seeing Ye Jingtang deep in thought, Dongfang Liren wanted to take this miscellaneous book that she hadn't read and take a closer look.
But Ye Jingtang knew what kind of reaction Benben would have when she saw the words "The Secret History of the Beautiful Empress". With a flick of his wrist, he put the book back into his怀里 and said with a serious expression:
"I do have some ideas about the last case. Does Your Highness want to hear them?"
?
Dongfang Liren saw Ye Jingtang suddenly put on such a serious expression and stopped her hand that was about to grab the book. She sat upright:
"What ideas do you have?"
"I feel that the murderer in the last case interrogated the small official from the Ministry of Works because he had his eyes on a certain special building."
"The yamen can also see this, but we just don't know which place the thieves have their eyes on. Xu Bailin's martial arts skills are not low, and the person who can hire him must have a very powerful background. If it's someone from the bandits, the target is most likely me and His Majesty. His Majesty is in the palace, surrounded by countless imperial guards. Looking for the layout plan of the palace is useless. I also have bodyguards with me all the time. Assassinating me on the road is no easier than breaking into the mansion."
Ye Jingtang shook his head: "It's not necessarily for assassination. Today, I happened to read a book related to digging tunnels, so I guessed whether the murderer is digging a tunnel secretly and wants to use the oil for dissolving stones to damage a certain key place?"
Dongfang Liren thought this idea was a bit of a leap and thought carefully:
"Digging a tunnel into the palace requires a huge amount of work and is very difficult to hide from others. Even if they get in, they can't do much. For other places, it seems that this method can only be used for a prison break..."
Prison break?
Ye Jingtang thought this statement was very likely and asked:
"Are there any particularly important people imprisoned in the prison?"
Dongfang Liren shrugged slightly at this:
"The people who can be imprisoned in the capital city are all important figures. The more important they are, the tighter the security. Before we can determine the target of the murderer, it's hard to say which place we should guard against. Since the murder case occurred on Zhujie Street last time, I have already strengthened the security."
Ye Jingtang thought for a while: "We should think of the worst-case scenario. If a certain vassal king is plotting something malicious and wants to break someone out of prison, Your Highness, who do you think he would target?"
?
Dongfang Liren blinked her eyes and looked at Ye Jingtang seriously:
"Ye Jingtang, have you found something?"
Ye Jingtang had indeed found something, but he had neither a witness nor physical evidence. If he said it out, he would also expose the background of the "black silk thighs". He could only say:
"I'm just making a wild guess based on my feelings. Thinking of the worst-case scenario, if Your Highness thinks it's just empty talk, I'll go and investigate again and try to find the conclusive evidence as soon as possible."
Dongfang Liren thought Ye Jingtang had very accurate intuitions and didn't mean to disbelieve him. However, unfounded suspicion of a vassal king might shake the foundation of the country. After thinking about it, she said:
"I will pay close attention to this matter. Before there is solid evidence, I dare not say such things casually."
Ye Jingtang nodded: "I understand."
Dongfang Liren thought for a moment, looked outside the carriage, then leaned closer to Ye Jingtang and whispered:
"If a vassal king has the idea of a prison break, the target can only be the Crown Prince..."
What Dongfang Liren said was very serious. To prevent the highly skilled bodyguards outside the carriage from hearing, her voice was very soft, almost close to his face.
Ye Jingtang caught the key words and his eyes showed surprise. He turned his head, and then his cheek felt warm, with a touch of wetness and softness...
!!
The conversation suddenly stopped.
The two people sitting side by side froze in place at the same time.
Dongfang Liren's eyes widened a little, looking at the man in front of her in disbelief.
Ye Jingtang's eyes also widened a little. His first reaction was to hold the saber at his waist, lest Benben cut him. Then he moved aside a little, covered his cheek, and looked at Benben's red lips.
Their eyes met!
The chubby silver-haired dragon in front of Dongfang Liren gradually puffed up, and her face turned as red as blood. There was even a hint of mist in her majestic and cold eyes, looking very similar to the last time she was suddenly seen naked.
Ye Jingtang wanted to act as if nothing had happened and continue discussing the issue of the deposed emperor. But seeing that Benben was about to erupt in anger and obviously wouldn't let the matter go, he thought for a moment and explained:
"Well... I was just so worried about the case that I was careless for a moment..."
"How dare you!"
It took Dongfang Liren a long time to recover from the indescribable shock. She gritted her teeth and reached out to grab the handle of Ye Jingtang's saber.
Ye Jingtang protected the saber: "It was really an accident, Your Highness. Please calm down."
Dongfang Liren's long eyelashes trembled slightly. Seeing that Ye Jingtang still dared to protect the saber, she said coldly:
"Let go of the saber for me! Last time you sneaked into Canyang Pool and did such a heinous thing. I considered it an accident and didn't blame you, which was already more than benevolent. How dare you be so presumptuous this time?! So what if it was an accident? Doesn't manslaughter deserve punishment?"
Ye Jingtang looked at the red face in front of him and soothed softly:
"I'm just investigating the case to pay off my debt. This is much less serious than last time..."
Less serious?
Last time Dongfang Liren was seen naked, at least she wasn't touched. This time, he actually made her kiss him openly. How could this be considered less serious?
Dongfang Liren gritted her silver teeth. Since she couldn't snatch the saber, she raised her finger:
Dong dong~
Ye Jingtang felt a little blocked in his qi channels after being poked twice on the chest, but he didn't feel anything too unusual. He looked at the fierce-looking Benben with a confused expression, probably meaning - it seems she's angry, and she even missed when she tried to seal my acupoints...
?
Seeing that Ye Jingtang didn't fall down, Dongfang Liren was a bit surprised and raised her hand to poke him twice more with force.
But Ye Jingtang wouldn't fall for it a second time. He grabbed Dongfang Liren's wrist:
"Alright, alright. I'll add this debt to the list. I will definitely find a way to solve the case on Zhujie Street and atone for my sins by performing meritorious deeds. Is that okay?"
Dongfang Liren's face turned frighteningly red. Looking at the wrist held by the man, her eyes turned slightly cold!
Ye Jingtang let go of her hand, sat a little further away, raised his right hand slightly, and still protected the saber at his waist with his left hand.
Dongfang Liren stared at Ye Jingtang, her breathing uneven. But in the end, she didn't pounce on him and beat him. She secretly gritted her teeth, picked up the handkerchief beside the couch