Chapter 13 Paying the debt of love "Where are you looking at"

The wind on the mountain path made the trees move, the bamboo leaves rustled, and the fallen leaves rolled on the ground, slightly lifting people's clothes.

The words "dare to do but not to take responsibility" floated into Luo Qingling's ears. She curled her lips, lifted the gauze curtain and half leaned out of the car window. A token carved from warm jade came into her sight. The word "Qin" on it was written in a flamboyant style. It was obvious that it was from Qin Yanheng's hand.

Looking up along the jade pendant on his waist, the man was wearing a black and gold brocade round-necked robe with white beads at the collar, which made his skin look even whiter.

It is obvious that the collar is mostly worn by women, and it looks a bit effeminate when used by ordinary men. However, it looks particularly pleasing to the eye on Qin Yanheng, and even adds a bit of nobility.

I didn't expect this young prince to be so good at dressing up. Luo Qingling secretly complained, but was interrupted by Qin Yanheng.

"Where are you looking?"

Qin Yanheng suddenly spoke, lowering his head to follow Luo Qingling's gaze. Even in his winter clothes, he could see his lean waist and strong abdomen. Such a rare physique, was she dissatisfied with something? Why did she have such an inexplicable expression on her face?

Luo Qingling's ears turned red when his thoughts were seen through, and a heat rose from his chest and spread to his cheeks.

Fortunately, she had put on makeup today, and her face was naturally rosy. Otherwise, if her face suddenly turned red because of a word, she would probably be laughed at by him again. This man never said anything nice.

"I was just about to go to Xiangshan Temple to look for my aunt. How come the little prince followed me?" Luo Qingling smiled gently, her eyes bright as she looked at Qin Yanheng. She refused to admit that she was deliberately interrupting.

Hearing this, Qin Yanheng suddenly moved and leaned closer before Luo Qingling could react. He looked at her straight, a smile slowly creeping up his eyes, and he said nothing.

She asked this on purpose. He didn't believe that she didn't know that they couldn't be more than ten miles apart. It was true that the more beautiful a person was, the more cunning she was. She knew how to use this trick when she just came of age.

"What do you think, Madam Luo? Why should I travel thousands of miles to catch up with you?" Qin Yanheng asked, his eyes clear and black, as if he had already seen through her thoughts and was just waiting for her to speak.

"Why is this happening, young prince?" Luo Qingling took a deep breath and pushed back, his cheeks puffed up.

The wind stopped and the trees were still, but he really had no idea what to do.

Qin Yanheng tilted his head and smiled softly, then straightened up as if resigned to his fate. Then, with a serious face, he said, "Du Yubai's body is still in the Taoist temple, and the murderer is still unknown. Madam Luo is very courageous and has her own opinions. In this case, please join me in catching the real culprit."

He agreed!

Luo Qingling immediately smiled happily and ordered Uncle Zhao to drive the carriage to catch up with Qin Yanheng. The horse and the carriage went down the mountain along the path.

*

Taoist temple.

After the young prince left in a hurry, everyone stood there in a daze. Xu Sheng, the Dali Temple Minister who had been choked to the point of not being able to speak a word, suddenly breathed a sigh of relief. He coughed and was about to take on his usual posture when he heard footsteps outside the courtyard.

Everyone turned around and saw the young prince walking towards them through the corridor with big strides, and behind him...

Xu Sheng stretched his neck to see who was coming, and his eyes suddenly met with the young prince. The latter raised his eyelids expressionlessly, his eyes calm, but Xu Sheng saw a look of reproach in his eyes.

He didn't even let me take a look. Who did you bring here?

On the side of the Begonia Gate, the green coat of the person coming in fluttered in the wind, just catching everyone's attention. After waiting for half a day, no one came into the house.

Xu Sheng couldn't suppress his curiosity, but he didn't dare to step forward due to the young prince's dignity. He could only stare at the wide sleeves that were floating like ripples in the water with everyone else.

Who is that person outside the door that makes the little prince so mysterious? Judging from her dress, could she be a lady from a noble family?

Xu Sheng pondered in his mind but did not show it on his face. He quickly rejected his idea. After all, everyone knew that the young prince had "thrown away" all the portraits of noble ladies sent to his palace a few days ago. How could such an unintelligent boy get to know and make friends with noble ladies?

"Your Highness left in such a hurry just now, could it be that he was going to pick up some noble lady?" Someone whispered, the voice particularly clear in the empty hall.

"Stop talking nonsense! Prince Rong'an is an upright man, how could he do such a thing to ruin someone's reputation." Xu Sheng pretended to scold, but in his heart he hoped that the person who spoke would say more. He also wanted to gossip about this unkind little prince.

"Master Xu is absolutely right." The subordinate slapped himself in the face hastily, fearing that what he had just said would be spread out.

What is the extreme?

Xu Sheng's gossipy heart immediately sank to the bottom. It was human nature to talk about other people's marriages. If it weren't for his status, it wouldn't be convenient for him to take the lead in gossiping about that person. Otherwise, he would have asked Prince Rong An if he had a lover - who wouldn't be curious about the person who could make him reject all the noble ladies in the city!

Outside the Begonia Gate.

Luo Qingling stood by the wall, the red wall completely obscuring her figure. The warm sunlight shone on her sleeves, casting a faint glow. She looked up at Qin Yanheng in front of her, reached out to take the veil and put it on, but then lifted the white veil over her head, revealing her delicately made-up face.

"..." Qin Yanheng tilted his head, this action made him smile. Sometimes he couldn't understand what Luo Qingling was thinking. Why did she think he found Mi Li specifically for her?

"I know Madam Luo looks stunning today, but the room is full of men. If I were to walk in so openly, within half a day the entire capital would know that I was in the middle of an autopsy and had gone out to pick you up. Even I wouldn't be able to control the public opinion that would ignite."

Qin Yanheng finished speaking in one breath and glanced at the white veil covering Luo Qingling's head.

"I was wondering why the young prince was so kind as to use the awning to shade me from the sun. It turns out you were afraid that I would ruin your reputation." Luo Qingling said unhappily, and put down the lifted white veil. Then she looked up at Qin Yanheng, as if asking him if this was okay.

I thought Qin Yanheng would avoid her a little, but he was even more shameless. He bent down slightly and moved closer to her, looking her up and down for a long time, until Luo Qingling felt a surge of heat on her face again. Qin Yanheng finally nodded in satisfaction, and after a "hmm", he said, "Okay, this time you can't tell who it is even if you get close to me."

“…”

What had possessed her in the first place that made her ask someone to deliver her portrait to that man in the palace and spend a lot of money in vain? She shouldn't have believed the rumors and thought that Qin Yanheng was a handsome and upright young man.

Yes, he is indeed good-looking and knows how to keep his distance from other girls, but he just isn’t very smart!

Just as Luo Qingling was cursing inwardly, Qin Yanheng had already stepped past her and entered the room. She heard voices of "Your Highness" coming from inside the room, and it seemed that there were indeed quite a few men inside.

Luo Qingling lifted her skirt and walked into the house, only to see Du Yubai lying straight in the main hall with his feet facing her. There was no need to cover his face with a white cloth, leaving it exposed so clearly that even through the veil, she could see the corpse spots on Du Yubai's skin.

Perhaps because Qin Yanheng was present, everyone did not show much surprise at her arrival. They just saluted her slightly and then stood aside with their hands clasped, waiting for Qin Yanheng to speak. Luo Qingling also knelt slightly in return, and then followed Qin Yanheng and walked around the corpse.

It is still winter now, and the body has not shown any obvious signs of decay, but you can still smell the stench if you get close.

"Master Xu," Qin Yanheng half-knelt beside the corpse's head, carefully examining the ligature marks on the neck, "I asked you to go to the Ministry of Revenue to investigate Du Yubai's background. What did you find?"

"Your Highness, we have investigated Mr. Du and his entire family and discovered that the Du family has not offended anyone in the past few decades, except for one thing..."

Xu Sheng was halfway through his speech when he saw Qin Yanheng look up. He swallowed and continued, "Last year during the Grain Rain Festival, after passing the imperial examination, Du Zhuangyuan had a dispute with several classmates over housing. However, these people are not in the capital now, so they don't meet the conditions for committing the crime."

Hearing this, Qin Yanheng nodded. "Let's not talk about whether they would kill someone for such a small matter. Even if it was really done by those classmates, hiring someone in the capital to kill Du Yubai would require a lot of money. I don't think anyone Du Yubai knew before could come up with that kind of money."

The room fell silent, and it was clear that no one had much of an idea. They had speculated about the murderer, not to mention the motive, but all had been denied by the young prince. It seemed they were stuck in a dead end.

"Why don't we first find out who is the actual beneficiary after Du Yubai's death." Luo Qingling picked up the white cloth beside him with two fingers and covered Du Yubai's face with it, without noticing Qin Yanheng's approving gaze opposite him.

"That's what I said, and everyone understands the truth, but where should I start investigating?"

Xu Sheng couldn't help but ask. Although he didn't know the background of the woman that the young prince brought, what good ideas could a woman have, especially an unmarried young lady? Xu Sheng looked at the young lady in front of him who hadn't even tied her hair up yet, and felt a little unhappy.

"Lord Xu seemed completely confused just now, but now that the young lady has given him some advice, how come he seems to be 'understanding everything'?" Qin Yanheng interrupted him coldly, then raised his chin towards Luo Qingling, motioning him to continue.

Luo Qingling folded her arms across her chest and snorted, ignoring Qin Yanheng. How could someone under the emperor be so disdainful? Back when she was at the frontier, she'd never seen an official with eyes on the top of their heads. Now that she was in the capital, she'd finally seen one!

Seeing this, Qin Yanheng, who had long been fed up with that group of ministers, simply went along with it and said, "If Lord Xu can't figure out anything, you might as well go back. I think the Dali Temple should just be renamed 'The Temple That Can't Figure Out a Tiny Clue'." A bunch of useless good-for-nothings.

The temple is so small that even the smallest clue cannot be figured out, and is abbreviated as "Dali Temple".

Luo Qingling couldn't help but burst out laughing. She quickly covered her mouth and looked over the veil at Qin Yanheng. Their eyes met in mid-air, and each saw a hint of a smile in the other's eyes. She suddenly understood the young prince's helplessness. It turned out that this mocking mouth was caused by the anger of this group of people.

"This...this..." Xu Sheng wanted to open his mouth to defend himself, but was suppressed by Qin Yanheng's cold eyes, so he had to obey the order and leave.

After the crowd left, the room suddenly became unusually empty, with only two people and a corpse. Luo Qingling rubbed her arms and approached Qin Yanheng. She hadn't felt anything when there were many people around, but now that it was suddenly just her and Qin Yanheng, she felt a little creepy.

"Tell me, Madam Luo, what good trick have you come up with?" Qin Yanheng looked at Luo Qingling's actions, half-knelt on the ground and smiled at her.

"It's not really a good move."

Luo Qingling lifted her veil and squatted down with Qin Yanheng, resting her elbows on her knees, supporting her face with her hands and looking straight at the young man in front of her, with a smile on her face. She opened and closed her red lips to express what was in her heart.

On a winter afternoon, the warm sun shone brightly on her rosy cheeks, making her look particularly lively.

Apart from anything else, this Miss Luo is really beautiful. On a warm winter day, Qin Yanheng had only this thought in his mind.