Back then, Xie Jingyan went to the Pingyang Marquis's mansion to learn martial arts and military strategy from Shen Jing. Young Master Yan often went to see Xie Jingyan, and Shen Wan met Young Master Yan many times.

In addition, when Consort Chen had her accident, Young Master Yan was already thirteen years old. At that age, his appearance had not changed much. Shen Wan thought he looked familiar at first glance, but recognized him at second glance.

Xie Jingyan was stunned at first, then his eyes turned red.

Shen Wan knew how happy he was.

My maternal grandparents' family was not wiped out; some members are still alive.

Because Shen Wan knew that this would make Xie Jingyan happy, she chose to tell Xie Jingyan even though Young Master Yan asked her to keep it a secret.

The assassin leader fled, and the other assassins, seeing no hope of killing them, also fled.

As Chen Feng entered the cabin, he overheard Shen Wan's words. Thinking back to the day Xie Jingyan asked him on the street, Chen Feng asked incredulously, "How did Young Master escape from the Ministry of Justice's death row prison back then?"

Xie Jingyan said, "His surname is now Xu."

Chen Feng instantly realized, "You mean the Minister of Justice saved the young master?"

Back then, Young Master Yan was indeed imprisoned in the Ministry of Justice. Without anyone's help, he could not have escaped.

Only someone from the Ministry of Justice could have quietly smuggled someone out of the Ministry of Justice's death row.

The Minister of Justice's surname is Xu, and Young Master Yan also uses the surname Xu when he goes into hiding. This must be more than just a coincidence.

Shen Wan also felt it was related to the Minister of Justice. Back then, it was the Duke of Mao who was ordered to arrest people and confiscate property from the Yan family, but it was the Minister of Justice who supervised the execution. At that time, the entire family of the old Grand Tutor Yan was executed, and a large group of people knelt on the execution platform. If the Minister of Justice had replaced the young master Yan with other death row inmates, no one would have noticed.

But why would the Minister of Justice take such a risk to protect even a single bloodline of the Yan family? If this were discovered, it would bring disaster upon the entire Minister of Justice's family.

Young Master Xu and Xie Jingyan had no prior contact, but they recently became more familiar with each other because of their correspondence with Tang Ze...

Shen Wan looked at Xie Jingyan, "Grand Tutor Yan once saved the life of the Minister of Justice?"

Xie Jingyan shook his head, "I didn't even know that my maternal grandfather had any connection with the Minister of Justice."

The reason why they would help the Yan family so much is definitely not just because they have a simple friendship.

"To find out, we'll have to ask the Minister of Justice, but—"

Shen Wan looked out the window where Young Master Yan had left. "Young Master Yan probably doesn't agree with what you're doing."

They were assassinated, and Young Master Yan risked his own safety to help them, but he didn't want Xie Jingyan to know that he was still alive, otherwise he wouldn't have left without even picking up his mask.

Whether Young Master Yan was saved by the Minister of Justice will eventually be known. The most urgent task is to investigate Consort Chen's case. If Consort Chen's innocence cannot be cleared, Young Master Yan, even if he lives, will only live under a mask forever. In addition, he has offended the Duke of Mao's mansion. Once he is caught, his status as a fugitive... even the Minister of Justice who saved him will likely be held guilty.

The painted boat was no longer safe to stay on because of the fight and the things that had been smashed on the ground. Moreover, after the assassination attempt, Shen Wan was no longer in the mood to stroll through the lantern festival and admire the moon.

Xie Jingyan led her ashore, and Tang Ze and Xu Ji, having heard that they had been assassinated, rushed over.

Tang Ze cursed, "These assassins are too arrogant! Are you all alright?"

Xie Jingyan said, "I am not injured."

It's good that you weren't injured.

They just heard that someone attempted to assassinate Prince Ling and Princess Ling. It nearly scared them to death. Prince Ling and Princess Ling have been assassinated far too many times. Fortunately, they are tough and have always managed to escape unscathed.

The guards drove the carriage over, and Xie Jingyan helped Chen Wan into the carriage before getting in himself.

Tang Ze and Xu Ji watched the carriage leave.

Only after the carriage had gone far away and was out of sight did the two of them turn back.

From afar, you could see Miss Xu Huan and Miss Tang Yinong browsing the stalls, having a great time.

Tang Ze and Xu Ji exchanged glances, both finding the other somewhat displeasing.

There's no way around it; being a man, I naturally understand men.

"It's okay to accompany my sister to the lantern festival, but you must not do anything inappropriate."

The two spoke in unison.

"Come to my residence tomorrow to propose marriage, do you hear me?!"

Although they both wanted to be each other's brothers-in-law, they both held the authority of the brother-in-law.

Tang Ze, "..."

Xu Ji, “…”

The two of them were mutually annoyed and resentful, each feeling like their own sister was being wasted on a worthless person.

The two brothers went to find their respective younger sisters, and then the four of them went shopping together. Then the two brothers started competing to see who would spoil their sister more. One bought his sister a gold hairpin, while the other bought her a jade bracelet. One bought her candied hawthorns, while the other bought her candied fruits. They secretly competed and spoiled her halfway down the street with great fanfare. Then he became an unreliable older brother who got separated from his own sister.

While couples lined up here, Du Cheng'an was all alone there.

Not long after he was recognized as a member of the royal family, he hadn't made any friends except for the Prince of Yanping and his group. Today at the lantern festival, the Prince of Yanping and his group all had people to accompany them and couldn't spare any time for Du Cheng'an, so Du Cheng'an could only stroll through the lantern festival alone.

However, this was Du Cheng'an's first time seeing the lantern festival in Kyoto. Everything was new and exciting, and he had a great time on his own. The only problem was that he hadn't quite gotten used to his extremely noble identity yet. He was actually participating in the Kyoto steamed bun eating contest as the son of Princess Huyang and her husband, and the heir of the Duke of Du.

It's rare to see a prince so down-to-earth.

It was a rare occasion for Kyoto to hold a lantern festival, so Princess Huyang was in a good mood. Accompanied by her husband, she strolled around the streets. However, there were too many people on the streets, and in addition, she had attended the Emperor's birthday banquet during the day, so Princess Huyang only strolled around for an hour before returning to her residence.

No sooner had she returned to the manor than a servant came back to report that the young master was participating in a steamed bun eating contest on the street. Whoever finished eating fifty meat buns first would receive a reward of one hundred taels of silver.

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