Chapter 824

This inn has two floors. The first floor is where guests eat, and the second floor is where they stay. The decoration and layout are nothing special, but it is full of the atmosphere of the martial arts world, and it is very lively with people coming and going.

"It's too noisy here. Let's go upstairs and I'll find an empty room to talk slowly."

Jixiang nodded and followed Doukou upstairs.

The room was simply furnished, with only a few potted plants placed there in a perfunctory manner, in addition to the necessary tables, chairs, benches, and beds. That was all.

While Jixiang was looking around the room, Doukou quietly wiped the chair several times before saying, "Miss Jixiang, please sit down!"

"Why."

As Jixiang sat down, Doukou smiled and said, "Miss Jixiang should have come sooner. I got married recently and wanted to invite you to my wedding, but I heard you weren't in Luoyang. What a pity."

"You're married?" Jixiang stared in surprise.

Doukou nodded with a smile: "Yes, if we have the chance next time, let's have a meal together!"

After offering a few words of congratulations, Jixiang got down to business: "It's like this, the young mistress sent me here this time to ask you to help me find out about a man named Ding Yu. He should be a candidate who went to the capital to take the imperial examination last year and stayed in Luoyang after the examination. Can you find out anything about him?"

"Ding Yu?"

Upon hearing this name, Doukou's expression turned somewhat strange.

But before Jixiang could ponder the source of that strange feeling, Doukou spoke up: "If you came here to take the exam last year... it's been a long time, so it might not be easy to find out quickly. It would probably take... ten days to half a month?"

"I'm afraid that won't work. The young mistress only has two days."

Doukou was surprised: "So eager?"

Seeing that Jixiang nodded, Doukou tentatively asked, "Miss Jixiang, may I ask why the young mistress is looking for this person?"

"Actually, it wasn't the young mistress who wanted to see him, but a cousin from the Shen family. She's about to leave with the old lady of the Marquis's mansion and said she's an old acquaintance of this person and wants to meet him."

Doukou nodded in sudden realization: "I see..."

Knowing that she couldn't find anyone for the time being, Jixiang got up to leave: "Then I won't bother you anymore. I have to hurry back and tell the young mistress to see if the Huo family can do anything."

"I'll see you out."

Doukou escorted Jixiang all the way to the alley entrance, and watched Jixiang leave in an inconspicuous blue carriage. Only then did she turn around, her smile completely gone, and hurried back to the Yuelai Inn.

Meanwhile, Jixiang returned to the palace and told Huo Zhao about what had happened with Doukou.

Upon hearing this, Huo Zhao sighed, "I didn't want to trouble the Huo family."

After all, this is to find someone for the Shen family, so using the Huo family's resources... is a bit unreasonable.

However, there is no other way at the moment.

Jixiang sat down beside her: "Young Madam, Doukou is married!"

As expected, Huo Zhao's eyes widened as well: "When did this happen?"

“It was during the time we weren’t in Luoyang,” Jixiang sighed, “I wonder what we missed during that period.”

Huo Zhao shared the same sentiment and immediately instructed Jixiang to wrap it in a red envelope and send it to Doukou.

When Jixiang returned to Yuelai Inn, Doukou was nowhere to be found.

Granny Liu was still busy at the inn. She thanked Doukou profusely as she accepted the red envelope, saying that Doukou had gone home because she had something to do.

Jixiang nodded and returned to the palace.

——

Two days passed in the blink of an eye.