By the time they finished interrogating the people in the princess's mansion, it was gradually getting dark.

When Qin Shi proposed to go to the barracks to interrogate Princess Yuehua's personal soldiers, Princess Yuehua said that it was getting late and would interrogate them tomorrow.

After the interrogation during the day, Qin Shi knew that he would not get anything out of him by interrogating his personal soldiers, so he did not insist.

So, he took his men and left the princess's mansion.

Not long after leaving the princess's mansion, Qin Shi took out the things that Lu'e had hidden in the glutinous rice dumplings.

It was a small piece of paper rolled up into a strip, only as long as a finger.

He slowly unfolded it, and the five words "someone is still alive" appeared on the paper.

When Lu'e was cleaning Liu Yan's room, she found a message Liu Yan left for her suggesting that he was still alive.

But Lu'e didn't know where he was hidden.

Qin Shi looked at the note in deep thought. He knew that "someone is still alive" meant that some of Princess Yuehua's lovers were still alive.

Lu'e told him the news, the meaning of which was very clear: the living lover was the evidence of Princess Yuehua's murder.

Last night, so many carriages from the princess's mansion left the city overnight, probably to destroy the bodies.

He asked Cui Yuan and his team to go out of the city to investigate because he had this in mind. He wondered if they could bring back anything useful.

But...why did Lu'e choose to betray? She was obviously trusted by the Princess of Wen'an.

Just as he was thinking about it, Magistrate Su, who had accompanied him for the whole day, said, "Sir Qin, you will live in my mansion during your stay in Yizhou, right?"

"Thank you, Magistrate Su. I will just stay at the county office."

"This..." Magistrate Su felt something was wrong. "There are no maids serving in the county government office. I'm afraid the master will..."

"It's okay. I'm used to doing things myself."

Having said that, County Su did not insist any more and nodded, saying, "Then I will have someone clean up the room."

"Um."

…

Qin Shi and his companions returned to the county government office. As soon as they walked into the gate, Cui Yuan and Constable Wang came quickly to greet them from the ceremonial gate.

"Sir." Cui Yuan called Qin Shi meaningfully.

As soon as Qin Shi heard it, he knew that they had found something. Seeing this, County Magistrate Su also tactfully found an excuse to leave.

Afterwards, they found a nearby house to talk in secret, and Constable Wang stood guard outside to prevent anyone from eavesdropping.

Cui Yuan whispered, "We followed the traces of the carriage and found a house in a remote place with no village or shop nearby. There was a man locked up in the house."

Qin Shi gazed at him slightly, guessing in his heart that the man Cui Yuan and the others found was the one that Lu'e mentioned.

"The man's name is Liu Yan. He was a lover abducted by Princess Yuehua. Liu Yan said that he saw Su Yuan's future husband die in front of him with his own eyes, and he also said that he could testify against Princess Yuehua." Cui Yuan continued.

Qin Shi: "Where is he now?"

"I wanted to bring Liu Yan back, but Liu Yan said that Princess Yuehua has many spies in Yizhou City, so he can't show up." Cui Yuan lowered his voice and said, "I placed him in Fanyin Temple and handed him over to Chen Yi."

When Qin Shi was the Shaoqing of the Dali Temple, he worked as a county magistrate in Yizhou for three years. He had a deep bond with Chen Yi and knew that Chen Yi was an upright person who was not afraid of power.

The most important thing is that Chen Yi is good at martial arts and has enough influence in Fanyin Temple, so it is safe for Liu Yan to stay with him.

Qin Shi nodded, "Su Yuan said that everyone in Sujiazhuang can testify for her. Go and see if anyone is willing to come forward to testify tomorrow."

"I don't think it's possible."

"It doesn't matter. Liu Yan is enough." Qin Shi paused, "Besides, there is also a witness in the princess's mansion."

Cui Yuan raised his eyebrows slightly, and after a moment he said, "Sir, we should return to Beijing as soon as possible, otherwise something bad will happen."

"Return to Beijing the day after tomorrow."

His Majesty sent him down to investigate, firstly, to show it to Lord Xiao Jiang, and secondly, without evidence, it would be difficult for His Majesty to handle the matter.

Even if the injustice Su Yuan described is true, His Majesty will not be able to handle it as long as Princess Yuehua refuses to admit it.

Just like Prince Rong, if there was no solid evidence that 100,000 troops were hiding in Xinghua Village, His Majesty would not be able to deal with it easily.

The best we can do is find a reason to put you under house arrest.

Now that he has the witness, there is no need to waste any more time.

However, the journey back to Beijing may be full of dangers.

Cui Yuan asked tentatively: "Sir, are we going back to Beijing alone, or..."

"Of course I have to bring Princess Yuehua and others along."

"What if His Highness refuses to go back with us?"

Qin Shi replied as a matter of course: "Your Majesty has already accepted Su Yuan's complaint. No matter how we investigate, the defendant should go back with us for questioning."

Cui Yuan nodded.

The next day, Qin Shi visited the princess's mansion again.

Cui Yuanze led his men to Sujiazhuang, but not long after he left the city, he discovered that there were several people following him.

He ignored the people behind him and let them follow him.

On Qin Shi's side, Princess Yuehua cooperated very well and led Qin Shi to the barracks.

Faced with a thousand personal soldiers, Qin Shi did not interrogate them one by one like he did yesterday, but took out the list of personal soldiers and compared them one by one.

After half an hour of comparison, the five people discovered that Princess Yuehua's personal soldiers were twenty fewer.

Qin Shi held the list and asked, "Your Highness, it seems that your personal soldiers are still missing twenty people. I wonder where those twenty people are now?"

"They went to various places to buy for me."

Qin Shaoqing raised his lips slightly and said calmly, "I wonder where they went? Perhaps Your Highness will pass by when he returns to the capital with me. I can call him over and ask him a few simple questions."

"Return to Beijing?" Princess Yuehua frowned.

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