Chapter 39: After the spring rain, the weather in Weizhou has gradually warmed up, and...

After the spring rain, the weather in Weizhou has gradually warmed up, but Yaozhou, located to the north of Weizhou, still has some of the chill of late winter.

Outside the Prime Minister's residence, a cool breeze stirred up the damp dust in front of the door. Guo Yan couldn't help but shiver. He blew his nose and couldn't help complaining, "What on earth is this Princess Duanyang doing? She's clearly here in the mansion, but she's making us wait outside in the cold!"

Fang Buyu turned his head and glanced at him, then shook his head slightly, signaling him not to say anything more.

Guo Yan understood and silently swallowed the complaint that was about to come out of his mouth.

After an unknown amount of time, the door to the Prime Minister's residence finally opened again. The butler who had just helped pass on the message wore an apologetic smile and bowed, gesturing for invitation. "I'm sorry to have kept you waiting. Your Excellency invites you this way."

Fang Buyu and Guo Yan were taken to a reception hall by the housekeeper.

It's called a reception hall, but nothing here looks like a normal place to entertain guests.

The floor was paved with pink and white patterned stone tiles, with a raccoon fur carpet placed in the center. In front was a marble-inlaid eight-immortal table, with two chairs on each side. The main seat was a fir wood armchair covered with a white feather brocade cushion and a mink blanket on the handles.

The whole room was filled with a faint fragrance, extremely gorgeous, more like... a woman's boudoir.

Fang Buyu and Guo Yan stood at the door for a moment, and exchanged suspicious glances silently. It was not until the housekeeper urged them that they stepped into the room.

As soon as they entered the room, they vaguely heard laughter coming from the side hall, a female voice mixed with a male voice.

I have heard that Wei Duanyang has countless lovers, but I didn't expect that she would actually bring one to the Prime Minister's Mansion to cause trouble.

Compared to Fang Buyu and Guo Yan's feigned composure, the butler seemed accustomed to this. He walked towards the jade screen beside him without changing his expression and reported in a low voice, "Princess, Pavilion Master Fang has arrived."

The laughter suddenly stopped, and then a lazy female voice was heard, "Got it."

Then, a gentle male voice asked curiously, "Princess, who is Pavilion Master Fang?"

The female voice replied gently, "You are not important. You should get some sleep first."

After a sound of clothes rubbing against each other, a maid helped a woman wearing a loose robe and a lavender goose down shawl out from behind the screen.

Although Wei Duanyang is over forty years old, she has a baby face and is well-maintained. At this moment, she is not wearing any makeup, and her long hair is casually scattered on her shoulders. If you ignore her charming eyes, she looks like a girl in her early twenties.

Fang Buyu and Guo Yan quickly bowed their heads in greeting.

"You are... Fang Buyu"

"Yes, Princess."

Wei Duanyang's gaze fell on Fang Buyu's face, and a glimmer of excitement flashed across his originally lazy and casual eyes.

She withdrew her hand from the maid's wrist, and the shawl on her shoulders slipped halfway due to this movement, revealing her shoulders covered only with a thin gauze inner dress. However, she did not pull the shawl back, but instead ordered the maid to bring a few more stoves.

After saying this, she walked gracefully, letting the shawl that quietly slid down to her waist and back half cover her body, and walked towards Fang Buyu with light lotus steps.

When she came closer, she stretched out her jade-like fingers, as slender and white as spring onions, and said in a long, sweet and charming voice, as if covered with honey: "I'm sorry to have kept Pavilion Master Fang waiting for a long time."

Fang Buyu felt a wave of discomfort throughout his body. He suppressed his inner discomfort and lightly shook Wei Duanyang's outstretched hand. Then he quickly withdrew it as if he had been electrocuted, and said calmly, "Princess, you're too polite."

Wei Duanyang still kept extending her hand, and her beautiful eyes moved around Fang Buyu's body for a while before she slowly withdrew her hand.

What an unsociable man! Her eyes regained their cold arrogance. She raised her hand to pull up the shawl that was half hanging around her waist and wrapped it tightly around her body. Then she walked gracefully to the armchair, sat down with her back leaning against it, and raised her hand to signal Fang Buyu and others to take a seat.

Then, she spoke slowly, "I believe the housekeeper has already told the Pavilion Master that Tuoba Xuan went out a few days ago and has not returned yet. I wonder why the Pavilion Master came to my Prime Minister's Mansion this time?" When she mentioned her husband, her tone was flat, calling him by his name, as if she was talking about someone who had nothing to do with her.

Fang Buyu replied respectfully, "I understand. I'm not here to visit you on behalf of Prime Minister Tuoba, but to ask the Fifth Lady of the Ling Mansion about a case. Please, Princess, please give me some favors."

"Oh," Wei Duanyang raised his eyebrows slightly, "What case is Wang Xin in?"

"I cannot disclose the specific details of the case. I hope Princess will forgive me."

Wei Duanyang curled her lips and her eyes fell back on Fang Buyu's face. After a moment's glance, she finally nodded. "Forget it." She looked away and ordered, "Butler Wang, take Pavilion Master Fang to find Wang Xin."

When the footsteps of Fang Buyu and others gradually faded away, a young man in satin pajamas slowly walked out from behind the screen.

He walked barefoot, lightly and silently as a cat to the armchair, half-crouched down, and asked tentatively, "Does the princess have feelings for him?"

"I did have this intention at first," Wei Duanyang smiled, sensing the dissatisfaction of the man in his arms, and took the man's fingertips to play with them, adding, "But not anymore. I'm only interested in those who are interested in me."

The man felt relieved and asked casually, "Then this Fifth Concubine, is she okay?"

Wei Duanyang helped the man onto the couch and snorted, "Her? I don't care!"

＊

"Please wait a moment, my lords. I will go and get the Fifth Madam over."

After the housekeeper settled Fang Buyu and Guo Yan, he left, leaving only the two of them in the room.

The waiting time was always unusually long, so Guo Yan started chatting, "Buyu, how much do you think Wang Xin knows about these things?"

Fang Buyu pondered for a moment and then said, "According to Wang Gui's previous statement, he and his sister Wang Xin often communicated with each other. It seems that Wang Xin was most likely the liaison between Tuoba Xuan, Wang Gui, and Lin Bowen, and much of the information must have been passed through her. Even if Tuoba Xuan and Wang Gui didn't reveal the whole truth to her, she should have been able to guess the general situation from these contacts over the years."

After hearing this, Guo Yan nodded thoughtfully and then asked, "So, can we get any information out of her this time?"

Fang Buyu slowly turned his gaze toward the door, saying nothing more. Wang Gui had been held captive for so many days, and Wang Xin must have already prepared a response. He hadn't come here expecting to extract anything from her.

Just at this moment, the sound of footsteps was heard.

Fang Buyu looked in the direction of the voice and saw the housekeeper walking in from the door with a woman with a bun.

If Princess Duanyang looked like a young woman in her twenties, then the person who walked in at this moment, although dressed in women's clothes, the childishness on her face was clearly visible. At most, she was in her early twenties.

And... this face always has a vague sense of déjà vu...

She walked into the room with an indifferent and expressionless look, walked straight to a chair beside her and sat down, folding her arms tightly across her chest, glancing at Fang Buyu with extremely contemptuous eyes, and said coldly,

"What do you want from me, sir?"

It was this look of disgust that suddenly reminded Fang Buyu of who she looked like: Liu Yiyi! She looked exactly like Liu Yiyi in her youth!

Fang Buyu's mind became clearer. No wonder Tuoba Xuan wanted to hide a beautiful woman in Weizhou's golden house. It turned out that the one he hid was the real "white moonlight." Thinking of this, he became more confident about the purpose of this trip.

Although he didn't expect to get anything out of Wang Xin, Fang Buyu still asked as a matter of routine: "Fifth Madam, is Wang Gui your brother?"

Wang Xin seemed to be waiting for him to ask about Wang Gui. He suddenly stood up from his chair and shouted excitedly, "Yes, what's wrong? Don't think I don't know that you guys at Sky Eagle Pavilion have locked him up! What right do you have to keep my brother locked up?!"

Fang Buyu did not respond directly to her question, but changed the subject and asked the next question.

"On the thirteenth day of the first lunar month, Wang Gui sent sixteen carriages loaded with gold, silver, and other valuables to the Prime Minister's residence. Did you accept them, Madam Wu?"

Wang Xin stiffened his neck and shouted confidently, "Who said there was money in there? My brother just gave me some little things, isn't that okay?"

Fang Buyu had anticipated her response and said calmly, "But Lord Wang has already admitted that it's full of money, a full three thousand taels of gold and five thousand taels of silver."

Wang Xin's expression changed slightly, and his voice became weaker unconsciously, but he still said stubbornly: "So... so what?"

Fang Buyu took the opportunity to ask, "Does Fifth Madam know where the money came from?"

Without a second thought, Wang Xin blurted out a denial: "I don't know! Wang Gui gave it to me." At this moment, she even changed the way she addressed Wang Gui, no longer calling him brother, as if eager to distance herself from the matter. "I know nothing!" After a pause, she added eagerly, "Xuan Lang doesn't know anything either!"

"Fifth Madam, do you mean that Prime Minister Tuoba is unaware of all this?" Fang Buyu stared at her with sharp eyes.

"Yes." Wang Xin answered without hesitation.

Fang Buyu didn't ask any more questions after seeing the expected reaction. He began to pace slowly in front of Wang Xin, sighing as he did so, "Fifth Madam truly loves Prime Minister Tuoba deeply."

Then, he slowly stood in front of Wang Xin and added leisurely, "Just like... Prime Minister Tuoba treated Liu Yiyi in Weizhou."

"What do you mean?" Wang Xin suddenly looked up and looked at him warily.

"Oh, I'm really sorry, I spoke out of turn." Fang Buyu shrugged pretending to be apologetic, but he couldn't hide the cunning look on his face.

As he spoke, he bowed slightly and said goodbye: "Goodbye."

This kind of just-in-time effect is exactly what he wants.

After leaving the Prime Minister's Mansion, Guo Yan quietly gave Fang Buyu a thumbs-up. "Buyu, so this is what you were planning when you asked me to investigate Tuoba Xuan and Liu Yiyi."

Fang Buyu smiled calmly, "That day at Mengxixuan, when I saw Tuoba Xuan and Liu Yiyi's reactions, I felt that there must be something wrong between them. Since I can't pry a breakthrough from Wang Xin, I have to at least plant a thorn between her and Tuoba Xuan."