Chapter Four: Discovery of a Silver Mine
"Thank you, Third Miss!"
"You're welcome, you're welcome, please drink up."
Ning Qingran took a sip of water before gesturing to the two guards to let them speak.
"Your Highness, this was taken from Prefect Liu's secret room." It was a small box, not very big.
[Haha... It's counterfeit silver. It seems Prefect Liu is somewhat involved in the counterfeit silver case. However, I haven't seen him, so I don't know what his connection is.]
[It's such a pity. I've been here for ten years, and my system hasn't been upgraded at all. I always need to see faces and names to get the gossip, which means I'm getting less and less of it.]
Ning Qingran had the guards open the box. It did indeed contain silver, but he couldn't tell if it was real or fake. He took it out and examined it carefully. If Ji Yingying hadn't said it was fake silver, he would have needed to think about it more carefully.
"It seems Liu An is in the know."
Liu An
Having received such a name, Ji Yingying took out a handful of melon seeds from her sleeve pocket and secretly began to crack them open.
[Xiangxiang, bring Liu An's melon, let your aunt taste it to see if it's salty.]
[Yes, host.]
[Oh wow, so the person behind Liu An is the Third Prince. The Third Prince wanted to make counterfeit silver to support his private army, but I don't know if he succeeded. However, Liu An is quite careful. He only produces one box of counterfeit silver each year, and then transports the rest to the Third Prince's residence via the river. That's how the counterfeit silver got out.]
Let me see where Liu An made the counterfeit silver.
[In a cave upstream from Heju Village, good heavens, this Liu An is no human! He actually captured so many people to make counterfeit silver and secretly forged jade for huge profits. Oh wow, he even massacred an entire village! No wonder Gushi Village is so strange; it turns out that after he slaughtered the village, he had bandits disguised as villagers living there.]
[He even hid a lot of real silver, obtained by exchanging counterfeit silver, in the ancient stone village, and he did it so openly. Truly, far from the emperor's reach, he's a local tyrant! Luckily, my father didn't want to associate with him, otherwise he'd be left with a pair of silver bracelets and his head torn in two.]
[Let me think about how to remind His Highness the Crown Prince that the evidence he wants is in this Ancient Stone Village. If we arrest everyone in Ancient Stone Village, we can get the evidence from their village. Who knows, we might even be able to get the Third Prince into trouble.]
[Wait a minute, there's a silver mine near the counterfeit silver factory! A silver mine! Wow, I'm rich! Wait, I'm not the one who's rich. Discovering a silver mine means I have to hand it over. Sigh! I want gold...]
[Gold, pure white gold...]
Ning Qingran immediately signaled the two guards to leave and take care of the matter.
“Your Highness, why don’t you investigate Ancient Stone Village? I… I always feel that Ancient Stone Village is very strange.”
"Is the Ancient Stone Village that Miss San mentioned a village upstream of River Dwelling Village?"
“Yes, when my mother and I went on a picnic before, we passed by there and we always felt that the water in that village was not right, it had a bad smell.”
Will His Highness believe me if I say this? Sigh, it's not good to lie!
“Indeed, this should be investigated. I will order someone to take a look.”
"Very well. By the way, Your Highness, could you do me a favor?"
"Please speak, Miss Third."
【Let me think... I've got it!】
"Waaah... I had a very kind great-aunt who went missing once when she went to Gushi Village. That great-aunt was so good to me. I would like to ask Your Highness to help me find her."
Ning Qingran suppressed a laugh, never having found a little girl so amusing and interesting.
"Then tell me, where did you go missing? I'll send people to search for you."
[Yay! I believe it! This Crown Prince is truly a good person! It's a pity he's destined to die young, otherwise he would have been a wise ruler.] Ji Yingying was overjoyed. She had been worried that Ning Qingran wouldn't believe her, and she would have to spend a lot of time explaining herself.
Her spoken English is not good, and she is always afraid of missing the point when she speaks.
"It's on the mountain next to Gushi Village, in that area called Baiyu Mountain. I heard there are bandits there. I'm wondering if the bandits kidnapped my aunt? I beg Your Highness to do the right thing and give my aunt an explanation."
[All that's left is to mark the address. Your Highness should know where it is by now, right? We'll find the silver mine while we're investigating.]
"Alright, I'll send people to investigate. It's getting late, Miss. Would you like lunch?"
Ji Yingying looked up at the sky. It should be lunchtime. She patted her stomach and said happily, "Thank you for reminding me, Your Highness. If you hadn't said so, I would have forgotten to eat."
[This prince is such a kind person; he even reminded me to go eat. I was even thinking about how to remind him to let me go eat.]
"Your Highness, I'm going to eat now, bye-bye!"
After Ji Yingying left, Judge Liu immediately wiped the sweat from his forehead. If what Miss Ji was thinking was... well, she could be beheaded.
"You should know what to do about what happened today."
"Your Majesty, I know, and I will absolutely not reveal a single word to anyone." How could he dare to reveal anything now, since he was going to see the Emperor Taizu?
"Well, you may leave now."
"yes"
As soon as Judge Liu left, Ning Qingran immediately sent people in. Since the entire Ancient Stone Village was inhabited by bandits, she needed to bring more people with her.
"An Yi, go and take control of Liu An, and keep a close eye on the Liu residence."
"yes"
"An Er and An San, you will assist Peng Rong in leading troops to Gushi Village. First, find out the situation of Gushi Village, and do not attack it yet."
"yes"
"An Si and An Wu, you two will assist Xun Lin in searching for silver mines in Baiyu Mountain, and also take down the cave where counterfeit silver is made."
"yes"
"An Liu, you should secretly protect Miss Ji."
"yes"
After arranging everything, Ning Qingran prepared to have his meal. His primary task now was to recover his health.
...three days later
The four and five secret agents found the silver mine in just two days, but they did not attack the cave where the fake silver was made.
The guards seemed to be from Gushi Village, and they changed shifts every half hour, so if they were discovered, it would easily alert the enemy.
He had no choice but to return and report to Ning Qingran.
When they returned, Ji Yingying was grinding ink for Ning Qingran.
[Who is this person? Why won't they let someone else do this tiring work? Who am I? I'm the third young lady of the Ji family! I've never done any work since I was born! Waaah... This is child abuse! Police officers, come and arrest him!]
Ning Qingran listened calmly to Ji Yingying's inner rage, but Ji Yingying's face remained expressionless, even looking quite pleased with herself. It was unclear who had taught her such skill in being so hypocritical.
Actually, he kept people here simply to find out how the Third Prince killed his father.
I had heard her say before that her father was mistreated by the Third Prince, but I didn't know how.
"Master"
"You're back. Do you have any news about the Third Miss's great-aunt?"
"Reporting to you, sir, we haven't found anything. However, we have discovered a silver mine nearby, and our brothers are guarding it. I'm here to report."
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