Wenren Yi ignored Xie Yu's strong opposition and looked at Su Yan, instructing her, "Little Yan'er, remember what I told you, you must keep a low profile and never let others know."
"Dean, don't worry. If there's nothing else, we'll be leaving now."
Wenren Yi nodded, "Be careful..."
"knew……"
Su Yan waved as she walked, with Shen Yao following closely behind her, leaving Xie Yu standing alone.
Xie Yu was ignored, and Wenren Yi quickly pushed his wheelchair away, leaving him alone in the room.
Seeing that the dean's attitude was firm and unwavering, Xie Yu deflated like a punctured balloon. Although she looked unwilling, she still caught up with the two.
When he found the two in the pavilion, Su Yan was leaning against a pillar with her arms crossed, looking in the direction he had come from, and seemed to be waiting for him.
"I didn't come here of my own accord. I am the Dean's envoy, and naturally I must obey all the Dean's orders," Xie Yu said stubbornly.
With a smile on her face, Su Yan gave Xie Yu a thumbs up and praised him in a sarcastic tone, "As expected of Dean Xie, you have the magnanimity of a prime minister. We're all waiting for you to discuss the case together."
Xie Yu reluctantly walked into the pavilion and sat down at the stone table, deliberately turning her face away with an arrogant expression, refusing to look at Shen Yao.
Su Yan sighed and rubbed her forehead, thinking that men would remain childish until the very end.
Getting back to the main point, Su Yan analyzed the suspicious aspects of the case one by one.
First, based on Princess Jingning's testimony and my re-examination of the body, I believe that the body in the ice storage was not the one stabbed by Princess Jingning. In other words, the murderer was someone else.
Secondly, after investigating the smell on the fabric, I discovered that I had smelled it on Zhang Lanzhen before, which suggests that this case is very likely related to the Dark Moon Pavilion.
Third, the princess's encounter with Wulemu was likely orchestrated to incite conflict between the Rouran and the Liang.
"I've finished speaking. You can raise any opinions you have for discussion," Su Yan said, looking at the two of them.
Shen Yao's face was somber, and his brows furrowed again. He rested his chin on his hand and pondered, "The current situation in the court is divided into two factions. One faction is willing to offend Rouran to protect the princess, while the other faction advocates abandoning the princess and maintaining the alliance between Rouran and Daliang. The emperor has not yet made a statement. Why don't we first investigate which officials in the court are colluding with the Dark Moon Pavilion and follow the clues?"
Su Yan felt that Shen Yao's method was inappropriate. "Lord Shen, this method is good, but it is too time-consuming. The longer we delay, the more dangerous it becomes for Daliang. I think that finding out what kind of incense was used in the clothing would be a good breakthrough."
“There are countless spices in the world, so tracing their origins would be like searching for a needle in a haystack. I don’t think this method is appropriate…” Shen Yao retorted.
Su Yan immediately objected, "Lord Shen, the problem may not lie with the officials in the court. No matter how this case is resolved in the end, the biggest beneficiary will be the Northern Frontier. Instead of wasting time investigating the officials in the court, we should investigate the Northern Frontier spies lurking in Chang'an."
"Chang'an is impregnable; it's impossible for spies from the northern frontier to openly commit such a major crime..."
"Lord Shen, people's hearts have always been hard to discern. How can you be so sure that there is a traitor in the court? This is a completely unfounded guess."
Just as the two were arguing back and forth, unable to reach a stalemate, Xie Yu suddenly interrupted them.
"Stop arguing, you two. If you want to find out the source of the spices, just find Wang Ruofu..."
Xie Yu's words instantly drew their attention.
Stared at by the two menacing eyes, Xie Yu felt a chill run down his spine. He subconsciously swallowed and slowly said, "Wang Ruofu once investigated a case where a corpse emitted a strange fragrance. She smelled almost every kind of fragrance in the world. Perhaps she might know the source of the scent on the fabric..."
As soon as Xie Yu finished speaking, Su Yan excitedly stepped forward and hugged him, "Dean Xie, you are truly a savior, I will go and ask Director Wang right away."
After saying that, Su Yan happily ran towards Dali Temple with the wooden box in her arms.
Fortunately, my senior sister is still in the capital. If it were a few more days, she would have to leave Chang'an to go to Suizhou to review the doubtful case.
Seeing Su Yan hug Xie Yu just now, Shen Yao's face turned ashen with anger. If he didn't know she was a woman, Shen Yao wouldn't be so angry, but he knew Su Yan was a woman.
Watching her intimate actions with Xie Yu, I felt a little strange, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.
As soon as Su Yan left, Xie Yu came up to Shen Yao with a smug look on his face and his eyes were full of disdain. "As the saying goes, every profession is like a mountain. Shen Yao, you are more good at fighting and killing. I really don't know what the dean saw in you."
After saying that, Xie Yu didn't wait for Shen Yao and ran after Su Yan.
Su Yan carried the wooden box to Wang Ruofu's courtyard. At that moment, Wang Ruofu was sitting at the table carving the wood in his hands, looking extremely excited.
Having run too fast, Su Yan stopped, straightened her clothes, and knocked on the door. "Lord Sizhi, Su Yan requests an audience..."
Wang Ruofu was so focused that she was completely absorbed in carving wood. The sudden sound at the door startled her, and she accidentally cut her finger with the carving knife, causing it to bleed profusely.
Seeing this, Su Yan quickly stepped forward to help Wang Ruofu pinch her bleeding finger, blurting out in her anxiety, "Senior Sister, are you alright...?"
"What did you just call me..." Wang Ruofu stared blankly at Su Yan, his eyes shining with an unusual light.
Su Yan realized she had misspoke and hurriedly corrected herself, "Lord Sizhi must have misheard me. I was asking if your hand was alright!"
Wang Ruofu smiled slightly, looking at Su Yan with a grin, "This is the second time you've called me 'Senior Sister'. Aren't you going to give me a reasonable explanation?"
Su Yan remained silent, not daring to look Wang Ruofu in the eye, and quietly bandaged her wound, her expression suggesting she didn't want to bring up the matter.
Since Su Yan didn't want to talk about it, Wang Ruofu didn't press her for an answer. He smiled and said, "Since you don't want to talk about it, I won't ask. I believe that one day you will want to tell me. So, tell me, what kind of help do you need from me?"
At this moment, Su Yan was very grateful for her senior sister's understanding, but at least she couldn't say it now; the fewer people who knew her identity, the better.
Su Yan respectfully handed the wooden box to Wang Ruofu, "Lord Sizhi, I heard that you once investigated a case where a corpse emitted a strange fragrance. Do you know what kind of fragrance this fabric is made of?"
Wang Ruofu took out the tattered cloth from the wooden box, held it to her nose and sniffed it. A faint fragrance wafted into her nostrils, very familiar...
“I think I’ve smelled this before…” Wang Ruofu said thoughtfully, frowning.
"This seems to be a contraceptive fragrance. If a pregnant woman smells this scent, she will miscarry. Besides the inner quarters, brothel madams love to use this fragrance on the prostitutes who entertain customers."
"Contraceptive fragrance?"
Upon hearing the word "brothel," the phrase "living a life of debauchery" immediately came to Su Yan's mind.
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