Chapter 81 The outline of the matter
"I... that... ah... let me think about it!" Xue An's face turned pale with fear. He immediately pursed his lips and subconsciously retracted his tongue. He had never met anyone like Qing Yi in his life. He could say such vicious words as if they were a daily routine, as if cutting someone's tongue was as common to him as eating and drinking water.
"Hongying is... the top performer in Fengyue Tower. She is as beautiful as a fairy and has a gentle personality. Many dignitaries are lining up, hoping to spend the night with her..." Xue An said tremblingly.
"Is that all?" Qing Yi once again shook the coldly glowing dagger in his hand, and the blade flashed a chilling light in the candlelight.
"You...you put the dagger away first. That's all I really know! It's gone, it's really gone!" Xue An was so scared that his voice changed and his body shrank back involuntarily.
"Well, you have to think carefully. Does she behave in any unusual way?" Qing Yi continued to ask, revealing a threat. After all this trouble, he finally understood that Xue An was a typical dandy. He usually relied on his status to act arrogantly and domineeringly in the capital, but once he encountered a tough guy like him, he immediately became timid and scared to death.
"Ah, sir, that's really all! Who would ask about those messy things when visiting a brothel?" Xue An was almost crying, his hands waving constantly, his face full of fear.
"Yeah!" Ye Qingyu responded, indicating that the questioning of Xue An could come to an end for the time being.
"I...can I leave now?" Xue An saw this and asked cautiously, as if he had grabbed a life-saving straw. He was really afraid of Qing Yi. If Qing Yi got in a bad mood and really crippled him, then he would be doomed.
"Go to the next room and rest for a while. I'll take you to a 'good place' later." Qing Yi raised the corners of his mouth slightly, revealing a smile that seemed friendly but also a little cunning, and said slowly.
"Ah, let me go! That's all I know. It was Little Moustache who plotted to murder you. If you want revenge, go find him!" Xue An jumped up in panic and shouted. Suddenly, as if remembering something important, his eyes lit up, and he hurriedly said, "Oh, oh, Little Moustache is Hongying's cousin! She was the one who begged me to find her cousin a job with me!"
"Cousin Hongying?" Ye Qingyu and Qingyi looked at each other. So that's how it is. No wonder things turned out like this. It seems there are many connections behind this.
Without waiting for Xue An to continue shouting that he wanted to go home, Qing Yi quickly stepped forward and pressed a few of his acupuncture points. Xue An suddenly felt his whole body numb and could not move. He could only look at Qing Yi in horror.
Qing Yi said to Qing Feng who was standing beside him, "Take him to the next room first."
Let him go? That's not that easy. We haven't punished this guy yet, so how can we just let him go so easily? We didn't kill him because we didn't want to cause trouble for Xiao Ye. Otherwise, how could we spare his life?
Ye Qingyu then interrogated Hongying, Xiao Huzi, and Taohong separately. Hongying struggled at first, trying to conceal some key information, but ultimately, under Ye Qingyu's relentless pressure and Qingyi's intimidation, she confessed everything. Xiao Huzi and Taohong, already terrified by Qingyi's ferocious appearance, now spoke freely, revealing everything they knew.
After some careful sorting and analysis, Ye Qingyu had already figured out the whole story clearly.
It turns out that Mei Fei, Tao Hong, and Hong Ying are all spies planted by the Northern Liang Kingdom within the Great Chu Kingdom. They've somehow learned that besides collecting four mysterious treasure maps, there's another way to find the legendary treasure: a treasure map engraved on a first-generation jade artifact from the Great Chu Kingdom. However, not all first-generation jade artifacts have maps; only some contain hidden secrets. To achieve their goal, they meticulously plan a jade theft.
Zhao Quan steals jade from the palace and hands it over to Concubine Mei. To avoid suspicion and avoid direct involvement, Concubine Mei uses Hongying to place Xiao Huzi (Little Moustache) next to Xue An. Xue An, beloved by the Empress since childhood and frequently offered access to the palace, uses Xiao Huzi's identity to successfully smuggle the stolen jade out of the palace and hand it over to Taohong at the Xue Family Villa. Taohong then arranges for the jade to be delivered to Xihua Prefecture, where it is handed over to the owner of a local jade shop.
However, the situation was different when it came to the jade shop owner. He was an extremely greedy man. Instead of destroying or hiding the jade pieces that didn't have treasure maps engraved on them, as instructed by the Northern Liang Kingdom's spies, he secretly sold them on the market for personal gain. This was also the reason why Ye Qingyu and Qing Yi stumbled upon the jade pieces that were supposed to be hidden while browsing the jade shop in Xihua Prefecture, leading to the case of the missing jade pieces from the imperial palace.
"These women are actually spies from Beiliang Kingdom. They are really hard to guard against!" Qing Yi couldn't help but sigh after hearing this.
"I didn't expect that they could get close to the emperor. This is too dangerous. Why didn't the emperor's uncle find out the background of this woman when he took Concubine Mei into the palace? This matter must be investigated as soon as possible, otherwise there will be endless troubles." Thinking of this, Ye Qingyu couldn't help but feel scared. This matter has seriously threatened the safety of the Great Chu State, and it must be resolved quickly.
"Qingfeng!" Ye Qingyu's expression froze as he ordered in a deep voice, "Send someone to Xihua Prefecture immediately to capture the owner of the jade shop and bring him to the capital as soon as possible."
"Yes, master!" Qingfeng responded.
"Qingyi, you stay here to look after these people. Don't make any mistakes. I will go to see the emperor at dawn." Ye Qingyu said.
"Okay, I got it. Qingfeng, since you want to go back home now, can you ask Qingqing to bring me some clothes?" Qingyi said in a low voice.
Of course Ye Qingyu heard it as well, and couldn't help but glance at Qing Yi. This kid really knew what was going on, and he wasn't angry anymore. He felt a little amused in his heart, but still pretended to be displeased on his face.
"Yeah." Qingfeng responded and went back to the mansion to arrange manpower.
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