Dali Temple (Part 1)
Bathed in the soft glow of the setting sun, Zhou Yanzhi hurriedly rode back to Dali Temple.
Two or three snow-white homing pigeons were nestled under the vermilion eaves, cooing and pecking at their food. Perhaps due to their exhaustion, their smooth, glossy feathers looked disheveled, as if they had been roughly handled.
Seeing the vermilion markings on the pigeons, Zhou Yanzhi paused, then quickly walked towards the main hall.
The Red Feather Pigeon is a carrier pigeon specially trained by the Dali Temple, capable of traveling a thousand miles a day.
With the carrier pigeon here, news from Jiangzhou should also be forthcoming.
Sure enough, standing in the center of the main hall was none other than Su Feng, who had gone to investigate the Jiangzhou Jiaofangsi earlier. As soon as Zhou Yanzhi approached, Su Feng rushed over like a chick seeing its mother hen, clutching the letter in his hand.
"Ce'an, this is terrible!"
"This Consort De was actually sent to the Jiaofangsi by Old Madam Zhang!" Su Feng said nervously while holding the letter delivered by carrier pigeon, "The Zhang family has been planning this for so long, playing such a big game. Could it be that they are plotting a rebellion?!"
Zhou Yanzhi quickly scanned the letter file and calmly replied, "Not necessarily."
Su Feng asked in confusion, "What?"
"Take a look at this." Zhou Yanzhi took out the file from the Jingzhao Prefecture from his bosom and handed it to Su Feng, explaining, "Perhaps Consort De is plotting a rebellion."
"ah?"
Upon hearing Zhou Yanzhi's words, Su Feng asked in confusion, then quickly unfolded the case file in his hand and began to read it. As he read, Zhou Yanzhi added leisurely, "The Consort De was born to Yuan Niang."
Su Feng's gaze swept over the ancient ink characters inch by inch, and over the five characters "brother and sister committing incest" newly added by Zhou Yanzhi. His expression gradually changed from confusion to pale, then to flushed, and then to eerie, changing several times before finally settling on an eerie flush.
With a "click," the file in his hand trembled and fell to the ground. Recalling what he had just seen, he exclaimed in utter disbelief, "Is it the incestuous relationship I was thinking of? Zhang Mingyuan and Consort De...?"
Brother and sister... incest...?!
Zhou Yanzhi bent down and picked up the file from the ground. Then he looked up and met Su Feng's shocked gaze, sighed softly, nodded, and affirmed, "That's right, it's the incestuous relationship you're thinking of."
Unexpectedly, it really was that "incestuous relationship." For a moment, Su Feng's expression was indescribable.
After a moment of silence, he swallowed, the words he wanted to say stuck in his throat, unable to form a single syllable for a long time. After much hesitation, he finally managed to utter—"I see..."
After thinking for a moment, he added, "So, Ce'an, you suspect that Consort De wants revenge for being sent to the brothel back then?"
“Hmm, it seems that Consort De encountered Dao Ying on her way to the capital with her mother.” Zhou Yanzhi tidied up the scattered files in his hand, glanced at the particularly interesting expression on Su Feng’s face, and then lowered his eyes and said calmly, “However, I can’t be completely sure. I will go to the palace first to report this matter to His Majesty, and after meeting one of the people… I will make a decision.”
Su Feng nodded blankly, seemingly still reeling from the shocking gossip. "Then you'd better hurry, it's getting late and the palace gates will be locked soon."
"Okay." Zhou Yanzhi nodded, stuffed the collected file into his pocket, and turned to leave.
"Wait a minute."
Having removed his armor, Xiao Jiangsheng strode in under the glow of the setting sun and said quickly to Zhou Yanzhi, who was approaching him, "Something has happened in the palace!"
Zhou Yanzhi's eyes narrowed: "What?!"
Could it be that something happened to Xiao Yan?!
Before Xiao Jiang could explain in detail, a cacophony of sounds suddenly erupted outside the Dali Temple gates. The clatter of armor and the clanging of blades against scabbards rose and fell, dense and ever-growing closer.
"I'll tell you later."
Xiao Jiangsheng gave Zhou Yanzhi a wink, quickly put on the human skin mask, and then flew towards the backyard, disappearing in a few flashes.
Turning his gaze away from the direction where Xiao Jiang's voice had disappeared, and listening to the commotion outside, a dark glint flashed in Zhou Yanzhi's eyes. He then quickly gathered all the case files in the main hall and stuffed them into his and Su Feng's arms. Su Feng then pushed them into the back hall and strode out of the main hall.
In just a few breaths, the Dali Temple was already in a mess.
The imperial guards, clad in armor, kicked open the doors of every house, whether they were closed or not, and searched inside and out, top to bottom, with their half-drawn embroidered spring knives, leaving no gap unchecked.
Bedding, books, and belongings were all carelessly thrown to the ground. Even the few clumps of flowers, plants, and trees within the Dali Temple were hacked to pieces with knives.
It was a complete mess.
Seeing the Dali Temple officials forced to kneel on the ground, bound, Zhou Yanzhi felt a surge of anger. He flung his robes, strode into the courtyard, and shouted, "Insolence!"
"Who gave you the audacity to run wild in my Dali Temple?!"
"Stop this at once!"
...
The brilliant sunset colors on the horizon gradually faded, and the inky night inch by inch eroded the few remaining rays of light, casting a blood-red dark glow over Dali Temple.
Zhang Mingyuan, dressed in a tight-fitting outfit with his back to the camera, stood in the courtyard. Upon hearing the sound, he slowly turned around.
Looking into Zhou Yanzhi's eyes, which were as cold as if they were covered in frost, she smiled slightly, raised her hands, and bowed.
"His Royal Highness."
Without waiting for Zhou Yanzhi's response, he straightened up again, turned his head and winked at the Imperial Guards who had stopped because of Zhou Yanzhi's three stern shouts: "Continue."
Clearly, they didn't take Zhou Yanzhi seriously.
Upon hearing the order, the Imperial Guards no longer hesitated and began searching again.
"Wait!"
Zhou Yanzhi stared at Zhang Mingyuan opposite him, raised his finger and pointed at the restless Imperial Guards, his tone full of coldness: "General Zhang, you led your men to break into my Dali Temple... Don't you want to explain?"
Upon hearing this, Zhang Mingyuan made a mock "ah" sound.
"Your Highness is unaware of this."
Turning around, Zhang Mingyuan cupped his hands in a gesture of respect towards the imperial city. Then, with a slight smile on his face, he explained to Zhou Yanzhi, "Because His Majesty has been unwell recently, he has today ordered His Highness the Fourth Prince to take charge of the government."
Zhou Yanzhi's expression remained unchanged, his eyes still filled with an unyielding coldness: "Is this General Zhang's reason for leading his men to break into my Dali Temple without cause?"
Zhang Mingyuan smiled and looked up, then said loudly, "Of course not." His gaze suddenly sharpened: "Someone has reported that His Highness is harboring remnants of the Xiao family."
The atmosphere instantly plummeted to freezing point, tense and ready to erupt into a fierce battle at any moment.
After a moment of silence, Zhou Yanzhi suddenly smiled and asked softly, "Where's the evidence?"
"General Zhang has mobilized such a large force, disregarding the dignity of our Dali Temple. He must have some irrefutable evidence, right?"
Upon hearing this, a hint of concern flashed across Zhang Mingyuan's face.
There was no irrefutable evidence, of course. However, they had followed Xiao Jiangsheng to the Dali Temple. As long as they caught Xiao Jiangsheng, that would be irrefutable evidence!
Before he could speak, Zhou Yanzhi spoke first, chuckled softly, and raised his eyes, saying in a sarcastic tone, "You dare to cause trouble at my Dali Temple without solid evidence, General Zhang. I call you 'General' because I think of your many years of fighting for Dazhao and going through life and death, but that doesn't mean I'm a soft persimmon that you can just bully."
"General Zhang, you stormed into my Dali Temple today without any solid evidence, and even injured so many of my subordinates. According to the laws of Dali Temple, I can have you imprisoned and tortured at any time..."
After speaking, Zhou Yanzhi turned his head and glanced at the Imperial Guards around him who were carrying knives and swords. He raised his eyebrows slightly, but his tone suddenly turned cold.
"So, Zhang Mingyuan, why don't you take your men and get out of here right now?!"
After being berated by Zhou Yanzhi, Zhang Mingyuan was embarrassed. Seeing the fierce look in Zhou Yanzhi's eyes, he slowly raised his hand with a livid face, as if he was unwilling to accept it.
The next second, the sound of galloping hooves came from afar, accompanied by a neighing sound. A person dismounted, took a silver token, and rushed to the center of the vortex.
"By imperial decree of the Fourth Prince, Zhou Ce'an is found to be harboring remnants of the Xiao family. He is to be apprehended immediately. The Imperial Guards are ordered to search the Dali Temple. No one is to obstruct them!"
In an instant, the situation reversed again!
Zhang Mingyuan lowered his hand and raised an eyebrow at Zhou Yanzhi.
"Your Highness, did you hear that?"
Two imperial guards immediately stepped forward to take Zhou Yanzhi away.
Zhou Yanzhi twitched the corner of his mouth and took something out of his sleeve.
"Let's see who dares to do that?!"
In an instant, a whole group of people knelt down inside the Dali Temple.
Holding the imperial edict, Zhou Yanzhi said coldly, "His Majesty ordered me to handle this case, yet you now intend to detain me on trumped-up charges. Are you deliberately obstructing my investigation?!"
In the blink of an eye, the situation changed once again.
Looking at Zhang Mingyuan kneeling on the ground, Zhou Yanzhi's eyes flickered with a dark and uncertain expression.
Fortunately, he had already warned those who knew he possessed the Emperor's Decree at Xiangguo Temple that day; otherwise, he would have truly had a hard time escaping this time.
The air grew colder and colder, and the eerie atmosphere, like a python, slowly coiled around everyone's necks. The surroundings were so quiet that even breathing could be heard.
Looking down at Zhang Mingyuan kneeling on the ground, Zhou Yanzhi chuckled inwardly. Look at him, all obedient, yet veins are bulging on his forehead, and his fists are clenched so tightly they're white.
Zhang Mingyuan, you... you're still too impatient. You've only revealed that your true purpose in coming here is me, not Xiao Jiangsheng...
Meanwhile, Zhang Mingyuan, kneeling on the ground, was indeed unwilling to give up. He was just a little bit away from pulling Zhou Yanzhi down.
The two remained silent for a moment, one standing and one kneeling.
Zhou Yanzhi unconsciously rubbed the imperial edict for a moment, then a dark glint flashed in his eyes as he thought of something. He then coldly rebuked, "Zhang Mingyuan, why don't you take your men and get out of Dali Temple? Or do you want to experience what it's like to be in Dali Temple's prison?"
After a moment of silence, Zhang Mingyuan slowly stood up and looked directly at Zhou Yanzhi: "Since His Highness the Crown Prince does not blame me, I am naturally very grateful. However, the Fourth Prince has decreed that 'the Dali Temple must be searched'."
"If there is nothing shameful in the Dali Temple, I would like to ask Your Highness to allow me to lead a search."
"After all, searching the Dali Temple... won't affect His Highness's investigation, and it can also prove His Highness's innocence..."
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