Chapter 426: Are You Afraid of Snakes?
On a moonlit night with few stars, the Heshun Palace was silent.
Apart from the footsteps of the patrolling soldiers in the mansion, there was not even a superfluous cat's meow.
And in such a dead silent night, two dark shadows quickly flashed into the mansion.
Nan Xuan and Ling An, dressed in night clothes, avoided the patrol of the palace guards and quickly sneaked into the courtyard where Ye Jinghua was.
The yard was pitch black at this moment, and the owner must have gone to bed.
The two men looked at each other, entered the main hall and the side hall respectively, and in less than an incense stick of time, they both returned empty-handed.
"Master, the Prince Heshun's mansion is very clean. I didn't find anything." Ling An said.
Nan Xuan touched his chin and squinted his eyes in thought: "Where does the snake witch live? Let's go and see."
Ling An nodded, and the two of them tied up a soldier who was patrolling the yard. After finding out the snake witch's residence, they knocked him unconscious and threw him into the flower bed.
Following the route the soldier had told them, the two men turned around and around and finally found the snake witch's yard in a remote corner of the back garden of Heshun Palace.
Ling An was very puzzled: "Isn't the Snake Witch a guest of honor of King Heshun? And he lives in a place like this?"
Nan Xuan stood at the entrance of the uneven broken fence and glanced at the dark little hut inside.
He said, "You don't understand. The Snake Wizard is a member of the Wudu tribe. How could he possibly show off all the poisons, insects, and venomous snakes he carries with him in his mansion? He must be looking for a hidden place."
"Oh," Ling An suddenly realized, "then let's go in quickly."
As he spoke, he was about to step into the yard, but just as he raised his foot, Nan Xuan reached out and grabbed his collar and pulled him back like a chicken.
"What are you so impatient for?"
"Pavilion Master?" Ling An looked puzzled.
Nan Xuan stretched out his index finger and pressed it on his lips, making a "hush" gesture. Then he reached out and plucked a few pine needles from the pine tree next to him and threw them just a few steps away from the two of them.
In an instant, the darkness in front of them suddenly twisted and rolled, revealing white lines.
It turned out to be a dense group of black snakes, which turned white after being pierced by the pine needles that were tempered with internal force!
Ling An opened his mouth wide and took a breath of cold air. If he had gone in directly just now, his thighs would probably have been bitten by these poisonous snakes!
Nan Xuan looked at his dumbfounded expression and slapped him on the head without any hesitation: "You've been with me for so long, and you haven't made any progress!"
"The Pavilion Master is right." Ling An lowered his head.
"Tsk." Nan Xuan smacked his lips and waited until all the snakes in front of him stopped moving before he stepped into the dilapidated courtyard.
Ling An followed behind him, walking carefully.
The dead snake under his feet was slippery and it was a bit disgusting to step on it. Nan Xuan frowned and quickened his pace.
The courtyard was not big, and he quickly reached the door of the thatched cottage. When he looked back, Ling An had only walked less than halfway.
Nan Xuan was amused: "Boy, are you afraid of snakes?"
"Master, Ling An is not afraid of snakes." Ling An said this, but he made up his mind, clenched his teeth, and walked in without lowering his head to look at the dead snakes on the ground.
He took a few steps and felt his hand getting warm. It turned out to be Nan Xuan who reached out and grabbed him, leading him past the pile of dead snakes.
After Nan Xuan brought him over, he let go of his hand and walked forward.
Behind him, Ling An said softly, "Thank you, Pavilion Master."
"Thanks for nothing," Nan Xuan waved his hand. "You little loser! I'm afraid it'll be dawn by the time you get here."
Ling An: ...
The two men stood at the door of the hut and heard the sound of someone snoring softly from inside. They must be the snake witch.
Ling An glanced at Nan Xuan, as if wanting to ask him if he wanted to go in directly.
Nan Xuan curled the corners of his mouth, patted his shoulder, gently poked open the door of the hut with one finger, and then slipped in.
Ling An understood, hugged his sword tightly, looked around, and kept watch for him.
This time, Nan Xuan was gone for a long time, and Ling An pricked up his ears to listen but heard nothing from inside the door.
Just as he was hesitating whether to go in and take a look, the door of the hut opened a little wider and Nan Xuan slipped out from inside.
"Walk."
He mouthed something to Ling An, and before Ling An could react, he grabbed his collar and flew away.
…
Early the next morning, outside Ye Cangling's imperial study, two people were standing respectfully on his left and right.
Ye Jingzhen was wearing a long blue robe with auspicious cloud patterns, with a cold look on his face, and he stood on the left. Ye Jinghua was wearing a long dark green robe, with slightly raised eyebrows and a smile on his face, and he stood on the right.
Anji stood at the door holding his whisk with an expressionless face, staring straight into the imperial study without glancing at either of the two people.
After a moment, he cleared his throat and sang loudly: "Announce, Prince Heshun and Prince Jing'an come to the audience!"
Ye Jingzhen and Ye Jinghua looked at each other and did not move first. He waited until Ye Jinghua left first and then followed closely.
In the imperial study, a lot of memorials were piled on the table in front of Ye Cangling. He put down his pen and was rubbing his solar plexus with half-closed eyes, looking like "I'm tired, you two should say whatever you want to say, and fart quickly."
"Father, I have already made some progress in my investigation into the assassination of Prince Jing'an and Princess Jing'an."
"Oh, who did it?" Ye Cangling asked casually without even raising his head.
"They were roaming bandits from the Mangshan area," Ye Jinghua said. "They must have passed by there that night and mistook my fifth brother and his wife for a good place to stay overnight. That's why they had evil intentions. Fortunately, they escaped unharmed."
He spoke seriously, and if Ye Jingzhen had not found the evidence, he would have been fooled by his expression.
"Yeah," Ye Cangling nodded slowly, "That's good."
"Then, what is the purpose of Jingzhen's visit?" His voice was lazy, as if he was just asking casually. No matter what Ye Jingzhen said, he just wanted to perfunctorily answer.
"Your Majesty, I also sent people to investigate the assassination that night, and the murderer we caught is different from my eldest brother."
"Oh?" Ye Cangling raised his calm voice a notch, a rare occurrence. "Tell me about it?"
Ye Jingzhen did not say anything, but took out something wrapped in a white handkerchief from his sleeve and placed it on the desk in front of Ye Cangling.
Ye Cangling just stared at the handkerchief without moving at all. Ye Jingzhen took a deep breath and opened the handkerchief himself.
Inside was the arrow feather that he had broken that night and brought back.
"What is this?" Ye Cangling finally asked.
"It was the weapon used by the killer who assassinated me and Ranran that day." Ye Jingzhen said calmly.
"so what?"
Ye Jinghua raised an eyebrow at him, "Fifth brother, the emperor knows that you cherish your little princess, but these arrow feathers are just the most common style. They can be found in the streets and alleys of the entire capital, wherever weapons are sold. What does this mean?"
Ye Jingzhen ignored him and placed his hand on the arrow feathers, fanning them and saying, "Father, please smell this smell. Is it familiar to you?"
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