Su Xingze displayed frustration. "You should not be so careless. In a game between two or even three nations, it’s easier to avoid a dart flung in the open than a dagger in the dark. Especially in Nanchu Country, it is not the Nanchu King’s sole decision that matters. Various Nanchu factions are coveting the throne, you always need to be cautious."
Su Rong nodded. "Alright, alright, I know! Otherwise, I wouldn’t have come to the Capital City to collaborate with the Crown Prince, and moved into the Princess Residence. When the Princess’s son-in-law suspected my identity, I confessed everything myself. And now I’m staying in the Shen Residence. Aren’t all these moves meant to lend me a helping hand?"
She leaned back idly, languidly stretching her legs while leaning on the back of her chair. "If Ye Guixue was sent by the Nanchu King on a secret mission for my sake, then I wouldn’t have to go through all this trouble to establish a relationship with Nanchu. If he wasn’t here for me, I would have to find a way to keep him around me. There’s no way I can let the Ye Family slip away."
Su Xingze frowned. "Do you think Ye Guixue was sent by the Nanchu King for you?"
"Most likely," Su Rong said. "I’ll know for sure when I see him tomorrow. My biological father, he isn’t completely incapable, otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to become the Crown Prince and agreed to my mother, persuading the Nanchu King to support Daliang in attacking Dawei. Over these years, according to the old duke, he never set foot inside the Imperial Harem, as a result, he has no descendants. Despite this, Nanchu has remained stable, and he has stayed firm on the throne. He must not be as simple as he appears. All the factions of Nanchu are in motion—there’s no way he, as a king, doesn’t know about my existence."
Su Xingze didn’t say more. "Anyway, it is good as long as you have a plan in mind. I’ll accompany you tomorrow."
Su Rong nodded in agreement.
At noon, the kitchen of the Shen Residence prepared a huge feast.
Su Rong was content after the meal, and to Lady Shen, she said, "Fen Ling has the biggest sweet tooth! It’s a pity he’s not here. If he knew how delicious the food made by the chefs of Shen Residence is, I imagine he would definitely be regretful he missed out."
Lady Shen laughed and asked, "I heard that Fen Ling is also Xie Yuan’s disciple?"
"Yes, he is Xie Yuan’s disciple, and also my personal guard." Su Rong replied.
Lady Shen understood. "It’s fortunate he was there, otherwise, the culprit might have succeeded."
In Su Rong’s opinion, that wouldn’t be the case, as she was no pushover. At worst, she would’ve exposed her identity in public.
After lunch, Su Rong had a good nap without any burden. When she woke up, she walked out of her room to find Fen Ling gobbling up cakes at the table. She raised an eyebrow. "The assassin has been caught?"
"Yes, he’s been caught." Fen Ling swallowed down the cake he was eating, took a sip of tea, and quickly replied, "The Crown Prince is really impressive. He sent someone to make a clandestine investigation, and found the assassin hiding in the Green Building. The Green Building had a secret chamber, which had escaped the thorough investigation by the Jingzhao Prefecture and the Dali Temple, but not by the Crown Prince’s men. Prefecture Chief Li hadn’t turned up anything after investigating for a whole day and night, the frustration was enough to give him boils, until the Eastern Palace privately sent him a message, he hurriedly rushed over with his men. When he saw the assassin and confirmed his identity, he was on the verge of kneeling. Though the assassin has committed suicide now, all the people in that Green Building have been rounded up and have been thrown into the cell of the Dali Temple."
Su Rong praised, "The Crown Prince is indeed impressive."
Unsurprisingly for a Crown Prince, his foundation was deep, that he could find the assassin’s hideout so quickly.
Jingzhao Prefecture Chief Li Shu captured the assassin and thus saved his position. For fear that his own prison of Jingzhao Prefecture was not secure enough, these were serious offenders, so he transferred them to the Dali Temple. The judicial commissioner of the Dali Temple had no objections, having thrown all the people from the Green Building into the Dali Temple Dungeon with strict surveillance.
After that, the judicial commissioner of the Dali Temple, Cheng Wansheng, and Prefecture Chief Li Shu rushed into the palace to report to the Emperor about the progress of the case.
Upon hearing that the assassin had already committed suicide and all the people from the assassin’s hideout had been put into the Dali Temple Dungeon, the Emperor furrowed his brows to ask, "Which Green Building?"
A lane called "Yanyu"
The Emperor, having never heard of it, simply ordered the Dali Temple commissioner, "Interrogate them thoroughly."
The commissioner of the Dali Temple agreed.
The Emperor then said to Li Shu, "You should take security in the capital more seriously. Incidents of this nature should not happen again."
Li Shu kept nodding and agreeing while cursing the assassin in his heart. Who else could he have assassinated instead of Princess Qingping? The incident had blown up. The assassin dying would put a definite end to the matter, but he had almost lost his official cap.
He thought, ’I really owe a big favor to the Crown Prince this time around. How should I repay him? Ah...’
Meanwhile, in the Duke Residence, Ziye handed over a name list to Zhou Gu, worn out from exhaustion.
Zhou Gu took the list. It had more than a hundred names on it, with notations of their identities and the time they arrived in the capital.
"These are the names of suspicious individuals who flooded into the capital on the day of the national examination, which is also the day that Lady Su Qi arrived in the capital. But in investigating this, I found something."
"What is that?"
Ziye hesitated.
Zhou Gu looked at him, waiting for his reply.
Ziye scratched his head, "I suspect, Lady Su Qi, didn’t enter the capital on the day of the imperial examination as first thought. It seems she was in the capital earlier, she and Feng Ling were seen once in Capital City, but traces of their visit were covered up..."
"Suspect?"
Ziye nodded, "They seem to have dined at the Zhuangyuan Building once, but the innkeeper couldn’t recall due to the crowd that day. However, after investigating that day, indeed there was a Feng brother and sister present, since the Feng surname is quite rare. But I couldn’t dig out more information."
Zhou Gu nodded.
Ziye continued: "But on that day, it seems Young master Xie had brought a group of people to the Zhuangyuan Building for a banquet. If we ask Young master Xie, we might be able to get some information. After all, even if someone attempts to erase traces of their visit, they can’t possibly manage it in case of Young master Xie."
Zhou Gu furrowed his brows, "Any progress on the assassination case?"
Ziye promptly responded: "There has been progress. It’s not clear where Jingzhao Prefecture’s Li Shu got the information from, but he has conducted a thorough search of the Yan Yu alley and found the assassin in a secret chamber. However, the assassin immediately committed suicide, and the entire Yan Yu alley, including the madam, were sent to the Dali Temple’s dungeon."
He said somewhat uncertainly: "While investigating this case, it seems I’ve stumbled upon traces pointing toward the Eastern Palace. Did the Crown Prince also send someone to investigate this case? Did he secretly inform Li Shu once he discovered anything? Otherwise, it’s unlikely for Li Shu to find the assassin so quickly."
Zhou Gu stood up, "You can rest now, no need to investigate any further. As for the people on the list, have someone closely monitor their movements."
Ziye nodded. He hadn’t slept in a day and a night and was almost driven mad with exhaustion.
Zhou Gu left Frost Forest Garden and rode to the Rui’an King’s residence.
The gatekeeper of the Rui’an King’s residence saw Lord Thursday come to visit the young master again. He thought to himself that ever since their trip to Jiangning County, his young master and Lord Thursday have become such good friends. They now meet every two to three days. Who could have imagined these two to have such a day?
Upon hearing that Xie Lin was at the residence, Zhou Gu immediately followed a servant to Xie Lin’s courtyard.
Xie Lin was listening to Qing Feng report the news from outside when he heard Zhou Gu had come. Surprised and a bit apprehensive, he muttered, "This time, it’s nearly dinner. He hasn’t come to drag me out for wine again, has he?"
A twitch tugged at the corner of Qing Feng’s mouth, and he walked away.
Xie Lin, feeling a touch anxious, exited the room to receive Zhou Gu. Before Zhou Gu could speak, Xie Lin hastily declared his position, "I’m not feeling well today. If you’re thinking about drinking, you can drink by yourself. I’m not having any wine today."
Zhou Gu paused mid-step, and looked at him speechlessly, "I’m not here to drink with you today."
Relieved, Xie Lin warmly invited him to sit down, "That’s good to hear. Come, have a seat. What brings you here all of a sudden?"
Zhou Gu sat down but didn’t speak.
A maid served tea, and Xie Lin suddenly remembered something, waved his hand and dismissed the servants.
As soon as the doors closed, Xie Lin tensely asked, "What’s the big news? Seeing your face, I have a feeling you’re not here for something good." 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶
Zhou Gu asked him, "What happened after I left Jiangning County?"
Xie Lin was taken aback, "Why are you suddenly asking about this?"
"Just answer my question."
Looking at Zhou Gu, Xie Lin said, "Do you already know something?"
Zhou Gu kept silent.
Xie Lin scratched his head, a guilty expression on his face, "Are you asking about Su Rong?" Seeing Zhou Gu didn’t respond and kept staring at him, he immediately cried out, "Hey, I didn’t deliberately hide anything from you. The day you left, wasn’t Lady Su Qi sending you off from the city? After she escorted you out of the city, she hasn’t returned to the Su Residence. She sent a message saying she’s gone to stay at the Xie Residence for a while. However, when the Governor Su heard the news later, he rushed to the Xie Residence. Soon after, Lady Su’s mother and Su Xingze also hurriedly went to the Xie Residence. I felt something was off and sent Qing Feng to inquire but he couldn’t dig out anything. Except that the Xie Residence had called for a doctor from the Huichun Hall, I thought perhaps something had happened to Lady Su Qi. However, being a guest at the Governor’s residence, eating and sleeping under their roof, it wouldn’t have been polite to conjecture and pry too much into their affairs in case they found out. When we dined that night, I casually asked Governor Su and Lady Su’s mother who both assured it was nothing. They simply said that Lady Su Qi went to the Xie Residence for a short stay. So after that, I didn’t pay it much attention. Hence, I never saw Lady Su Qi again until the time I left Jiangning County."
Keeping his face calm, Zhou Gu asked, "Why didn’t you tell me when you met me in Jiangzhou?"
Xie Lin’s eyes widened in surprise, "She’s your fiancée. Why would I stick my nose into other people’s business? Besides, at that time our relationship wasn’t close enough to, you know, share advice or anything, why would I initiate trouble and tell you?"
Zhou Gu didn’t say anything.
Seeing Zhou Gu stay quiet, Xie Lin felt a little guilty again, "Erm, I never expected that Lady Su Qi would come to the capital to break off the engagement with you....."
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