Chapter 70 Suspicion
Master Mingxin walked quickly into the room, glanced around, and his eyes fell on the table leg that was propped up with bricks.
He squatted down and looked for a moment, his brows furrowed.
Du Qing walked in carrying the thief.
"Someone has moved." Master Mingxin said in a deep voice.
Du Qing threw the thief to the ground, lifted the table leg, pulled out the brick, and reached his finger into the hollow part of the table leg.
It's empty inside.
"Sir, the letter is missing."
Master Mingxin glanced at the thief on the ground and said, "Wake him up."
Du Qing took out a medicine bottle from his bosom, opened it, scooped out a finger-full of ointment and smeared it on the tip of the thief's nose.
Not long after, the little thief slowly opened his eyes.
Seeing Du Qing's cold face, the little thief stood up in panic.
Du Qing reached out and pushed him back to the ground, holding a cold dagger against his neck.
"Who are you?"
The little thief was a little confused: "Big brother, spare my life, I just wanted to steal a chicken!"
Why use a knife?
"Stealing chickens?"
The little thief raised his hands and trembled: "Brother, I didn't steal it either. Before I could see the chicken coop clearly, my butt suddenly hurt--"
He suddenly remembered, reached out to touch his butt, and felt sticky blood.
The little thief rolled his eyes and was about to faint.
Du Qing pushed the dagger forward, and the little thief was so frightened that he dared not faint.
"Tell me about the situation when you came in."
The thief's forehead was covered in sweat. "I walked through the alley and found that the door of this house was ajar, so I... I wanted to come in and take a look. I didn't expect that after just two steps, I knew nothing..."
"What time did you come?"
The little thief thought for a moment and said, "Probably the beginning of the afternoon."
"Anything else?"
"Gone." The thief shook his head.
"Think about it again." Du Qing reminded coldly.
"It's really gone. Big brother, please let me go. I will never dare to do it again—"
Before he could finish his words, the little thief tilted his head and died.
"Sir, let's go quickly." Du Qing wiped the blood off the dagger on the little thief's clothes without changing his expression.
Master Mingxin moved aside to avoid the blood spreading on the ground: "There's no need to rush. Let's pack up first before we leave."
Du Qing didn't ask any more questions and started cleaning up immediately.
Master Mingxin looked at the corpse of the little thief and sighed imperceptibly.
Although the thief's crime does not deserve the death penalty, we cannot let him live and let him talk nonsense.
Du Qing walked to the foot of the wall, picked up a hoe, and began to dig a hole under the osmanthus tree. By the time Master Mingxin had packed up the things he wanted to take with him, the thief had already fallen asleep under the osmanthus tree. Even the bloodstains on the ground had been washed away. He only needed the wind and the sun to blow, and time would quietly erase all traces in the courtyard.
In a short period of time, Master Mingxin changed his place of residence again.
"Sir, I will escort you out of the capital. Your whereabouts have been revealed. It is too dangerous to stay in the capital."
Master Mingxin shook his head: "We can't leave Beijing now."
Du Qing was a little anxious: "Those letters were stolen, which shows that they know your identity. The next step will definitely be to harm you!"
"If it was Emperor Tai'an's men, we would have been caught in a tight net when we returned, not just another chicken thief." True Man Mingxin stroked his beard, a little puzzled. "This is a bit strange. It seems that man came only to steal the letter."
"But you hid the letter in such a secret place, and there was a trap on the way to the house. How did that person know?"
Ming Xin Zhenren looked up at the starry sky and sighed, "There are always people who are better than you. No matter what, this person must know my identity. The letter was stolen shortly after I moved to a new place. The omission was likely made during the move."
Du Qing bowed his head and clasped his fists: "It's all my fault for not paying attention."
"No wonder you moved so suddenly and hastily that it's inevitable that there were some oversights."
Du Qing's face was stern: "If it weren't for those hooligans causing trouble, there would be no need to move. And that little girl who pestered you for fortune-telling——"
Master Mingxin thought: "Du Qing, go keep an eye on that little girl.
He had been in the capital for several months, and if there was one person he had met who could be considered special, it was that little girl.
The second Miss Lin from the General’s Mansion.
Du Qing was stunned: "Sir, do you suspect it has something to do with that little girl?"
"It's hard to say whether it's closed or not, let's see first."
From a rational analysis, it is impossible for a little girl to be involved in these things, but rationality is not everything.
It never hurts to take a look around.
As for the contact with Qin Yunchuan, it will be interrupted for a while.
Late at night, when everyone was asleep, Lin Hao leaned against the bed, carefully reading several letters by the light of the lamp, with a smile on his lips.
The time to act was indeed just right. Qin Yunchuan expressed his nostalgia for his old master almost openly, but he still had not yet grasped his teacher's whereabouts.
This time she "alerted the enemy", and the teacher will probably not contact Qin Yunchuan for a short time.
The only thing that worried Lin Hao was that the teacher was suspicious and might notice her.
But there was nothing she could do about it, and she was willing to bear this price.
The next step is to present these letters to the emperor.
It is not easy to do this, at least the General's Mansion cannot be involved. Lin Hao plans to use Cheng Maoming, the commander of the Jinlin Guard, to accomplish this.
In her previous life, she returned to the capital and saw Cheng Maoming, the commander of the Jinlin Guard, being beheaded at Caishikou. At that time, Cheng Maoming's face was ashen, and he was filled with regret.
He regretted that he had offended the Crown Prince's Junior Tutor Qin Yunchuan several years ago, but he was afraid of the Crown Prince and did not dare to act rashly, which resulted in the beheading today.
People like Cheng Maoming are used to leaving no trouble behind. If she presents the evidence to convict Qin Yunchuan, he will surely be tempted.
The next morning, Lin Hao went out early.
She walked from East Street to West Lane, visited the cosmetics shop, the garment workshop, the spice shop, and the treasure house, drank scented tea, watched acrobatics, and finally bought two pounds of braised beef and went home happily.
When Du Qing returned to see Master Mingxin, it was already dark.
Seeing his pale face, Master Mingxin was a little surprised.
People who are good at tracking are very patient, and it is rare to see Du Qing like this.
"How was your day?"
When Du Qing heard Master Mingxin ask this, his expression twisted for a moment.
He recounted all the places Lin Hao had been to, his face darkening, "I never knew a little girl could travel so much."
Although Mingxin Zhenren knew a lot about astronomy and geography, he didn't know much about teenage girls. He said carefully, "Girls are generally like this. We will continue tomorrow."
The next day, after dark, Du Qing returned, his tone tinged with unnoticed gritted teeth: "I visited more places today than yesterday, and even had roast chicken at a tavern before going home!"
What kind of girl is this? No wonder she has the energy and shamelessness to pester a real fortune teller.
Facing Du Qing's pleading eyes, Master Mingxin said cruelly, "We'll continue tomorrow."
After five days, Du Qing had become noticeably thinner. He discussed with Master Mingxin, "Sir, why don't I just kill that girl?"
I really can't stand this kind of life for even a day.
"She got together with some friends to eat roast duck today, and she mentioned you."
"What did you say?"
"She said it was a pity that she couldn't find you at the bridge head. She planned to go wandering around and maybe run into you by chance. Then she would ask them all to come to you to discuss their marriage."
Master Mingxin was silent for a moment, then said, "Forget it. There's no need to keep an eye on it tomorrow."
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