"What, can't I come to see you? Are you disappointed that it's not my sister-in-law?" The girl smiled, her eyes curving like crescent moons.
Zu An's breath hitched, and he said awkwardly, "Don't talk nonsense. Even if you don't care about your own sister-in-law's reputation, you should at least care about mine."
The girl dressed as a man in front of me is none other than Sang Qian, the eldest daughter of the Sang family. I really didn't expect her to appear outside the Qi Prince's mansion, as if she were waiting for me here.
Sang Qian was stunned for a long time. What the hell is your reputation? What kind of reputation do you, a grown man, have?
Zuan laughed and put his hand on her shoulder: "What brings you here specifically to see me?"
Sensing his movement, Sang Qian tensed up and dodged to the side warily, saying, "What are you doing? Men and women shouldn't touch each other!"
Zu An chuckled: "You're the one who wants to dress as a man, but now everyone else sees you as a man. It's normal for two men to be arm in arm. Your coy and evasive behavior makes it easier for people to spot your deception. You should know that there are many eyes in the capital watching me right now."
Sang Qian knew he was telling the truth. After all, he was a key figure who came out of the secret realm alive, and to some extent, he had become the focus of the power struggle between the Crown Prince Group and the Qi Prince Party. Both sides would have people watching him, and third-party forces would also take notice of him.
This is why Sang Qian disguised herself to meet Zu An today; she didn't want to expose the Sang family so quickly.
So she had no choice but to stop struggling. Fortunately, the other person just casually put their hand on her shoulder and did not make any further rude moves, which made her breathe a sigh of relief.
“My dad said you might need some help, so he sent me over to take a look.” Sang Qian’s face flushed slightly, after all, she had never been so close to another man before.
Zuan couldn't help but laugh: "Lord Sang is truly a confidant of mine. I have indeed been having some headaches lately."
He then briefly explained the task assigned to him by the emperor: "I don't understand what's so interesting about investigating this kind of case. The Prince Qi's mansion will definitely not cooperate. And even if they want to investigate, wouldn't it be better to send someone else? Why send me? I ruined the Prince Qi's plans in the secret realm before, and they already see me as a thorn in their side, wishing they could get rid of me as soon as possible."
After hearing his words, Sang Qian frowned and fell into deep thought. Zu An, who was standing next to her, looked her over. This girl was pretty, and she looked quite charming when she frowned.
“I understand now. The reason the Emperor sent you to investigate this case must have been intentional…” Sang Qian’s eyes suddenly lit up, and she was about to say something excitedly when she saw the other person staring intently at her, and she stopped talking abruptly.
Zu An laughed: "When did you learn to spout such meaningless nonsense? Of course, the emperor deliberately sent me to investigate the case."
Sang Qian glared at him with a hint of annoyance, but still explained, "What I mean is, the Emperor never intended to find out anything about this case. The reason he sent you here was just to... to annoy Prince Qi."
As she spoke, she secretly glanced at the other person's expression. Seeing that there was no significant change, she continued, "At the same time, use this matter to distract Prince Qi. If I'm not mistaken, His Majesty is probably busy preparing something else to deal with Prince Qi."
Zu An raised an eyebrow. He originally thought that the emperor's move was mainly to get him closer to Prince Qi and have me hand over the fake secret manual. He didn't expect that the emperor had a hidden trick up his sleeve.
"Qian'er, you've really impressed me." Zu'an tightened his grip on her shoulder.
Sang Qian glared at him irritably: "You should worry about your own case. Although the emperor doesn't expect you to find anything, it's still too dangerous for you to keep hanging around at Prince Qi's residence. You should know that you are the culprit who put Prince Qi at a disadvantage among the crown princes. If you keep hanging around in front of them, even if Prince Qi is magnanimous enough to tolerate you, his subordinates may not be so tolerant."
Zu An nodded secretly. What he saw at the Qi Prince's mansion today showed that the Qi Prince's attitude was alright, but the people in the Qi Prince's mansion, including Yu Nan, all looked like they wanted to skin him alive. It was quite possible that they would take action against him in private.
"What can I do now? Without an autopsy on the concubine of the King of Qi, there's no way to even begin the investigation." Zu An was also very distressed.
Sang Qian said with a hint of schadenfreude, "I think you'd better give up that idea. Although she is a concubine, she is still Prince Qi's woman. How could she possibly allow a coroner to perform an autopsy? Even the Emperor wouldn't allow that."
Zu An asked, "Are there female coroners in the capital?"
Sang Qian shook her head: "Coroners often deal with rotting and horrific corpses, so it has always been a man's job. I've never heard of any girl willing to do such a thing."
Zuan couldn't help but complain: "Women hold up half the sky, what kind of occupational gender discrimination is this in your world?"
"Women hold up half the sky?" Sang Qian's eyes lit up. "You usually talk nonsense and rarely say anything useful. For the sake of this, I can reluctantly help you."
"You know a female coroner?" Zu An asked, somewhat puzzled.
“I’ve already said that this is a job that no girl is usually willing to do, but…” Sang Qian changed the subject, “I do know a little about it.”
Zuan: "???"
How do you know this?
"Back then, I found it boring, so I learned about various professions." Sang Qian was also a little embarrassed, after all, in this era, it was not a good thing for women to study corpses. "But even if I knew a little about coroner skills, it would be useless, the Qi Prince's Mansion would never let us touch her body."
Zuan smiled mysteriously: "I have a way!"
That evening, Sang Qian was taken to the vicinity of the Prince Qi's residence. Gazing at the high walls before her, she said expressionlessly, "Is this your plan?"
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