Xue Shu was ordered by the emperor to track down the mastermind behind the fox demon case, but the progress was not smooth.

Emperor Longfeng was the supreme ruler. He was dissatisfied with the poor performance of the Jinyiwei and Dongchang, so he casually assigned the task to Xue Shu, who had made great contributions in rescuing his driver, and asked him to catch the real culprit within ten days.

But he did not allow Xue Shu to hold an official position, nor did he give him any personnel to deploy. Although Xue Shu said he was following the emperor's orders, he was still just a lowly servant. Not to mention the personnel of the East Factory and the Imperial Guard, even the servants of the West Factory, although they flattered him, were more cautious than the others when it came to actually doing the work.

With no one to dispatch, he could only investigate on his own.

Xue Shu went to the Huangji Palace again.

After one night, the Huangji Palace was covered with snow, and there was almost no trace of the previous night.

Xue Shu walked around the hall, then looked around, measuring the distance in his mind.

Last night, the red mist and ghostly lights almost enveloped the entire Imperial Palace Square, covering a wide area. He grew up in the market and had seen countless similar magic tricks, but compared to the one in front of the Imperial Palace last night, the magic tricks of the jugglers could only be considered a minor event.

It must have taken a lot of effort to create such a scene. And with such a large area, it must have been arranged in advance to ensure that everything went well.

Even though those Jinyi Guards were useless, they would not sit idly by and watch thieves and villains coming and going near the Huangji Palace.

Therefore, the person who made this arrangement must have an identity that can conceal his identity.

Most likely it's an inside job.

There are only so many people who can walk in the palace. If the other party takes the risk to do this, it must be of great benefit to himself.

Xue Shu recalled the performances of everyone last night, and after eliminating them one by one, he quickly locked on the suspect.

After being noisy for half the night, Yin Chengyu got up late during the day.

When Zheng Duobao heard the noise and came in, he saw him still leaning on the couch with the quilt in his arms, his long black hair draped over his shoulders, making his face look even more handsome, and with a hint of laziness that he rarely showed before.

"It snowed all night, and it's very cold outside. I specially asked the kitchen to prepare some mutton tripe soup, so Your Highness can drink some to warm himself up when he wakes up."

Yin Chengyu hummed lazily, still looking a little listless.

——In the second half of the night, he always felt that the quilt was very cold, and he couldn't sleep well.

In fact, he was not that afraid of cold before. This problem only developed after he visited the imperial mausoleum.

Imprisoning him in the imperial mausoleum made it seem as if Emperor Longfeng still had some father-son feelings for him and couldn't bear to kill him. But in reality, staying there was worse than being dead.

How can a living person have a good life guarding a dead person's tomb?

The crown prince was deprived of his position and his reputation was in disgrace. The only person who followed him to the imperial mausoleum was Zheng Duobao. Not to mention him, even Zheng Duobao had never suffered any hardship.

But when you arrive at the imperial mausoleum, except for the three meals a day that are delivered to you, you have to do everything else by yourself.

What he feared most at that time was winter.

Whenever it snowed, the imperial mausoleum was as cold as an ice cave. He was a criminal, so naturally there was no charcoal supply. In the first year, he had no preparations, and he could only grit his teeth and endure it even if it was too cold to sleep. In order to wash clothes for him, Zheng Duobao's hands, which were considered to be well-fed, were frozen and full of frostbite.

By the second year, they had gained experience and had already stored firewood for the winter. He and Zheng Duobao went around looking for firewood, chopped it up and dried it in the sun.

Zheng Duobao was reluctant to let him take action at first, but he had fallen to that point, so who was he supposed to be putting on airs?

If you don't take action, you will just wait to die.

They survived the five years of confinement in this way. His body became even more depleted during those years. Even after he formed an alliance with Xue Shu and returned to the East Palace, he still could not forget the feeling of being in an icy cave, cold to the bone.

From then on, I developed a fear of cold.

In winter, the floor heating in his house would be lit early, and the charcoal fire would be more abundant than that of other people. At that time, Xue Shu insisted on staying in his house, but after a few days, he got burned by the fire and had two nosebleeds.

But even so, he refused to move to another house and forced himself not to use the hot water heater anymore.

That was also the first time he got angry with Xue Shu. Afterwards, he was still a little nervous, worried that Xue Shu would tear up the agreement in anger. But unexpectedly, Xue Shu was not angry. Instead, he developed the habit of boxing before going to bed. When he hugged him before going to bed, he felt warm all over, which was more comfortable than the earth dragon that roasted people.

So he just acquiesced to the other person's behavior of holding him while sleeping.

Now that I think about it, if there is any good thing about Xue Shu, it is probably that he is very good at warming the bed.

Yin Chengyu sighed and said to Zheng Duobao, "Is the floor heater in the room not hot enough? Ask someone to light it up."

Zheng Duobao felt the temperature in the room and thought that if it got any hotter, he would sweat. But looking at Yin Chengyu's pale face, he thought that it was because of the previous serious illness that the prince was weaker than others, so he quickly agreed. In his heart, he was thinking about asking someone to make some medicinal food to nourish the prince's body.

After the floor heater heated up a little, Yin Chengyu threw back the quilt and got out of bed.

After Zheng Duobao helped him wash and change his clothes, he ordered someone to serve lunch.

Yin Chengyu drank a mouthful of mutton tripe soup, half-closed his eyes in comfort, and then asked the main business: "Has the person been caught?"

——Long before the New Year's Eve banquet began, he had arranged for people to ambush around the Huangji Palace. The demon fox appeared last night, and the Huangji Palace fell into chaos. The person who took action thought that no one would notice him, but in fact, his people had already been waiting in the dark for an opportunity to take action.

"Commander Zhao came to report this morning that two people were captured last night. One of them committed suicide by taking poison, and the other was arrested but was very stubborn and refused to say anything," said Zheng Duobao.

"Zhao Lin is still too kind-hearted." Yin Chengyu shook his head and said, "Since the emperor has handed the case over to Xue Shu to investigate, let him come and take the person away."

As soon as Xue Shu returned to Xichang, he was summoned to Ciqing Palace again.

When he reached the palace gate, he carefully brushed off the snowflakes on his body before following the eunuch who led the way into the hall.

The red throne in the middle of the hall was empty. Only Zheng Duobao was waiting for him in the hall. When he saw him coming, he said, "Master Xue, please come with us."

Xue Shu followed him for a few steps, then turned his head to look at the empty seat and asked, "Why don't you see His Highness?"

"Why does Your Highness need to intervene in such a trivial matter?" Zheng Duobao glanced at him and felt that this Lord Xue had very poor manners. He could not help but say, "Your Highness is the king and we are the subjects. How can you casually inquire about Your Highness's whereabouts? This is disrespectful!"

Xue Shu touched the handkerchief hidden in his arms and hummed absentmindedly.

Zheng Duobao led him to the dungeon where the prisoners were temporarily held, chattering away.

The suspect was tied to a pillar, his head hanging down, his face could not be seen clearly, his shirt was stripped off, and there were whip marks on his body, which showed that he had just been tortured.

"That's the man. Yesterday, Commander Zhao noticed that the man was acting suspiciously, so he arrested him for questioning. Unexpectedly, one of them committed suicide by taking poison. This man was caught in time, but he was very stubborn and refused to say anything. Now he will be handed over to Lord Xue for interrogation. I hope Lord Xue can find out the truth as soon as possible and catch the thief."

Zheng Duobao's words sounded very reasonable, and this was also the reason why he brought Xue Shu here openly.

The guards of the Eastern Palace discovered a suspicious person and handed him over to Xue Shu, who was in charge of the case, for interrogation. Xue Shu could not find any fault with the person.

Xue Shu was a little disappointed when he failed to meet Yin Chengyu, and he was too lazy to waste time, so he just took the person and left.

Zheng Duobao returned to the inner hall to report to Yin Chengyu.

"Has the person been taken away?" Yin Chengyu was practicing calligraphy in the Hongren Hall.

"Yes." Zheng Duobao dismissed the eunuch who was waiting on him and picked up the inkstone to grind ink. "He took the man away without saying anything. Commander Zhao spent the whole night trying to pry him open, but he couldn't get anything out of him. Can this Lord Xue really get anything out of him?"

He was somewhat skeptical.

"If he can't figure it out, no one else can."

Yin Chengyu snorted and laughed, but couldn't help but frowning when he thought of the cruel methods Xue Shu used to deal with his enemies.

In his previous life, Xue Shu certainly learned some of those methods from the factory guards, but more importantly, he was inherently ruthless and cruel to an extent that no one else could match.

Later, he was in charge of two factories and one guard, and he brought new tricks to the Beizhen Fusi Prison. It was said that no one who went in, no matter how tough they were, could survive more than three days.

"Just wait and see, there will be results soon."

Xue Shu took his men to the Xichang Prison.

During its heyday, the West Factory also had a prison for detaining and interrogating suspects, where torture methods were no less varied than those in the Imperial Prison. However, after the West Factory declined, the West Factory prison became vacant, and all criminals were sent to the Imperial Prison. Of course, the credit for this naturally goes to the East Factory or the Jinyiwei.

However, that afternoon, the screams of suspects were heard again from the Xichang Prison, which had been vacant for a long time.

This familiar yet unfamiliar voice startled the guards at the West Factory, and they asked each other who was interrogating the prisoner.

After asking around, the only candidate was Xue Shu.

After Xue Shu sent the man to the Xichang Prison, he never showed up again. Not long after, endless screams and curses were heard from the prison.

Those who were still in the West Factory were all idiots with little ability and courage. When they heard the miserable cry, their faces turned ugly.

The screams were so loud that they could not continue drinking and fighting. The soldiers dispersed, wondering when the screams would stop.

As a result, this cry continued all night long.

The next morning, the screams finally stopped, and Xue Shu, filled with rage, walked out of the Xichang prison.

There was a guard who wanted to go up to him and say hello and compliment him, but he was frightened by the anger in his eyes and held his breath subconsciously. Only after he passed by did he dare to breathe out.

——At this moment, Xue Shu looked even more frightening than the judge who had been in charge of the imperial prison for many years.

It doesn't look like a human being, but more like a murderous knife.

The author has something to say:

Your Highness: I can only warm the bed.

Xue Shu:? Others are also good.