Chapter 306: Night Visit to the West Courtyard, Clues
Just after the third watch, the wind-blown lantern hanging on the corner tower of Prince Rong's mansion swayed in the night wind, illuminating the corridor of the east courtyard in flickering light.
Xiaoyanzi, draped in Yongqi's dark-black cape, pressed her hand against her abdomen, her fingertips icy cold. The crabapple petals under the porch were damp with the night dew, and felt soft and greasy to the touch, like stepping on something unidentified, making her heart tighten.
"Do you really want to go?" Yongqi held her wrist and rubbed the shallow scar on her wrist with his fingertips - it was an old wound caused by an arrow when she was saving Ziwei in her previous life, and the mark was left in the same place in this life.
"I can't sleep if I don't go and take a look." Xiaoyanzi looked up at him. Moonlight filtered through the fluff of his cloak onto her face, casting a faint shadow on her eyelashes. "Lanxiang's death was so strange, and that old woman insisted she didn't do it. There must be something fishy going on."
Ziwei came out with a bowl of ginseng soup, the pearl hairpin on her temples gleaming in the light: "I'll go with you. One more person means more care."
"You're pregnant." Yongqi frowned. "The West Courtyard is in such a mess right now. It's unlucky."
"It's precisely because I'm pregnant that I need to find out." Xiaoyanzi pushed his hand away, turned around, took the ginseng soup and took a sip. The warmth slid down her throat, but it didn't dispel the chill in her heart. "I need to know who is watching us in the dark, otherwise I won't be able to sleep well."
Little Dengzi came over, carrying a glass lantern. The wick crackled and sparked. "Your Highness, Princess, the west courtyard has been cordoned off as you ordered. I've brought four guards with me."
The little mosquito shrank his neck and came closer, shuddering: "Goodness, bang, bang! Going to a dead person's house in the middle of the night makes my scalp tingle just thinking about it."
"Coward." Little Bug pushed him, still clutching the rattle he had used to amuse Mian Yi during the day. "With the prince and princess here, what are you afraid of?"
Xiaoyanzi tightened her cloak and said to Yongqi, "Wait here. I'll be back soon."
"Nonsense." Yong Qi tied her cloak and took off his jade ring and put it on her thumb. "I'll go with you."
Two white lanterns hung from the moon gate of the west courtyard, wafting like will-o'-the-wisp lights in the wind. The guards at the gate quickly bowed their heads in greeting as they saw them approach. The pomegranate tree in the courtyard was shadowy, its branches stretching out crookedly like countless grasping hands.
Lanxiang's annex was small, with only a bed and a table. Little Zhuozi was squatting at the table, rummaging through something. Seeing them come in, he quickly stood up and said, "Your Highness, Princess, there's nothing special in this room except a few old clothes..."
"Special things aren't displayed openly," Xiaoyanzi interrupted, her eyes sweeping over the charcoal basin in the corner. The ash in the basin was cold, but the edges were stained with unburned black residue, unlike ordinary charcoal. She walked over and picked at it with her silver hairpin; the residue surprisingly gave off a faint almond scent.
"What is this?" Ziwei moved closer and subconsciously covered her mouth and nose.
Xiaoyanzi's face darkened. "It's the residue from the 'Qianjiyin' drug. Lanxiang didn't hang herself at all. She was poisoned first, and then hanged."
Yongqi's face instantly turned pale, and he kicked the table leg. The coarse porcelain bowl on the table fell to the ground with a clang and shattered. "What a sinister trick!"
The little mosquito shuddered with fear and almost dropped the lantern in his hand: "Wow, boom, boom, are you trying to wipe out the roots?"
Xiaoyanzi ignored him and walked over to the bed, lifting the mattress. Beneath the mattress lay a blue cloth bag. She opened it and found half a silver ingot and a crumpled piece of paper. The note contained only one line of text: "After the task is completed, there will be a generous reward." The handwriting was sloppy, as if written with her left hand.
"The quality of this silver looks like the standard silver from the palace." Yongqi picked up the silver and weighed it. "How could an ordinary maid have such fine silver?"
"And this." Xiaoyanzi pointed to a faint blush on the windowsill, rubbed a little with her fingertips, and sniffed it. "It's rouge, and it's the exclusive rouge of Zuichunlou. The ladies in the palace all love to use it."
Ziwei suddenly exclaimed, "Ah!" and pointed at the wooden wedge behind the door: "Look, there are scratches on it!"
Everyone came closer to take a look, and sure enough, there were several fresh scratches on the wooden wedge, as if it had been repeatedly scraped by something sharp. Xiaoyanzi stared at the scratches for a long moment, then suddenly said, "It's a hairpin. Someone used it to pry the door open."
"Who would pry open a maid's door?" Xiao Zhuozi scratched his head.
"Either they're here to take something, or to silence someone." Xiaoyanzi put the blue cloth bag in her arms. "It seems Lanxiang is just an errand boy. The real culprit is someone else."
As they were talking, they heard hurried footsteps outside the courtyard. Xiao Dengzi quickly blew out the lantern, and the guards drew their swords in an instant, protecting Xiaoyanzi and Yongqi.
"It's me, Uncle Fu!" Fu Erkang's voice rang out from outside the courtyard. "Ziwei asked me to bring some pregnancy-maintaining medicine, saying you guys weren't asleep yet."
Yongqi signaled the guards to put away their swords, and Xiao Dengzi relit the lantern. Fu Erkang walked in with a medicine box and saw the mess in the room. He frowned and asked, "What happened?"
"Lanxiang was murdered." Ziwei whispered, "And these things were found."
Falcon took the blue cloth bag, examined it, and sniffed the residue in the charcoal basin. His expression grew serious. "This 'Qianji Yin' is a forbidden drug. Ordinary people simply can't get it. And this handwriting... I think I've seen it somewhere before."
"Where is it?" Little Swallow asked.
Falcon pondered and said, "I can't remember it at the moment, but I think I saw similar handwriting when I was handling the E Min case last year."
"E Min?" Yongqi and Xiaoyanzi looked at each other and saw shock in each other's eyes.
Xiaoyanzi suddenly remembered the little eunuch who had bumped into her, and Eunuch E's sneaky behavior. The doubts in her heart suddenly cleared up: "It's E Min! Not only does he want to deal with my brother, he also wants to take advantage of this opportunity to stir up trouble in the palace and make us kill each other!"
Yongqi clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white. "He's so bold! Does he really think that Prince Rong's Mansion is easy to bully?"
"We can't alert the enemy yet." Xiaoyanzi held his hand, gently stroking the back of his hand with her fingertips. "We have to find evidence first and expose his true identity."
Fu Erkang nodded in agreement. "The princess is right. E Min has deep roots in the court. Any rash action will only alert the enemy. It would be better to start with the rouge and silver and follow the clues to find the real culprit."
The night wind blew into the house, carrying with it the cool fragrance of crabapple blossoms. Little Swallow looked out the window at the dark night sky and vowed to herself: no matter who was behind this, if they dared to touch her child, she would make them pay with blood.
Yongqi held her hand tightly and whispered in her ear, "Don't be afraid, I'm here."
Xiaoyanzi looked up at him. Moonlight shone through the window lattice onto his face. His eyes were firm and warm. She suddenly smiled and reached out to smooth his frown. "I'm not afraid. I've weathered so many storms in my past life. This little trouble is nothing."
Ziwei looked at their tightly clasped hands, quietly retreated to Falcon's side, and prayed silently in her heart: I hope this storm will pass quickly and everyone can be safe.
The little mosquito yawned, rubbed his eyes and said, "What should we do now? We can't stay in this dead house all night, can we?"
"Go back." Yongqi pulled Xiaoyanzi out. "We've checked everything we need to check. We'll talk about the rest tomorrow."
The group quietly left the west courtyard, the white lanterns behind them swaying in the wind, like two prying eyes, coldly watching their backs. No one noticed that in the shadows of the corner, a dark figure flashed by, holding a hairpin stained with dirt in its hand.
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