Inside the carriage, Chu Xuan looked calm and composed, but the Dali Temple Minister was sweating profusely.

"In that case, I would like to thank you for your noble character on behalf of the people of Tianji." Chu Xuan said solemnly, "This matter is not difficult to explain. I want you to thoroughly investigate the source of the banned drug for me. There is no way this thing could appear out of thin air in Tianji."

"This prince and the princess have already found out something. The deceased Dali Temple Secretary Yan Shaobai was one of the people involved. That day at the residence of the Minister of Works, the princess confronted Yan Shaobai alone because of this matter, but Yan Shaobai was silenced unexpectedly."

"During this period, there were also Pei Tianqi, the deputy minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Wang He, the envoy of the Imperial Court, and Li Shou, the junior minister of the Ministry of Rites. They secretly purchased banned drugs from the wealthy merchant Jia Jing and secretly transported them from Beiliang to the capital."

The Dali Temple official said, "These people look harmless on weekdays, but they are so bold!"

Chu Xuan snorted coldly: "Of course there are more than them. They are just the minions. This matter is not as simple as it seems. Your Excellency would never have thought that this banned drug first emerged from within the capital, which means..."

"That is to say, someone had already brought the drugs into Tianji in advance, and then these few people started selling them secretly?" The Dali Temple Minister was shocked.

If this is true, then this drug case was premeditated by someone, who shipped the drugs to Beijing in advance so that Yan Shaobai and his companions could see the violence involved. They could not resist the desire for profit and decided to take the risk.

But who would be the first person to transport the banned drugs to the capital?

Chu Xuan saw the doubts of the Dali Temple Minister and said bluntly: "I want you to find this person out. His Majesty has given you real power, so you should not disappoint His Majesty's expectations."

The Dali Temple Minister heard the hidden meaning in Chu Xuan's words, and a trace of shame appeared on his face: "Don't worry, Your Majesty, I was short-sighted before. Now that I know the interests of the matter, I will do my best and live up to the trust of Your Majesty and Your Majesty."

The Dali Temple Minister did not dare to delay any longer, so he said goodbye to Chu Xuan and went to the Dali Temple. Based on the names of several officials provided by Chu Xuan, he began to investigate the source of the banned drugs.

A few days later, at Fulai Restaurant.

The Dali Temple Minister was dressed in casual clothes and walked leisurely to the box on the second floor. If you didn't know him, you would have thought he was just bored and came here to meet a friend.

But as soon as the door closed, his expression changed immediately. He bowed his hands very respectfully and said, "Your Highness, please wait."

Inside the room, Chu Xuan raised his hand and summoned the Dali Temple Minister to take a seat.

"How is it? Any progress?"

The Dali Temple Minister nodded, took out a household registration from his arms and placed it in front of Chu Xuan.

"Your Majesty, please look."

Chu Xuan was confused, so he opened it and saw that it was Grand Tutor Li Tingzhou.

The Dali Temple Minister was not polite either. He took the teacup and filled it with water, then drank it in one gulp. God knows how he had lived in fear for the past few days.

The box of gold in the study in the mansion is now a hot potato, reminding him all the time that this matter is not over yet and his life will end sooner or later.

"Your Highness should be familiar with Li Tingzhou. He was your enlightenment master before." Looking at Chu Xuan's shocked face, the Dali Temple Minister finally felt a little more balanced.

"This man rose through the ranks during the reign of the previous emperor through the imperial examinations, and later became the Grand Tutor. He is usually very low-key, so no one has ever doubted his origins and background."

Chu Xuan turned his head slightly to look at the Dali Temple Minister and asked, "He is from... Beiliang?"

"Exactly."

Chu Xuan pondered for a moment and digested the answer. Li Tingzhou was considered his teacher. It was the emperor himself who appointed Li Tingzhou to teach the princes at the Imperial College. It had been many years since he left, and Chu Xuan hadn't seen him for a long time.

I just vaguely remember that this man was often dressed in white and held a folding fan in his hand, which gave him a sense of immortality.

The Dali Temple Chief Justice remained silent, waiting for Chu Xuan to make a decision.

"Follow me into the palace and meet my father in person."

The Dali Temple Minister put down his teacup and hurried to follow. The calm and composed look he had when he entered the room was long gone.

Tai Chi Hall.

The emperor lowered his head and listened to the report from the Dali Temple Minister. He also presented the box of gold that had been weighing on his mind for many days, along with Li Tingzhou's household registration.

It is clearly recorded above that Li Tingzhou, a native of Beiliang, entered Tianji in the eleventh year of the previous dynasty and passed the imperial examination to become a Jinshi in the fifteenth year. From then on, he stepped into the officialdom of Tianji step by step.

"I investigated the case of banned drugs and found that Pei Tianqi, the deputy minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Wang He, the envoy of the Imperial Court, and Li Shou, the junior minister of the Imperial Ministry of Rites, secretly stockpiled banned drugs through the wealthy merchant Jia Jing. Following the clues, I found that except for the wealthy merchant Jia Jing, all of them were involved with the Grand Tutor Li Tingzhou."

"My intuition was wrong. I continued to investigate and found that Li Tingzhou was not from Tianji at all, but from Beiliang. In addition, the banned drugs also came from Beiliang. This makes me suspect that the Grand Tutor has a great relationship with this case."

The Dali Temple Minister concealed Chu Xuan’s involvement in the matter.

The emperor was silent for a moment, then asked, "What are you going to do next?"

Without waiting for the Dali Temple Minister to speak, Chu Xuan bowed and continued, "Father, I think this case is still lacking key evidence. Why don't we keep it quiet for now and let him fall into a trap."

The emperor raised his eyes, looked at Chu Xuan, and agreed after a while.

For the next few days, the capital was quiet. The emperor neither inquired about the progress of the banned drug case nor wanted to punish Lu Yanluo. Yan Shaobai's wife knelt and begged at the palace gate every day, but it seemed that everyone had forgotten about it for a while.

Because the wind direction in the capital had changed, everyone's attention was once again focused on Prince Ye's Mansion, and they had no time to care about a small secretary of the Dali Temple.

To trace the root of the problem, we have to start from a few days ago.

A few days ago, King Ye asked to see the emperor and specifically asked to take the princess out of the prison. Unexpectedly, the emperor decisively refused. Later, he requested to go to the prison to see the princess, but was rejected by the emperor again.

In a rage, the Night King broke into the Heavenly Prison but was stopped by the guards. When the emperor found out, he was furious and ordered that the Night King be confined to the palace and not allowed to go in or out.

How many princes died under house arrest? Everyone speculated that the emperor really couldn't help it this time and wanted to take action against the Night King.

At the same time, the scale of the proliferation of banned drugs is getting bigger and bigger. Nine out of ten people in Beijing are harmed by these drugs.

Chu Xuan had no choice but to secretly buy the drugs from drug dealers at high prices. Shen He and his secret guards roamed around the capital all day long, looking for stalls selling banned drugs and destroying them one by one.

midnight.

Chu Xuan stood by the window. Shen He beside him was also feeling uneasy. He was afraid that one day the palace would spend all its money on the banned drugs and fall into decline prematurely.