Chapter 221 Beauty's Schemes (24) - Being Monitored by Prince Rui
Ning Shu took out the oiled paper, opened it, and found a letter inside.
There was only moonlight and no lamp in this place, so they couldn't see the contents of the letter.
Ning Shu realized that curfew was approaching, so he quickly put away the letter and instructed Tuya: "Put the bricks back, we'll take them back and look at them later."
After the graffiti was cleaned up, Ning Shu asked, "Can you remember this location?"
Tuya nodded, and Ning Shu said, "Let's go then."
The graffiti led her to the main road.
Ning Shu said, "Curfew is approaching, so don't bother seeing me off. I know the way here."
Go back to the inn quickly, or you'll get caught and it won't be worth it. I'll come find you tomorrow and bring the letter.
He had no objection to the graffiti; he trusted Ning Shu completely, for no other reason than simply because of the hundred taels of silver.
If someone didn't trust themselves, why would they give so much money to someone else for no reason?
Not long after Ning Shu returned to the mansion, it was time to lock the door. She went back to her room and began to "read by lamplight."
The letter had no punctuation, and she didn't dare to mess with the original, so she had no choice but to use the pen, ink, paper, and inkstone she had obtained before to copy it.
Of course, she copied simplified Chinese characters.
But after writing only a couple of characters, she realized that this wouldn't work. To make the strokes of a character clearly visible when writing with a brush, it has to be written as big as a bucket. If it's written too small, it becomes a blob and you can't see what the character is at all.
Previously, she only used a pen to draw lines on paper, and at most wrote a word to indicate a place.
There were very few words on that so-called "map," so the problem wasn't very prominent.
The problem was now too acute. At that moment, she felt almost illiterate. After thinking for a moment, she ran to the kitchen.
To prevent the masters from needing to eat something unexpected, someone is usually on duty in the kitchen.
Ning Shu ran to ask if they had any chicken feathers or goose feathers.
Fortunately, there was something to be thankful for. A chicken was slaughtered today, and she picked out several feathers from the chicken wings on the ground, washed them clean, and then ran back to her room.
After returning to his room, he took out the letter from his pocket, spread out a new sheet of paper, and began to copy it with a feather dipped in ink.
The characters she copied this time were still a little larger than those written with a ballpoint pen, but much smaller than those written with a calligraphy brush, and she was very satisfied.
New problems have arisen.
Because I don't know how to punctuate yet, there are some characters I don't know what they are, so I can only copy them.
After copying, she took a small piece of charcoal she had brought from the kitchen and began to punctuate and mark the sentences.
She had prepared the feather for writing if it became unusable; she put the original letter back in her bosom.
Ning Shu found it all incredibly absurd; she was actually doing classical Chinese reading comprehension exercises in a dungeon, like she was reliving her college entrance exam days.
The college entrance exam only tests translation, and she still has to break down sentences before translating. It's really beyond words.
She "struggled" until the wee hours of the morning and finally figured it out. The original text is as follows:
To my esteemed brother:
My brother has something to hide and wishes to tell his elder brother.
Looking closely at the sea salt market, the price of government-supplied salt is exorbitant, making it unaffordable for the people, while the price of privately-supplied salt is quite reasonable, which is why many people flock to it.
My brother was also tempted, so he conspired with several friends to smuggle salt for a small profit.
Every night when all was quiet, I would set sail and sneak to the salt fields to secretly steal salt.
On the way home, the wind howled and the grass seemed like a menace, fearing capture by the authorities.
However, due to the many secluded places along the way and their careful actions, they have not encountered any problems so far.
However, I know very well that this is a life-or-death act, and if it is discovered, I will surely be imprisoned.
However, blinded by greed, he found it difficult to extricate himself.
My brother wishes to devise a good plan that will allow him to both protect himself and make a living.
If you have any insightful suggestions, I hope you will offer them.
I will remember this forever and be deeply grateful.
Sincerely, my brother]
It's unclear who the "elder brother" and "younger brother" actually are, but there was a seal at the end of the letter, a special pattern, and that's all the information.
The contents of the letter didn't seem to have much to do with her mission, but she decided to discuss it with Tuya tomorrow.
She checked the time on the panel and realized it was almost 1 a.m. She didn't even wash her face; she just rinsed her mouth and went to sleep.
The next day, before she even got out of bed, Prince Rui had already received reports about her every move.
When Prince Rui heard that she and Cui Zeyu had gone to the Wu family to search the place the day before, he didn't react much.
When he heard that they had gone to Cuifenglou for a meal again, he frowned but said nothing.
Hearing that Ning Shu seemed to have been writing a letter after returning to her room last night, and that she didn't speak until very late, he asked, "Do you know who she wrote the letter to?"
The bodyguard said, "I don't know. She doesn't seem to know how to use a calligraphy brush."
They told Prince Rui what they had seen.
Prince Rui found this quite novel: "We need to find out what she wrote in her letter."
The guard hesitated, not immediately agreeing as he usually did.
Prince Rui looked at them strangely, and the guards thought for a moment before reporting the truth:
"Your Highness, the person named Tuya who is next to Miss Ruyi is very strange."
Sometimes he seems to know we're following them, and sometimes he doesn't.
Prince Rui: "What do you mean by 'sometimes know'?"
The bodyguard didn't know how to express it either:
"Sometimes he's quite perceptive when we're tracking them."
I would stop or look back from time to time, but sometimes I seemed to feel nothing at all.
We were following him well last night, but when they entered the alley, we noticed that he suddenly became very cautious.
We didn't dare follow them any further until they reached the back gate of the Prince's mansion, at which point we caught up with them.
Actually, they bypassed the alley and waited directly at the back gate of the Prince's Mansion, because they knew that Ning Shu and Tuya's purpose was to return to the mansion.
Prince Rui's heart skipped a beat: "You've been discovered?"
The bodyguard was unsure: "I don't know. When we notice something unusual about him, we usually turn back in the original direction and then have someone else follow him."
Prince Rui remained silent for a long while before saying, "Be careful in the future. Don't use that batch of secret guards anymore. Replace them with a new batch, and the same goes for you."
The guards bowed and agreed.
Ning Shu went to bed late this time, but she still had to get up on time, since serving the Dowager Consort was an indispensable daily task.
She had just gone to the Dowager Consort's place and finished her greetings when she heard the steward come over and say that the Prince had invited her.
The Dowager Consort gave her a strange look, suspecting that her son had taken a liking to Ruyi.
In the past, she would have been happy to see it happen, but now that Ruyi is suspected of being a spy, she is unwilling.
But she didn't want to go against her son's wishes, lest she upset him.
Besides, she believed her son knew what was going on.
Ning Shu saw the Dowager wave to her before leaving with the steward.
Along the way, Ning Shu asked the steward, "Steward, what does the Prince want with me?"
She has no business dealings with the prince, so why did he approach her?
The steward remained silent, unaware that the master's affairs were beyond his knowledge; he simply followed orders.
It means telling her to stop talking too much.
Ning Shu pouted. With only a few days left for the mission, she couldn't afford to waste any more time.
This time, she met Prince Rui in the back garden, a place she had never been before. Ning Shu had no idea that Prince Rui's mansion had a back garden.
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