"Lord Jiang, who are Qiuju's lovers?" Yun Qingran asked Jiang Yunqi.
“They’re all merchants,” Jiang Yunqi replied.
“Impossible. Baihua Pavilion is one of the top brothels in the capital, and Miss Qiuju is its top courtesan. It’s impossible that her lovers are only merchants,” Yun Qingran said.
“I’ll go ask the madam,” Jiang Yunqi agreed, and then went to find the madam.
A short while later, Madam Qian, the madam of Baihua Pavilion, arrived.
"This humble woman greets His Highness the Prince of Beihan, Princess Rongchang, and Lord Jiang." Mama Qian knelt on the ground, trembling, her face powder falling off in a flurry.
"Who are Qiuju's lovers?" Yun Qingran asked, sitting on the stool in front of the madam.
"There's Master Zhu, Boss Gao..."
"What kinds of mistresses do officials have?" Yun Qingran interrupted her impatiently.
Madam Qian's eyes darted around, and she quickly denied it, "No adults have ever visited our Hundred Flowers Pavilion."
“According to the laws of Beiyin, officials are not allowed to enter brothels except for official business. Otherwise, they will have three months' salary deducted and will not be promoted for three years. So when officials come to brothels, they either conceal their identities or have the madam sign a document to prevent the information from being leaked. Madam Qian, I understand your difficulties, but even if you don't tell me, I, the princess, have ways of finding out which officials are Miss Qiuju's patrons. Don't blame me for being ruthless towards you then.”
Yun Qingran crossed her legs, one hand lightly tapping the table, and said in a lazy manner.
Although she spoke casually, it was incredibly oppressive to Qian's mother.
After hesitating for a moment, Madam Qian replied, "Qiuju's lovers who are officials include Prefect Du of the capital, Chief Clerk Lu, and Prince Wang."
Princess Rongchang is a princess, and the mistress of the Northern Cold King. Compared to these officials, she is even less likely to offend them.
"Lord Du, the Prefect of the Capital; Lord Lu, the Chief Clerk; and Lord Wang, the Prince's Attendant," Yun Qingran silently recited, then looked at Jiang Yunqi and Jun Molin.
“Of these three officials, only Prefect Du of the capital holds a decent position. The other two are not high-ranking officials at all. In private, they are just good-for-nothings and not capable of getting anything done. Moreover, they have no relationship with Brother Qingbi, let alone any enmity between them,” Jiang Yunqi replied.
Jun Molin remained silent, which meant he also agreed with this viewpoint.
Jiang Yunqi and Jun Molin are both shrewd and perceptive people. They understand these officials well, so if they say there's no problem, then there's probably no problem.
"Are you sure that Qiuju only has these three patrons who are officials?" Yun Qingran asked Qian Mama in a cold voice.
"These are the only three I know," Mama Qian said hesitantly, then added, "but I think there should be more than just these three."
"Oh?" Yun Qingran raised an eyebrow slightly. "Speak!"
"Qiuju has a patron, a young gentleman, who is very fair-skinned and generous to Qiuju. His clothes and appearance clearly indicate that he is a son of a powerful and wealthy family. Once, when I went to Qiuju's room, this young gentleman happened to be there. I heard Qiuju call him 'Sir'," Mama Qian said carefully.
"What's this young master's name? What does he look like?" Yun Qingran quickly asked.
“He didn’t tell us his name, so I don’t know. As for his appearance, I can’t describe it either, I can only say that he’s rather handsome.” Mrs. Qian thought for a moment, “Oh, right, he has a mole on the right side of his chin.”
Yun Qingran looked at Jun Molin and Jiang Yunqi.
“It was Liu Jie, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel,” Jun Molin said.
"My brother's subordinates?" Yun Qingbi was the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel was his subordinate in Zhili.
"Mm." Jun Molin nodded.
“I think I heard my brother mention him before. He said he was a good person and very respectful to him,” Yun Qingran said. “Could it be an act?”
“Liu Jieshu’s grandfather was a general who fought alongside the emperor. The Liu family held some position in the court, and based on my impression of him, he was not an ambitious person,” Jun Molin said.
“Regardless, this is at least a clue. We’ll sneak into the Liu family tonight and check Liu Jieshu’s room for any clues,” Yun Qingran said.
“Okay.” Jun Molin nodded.
A dark and windy night is the perfect time for murder and arson.
In the deep darkness of the night, Jun Molin put his arm around Yun Qingran's waist, and the two of them swept over the Liu family's wall and entered the Liu family's residence. Then, following the location of Liu Jieshu's room that they had inquired about, they found his room.
At this moment, Liu Jieshu's room light was still on. Yun Qingran first moistened the window paper with her finger and gently poked a hole in it. Then she took out a small bamboo tube that she had prepared in advance from her bosom, inserted the small bamboo tube containing sleeping powder into the hole in the window paper, and slowly blew the sleeping powder into it.
Not long after he finished blowing, a peek through the small hole revealed that Liu Jieshu had indeed fainted, his body limp and slumped on the desk.
Jun Molin, who had been watching from the sidelines for a while, asked, "You've been busy all this time just to knock him out?"
"Otherwise what? Am I supposed to come here at night to spy on people reading?" Yun Qingran retorted.
"You should have said so earlier. I can use acupressure on him from a distance. He's just within the range of acupressure, so I can knock him unconscious with a light touch," Jun Molin said, raising his finger.
"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Yun Qingran was speechless, having made her busy for so long.
"Why didn't you ask earlier? This is my first time doing something like this, and I don't know the procedure," Jun Molin said innocently.
Yun Qingran: ...
"Let's go in." Yun Qingran was too lazy to waste words on this clueless guy.
"You look this way, I'll look this way." After entering Liu Jieshu's room and confirming that he was indeed unconscious, Yun Qingran assigned tasks.
“Hmm.” Jun Molin nodded, and then the two began searching the room for clues related to the case.
A short while later, Yun Qingran found a brocade box in the drawer. When she opened it, she found a jade pendant inside with the character "绾" on it.
“This is a woman’s jade pendant. Liu Jieshu is still unmarried, so how could he have a woman’s jade pendant?” Yun Qingran picked up the jade pendant and examined it carefully. It was clearly a woman’s design.
“It could be your cousin’s,” Jun Molin said as he walked over and glanced at the character “绾” on the jade pendant.
"Which cousin of mine?" Yun Qingran asked him.
"Qin Wan, the legitimate daughter of the Grand Tutor's family, and the daughter of your aunt Yunlian," Jun Molin replied.
"Oh right, Yunlian's daughter is named Qin Wan?" Yun Qingran remembered, but asked doubtfully, "It's strange, I've been in this world for almost a year, and I haven't met her yet."
The Grand Tutor is a high-ranking official of the first rank, and his eldest daughter should not be unknown in noble circles. Moreover, given Yunlian's personality, it's impossible for her to remain unknown.
“She entered Jialan Academy when she was twelve years old, and has stayed there all these years without returning,” Jun Molin said.
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