"So what if I mock you? Go tell your father." Yun Qingran said to him with a forced smile, arms crossed.
"You..." Nangong Ye was so angry he felt like vomiting blood.
By saying that, wouldn't he be too embarrassed to complain? She is Princess Rongchang of Beiyin, and apart from her father, no one in Nanchu has the right to convict her.
"Want to know how I found Xiao Shi? Listen carefully." Yun Qingran glanced at her, then began to explain how she found Xiao Shi.
"It all started with the discovery of that skeleton. When we found the skeleton that day, we initially suspected it was Shi'er's, but after piecing it together, we realized it wasn't. But then another problem arose: if the skeleton wasn't Shi'er's, then whose skeleton was it?"
Upon hearing her words, everyone immediately realized that they had only focused on whether the skeleton was Xiao Shi, and had stopped paying attention after realizing it wasn't him.
"After I got back, I drew a floor plan of the Xiao residence. I looked at it from left to right, up to down, and found that the Xiao residence was indeed heavily guarded, no less so than the guards of the imperial palace. It was impossible for Shi'er to have disappeared into thin air. Then I thought of something else. The foundation of the Xiao residence was very deep and was filled with molten iron, so it was impossible to dig a tunnel. However, it was possible to dig tunnels between the houses in the courtyard, and because the distance between them was short, it was even easier to do so."
"I think I understand a little, but I don't fully understand." Xiao Jie felt a little dizzy.
"Simply put, it's like a burrowing rat sneaking into the manor beforehand, digging a tunnel to Shi'er's room, and taking him back to his house while he's sleeping. They then disguise him as his roommate. Next, they use sulfuric acid to corrode and melt the real roommate, throwing the remaining bones that couldn't be melted into the kitchen." Yun Qingran finished speaking and glanced at everyone. "Do you understand?"
Xiao Jie and the others nodded, marveling at Yun Qingran's meticulousness; she had managed to uncover such a complex plan bit by bit.
Nangong Ye's face was still full of confusion. How come he didn't understand?
"Your Highness Ye, you still don't understand, right? How about I explain it to you in detail? After all, caring for the mentally challenged is everyone's responsibility," Yun Qingran said with a smile.
“Who says I don’t understand? I understand!” Nangong Ye shouted.
"Good that you understand." Yun Qingran didn't want to expose him.
"Fairy Sister, I'm hungry." Xiao Shi gently tugged at the ribbon on Yun Qingran's sleeve, pouting her cherry lips and looking at him pitifully.
"Okay, I'll take you to get something to eat." Yun Qingran ruffled his hair and giggled.
"Let's go, let's go back to the palace to report." Nangong Xu glanced at Nangong Ye, who was still thinking about what Yun Qingran had just said. Needless to say, his pig brain still hadn't figured out how Xiao Shi had disappeared and how he had been found.
"Hmph." Nangong Ye glared at Nangong Xu. This little rascal had found Xiao Shi this time, and he was sure he'd brag about it again. He had to tell everyone that it wasn't him who found him, but Yun Qingran. He couldn't let him steal the credit.
After Nangong Xu and Nangong Ye left, Xiao Jie said to the butler beside him, "Spread the word about how the young lady found the young master. Be sure to praise her for being quick-witted, intelligent, kind-hearted, and beautiful."
"Yes, sir," the butler replied respectfully, and then hurried off to carry out the task.
"Sir, are you trying to create momentum for Ranran?" Madam Xiao asked.
“Yes.” Xiao Jie nodded. “Ranran used to have a bad reputation in Sihai. Now that she’s our goddaughter, we naturally have to help her clear her name and not let her be ridiculed by the world anymore.”
"Master's idea is very thoughtful." Madam Xiao nodded in agreement.
The couple are businesspeople, incredibly shrewd, and very wary of others. They rarely open their hearts to others, but once they do, they give their whole heart.
Nangong Xu and Nangong Ye arrived at the palace, where the Chu Emperor summoned them to his bedchamber.
"Father, your son and Yun Qingran have found Xiao Shi," Nangong Ye said first.
He had been following along the search for Xiao Shi, so it wasn't exactly a lie to say that he and Yun Qingran had found Xiao Shi.
"How did you find it?" the Chu Emperor asked.
“Hmm…” Nangong Ye didn’t know what to say, because he still didn’t understand how Yun Qingran deduced from the known clues why Xiao Shi was in the servants’ room.
"Brother, you speak," Nangong Ye said, turning to Nangong Xu and passing the buck to him.
This process is so complicated, even that scoundrel Nangong Xu probably hasn't figured it out yet. Nangong Ye thought to himself.
Nangong Xu glanced at him, then said to the Emperor Chu, "Based on the clues, Yun Qingran deduced that Xiao Shi hadn't left the manor and had been inside all along. Simply put, a burrowing rat, skilled at digging tunnels, sneaked into the manor beforehand, dug a tunnel to Shi'er's room, and while he was sleeping, brought him back to his own house through the tunnel, disguising him as his roommate. Then, the real roommate was corroded and melted with sulfuric acid, and the remaining bones that couldn't be melted were thrown into the kitchen. That's why there was an extra skeleton."
The Chu Emperor knew about the sulfuric acid and the skeleton, so Nangong Ye simply quoted Yun Qingran's words to explain it to him.
"Yun Qingran is indeed intelligent. No wonder Jun Molin likes her and is entangled with her." Emperor Chu said after hearing this.
Upon hearing this, Nangong Xu's eyes flashed with a dark and unfathomable cold light.
The Chu Emperor saw all of this and sighed almost imperceptibly.
He looks like his mother, but he didn't learn a single bit of her heartlessness.
Thinking of that heartless woman—no, she wasn't heartless, she simply never loved him; her leaving didn't require any cruelty. The Emperor clenched his fists. He hated her. If she didn't love him, why did she stay with him?
"Ye'er, you may leave. Nangong Xu, you may stay. I have something to discuss with you," the Emperor of Chu said, suppressing the emotions surging within him.
"Father... Your son takes his leave." Nangong Ye didn't want to leave and was just looking for an opportunity to stay when the Emperor of Chu glanced at him. He quickly clasped his hands in a salute and then hurriedly left.
His father wasn't actually very loving towards him, but compared to his indifference towards that villain Nangong Xu, he seemed to show some fatherly affection towards him.
"Please sit down." After Nangong Ye left, the Chu Emperor asked Nangong Xu to sit down.
Nangong Xu casually found a seat and sat down. When no one was around, he was very cold to the Chu Emperor, and did not even observe the proper etiquette between a ruler and his subject.
"Find a way to marry Yun Qingran as your princess, and don't let her go back to Beiyin," the Chu Emperor said bluntly.
"Okay," Nangong Xu agreed.
"This is the first time I've ever been so obedient when I asked you to do something," the Emperor of Chu said with a smile.
Nangong Xu glanced at him, then got up to leave.
"Nangong Xu, don't take this too seriously. There's no way you and Yun Qingran can be together," the Chu Emperor said from behind him.
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