fruit
There were some things that Xizhen didn’t explain clearly before, and I hope to get the real answers before setting off.
Or, get information about the goddess.
Unable to explain the vague uneasiness in his heart, Jiang Nian raised his hand and pressed his chest. It was extremely dull there, telling him that something was about to happen -
The oppressive feeling of a huge body about to collapse on her.
—
Qin Lan stopped in front of them, looked at them for a moment, and laughed.
"It seems I've been worrying too much. Some people can remain conscious even if they're drowning in a river from which there's no return."
Feeling Xiao Yingzhu's cold gaze, Qin Lan spread his hands and then smiled at Jiang Nian, "Xiao Yingzhu usually doesn't like to reveal his thoughts to others, but Miss Jiang, you are different. If you have any questions, just ask him."
"If asking once doesn't work, then ask a few more times."
"Don't be fooled by Xiao Yingzhu's cold and unpredictable nature. She's actually quite soft-hearted. If you just give her a little push—"
Under Jiang Nian's somewhat embarrassed and questioning gaze, Qin Lan was slowly placed on the shoulder by the fan in Xiao Yingzhu's hand, and a smiling tone immediately sounded in his ears.
"Anything else you want to say?"
The tone sounded like a smile, but it was obviously the kind of smile that was fake, and it also had a cold and murderous connotation, which was extremely creepy.
How could Qin Lan not know that he was currently teetering on the edge of Xiao Yingzhu's patience, and that he had already reached the limit of his patience, so he immediately stopped talking.
"...It's nothing, haha, Miss Jiang, please do as you please."
Although he knew that Xiao Yingzhu would not do anything to him in front of Jiang Nian, due to people's fear of unknown things, Qin Lan didn't know how Xiao Yingzhu would deal with him in secret, so he quickened his pace and took a few steps forward.
Jiang Nian ignored the modern terms like "straight ball" that Qin Lan had learned from somewhere, and naturally brought up other topics to free himself from this inexplicably awkward atmosphere.
"Speaking of which, what happened to those nobles who participated in the Flower Court Meeting?"
When I was there that day, I was only focused on Meng Yao, and no one else paid much attention.
The only thing we know is that Xuan Gui intercepted several nobles.
Later, because they saw the note on the thief, they focused their attention on the bishop, and no one knew what to do with the nobles led by Meng Yao.
Qin Lan now put aside his gossipy nature and became serious.
"Miss Jiang specifically told me that they might have the source of infection, so I used all the protective measures you gave me on Bu Qu and Xuan Gui."
"As for the nobles, we've taken the boxes from them and separated them. We don't know what they did before heading to the Flower Dynasty to meet the Fifth Prince."
"As for the rest of the people going to the Flower Dynasty Conference..."
Qin Lan paused, his face thoughtful. "Miss Jiang brought that packet of red powder earlier, remember? My troops took it for experiments."
"That powder can make a person lose their ability to move for a short period of time, and can also cause amnesia for one to three days, depending on their physical condition."
"So after I got this result, I asked people to interview those who were knocked unconscious."
"But unfortunately, they didn't see the face of their attackers."
"——" Jiang Nian suddenly remembered something and looked up at Qin Lan and asked, "I didn't see those missing people at the Flower Festival. When I returned to Shichan Hall, there was no one there."
“Where were those people placed?”
There was one thing that Jiang Nian couldn't figure out, and that was that she really didn't understand the way the Wu Mi people acted at the Huachao Conference this time.
You want everyone to disappear, but except for Shichantang, some nobles are just leaning in the corner unconscious, having inhaled a little red powder.
If no one is missing, then what about those people in Shichan Hall?
Qin Lan paused, obviously knowing what Jiang Nian was thinking at the moment, and then smiled and said, "Miss Jiang seems to have forgotten something."
"The nobles you saw outside the arena are the ones Meng Yao needs the next day. They are responsible for helping Meng Yao escape from Princess Qingping and then strike back."
"And the people in Shichan Hall are mostly vassals of the nobles. Their social status isn't that high; at the very least, they're almost like commoners."
Jiang Nian recalled the group of young ladies who surrounded the prefect's daughter.
"This group of people is of no use to Meng Yao, so they were thrown somewhere else."
Qin Lan paused. After speaking for such a long time, he felt a little tired.
After raising his hand to stroke his sore neck, he turned his head to glance at Jiang Nian.
"Is there anything Miss Jiang doesn't understand?"
“…”
Jiang Nian walked side by side with Xiao Yingzhu for a few steps, and suddenly a question mark popped up in his mind, which had been thinking.
"Why? Those who disrupted the Flower Court Meeting...shouldn't they be counted as those who stood against the Fifth Prince?"
Qin Lan narrowed his eyes, and a cunning look flashed across his eyes.
"That's right. So the nobles who were not taken away but remained unconscious are the ones that Meng Yao protects."
"Because Meng Yao's men protected them...that's why they were able to save their lives."
"It's a shame that a pawn is still just a pawn. After admiring Meng Yao for such a long time, this little bit of protection is now equated with Meng Yao's gift. The two are written off, and so the next day, he was used as a sacrifice."
It's really complicated.
Jiang Nian nodded and turned his attention to the group of "inferior products that Meng Yao did not take seriously."
"So those missing people...were they the work of the invaders, or a fourth party?"
Qin Lan thought about it and was about to respond, but Xiao Yingzhu, who had been silent all the time, spoke before he could open his mouth.
"The fourth party."
"I asked Qin Lan to investigate earlier. The goddess's subordinates... a group of them are worried that Meng Yao's strength is insufficient, and they are going to clean up the mess by entering the Flower Dynasty to prevent them from leaking anything they shouldn't and providing us with new information."
"After all, they didn't want us to notice the presence of a fourth party, so the people from that party acted very cautiously and simply cleared out anyone who got in the way."
However, his method was quite gentle. He did not kill people directly, but instead erased their memories.
"……Why?"
Jiang Nian was extremely confused. It seemed as if there were countless questions waiting to be asked today. When it came to a conclusion that required a high degree of association between the relationships among all parties, she always felt that her brain was not enough.
"Just clear out the people in Shichan Hall. It would make a lot of noise. Aren't you afraid of arousing our suspicion?"
"..." Xiao Yingzhu smiled faintly and glanced at her sideways, "When you first started reasoning, you all attributed the people who fainted in the Huachao Club to Ru Mengyao's men."
"This is the purpose of the fourth party."
Jiang Nian shifted his gaze, feeling inexplicably guilty.
She didn't have much experience with this kind of thing, but luckily she would always think before she spoke, otherwise it was possible that the "invaders" she was thinking of just now wiped out the people in Shichan Hall.
The viewing area was not far from the conference hall. The three of them walked in silence for a while, one in front and two behind, and then Qin Lan spoke again.
"But those people from Shichan Hall were eventually found together with the group of soldiers, all in the basement."
"The most important thing now is to find the fourth party."
If the people from the fourth party remain hidden in the fog, they will be a hidden danger to Xiao Yingzhu's side.
A hidden mine that may explode at any time.
Jiang Nian nodded and glanced at Xiao Yingzhu beside him.
"Do you have any ideas?"
"..." Xiao Yingzhu glanced at her leisurely, "Do you take me for a wishing bottle?"
——I was just about to ask, where did they learn these modern expressions from?
She never taught me at all.
Jiang Nian had an inexplicable feeling that he was leading ancient people astray. He lowered his eyes and shook his head, pretending to be innocent.
"No way, Xiao Guogong is always so wise, so it's not surprising that I would think so."
The ball was kicked back, but Xiao Yingzhu had no intention of responding.
He casually straightened his sleeves which had been slightly rolled up due to his friendly interaction with Qin Lan, and then brought the topic back on track.
"Hasn't the goddess's men been found out yet?"
Qin Lan shrank his neck as he inexplicably felt pressure from his superiors.
"God, I'm the fastest at gathering intelligence on Huandu. No one is faster. Look, it's only been four days since the first day of the Flower Festival. How could I have figured it out so quickly?"
"but--"
Qin Lan's professional ability was challenged, and he had to prove that his intelligence bureau was not just for free. He walked and thought for a while and dug out some "reliable" information.
"If I must say, among the group of people who were rescued, several saw a figure before they lost consciousness."
He pondered for a moment and continued, "He's not very tall, about the size of a teenager."
…
After waiting for a long time, seeing that Jiang Nian and Xiao Yingzhu didn't say anything, Qin Lan turned around angrily and started pointing at them.
"Hey! My intelligence gathering is not easy, can you give me some positive feedback?"
“…”
Jiang Nian hid his face, which was a bit difficult to describe, and said with a smile: "Well, if the fourth party is a teenager, I think we should start with the younger ones among the Wu Mi people..."
Xiao Yingzhu completely ignored Qin Lan's reply and continued on her way as usual, not even glancing at him.
“………………”
“……………………………………”
"!!! I'm telling you guys!!!!!! Enough is enough!!!"
Qin Lan was completely enraged. Before he blushed, Jiang Nian and Xiao Yingzhu returned to the conference room at the same time.
The soldier from the military department was still sitting in his original position, with dark circles under his eyes, painting on the paper with a brush.
Seeing Jiang Nian coming in from outside, his dead fish eyes finally lit up. He raised the drawing paper in his hand brightly, then took out the original version, put them side by side, and handed it to Jiang Nian respectfully.
"——Miss Jiang! Please look!"
Under Jiang Nian's astonished gaze, Bu Qu placed the two fragile drawings in her hands carefully and gently with extremely exaggerated movements.
Then he raised his head and looked at her expectantly.
"Ms. Jiang, please answer!"
"Of these two drawings—which one do you think is more suitable for you to wear to Zuihualou?"
“——”
Jiang Nian held the blueprint carefully. She felt that if she accidentally crumpled the blueprint, the students from the military department would be shattered into pieces.
Under the scorching gaze, she pondered for a moment, then finally turned back to Wu Bu's followers and tentatively asked, "Comparing the two, I think it's... the blueprint in my right hand?"
Because there were no numbers or words marked on it, Jiang Nian could not accurately describe whether this was the first edition or the nth edition, but out of intuition, she chose a drawing that did not look like the first edition.
Wu Bu's men were startled for a moment and stuck their heads out to look in the direction she pointed.
“…”
“…………?”
“!”
The moment he saw the familiar first edition, his eyes went dark, his legs kicked, and he died.
Our classmate from the military department went there just like that.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
