Lost Trace
As it was related to how Cang County would deal with the Wu Mi people in the future, Xiao Yingzhu succinctly recounted the intelligence he had obtained from the sect, and by the way, asked Qin Lan to take out the evidence to verify his speculation.
Comparing the two, everyone looked at the plant and fell into a brief moment of thoughtful silence.
"According to what Duke Xiao said, if this plant really does grow in the mine, then our primary goal right now is to find out who is mining there."
Everyone present had more or less heard of the rumors about the Qixia Mountain mine, but not many had actually taken the time to investigate and explore it.
After all, mineral mining itself is not their own business, and the legends about gods and monsters have been passed down through the bishops of the previous dynasty. Many people who know the inside story have changed their previous views on believing in gods and monsters.
Also affected is that although national sacrifices and religions still exist, the number of believers has decreased.
Therefore, now this matter, which had been put aside and treated as a rumor, was suddenly brought before them and dealt with as the most important matter. Even though Xiao Yingzhu had hinted at it before and everyone was mentally prepared for it, they were still a little surprised.
"Hmm." Xiao Yingzhu stopped talking about the plant and continued, "The Wumi people are likely to use this opportunity to cause chaos over the epidemic. If the epidemic gets worse, rumors will spread and the people will panic. This will be a good time to attack."
Yu Hezheng looked worried, and then he called over one of his men who was guarding outside and whispered a few words to him.
After a brief moment of handing over the task, Xiao Yingzhu suppressed the coldness that flashed across his eyes, lowered his eyelids and looked at the lifelike plant painting.
After the door of the living room was gently closed and the footsteps in the corridor faded away, he said the second thing.
"Also, the Fifth Prince is in Cang County, and the Wu Mi people may well want to use him to bring the impending epidemic to the imperial court."
As soon as these words came out, everyone reacted. After a moment of stunned silence, Meng Zheng's smile faded and he asked in a cold voice, "How do you determine that Meng Yao is in Cang County?"
The suspicion that had just been suppressed rose up again. Xiao Yingzhu was not surprised by Meng Zheng's reaction. The aroma of tea in the living room became stronger and stronger. Listening to his questions, Xiao Yingzhu curled her lips casually.
As if intending revenge, he uttered a few words lightly.
"Because I was the one who led him there."
?
Jiang Nian was halfway through taking notes when the tip of his pen suddenly got stuck on the paper, leaving a small mark of ink.
Even though Jiang Nian was an outsider in their game, he should have known that the most taboo thing in this conversation was to still harbor suspicion towards each other during the conversation.
If she saw correctly when she came in just now, the slightly tense atmosphere between Xiao Yingzhu and Meng Zheng had dissipated a little, and could even be described as eased.
When Jiang Nian previously deduced that Meng Zheng fainted outside Cangjun City, he was thinking that Xiao Yingzhu and Meng Zheng might have disliked each other because of something - perhaps something extremely critical, or they might have had different ideas for many years.
Now that they were able to ease the atmosphere before talking, she was thinking this might be a good start.
But now, before the conversation was even halfway through, the Fifth Prince was suddenly brought up...
Although Jiang Nian had a vague feeling that something was wrong when he heard Xiao Yingzhu take the initiative to ask about the whereabouts of the fifth prince.
But since Xiao Yingzhu had not told her about this before - or since this incident happened before Jiang Nian and Xiao Yingzhu were able to let down their guard and talk to each other, she knew nothing about it.
But after hearing Xiao Yingzhu's next sentence, Jiang Nian understood everything.
Since Xiao Yingzhu has been able to live in Pingzhou recently, it means that he is indeed putting Pingzhou first according to his original plan.
Meng Jian was able to kill the original Second Prince and usurp the throne, which definitely shows that he is not an empty-headed villain. Although they have not met each other yet, he must be a suspicious and cautious person.
Thinking of how Meng Jian had sent people to inquire about her behavior twice before, Jiang Nian immediately thought of the possibility that he might be taking advantage of her.
As the second prince who has usurped the throne, Meng Jian is likely to take action from within.
The current fifth prince might be Meng Jian's target.
But no one knows what happened during the fight between Meng Jian and Xiao Yingzhu. Xiao Yingzhu may have known Meng Jian's actions in advance and lured the fifth prince away from the mountain.
However, given the current situation, Meng Jian obviously has a backup plan.
Since the fifth prince could not do anything in Pingzhou, Meng Jian treated this useful chess piece as a useful discarded piece and got rid of it.
The way to get rid of it is to let the plague infect the fifth prince and send him to the palace.
If we can start an epidemic there and if we are lucky enough we can get rid of Emperor Changde, then Huandu will fall without a fight.
However, Jiang Nian naturally had no idea what methods Meng Jian would use to deal with all this, and what things he had arranged.
But one thing she was sure of was that this somewhat rough reasoning was correct.
—
She sighed softly in her heart. She had been bothered by what was happening between her and Xiao Yingzhu these past few days, so she avoided looking at him, fearing that she would accidentally reveal some flaw that would be discovered by Xiao Yingzhu.
...Even though nothing would happen if she was discovered, she would feel embarrassed and uncomfortable when she thought that the other person would probably know what she was thinking with just one look.
He was too surprised just now and looked directly at Xiao Yingzhu. Now he quickly turned his gaze away and looked at Meng Zheng who was attracting Xiao Yingzhu's attention. Jiang Nian inexplicably felt a little lucky.
"Why did you bring Meng Yao here?"
Meng Zheng stared intently, his tone unable to conceal the coldness.
"You should know the relationship between Meng Yao's mother and Emperor Changde."
"If something happens to him—" Meng Zheng anticipated what might happen in the future, paused, and then said, "You can't stop it."
“Who will be responsible then?”
"Duke Xiao, have you ever thought about this?"
Xiao Yingzhu's expression was indifferent. Seeing Meng Zheng's slight displeasure, the hint of provocation disappeared. Without any intention of being happy about his success, she simply said casually, "I will stop it when the time comes."
"—How do you stop it?"
There were still "outsiders" on the scene who had nothing to do with this matter. Meng Zheng frowned and said coldly, "Duke Xiao, you'd better be fine. I will be watching."
Xiao Yingzhu's expression didn't change much. She seemed to have thought of something and twitched the corners of her mouth in a half-smile, but it wasn't a real smile.
Meng Zheng moved away from Xiao Yingzhu with a complicated expression, his eyes slightly moving towards Jiang Nian, but suddenly stopped and looked back at Xiao Yingzhu in disbelief.
He was about to say something else, but swallowed it back halfway through.
The incident subtly died down. Qin Lan intended to smooth things over. After taking a look at the current situation of both parties, he shared the information Yan had obtained from Xuan Gui to attract everyone's attention.
"Having said that, why not listen to my troops' report?"
The silence eased a little, and everyone's attention was successfully attracted. Qin Lan no longer kept people in suspense as before, and gave a concise and clear explanation.
"That mine is connected to 'Lu', and a Wumi person who is connected to the statue of 'Lu' was found by the troops a while ago."
"But due to the geographical environment and insufficient intelligence, they lost track."
"However, fortunately, their sighting of that 'Lu' has aroused their interest in the basement where the statue once stood, and they have recently made some discoveries."
The manuscript was not completely found, and part of it was rotten by the heavy rain, but according to what Zhao Yan said, it was still possible to repair it. Therefore, today Ai has been looking for someone who can repair the manuscript with Xuan Gui and others.
Xizhen interrupted when talking about this.
"The contents of the manuscript are of vital importance. Can the restorer be trusted?"
Although Qin Lan had the same doubts about what Xizhen asked, he still answered it.
"Well, they said they found a special old man who came from Xiaoxiang and stayed here because of family matters."
"He longed for Huandu to return to peace, so he agreed to restore it using his ancestral craftsmanship and kept it secret from outsiders."
Xizhen's face showed a thoughtful look: "Have you taken care of it?"
Qin Lan responded, "Yes, the people in charge are all your men."
Xizhen was surprised by the decision Qin Lan made. A hint of surprise flashed across his face, but then he calmed down.
"That's right." They were indeed more trustworthy.
However, there were other things that had not been explained at the moment, so Xizhen did not say the latter sentence.
"When will those manuscripts be brought in?"
Meng Zheng was not very concerned about the arrangement of the remaining manuscripts. After all, Xiao Yingzhu would take care of it if anything went wrong, so he just told her what he was most concerned about.
Qin Lan thought for a moment, calculated the time agreed upon by Yan, and replied, "It's almost time. He's on his way now."
It has rained a lot in Cang County recently. Apart from traveling up the mountain by horse-drawn carriage, other ways of going up the mountain will be more or less delayed.
Before the conversation, although the mansion on the mountain was not affected by the weather, a sun shower had already begun at the foot of the mountain.
No matter how hard Yan and Xuangui hurried, they would still be a little slower than the carriage.
That was all he said. He only needed to wait a while to get the manuscript, so Meng Zheng didn't delay any longer on this matter and continued to ask Yu He.
"So we've concluded our discussion. Commander Yu, could you please tell me what intelligence you've gathered since then?"
Hearing the topic he wanted to know, Yu He naturally did not continue to cover it up.
He hummed and spoke calmly.
"As soon as the boatman's body was discovered, I ordered my men to search the perimeter of Cang County."
Yu He's search usually leaves no loopholes and the investigation is very strict and compact. In this interconnected link that cannot be neglected, the speed of the search is also improved.
"The place where the boatman originally killed you should be the place where you got off the boat. We found traces of you there that were not washed away by the rain."
"—And the killer later died in a burning haystack not far from that location."
Because of the heavy rain, the burning of the weeds in that area was delayed.
"Dead?"
When Jiang Nian heard this, he paused with his pen.
Died so soon? He acted too hastily, more like a spur-of-the-moment decision than a planned one.
Did the person in charge of this dead hand predict their arrival and was afraid that too many clues would be exposed, so he killed them in a hurry to silence them and avoid being discovered?
But it doesn't look like it.
The other party's style is inconsistent.
Compared to the boatman's quick killing, the killer's death actually highlights the indecision of the person behind the scenes.
Jiang Nian turned the tip of his pen and was about to continue writing when he caught a glimpse of Xi Zhen's hesitant look. The brush in his hand drew a line and a mistaken scratch appeared on the place where the location of the deceased's death was written.
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