Chapter 93 Prince Jing walked along the riverbank and finally got his shoes wet.
Li Jin is currently facing two worries.
The first is Chen Wen's death.
As if by divine intervention, he had just caught a glimpse of the prince's weakness, but it was like grasping a handful of quicksand, vanishing in an instant.
After Li Jin returned to the Six Doors, he immediately asked Shen Wen and Bai Yu to find out how Chen Wen died.
The second troublesome thing is this jade pendant in my hand.
Li Jin, with one eyebrow higher than the other, held the smooth white jade pendant in his hand, glancing at Jin Shu's constantly evasive gaze.
"Is it this one?" He chuckled awkwardly. "Your Jin family's birth jade is a bit too hasty, isn't it?"
The jade in his hand was crudely made and visibly worthless, a far cry from the priceless jade he remembered for the Crown Prince's wedding.
"Someone actually gave their own son a jade pendant... a pendant symbolizing abundance year after year?" Li Jin's eyes twitched as he glanced at Jin Shu's face with a deep smile.
She nodded seriously: "Fish are our family's mascot and guardian spirit."
After saying that, his eyes unconsciously glanced to the right.
Li Jin gave a dry laugh, placed the jade pendant on his table, and rubbed the bridge of his nose several times with his fingers: "Okay, I understand, you can go now."
At this moment, as bright as the daylight, so white is his heart.
Watching Jin Shu's departing figure, and looking at the jade pendant lying on his desk, he felt a tightness in his chest.
How can there be such a woman?! Unbelievable!
You might call her foolish, but she's as clear-headed as a mirror.
While she is considered clever, her cleverness diminishes when it comes to matters of life and death; it all becomes mere petty cleverness.
Yan Zhao looked at the small fish-shaped jade pendant in Li Jin's hand, gloating and laughing so hard his shoulders shook.
"So even you, Prince Jing, have met your match?" he said. "He who walks by the river often eventually gets his shoes wet."
He took the small fish pendant from Li Jin's hand, facing Li Jin's ugly expression, which looked as if he had met a rock.
He ran his fingertips along the rough edge, looking at the extremely casual carvings, and suppressed a laugh, saying, "Not bad, at least there's basic vigilance, which is a good thing."
Good news?!
Seeing Yan Zhao's expression, Li Jin snorted coldly and took a deep breath.
“I’ve never seen anyone so stupid,” he complained. “What good would it do her to have that thing? If the Crown Prince finds out, killing him to silence him would be too lenient. Nine times out of ten, people connected to her—Liu Cheng’an, Zhou Zheng, even you and me—would be doomed.”
The more Li Jin thought about it, the angrier she became, and she let out a cold breath.
But in front of him, Yan Zhao glanced at the little white fish and remained silent for a moment: "But Your Highness, how can you make her feel that handing it over to you is safer than keeping it herself?"
Li Jin paused, looking at him in surprise: "Does this even need to be thought about?"
In early June, the weather in Fufeng was warm, and cicadas chirped incessantly.
The sandalwood incense that used to burn year-round in the coroner's office has been replaced with mugwort to repel mosquitoes and insects. In the main hall, a flat bronze incense burner emits wisps of smoke, and the air is filled with a strong medicinal smell.
Behind the layers of antique shelves, Yan Zhao lightly twirled the small fish-shaped jade pendant with his fingertips, his smile fading as he said seriously, "Why don't you need to think about it?"
"For the price of a single meal, they forcibly occupied her ancestral home, almost causing her younger brother to drop out of school. To survive, they forced her to travel from Dingzhou, a distance of 108,000 miles away, risking being beheaded, to disguise herself as a man every day and grit her teeth to work as a coroner at the Six Doors."
Yan Zhao's words, every single one, were like darts, piercing Li Jin's back with pinpoint accuracy.
“Right now, the problems ahead haven’t been solved yet. Last month, she was short four taels of her monthly salary. Then, this man took advantage of her misfortune and made her owe another five hundred taels.”
He sneered, "Tell me, if you were her, would you believe this is someone who could protect her?"
Li Jin's mouth opened and closed, and after a long while, she finally uttered a single word: "I..."
"If it were you, you'd probably turn their whole place upside down."
"I……"
"Turning everything upside down, you're probably still showing mercy."
As Yan Zhao spoke, he took out a golden tassel from a small box beside him.
With her head bowed, she threaded the tassel through the hole in the small fish-shaped jade pendant.
“What did I teach you before? Didn’t I tell you that not everything in this world can be precisely controlled and calculated?” he said. “Of all things, the human heart is the most important.”
"Regarding the case with the opera troupe the other day, you could tell that Ren Jing was living in her own dream." Yan Zhao raised his hand, the small fish pendant with golden tassels on his fingers swaying back and forth in the golden sunlight. "You could see that in other people, but when it comes to yourself, it's like you're blind?"
Li Jin sat by the window, his head bowed against the light, so Yan Zhao couldn't see his expression.
He turned around, found a delicate box containing the small fish pendant, gently placed it inside and closed it, and said slowly, "You and the Crown Prince are not much different in terms of talent. If you have to say there is a difference, it is only that you originally chose the path of martial arts, a path to help your brother and guard the Great Wei."
“But now, if you want to bring down the Crown Prince, that path won’t work.” He put the box down, turned around, and looked at him seriously. “In terms of strategy and tactics, you are not at a disadvantage in front of the Crown Prince, who is just as talented as you. But you certainly won’t have any advantage either.”
"If you want to defeat him, you must control his mind. With the hearts of the people in your favor, you can conquer the world."
It's easier said than done when it comes to people's hearts.
Li Jin remained silent for a long time, then stood up, cupped his hands, and bowed to Yan Zhao: "Thank you for your teachings, Master."
After saying that, he bent over and took a deep breath.
He excels at troop deployment and formation, is a master of logical reasoning, and with a long sword in hand, no one in the capital can stop him. He is also adept at political maneuvering and political intrigue.
Only the human heart.
Li Jin stood in the courtyard, looking at the lotus pond in the coroner's room, and chuckled softly.
What is the human heart?
Born into royalty, raised on bloody battlefields, witnessing the tragedy of fratricide...
He, Prince Jing, Li Jin, had never been taught what it meant to be a human being.
Yan Zhao watched his figure, stood with his hands behind his back, and gazed at the warm early summer scenery, letting out a long sigh.
Fortunately, no one taught the crown prince what human nature was.
However, Yan Zhao never dreamed that His Highness Prince Jing would, because of that jade pendant, climb over the wall of Jin Shu's courtyard in the middle of the night, dressed in black.
However, the timing of his landing was not good; he happened to make eye contact with Jin Rong, who was getting up in the middle of the night.
Just as Jin Rong was about to shout, he saw him hurriedly pull off the square scarf on his cheek and wave his hand.
The six-year-old child tilted his head and stared wide-eyed at Prince Jing, who had descended from the sky and was dressed in black, and blinked.
Then a look of joy appeared on his face, he gave a thumbs up, and whispered, "I didn't see anything."
Then he pointed to Jin Shu's room: "You're welcome."
After saying that, he turned around and went back to sleep.
Li Jin stood in the courtyard, stunned for a long time, her mind in turmoil.
Should he go in or not? He thought about it for a long time, hesitated for a long time, and finally made up his mind. He took a deep breath, put the square scarf on his cheek, and pushed open the door.
Li Jin tiptoed around the room and looked at Jin Shu, who was lying on the bed snoring and hadn't woken up at all. She glanced at the small box next to her pillow and saw a thread sticking out of the box, the other end of which was tied to her wrist.
He crossed his arms and shook his head.
This woman is quite clever.
It was just bad luck that I ran into him.
Li Jin smiled slightly and picked up a pair of scissors in the darkness.
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