Six days had passed since Lian Shenwei recovered from his injury. The Crown Prince and the other two princes were fighting overtly and covertly in dire straits.

Ying Jingjue did not disappoint his expectations. Based on the clues he deliberately left behind, he found the location of the dirty money he had moved. However, the people of the eldest prince and the third prince had been making trouble.

Although he had already broken through to the Kaiyang realm, he did not put all his energy into practicing martial arts, so his martial arts strength was a little low. However, with Li Ningfeng accompanying him on the case, Ying Jingjue made breakthroughs very quickly.

Violence is sometimes the key to breaking the deadlock.

At this time, the two of them brought their people and hurried to the place where the dirty money was hidden.

"Ning Feng, why do I feel like your internal energy has become much more violent recently?"

"Yes?"

Li Ningfeng raised his eyebrows, "But I've been a little tired from practicing recently. I asked my master about something I don't understand, but I haven't received a reply yet."

He had always listened to his master and sent the letter to the farm on the outskirts of the city, and then the people there would deliver it outside.

"Your master still won't see you?" Ying Jingjue said with a smile, "When he first took the initiative to exchange letters with you, you were on your guard. Now you want to see your master and you are inviting him in roundabout ways."

Li Ningfeng said as a matter of course: "Master has his reasons for not wanting to see me. A wandering master doesn't have the time to care about mundane things."

"You wouldn't understand even if I told you."

Ying Jingjue: "How can you not understand? I know a little bit about the martial arts world. Master Ximian is the master I admire."

"...Your Highness," Li Ningfeng smiled helplessly, "If you go to the Jianghu and pick out one or two people of our age, who among them doesn't know Master Ximian? He is a god-like figure ranked first on the Jianghu Rankings—"

"careful!"

His voice suddenly became sharp, and he pulled Ying Jingjue away, and the long sword came out of its sheath!

Dozens of archers appeared from the eaves of the surrounding houses, and arrows rained down on them.

Ying Jingjue waved his hand and said coldly: "Capture them!"

"You stay here, I'll go catch him alive!"

Li Ningfeng estimated the fighting power of both sides, flew up, stepped on the arrow feathers and rushed to the right.

A quarter of an hour later, some of the people they brought with them were killed and wounded, and the assassins who had just shot arrows at them had all fallen to the ground.

He was vomiting black blood and was already dead.

Ying Jingjue: "Those who have poison in their mouths are all deadly warriors."

"Who do you think it is?"

Ying Jingjue slowly stood up and looked towards the house in front of him.

"Don't worry yet."

He waved his hand, and the guards following behind him immediately kicked the door open and went in.

This is the place where the dirty money they had found after so many days of investigation. It was a house hidden in the suburbs, just within the scope of the capital, but they had been searching for a long time.

It's really dark under the light.

The guards went in and searched for a while, and found the dirty money in many places in the house.

"Your Highness! Found it!"

“It’s here too!”

Boxes were carried out and placed in the middle of the yard. When they were opened one by one, countless gold, silver, and copper plates were found, as well as antiques and precious calligraphy items each worth a fortune, not to mention the rest of the miscellaneous jewelry and jade.

In the end it was almost full.

Li Ningfeng's eyes widened slightly: "...So many?!"

Just from the Nan'an County Examination, he was able to embezzle so much money. Is it so easy to make money as a scholar? !

Ying Jingjue: "This is still too little. The military pay that the court allocates to the frontiers every year is even more severely withheld. In fact, the military is better off. When the flood hit Jiangdong that year, the relief rations sent by the court were only a few grains of rice left in the bowls of the common people."

He pursed his lips, his eyes gradually became determined, and his hands clasped in his sleeves slowly tightened.

“If one day, I could…”

You can ascend to the supreme dragon throne and seize power.

Li Ningfeng patted his shoulder and said, "Yes. Your Highness has done a very good job now."

Ying Jingjue exhaled and answered his previous question: "The person who attacked just now was obviously someone who was secretly following our movements. He is so stupid. I don't think of anyone other than my third brother."

"Empress Rou was also involved. This woman would do anything to save her son." Li Ningfeng stretched his waist.

But no matter what, the tainted money has been found, and under interrogation, the academician of Nan'an confessed that many students had cheated. Pulling out radishes brings out mud, and the candidates of Nan'an were badly implicated this time.

Li Ningfeng glanced at his friend: "It ended smoothly, you don't seem very happy?"

Ying Jingjue shook his head.

In the process of investigating the whereabouts of the embezzled funds, he found clues related to Lian Shenwei many times, but the clues were cut off as soon as he followed up.

This house is also inextricably linked to him.

But all the clues collected can only point to him. Even if all of them were brought out, it would be impossible to convict Lian Shenwei given his father's bias.

However... I don't know if it was his illusion, but Ying Jingjue always felt that although the investigation of the Nan'an incident encountered many obstacles, it could be considered smooth overall.

Many clues are small but come at the right time.

It was as if someone was secretly manipulating and controlling all of this, making him feel as if he was being led to investigate a case.

Ying Jing decided to suppress this inexplicable thought.

Lian Shenwei remembered everything he had done, and would return it all in the future. The most important thing at the moment was Nan'an's affairs, and his two stupid brothers.

"Take these things and go."

at the same time.

suburban boundary.

The sound of insects is particularly noticeable at night.

Ye Mingqin was not transferred to the Ministry of Justice, but to the Dali Temple.

Because of Lian Shenwei's relationship, she had resources, but she was also often marginalized. During her time as an official, she gradually accumulated a group of her own people based on her own abilities.

However, when she was sent to the Dali Temple, she was assigned a meaningless and idle task -

Check if Luan Qingan has anyone he knows privately.

The people in the capital knew that the charge of treason against Luan Qingan was put on him by Lian Shenwei and was false. Ye Mingqin was assigned this task because someone was deliberately making things difficult for her.

Ye Mingqin wanted to be a good official. Her brother-in-law once told her that she was her and Lian Shenwei was Lian Shenwei. She was first an individual and only secondarily his sister.

She understood from these words the truth that her brother-in-law was trying to teach her:

Justice is justice, morality is morality, and human feelings are human feelings.

This is what she has figured out so far.

It is best if law and emotion are clearly distinguished and do not interfere with each other.

People who worked with Ye Mingqin in the imperial prison generally had a unified evaluation of her: flexible and changeable, with a kind face but a cold heart.

Ye Mingqin can care for someone very gently and can handle relationships with her colleagues very well, but if one of these people commits a crime and happens to be within her jurisdiction.

She would provide cells with relatively better conditions, then mercilessly lock people up there and deal with them according to the law.

Those who are not cold-hearted and ruthless cannot move up.

She had followed Wei Li's case for a few days and found that he was indeed innocent. Her brother-in-law had killed him, which was against the law. In fact, it was far more than just Wei Li's case...

This went against what she had always believed in her heart.

Her sworn brother is different from everyone else. Without her sworn brother, there would be no Ye Mingqin today. I wonder if there will be a day when she finally chooses to stand against her sworn brother.

Deep down in her heart, she didn't want to believe that her brother was as bad as those people said, so when dealing with matters related to Lian Shenwei, Ye Mingqin always kept her mind on the ball.

Even though the Dali Temple assigned her a hastily concluded case of treason in the Shunchang Earl's Mansion, she still carried out the remaining investigation tasks very seriously.

Unexpectedly, after checking, she actually found some clues.

Someone once saw a blind man named Ade who was blindfolded. He had appeared around the Earl's Palace many times. Because he was able to avoid obstacles on the road every time, some people still remember him.

Ye Mingqin traced the situation and found that the blind man Ade had died on a small road in the suburbs that led to nowhere. She pried open the man's eyes and looked at -

He is indeed blind, without even any eyeballs.

One leg was broken, but it had not healed and had not been treated. But the fatal wound was only one on the side of the neck, which was caused by someone who had killed him in a professional way.

Who would go out of their way to kill a blind man?

Unless this blind man knows something he shouldn't know.

She is now in an alley on the outskirts of the city.

It was dark and gloomy, with only a few houses lighting dim kerosene lamps.

From time to time, men with their trousers pulled up would sneak out of these lighted houses.

This is where prostitutes receive customers. Some penniless women or prostitutes will rent a small house here. Every night, if they plan to receive customers, they will open the door and turn on the light, and naturally some sneaky people will come here following the smell.

Sometimes the lights in the room would stay on all night.

Of course, there are also some people who keep mistresses of humble origins here.

There is obviously someone behind the scenes of prostitution, and Ye Mingqin does not intend to confront the people here directly. She comes here to look for someone.

I turned into the alley with a few brothers, and from the innermost yard came the sound of women and children screaming and arguing.

She reached out and pushed the door, only to find it was locked. Ye Mingqin's eyes flashed, and she took a few steps back, using the force of the force to fly to the edge of the wall and looked down.

A strong man was pressing on a woman, speaking vulgar words.

"I've always said there's a great beauty hidden here. No men come to see you every day. Do you think you're no longer wanted? Hmm? Instead of raising a son for others, why don't you give birth to one for me?"

"Let me treat you well!"

A little boy, only four or five years old, cried and hit the man, but was kicked away.

Ye Mingqin drew the curved knife from his waist, sternly swung it over, accurately nailing the strong man's right foot, and shouted: "Someone, kick the door!"

Bang!

The door was kicked open and the strong man was controlled. When he saw so many people, his originally ferocious expression instantly turned into a frightened one. He knelt down and trembled.

"Shut his mouth. You know what to do?"

"Don't worry, boss. We'll get him out without polluting your eyes!"

The strong man was dragged out with tears and snot all over his face.

Ye Mingqin helped the woman put on her clothes and asked, "Are you okay?"

The woman shook her head, and I felt sorry for her: "I'm fine."

She glanced at Ye Mingqin timidly, pulled up the crying child on the ground, and protected him behind her, "Excuse me, you..."

Ye Mingqin looked at her carefully for a few times, and she didn't intend to use the roundabout words she had prepared in her mind. She asked directly: "Are you the wife of blind Ah De?"

The woman was stunned, nodded, and then shook her head.

"He...he actually bought me and hid me here. He said that I was the woman he bought and that I was his wife, but we were not married, so it shouldn't count."

"Is this your and Ade's child?"

The woman nodded.

Ye Mingqin squatted down and glanced at the child behind the woman. Suddenly, her eyes froze.

The child's eyes were very light in color, which was obviously different from those of the people in the Central Plains. It was more like...

Northern barbarians.

Children of the Northern Barbarians.

This woman and Ade gave birth to a northern barbarian race.

In a flash, Ye Mingqin remembered Ade's blind eyes, those eyes without pupils... She suddenly felt a chill on her back.

If she guessed correctly.

That Ade is also a northern barbarian.

Why did the people from the Northern Barbarians repeatedly appear around the Shunchang Earl's Mansion, which is known for its integrity and loyalty?

Ye Mingqin was shocked but remained calm. He ordered his men to take the man away and smiled at the woman, "I am A-De's friend. He has something to do recently and asked me to come and see him. I would like you to stay at my house."

The woman didn't have any deep thoughts. She complained for a moment, then packed up her things and left with them.

Ye Mingqin personally watched her packing up her things, and after she left, he asked someone to search the place thoroughly and pack up all the suspicious items to take away for research.

She is working now, and it is inconvenient for her to live in the Regent's Palace. She has her own house outside, and she can arrange the woman to live in her residence so that she can be controlled more easily.

The Shunchang Earl's Mansion has closed the case. To avoid further complications, the existence of this mother and son cannot be known to others until she finds out the truth.

Brother...

The gentle smile on Lian Shenwei's face when he killed someone and the curse words he heard every day when he went out on the street flashed through his mind.

Ye Mingqin stepped over the threshold, his eyes deep and sharp, and walked quickly forward.

She wanted to look through the case files of the Dali Temple again.

late at night.

The Regent Palace.

"Have you tracked down the person who killed Ade?"

Ming Candle: “Not at the moment.”

Lian Shenwei wrote back to Li Ning tonight. Tiannan went to deliver it to the manor and has not returned yet.

He took the medicine and felt sleepy. He bent over the table and looked at the hand-drawn map of the capital and its surroundings. "…There are people from the Northern Barbarians in the capital. After I killed all the people in the Shunchang Earl's Mansion, the place where Ade fled in panic was where the people were hiding."

When Li Ningfeng returns to the capital, the northern barbarians in the capital will definitely take action. Once they do, their tracks will be exposed and they must be found out as soon as possible.

The last place Ade fled to was the suburbs.

Could it be that his guess was wrong, and that person was not hiding in the capital, but outside the imperial city?

Lian Shenwei found the approximate location where Ade died on the map. He lightly tapped with his fingertips and found a place on the edge of the map where his fingertips were pointing, marked with Foquan Temple.

Foquan Temple.

It has a very low presence and is not as prosperous as other temples.

Something flashed through my mind.

Lian Shenwei didn't catch it all at once. The more he thought about it, the more he couldn't suppress his sleepiness. He couldn't help but hold his forehead with his fingers and sighed: "What did Feng Ke put in the pills I took this time?"

Ming Candle: "It is said that this medicine can make you sleep soundly."

"...Okay, I'll go to bed."

Seeing the young man lying on the bed covered with a quilt, Ming Cang retreated respectfully, closed the door quietly, and stood guard outside.

The sea of ​​knowledge.

After Gongdu's failure, Xiaoguangtuan took on the task of grasping the plot points.

At this moment, it said worriedly: "The second protagonist is about to enter the tempering period. You must be prepared, otherwise the plot will collapse and he will die directly."

The black ball didn't move at all, "..."

Xiao Guangtuan thought he was talking, so he moved closer to listen. After listening for a while, he realized that this guy was having a good sleep and was making a soft snoring sound that was unique to him.

Small light group: "..."

The Mansion of the Marquis of Loyalty.

When Li Ningfeng returned home, Uncle Liu continued to send him porridge, and had been doing so for several days in a row.

He checked himself as usual, drank the drink, rinsed his mouth, and then rested.

The night deepens.

Suddenly, cold sweat oozed out of Li Ning's forehead.