The guard led Zhao Wude, who was panting and looked miserable, into the front yard.
Zhao Wude had just been searching for the assassin house by house in the north of the city with his constables when someone from the General's Mansion came to report that the assassin had been caught. He then led his men to the General's Mansion in the east of the city in a great hurry.
Last night, he had just fallen asleep with his wife in his arms when a constable came to report that Mu Jin had been assassinated again.
Before the yamen servant outside the gate could finish speaking, Zhao Wude angrily rebuked him: "I don't care about wood, metal, water, or metal, don't even think about disturbing my sleep."
Hearing Zhao Wude's unfriendly scolding, the constable wore a pained expression and continued reporting, "Lord Zhao, that Mu Jin is the Princess Yun who was assassinated twice by bandits before."
Seeing the constable still babbling outside his door, Zhao Wude became annoyed, sat up in bed, and roared, "You said it was before, so what about now...?"
Before he could finish speaking, Zhao Wude suddenly remembered something, which startled him so much that he lost all his sleepiness and temper. He then realized that although Mu Jin was no longer the Princess Consort of Yun, she was still a young lady from the General's Mansion.
Recently, she saved the people of Dongyue Kingdom because of the plague. Now she is a favorite of the emperor and he even granted her permission to divorce him. What a great favor this is! Even if she is no longer the Princess Consort of Yun, she is still someone he cannot afford to offend.
“Princess Yun, oh no, Miss Mu, look at my memory! Is the corpse lying on the ground the assassin who tried to kill you last night?” Zhao Wude asked Mu Jin, pointing to the man in black lying on the ground.
"This humble official greets Lord Zhao." Li Yansong greeted Zhao Wude with a fawning smile.
When Li Yansong first saw Zhao Wude enter the courtyard, he wanted to greet him, but Zhao Wude didn't even glance at him.
Zhao Wude held the rank of fourth grade, while Li Yansong, as the prefect of Heyang, was only a sixth grader. Upon meeting Zhao Wude, Li Yansong was required to bow and pay his respects.
"Who are you?" Zhao Wude asked Li Yansong somewhat irritably, annoyed that Li Yansong had interrupted his conversation with Mu Jin.
"I am Li Yansong, the Prefect of Heyang. Ten escaped prisoners from Sishui County under my jurisdiction have escaped from prison. After tracking them down, I discovered that these prisoners had actually fled to the capital and even mistakenly entered the General's Mansion, almost injuring Miss Mu. That's why I rushed to the General's Mansion to capture these prisoners and bring them back to Heyang to report."
Seeing Zhao Wude's displeasure, Li Yansong quickly said, "This is my dereliction of duty. I have already reported this matter to the court. Fortunately, no innocent people were injured or killed this time. I also want to thank the people from the General's Mansion for helping to execute these fugitives on the spot."
When Zhao Wude heard that Li Yansong had submitted a memorial to the court concerning the pursuit of fugitives, he also received a memorial from Lixing. However, upon reflection, he realized that he had not received any reports of fugitives escaping from prison recently.
"Which court should we report this to? Ten fugitives have gone missing, including serious criminals who were branded with tattoos. How come I didn't know about something this big?"
Li Yansong's heart tightened, and he secretly groaned. He had only made up a few words to appease Zhao Wude, but he never expected Zhao Wude to actually analyze them.
He forced a smile and replied, "Perhaps... perhaps we were delayed on the way."
Zhao Wude sneered: "Is that so? This urgent letter hasn't even arrived yet, but your people have already arrived. That's really strange."
Hearing Zhao Wude's cold laughter, Li Yansong broke out in a cold sweat. He stammered and whispered, "This humble official does not know either. I will definitely investigate and report back to Lord Zhao when I get back."
Mu Jin listened to their conversation and couldn't help but find it amusing. Perhaps it was because Zhao Wude was fat and usually looked dull-witted, that he gave the impression of being not very smart and easy to fool.
But how could someone who could become a fourth-rank prefect in the capital be a stupid person?
Zhao Wude sneered: "Although these fugitives were lost in the territory under the jurisdiction of Heyang, they committed crimes in our capital, so our yamen should take them over."
"Yes, sir, you are right," Li Yansong said, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
"Does Lord Li look very hot? It shouldn't be sweating in this cold weather like the late spring chill," Mu Jin said, covering her mouth.
"Miss Mu is too kind. Perhaps I was in a hurry when I arrived at the General's Mansion."
Zhao Wude ignored Li Yansong and instead smiled and told Mu Jin that he wanted to take away the bodies of the assassins. After Mu Jin agreed, he ordered the yamen runners to carry the bodies of the men in black out of the general's mansion.
As the constables carried away the last body of the man in black, Zhao Wude couldn't help but turn to ask Li Yansong a question.
"How come there are only nine corpses? Didn't Lord Li say that ten people escaped in total?"
"Perhaps one of the fugitives escaped to another place and did not come to the capital. Miss Mu said that only nine assassins came yesterday."
"In that case, come back to the yamen with me later and describe to me the whole story of how these fugitives went missing, then we can go back to Heyang."
"Yes!" Li Yansong replied, wiping the sweat from his brow.
"Wait for me at the entrance of the General's Mansion. I'll say a few words to Miss Mu and then come out to find you."
"Yes!" As Li Yansong turned and walked out of the general's mansion, he felt apprehensive, as today's events had completely deviated from his original plan.
Today I really lost both my wife and my army. Not only did I fail to kill Mu Jin, but I also failed to get those fishermen back. What's most hateful is that Mu Jin, who not only stole my jade ring worth tens of thousands of yuan, but also played me for a fool.
After Li Yansong left, Zhao Wude turned around and looked at Mu Jin with a wry smile.
"Miss Mu, this is the third time already. How come you are so targeted by thieves? Fortunately, you have many experts around you, and you yourself are skilled in martial arts, so the thief can't get close to you."
"Yes, I've been looking at it too. I'll have to go to that temple to pray to the Bodhisattva another day and ask for his blessing so that those thieves won't keep bothering me anymore," Mu Jin said with a self-deprecating laugh.
Zhao Wude smiled and asked, "Miss Mu, do you have anyone you suspect?"
"This matter will have to trouble you, Lord Zhao. After all, arresting people and investigating cases is your forte," Mu Jin said with a smile.
"Alright~ I have official business to ask Zhao Yansong, so I won't bother you any longer. I'll inform Miss Mu once I find any clues."
"Then please take care, Lord Zhao."
After Zhao Wude left, Mu Jin picked up Li Yansong's jade thumb ring, tossed it twice in her palm, and threw it to Qing'er, who almost missed catching it.
Qing'er was puzzled: "Miss, why did you accept Li Yansong's item? If word gets out, won't people say something bad about our young lady?"
Mu Jin snorted lightly: "He wants my life, so what if I take one of his items? Take it, this ring is worth ten thousand taels of silver! Find some time to take it along with the others I told you to take to Zhao Yefan and exchange them for cash."
"Ah Jin, what a brilliant plan!" A round of applause rang out, and the three of them looked up to see Su Yi sitting on the roof, smiling like a cunning fox.
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