"Borrow someone?" Li Lin frowned slightly.
This Lord Yu has been doing his duty conscientiously since he came to the fiefdom. Li Lin had secretly sent people to visit him in the city before, and they all said that this Lord Yu was quite good to the people.
Among the candidates they had in mind this time was Lord Yu. After all, apart from Li Lin, he was the highest-ranking official in Yizhou City. No matter how secretive they were, there would always be a day when they would have to deal with him.
The butler nodded, "Master Yu has come personally and is in the front hall right now."
Li Lin thought for a moment, then said, "You guys continue chatting. I'll go see Lord Yu first."
Lord Yu is over forty years old. He was the runner-up in the second year of Conghe. He has been a local prefect for so many years, but his elegant temperament as a scholar has not changed at all.
"Lord Yu." Li Lin walked to the front hall and spoke first.
When Lord Yu heard his voice, he stopped pacing, turned around and saluted, "Your humble servant Yu Zhi greets His Majesty."
"You're too polite, Lord Yu." Li Lin stepped forward and helped him up.
Perhaps understanding Li Lin's temperament, Yu Zhi didn't beat around the bush and went straight to the purpose of his visit. "I had no intention of disturbing the reunion of His Majesty the Prince and His Majesty the Dowager, but these bandits who suddenly appeared were too rampant and difficult to track. I had no other choice but to ask Your Majesty to borrow two highly skilled martial artists to help me."
"What did this thief steal? Only medicinal herbs?" Li Lin felt something was strange after hearing this.
"Your Highness, the owners of the items are all herbal medicine shops and clinics. According to their accounts, no money was lost, only a number of common and other valuable herbs." Yu Zhi said this, thought for a moment, and added, "One of the clinics was also missing half a bag of refined rice and a dozen or so sesame cakes."
Yu Zhi was also puzzled. If a thief broke into a commoner's house, shouldn't the first thing he chose to steal be money? Why did this thief specifically target medicinal herbs?
Li Lin: "..."
This person probably wasn't a thief before, who only stole medicinal herbs and food. He was more inclined to believe that the other party was seriously injured and had no choice but to steal.
"I know everything that Master Yu wants. Master, please return home for now. As for the manpower, I will arrange it later and have them go directly to your house. You will then assign them to your use."
Yu Zhi listened, and immediately showed gratitude on his face. He bowed and saluted, "Then I would like to thank the prince in advance."
Li Lin: "You're welcome."
After seeing Yu Zhi off, Li Lin returned to the study, where there was one more person.
Song Wan came to the study after hearing the servants of the palace talking about the thieves when she passed by the front hall.
"Master Yu has left?" Concubine Rou spoke first.
"Well, I'll arrange two of the people my uncle left behind to go over and help later." Li Lin replied, "From what Lord Yu said, the thief must have been injured, so he came out to steal the herbs."
"No matter what, it's better to be careful." Concubine Rou warned, "When the time comes, tell those who come to help to be careful not to be too impulsive."
Li Lin nodded, "I understand, mother."
"Wait a minute!" Song Wan raised her hand to stop him. "Why don't you stop making other arrangements and let me go? Even if all of you join forces, you're still not as powerful as me."
"Miss Song, catching a thief is no joke," Li Lin said seriously. "What we just said is just speculation by the king and Lord Yu. There is no real evidence. What if the thief is a desperate criminal? If we accidentally run into him, it will be very dangerous."
Li Lin knew that her martial arts skills were unfathomable, but since he couldn't be completely sure about this, he hoped that Song Wan would not take risks.
Concubine Rou also advised, "Yes, it's better to let the secret guards do this kind of dangerous work. Ah Wan, just stay in the mansion. I'll ask the kitchen to cook your favorite dish tonight."
Song Wan rolled her eyes and suddenly sighed, "Okay then, I won't go."
Gu Yanji didn't say a word the whole time. He was surprised that Song Wan agreed so readily, but he didn't believe she would give up.
Sure enough, when they were less than ten meters away from the study in the main courtyard, Gu Yanji saw her use her internal energy to silently jump onto the roof next to her and waved at him.
Gu Yan was anxious and helpless, he knew this would be the result.
Seeing that he kept looking up and grinning foolishly, Song Wan waved to him again and mouthed to him, "Come up quickly."
Gu Yan quickly used his internal energy to step on the tree trunk and jumped onto the roof. He sat down next to her and asked confidently, "Want to catch a thief?"
Song Wan blinked, knowing he would guess it, so she didn't try to hide it. "Wait a minute, let's knock out the people from Li Lin's group, and then the two of us will go to Lord Yu's mansion on their behalf."
"Be gentle, they are Prince Yi's men after all." Gu Yan reminded urgently.
It was impossible to stop it, and besides, he had already stood on her side.
"I know my limits." Song Wan raised her chin.
The two men Li Lin sent were both experienced. He instructed them, "Once you arrive at Lord Yu's residence, follow his instructions. However, if you find any trace of the thief, try to capture him alive."
The two men said in unison, "We understand."
Li Lin nodded and said, "Get ready, let's go now."
After the two of them saluted, they left the main courtyard and walked straight towards the side door of the palace. Song Wan and Gu Yanji hid on the roof at the first turn they made.
After waiting for a long time, the two people finally came out. Song Wan perked up and used his mental power to control them to enter the house under their feet.
"Okay." Only after the two people in the room walked to the bed and lay down to sleep did Song Wan withdraw most of his mental energy.
Song Wan entered the room and took off the identity tokens from them, giving one to herself and Gu Yanji.
"Let's go," she said.
Gu Yan hurriedly and helplessly took out the thin quilts to cover the two sleeping secret guards. She couldn't just leave no one with a quilt.
The two men walked out of the palace in a swagger with the token in hand. The servants thought they were going out shopping, so they didn't pay any attention to them. They just glanced at them and then went about their own business.
At this moment, Li Lin had no idea that his men were sleeping soundly in a room in the palace.
Yu Zhi waited and waited in the mansion, and finally a servant came to tell him that the people sent by Prince Yi had arrived and were walking towards the front hall of the main courtyard.
He hurried to the front hall to receive them personally. "I'm really sorry to trouble you, Prince Yi. What are your names?"
"My last name is Song, and his last name is Gu." Song Wan lowered her voice deliberately. She also bought some charcoal on the way here and smeared a lot of it on her and Gu Yanji's faces.
Now the two of them looked like two black-faced guards with decent facial features.
"It turns out to be Guard Song and Guard Gu." Yu Zhi observed silently for a moment. He always felt that there was something indescribable weird about the two people in front of him, but the tokens they took out were indeed from Prince Yi's Mansion.
"Master Yu, when are we going to catch the thief?" Song Wan was already getting excited, but in order not to reveal her flaws, she could only try her best to hold it back.
"I've thought about it. The thief hasn't made any moves for two days." According to what the doctors from the clinic said earlier, the amount of stolen medicinal materials was not too great, and no matter whether the thief stole the herbs to sell or for his own use, he would probably take action again within two days, that is, today or tomorrow.
"So we need to ambush tonight, right?" Song Wan asked.
Yu Zhi nodded and told his plan, "Last time, a thief stole a high-quality ginseng from Baichuntang. Yesterday, I had someone spread the word that Baichuntang still has another high-quality ginseng. If the thief gets wind of this, he might risk coming back."
"So Lord Yu wants the two of us to ambush in Baichun Hall?" Gu Yan raised his eyebrows anxiously.
Yu Zhi indeed had this plan. He asked ordinary guards to ambush other medical clinics and drugstores.
If the thieves went to other ordinary herbal medicine shops, they would not miss Baichuntang.
Gu Yanji secretly confirmed that Yu Zhi was really capable.
Because they were playing the role of secret guards of the palace, Song Wan and Gu Yanji followed Yu Zhi's arrangement directly, lying in ambush in Baichun Hall, waiting for the thieves to appear.
It was still light outside when they arrived at Baichuntang, an old medical clinic that had been open for decades.
Several doctors on duty have a lot of gray hair, and there are many people coming to the clinic to get medicine and see patients.
Because it is a medical clinic, the smell of medicine is very strong. There are also apprentices making medicine. I heard that they make medicine for free for patients who don’t even have a medicine decoction pot at home.
After hearing this, Song Wan finally realized that in this world, besides not having enough food to eat, there are many people who cannot even afford medical treatment.
Song Wan grew up in an orphanage. Although the food in the orphanage was average, she had a big appetite, so she was always taller and stronger than her peers. She almost never got sick. Even if she had a cold or fever for a few days, she would almost recover by the time she realized it.
At first they just pretended to be patients and hid in the clinic. After dark, they pretended to go home and swaggered out of the front door of the clinic. After a while, they appeared at the back door of the clinic.
Taking advantage of the quiet and deserted environment, the two of them skillfully jumped onto the roof again and looked around carefully.
Song Wan used her mental power to roughly scan the area a few times, confirming that no danger was approaching before she spoke. "Gu Yanji, why on earth was this thief so stupid as to only steal the herbs and not the silver? Did he have a high fever and burn his brain?"
Gu Yanji had already guessed in his mind, "I guess he must be seriously ill, or someone in his family is seriously ill."
"That's why he was so busy stealing medicinal herbs and forgot about the silver." After his explanation, Song Wan felt that this thief didn't seem so unusual after all.
At night, the wind was still for a long time, just when Song Wan was so bored that she thought the other party would not come at all.
Suddenly a gust of wind blew and two leaves fell from the roof.
She suddenly opened her eyes, took out the golden whip, and swung it in one direction. The big tree leaning against the roof collapsed with a loud bang, and a man in black flew out of it.
The man in black was shocked by her whip which was filled with mental power and was directly thrown into another tree trunk. He hit it hard and fell to the ground, spitting out a mouthful of blood.
Song Wan jumped down from the roof like a shadow and appeared in front of the man in black in an instant.
"Hey! Where did this little thief come from?"
Gu Yan, who followed closely behind, couldn't help twitching his lips when he heard her say the words often used in operas.
The author has something to say:
Today is International Women's Day! Happy holiday to everyone!
I forgot to mention it in the last chapter, so please leave a comment on this chapter to get a red envelope~
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