When Chi Yan arrived at Dali Temple, he was greeted by Liu Yifu.
Upon hearing his request, the other party frowned and recalled for a moment: "The case of the Provincial Treasurer's embezzlement in the eighteenth year of Chongde's reign should still be kept in the Archives. However, accessing the archives requires authorization from above..."
Before he could finish speaking, Chi Yan waved the edict in his hand, raising an eyebrow slightly: "Look what this is."
He knew the process and had prepared well in advance.
Liu Yifu's brows immediately relaxed: "Come with me."
The two entered the archives room. While searching for case files from the eighteenth year of Chongde, Liu Yifu casually asked Chi Yan, "These are all old cases, and there shouldn't be any errors or omissions. Why are you suddenly looking at these?"
Chi Yan didn't hide anything from him: "It's related to the weapons case that His Highness the Crown Prince and I are investigating. The gang of thieves escaped through a secret passage, which leads to the former governor's private residence."
Liu Yifu frowned slightly: "You suspect that there is some connection between these two cases?"
"It's not clear yet," Chi Yan shrugged frankly. "But let's wait and see."
Liu Yi nodded again and stopped in front of a bookshelf: "This is it."
He was extremely familiar with the layout of the place, and his fingers deftly flipped through the files, quickly finding the one that Chi Yan wanted, which he then took out and handed to him.
"Thanks." Chi Yan quickly flipped through the document. Everything else seemed fine until he inadvertently glanced at a certain spot, which made him frown.
Liu Yi asked instinctively, "Is something wrong?"
Chi Yan's finger stopped at a certain spot, and she looked at him with suspicion: "Is the Third Prince in charge of this case?"
Liu Yifu turned his head to look, thought for a moment and nodded slightly: "That's right, the Third Prince was in charge of this case back then."
Chi Yan remained silent, staring intently at the dossier in his hand, his eyes thoughtful.
——
After finishing his shift and heading home, Chi Yan, as usual, stopped by to check on Feng Zhiwen's situation.
He would normally lock himself in his room, looking utterly hopeless, just like he had a few days ago.
Unexpectedly, when he arrived, he witnessed a scene that surprised him:
Feng Zhiwen was squatting in the courtyard, practicing a horse stance!
His face was flushed red from the sun, and fine beads of sweat had formed on his forehead. His legs were trembling, but he still didn't stop.
Chi Yan watched for a while, and a question genuinely popped into his head:
Is this some new way he's come up with to torture himself?
He couldn't help but cough softly, and Feng Zhiwen, who was engrossed in her own world, noticed his presence and looked at him with delight: "Cousin, you're here!"
Chi Yan stepped forward, looking him over with a complicated expression, and said carefully, "Zhiwen, I know you must be feeling terrible right now, but you can't torture yourself like this!"
"I didn't torture myself!" Feng Zhiwen was stunned for a moment, then looked at him blankly.
Chi Yan clearly didn't believe him, looking as if he had already seen through him: "Not torturing yourself? Then what were you doing in the yard under the blazing sun? Did you think you were a cactus?"
Feng Zhiwen wiped the sweat from his forehead and lowered his head somewhat shyly: "I'm practicing horse stance." He straightened up and looked at him earnestly, "I want to make myself stronger so that I won't be powerless to fight back if I encounter the same situation again!"
This idea wasn't bad, and Chi Yan was about to express his agreement when he noticed that the man's eyes were unusually intense, and his whole being was radiating a unique vitality:
"Cousin, I now realize how foolish I was in the past. I wasted my time and squandered my precious youth!"
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