Inside the Bian Palace, somehow, a strange atmosphere had quietly descended.
The entire palace was deathly silent. Whether it was because of King Xia Jie's illness or the successive accidents in recent days, everyone in the Bian Palace was on edge. Even when speaking, they didn't dare to raise their voices.
Chen Qi was walking in a hurry on the neatly paved white jade path in the Bian Palace.
As he walked, he wiped the sweat off his forehead. It seemed that he was in a great hurry. His face was a bit pale, and the anxious look on his face made his wrinkled skin look even drier.
Several passing eunuchs were about to stop him to report something, but when they saw that he was heading towards Queen Qi's palace, they all fell silent.
Everyone knew that at this time, it was best not to have anything to do with the Qi family.
Different from these people, for Chen Qi, the Qi family was his backer. He had been tied tightly to Qi Shuhuan and Qi Yan in this lifetime. They were like grasshoppers on the same rope. As the saying goes, if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold. When the Qi family and Xia Yonglin were out of favor, he had to do something for his "companions".
So, he pushed open the door of Queen Qi's palace and knelt down in front of Qi Yan, who was sitting at the table with her face buried in her hands, crying. "Your Majesty the Queen!"
Chen Qi said with great grief, almost banging his head on the ground. "Your Majesty the Queen! Something terrible has happened!"
Qi Yan had been in low spirits because of Qi Shuhuan and Xia Yonglin's imprisonment. In addition, although she had pretended to take poison and successfully obtained military power for Xia Yanhe, she still couldn't get the two of them out of prison in the end. This had dealt a heavy blow to Qi Yan, and she had been staying in her palace all day and didn't want to go out.
When she saw Chen Qi running in a hurry, she couldn't help but feel panicked. "Father - in - law Chen, what's going on?"
Chen Qi wiped the sweat off his face and said with a trembling voice. "Your Majesty the Queen, that Shen Qingfeng... that guy has led people to break into the Prince Cheng's Mansion!"
"Search everyone!"
Inside the Prince Cheng's Mansion, Yu Shuang had already sent people to capture all the people in the mansion in the main hall. Then she ordered the others. "Don't miss any corner. You should know the danger of Qianhuayinshui. Don't forget how the leader killed people at that time. Be careful!"
Several people from the Listening - Wind Pavilion nodded and quickly scattered to start searching the Prince Cheng's Mansion.
Yu Shuang looked at the position of the sun and roughly estimated the time in her mind. It was almost dusk. Why hadn't she received a message from the Marquis of Dingbei by carrier pigeon yet?
This move of Shen Qingfeng was a risky one. Without the tiger tally on Lu Yan, Shen Qingfeng actually dared to openly lead the imperial guards to raid the Prince Cheng's Mansion. If Lu Yan didn't arrive at Lige on time, they would easily be captured by Xia Yanhe, who had already mastered most of the military power in Lige City.
You should know that Li Yanqing's military power was not a small amount. With just the troops that Gong Tan could mobilize, Xia Yanhe could crush them directly.
But Shen Qingfeng was very determined. It was not known whether he had special confidence in Lu Yan or a kind of paranoid desire for the truth. At this moment, Shen Qingfeng was standing in front of a map of the Prince Cheng's Mansion, scribbling something with a pen.
"Yu Shuang." Shen Qingfeng pointed at a certain point on the map with the tip of his pen. "Who is investigating in this direction?"
Yu Shuang walked over and took a look. "My lord, Xiangcheng is in charge of this area."
Shen Qingfeng squinted his eyes. "There's something wrong with the structural map of this corner. Judging from the overall structure of the mansion, the empty garden here is very abrupt. From an architectural point of view, there's no need for a garden here."
Yu Shuang looked and said. "This open space is about one zhang wide and three zhang long. According to the preferences of the nobles, the gardens in the mansions should be built beside mountains and waters. There's neither a pond nor a rockery here."
"Because they couldn't dig a pond." Shen Qingfeng concluded. "There's something underground here."
"When Xia Yonglin moved into the Prince Cheng's Mansion, it was several years ago." Shen Qingfeng said. "Before he moved here, this place was an old but empty mansion."
Shen Qingfeng paused and thought. "And the person who bestowed this empty mansion to Xia Yonglin was King Xia Jie. After that, the diluted Qianhuayinshui was given to Xia Yonglin by King Xia Jie."
Yu Shuang was puzzled. "What does this have to do with the Prince Cheng's Mansion?"
"Do you still remember what Xia Yonglin said to me?" Shen Qingfeng looked at her. "When King Xia Jie handed the Qianhuayinshui to him, he said a sentence: 'The power of this poison is not small either, but at least you don't need to seal the mansion.'"
Shen Qingfeng straightened his body, and his eyes flashed with a strange light. "When people speak, they will inadvertently reveal a lot of information. The reason why I asked Xia Yonglin in the death - row cell to describe in more detail the scene when he got the Qianhuayinshui was for this very reason."
"Do you know that Xia Chuli's mother died of this poison?" Shen Qingfeng said. "At that time, the palace was sealed for more than a month. Finally, someone went in and carried out the body of Princess Liuli."
"And before Xia Yonglin moved into this mansion, this mansion had always been in a deserted state."
Yu Shuang said. "My lord, do you mean that there was pure - concentration Qianhuayinshui in this mansion before? The reason why it was deserted was to let the toxicity disperse?"
Shen Qingfeng nodded. "That's right. It's very likely that after King Xia Jie got the Qianhuayinshui, he brought it here to prepare the diluted poison. But for such a dangerous poison, King Xia Jie must have found someone to do it for him. Either his fearless confidants or Lan himself, that is, your former leader."
Yu Shuang paused and shook her head. "Although I haven't met him many times, I know that Lan was not a person who liked to curry favor with power. Even when he served the emperor of the Nanxiang Kingdom with me, he had long - term secret contact with the reactionaries in the Nanxiang Kingdom. He would not be loyal to anyone and would never do things for others for no reason. If it was really him who helped King Xia Jie dilute the poison, what was his purpose? Moreover, his whereabouts were mysterious, and he couldn't stay in one place for a long time."
"Regarding the question you're puzzled about, have you ever thought that it's very likely because Lan himself didn't want King Xia Jie to reveal his whereabouts, or he reached some deal with King Xia Jie?" Shen Qingfeng shook his head. "As for other details, I don't know, so I came to investigate the Prince Cheng's Mansion."
Shen Qingfeng pointed at the small garden. "Let's go and take a look here first. I think there must be something underground here."
Just as Shen Qingfeng had expected, when they dug open the ground, what came into view was a sealed cellar.
Xiangcheng split the sealing wax at the cellar entrance with a single sword strike. With a loud rumble, the whole cellar entrance fell, revealing a dark underground wine cellar. But different from a normal wine cellar, there was no smell of wine. Instead, a stench of decaying earth filled the air.
Xiangcheng took the lead and walked down with the lamp commonly used in the Prince Cheng's Mansion. The whole wine cellar was not very big. There were many scattered and broken bottles and clay pots around. In the middle, there was a table. Xiangcheng swept away the dust on the table, revealing an old wooden token on it that seemed to have lost a lot of its paint.
The wooden token was very simply designed, a square pentagon with a red string through a hole. There was a big character on it - Lan.
The three of them looked at each other. Yu Shuang and Xiangcheng didn't say a word. Shen Qingfeng tightly grasped the token and gritted his teeth. "Sure enough, Lan clearly had contact with King Xia Jie. What cooperation conditions did he reach with King Xia Jie? Eight out of ten, this condition is related to the Tomb of a Thousand People in the Golden Summit Temple!"
Shen Qingfeng pinched his chin and murmured. "King Xia Jie wanted to kill Princess Liuli. Lan gave him the Qianhuayinshui. He wanted to sacrifice to Xing Tian. Lan helped him to replace the Lu family army sealed behind the Golden Summit Mountain. Lan even hid here to dilute the Qianhuayinshui for King Xia Jie's favorite child..."
Shen Qingfeng looked up at Xiangcheng and Yu Shuang. "Why?"
"Why did Lan do this? He shouldn't be a person who would whole - heartedly give for others." Frost gradually gathered in Shen Qingfeng's eyes. "What did he get in return?"
Yu Shuang pursed her lips and didn't say a word. She glanced at Xiangcheng standing beside her and found that the latter was also looking at her in confusion. But this couldn't be blamed on Yu Shuang. Although Yu Shuang had once been a member of Wuhen, it could be said that the whole Wuhen was actually led by Yu Shuang rather than Lan. After all, even Yu Shuang, the deputy leader, had seen Lan very few times.
Xiangcheng thought for a while, scratched his head and said. "Maybe he just submitted to King Xia Jie?"
Yu Shuang shook her head. "You're not from Wuhen. You don't understand Lan. He wouldn't do this."
Shen Qingfeng paused. "Moreover, there's one last thing. Where is Lu Jiang's body? Could it be that Lan also hid it?"
Just as Shen Qingfeng was about to say something, suddenly, a person from the Listening - Wind Pavilion quickly rushed to the cellar door and shouted inside. "My lord! His Highness the Prince Yu has surrounded the Prince Cheng's Mansion with three thousand troops!"
"What?" Hearing this, Yu Shuang rushed out suddenly. She looked up and saw that the sky had already darkened, but outside the high walls of the mansion, it was brightly lit by the torches held by thousands of people.
Yu Shuang cursed secretly and asked. "Where is the Marquis of Dingbei? Why hasn't he arrived yet?!"
The person from the Listening - Wind Pavilion replied. "I don't know, sir. I haven't received any message from the Marquis of Dingbei."
"How is that possible?" Sweat began to break out on Yu Shuang's forehead. "It's already evening."
She knew that this move of Shen Qingfeng was too risky!
The Prince Yu had three thousand troops, but there were only a few dozen of them in the Prince Cheng's Mansion.
How could they ensure Shen Qingfeng's safety?
"Yu Shuang." Behind her, Shen Qingfeng also walked out of the wine cellar. He was calm, and his eyes looking at Yu Shuang were firm and decisive. "You're the best at light - kung fu. Those people at the door can't stop you. Now go quickly to meet Lu Yan outside Lige City and bring him here."
Yu Shuang said. "But my lord, I haven't received a message from the Marquis of Dingbei saying that he has arrived in Lige City."
"It's already night. Since he said he would arrive tonight, he must have arrived." Shen Qingfeng's voice was calm and unruffled. "I believe in him."