Cypress Boat Floating

The capital city always has a curfew, and no one is allowed to stay on the street during the curfew. On this deserted street, a woman with no clothes on and scars all over her body suddenly ran out of the narrow alley in a panic, with her hair loose. Her pitiful little face was pale, and even a palm mark could be clearly seen on her face. If you saw it inadvertently, you would be scared.

The next second after the woman ran out of the alley, a big hand stretched out from the alley and grabbed her loose hair, and then pulled the woman back into the alley with force. Even though the woman wanted to keep running forward, she couldn't move. Her hair was grabbed in someone's hand, and even her fragile scalp was painful. When she tried to cover her scalp and pull her hair back, she found that her strength was no match for the person behind her.

The big hand that grabbed her hair pulled her hard and threw her to the ground, and the hair that he had grabbed was pulled off along with her fragile scalp and remained on the hand.

"If you don't want the kindness I give you, don't blame me." The owner of the hand had red eyes, and he stared at the woman on the ground fiercely like a wolf. He stepped forward, grabbed her hair with one hand to force her to look up, and slapped the woman's face viciously with the other hand. Before the woman could react, he slapped her again.

The woman knelt on the ground, wailing and begging for mercy. But even though her face was swollen like a pig's head and even the corners of her mouth were bleeding, the man did not show the slightest bit of mercy. He still hit her in the face mercilessly and continued to vent his anger on her.

The woman's voice became smaller and smaller, and the strength she held on the other person's hand became weaker and weaker. Her eyes gradually turned white, and the wounds on her face were stained by the tears flowing from her eyes, instantly doubling the pain. However, she was already in so much pain that she was unconscious, and she no longer asked for help.

Gradually, a light began to appear in front of her eyes. In that light, she saw her dead mother reaching out to her. She slowly put her hand in her mother's hand and left with her.

After the man vented all his emotions on the woman, he let her go. When he looked again, he found that the woman's face had been beaten to pieces and she was no longer alive. The man was not surprised and wiped his bloody hands on the only remaining clothes on the woman.

"Master..." the servant who witnessed everything on the other side of the alley called softly.

"Why are you yelling? Get rid of the guy." The man rubbed his sore wrist in disgust, turned around and left arrogantly.

The servant who was left behind had to drag away the woman who was accidentally killed and deal with her according to his master's request.

The streets of the capital returned to tranquility. The wind blew away all the smells, and no one knew what had happened in this place.

Prince Xian's Mansion

Even though the constant surveillance day and night would not affect the lives of Lu Ci Qiu and Ye Jianqing, it still made Ye Jianqing feel more and more irritated. What she could not stand the most was the feeling of being followed.

There were people watching her in the yard, and she was also being watched when she wanted to go out to eat. She couldn't do anything she wanted to do. If she hadn't been exposed, she would have definitely followed him back to see what he was going to do.

It’s infuriating just to think about it.

"Qing'er, I'm going to the Dali Temple today. I heard that a lot of women have been missing recently. I have to go with my second brother to investigate. I may be back late." Lu Ci Qiu came back from the morning court and reported his itinerary for the day to Ye Jianqing before he sat down to eat.

"Do you need me to follow you closely and protect you?" Ye Jianqing poked at the vegetables in the bowl boredly. She only heard him say that he was going out with Lu Zhixing, but she didn't hear what he was going to do.

Seeing Ye Jianqing's unhappy look, Lu Ciqiu, who wanted to refuse, swallowed his words of refusal silently and asked with concern: "What's wrong with you?"

Ye Jianqing raised his eyes, glanced at the person next to him, and said, "Boring."

Lu Ciqiu wiped his nose with his hand, thinking about it, it was true. There were always people watching at home and outside. Ye Jianqing couldn't do anything she wanted, for fear that people would misunderstand what she was doing. Moreover, under surveillance, he didn't dare to let Ye Jianqing do anything alone, for fear that they would hurt her. And he had been accompanying Lu Zhixing to handle official business for more than a month, leaving early and returning late every day, and never took Ye Jianqing out to play.

Given Ye Jianqing's active personality, it was already a miracle that he could stay in this mansion for so many days.

Previously, other official business was handled in the Sixth Ministry, so it was not convenient to bring Ye Jianqing with him. But today he was going to investigate a case. If Ye Jianqing was with him, she would be a good helper. If he took her with him, his second brother would not blame him.

Thinking of Lu Ci Qiu, he smiled and said to her: "Why don't you come with me to investigate the case."

"Is there a case?" Ye Jianqing became alert when she heard about the case. It wasn't that she really wanted to solve the case, but at least she could go out for a walk with Lu Ci Qiu without arousing suspicion.

"I guess you didn't even listen to what I said just now." Lu Ci Qiu said with a smile, "Yes, in recent days, many people have reported that their daughters are missing, so we have to investigate what happened."

"Is that so? Then take me with you. I might be able to help you in some way."

Now that Ye Jianqing was sure he could go out, he enjoyed everything he ate. He did not look at all like the depressed man that Lu Ci Qiu had seen when he came back just now.

You know, going out with Lu Ci Qiu means going out with Lu Zhixing. They can monitor Lu Ci Qiu and Ye Jianqing at any time, but they dare not monitor Lu Ci Qiu in front of Lu Zhixing. After all, they do not have the confidence that they can avoid being exposed in front of Lu Zhixing.

Therefore, as long as they were with Lu Zhixing, they wouldn't have to worry about being monitored. As long as they could avoid the feeling of being stared at, Ye Jianqing felt that she would be comfortable even if she stayed with Lu Zhixing for a whole day.

When the two finished breakfast and went to the Dali Temple, Lu Zhixing was already there reading the files.

"Coming!" Lu Zhixing heard the voice without even raising his head.

"Second brother, how come you came so quickly." After Lu Ci Qiu settled Ye Jianqing, he moved closer to Lu Zhixing.

After Lu Zhixing finished reading the file in his hand, he looked up at his brother. As expected, he saw Ye Jianqing sitting in the hall. He raised his eyebrows and said nothing. He just handed the file in his hand to Lu Ciqiu and said, "Take a look. We will visit the places where they disappeared later."

"Okay." Lu Ci Qiu responded, then took the file and started reading it.

"Why did you think of following me today?" This sentence was obviously asking Ye Jianqing.

"I feel uncomfortable in the mansion, being watched every day. I might as well follow the prince out to relax." Ye Jianqing smiled at him.

Her attitude towards Lu Zhixing has always been like this. They both know each other's identities very well. Before, when her life was in his hands, she might have been a little more reserved, but now her life is in her own hands, and he is not her immediate superior, so what is there to be afraid of? Just say whatever you want to say.

Even if he wanted to do something to me, it would depend on whether Lu Ci Qiu agreed.

"Have you found out who those people are?" Lu Zhixing sat on the chair next to her, poured himself a cup of tea, and asked.

"I probably know, but these people can't be moved for the time being."

Now there were only three of them here, and everyone knew the current situation clearly. Lu Ciqiu had told Lu Zhixing about being followed on the first day, so he also knew the current situation of the Xianwang Mansion. In this case, everyone should speak directly without beating around the bush.

Lu Zhixing nodded, looking at her with a bit of disappointment in his eyes: "These people can be used, it's up to you how to use them, don't be stupid and let yourself be monitored."

"Yes." While Ye Jianqing agreed, he was thinking about how to make use of these people. It seemed that Lu Zhixing's idea coincided with his own. Since the prince sent so many people here, wouldn't it be a shame for them not to make use of them?

Lu Ciqiu took a quick look at the file and put it away. Seeing that he had finished reading it, Lu Zhixing took the two of them out to visit the homes of the missing women.

Normally, missing cases like this would not be escalated to the Dali Temple, but would be handled by local officials. However, this time it was different.

One of the missing people this time was the daughter of Du Guangyao, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War.

Du Guangyao had only one daughter, whom he doted on very much. Miss Du seldom went out. A few days ago, she went to the temple with her maid to burn incense and got lost. The maid searched for her for a long time but couldn't find her, so she hurriedly sent someone back to report.

So Du Guangyao sent many people to look for her, but she has not been found until today. Later, he heard that many daughters of other families in the vicinity had also disappeared. After some investigation, he found that everyone disappeared on the way to the temple.

So they quickly reported the case to the Dali Temple, hoping that the Dali Temple could help investigate what was wrong with the temple and also help everyone find their daughter.

Lu Zhixing was in charge of the Dali Temple. When he heard the report from the Chief Justice of the Dali Temple, he thought that it was just a missing case and it shouldn't be particularly difficult. It just so happened that Lu Ci Qiu didn't have a fixed position, so he thought of taking him with him to solve the case and see if he had enough ability to work in the Dali Temple.

The three of them first went to Du Guangyao's mansion to inquire, and at the same time asked Miss Du's maid to take them along the route that Miss Du had taken at that time.

The temple is not far from the Du Mansion. Take a carriage west along the Central Avenue and go straight out of the city gate. The temple is about ten miles outside the city gate.

The temple is Yue Lao Temple, where people pray for marriage. It is said that this temple is extremely efficacious and anyone who goes there to pray for marriage will get an excellent marriage. Therefore, there are many young ladies and gentlemen who go to the temple to pray for marriage on weekdays. None of the high-ranking ladies in the capital dare to say that they have never been there.

Lu Zhixing took Lu Ci Qiu for a walk around the Yue Lao Temple but didn't find anything strange. It was just a very ordinary Yue Lao Temple. If there was anything special about it, it was probably the incense. There was nothing wrong with the Taoist priests in the temple.

Unable to find the problem, they had to go back home and go ask the families whose daughters they said were missing.

Although these families were not particularly wealthy, their family environment was not bad. When asked, every family said that their daughter got lost from her maid when she went to the Yue Lao Temple to burn incense, and never came back.

This was the answer he got after asking several families in a row, which made Lu Zhixing doubt whether there was really something wrong with this Yue Lao Temple.

"What do you think?" Lu Zhixing asked Lu Ci Qiu as the three of them walked on the street.

Lu Ci Qiu looked worried. According to the current situation, he should think that there was something wrong with Yue Lao Temple, but he didn't think so.

"Is there really something wrong with the Yue Lao Temple?" he asked in return.

Lu Zhixing didn't say anything because he wasn't sure.

"Well, if we can't see any problems during the day, let's go again at night." Ye Jianqing on the side did not have as heavy a psychological burden as them. Instead of dwelling on these things here, it would be better to let practical actions speak for themselves.

"Then we can go to the Yue Lao Temple at night."

The other two agreed with Ye Jianqing's idea, so they decided to go to Yue Lao Temple again around two o'clock in the morning to check the situation.

While the three of them were busy here, letters about the situation in the Prince's Mansion, including the every move of Prince Lu Ci Qiu, were continuously delivered to the desk of the Prince's study. In those letters, in addition to Lu Ci Qiu, there would occasionally be a woman whom the Prince did not know at all, and this woman had an unusual relationship with Lu Ci Qiu.

This couldn't help but arouse the prince's curiosity.

"Who is this Ye Jianqing? Why have I never heard of him before?" The prince looked at the letter in his hand with a frown.

"It is said that she was a palace maid taken in by the Eighth Prince when he was still in the palace. Her name was Ye Jianqing." A man below replied respectfully.

"A palace maid? Judging from the information you sent, this woman is more than just a palace maid." The prince angrily threw the letter in his hand at him. Based on the information, he could see that this woman was not simple. But now his own men told him that this woman was just a palace maid, a waste.

He had never seen a prince who would arrange a courtyard specifically for a palace maid, nor had he seen a palace maid eat at the same table with her master, let alone enter her master's room without notifying her. Even Lu Ci Qiu's personal eunuch Huai Xi treated her with great respect. Now you say she is a palace maid, who would believe it?

"Go, check this woman." The prince rubbed the bridge of his nose. He felt inexplicably irritated when he saw these people, so he waved his hand and asked them to leave.

The man took the order and went back to investigate Ye Jianqing.

The prince was alone in the study, leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed, not knowing what he was thinking. Lately he had been feeling a little uneasy, fearing that something was going to happen.