A life of two souls traveling through time

At 9:00 p.m. the next day, the bailiff who was in charge of keeping watch outside Zhao's house discovered that Zhao Changhe had not returned all night. When he went to the mountain behind the city to check, there was no sign of him. When the prefect You Zhiji learned about it, he was furious and severely punished the two constables who had left their posts without permission last night.

Screams were heard from the government office. Captain Zhou Bing came in a hurry. He frowned and sighed when he saw his two subordinates being beaten with boards in the snow in the front yard. He strode towards the backyard.

"Sir, I am late!" Zhou Bing saluted nervously to the prefect You Zhiji.

"Get up." You Zhiji's face was livid at this time, and it was obvious that he had just lost his temper.

"Sir, we guard the four city gates day and night. I have concluded that Zhao Chu has not escaped from the city..."

"So you mean that Zhao Changhe ran away alone? Why did he run away when his son was still in the city?" You Zhiji was obviously displeased and questioned Zhou Bing with a gloomy face.

"I think that with the loss of power of the Zhao family, more and more people have come to the government office to sue the Zhao family in the past two days. Although most of these crimes were committed by Zhao Chu, he, Zhao Changhe, was afraid of being implicated so he took the opportunity to escape." Zhou Bing lowered his head and replied cautiously.

"Forget it, let him run away. As long as Zhao Chu is still in the city, I will give you three more days. You must find Zhao Chu for me even if you have to dig three feet deep in the ground!" At this point, You Zhiji had no choice but to focus on finding Zhao Chu first. If he found his son, there would be no need to worry about not being able to lure the old man out.

"Yes, sir." Zhou Bing nodded but cold sweat broke out on his forehead. It was not easy to dig deep in the huge Qile City to find someone, and there were only three short days. However, the prefect was already angry at this time, and he did not dare to disobey.

After Si Yao had breakfast, she realized that there was no one guarding the door. When she was wondering, the housekeeper of the other courtyard came forward and smiled at her:

"The prince has instructed that Miss Si Yao is now free and can return to the medicine store at any time. The carriage has also been prepared for her."

Si Yao was speechless. After wrongly accusing someone, he didn't even say an apology. He was really a high-and-mighty prince. But come to think of it, in the feudal era with strict hierarchy, it was undoubtedly a pipe dream to ask a powerful person to admit his mistakes to the common people, let alone apologize.

"Excuse me, where is the prince?" Si Yao asked with a cold expression as he bowed to the housekeeper.

"The prince went out with Mr. Fan early in the morning." The butler also hurriedly returned the greeting and replied.

"Then I'll wait for him to come back." Si Yao said, and turned back to the room.

The housekeeper outside the room was stunned for a moment but said nothing. He turned around and left.

The county government should have been idle on the second day of the Lunar New Year, with officials at home taking a break and leaving only two yamen runners on duty. With the sudden visit of the prince, the county government suddenly became solemn and tense. Situ Ting, who was gathering with relatives and friends in the mansion, was so frightened when he heard the news that he hurriedly changed into his official uniform and went there.

As soon as Situ Ting arrived at the county government office, he bowed and repeatedly greeted the prince sitting on the high seat and Mr. Fan standing next to him to wish him a happy new year. Mr. Fan naturally exchanged a few words with Situ Ting happily. Although Yan Zong came here to ask for punishment, seeing Situ Ting smiling and wishing him a happy new year, he couldn't immediately wipe out the New Year atmosphere, so he also became polite:

"I am here to bother Master Situ during the New Year."

"Oh, Your Majesty, I am sorry for embarrassing you. What instructions do you have?" Situ Ting didn't even dare to look at Yan Zong, and his waist bent even lower.

"Lord Situ, I came here today for only two things." Yan Zong didn't have the patience to continue playing around with him, so he went straight to the point.

"Yes, yes, please speak, Prince." Although Situ Ting was bent over and lowered his head, his heart was already beating fast when he heard Prince Zong's sudden cold tone.

"I have finished the investigation of Xuan Yao's gang. Xuan Yao will be escorted back to the capital in a few days. The rest of the prisoners will be handed over to Lord Situ to be dealt with according to the law." After Yan Zong finished speaking, Mr. Fan on the side also handed several confessions to Situ Ting.

"Please rest assured, Your Majesty. I will definitely see to it." Situ Ting hurriedly took over the confession and responded in a loud voice.

"There is one more thing. It was originally Lord Situ's private matter and I should not be involved. However, it involves bandits and the assassination during the anti-epidemic ceremony. Lord Situ should give me an explanation today." Yan Zong's eyes were cold, and he sat majestically on the high seat and questioned the people below him.

"Your Majesty, please calm down. I too have a lot of grievances to share with you!" Situ Ting was so frightened that his knees went weak and he knelt on the ground, starting to cry bitterly.

"Oh, tell me why you have such a hard time?" Yan Zong frowned and asked in a cold voice. Although he knew a lot about Situ Ting's affairs, it was different from hearing it out loud in person.

So, kneeling on the ground, Situ Ting told in tears the details of his entanglement with the brothel woman and his husband Situ Mei, not daring to hide anything.

Yan Zong listened to Situ Ting's detailed account, which was not much different from what he had known before, and the stone in his heart was finally put down. Although Situ Ting had concealed his love affair, Yan Zong only reprimanded him severely and did not pursue the matter any further because he did not abuse his power to help the evil in the bandit suppression incident, but actively did the aftermath work.

Since Prince Zong did not report his affairs to the emperor, Situ Ting was naturally filled with gratitude and expressed his gratitude profusely.

Not long after leaving the county government office, heavy snow fell again. Yan Zong and Mr. Fan went to a restaurant to avoid the snow. They sat in the restaurant's side room for half a day. When they returned to the villa, it was almost dark. The housekeeper hurriedly reported:

"Prince, Miss Si Yao has not left yet. She said she wanted to wait for you."

Yan Zong, who was in the corridor, turned around and tried to walk towards Si Yao's room, but after taking two steps, he turned back to the hall:

"Bring her to see the king."

Thinking of the eye contact with the woman in the room yesterday, Yan Zong felt a pang of fear in his heart. He couldn't be alone with her again.

"Si Yao greets the prince." Si Yao was led to the hall by the housekeeper. He bowed to Yan Zong who was sitting at the main seat, then turned to Mr. Fan who was standing beside him and bowed again: "Greetings, Mr. Fan."

"Please take a seat, Miss Si Yao." Mr. Fan gestured to Si Yao with a smile.

"Si Yao wants to ask King Zong for something." But Si Yao did not take a seat. Instead, he knelt in front of Yan Zong and spoke frankly.

"What? You're going to plead for a traitor just when you've cleared your suspicion?" Yan Zong put down the teacup in his hand heavily, saying unhappily.

"But he is only a fourteen-year-old boy after all..."

"Hmph, a fourteen-year-old child? Do you know that in your eyes, a fourteen-year-old child can defend the country and kill enemies and make meritorious deeds, but can also kill people and burn things, and do all kinds of evil?" Before Si Yao could finish speaking, Yan Zong's face was as frosty as he said angrily.

"I heard from Arnold that Miss Si Yao once asked him about the fire in the Huang Mansion?" Yan Zong's angry voice made the whole hall fall into silence. Seeing Si Yao's silence, Mr. Fan smiled and asked gently to ease the atmosphere.

"Yes, Mr. Fan, do you know the details?" Si Yao turned to look at Mr. Fan and asked.

"Miss, you don't know that the fire in the Huang Mansion was set by Huifeng. He killed everyone in the Huang Mansion and buried them in the sea of ​​fire. That's why no one escaped from the fire." Mr. Fan sighed regretfully.

"What?" Si Yao was shocked. It was hard for her to imagine that Mr. Er, who usually saved lives and healed the wounded, could do such things as murder and arson and harm innocent people.

"According to the confession of his subordinates, his parents were reported to the government by Mr. Huang, so when he found out the truth, he had already planned revenge."

After hearing what Mr. Fan said, Si Yao shuddered all over and closed her eyes in disappointment.