Looking at Tai'an from the full moon

After the morning court session, Prince Qing went directly to Prince Yun's Palace, where several of his friends were already waiting.

Liuli had nothing to do during the day, and Prince Yun had already agreed with the madam of Yuxianlou that he would take Liuli in, so that she would not have to receive other people at night, and he also doubled the price, asking the madam not to restrict Liuli's travel. The madam was naturally very happy with the high money. But at first, I was still curious. Where did Prince Yun want Liuli to go if he did not restrict her travel? I secretly followed her for a few days and found that Liuli only went to Prince Yun's mansion, and she was dressed as a man. I thought that Prince Yun really knows how to play~

Zhen Luo seemed to be very relaxed these past two days, as if her father and brother were recently entangled in other cases and had no time to look after her. Although the serial murder case had not been solved, no one had died recently, and as time went on, the people gradually stopped caring about it. After all, if the matter did not happen to them, who would remember it?

Uncle Mo was busy serving the dishes, but the corners of his mouth were always upturned. Prince Yun had few friends since he was a child, and he was a loner after he was crowned. He had never seen a group of friends gather together for a meal like this.

After all the dishes were served and everyone was about to raise their glasses to make a suggestion, someone from the Ministry of Revenue arrived.

"Your Highness Prince Qing, Your Highness Prince Yun."

The visitor was a minor official from the Ministry of Revenue. He bowed to the two princes, handed them the excerpted scroll, and left.

"Open it quickly and take a look!"

Chu Yao couldn't wait a moment longer, so he untied the string and unfolded the scroll. However, he was disappointed when he saw the contents inside.

"Isn't this the same information as what Yun Wei found? It's boring!"

What was written on the scroll was the place where the deceased had worked. Without exception, it was the imperial palace. Each person's position and the time they left the palace were also written very clearly, just as Yun Wei had found out.

"There's really nothing to see."

Prince Yun passed the scroll to the others. Although there was nothing interesting in it, he let them all take a look at it.

Liuli took it, and even though she heard them say there were no new clues, she still read it carefully.

"Since it is the same as what Yun Wei found, it means they didn't intend to hide it, but why did they tell us today?"

"Maybe... they were slow to investigate? That's why they handed it over to us today."

Chu Yao shrugged. He felt that it didn’t matter. The information he knew was the same and useless.

Liuli retorted.

"It can't be because they were slow to search. The Dali Temple has searched once before, although it wasn't so detailed. But everyone's records should be on a scroll, so the Ministry of Revenue must have an impression of where these people's scrolls are. Why would it take so long to search?"

"Could it be that they already knew what Yun Wei had found out, so they deliberately told us these clues in order to eliminate their own suspicion?"

King Qing also put forward his own guess, and Chu Yao, who was not very smart, thought he was right and nodded in agreement. But Xiao Zuochen didn't think so.

"Maybe something else happened in the meantime that caused them to change their minds."

"Do you still doubt your father?"

From his tone, Chu Yao seemed to no longer doubt the Dog Emperor.

"I suspected him before, but the last time I went to Mingxiang Pavilion, his attitude and the Queen's behavior made me think differently. The Queen seemed to be very concerned about the whereabouts of my father and me. Besides, we thought too simply before, thinking that my father was the emperor and could control everything the best, so we thought he was the most suspicious. But the emperor is not the only one who can gain a foothold in the palace, has many spies, and is capable of doing some secret things!"

"So you mean the Queen?"

Chu Yao followed his words and felt that this was what Xiao Zuochen meant.

"...Not necessarily the Queen..."

Xiao Zuochen was speechless. He really wanted to hammer open Chu Yao’s head to see if there was only one string inside.

"What he meant was that there might be someone in a high position of power manipulating this. This person could be the emperor or the empress, or other ministers, or concubines, guards, or stewards in the harem. It could be one person, or multiple people conspiring to commit the crime."

"... So complicated? So many people could be possible?"

Chu Yao didn't know much about the inside of the palace, nor did he know who was in it.

"So instead of making wild guesses here and getting no results, we might as well do the other one first, and maybe we can get some other clues."

"Another thing? You mean the pension?"

Prince Qing has already submitted the pension payment plan to my father. I don't know what the "other thing" that my sixth brother mentioned refers to.

"Chu Yiyi's matter!"

When talking about his sister, Chu Yao became excited and even his eyes widened.

"Ahem~ Actually, I thought about it for a long time last night. When Chu Yao and I went to Mingxiang Pavilion last night, we found that the Queen was there too. She was curious about why my father took me there, so she went in to check it out. I suspect she thought my father had something to give me, or she was looking for something, otherwise she wouldn't be so concerned. Although I don't know what the Queen is looking for, she is very likely to go to Mingxiang Pavilion again to find out."

"She'll go again? That won't work. If she goes there more often, she'll eventually find that there's a mechanism behind the bookshelf. Besides, she noticed the bookshelf last time!"

"The location of that mechanism is indeed easy for her to find. Given the Queen's personality, if she finds your sister's body there, she will probably want to whip the corpse directly."

"Ah? Is the Queen so evil? Then I would rather bury my sister directly than let her body fall into the Queen's hands!"

"Could it be that you want to steal Concubine Hui's body?"

Zhen Luo opened his mouth in surprise, and Prince Qing also looked shocked when he heard what Zhen Luo said.

"Hey! What are you thinking about? Just find a way to let Father know about this matter. He will protect Chu Yiyi's body."

"What method should be used? You can't tell this matter directly to the emperor, otherwise he will know that you have been there again."

"If you don't tell me directly, how can I tell the emperor?"

......

Everyone was silent, no one had thought of a solution. After a while, Liuli suddenly spoke.

"Since we can't say it directly, let the Queen talk to the Emperor!"

"Hmm? This is even more impossible, right?"

Chu Yao and Zhen Luo thought this method was even more outrageous, but Prince Qing and Prince Yun were more looking forward to her continuing.

"As long as we find a suitable opportunity, and let the emperor and the queen appear at the Mingxiang Pavilion at the same time, and the two of them face each other, the emperor will naturally confront the queen about why she went there. If the emperor can catch the queen rummaging through something, it will be even better!"

Xiao Zuochen nodded.

"Sure. Just tell the Queen that I went to Mingxiang Pavilion and she will follow me. As for Father..."

Xiao Zuochen turned his head and glanced at Chu Yao. Chu Yao noticed his gaze and was slightly stunned.

"You don't want me to lead the dog emperor there, do you?"

"You don't need to do it in person, just use your name."

"Then you want to bring Chu Yao into the palace first? It may not be easy to bring him in during the day. And how can you be sure that the emperor will go to see Chu Yao immediately?"

King Qing felt that this method was not safe either.

"Let me think..."

It is indeed difficult to come up with a reasonable and easy solution in a short period of time.

Just as everyone fell into deep thought again, Liuli spoke again.

"Can you find a way to get the Queen's handwriting?"

"this..."

To be honest, the relationship between Prince Qing, Prince Yun and the Queen is not very good.

"You can't get it openly, but it's easy to steal! But what do you want the Queen's handwriting for?"

"I remember Prince Yun said last time that the emperor felt guilty towards Chu Yiyi, right?"

"Ah."

"Then let's just do this..."

Several people gathered together and listened to Liuli talk about her plan.

"...Although this plan may not succeed, it is safe for each of us! Even if it fails, everyone can get out of it safely!"

"Wow, that's great, Liu Li!"

Chu Yao agreed with the plan very much. He gave her a thumbs up in admiration, then turned to look at Xiao Zuochen.

"It turns out that the smartest person here is Liu Li~"

Xiao Zuochen heard his sarcasm and was too lazy to pay attention to him. He called Yun Wei and Yun You, Chu Yao also called Yi Xing, and Liuli assigned tasks to each person according to their identity and ability. After everyone was arranged, it was discovered that only Chu Yao had no task.

"what about me?"

"You? Just rest in the mansion!"

Liuli grinned at him. There was indeed nothing he needed to do.

"Why not let him help you?"

Xiao Zuochen's eyes rolled, as if he felt that leaving Chu Yao sitting alone in the mansion made him seem unimportant, and he still had to feel involved.

"help me!?"

Liuli was startled.

"I have pomelo!"

"It's okay. One more person doesn't matter. The important thing is participation~"

Therefore, Chu Yao was forced into Liuli's group, and at this moment he didn't know what would happen next.

"Then we'll be ready to take action this afternoon!"

"it is good!"

--------

It is not yet past the hour of Wei, and this is the hottest time of the day.

Outside the Meridian Gate, Xiao Zuochen took Yun Wei, Chu Yao and Liuli out of the carriage and entered the palace together.

"Your Highness Prince Yun."

When the guard at the door saw Xiao Zuochen, he saluted respectfully first.

"Guard Yun Wei, please take off your sword."

The guard also said to Yun Wei respectfully. After all, he was the number one guard beside Prince Yun, and everyone in the palace knew him, so naturally they didn't dare to neglect him.

Yun Wei knew the rules of the palace, so without any delay he took off his sword and placed it on the table beside him.

The guard took another look at Chu Yao and Liuli behind Prince Yun and felt that the two looked unfamiliar, and one of them even looked a little weird.

"Who are these two maids?"

Yes, at this time Chu Yao and Liuli were both dressed as palace maids, one petite and the other tall.

Liuli is a woman, so it's not strange for her to wear women's clothes. But Chu Yaoyi is a martial artist, so he is tall. After changing clothes, Xiao Zuochen forced two buns on his chest to make him look good. Now he is very uncomfortable. In addition, he was stared at by the guards at the door, which made him want to find a crack in the ground to crawl into!

"These two are the maids I found specially for my mother. You should have heard that my mother only has one personal maid, and she doesn't like the others. So I specially trained these two and sent them here to see if they can please my mother."

After Prince Yun said this, the guards at the gate felt that it made sense. Concubine Yun was indeed difficult to serve. It was said that many maids who went to her place were directly driven out of the palace.

"No problem, Your Highness Prince Yun, please~"

So Xiao Zuochen led the three of them through the Meridian Gate smoothly.

After they walked a little further, Chu Yao couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Hey, are you guys doing this on purpose? You didn't assign me any tasks at first, but then you forced me into this. You just wanted to see me dressed up as a woman, right?"

"How could that be? This mission really needs you~"

Liuli said this 'sincerely'.

"I believe it!"

Chu Yao rolled his eyes. He had changed into this outfit just before getting off the carriage. If he had known from the beginning that he would wear women's clothes, he would never have come! While he was angry, he glanced at Liu Li out of the corner of his eye. Don't mention it, I thought this guy looked fair and clean before, but I didn't expect that he looked quite decent in women's clothes. No wonder King Qing liked him!

Liuli found that Chu Yao was staring at her with an indescribable smile on his face. Why did he feel a little obscene?

"Why are you staring at me?"

Hearing this, Xiao Zuochen turned his head and looked over.

Chu Yao hurried to explain.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm just simply admiring you!"

Xiao Zuochen looked at Chu Yao, then at Liuli, as if he had guessed the reason, and turned around to smile secretly. Only Yun Wei remained expressionless.

The few people walked for a distance and saw that there was no one around. Xiao Zuochen nodded to Yun Wei.

"Go!"

Yun Wei nodded in agreement, then flew away on tiptoe.

Chu Yao watched Yun Wei fly away, turned his head and asked.

"I also know Qinggong, why don't you let me climb over the wall?"

Why don't you let me climb over the wall? Why do you have to let the guard stare at me?

"You are not familiar with the palace."

"I was here last night!"

"What if you get lost? And it's daytime now, what if you get discovered flying around?"

"Then Yun Wei will not be discovered if he flies around too?"

"Yun Wei is a veteran, unlike you!"

"Then why was Yixing able to climb over the wall with Yunyou?"

"Yunyou is very reliable, Yixing looks reliable too, and since Yunyou is looking at him, they both seem reliable."

"..."

"Okay, okay~"

Liuli came over to interrupt their quarrel. When Prince Qing was around, Prince Yun could still act like a serious person, but whenever he was alone with Chu Yao, the two of them would quarrel like two children.

"Let's hold on tight too~"

So the three of them changed their route and headed towards the inner court.

At this time outside the Meridian Gate——

"Your Highness Prince Qing, are you entering the palace as well?"

The guard was a little confused. It seemed that Prince Qing had come during the morning court session? His Royal Highness Prince Yun had just gone in, so why was His Royal Highness Prince Qing here again? I heard that the two princes have been on good terms recently, so why didn't they come together? ......

The gatekeeper had many questions in just one or two seconds.

"What? Who entered the palace just now?"

"It's His Royal Highness Prince Yun. He just brought two maids with him and said he was sending them to Concubine Yun."

"Oh, he's thoughtful."

Prince Qing simply responded, pretending to be unaware that Prince Yun had also entered the palace.

The Prince of Qing had no guards, only an attendant driving a horse-drawn carriage. There was nothing to check, so the guards quickly let him go.

"Your Highness Prince Qing, please~"

So Prince Qing also entered the palace.