A piece of Japanese incense

Hefeng left the swing and sat next to Zhi Yihe, tapping his fingertips on the table.

"So - you haven't found Jiang Yu yet? Right?" Zhi Yihe asked tentatively.

"Ah."

"How can you be sure that Jiang Yu didn't abscond with the money? Maybe even my father doesn't know that this happened!"

"He really doesn't know."

Zhi Yihe breathed a sigh of relief and said softly, "Yeah~ So why did you arrest him? And my family, they know nothing about it~"

"But hasn't your father been searching for your grandmother's whereabouts all these years?"

Zhi Yihe looked at him and added calmly: "If your own mother was missing, you wouldn't look for her if it were you!"

"If he really wanted to find her, why did he hide his identity from you? Instead, he deliberately married the princess and became a powerful official?" Hefeng moved towards Zhiyihe little by little.

Zhi Yihe swallowed and moved to the stone bench on the other side: "Remnants of the previous dynasty! Daddy... loves me!"

"Then you know, ever since you were kidnapped as a child, your father has adopted many orphans in the name of protecting you, secretly training them and teaching them skills. On the surface, it was out of kindness, not wanting orphans to be displaced and no one to help his daughter when she was in trouble. But in fact, he was secretly eliminating dissidents for her, levying heavy taxes, and doing unjust things."

"You are talking nonsense!" Although Zhi Yihe also had some complaints about Gou Die, he still felt angry when he heard outsiders slandering him.

"Do you think that with your mother's secret financial support, your father could have raised thousands of orphans for more than a decade? And he could have helped Prince Yun recruit soldiers and start a rebellion?"

"You...how do you know my mother...No...what does this have to do with the raid on the Yun Mansion? Prince Yun's rebellion severely damaged Dongli's vitality. Otherwise, how could your emperor succeed in stealing the country? You are grateful..."

"Ah He! The current emperor is the eldest son of Prince Jiali, personally appointed by Emperor Jingrui! He was given the title of Chu! He killed his father and brother and usurped the throne! How can it be said that the current emperor stole the country!"

The sound of the breeze became more and more passionate, shocking Zhiyi and making him shrink his neck and hold his breath.

He Feng lowered his voice and spoke softly, "Your Majesty has gone through countless hardships and dangers on his way to restoration. What you said today was just because you were young and ignorant and spoke without thinking. You must be careful with your words and actions in the future and don't mention it again."

"Then he should let my grandmother go! The so-called world belongs to someone else, it's just for the sake of more wealth and power! We people are still people, and the people are still people. What's the difference to us!" Zhi Yihe blurted out.

He Feng changed the subject: "But in the past ten years, your father has adopted more than tens of thousands of orphans. After His Majesty ascended the throne, everyone was wary of this, but your father refused to speak up."

"You even know the incense I made the first time, how could you not find out about a huge organization of tens of thousands of people?!"

"These people only follow the arrangements of you and Zhi Yian. Since Zhi Yian was imprisoned, there has been no trace of them."

"Wow! Are you kidding me! This is the first time I've heard of such an organization. You say they obey my orders?! Haha!" Zhi Yihe hugged his knees to his chest and sneered.

"Has Zhi Yian ever given you anything valuable?"

"Brother! My family is very rich, okay? Anything in our house can be called a treasure!" Although Zhi Yihe spoke arrogantly, he turned inside the house and walked towards his own room.

Zhi Yihe stood in the center of the room, his hands on his hips, his eyes sharp as a torch, examining every furnishing in the room.

(Could it be the earrings I gave you before? There are more than one pair, which one is it? Why do I say those people will listen to me? If I find the token, how can I contact that organization?)

"Any ideas?" Hefeng stood beside her, holding a candlestick.

"If I help you find that mysterious organization, can you guarantee the release of my family?"

"Not only must we find them, but we must also use them for the country."

“If it is unusable, what should I do?”

"Eliminate it."

Zhi Yihe shuddered involuntarily. Tens of thousands of lives were to be reduced to ashes in the blink of an eye. This was even more cruel than the corpses in the deserted temple.

"If you help His Majesty find the lost treasure of Xiqi, I promise that all previous grudges will be wiped out. Then, I will definitely let you reunite with your family."

"It's not this, these are two different things! Brother! I just want to know when my grandmother and the others can be released!" There was some anxiety in Zhi Yihe's voice.

"You'd better think about how to find it first." Hefeng paced leisurely in her room, looking left and right curiously.

"Sir!" A soldier rushed into the courtyard and was about to report something, but he shut his mouth the moment he caught sight of Zhi Yihe.

"Get up and answer." Hefeng stepped out of the door in one step.

"Lord Pei sent a message that all the bodies at the Zhangxian Temple site have been excavated. Except for two male bodies, the remaining 235 bodies are all female, and all of them are pregnant."

(Sure enough, it’s related to the baby-eating monster.)

Zhi Yihe ran to Hefeng in two steps. Before he could find his footing, he said breathlessly, "Take me to the scene!"

The two of them rode on the same horse. Zhi Yihe was quite experienced this time. While holding the reins tightly, he could also discuss the case with He Feng: "Have you read all the clues I gave you?"

"It's all just scribbling! It's strange that you can understand it! Are you sure these are clues left by Wang Zude? Maybe they are just to confuse people?"

"My drawing skills are not very good, but it is indeed not much different from those drawings. And I roughly estimated that there are indeed more than 200 drawings, which is roughly consistent with the number of deaths."

"Does each drawing contain information related to a corpse?"

"Have you ever heard of a baby-eater?"

"I've heard a little bit about it. You mean..."

"The rumor about the baby-eating monster was spreading around the eighth year of the Zhaoding reign. At that time, Crown Prince Yuancheng overcame all difficulties and married his mentor's daughter."

"Yan Xunhua wanted to give birth to a grandson, so why did she kill so many pregnant women?"

"Maybe..." Zhi Yihe had an idea in mind: "Take me back to your house quickly. I think I have seen a book before."

"what book?"

"Oh! Don't ask anymore! Take me back!"

Hefeng turned his horse around and galloped away before the soldiers could react, with his hooves flying like the wind.

Hefeng hugged Zhiyihe and got off the horse. She passed by him lightly and swiftly like a breeze. Her black hair passed through his eyes, like dark clouds in the night sky torn by moonlight. The jade hairpin in her hair flickered like jumping stars.

"Run slower! Don't trip!"

"Girl! Where have you been? I can't find you anywhere!"

The voices of Hefeng and Yuyi echoed behind his ears. Zhiyihe had no time to respond. He stared ahead and ran towards the study.

Her memory was declining, and the things she could remember were becoming fewer and fewer. Two years ago, even a few lines of handwriting that she glanced at quickly would take her a year or two to remember.

Zhi Yihe's fingers swept across the rows of books like the wind, and his eyes scanned sharply, not missing any details.

"Found it! Hefeng! Come and see!" Zhi Yihe ran towards him with the book in his hands.

Zhi Yihe walked towards him, her figure casting a long shadow in the moonlight. Her sleeves fluttered, her long skirt fluttered like flowing clouds, and every step seemed to be stepping on clouds. He was worried that his cloak was too long and would trip her, but wherever she walked, the dust on the ground didn't even have time to be raised before she passed by.

"The hidden Gu is shaped like a thorny beetle and is as small as dust. It can sneak into the human body in a breath and hide without a trace. It feeds on the clitoris of pregnant women and will break out of the body when the baby is born." He Feng slowly read out the words on the book.

Hefeng frowned slightly, showing a trace of confusion. Zhi Yihe opened another volume of the classics and touched a passage in the book with his fingertips: "There's more! There's more!"

"In Qinchuan, the population is in imminent danger. The four major families have introduced a secret technique, which allows women to absorb immortal energy. Whenever they combine with men, they will become pregnant. As a result, the population in Qinchuan is gradually thriving."

He Feng tilted his head and thought for a while, "You said those people... were infected with... the hidden Gu?"

"That's right! I guess that the Crown Princess sought this secret method in order to consolidate her position, but she didn't dare to try it rashly, so she first used the common people as a test to find out the truth!"