The coroner and the concubine doctor pursue the murderer in the Dali Temple

Chu Yunxi and Xiao Mubei nodded their heads and followed Wu Lingqi out of Chuyun Hall where the guests were being entertained.

The palace of Nandi was not as big as that of Dasui, and the buildings were mostly far apart, unlike the palace of Dasui, where the palaces were very close to each other.

After leaving Chuyun Palace, the guards were not so strict. Wu Lingqi said, "Mr. Xiao, Madam Xiao, I can only help you here. You must be more careful from now on. My father, mother and I will leave the palace soon. I will come back in two days and take you out."

"Thank you, Prince." Xiao Mubei and Chu Yunxi thanked Wu Lingqi together. He also returned the greeting and then turned and left.

A gorgeous firework exploded in the sky. Chu Yunxi looked up and praised, "It's so beautiful."

Xiao Mubei looked at the little face that was instantly illuminated in front of him. His eyes were sparkling, as if countless stars were twinkling in them. He couldn't help but reach out and hug the person into his arms, saying: "When we return to Dasui, I will definitely set off a fireworks display for you that is a hundred times more gorgeous than this."

Chu Yunxi nestled in his arms, feeling extremely sweet in her heart.

Unfortunately, the situation did not allow the two to enjoy their sweet time for too long. After looking around, they went straight to Empress Dowager Rong's residence, Derong Palace.

Before entering the palace, Wu Lingqi had already given them a topographical map of the Nandi Palace, and gave them a detailed description of who lived in each palace and where they were located. Their main targets for entering the palace this time were two places, one was the Derong Palace where the Empress Dowager Rong lived, and the other was the Qian'an Palace where the young emperor Wu Zixu lived.

There were five people entering the palace this time, Xiao Mubei and Chu Yunxi with Heimu, as well as Wen Rulan and Zi Han. Heimu was mainly responsible for Chu Yunxi's safety, so he hid in the dark. The others disguised themselves as palace maids and eunuchs, sneaked into the two palaces, and gathered information.

Xiao Mubei and Chu Yunxi went to Derong Palace, while Wen Rulan and Zi Han went to Qian'an Palace.

Because Empress Dowager Rong and Wu Zixu were still at the banquet at the moment, the security in the palace was not so strict.

Xiao Mubei and Chu Yunxi each carried a few rolls of fine cloth to the gate of Derong Palace and said to the eunuch guarding the gate, "We are from the weaving workshop. We are here on the orders of the palace lady to let the queen mother select the cloth for her new clothes."

The eunuch guarding the gate asked in confusion, "Didn't we already select them yesterday?"

Chu Yunxi said, "We have received a few more rolls of better cloth today. The palace lady asked us to bring them to the Empress Dowager to have a look. Maybe the Empress Dowager will like these more."

The eunuch guarding the gate did not suspect anything and waved his hand, saying, "Go in and wait. The Queen Mother has not returned from the banquet yet. She will summon you when she returns."

"Thank you, eunuch." Chu Yunxi thanked him and entered Derong Palace with Xiao Mubei, who kept his head down. There was no other way, Xiao Mubei was too tall and his appearance was too outstanding. If he didn't keep his head down, he would easily attract attention.

After entering Derong Palace, all the eunuchs and palace maids in charge followed Empress Dowager Rong to the banquet. Only a few palace maids who were cleaning the palace were left. In addition, it was New Year's Eve, so everyone was avoiding each other and there were almost no people in the courtyard.

Chu Yunxi and Xiao Mubei looked around and entered the side hall. Although it was their first time to come to the Nandi Palace, Xiao Mubei had often been to the Dasui Palace and knew some of the palace's rules. They thought they were all similar, so they thought of stealing a few pieces of cloth from the Sizhifang. Under the pretext of picking cloth, they successfully entered the Derong Palace.

Derong Palace is quite large, with more than a dozen main halls and side halls alone, plus the quarters for palace maids and eunuchs, a small Buddhist hall, a small kitchen, a room for storing sundries, etc., dozens of rooms in total, making it quite difficult to search.

Xiao Mubei said to Chu Yunxi, "You wait here. Hei Mu and I will go and search roughly. If Queen Mother Rong comes back, you can test her first. Don't worry, we are in the dark and won't be too far away from you."

Chu Yunxi nodded, "Be careful."

Xiao Mubei nodded, called out to Heimu in the dark, and used his lightness skills to start searching the roofs of every room. If there was anything unusual, they would go down to the rooms to search.

Chu Yunxi sat in a side hall, still feeling somewhat nervous, but she quickly adjusted herself, slowly calmed down, and began to think about the current situation.

They had done some investigation in Kara City three days before entering the palace. It turned out that Queen Mother Rong was a famous talented woman in Nandi before entering the palace. At that time, she was proficient in poetry and songs and was quite famous. When she was only in her teens, she was already well-known in Kara City.

Empress Dowager Rong came from a wealthy family. She had an elder brother who had been studying hard, hoping to become the top scorer in the imperial examination and thus embark on a career in officialdom. However, on the eve of the imperial examination, he fell seriously ill and had no choice but to give up the exam. Unexpectedly, the 13-year-old Empress Dowager Rong made a shocking statement, saying that she would take the exam for her brother.

Originally, there was no such precedent in Nandi. It was also because Empress Dowager Rong was so talented and famous, and her brother's teacher helped her to finally get the chance to take the exam as she wished.

While waiting for the announcement of the results, Empress Dowager Rong's brother recovered and the family went out hunting and playing. During the hunting process, Empress Dowager Rong accidentally got separated from her family. When she was looking for a way out alone, a black bear appeared in front of her.

Queen Mother Rong was only thirteen years old at the time. She was immediately frightened by the black bear and screamed for help, but her parents and brothers were not nearby. Just as the black bear was about to pounce on her, a sharp arrow wrapped in the sound of wind shot from behind and blinded one of the black bear's eyes.

The black bear was badly injured and became irritable. At this time, a young man came from behind, jumped onto the black bear's back and started fighting with it. The black bear was extremely strong and in a state of madness, so it was very dangerous. Empress Dowager Rong was terrified and worried for the young man.

But the young man was very brave and not afraid at all. He attacked in a methodical manner, focusing on the black bear's weaknesses, such as the eyes and nose. He beat the black bear so hard that it was at a loss. With the last sword, he pierced the black bear's head. The black bear fell to the ground with a bang, and after struggling for a few times, it became motionless.

The young man got off the black bear, covered in blood, and walked to Queen Mother Rong, saying with a smile: "Don't be afraid, I killed the black bear."

Queen Mother Rong looked at the young man in front of her with blood on his face, but she only saw his sharp eyebrows, bright eyes, and his bravery and fortitude.

"What's your name?"

"My name is Chu Xiuyao."

“You are not a Nandi?”

"I am from Dasui."

Chu Yunxi heard all this from a nanny from Empress Dowager Rong's family. They visited Rong's house at night and met a nanny. In order not to alert the enemy, they had to capture her. Unexpectedly, this nanny was the personal maid of Empress Dowager Rong's mother. She knew the past very well. Chu Yunxi told her that she was the daughter of Chu Xiuyao and wanted to know what happened between her father and Empress Dowager Rong. The nanny had always regretted that Empress Dowager Rong could not marry her beloved. As soon as she learned of Chu Yunxi's identity, she told Chu Yunxi everything.