Who says the prince is weak and can't take care of himself?

Tang Ling glanced at the empty house and felt empty inside.

"Sir, go to bed early."

"Yeah." Tang Ling replied softly and asked Qing Lan, "Did you give the calming incense to him?"

"Qinglan dare not neglect the young master's orders."

Tang Ling picked up the mountain and river record on the table and couldn't put it down, so she simply sat down in front of the table and slowly read the book.

Qing Lan looked at him and whispered, "Young Master, you haven't recovered from your cold yet, and the wound on your arm hasn't healed yet. You should take better care of yourself. You just agreed to rest early."

Tang Ling looked up at Qinglan and smiled gently: "Okay, I'll listen to you." Although she said so, she still refused to put down the book in her hand. After being stared at by Qinglan for a while, Tang Ling finally put down the book and asked Qinglan to help her wash up and go to bed early.

Qi Xiao slept very well all night. Perhaps Qinglan's calming incense was really effective. He seemed to have had sweet dreams all night, but when he opened his eyes, he could not remember anything. However, he knew that Tang Ling must be in his dream, which made him reluctant to leave.

When Pei Hao returned to the Dali Temple after court, Qi Xiao had already arrived. He was sitting and looking over the accounts. His back was straight, and he was using the abacus quite well. It seemed that he had improved a lot compared to the day before. At least Pei Hao didn't have to stare at him all the time, which made Pei Hao nod silently with approval.

However, when Pei Hao walked to Qi Xiao's desk, the slight warmth he had shown earlier had already disappeared. He raised his hand and bowed with a serious expression, "Greetings, Your Highness."

Qi Xiao replied politely: "Shaoqing Pei."

"Your Highness, have you been here for a long time?"

"I just got here a short time ago."

Pei Hao reached out and touched the teacup beside Qi Xiao: "Your Highness, the tea is cold."

Qi Xiao was stunned for a moment, then smiled and personally brewed a cup of tea for Pei Hao and handed it to him.

Pei Hao was very pleased to see Qi Xiao treated him with the courtesy of a teacher. The other princes were always polite to the court officials and showed respect on their faces, but that was because they all grew up in Yuanjing and did not dare to neglect them for the sake of their own reputation. But Qi Xiao had a reputation in the outside world before coming to the capital, and he did not grow up in front of the emperor, so it was inevitable that he was not well-educated. But after spending the past two days together, Pei Hao's impression of him changed a lot, and he felt that he was no worse than the others.

"Thank you, Your Highness."

Qi Xiao smiled, skipped the pleasantries, and went straight to the point: "Did the servant at the Luo Mansion say anything else last night?"

Pei Hao sighed and shook his head: "There is no further explanation."

Yesterday, Cao Weishan brought his servant to the Dali Temple, believing that under torture at the Dali Temple, he would quickly confess everything. The servant was so frightened upon being brought into the Dali Temple that his legs weakened. Torture was unnecessary in the courtroom; his forehead slammed against the bricks, making a resounding sound. He answered every question Pei Hao asked, seemingly effortlessly. But the servant's confession infuriated Qi Xiao, Pei Hao, and Cao Weishan.

The family servant said that he had indeed seen the robbers on the day when Dali Temple Minister Luo Yu was murdered. When he got up at night, he heard a noise coming from the direction of the study, so he went to take a look. Unexpectedly, he heard the sound of rummaging through drawers in the house. He looked inside and found that Luo Yu had been murdered. Two masked men were rummaging through something. When they saw him coming, they deliberately knocked over the oil lamp and caused a fire. He fled in panic, and only remembered to shout for help when he saw that the robbers did not catch up with him. When he turned back to put out the fire, it was too late.

This is what he said to Cao Weishan. He kowtowed to Pei Hao repeatedly, saying that he was innocent and had never set the fire, let alone harmed his master.

From the Jingji Protectorate to the Dali Temple, the servant's confession remained unchanged, and he described the two robbers in a very realistic way, saying that one had a mole under his eyebrow and the other had a hoarse voice. After a lot of crying and shouting, and with Chi Yue having no real evidence, Pei Hao found it difficult to impose a severe punishment.

Cao Weishan was anxious, but helpless. He could only order people to draw portraits and search the whole city for the bandits.

Chi Yue suggested to Qi Xiao that anyone who could not be tried by the Capital Protectorate and the Dali Temple could be handed over to him. No one could withstand the methods of the Tiance Camp, so they would naturally tell Qi Xiao the truth.

But Qi Xiao did not respond, just said to wait a little longer, and waited all night.

Qi Xiao also made himself a cup of fresh tea. He was in no hurry to drink it because it was too hot. He then asked Pei Hao, "Did you say anything all night?"

Pei Hao said, "As per His Highness' orders, no torture was carried out, but he was kept awake all night. He was noisy in the first half of the night, but in the second half he had no energy left to make a scene. He just kept saying that he was wronged."

Qi Xiao nodded and said, "It's okay, wait a little longer."

Pei Hao was puzzled. What was Qi Xiao waiting for?

Qi Xiao actually gained some insights when he was looking at the account books at the Dali Temple yesterday. He slowly figured out the tricks and seemed to be able to grasp the clues from this vast and complicated situation. Gradually, he was able to calm down and no longer felt irritable.

Seeing that Qi Xiao could sit still, Pei Hao continued to deal with other trivial matters in the Dali Temple.

Chi Yue looked at Qi Xiao, then at Zong Sheng, and asked in an almost inaudible voice, "You don't need me to check the account books, right?"

In the morning, Qi Xiao took Chi Yue out to the Dali Temple. He thought that he was going to interrogate the servant of the Luo Mansion, but he didn't expect that he would be in a daze in the side room of the Dali Temple.

Zong Sheng shook his head and made a gesture of silence to Chi Yue, but never answered Chi Yue's question.

Two days ago, His Majesty ordered Chi Yue to follow Qi Xiao to investigate a case. Chi Yue immediately found it very interesting. The Tiance and Xuanji battalions only obey His Majesty's orders. Tiance is the sharp blade and Xuanji is the eyes and ears. For a hundred years, they have been dealing with external affairs but not internal affairs. His Majesty actually ordered Chi Yue to follow Qi Xiao this time. It was really unprecedented. Chi Yue originally thought that investigating the case was secondary, and saving Qi Xiao's life was the top priority.

But according to Chi Yue's observations over the past two days, he vaguely felt that he might be wrong. Qi Xiao did not need his protection. Not to mention that Bai Xiqiao and Zong Sheng beside him were both good at fighting, Qi Xiao was capable enough to protect himself.

Besides, the Imperial Guards were full of skilled secret guards, so sending the Tian Ce Battalion seemed overkill. Shouldn't protecting Qi Xiao be secondary, with investigating the case paramount? But when it came to investigating, the Dali Temple was undoubtedly responsible. Wouldn't sending Qi Xiao and the Tian Ce Battalion be overstepping their bounds? Could the Fifth and Seventh Princes, the Qin and Gongsun clans, just sit back and watch?

Chi Yue couldn't figure it out, but that didn't stop him from finding it interesting, very interesting. He casually glanced at Zong Sheng beside him; this unexpected surprise was even more interesting.

Qi Xiao quickly finished reading the account book and reorganized the case files. In the quiet room, the only sound seemed to be the flipping of books.

"Knock, knock." A clerk from the Dali Temple knocked on the door of the wing room. "Your Highness, Lord Pei, Lord Cao from the Capital Protectorate is here."

Qi Xiao closed the case file, folded it back to its original place, and smiled: "Here it comes."

Pei Hao asked doubtfully, "Did His Highness invite Lord Cao?"

Qi Xiao smiled and stood up: "Master Pei, please come in."

Pei Hao didn't ask any more questions and stood up. He and Qi Xiao went to the front hall to meet Cao Weishan. Before they even set foot in the front hall, they smelled the smell of blood.