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

Pei Hao had originally wanted to use someone from the Dali Temple, but Qi Xiao stopped him. He didn't trust anyone, and only Qi Xiao's personal guards, who had nothing to do with court affairs, could he be assured of. Pei Hao nodded. This was indeed the truth. If the servant was accidentally killed, there would be no survivors, and the clues would be cut off.

Qi Xiao harbored suspicions but didn't tell Pei Hao. The Luo family servant, during his first and even second interrogations at the Jingji Protectorate, had only claimed to have witnessed a burglar break into the mansion, set it on fire, and escape. He hadn't disclosed any specific characteristics of the burglar, revealing them only after being taken to the Dali Temple. Yet, the next day, the Wudu Prefecture raided the mansion, resulting in one fatality and one injury. It was a remarkable coincidence. Perhaps something was amiss at the Dali Temple, allowing them to relay orders to the servants in the prison. Even Pei Hao and Qi Xiao couldn't fully trust them.

The size of this fish would be revealed tonight, so Qi Xiao was in no hurry. He had to put on a good show. After chatting with Pei Hao for a while at the Dali Temple, he took a carriage and left. After going around two streets, he quietly returned to the Dali Temple alone. Pei Hao left him in a side room, busy with his own business, as if everything was peaceful.

Qi Xiao took this opportunity to find the case files about Lu Xiulin.

The case files of the Dali Temple were piled up like a mountain, and one side room could not hold them all. They were everywhere in the side rooms of the courtyard. It was quite difficult for Qi Xiao to find them, but fortunately he was free today, and no one in the Dali Temple cared about him. It was more convenient than breaking in at night. After searching for more than half an hour, he finally found them.

But when Qi Xiao unfolded the file and took a closer look, his brows furrowed.

Lu Xiulin was initially brought to the Dali Temple in connection with the Dingyuan Army pay case. He was tortured for over two months, nearly killing himself, his limbs broken, yet nothing could be learned. He consistently claimed ignorance. He truly knew nothing. Since Bai Liu hadn't embezzled military pay, Lu Xiulin naturally didn't know. The then-prefect of Yuanzhou was imprisoned and executed, and the military pay case ultimately failed to implicate Bai Liu. Consequently, the case was dropped due to a lack of concrete evidence.

The case file ended here and was sealed by Luo Yu, the Minister of the Dali Temple, and no further mention of Lu Xiulin was made thereafter.

"Tsk." Qi Xiao put the file back, his mind clouded with suspicion. Luo Yu was dead, and he couldn't ask Pei Hao directly. So he had to go back and ask Lu Xiulin himself. But why didn't Bai Xiqiao mention it when he talked to Lu Xiulin? Was it unimportant? Or was it intentional?

With Lu Xiulin's serious injuries at that time, if no one in the Dali Temple helped him, he would be a disabled person even if he survived. How could he enter the Wudu Prefecture?

That could only be because Lu Xiulin didn't want to tell Bai Xiqiao.

Qi Xiao had a headache. The matter of Bai Liu was not only an old account, but also a bad one. The scary thing was that wherever the Dali Temple looked, there were old accounts and bad accounts. He was afraid that the same was true in the court and the six ministries.

Qi Xiao wasn't particularly familiar with his father, but from his limited memory and current understanding, His Majesty wasn't a mediocre, incompetent monarch. The Great Chen Kingdom was peaceful and prosperous, otherwise it wouldn't have had the financial resources to wage a months-long war against the Zhou. His Majesty had dealt with the Ministry of Revenue corruption case with ruthless force, and had handed the Tiance Camp over to Qi Xiao regarding the case of Luo Yu, the Supreme Court Justice. He was considered wise, but how could his renowned general, Bai Liu, be wrongly accused so many times? He even gave Qi spies an opportunity to infiltrate Yuanzhou Prefecture?

Qi Xiao walked out of the side room. It was already dark outside. There were lights on in the Dali Temple. The dim light could not resist the endless darkness.

The night watchman's drum beats after the second watch, and it is late at night.

The Dali Temple prison was quiet. Hungry rats were running around in the dark and cold cells, and the occasional light and sharp squeaks clearly separated the yin and yang worlds.

The rats passed through each cell, and if they were lucky, they might even find a half-dead person and take a bite of flesh. Following the smell of blood, they found one, and sneaked up on him. The person was still alive, but he exuded a heavy aura of death. Even stronger than the death aura was a murderous aura as sharp as a knife. Don't mess with him, don't mess with him.

The mouse was a little scared, so it turned around and walked away. It bumped into a bowl of water at the prison door, and looked back at the person who was half leaning and half sitting in the corner. The person didn't move, so the mouse bravely lay down beside the bowl and licked a drop of water on the edge of the bowl, but it seemed that the taste was not very good. Before it could react, it fell down and didn't move again.

Chi Yue watched the mouse being poisoned to death with his eyes half closed, as if he didn't see it. He was neither surprised nor frightened. Even his slow and steady breathing was not disordered at all. It was as if he was asleep and it was just a dream.

The jailer was inspecting the cell and saw the dead rat. He stopped, gently opened the cell door, walked towards Chi Yue, and reached out to check his breath.

Chi Yue raised the corner of his mouth slightly and whispered, "He's not dead. Don't worry."

"..." Zong Sheng secretly breathed a sigh of relief, "How did you know it was me?"

Chi Yue didn't even raise his eyelids and said with a smile: "I told you before, the smell on your body is different."

Zong Sheng almost believed Chi Yue's lies and wanted to roll up his sleeves to smell it himself, but the officer's clothes were taken from the Dali Temple storehouse in the afternoon, and they smelled of dust and mold. Zong Sheng didn't believe that Chi Yue could tell the difference.

"I didn't realize who poisoned you or when."

"You're a stranger, so I should avoid you." Chi Yue looked up at Zong Sheng with a smile, "You should leave now."

Chi Yue, who had a ferocious face, suddenly smiled tenderly. His expression was so strange that it made Zong Sheng feel uncomfortable. He quickly retreated and locked the cell. The water and the dead rat remained untouched.

The night watchman's drum beat after three o'clock in the morning, and it was midnight.

Chi Yue's cell was opened again. The footsteps were light, but much heavier than Zong Sheng's. Naturally, his martial arts skills were much worse than Zong Sheng's. Chi Yue closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep, as if he was unaware of anything.

The man approached Chi Yue step by step, and the dagger hidden behind his back was exposed, almost invisible in the dark night and the gloomy cell.

Chi Yue was lazy and didn't want to move, so he let the man approach. Until the moment when the dagger was raised high and stabbed down fiercely, Zong Sheng rushed out from somewhere and kicked the man away. The dagger flew out of his hand and the man was caught in an instant.

Chi Yue finally opened his eyes and smiled at Zong Sheng: "It was really dangerous just now. Thanks to you for saving me."

Zong Sheng glanced down at Chi Yue, not wanting to speak to him. With Chi Yue's skills, why would Zong Sheng need to save him? Chi Yue insisted on playing dead, and it was unclear what he was trying to do.

In the dead of night, there was no noise in the Dali Temple. The Dali Temple officer who wanted to kill and silence the witness was tied up tightly and taken to the interrogation cell. He then realized that in addition to him, another Dali Temple clerk was also arrested and imprisoned that night.

The officer and the clerk exchanged a glance, each of them feeling a chill in their hearts. They knew they had been caught red-handed, and there was no chance of any further argument or denial. They had both served in the Dali Temple for many years, having seen countless punishments within the prison. Naturally, they knew what awaited them in the second half of the night. They were no different from dead men.

Pei Hao had waited most of the night, and now, wanting to breathe a sigh of relief, he felt ridiculous. Luo Yu had spent half his life in the Dali Temple, and now he had suffered a tragic disaster. His long-time subordinates and colleagues, far from showing any grief, were even complicit in his attempt to commit murder in the Dali Temple?!

The Dali Temple's name evokes the idea that the prison of a celestial official is called Dali. But where in this world is there ever a clear and peaceful place? Even within the Dali Temple itself lies a hidden cancer. Pei Hao shouldn't have been too surprised. Clear waters hold no fish, and the same is true of the Dali Temple. However, he was a man of integrity, intolerant of any injustice, and a strict ruler. He had always assumed that the Dali Temple was cleaner than the six ministries. And now, this mess was right before Pei Hao's eyes!