Playing bad and eating melons: The whole court is laughing? No, no

By the time they finished interrogating the people in the princess's mansion, it was already getting dark.

When Qin Shi proposed to go to the barracks to interrogate Princess Yuehua's personal soldiers, Princess Yuehua said that it was getting late and would interrogate them tomorrow.

After the interrogation during the day, Qin Shi knew that he would not be able to get anything out of him by interrogating his personal soldiers, so he did not insist.

So, he took his men and left the princess's mansion.

Shortly after leaving the princess's mansion, Qin Shi took out the things that Lu'e had hidden in the glutinous rice balls.

It was a small piece of paper rolled up into a strip, only the length of a finger.

He slowly unfolded it, and the five words "someone is still alive" appeared on the paper.

When Lu'e was cleaning Liu Yan's room, she found a message left by Liu Yan suggesting that he was still alive.

But Lu'e didn't know where he was hidden.

Qin Shi looked at the note in deep thought. He knew that "someone is still alive" meant that some of Princess Yuehua's lovers were still alive.

Lu'e told him this news, the meaning was very clear, that the living lover was the evidence of Princess Yuehua's murder.

Last night, so many carriages from the princess's mansion left the city overnight, probably to destroy the bodies.

He asked Cui Yuan and others to go out of the city to investigate because he had this in mind. He wondered if they could bring back anything useful.

But...why would Lu'e choose to betray? She was clearly trusted by the Princess of Wen'an.

Just as he was thinking about it, Magistrate Su, who had been with him all day, said, "Sir Qin, will you stay at my residence during your stay in Yizhou?"

"Thank you, Magistrate Su. I will just stay at the county office."

"This..." County Magistrate Su felt something was wrong. "There are no maids serving in the county government office. I'm afraid the master will..."

"No problem. I'm used to doing things myself."

Having said that, County Su didn't insist any more and nodded, saying, "Then I will have someone clean up the room."

"Ah."

……

Qin Shi and his companions returned to the county government office. As soon as they walked through the gate, Cui Yuan and Constable Wang came hurriedly to greet them from the ceremonial gate.

"Sir." Cui Yuan called Qin Shi meaningfully.

As soon as Qin Shi heard this, he knew that they had found something. Seeing this, County Magistrate Su tactfully made an excuse to leave.

Afterwards, they found a nearby house to talk in private, and Constable Wang stood guard outside to prevent anyone from eavesdropping.

Cui Yuan whispered, "We followed the carriage's tracks and found a house in the middle of nowhere. There was a man locked up in that house."

Qin Shi gazed slightly, guessing in his heart that the man Cui Yuan and the others found was the person Lu'e mentioned.

"The man's name is Liu Yan. He was a lover who was abducted by Princess Yuehua. Liu Yan said that he saw Su Yuan's future husband die in front of him with his own eyes, and he also said that he could testify against Princess Yuehua." Cui Yuan continued.

Qin Shi: "Where is he now?"

"I originally wanted to bring Liu Yan back, but Liu Yan said that Princess Yuehua has many spies in Yizhou City, so he can't show up." Cui Yuan lowered his voice and said, "I placed him in Fanyin Temple and handed him over to Chen Yi."

When Qin Shi was the Shaoqing of the Dali Temple, he served as a county magistrate in Yizhou for three years. He had a deep bond with Chen Yi and knew that Chen Yi was an upright person who was not afraid of power.

The most important thing is that Chen Yi is good at martial arts and has enough influence in Fanyin Temple, so it is safe for Liu Yan to stay with him.

Qin Shi nodded. "Su Yuan said that everyone in Sujia Village can testify for her. Go and see tomorrow if anyone is willing to come forward to testify."

"I'm looking at Xuan."

"It's okay. Liu Yan is enough." Qin Shi paused. "Besides, there is also a witness in the princess's mansion."

Cui Yuan raised his eyebrows slightly, and after a moment he said, "Sir, we should return to the capital as soon as possible, otherwise things will change if we wait too long."

"Return to Beijing the day after tomorrow."

His Majesty sent him down to investigate, firstly to show it to Lord Xiao Jiang, and secondly because there was no evidence and it would be difficult for His Majesty to handle the matter.

Even if the injustice Su Yuan described was true, His Majesty would not be able to handle it as long as Princess Yuehua refused to admit it.

Just like Prince Rong, if there was no solid evidence that 100,000 troops were hiding in Xinghua Village, His Majesty would not be able to deal with it easily.

The best we can do is find a reason to put him under house arrest.

Now that he has the witness, there is no need to waste any more time.

However, the journey back to Beijing is likely to be full of dangers.

Cui Yuan asked tentatively: "Sir, are we going back to the capital alone, or..."

"Of course, we have to bring Princess Yuehua and others along."

"What if His Highness refuses to go back with us?"

Qin Shi replied as a matter of course: "Your Majesty has already accepted Su Yuan's complaint. Regardless of our investigation, the defendant should return with us for questioning."

Cui Yuan nodded.

The next day, Qin Shi visited the princess's residence again.

Cui Yuanze led his men to Sujiazhuang, but not long after he left the city, he discovered that several people were following him.

He ignored the tail behind him and let them follow.

On Qin Shi's side, Princess Yuehua cooperated very well and led Qin Shi to the barracks.

Faced with a thousand personal soldiers, Qin Shi did not interrogate them one by one like he did yesterday, but took out the list of personal soldiers and compared them one by one.

After half an hour of comparison, the five people discovered that Princess Yuehua's personal soldiers were twenty fewer.

Qin Shi held up the roster and asked, "Your Highness, it seems that your personal guards are still missing twenty men. I wonder where those twenty men are now?"

"They went shopping for me from all over the place."

Qin Shaoqing raised his lip slightly and said calmly, "I wonder where they went? Perhaps Your Highness will pass by when he returns to the capital with me. I can call them over and ask them a few simple questions then."

"Return to Beijing?" Princess Yuehua frowned.

"Yes, Your Highness, as the defendant, needs to return to the capital with me to answer His Majesty's questioning."

Princess Yuehua looked at Qin Shi with deep eyes. After a moment, she smiled and asked, "When does Young Master Qin plan to return to the capital?"

"tomorrow."

When Princess Yuehua heard that she would be returning to the capital the next day, she immediately concluded that Qin Shi must have found out something.

But he had been going to the Princess's Mansion these past two days, and he had seen all the investigations, so he probably hadn't found anything useful...

Princess Yuehua felt a little uneasy and couldn't help but ask, "Did Shaoqing Qin finish his investigation so quickly?"

"We've searched the places that need to be searched, and we've tried the people that need to be tried. Naturally, it's time to return to the capital and report."

"Has Qin Shaoqing come to a conclusion on the matter of me being sued?" Princess Yuehua asked.

"No." Qin Shi thought to himself. Whether there is a conclusion or not depends on the decision of His Majesty. "I will just go back and inform Your Majesty of what I have investigated."

Even though Qin Shi said this, Princess Yuehua still felt uneasy.

"Your Highness the Princess, Lady Wen'an, please pack your luggage as soon as possible. We will set off tomorrow." Qin Shi spoke again.

"I want to go too?" Princess Wen'an asked in surprise.

"The county lady is also among the defendants."

At this time in Sujia Village, Cui Yuan asked all the families in the village, and everyone said that they only knew that Princess Yuehua had captured someone, but they didn't know whether the person was dead.

Moreover, as for the murder of the Su family by bandits, they all said it was the bandits who did it.

The two families whose goods were robbed also asked him whether the government could catch the thieves and, if not, whether they would compensate them for their losses.

In short, there are no useful clues at all.

When they were asked whether they were willing to go to the capital to testify that Princess Yuehua had arrested someone, they all shook their heads in fear.

They knew very well that the people would not fight against the officials, let alone the royal family.