My Years in the Jianghu with the Prince: A Time of Unethical Conduct

In the end, Xie Yan was packed up and sent to Chu Ling's car amidst the unspoken gazes of everyone.

Even after Chu Ling and his group had traveled quite a distance, Yu Bai and Meng Lan still looked somewhat confused: "No, is this it?"

Xie Yan sat in the car, leaning against the window with one hand, looking at the two of them with a bit of amusement, "Don't you understand what happened yet?"

The two men rode over on horseback, looking at him expectantly.

Seeing their bright eyes, Xie Yan felt a mischievous urge to tease them. "Tell me what you're thinking first."

Meng Lan was the first to speak. This kid had just been seeing things and didn't realize that a donkey had appeared out of nowhere. He hadn't yet realized it wasn't a horse and was still trying to outwit the donkey as it rode in a straight line while continuing his reasoning.

"I find the Five Eccentrics of Youzhou very suspicious! After Dong Feng died, those five people disappeared. I suspect they were the ones who did it!"

Yu Bai, however, didn't quite agree. Because he had seen half of the treasure map, he thought about it more deeply.

"The Five Eccentrics of Youzhou didn't disappear after Dong Feng's death; they seemed to have vanished before Dong Feng went to the Prince's bedroom. And the theft of that thing... Dong Feng died right after it was stolen... Could it be related to that thing?"

Yu Bai racked his brains, not daring to utter even the words "treasure map," leaving Meng Lan completely bewildered: "That thing? What is that?"

"wrong."

At this moment, a steady voice broke through the crowd. Across the tea table, Chu Ling, who was sitting opposite Xie Yan and sipping tea, spoke up.

"Huh?" Yu Bai was also stumped. There were very few people in the Su family who were skilled enough to kill someone and then disappear without a trace right under their noses.

He must be a highly skilled martial artist.

His gaze drifted, slowly landing on Xie Yan's face. It couldn't possibly be as Madam Lü had said…

Seeing Yu Bai's suspicious gaze, Xie Yan narrowed her eyes and said with a forced smile, "What are you thinking?"

Yu Bai shuddered and hurriedly said, "No, no!"

Chu Ling's lips curled into a meaningful smile: "Actually, the murderer was at the scene the whole time."

"what?!"

The two people outside the car were shocked. After a moment of thought, their gazes slowly shifted to Xie Yan.

“…I’m saying,” Xie Yan gritted her teeth, “I may be an assassin, but I don’t just kill anyone I see, okay? Besides, I’ve been staying with your prince all along.”

"Oh." The two said somewhat awkwardly, "Then who exactly is it?"

Chu Ling said calmly, "It's the Su family."

The two were taken aback: "Huh?!"

"Xuanfeng said that when you arrived, the fire had already started. You only saw Su crying and shouting outside, saying that she saw an assassin come and knock her unconscious. When she was awakened by the fire, she saw that Dong Feng was dead, so she had to escape alone."

Chu Ling recounted the whole story to them.

Yu Bai recalled the situation and nodded blankly, "Yes, yes. Then we rushed in. When we got there, Dong Feng was still on fire! The fire was huge."

Xie Yan chuckled: "If the fire had been burning for a long time, we would have noticed it, which means it had only recently started. Besides, didn't you smell anything when you went in?"

"The taste?" Yu Bai rested his chin on his hand, trying to recall. But he was too anxious at the time, his mind was focused on finding Dong Feng, and he didn't notice anything.

"It's kerosene."

Xie Yan rubbed her fingers together, as if the sensation of touching Dong Feng's corpse still lingered on them. "Especially since Dong Feng's body was completely soaked, the fire must have started from his body, which is why he was burned so badly."

"What assassin would go to such lengths to carry a large amount of kerosene when committing murder? It's because he wasn't an assassin at all; someone didn't want others to know how Dong Feng died."

"So how did Dong Feng die?"

Chu Ling toyed with a bamboo tube, a smile playing on his lips as he looked at Xie Yan. "That's a question for our great assassin, Xie."

The group's gazes then turned to Xie Yan with gossip.

Suddenly, Xie Yan extended a finger, pointing the tip directly at the side of her neck, and said with a faint smile, "After being drugged, you should prick yourself with a hairpin about ten times like this."

Yu Bai and the other person hissed coldly, and after thinking about the scene, they both shivered.

Xie Yan withdrew her hand, looked at the bamboo tube in Chu Ling's hand, and sighed heavily: "What a coincidence."

Who said no.

It seems the Su family had been planning this for a long time, and it just so happened that Dong Feng was attacked last night, and the Five Eccentrics of Youzhou were not there, which was a good opportunity.

As long as she insists that the assassin returned and killed Dong Feng, everyone will believe her. After all, no one would suspect a weak woman who depends on Dong Feng for her livelihood.

But there were actually two murderers in this case: one was the Su family in the open, and the other was the Lü family in the shadows.

These two women must have been in cahoots for a long time.

Why would Dong Feng hire guards, why would he rarely return to the Dong residence, and why would he even entertain Chu Ling at the Su residence? It's probably because he sensed that Lady Lü wanted to harm him.

That's why after Dong Feng's death, Lady Lü rushed over immediately, insisting that the murderer was an assassin, and was eager to dismiss the servants who had noticed something amiss.

Yu Bai realized what was going on and looked at Chu Ling with some hesitation: "Now that we know who the murderer is, then..." why not arrest them?

Chu Ling's lips curled into a mocking smile. "Heaven's sins can be forgiven, but self-inflicted sins cannot be escaped."

Did Dong Feng never lay a hand on Lu Shi, who wanted to kill him?

It would have been fine if this person had died, but if he hadn't, the charge of plotting a rebellion wouldn't have made his death so easy.

"How could those Five Eccentrics of Youzhou have suddenly disappeared?"

Meng Lan was only able to stay on her own because she was being flanked by people on either side, and she was still somewhat concerned about the whereabouts of the Five Eccentrics of Youzhou.

Xie Yan stared at the bamboo tube on the table, which contained the half of the treasure map that the group had found.

"I've always been suspicious about why the Five Eccentrics of Youzhou would obey Dong Feng's orders. Now it seems they must have something they want from Dong Feng."

Chu Ling followed his gaze and looked over, "So that thing disappeared, and the Five Eccentrics of Youzhou left as well."

The matter became increasingly perplexing, and to make matters worse, Dong Feng died at such a coincidence that nothing could be found about him yet.

The atmosphere inside the car froze for a moment, and everyone had a feeling that a storm was brewing.

Suddenly, the braying of a donkey was heard.

Xie Yan peeked out and saw Xuan Feng riding a white horse behind them, with the horse biting Meng Lan's donkey's tail tightly.

"Masala!"

Xie Yan was pleasantly surprised and almost forgot about his beloved horse.

Hearing the familiar call, Mashala paused in chewing on donkey hair, turned around, and saw a strange woman. It tilted its head in confusion.

Xuanfeng pressed his temples, his heart heavy with exhaustion as he pulled on the reins. He had never seen a horse run so pathetically, its snot streaming down its face and its breath rumbling.

Calling it a horse is an insult to the word. Xie Yan is truly wicked; even the horse he raises is wicked.

Xie Yan whistled, and Ma Shala recognized him. She immediately let out a long neigh and ran towards him with tears in her eyes.

The man and the horse immediately embraced each other through the car window, a tender moment that made everyone present twitch their lips.