Begonia Courtyard.
After washing up and changing into a plain white long dress, Xie Jiuli removed her mask and the high-knotted hair that went with it.
With slender fingers pressing rhythmically against her face, she soon transformed into an entirely different visage—cold, aloof, and peerless.
Years ago when she first returned to the Capital or practiced medicine in the jianghu, she had always shown herself to this face; in recent years, she still occasionally used it to heal the sick and save the dying.
Stepping out of the room, the senior mammy and maidservants dropped to their knees in respectful kowtow: "Your subordinates greet the eldest miss."
Uncle Rong stepped forward: "Eldest Miss, Qishhan has brought the Third Prince back tied up."
In a low, chilling voice, Xie Jiuli uttered: "Cut out his tongue, break his limbs, castrate him, and hang him from his own front gate."
Uncle Rong showed not a shred of surprise, continuing: "The informant we planted in the palace earlier sent word that the eunuch with the mole at the corner of his mouth has not been found."
Xie Jiuli's expression remained calm. She had never placed much hope in the Second Princess's personal maidservant confessing about that eunuch, given that moles could easily be forged.
Besides, Qiao Kun was a man of the Chen family; as for that eunuch, it was highly likely he had been arranged by Noble Consort Chen, though other parties could not be ruled out.
"Keep investigating."
"Understood."
After a meal, she went to the study in Begonia Courtyard.
Having completed her task and taken a brief rest, Yutang also arrived at the study. Upon seeing her master's current appearance, she showed no trace of astonishment.
"Master, according to our investigations, His Majesty captured countless hidden outlaws outside the city last night. The manor where those men were hiding happened to be adjacent to Princess Anyang's hot spring manor.
Interrogations by the Imperial City Bureau revealed that those men were framing Princess Anyang, and that the true mastermind behind the treason was someone else. All the outlaws were executed on the spot, and the Empress has already been released from the Cold Palace."
Xie Jiuli's hand paused as she flipped through a medical text, but she remained silent.
Below her, Yutang continued: "Word is spreading outside that the person locked in the Imperial City Bureau's dark cells these past few days was not the real Princess Anyang. People say His Majesty dotes on his legitimate daughter above all.
How could he bear to lock her in a dark cell? Therefore, the real Princess Anyang must have long ago been sent away to a temporary imperial palace for protection, though no one knows which one."
Xie Jiuli curled her lips in a cold sneer. Had she not gone to the dark cells last night, she might actually have believed this narrative.
Closing the medical book, a trace of chill flashed across her eyes.
Although last night was the first time she had truly laid eyes on Ji Jiuyue in the physical sense, she knew better from the original owner's memories.
Coupled with Ji Jiuyue's constitution—ruined by years upon years of medicinal decoctions, especially containing a secret, exclusive formula specially brewed for him by Divine Doctor Xue—he was not someone who could be so easily replaced.
Yutang's expression turned solemn: "Among those outlaws, there were Wojing people."
"Are you sure?" Murderous intent overflowed in Xie Jiuli's eyes.
Yutang nodded: "Uncle Li found clues from the corpses outside the city. Although they wore uniform clothing and all bore an indistinct petal mark in their armpits, two of the corpses had calluses wedged between their big toes and second toes."
"Damn the Chen family!" Xie Jiuli radiated murderous aura. She would ensure that everyone who colluded with the little Japanese bastards came to a wretched end.
"Does Master mean to say the mastermind behind the treason is Duke Chen?"
"The one who accused Anyang of treason and produced the evidence was Qiao Kun, and he works for the Chen family. The ones who want Anyang dead are also members of the Chen family. But we cannot rule out someone standing behind the Chen family."
She lightly tapped her fingers on the desk.
Yutang added: "There is another matter. When Uncle Li was inspecting the corpses, he sensed that another group of people had also come to inspect them. Uncle Li went to track that person—"
"Little Master..." At that moment, Uncle Li entered the study, sweating profusely. Upon seeing Xie Jiuli's appearance, he remained as calm and unruffled as Yutang: "Little Master, the other party belongs to the Xie residence."
"The Xie residence... Prime Minister Xie Yizhou?"
Yutang hurried forward to pour a cup of water and hand it over.
"Yes." Uncle Li took the tea and drained it in a single gulp. He had followed the person for several circles around the streets.
"The other party is a middle-aged man, around thirty-four or thirty-five, with martial arts skills superior to Yutang's, and skilled in disguise and impersonation. He was extremely vigilant. Realizing he was being tracked, he changed his disguises several times and thought he had shaken me off. Therefore, he never noticed that this old servant had kept tailing him. I watched with my own eyes as he finally entered the Xie residence and never came back out."
Xie Jiuli signaled for Uncle Li to sit opposite her: "The other party only inspected the corpses?"
Uncle Li took his seat and poured himself another cup of tea: "Mm, and he also discovered that two of them were Wojing people."
Xie Jiuli's phoenix eyes stained with dangerous coldness: "The waters in the Capital run deep. Any people and affairs connected to the Wojing people must be investigated with absolute clarity. Show no mercy to those who deserve to die."
With that, she looked at Yutang: "Go and investigate which young masters of noble houses have been closely associating with the Third Prince and Zhou Qi."
"Your subordinate obeys."
Uncle Li spoke up: "Little Master, according to what this old servant observed last night, aside from Princess Anyang's personal attendant Senior Mammy Cai, whose whereabouts are unknown, everyone else in the Princess Mansion was placed under house arrest, but the ban has just been lifted now.
However, everyone at the hot spring manor outside the city was silenced, and Mammy Cai was not among those corpses. Princess Anyang was taken away from the manor by the Imperial City Bureau."
"Uncle Rong."
Uncle Rong, who had been guarding the door the entire time, stepped inside: "Eldest Miss."
"Send people to secretly investigate Senior Mammy Cai's whereabouts. We must ensure her safety. Perhaps she is the only one who knows that the dog Emperor is lying, and that the person locked in the dark cell was indeed Anyang."
"This old servant will go at wretched once."
Xie Jiuli rubbed the pages of the book with her delicate fingers, her eyes filled with chilling intent: "Thoroughly investigate the Chen family. Since there were Wojing people among those outlaws, it is impossible that the Chen family's treasonous collusion left not a single trace."
-
Xie Residence.
Wanhuaxuan.
"Are you certain two of the corpses were Wojing people?" Prime Minister Xie Yizhou furrowed his brows, a trace of deep contemplation crossing his face.
The guard Zaiye nodded: "I cannot be certain yet whether His Majesty knows of this. Furthermore, I was tracked on my way back into the city, though I managed to shake them off."
Seated in the master's chair, Xie Yizhou's expression grew even more solemn: "There are very few in the capital whose abilities surpass yours; it is no small matter that you were tracked. But the fact that there were Wojing people among the outlaws... investigate further. Whatever relates to the Wojing people must be thoroughly investigated."
"Understood."
When Zaishan entered, he appeared much more relaxed: "My Lord, after Dr. Yu's autopsy, he confirmed that the female corpse in the Imperial City Bureau's dark cells is not Princess Anyang. Word outside is that the treason was plotted by someone else, and that His Majesty long ago sent the real Princess Anyang away to a temporary palace to recuperate."
This result made the heavy knot between Xie Yizhou's brows dissipate.
"His Majesty has finally done one human thing," Xie Yizhou remarked.
"However, we still haven't found out who set fire to the Imperial City Bureau's dark cells."
Zaishan mused: "Could this person be the same one who killed Qiao Kun and tortured Zhou Qi?"
Just then, the steward of the Xie residence hurried in: "My Lord... The Third Prince has had his tongue cut out, his limbs broken, and has been hung from the front gate of his own estate!"
Last night after returning from the palace, My Lord had given orders to keep an eye on all movements within the city. Early this morning, the deputy commander of the Imperial City Bureau's corpse was hung from Duke Chen's front gate.
Then there was a half-dead Zhou Qi hung from the Third Prince's front gate, and now the Third Prince himself...
The Capital was about to change hands; a storm was coming!
Xie Yizhou's fingertips involuntarily tapped lightly against the tabletop: "The fire in the Imperial City Bureau's dark cells, Qiao Kun, Duke Chen, Zhou Qi, the Third Prince..."
His fingers stopped abruptly: "They are all connected to the Princess Anyang affair."