Chapter 105: The Remnants Appear Again |
Inside a courtyard at the Tianjin Guards headquarters, Tianjin Guards Suppression Commissioner Yu Jin placed several letters on the stone table beneath the pavilion and looked up at Li Musheng, "Your Highness, urgent orders from the palace, the Second Prince, the Third Prince, and the Right Minister have all been delivered to headquarters. The messengers are currently waiting in the front hall for our Tianjin Guards' reply."
In order to apprehend the murderer who killed Imperial Consort Ji, whether it was Six Doors, the Hidden Intelligence Bureau, government office runners, or the capital's imperial guards, virtually all forces without exception obeyed the orders and were searching the entire city for the true culprit.
But only the Tianjin Guards remained completely unmoved, turning a blind eye to the matter of apprehending the murderer. In fact, more than half their personnel had been secretly and successively leaving Shangyang City.
This naturally drew the displeasure of the Third Prince and others, so each of them sent people to urge Commander Fu Qiwen.
However, Li Musheng had previously agreed to help Fu Qiwen withstand the pressure, so all these orders were handed over to him to handle.
At this moment, Li Musheng glanced at Yu Jin and waved his hand, saying, "This is very simple. You reply in my name now and say the Tianjin Guards are busy helping me find the Fire Qilin and don't have time to deal with this matter. If they're unhappy about it, have them come find me personally."
Hearing this, Yu Jin's eyes flickered. This Eighth Prince had just arrived in the capital and could be said to have absolutely no foundation.
But the other party was undoubtedly exceptionally hardheaded, brazenly opposing the Second Prince and others without any scruples, not even putting the palace's orders in his eyes.
If it were their own Commander, facing any of the powers behind these orders, he absolutely couldn't turn a blind eye.
However, doing this would undoubtedly offend the Second Prince and these other forces, and the Eighth Prince's future days in the capital would probably be extremely difficult.
Thinking of this, Yu Jin shook his head slightly. This matter wasn't really something he should be considering.
So he bowed and collected the orders from the stone table, saluting as he said, "This subordinate understands. I'll deal with those people according to Your Highness's instructions."
Li Musheng waved his hand dismissively, not caring at all. He hadn't taken this matter to heart in the first place.
The reason he agreed to Fu Qiwen's request was just to conveniently have him help search for the Fire Qilin. Moreover, the entire capital was currently looking for someone who was himself, so why should he be so concerned about it?
After Yu Jin left, a Tianjin Guards guard immediately led Cang Yinyue to the courtyard.
Li Musheng had previously instructed that Cang Yinyue needed no announcement to see him, so as soon as she arrived at the Tianjin Guards headquarters, a guard brought her here.
However, Cang Yinyue today seemed somewhat different from usual.
She wore a floor-length moon-white dress, walking slowly from the corridor turning, her steps light and graceful. The green jade tassels on her hairpin chimed softly, but her face still wore a plain white veil.
Cang Yinyue came before Li Musheng and stopped. After the guard withdrew, her eyes gazed at Li Musheng, "Your Highness, since you helped me remove the tattoo on my face, I want you to be the first person to see me remove my veil."
At this moment, Cang Yinyue's exposed eyebrows were like ink-stained mountain ridges, the shadow of her falling eyelashes trembling slightly. Although her voice was cool, one could clearly sense she was somewhat nervous.
Hearing this, Li Musheng sat upright and raised his thumb in praise, "As expected, Miss Cang is loyal and righteous."
Cang Yinyue's dark eyebrows raised slightly, but she didn't say much more. Then she reached up to slowly remove the veil from her face.
The plain silk with silver-threaded edges fell from behind her ear, like lifting a thin brocade covering a glacier, revealing an exquisitely beautiful face as white as snow.
The sunlight falling through the pavilion was like a warm glaze gently spreading, painting her cheeks with a few traces of rosy clouds. Her nose was elegant and delicate, her lips the color of cherries, her phoenix eyes like rippling autumn waters.
Then, Cang Yinyue folded the veil into a cloud and tucked it into her sleeve, smoothed the dark hair falling on her shoulders, and looked at Li Musheng with a smile, asking, "Is Your Highness satisfied?"
Hearing this, Li Musheng slightly came back to his senses, stroked his chin, and said with a serious expression, "With Miss Cang's beauty, what I said before was still too conservative. Those who want to marry you wouldn't just form a line to the gates of Shangyang City. I estimate it would stretch from here all the way to Shun'an City."
As soon as these words came out, Cang Yinyue's eyes and brows were immediately full of smiles.
What woman didn't love hearing praise? However, Li Musheng's compliments seemed particularly pleasing to her heart for some unknown reason.
"Your Highness, letting you see my face was just a minor matter in passing. I've come here today with another important matter to report."
But very quickly, Cang Yinyue collected her thoughts. The smile disappeared from her face as she spoke seriously about business matters.
Li Musheng stared at her for a while and nodded slightly. Appreciating a beautiful woman was indeed a pleasing thing.
But Cang Yinyue was clearly a girl who only wanted to focus on her career, which sometimes made her seem not so understanding.
"Then go ahead and tell me, what important matter could there be?"
Li Musheng waved his hand, gesturing for her to sit down and speak slowly.
However, Cang Yinyue shook her head, her gaze fixed on Li Musheng as she said, "Yesterday's matter at the Cangyuan Marquis's mansion and Imperial Consort Ji's murder have attracted almost all of Six Doors' attention, so basically no one is paying attention to the Qingshan Tower case."
Speaking thus, she took out a yellow paper letter from her sleeve and handed it to Li Musheng, saying, "But last night, a Six Doors agent who has been investigating leads on Qingshan Tower made significant progress, and I just happened to intercept this matter."
Li Musheng raised his eyebrows slightly and took the yellow paper letter, scanning it with a glance.
Then, his eyes shifted as he narrowed them, saying, "Not long has passed since that Great Qi remnant caused havoc at Aurora Pavilion last time. Not only are these Great Qi remnants not lying low, they're actually becoming restless again?"
Cang Yinyue slowly shook her head, her beautiful face showing a thoughtful expression as she said, "This matter is hard to say. Perhaps because of Imperial Consort Ji's matter, right now Six Doors and most of the capital's forces have their energy focused on this matter and temporarily don't have the spare capacity to deal with those Great Qi remnants. Maybe they want to take advantage of the troubled waters to fish."
Li Musheng looked at her, showing a contemplative expression as he said, "Miss Cang came to find me because you want me to make a trip with you?"
"Yes."
Cang Yinyue nodded slightly, her face serious as she said, "Right now all of Six Doors is basically investigating the murderer who killed Imperial Consort Ji and lacks sufficient manpower to handle this matter."
"Moreover, possibly because I'm from the Cangyuan Marquis's mansion, there seem to be some eyes within Six Doors secretly watching me. Plus with Divine Constable currently absent, I can't openly intervene in this matter either."
"I know Your Highness has profound martial Dao cultivation and is eager to find the keys to the Great Qi Secret Treasury, so I simply intercepted the information. We can just investigate it ourselves."