Chapter 418: Si Family Story
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Chu Qingzhi gently advised, “I can’t stay, you be good, drink your medicine properly, okay?”
The young crown prince clutched Chu Qingzhi’s clothes tightly, asking with hope, “Then can you come to see me again?”
Chu Qingzhi found the young crown prince clingy but cute, “I am a doctor, and
I usually don’t see people easily. Seeing someone means they are ill.”
The emperor felt a twinge of jealousy as his son was not even this affectionate with him, “My son, let Sister go for now. She has other matters to attend to. When she has free time, she will come to see you.”
The young crown prince looked at the emperor and then at Chu Qingzhi, his dark eyes filled with hesitation, “Sister, will you come to see me again?”
Chu Qingzhi replied, “If I don’t come, you can come to see me.”
This statement dawned on the young crown prince, and he slowly let go of her hand, his face lit up with joy, “Deal then.”
“Alright.” Chu Qingzhi smiled faintly, patting the young crown prince’s head, thinking to herself how well-behaved he was.
To Chu Qingzhi’s surprise, none of the ministers’ households seemed to be suffering from withdrawal symptoms because their houses were infused with the aroma of the incense at all times.
In the homes of these high-ranking officials, using scented incense like this was such a small matter that it didn’t arouse anyone’s suspicion.
Chu Qingzhi wondered whether, upon learning that they had also become addicted, they would still wholeheartedly support the organization in its nefarious deeds.
As she moved stealthily on the rooftops, she arrived at the residence of Prime Minister where Bao Linjiang was investigating.
Bao Linjiang was currently inspecting the storehouse. When he saw Chu Qingzhi approach, he was overjoyed, “Master.”
“Shh!” Chu Qingzhi whispered, “How is the investigation going?”
Bao Linjiang furrowed his brow, “There are too many items in the storehouse. I’m still searching. I found one box of incense earlier, but it didn’t contain any opium.”
Chu Qingzhi asked, “Did you check all the incense in the box, or just a few of them?”
Bao Linjiang replied, “I checked all of them.” He handed the box to Chu Qingzhi.
The box was a finely crafted brown wooden box. Chu Qingzhi opened it and examined the incense blocks inside; there were three layers in total.
Why were there only three layers?
Chu Qingzhi gestured the height of the box with her hand; it was at least three inches high, and it could contain way more than three layers of incense blocks.
She carefully examined the box and, during that, she pressed a slightly darker square on the box’s lid, and a hidden compartment silently popped out at the bottom.
Seeing this, Chu Qingzhi once again confirmed that “Yun” had assistance from someone skilled in mechanisms.
Bao Linjiang asked in amazement, “Master, how did you know there was a mechanism?”
He vaguely felt that something was wrong with the box, but after looking at it and not finding anything, he ignored it.
Chu Qingzhi replied, “Just a lucky guess.” She took out an incense block from the hidden compartment, put it in the water, and the water turned purple.
Chu Qingzhi said, “Linjiang, look for more boxes like this.”
Bao Linjiang agreed, “Yes.”
The two of them searched the storeroom together. With a target in mind, the search seemed much easier, and they eventually found ten similar boxes hidden in various corners of the storeroom, totaling about five kilos of scented incense.
Bao Linjiang asked, “Master, should we take away all the incense?”
“No, put them back first.” Jinghong was secretly arresting people. If they took the things away now, wouldn’t they be scaring these people off? The people of this force had done many evil things. She couldn’t let any of them go.
Bao Linjiang obediently left the incense untouched, “Master, where do we go next?”
Chu Qingzhi said, “To the mansion of the Grand Tutor.”
On Tang Jinghong’s side, all nine of Master Yuan’s henchmen had been secretly apprehended and thrown into the dungeon.
These men appeared calm on the surface, but they were secretly panicking.
They wracked their brains but couldn’t figure out they had exposed their identities.
How could they know that it was all because Master Yuan had been caught?
“We didn’t commit any crimes and violated the law. What right do you have to arrest us?”
“That’s right. Is it a crime to sleep now?”
“Is this how the government abuses its power these days? They can just arrest anyone they want?”
The jailers who threw them into the cell were bewildered but decided to remain silent since they knew Tang Jinghong wouldn’t arrest them without reason.
Tang Jinghong, accompanied by Ren Buqing and a group of skilled interrogators, entered the cell. “Tell me the whereabouts of the list, and after the mission is accomplished, there will be rewards for everyone.”
In unison, the group replied, “Yes, General Tang.”
The nine interrogators started interrogating, and it didn’t take long to get results.
Chu Qingzhi also sent the list of “Nine’s” subordinates over. After Tang Jinghong saw it, he immediately sent his trusted aides to arrest them.
Tang Jinghong arrived at the cell where Master Yuan was imprisoned.
Master Yuan revealed his true face. No one expected him to be the brothel madam in the capital.
Yes, all along, the madams of high-end brothels had been men disguised as women. It was an ingenious tactic, and no one had suspected it.
Unfortunately, their clever strategy had met its match in Chu Qingzhi.
Tang Jinghong got straight to the point, “I just want to ask you one question: Why did you assist the nefarious activities of ‘Yun’?”
The critical questions had already been asked by Chu Qingzhi, so there was no need to repeat it.
Master Yuan looked up at Tang Jinghong but didn’t respond to his question, “Defeated by you, I have nothing to say. I just didn’t expect to be defeated so quickly.”
Tang Jinghong said, “It’s been more than a year. I don’t consider that quick enough.”
Master Yuan smiled, filled with a sense of resignation. After a while, he calmed down and began to recollect his thoughts.
His true name was Si Shijiang, the head butler of the Si family, yes, the butler of the Si family.
Back then, the Si family had been brutally purged by the imperial court, and only a newborn baby had been left behind.
At that time, he was seriously injured and didn’t know when he would wake up, but the moment he woke up, he heard the baby crying. He hurriedly escaped with the baby to the eastern border.
The eastern border was vast and sparsely populated. It was the easiest to hide people.
He arrived at a village and told a lie to settle down there.
After settling down in the village, he made a living by growing medicinal herbs. This peaceful life had continued for ten years.
One day, he fell ill, so he asked Young Si to deliver the medicinal herbs to the medical halls.
It was a place they frequently visited, and the county had always been peaceful, so he thought nothing would go wrong. However, trouble did find them.
Young Si encountered a group of thugs in the county who wanted to rob him.
Young Si couldn’t possibly hand over the money to them, so the thugs beat him and stole the money. When Young Si returned home, he was bruised and battered, crying in Si Shijiang’s arms.
Si Sijiang and Young Si relied on each other. All these years, he had long treated Young Si as his biological grandson. At that moment, he wanted to kill the thugs to avenge Young Si. Of course, he did that.
When he recovered, he came to the county at night and killed all the thugs who had bullied Young Si.
Unexpectedly, a few days later, a person came to his house in the middle of the night and asked him to join “Yun”..
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