Chapter 195: Driving the Tiger to Swallow the Wolf!
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The palace experts and servants rushed over from the tunnel. They first used stone blocks to cushion the door-sealing stone, then passed four iron rods as thick as forearms underneath. Eight palace experts inside and outside worked together to lift the boulder blocking the door.
The empress dowager and Dongfang Liren left under the escort of the palace servants. Ye Jingtang and a few secret guards once again went to the vicinity of the collapsed tunnel to check on the situation.
The tunnel had collapsed in a chain. According to Ye Jingtang’s estimation, it had collapsed by more than 100 feet, which wasn’t too long.
But the soil above had already loosened. If they started work without support and reinforcement, they would be buried alive after digging for a few meters.
Digging up was also risky. If they penetrated into a moat, everyone in the tunnel would drown.
After studying it for a while, Ye Jingtang felt that different people had different specializations. This kind of work of drilling holes, exploration, and opening tunnels had to be left to skilled artisans. He immediately turned around and left the tunnel.
After he was busy underground for half a day, it was already noon.
Ye Jingtang jumped out of the room in the side hall of the Longevity Palace. He saw that everyone outside was from the palace. In addition to secret guards of the palace, there were also a few chief constables of the Black Office.
Dongfang Liren was standing in the corridor and arranging tasks for the chief constable. When she saw Ye Jingtang coming out, she walked over to him. “I’ve arranged for people to search the streets and alleys around the Imperial City, and I’ve also asked the Ministry of Works to send artisans to investigate the tunnel. It will probably take some time to investigate.”
While speaking, she took a robe from a palace maid and handed it to Ye Jingtang.
Ye Jingtang tore off half of his kasaya-like clothes and put on the palace guard’s robe. He asked, “The entrance at the other end is definitely not on a street.”
Perhaps Dongfang Liren was afraid that Ye Jingtang would expose himself, so she stood in front of him and helped him tie his belt. “I naturally know, but the residences of the nobles, generals, and ministers are gathered around the Imperial City. We will have to search door to door for the tunnel. No matter what happens, we have to find something…”
Dongfang Liren’s bearing was still noble, but when she lowered her head to tie the man’s belt, she looked like a girlfriend. Her heroic eyebrows and seductive red lips were only inches away from the man’s chin.
Ye Jingtang was stunned by Dumdum’s sudden initiative. Just as he was about to decline politely, he saw some dust stains on Dumdum’s face from when they ran wildly in the dusty tunnel earlier. He raised his finger and rubbed her face.
The corridor immediately fell silent.
Dongfang Liren stopped tying the belt and looked up at the handsome young master who was blatantly teasing her, her eyes filled with disbelief.
Ye Jingtang’s fingers paused, and he wiped Dumdum’s face with his sleeve.
“There’s some dust. I’m helping Your Highness wipe it…”
Dongfang Liren grabbed the hand that was wiping her face messily. The fat-headed dragon in front of her bulged as she said in a deep voice, “Ye Jingtang, you’re out of control, aren’t you? You took the opportunity to offend me. Do you really think I won’t do anything to you?”
Ye Jingtang gestured to the palace maids and secret guards behind them. “There are too many people here. Your Highness, please pay attention to etiquette.”
You also know that there are too many people?
You touched iny face in public…
Dongfang Liren turned around and took a quick look. She suppressed the anger in her eyes and said coldly, “If there’s a next time, don’t blame me for being merciless!”
Ye Jingtang nodded. “Understood.”
Only then did Dongfang Liren let it go and continue asking, “What are your following plans?”
Ye Jingtang tidied up his clothes and thought for a moment. “It takes time to dig through the tunnel. The bandits may escape at any time. I remember the general route of the tunnel. I’ll examine from the surface to take a look first. As for the Prince of Wu’s heir, Your Highness will send people to investigate. If Your Highness needs anything, inform me at any time.”
Dongfang Liren actually wanted Ye Jingtang to rest, but the current situation was unclear, and he was very capable. If she let him rest, she wouldn’t be able to count on the people of the Black Office to investigate the case, so she reminded, “Be careful. Don’t force yourself if something happens. Inform me first.”
Ye Jingtang nodded. Just as he was about to set off, he had a thought and asked, “By the way, Your Highness, where is the emperor’s eldest son locked up?”
Dongfang Liren asked doubtfully, “Are you suspecting that the traitors’ intention is to break out the emperor’s eldest son?”
Just think of the worst in everything.”
Dongfang Liren turned around and whispered, “He is under house arrest in the Marquis of Yun Ning Estate in the west of the city. Nearby is a camp of the Imperial City’s imperial guards. Qin Wenli is also always staying close to him.”
“Who is Qin Wenli?”
“The Eight-Armed Ksitigarbha.”
When Ye Jingtang heard this, he nodded slightly and felt that he might indeed be worrying too much.
The Eight-Armed Ksitigarbha was the head of the Imperial Court’s enforcer organization. Only the Eight Chiefs would be confident of killing him. Other martial artists were basically unable to touch him, let alone there was a camp of imperial guards to assist in the defense.
Moreover, no matter how unclear the direction of the tunnel was, it was still in the east of the city. The emperor’s eldest son was in the west of the city, and his location was on the opposite side of the city.
Since the target of the tunnel was not the emperor’s eldest son, it was even harder to guess.
Ye Jingtang couldn’t guess their intentions, so he bade farewell to Dumdum. He hung the saber at his waist, flew up, and jumped onto a roof. According to his memories, he searched outside. Just as he passed by a few buildings and had yet to leave the range of the resting palace, he suddenly found himself in the back garden of the Longevity Palace.
Ye Jingtang stopped at the top of the wall and looked around. The thousand-year-old ginkgo tree that he had been longing for was in the corner of the garden behind the bedchamber. There was a swing hanging on the branches, and below it was a tree ring. The periphery was paved with large limestone bricks.
And the Roaring Dragon Chart picture that his foster father had written about was under the big bricks!
Ye Jingtang’s heart skipped a beat. He really wanted to take advantage of the situation and dig out the picture.
But after looking carefully, he saw the empress dowager in a dark red phoenix dress and the palace maid Hongyu standing in front of the ginkgo tree with three incense sticks in their hands. They were bowing and paying their respects.
?
Ye Jingtang’s eyes were blank. He didn’t know why the empress dowager was worshiping a tree here.
The empress dowager, who was holding incense and praying, noticed that there was someone moving on the wall, so she turned around. Her eyes lit up, and she seemed to be waving him over.
Dumdum wasn’t around, so Ye Jingtang didn’t dare to come into contact with the beautiful empress dowager. He cupped his hands and bowed. “I’m investigating the direction of the tunnel and looking for the bandits. Please forgive me for disturbing Your Majesty.”
When the empress dowager heard this, she naturally couldn’t keep Ye Jingtang and ask about his well-being. She said with concern, “Thank you for your hard work. Be careful when you do things. You did a good job protecting me today. I’ll reward you in the future.”
“Thanks, Your Majesty.”
After Ye Jingtang cupped his hands and bowed, he flew over the wall and headed toward the edge of the Imperial City.
The empress dowager held three incense sticks and stood under the ginkgo tree that had lived for a thousand years. She raised her eyes and looked into the distance. It was only when Hongyu waved her hand in front of her that she came back to her senses and continued to bow to Master Tree, which could give her good luck…
The Imperial City was very large. There were countless palaces and pavilions connected to each other, and even palace servants unfamiliar with the place might get lost.
Ye Jingtang walked on the roofs and walls. It sounded a little rebellious, but with the waist token that allowed him to enter and leave the palace freely, he didn’t encounter any obstacles. Following the route in his memory, he turned left and right in the Imperial City for a while and quickly arrived at the eastern palace wall.
Outside the wall was the imperial moat and then the eastern area of the city. Parasol Street, Literary Virtue Bridge, and even the residences of nobles, generals, and officials were in this area.
Even though Ye Jingtang had the Black Office’s waist token, it was impossible for him to be so lawless as to pass through the back residences of dukes and the current prime minister without notification. Thus, he could only act in secret.
After Ye Jingtang searched according to his memory for about an hour, he stopped at a vice-minister’s residence. He could see many servants in the residence inspecting the house while the master and his family were standing in the courtyard discussing.
Judging from their conversation, the tremors from the collapse of the tunnel had spread to the ground and frightened the residents.
The tunnel had broken when it reached this place. It wasn’t clear where it led next, and the only way to find out was to dig up the ground. This workload was even greater than rebuilding the collapsed tunnel. By the time it was completed, the traces would have been wiped clean.
The clues ended here. Ye Jingtang stood on top of a tall building and looked around at the endless buildings in the capital with a frown…
At the same time, on a small street in the east of the city…
The side street was adjacent to East Market, and there was a crossroad nearby with dense pedestrian traffic.
‘Mountain Collapsing Tiger’ Wang Chengjing, dressed as an ordinary business traveler, was strolling the streets and occasionally glanced at the young martial artists riding past on horseback. His younger brother, Second Wang, was walking not far away.
Wang Chengjing and his brother had accepted the business of killing people for the Zhou family. They had already failed with Ye Silang. If they couldn’t deal with Ye Jingtang, it would be equivalent to working for nothing and suffering damage.
But Ye Jingtang was not a simple person. Although they knew his name, age, and other information, it was very difficult to find him. After asking around these two days, they only knew that he was the young master of a merchant family in the capital.
Wang Chengjing originally planned to go there and block the road, but he discovered that Ye Jingtang didn’t return to Heavenly Water Bridge at all, and relying on kidnapping to lure the snake out of its hole wouldn’t work. Ye Jingtang would definitely bring a group of experts from the Black Office over. How to get Ye Jingtang out alone was troublesome.
Without any clue, Wang Chengjing could only adopt a stupid method. He planned to wait for an opportunity. He wandered around the streets near the Black Office to see if he could see Ye Jingtang passing by and follow him to find an opportunity to kill him.
But he didn’t even have a portrait of Ye Jingtang. He only knew that he was in his twenties, had a tall figure, was very handsome, and carried a saber. This was no different from finding a needle in a haystack.
Wang Chengjing wandered aimlessly along the street. Just as he was frowning, the sound of a carriage came from in front.
Clomp clomp!
He casually moved to the side of the street to avoid it, but when the carriage passed by, his ears twitched slightly as he vaguely caught a sentence.
“How can it be Ye Jingtang…”
“That saber slash can’t be wrong…”
It was a conversation between an old man and a young man.
Wang Chengjing suddenly returned his senses and looked calmly out of the corner of his eye. He saw a small carriage ridden by ordinary merchants passing by.
There was a middle-aged driver sitting outside. His figure was very well-proportioned. He looked like a martial artist and was extremely vigilant. The moment Wang Chengjing looked, the driver turned his head.
Wang Chengjing was secretly shocked, but he was in Jianghu all year round. His expression showed nothing strange at all as he casually looked around the street. Only when the carriage was far away did he frown and turn around to follow it slowly.
Second Wang walked over and asked curiously, “Have you found him?”
“No, but the people in that carriage should be wanted by the government. From their tone, they just fought with Ye Jingtang.”
Second Wang didn’t see anything special about the distant carriage and asked, “Should we follow the carriage and wait for Ye Jingtang to catch them?”
Wang Chengjing nodded. “The people in the carriage are very skilled in martial arts. We might be able to complete the task without bloodshed.”
Second Wang pondered for a moment and shook his head. “The Black Office is arresting people. It might not be Ye Jingtang who comes. There will definitely be a lot of people coming. It’s very difficult for us to fish in troubled waters. Moreover, if the people in the carriage are too skilled in martial arts, Ye Jingtang might not be able to find them.”
Wang Chengjing thought for a moment. “That’s not a problem. Let’s see where this carriage stops first and think of a way to send the news to Ye Jingtang. After Ye Jingtang receives the tip, he will definitely come personally for the sake of credit. We’ll wait for them to fight and find an opportunity to act…”
“Good plan…”
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢