wen xian heaved a sigh of relief when he heard that xie qin was unharmed. but he soon started worrying again. “we seem to have underestimated the prince. after everything that had happened, he actually managed to launch a counterattack.”

uncle wang agreed, “we were so close to getting caught just now. if young master had not arrived just on time, i wouldn't have been able to hide the entrance of the secret tunnel, pretended to fall down, and fooled that guard.” recalling the incident made him break out in a cold sweat.

eyes narrowed, wen xian stared at the dark sky. “now that we have aroused their suspicions, we need to be more cautious and not let any mishap ruin our masterplan.”

however, uncle wang warned, “young master, actually, i think that… someone has been watching us the past few days.”

“someone's watching us?”

“it’s just a hunch. i am not certain about it. i tried paying extra attention to my surroundings but i haven't found anything at all. i may just be paranoid, but the person who's watching us may also be an expert at camouflage. that's why i haven't found any trace of them yet.”

hmm! “an expert?” wen xian thought to himself. “do you think they have already had their eyes on us even before the assassination?”

uncle wang was aghast. “young master, did this happen because of…”

however, before uncle wang could finish his words, he was interrupted by wen xian. “let's not get distracted and wreck our own plan. if they had sufficient evidence, they would've already arrested all of us. there's no need for him to keep watching us in secret. all in all, remember that we run a silk shop, and this is a place where we carry out legal trade. our front door is always open and we only run honest businesses. last but not least, we are also nothing more than licensed merchants.” although wen xian was equally perturbed, his tone remained calm.

uncle wang mumbled, “yes, sir.”

“also, you will have to take good care of xie qin. you need to keep him safe and hidden away for the time being.”

“what if…”

“there are no ifs or buts. they want evidence, right? let's see how they can get any evidence.”

……

at the anchang courtyard, the guard had returned and was reporting everything he saw. he talked in detail about how xie qin woke up in the mass grave and what happened at the si residence. jing rong, ji yunshu, mo ruo and tang si were all in the hall, listening to him speak.

“this humble one saw him whispering a secret code before he entered the residence. meanwhile, the man who received him was the old man who took charge of the si family silks. that was when guard lang sent this humble one back to report the incident to your highness.”

jing rong’s gaze turned cold as he muttered, “si family silks. it's the si family silks again!”

he gently tapped the table with his fingers as he contemplated the situation.

si family silks? who are they? what is with jing rong’s expression?

ji yunshu exchanged looks with mo ruo, who was sitting right opposite to her. both of them knew something was amiss when jing rong said, “it's si family silks again!” sharing a tacit understanding, they remained silent.

however, tang si remained the odd one out in the group. she was itching for a fight. “in my opinion, the si family must be the one who sent the assassin to you. you're all such cowards. if i were you, i would've already brought my men to blitz their place and find the man who was thrown into the mass grave. they will not be able to deny their crimes when we have all the evidence.” as someone who did not know the importance of the case, she naturally took a rather casual view of the situation.

mo ruo threw her a glare as he chided, “you either sit here with your mouth shut, or get out of this place.”

“i'm only giving a suggestion.”

“we don't need your suggestions!”

“you…” disgruntled, she took a seat at the side quietly.

in the meantime, ji yunshu asked, “si family silks? what place is that? why are you reacting like that?”

jing rong answered, “i learned about si family silks when i was investigating the missing relief funds.”

“so, the si family has something to do with the relief funds?” ji yunshu was appalled.

jing rong nodded before he added, “it's too much of a coincidence that the si family is linked to the assassination too.”

isn't that strange? mo ruo could not puzzle it out. “is this a trap?” this family was becoming increasingly suspicious.

tang si was completely lost and was getting impatient as she listened to their conversation. she put on a condescending expression as she glanced at them. you guys must be idiots.

finally, she rose to her feet. “are you guys stupid? isn't this obvious? they must have stolen the relief silver. they sent the assassin to kill you because they are worried that you might discover what they've done. i'm positive about this. now is the best time to send your men to search their residence. you might not only find the relief silver, but also that man. with all the evidence, it's enough to sentence them to death.”

“such a broad,” mo ruo commented.

“what do you mean?”

“i'm calling you a broad,” mo ruo made an almost emotionless remark, “a brute is male, and a female brute is a broad.” [1]

that's a good word!

tang si glared at mo ruo. “i'm just giving you a suggestion. you may not appreciate it but there’s no need to insult my kind intentions. i’d rather be a broad than be empty-headed fools like you. you have been discussing here in vain without making any progress at all.”

when she was done, she turned and left the room. once in the courtyard, she started violently plucking the leaves from the tree, as if she was venting her anger on the innocent tree.

if only this case were as simple as she thought!

the hall was filled with a solemn atmosphere. an unusually sober mo ruo looked at jing rong, who seemed troubled, and asked, “what's your take on this?”

jing rong answered, “if the si family is really related to these two cases, they must have involved many other parties too. after they stole the relief funds, they were able to openly run their silk shop in yufu for so many years without running into any trouble at all. moreover, there’s nothing simple about a mere merchant that can mobilize so many dedicated expert fighters.” there were a lot of questions yet to be answered.

before long, lang po arrived and reported everything happened at the silk shop to them.

“wen xian?”

“yes!”

upon learning that wen xian was the owner of the silk shop, everyone was astounded.

jing rong continued, “in fact, we learned that the fabrics are from the wen family when we were investigating the case of the missing relief funds. everything makes sense now. however, i never expected the si family silks to belong to wen xian.”

ji yunshu chimed in, “this case… is possibly related to wen family textiles.”

“i'm certain about that.”

“but he saved us during the attempted assassinations.”

“but there’s no doubt that the man who was dumped in the mass grave had entered the si residence. wen xian then appeared at the residence in a grand coincidence that has also cut off all our leads in the investigation. isn't it strange?”

ji yunshu had no answer to all these questions.

in return, jing rong asked lang po, “are you sure that you've searched that room thoroughly?”

“yes, but i found nothing at all. this humble one definitely saw the man entering the residence with my own eyes.”

“there must be a secret passage in the house that you missed.”

“then what should we do now, your highness?”

“if our analysis is right, we need to obtain both the evidence and the culprit. unfortunately, we have neither found the relief funds, nor the man behind all these. on top of that, there are still many details in this case that we haven't clarified. how did they smuggle the silver away? what motive did they have for stealing the relief funds? why did they try to assassinate me but tried to rescue teacher ji instead? there are too many loose ends remaining.” isn’t that right?

[1] that's not exactly the definition, but somehow there isn't an english word for a clumsy, boorish woman. somehow all of the negative terms for women imply promiscuity *rolls eyes*. so i borrowed 'broad', which is now a rarely used not-so-nice term for a woman, but at least suggests wide clumsiness.

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