Daughter of aristocratic family

Chapter 371 Secret Poem
Yun Hao walked to the second gate and saw the jailer standing there waiting nervously. He walked over quickly and asked in a deep voice, "Why are you so flustered?"

The jailer bowed his head quickly and said respectfully, "Sir, Jiao Xiao committed suicide by taking poison."

"Is the person dead?" Yun Hao asked with a frown.

"She is not dead, she was saved. But the prison doctor said that the poison is very strong. It is called Ziwu Powder. Jiaoxiao will not survive past noon." The jailer replied.

"Who searched her when she was taken in?" Yun Hao asked.

"Li Zhao and I searched her body and found nothing suspicious. According to the court doctor, the poison was hidden in her teeth," the jailer replied.

Yun Hao narrowed his eyes slightly. Jiao Xiao was actually a assassin. This was unexpected.

At this time, a carriage came over, and Yun Hao got on it, "Go back to the prison."

The carriage slowly drove out, Yun Hao closed his eyes to rest, but in his mind he was thinking about Jiao Xiao's taking poison.

Jiao Xiao was willing to die to keep the secret, which meant that in addition to Prince Rong's rebellion, she was hiding a bigger conspiracy.

When he arrived at the prison, Yun Hao immediately went to Jiao Xiao's cell.

Jiao Xiao was lying on a straw mat, her face pale and her lips purple, obviously she had been severely poisoned.

"Sir." When the prison doctor saw Yun Hao coming, he hurried forward to salute.

"How is her condition?" Yun Hao asked.

The prison doctor sighed, "Although I gave her the antidote, there is no antidote for Ziwu Powder. Even if the poisoned person survives noon, he will not survive midnight."

"No matter what, let her wake up. I have a few words to ask her." Yun Hao didn't care whether Jiao Xiao could be saved or not. It was not a pity for the enemy's spy to die.

The prison doctor looked embarrassed and said, "I will do my best."

At this time, a subordinate came in and said, "Sir, this is the letter found in Jiao Xiao's residence."

Yun Hao took the letter and took a look. It only contained some daily trivial matters, the handwriting was beautiful, and there seemed to be nothing wrong.

But Yun Hao didn't believe that a spy would write such insignificant things in the letters: What about the Shangsi Festival on March 3rd, I boiled five eggs, ate three, and couldn't finish two, how many eggs did you eat?
When I went to the street yesterday, I saw that a cloth shop had shipped new cloth from Daliang. It was brocade with beautiful patterns and colors, but it was expensive and I couldn't bear to buy it.

I used the cloth you sent me to make a new dress, embroidered with peony flowers. It looks rich and gorgeous.

There were more than a dozen letters, all containing these extremely trivial words, and I sneered in my heart.

If these letters were placed in the hands of an ordinary woman, they might just be used to share daily life with distant friends, but for a spy, there must be hidden secrets in them.

He carefully studied every sentence and every word, trying to find some clues in them.

Yun Hao examined the letters word by word, not missing a single detail.

In the tenth letter, he noticed a poem written on it: "Last night the stars, last night the wind, the painted building to the west, the osmanthus hall to the east."

This sentence seems to be describing the beauty of the night, but it is a bit abrupt to use this poem here, and Yun Hao knows that spies often use poetry to hide secrets.

"Go find a copy of Yishan's Poems." Yun Hao ordered.

The men quickly found a collection of poems, "Sir."

Yun Hao turned to the page where this poem was written. There was nothing special about the poem itself, but it mentioned two locations: west of the painted tower and east of the osmanthus hall.

These two locations alone do not explain anything. Yun Hao continued to look through the letters and saw another line of poetry: "On the ninth day of the ninth month, I look at my hometown from the terrace. He is in a foreign land and drinks farewell to his guests."

This is Wang Bo's "Nine Days in Shu". The second half of the poem is: People are tired of the suffering in the south, so why do the wild geese come from the north?

Beidi, Beidi. Yun Hao looked at these two lines of poetry and speculated on the connection between them. The first line was the location, and the second line was the time of the meeting?
September 9th, that’s tomorrow.

Now that we know the time, what’s the location?
What is the place west of the Painting Tower and east of the Gui Hall?
"Someone come here." Yun Hao called.

The subordinate came in and answered, "Sir."

"Go get me the latest map from Beijing." Yun Hao ordered.

"Yes, sir." The subordinate quickly brought the map.

Yun Hao spread the map on the table, slowly moved his fingers on the map, and carefully looked for the possible location.

"If Hualou refers to a shop that sells paintings? What does Guitang refer to?" Yun Hao murmured to himself.

He was just about to ask Wang Cheng and the others to come over to discuss the matter, when his men came in and said, "Sir, Jiao Xiao is awake."

Yun Hao decided to interrogate Jiao Xiao first. When he walked into the cell, he saw Jiao Xiao leaning on a pile of grass with her head drooping.

"Jiao Xiao, that's not right, maybe I should call you Gou Liu."

Jiao Xiao suddenly raised her head and looked at him, "How do you know this name?"

"We found the letter from Beidi." Yun Hao told the truth.

"Bitch, she actually dared to betray me." Jiao Xiao gritted her teeth.

"Not everyone dares to commit suicide by taking poison." Yun Hao admired Jiao Xiao for having the courage to die. "In order to suffer less, they all confessed. Don't you have anything to say?"

"Sir, I am not afraid of death. Do you think you can get any useful information from me?" Jiao Xiao asked with a sneer.

Yun Hao sat down on the chair. "Daliang once said, 'When a man is about to die, his words are good.' Since you are about to die, I think you should have some last words to say."

"I didn't expect that the cold-blooded Lord Yun is actually such a passionate person. Why, are you pitying me?" Jiao Xiao acted seductively.

But she was poisoned and her face turned blue. Not only was she unsuccessful in attracting people, she was also a little scary.

"Jiao Xiao, before you die, do you want to experience Daliang's eighteen tortures?" Yun Hao said coldly.

Jiao Xiao was silent for a while after hearing this. She wanted to die quickly, but she was afraid that she couldn't bear the punishment. However, she didn't want to take the poison and was rescued. She had to give in. "My lord, what do you want to talk about?"

"Let's talk about how many people you have in Beijing? What are their identities and where are they hiding?" Yun Hao asked.

Jiao Xiao smiled, "Master Yun, you are so greedy. I will not answer either of your questions."

"Then how did you receive the order?" Yun Hao changed the question.

"I will receive a letter regularly, and there will be new tasks in the letter." Jiao Xiao replied.

"Who sent the letter?"

"I don't know. I just know that whenever I have a new mission, there will be a letter on my dressing table when I wake up in the morning."

"Can you draw?" Yun Hao asked casually.

"Sir, I am a famous prostitute in a brothel. I am good at playing the piano, chess, calligraphy and painting. I am also quite good at painting."

"Are you going to give the paintings away as gifts or consign them for sale?"

"Who would buy a painting of a prostitute? I paint to give to others. Lord Jia has a painting of me that shows a woman rising to the sky."

Yun Hao asked her a few more questions. Jiao Xiao was on guard at first, but she was poisoned after all, and her head was dizzy, so she revealed a lot of useful information. Yun Hao roughly guessed where the place west of the painting building and east of the Guitang was.