Daughter of aristocratic family

Chapter 469 Earrings
The emperor did not like his son Prince Zuo, but he only had two sons now. The emperor was still very angry when Prince Zuo was assassinated and injured.

"This matter must be thoroughly investigated. I want to know the truth behind it, not speculation or excuses." The emperor did not believe that the assassination was done by the remnants of Prince Rong.

A minister volunteered, "Your Majesty, I am willing to follow your orders and thoroughly investigate this matter. I will definitely bring the real culprit behind this to justice!"

The emperor looked at him but was unwilling to let him investigate. "I will leave this matter to Yun Hao, the commander of the Dragon Court Guard."

"I obey your command." Yun Hao stepped out and saluted.

"The news of Prince Zuo's assassination must not be spread everywhere to avoid causing unnecessary panic. If anyone dares to take this opportunity to spread rumors and cause trouble, I will never tolerate it!" said the emperor majestically.

Upon hearing this, all the officials were shocked and expressed their willingness to obey the order.

After receiving the order, Yun Hao immediately returned to Longtingwei, summoned all his men, and began to arrange the investigation.

However, he not only wanted to investigate Prince Zuo, he also wanted to investigate the people around him.

If he really hit the secondary car by mistake, it means that there is a traitor around him. After all, he just acted on impulse yesterday, and the assassin knew his itinerary, so someone must have tipped him off.

Yun Hao took his men to Prince Zuo's mansion, where he was met by the Prince's Consort Wu Lin'er, whose eyes were red and swollen from crying.

"Princess Princess, I'm here on the orders of the Emperor to investigate the assassination of the Prince. May I ask if you were present at the time?" Yun Hao did his job impartially.

"I was there. The prince and I were in the carriage. Suddenly, many arrows were shot from the roadside. Then a group of people rushed out. They were holding weapons and attacked the carriage frantically. I was terrified." Wu Lin'er said while wiping her tears.

"The prince...he was seriously injured in order to protect me. My lord, you must catch those assassins and seek justice for the prince." Wu Lin'er pleaded.

"Don't worry, Princess. I will do my best to catch the assassin." Yun Hao said calmly.

After a pause, he asked, "Princess, can you describe in detail the clothes and weapons used by those assassins?"

Wu Lin'er thought for a moment and said, "They were wearing white clothes and had white scarves covering their faces, so it was hard to see their faces. As for weapons, most of them were holding long swords, and some were holding broadswords."

Yun Hao nodded. Although these descriptions were ordinary, they might be clues for them to track down the assassin.

"Princess, do you know if the prince has offended anyone recently, or has had a feud with anyone?"

This question made Wu Lin'er very unhappy. She said in a shrill voice: "Master Yun, my prince is the son of His Majesty. He is of noble status. Has he ever offended anyone? Has he ever had any feud with anyone? The way you ask this makes it sound like my prince has brought trouble upon himself!"

Yun Hao frowned slightly, looking at Wu Lin'er's furious expression, and said coldly: "Princess, I am just asking a routine question, and I have no other intention."

Wu Lin'er snorted coldly, and thinking of the special status of the Dragon Court Guard, her expression softened slightly, but her tone was still cold and hard: "As a member of the royal family, my prince should be upright and have a clear conscience. If there are enemies, they can only be those who have ulterior motives and ill intentions."

Yun Hao knew that this question would not get him any results, so he changed the question, "Did you decide to leave the city yesterday, or did you do it on impulse?"

"It snowed yesterday, and the prince wanted to go out to look for plum blossoms in the snow, so we went out." Wu Lin'er concealed the fact that Prince Zuo decided to go out after hearing about Yun Hao's whereabouts.

"Who are the accompanying personnel? Did they find anything unusual?"

Wu Lin'er recalled: "The ones accompanying him were the prince's personal guards and several servants, as well as a few of my maids. As for anything unusual..." She shook her head, "No."

"What were they doing when the prince was attacked?" Yun Hao asked. "Master Yun, are you doubting the guards of our palace? They are all doing their best to protect the prince." Wu Lin'er said unhappily.

Yun Hao found that she was quite good at making trouble. If it wasn't for the fact that Prince Zuo's death would do her no good, Yun Hao would have suspected that she was the one who arranged the assassin.

"Princess, I have no such intention. However, I want to investigate the case, so I have to find out everything and eliminate all possibilities before I can catch the real culprit. Please tell me the truth, Princess."

The implication is that you should talk less nonsense and don't question others randomly.

Yun Hao's rudeness made Wu Lin'er extremely angry. It turned out that two kinds of people could sleep in the same bed. He was as annoying as Zhao Wangshu.

"When that group of people rushed out, the guards of the palace immediately drew their swords to fight. The prince and I were sitting in the carriage, and the maids were in the carriage at the back. That group of people were highly skilled in martial arts, and the guards were no match for them, so they rushed in front of the prince and me, and the prince was injured." There was a trace of sadness in Wu Lin'er's eyes. If she hadn't dodged quickly, she would have been caught by Prince Zuo to block the knife.

Thinking of this, she sometimes wished that Prince Zuo was dead, especially after Prince Zuo woke up, the look in his eyes that was full of resentment made her feel cold all over.

Although she tried her best to deceive him, she was not sure whether Prince Zuo really believed her.

Yun Hao asked her a few more questions and said, "If Princess remembers anything later, please have someone tell me.

Wu Lin'er nodded, "I will. I will try my best to recall the situation at that time to see if I have overlooked anything."

Yun Hao stood up and bowed, "Princess, I will take my leave now."

Wu Lin'er returned the greeting, "Master Yun, please take care. Someone, show the guest away."

After leaving Prince Zuo’s Mansion, Yun Hao left the city and rushed to the scene of the incident.

The place where Prince Zuo was assassinated was only twenty miles away from the city. It was an open grassland with no obstacles blocking the view.

But Wu Lin'er said that the assassin was wearing white clothes, which are indeed not easy to be noticed in the snow.

Yun Hao carefully examined the surrounding ground, trying to find any clues that might have been lost.

He noticed some unclear horse hoof prints on the snow, but these hoof prints had obviously been trampled by later horses, making it difficult to tell the specific number and direction.

"Sir." The subordinate shouted not far away.

Yun Hao walked over and took a look. There seemed to be something buried under the snow. He squatted down, took the small brush handed to him from behind, swept away the snow, revealing a gourd-shaped earring inlaid with gold and jade.

If you look more carefully, you will find that this place shows that someone has been lying there.

Female assassin?
Or did this assassin buy a pair of earrings as a gift for his lover?
"This is a clue." Yun Hao picked up the earring.

After searching the surroundings again and finding no useful clues, Yun Hao led his men back to the city.

"Take this earring pattern and go to the jewelry store in the city to ask if the owner can remember who bought it." Yun Hao asked the painter to draw dozens of pictures.

He also took one home, as he remembered that his wife's store also sold jewelry.