Yan Cigui

 The second update has just arrived.

Xuansu stood outside the courtyard wall of Chengyi's Mansion and looked up.

 Is the wall high?

  Naturally it is not high at all.

With his strength, he doesn't need to rely on anything else to help him. He can jump up with just a few steps.

There was no moonlight tonight, there were few stars, it was late, and it was pitch black. Even without wearing night clothes, Xuan Su dared to say that he would never be discovered.

 But, it’s very weird.

It’s not that Xuansu has never climbed over the courtyard wall, or in other words, he has rich experience in climbing over the wall.

They often ask him to follow people. He has more experience. Not to mention flying over the wall, it is too common to stalk over the wall.

 It's just that he has never climbed over the girl's house wall.

Moreover, that girl is their father’s unmarried fiancée and his future mistress.

Xuan Su felt strange even if he was running errands for his father.

 Looking back, things still have to be done.

 It was quiet at night, so maybe the princess had already rested.

Xuan Su didn't hesitate any longer, he jumped up in a few steps, flew over the wall lightly, and landed silently.

 After nightfall, it was very quiet in Chengcheng's Mansion.

Xuan Su fell in the garden. There was no light, only the swaying shadows of trees near and far away.

 Fortunately, he is good at identifying directions.

Their father made it very clear that Bao'an Garden, where the princess lived, was on the northwest side of the mansion. He climbed over the wall from the west side to enter, and after exiting the garden, he could walk around the corridor to a courtyard, avoiding the small courtyard to the south. Take a few more steps toward the central axis...

Xuansu remembered it clearly and searched for it according to the instructions. The further he walked, the more he murmured in his heart.

How on earth do they know so thoroughly?

 Speaking of which, it means coming to the uncle’s house to visit the elders during the Chinese New Year, right?

Supposedly, they only went to the main courtyard to see the old lady, and then sat in the front yard. The two parties were not married, so they would not go to the princess's boudoir. How on earth could they understand the situation in the backyard?

Even if the princess has mentioned it, if the understanding of the terrain can be clearly understood just by listening, then what kind of scouts and spies will they keep in the army?

In addition to detecting enemy movements, the most common thing spies do every day is to survey the terrain, and finally land on the sand table one by one.

Xuansu was puzzled, but he also found it outside Bao'an Garden.

He climbed over the wall and went in. When he heard Wan Yue's low voice, he knew he had found the right place.

Xuan Su walked around to the back window and knocked lightly.

In the room, Lin Yunyan had just washed her hair and sat in the dressing mirror, with Wan Yue gently wiping her long hair.

 The master and servant talked about interesting things, Lin Yunyan laughed, and Wan Yue was also amused to laugh.

 Then, they all heard movement at the back window.

Lin Yunyan turned her head in surprise.

Wan Yue felt guilty: "What is the sound? At this time..."

　　The second part of the sentence, "Who would knock on the window", made her swallow it by herself.

 Her courage cannot withstand "knocking on the door in the middle of the night".

Afraid of returning home, Wan Yue still cautiously suggested: "Slave, please get on the horse and let's go and have a look together?"

Lin Yunyan thought for a while, shook her head and said, "No, I'll go take a look."

How could Wanyue dare to put the princess in danger? She stopped in front of Lin Yunyan. She tried to muster up the courage to walk to the back window first and said in a deep voice: "What, what's the noise!"

Xuansu replied: "Princess Princess, little Xuansu."

The familiar voice made Wan Yue relax immediately. The little maid patted her chest and opened the window.

Lin Yunyan asked: "What's the urgent matter, Mr. Guo?"

If it was not urgent, Xu Jian would have asked Chen Gui to give her a message. If Chen Gui was inconvenient to listen, she should have asked her to go to Taohe Zhai tomorrow instead of asking Xuan Su to come in the middle of the night.

“There is a portrait, I want you to take a look.” Xuan Su said, taking out the folded drawing paper.

Wan Yue took it through the window and handed it to Lin Yunyan.

As Lin Yunyan unfolded the book, she asked casually: "I heard that Dao Heng died? Do you know who killed him?"

Her eyes fell on the drawing paper, and she blinked, her eyes never blinking.

 At the same time, she heard Xuan Su's reply.

"This is the man in the portrait. The little one watched him take Dao Heng away from the spice shop on West Street and send him to a house in Sidao Alley. He left there again in the evening. Although he changed his coat, the little one watched You can feel the smell of blood on his body.”

Lin Yunyan heard it, but said nothing more, just looked at the drawing paper seriously.

The facial features of the person above were like a sharp knife, which cut hard in her memory, leaving an indelible mark, just like the scar on the other person's chin.

 She was deeply impressed by this man.

Lin Yunyan didn’t know this person’s name, but she knew that he was not weak in martial arts and was especially good at sneak attacks.

In the past, when she met this man, Shen Chen was the only one beside her. Xu Jian and Xuan Su took another path and they went their separate ways.

 In order to facilitate movement, Lin Yunyan wore men's clothing.

Shen Chen led the way, and the two hurriedly passed through an empty alley in the town.

 The crisis came at that moment.

 The hidden sharp blade came out of its sheath and hit her back.

After all, Lin Yunyan has never had any formal training in martial arts, so she was not sharp enough when she was attacked by a sneak attack. It was all thanks to Shen Chen's quick eyesight and quick hands that he was able to pull her away.

Unfortunately, Lin Yunyan was still injured by the sharp edge on her right arm, bleeding profusely.

 One blow did not kill anyone, and the attacker did not flinch. Instead, he faced off against Shen Chen.

 Because Shenchen was also injured.

 Fighting is difficult.

Shen Chen had to protect him and deal with the intruders, which was hard to avoid.

Lin Yunyan could only avoid it as much as possible, but she did not dare to get too far away from Shen Chen. If there were still pursuers, Shen Chen would be beyond his reach.

 Fortunately, it seems that the only one chasing them is this lone wolf, and there are no more people.

There were several times when Lin Yunyan wanted to take action, but she did not dare to act rashly.

 Firstly, Shen Chen fought with the man very quickly and moved his body. Secondly, Lin Yunyan's right arm was injured and he was not sure whether he would miss.

 It would be fine if it missed the target. It would be a bad thing if it hurt Shen Chen.

Lin Yunyan thought a lot, but in fact she didn't have much time. The assassination was a flash of lightning and came to a halt after more than a hundred moves.

Shenchen was seriously injured and could not stand up.

That gloomy and sinister face stared at Lin Yunyan, and with a grin, she pulled out a smile that made people feel cold on the back of their necks. Together with the ugly scar, it was driven into her mind like a nail.

The sharp blade was knocked down a moment ago and fell into his hand. The man reached out and wanted to stab Lin Yunyan with the flying blade.

Lin Yunyan didn’t give him a chance.

That big, shaky target will never miss when you take out the arrow from your sleeve.

The arrow flew through the air, and the moment the man grabbed the dagger, the arrow pierced his eyebrow.

 The moment he fell to the ground, his eyes were as wide as copper bells, filled with disbelief.

Lin Yunyan is very familiar with this look.

 Every person she stabbed with arrows from her sleeves was like this when they were about to die.

 But this time, she couldn't care about the killer.

 After retrieving the bamboo arrows, Lin Yunyan went to help Shen Chen, but Shen Chen shook his head at her.

Lin Yunyan didn't say anything and tried her best to support Shen Chen out of the empty alley. They waited for Xuan Su to come to support, but they couldn't save Shen Chen's life.

Later, Lin Yunyan and Xu Jian talked in detail, and what they mentioned repeatedly was the scar on the visitor's chin.

 Now, she saw it again. In this portrait, these facial features, this scar.

Xu Jian only asked Xuan Su to send her the portrait without saying anything else, but Lin Yunyan understood what Xu Jian meant.

Taking a deep breath, Lin Yunyan nodded: "Tell the Duke that it's him."

 Xuansu agreed.

Although he is clueless, he is used to it.

There is a tacit understanding between their master and the princess. It’s okay if he doesn’t understand, as long as their master understands.

“Has the Duke returned home, or is he still in the Yamen?” Lin Yunyan asked.

This question is easy to answer, Xuan Su said: "I am still in the Yamen, Master Shan wants to continue investigating."

Lin Yunyan thought for a while and then asked: "How is the current situation? Tell me in detail."

Xuansu answered them one by one.

This case happened under his nose, and he could answer all the details. He knew far more than he did in the yamen.

Lin Yunyan knew it well: "Master Shan doesn't know these things, so I checked some of them."

Even if Mr. Shan keeps talking about it for three days, he will definitely give his best in these three days.

 The night wind blew in from the window, and it was very warm.

This made Lin Yunyan slightly relieved. At least the weather has been good these days.

If she was as chilled by the heavy rain as she had been a while ago, she had to remind Xu Jian to pay attention to his leg injury.

Thinking of this, Lin Yunyan asked: "What did the Duke eat at night?"

Xuan Su was stunned for a moment and said honestly: "I went to find someone to draw a portrait earlier, so I didn't follow you during dinner..."

Lin Yunyan did not ask any more questions and just asked Xuan Su to wait.

Turning around and going to the second room, she took out a clean food box and filled it with some snacks that were not eaten during the night.

 These were all brought from Zai Shou Yuan.

Grandma loves to eat snacks these days. It is rare for an elderly person to be greedy. However, the snacks often made in the house are all in line with Lin Yunyan's taste and are sweet in the mouth.

How dare you let her eat so sweetly?

Mrs. Chen has already informed the kitchen, and the ones delivered a few days ago are all good. Today, I don’t know which kitchen forgot the importance of adding ingredients, and the red bean paste cake is too sweet.

Lin Yunyan coaxed them all back from Zai Shou Yuan with her kind words.

Grandma herself knew not to eat like this, one knew what she was doing, and the other was willing to coax her. They said a lot of cheerful words, and brought all the bean paste cakes to Bao'an Garden.

After Lin Yunyan finished dressing, she returned to the back window and said, "Bring the bean paste cake made in the afternoon to the Duke."

Wan Yue took it and handed the portrait and the food box to Xuan Su.

“It’s too difficult for him to prepare a bowl of tea for the Duke,” Lin Yunyan said with a smile, “You can try it.”

Xuansu is a smart person who understands things as soon as he hears them.

This bean paste cake must be very sweet.

“The younger one is going back first,” he said.

The windows were closed, and only the oil lamp inside the house came through.

At this moment, Xuan Su suddenly realized.

 He finally understood what was so strange!

Throughout the wall of the county's main courtyard, they should come by them, instead of standing outside the window by himself.

He is not afraid of standing. It is not difficult to stand until dawn when watching, but it is hard for the princess to stand too.

Unlike me, who comes to visit privately, I can go into the princess's house, make a pot of tea, and eat some snacks, just like in the backyard of Taohe Zhai. No one is waiting in front of me. I just talk to the princess slowly. .

 That’s right.

 It’s just…

 Walking to the foot of the west wall, Xuan Su looked up again.

Their husband has an old injury on his leg, which is not visible when walking. When dancing with a gun, he can put on a show to scare outsiders. When riding a horse, he can simply sit on a horse...

It doesn't work to run fast, it doesn't work to practice with real swords and guns, it doesn't work to raise a whip on a horse race.

The superb martial arts skills that he once had, the ability to defeat invincible opponents all over the school field when he first entered the camp, can no longer be used.

 Climbing over the wall is even more impossible.

Xuansu was so panicked that he still couldn't see anything on his face. He easily took out Uncle Chengyi's Mansion and went to Shuntian Mansion.

 The lights are still bright here.

 Xu Jian was translating the confessions that the government officials had brought back from Sidao Hutong.

He judged that Dao Heng died yesterday evening. The officials asked him in detail, but no matter how detailed they were, no one knew what happened.

 Only an old man vaguely remembered that a sedan chair was parked outside that house during the day.

 But he didn't notice who got out of the sedan.

"Dao Heng was captured elsewhere. He was stabbed in the heel and passed out again. There were injuries around his mouth. He was gagged." Shan Shen clicked on the records for inspection. "It should have been the sedan that sent him. I didn’t kill him right away, I kept him until evening.”

"That house is their stronghold," Xu Jian said, "I read the previous confession, and Dao Heng lived in Sidao Hutong before. Almost all of them are gone now. They were just talking about each other, so Dao Heng died there. ,quietly."

"The calculation is very deep and ruthless," Shan Shen was so angry that he took a sip of tea to calm down his anger, "The one behind him is really arrogant."

　　I didn’t take Shuntian Mansion seriously, nor did I regard Dao Heng as a human being.

 Dao Heng had been with the other party for so many years, and he gave up on him as soon as he wanted to.

"Dao Heng is the only one who has been exposed," Xu Jian was not surprised at all, or in other words, he forced the other party to cut off his tail, "If you don't leave the exposed ones, others can do things easily."

 “What on earth is he going to do…” Shan Shen muttered.

After muttering, Mr. Shan understood when Xu Jian glanced at him but said nothing.

 Lead them to Chenmi Hutong and capture His Highness the Crown Prince!

 It was done to the prince, why? It's not just for the dragon throne.

 This matter, you see, is not suitable to be talked about.

Xu Jian saw Master Shan looking like he had a toothache and chuckled. When he saw Xuan Su coming back, he got up and walked out.

Xuan Su lowered his voice and said, "The princess said it was him."

Xu Jian lowered his eyes and the breath around him became dark.

Xuansu added: "The princess is worried that you will be hungry at night, so she asked the younger one to bring back some bean paste cakes to go with some tea."

Xu Jian said: "Then go and make a new pot of tea."

Xuan Su moved quickly and was sent to the study in a short time.

Xu Jian took a piece of bean paste cake, took a bite, and couldn't help shaking his head and laughing.

 It is what the little princess likes to eat.

With this smile, the depression naturally dissipated.

Shan Shen sat aside and looked at him.

When Xu Jian saw this, he didn't keep it to himself: "Master Shan, why don't you come too? Wake up and continue reading the case file."

"Then I'm not polite." After Shan Shen finished speaking, he took a piece and his eyes widened at the entrance, "This is too sweet!"

Xu Jian took a sip of the hot tea slowly, and the sweetness melted in his mouth: "Is it very sweet? I think it's just right."

 After speaking, he went to ask Xuan Su who was standing outside.

Xuan Su was also eating. Hearing this, he didn’t dare to say that he could have another dessert. He followed their father’s words and said, “Just right.”

Shan Shen:…

 Please give me a monthly pass~~Please give me a lot of monthly passes~~~

Thanks to book friend Xu Bicheng’s official girlfriend for the reward.