Chapter 105: Remnants Reappear

In a courtyard of the Tianjin Guard's main headquarters, Yu Jin, the Town Guardian of the Tianjin Guard, placed several letters on the stone table beneath the pavilion, then looked up at Li Musheng:

"Your Highness, the urgent letters from the Palace, the Second Imperial Prince, the Third Imperial Prince, and my lord the Right Prime Minister have all arrived at the main headquarters. The messengers are currently waiting in the front hall, awaiting our Tianjin Guard's response."

To capture the murderer of Noble Consort Ji, every faction—the Six Six Shanmen, the Hidden Intelligence Bureau, the prefectural constables, the Imperial Capital's Forbidden Army, and others—had essentially obeyed orders, scouring the entire city for the true culprit.

Yet only the Tianjin Guard remained motionless, turning a blind eye to the hunt for the murderer; indeed, more than half of its personnel were secretly leaving Shangyang City one by one.

This naturally provoked the Third Imperial Prince and others' displeasure, so they each sent people to urge the Commander, Fu Qiwen.

However, Li Musheng had previously promised Fu Qiwen to withstand the pressure, so all these orders were handed over to him to handle.

At this moment, Li Musheng glanced at Yu Jin and waved his hand, saying:

"This is simple. Reply in my name now, stating that the Tianjin Guard is busy helping me find the Fire Qilin and has no time for this matter. If they are displeased, let them come find me personally."

Hearing this, Yu Jin's eyes shifted slightly; the Eighth Imperial Prince before him had just arrived in the Imperial Capital and could be said to have no foundation whatsoever.

Yet the other party was undoubtedly exceptionally tough, confronting the Second Imperial Prince and others without any hesitation, even disregarding edicts from within the Palace.

If it were their own Commander, my lord, facing any of the forces behind these orders, he would absolutely not turn a blind eye.

But if it were the Eighth Imperial Prince before him, should the other party truly act without restraint, the Second Imperial Prince and others would indeed have few options against him openly.

However, doing so would undoubtedly offend the Second Imperial Prince and these factions, making life in the Imperial Capital in the future likely to be fraught with difficulty.

Thinking thus, Yu Jin shook his head slightly; this was not something he ought to consider.

Thus, he bowed, gathered the orders from the stone table, and performed a bow, saying:

"This humble official understands; I shall attend to those people according to Your Highness's instructions."

Li Musheng waved his hand, unconcerned, having never taken this matter to heart in the first place.

The reason he agreed to Fu Qiwen's request was merely to have him help find the Fire Qilin as a side benefit; moreover, the entire Imperial Capital was currently hunting for him himself, so why should he care so much?

After Yu Jin departed, a Tianjin Guard attendant immediately led Cang Cang Yin Yue to the courtyard.

Li Musheng had previously instructed that Cang Cang Yin Yue need not announce her arrival when seeing him; therefore, as soon as she reached the Tianjin Guard's main headquarters, an attendant brought her here.

However, Cang Cang Yin Yue seemed somewhat different today compared to usual.

She wore a floor-length moon-white gown, walking slowly from the corner of the covered corridor; her steps were light, her figure graceful, the green jade tassels hanging from her hairpin chiming softly, though her face remained covered by a plain white veil.

Cang Cang Yin Yue stopped before Li Musheng; after the attendant withdrew, she fixed her gaze upon Li Musheng:

"Your Highness, since you helped me remove the tattooed characters from my face, I wish for you to be the first person to see me remove this veil."

At this moment, Cang Cang Yin Yue's exposed eyebrows resembled ink traces stained by dark mountains; the shadows cast by her lowered eyelashes trembled slightly. Though her voice was cool, one could clearly sense her nervousness.

Hearing this, Li Musheng sat upright and extended his thumb in praise, saying:

"Indeed, Miss Cang is a person of righteousness."

Cang Cang Yin Yue raised her dark eyebrows slightly, but did not say much; she then reached out and slowly removed the veil from her face.

The plain gauze with silver-threaded edges hung down behind her ears, like lifting a thin brocade covering a glacier, revealing an exquisitely beautiful face as white and still as snow.

Sunlight filtering through the pavilion, like a gently diffused warm glaze, painted a touch of rosy mist upon her cheeks; her nose was straight and elegant, her lips cherry-colored, and her phoenix eyes resembled a pool of clear autumn water.

Then, Cang Cang Yin Yue folded the veil into a cloud-like bundle and tucked it into her sleeve, smoothed the black hair falling over her shoulders, smiled at Li Musheng, and asked:

"Is Your Highness satisfied?"

Hearing this, Li Musheng came slightly to his senses, touched his chin with his hand, and said with a serious expression:

"Given Miss Cang's beauty, what I said before was far too conservative; those wishing to marry you could not merely queue to the gates of Shangyang City; I estimate the line would stretch from here all the way to Shun'an City."

Upon hearing these words, Cang Cang Yin Yue's eyes and eyebrows instantly brimmed with smiles.

Which woman does not love to hear praise? Yet, for some reason, Li Musheng's praise seemed especially pleasing to her heart.

"Your Highness, having you look at my face is merely a trivial side matter; I have come this time with another important matter to report."

But quickly, Cang Cang Yin Yue gathered her emotions; the smile vanished from her face, and she spoke seriously about the main business once more.

Li Musheng stared at her for a while, then nodded slightly; admiring a beauty was indeed a delightful thing.

But Cang Cang Yin Yue was clearly a young woman focused solely on her career, sometimes appearing not so considerate.

"Then tell me, what could be so important?"

Li Musheng waved his hand, gesturing for the other party to sit and speak slowly.

However, Cang Cang Yin Yue shook her head, gazed fixedly at Li Musheng, and said:

"Yesterday's affair at the Hou Fu of Changyuan and the murder of Noble Consort Ji attracted nearly the entire attention of the Six Six Shanmen; therefore, basically no one paid attention to the Qingshan Lou case."

Speaking thus, she took a yellow-parchment letter from her sleeve and handed it before Li Musheng, saying:

"But last night, the Six Six Shanmen' spies who had been investigating clues regarding Qingshan Lou made significant progress, and this matter happened to be intercepted by me."

Li Musheng raised his eyebrows slightly, took the yellow-parchment letter, and glanced over it.

Immediately, his eyes shifted; he narrowed them and said:

"It hasn't been long since the last remnant of Great Qi caused a disturbance at the Aurora Pavilion; not only do these remnants of Great Qi not lie low, but they are beginning to stir again?"

Cang Cang Yin Yue slowly shook her head; a thoughtful expression appeared on her beautiful face as she said:

"This is hard to say. Perhaps because of the matter concerning Noble Consort Ji, the Six Six Shanmen and most factions in the Imperial Capital are currently focused on this issue, temporarily lacking the resources to deal with those remnants of Great Qi, and they may be trying to take advantage of the chaos to fish in troubled waters."

Li Musheng looked at her, his face showing a contemplative expression, and said:

"Miss Cang has come to find me; does she wish for me to go with you?"

"Yes."

Cang Cang Yin Yue nodded slightly, her expression serious as she said:

"Currently, nearly the entire Six Six Shanmen is investigating the murderer of Noble Consort Ji, lacking sufficient personnel to handle this matter."

"Moreover, perhaps because of my origin from the Hou Fu of Changyuan, the Six Six Shanmen secretly has some eyes watching me; furthermore, since the Divine Constable is not present, I cannot intervene in this matter openly."

"I know Your Highness possesses profound martial arts cultivation and is eager to find the key to the Great Qi Secret Treasury, so I directly intercepted the message; let us simply investigate this ourselves."

(End of this chapter)