Chapter 63: Empress Dowager Forces Marriage (6)

Gu Yun explained, "According to Qu Xin, this is something Yang Lu carefully treasured before he died. I suspect it's related to the Golden Case, but I don't understand what these words mean. I want to hear your opinion."

Studying the note in her hand seriously again, hoping to find some patterns, the result was still confusion. Zhuo Qing shook her head, "I'm not very clear either. I'll study it carefully tonight. When are you going to see the location of the cave?"

"Going now." She and Dan Yulan and the others agreed to meet at the gate of Yingtian Prefecture at noon.

"I'm going too." While speaking, Zhuo Qing nimbly braided her long hair. Gu Yun smiled, "Are you sure you want to run around in this extraordinary time?" People had already forced their way into the mansion.

Zhuo Qing rolled her eyes and snorted coldly, "Do you want me to stay and stare at her? I don't have that leisure time."

Pulling Gu Yun, the two hurried out of the Prime Minister's Mansion.

After Zhuo Qing and Gu Yun met up with Dan Yulan and the others, under Ao Tian's leadership, the group rushed to the cave outside the capital. After checking every exit outside the cave, it was indeed the place where Qu Ze was that was most convenient for entering and exiting the cave.

There was no discovery outside the cave, so the group walked into the cave. The cave was accessible in all directions, but they were all narrow paths. At the deepest part, there was a cave the size of half a football field. It was very damp inside, and water seeped from the walls from time to time. One could clearly hear the gurgling sound of running water. Looking closely, there was a seven or eight-meter-wide underground river on one side of the cave.

Gu Yun squatted by the underground river, tapped the hard stones by the river, narrowed her eyes slightly, and looked at the small sand and stones at the bottom of the river. In the cave, one could also find such small stones. Grabbing some and squeezing them lightly in her hand, the stones made a rustling sound and then slowly shattered in her hand. Gu Yun looked at the powder in her hand and whispered, "Come and see."

Hearing her call, the group surrounded her and saw her squatting in front of a small pile of sand and soil, staring seriously at the fine stones in her hand. Qian Jing didn't understand and asked, "Just some sand and stones, what's the problem?"

He had been hearing in prison how powerful this woman named Qing Mo was, and even Ao Tian, who usually disdained to pay attention to anyone, seemed to show admiration for her. He followed today just to see how she was so divine in investigating cases, but could this pile of sand and stones have any suspicious points?

Lightly patting the fine stones in her hand, Gu Yun pointed to a thick layer of sand and soil in this section of the underground river and replied, "The problem is that this is a cave formed by the dissolution of soluble rocks by water; there shouldn't be such fine sand and stones, and it looks like quite a lot."

"You mean these sand and stones were deliberately transported in." Dan Yulan narrowed his eyes and looked. Although the light was not very good, he could still see that the riverbed in this section of the water area was much higher than the river section at the cave entrance in front.

Looking closely, it was indeed as Gu Yun said; there were many fine sand and stones in this section of the underground river, which was obviously different from the upstream. Qian Jing squatted by the underground river and muttered to himself, "Why transport sand and stones into such a remote cave?"

Gu Yun had already vaguely guessed the origin of the matter in her heart and smiled, "Don't you find it strange? So many people were searching at the time, yet they didn't find the carriages transporting the gold. There is no such thing as disappearing into thin air in this world; everything is just a smoke screen."

The gurgling water flowing beside them made Zhuo Qing's eyes light up, and she replied, "Underground rivers are abundant here, and the water system is developed, which itself is a good place to hide gold."

Gu Yun nodded: "Right. As long as the gold is poured into the underground river and covered with sand and stones, and then dug out and transported away after the wind has passed, it is naturally seamless." The tracks seen back then were not the traces left by transporting the gold out, but evidence of transporting sand and stones into the cave.

Dan Yulan squatted down, grabbed the soft stones on the ground, but felt a soft touch. Her analysis might really have some truth. This could explain how the gold disappeared under the investigation of everyone, but what about the evidence?

Qian Jing obviously had the same thoughts as him. Turning his head, Qian Jing said, "You are just guessing. Even if it's true, it's been three years; the gold should have been transported away long ago, and some fine sand cannot prove the idea you said."

Before Gu Yun could speak, Zhuo Qing, who had already crawled through the small hole beside the cave and investigated downstream, smiled, "That's not necessarily true. So much gold was poured into the underground river, it's impossible to dig it clean. And this underground river has abundant water flow, some small gold pieces will flow downstream with the water, and they should still be found now."

Qian Jing slapped his thigh and shouted, "We'll know if there is gold by going into the water to check!"

Zhuo Qing nodded immediately, looking at Qian Jing with a smile, and replied, "That's what I meant."

Her look made people get goosebumps. Qian Jing cried out, "You aren't asking me to go down and check?"

Zhuo Qing raised her lips lightly and hummed, "Do you think I'm going?"

"..."

The coldness of the underground river, not to mention women, even strong men might not be able to stand it for long. Qian Jing knew he was asking the obvious again, curled his lips sheepishly, and slowly took off his coat, shoes, and socks...

"Splash!"

Qian Jing was still dawdling, when only a splash of water was heard, and Ao Tian's black figure had already plunged into the underground river.

Qian Jing had already taken off his clothes, shoes, and socks, and standing on the shore, he felt a bit embarrassed. Zhuo Qing rolled her eyes at him, and everyone's attention was focused on the black-clothed, silver-haired figure in the water.

It was too shameful to put on clothes now. Qian Jing coughed lightly and smiled sheepishly, "My water skills are better, the water downstream is deep, I'll go there and look."

No one paid attention to him. Qian Jing slipped through the small hole and plunged into the underground river downstream.

Ao Tian dived in the water for a long time before surfacing. Gu Yun asked urgently, "How is it?"

Ao Tian's face was dark, and he didn't say anything, just shook his head silently.

Zhuo Qing and Gu Yun looked at each other. Could it be that they thought wrong?

Dan Yulan was quite confident and said, "Look again, it's easier for gold to remain in the crevices of the cave."

Ao Tian dived into the river again. The black clothes were almost invisible in the water waves, but fortunately, the silver-bright hair reflected spots of light, so his position could still be distinguished.

This time was even longer. Just when Zhuo Qing was a bit worried that he had some accident, Ao Tian finally broke through the water again.

"Did you find it?"

Ao Tian panted and didn't answer, just threw the things he had just found under the cover of sand and stones onto the shore.

After a flash of orange-yellow light, there was the sound of metal rolling. A few people surrounded it and looked, and sure enough, it was a piece of crushed gold the size of a fruit pit. This piece of gold should have been squeezed and crushed when it was poured into the river.

Dan Yulan carefully checked the surface of the gold piece and saw half an official character in one corner. It should be the official stamp of official silver. Holding the gold piece, Dan Yulan looked at Gu Yun and said, "Sure enough, there is gold, and it is official silver. Your speculation should be correct."

It turned out that the gold was indeed hidden in the underground river in this way back then!

"Hey, you guys come over quickly, look what I found!" Qian Jing's excited voice came from downstream.

The group rushed downstream and saw Qian Jing holding a bright gold ingot, laughing happily, and shouting, "Fifty taels of gold!" Unexpectedly, there was really gold in the underground river. Placing the gold ingot on the shore, Qian Jing smiled excitedly, "The water here is clearer than the front, there should be more gold, I'll go look again."

The water in the underground river was cold, and he had been in the water for a while, his lips had become a bit purple. Seeing him about to dive into the river again, Zhuo Qing hurriedly said, "No need, this is enough to prove it, come up."

Qian Jing opened his eyes wide and replied unwillingly, "It's a pity not to pick up gold when there is gold." Fifty taels of gold!

As he spoke, he was about to dive down again. Zhuo Qing was so angry that she roared in a low voice, "Qian Jing! Do you want money or your life! This gold is all official silver, it's not yours even if you fish it up, hurry up and come up." He was already shaking from speaking, yet he still refused to come ashore. How much did he love money!

Hearing that the gold still had to be handed over, Qian Jing curled his lips in disappointment and finally climbed ashore.

Dan Yulan picked up the gold ingot Qian Jing found. This piece was relatively complete, and the stamp of "National Treasury Official Silver" could be clearly seen under the gold ingot. This gold was undoubtedly the gold lost back then.

Holding the gold in his hand, Dan Yulan said in a deep voice, "Since there is a clue to the Golden Case, I will immediately report it to the imperial court and re-investigate this case."

This meant that the imperial court would inevitably experience a storm.

Dan Yulan went back to write the memorial, Su Yu seemed to be injured during training, Gu Yun rushed back to the General's Mansion, and Zhuo Qing returned to the Prime Minister's Mansion in boredom. It was still early, and Zhuo Qing prepared to return to Lanyue Lou to make up for sleep.

Walking on the small path of the Prime Minister's Mansion, a melodious zither sound vaguely came to her ears, lower than the guzheng, gentle and moving, like a soft hand, gently stroking your soul. In the zither sound, there seemed to be a power to soothe people's hearts. Zhuo Qing didn't understand zither, nor was she good at music, but she was fascinated by such low-chanting zither sound, and her feet walked toward the place where the zither sound came from involuntarily.

The zither sound came from Lou Xiwu's courtyard. Unexpectedly, Lou Xiwu had such zither skills. She was indeed a famous daughter, and she really admired her.

It was also Zhuo Qing's first time walking into Lou Xiwu's courtyard. The courtyard was planted with bright azaleas, which were in full bloom, decorating the courtyard beautifully with light pink flowers.

There was a quite large pavilion in the courtyard, with thin white gauze floating on all four sides, and Lou Xiwu's beautiful figure could be vaguely seen. Zhuo Qing smiled secretly; this little girl knew how to create an atmosphere. Looking at it this way, she didn't look like the noisy and barbaric appearance at all, and she was quite temperamental.

Looking closer, she found that there was a plain white figure in front of the courtyard. He stood with his back to her, white clothes like snow, black hair like ink, sitting on the ground freely and casually, with a dark red zither on his knees, and his slender and delicate ten fingers wandering on the zither strings. The beautiful music flowed gently. It turned out that he was the one playing the zither!

Black hair and white clothes, just a back view, but it already revealed a clean and indifferent temperament. She couldn't see his appearance, but Zhuo Qing had already judged in her heart that this person must be indifferent and peaceful, elegant and refined. She couldn't say why, she just had this feeling.

Was he a person in the Prime Minister's Mansion?

There was actually such a person in the Prime Minister's Mansion. Who was he?

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 64 =====