Ask the Nine Ministers

Chapter 98 The End of the Beast
That antique dealer was indeed from the Old Tomb Swamp.

It is what people in the market commonly call the "lower nine classes".

A famous liar in Jiuling Swamp.

There is a lot of things in Jiulingzhai, including many scammers and "sorcerers" who cheat people, and the scams are endless.

The old man opened an antique shop, but in fact, it was just a cover.

He usually specializes in acting as a middleman, similar to a broker. He will cheat anyone he can and his tricks are constantly updated.

However, he did not say anything nonsense to Li Huan.

At present, there are no new imperial envoys from Jiuling Swamp.

The eldest brother took her job but did not accept the imperial edict.

"What is Sixth Miss laughing at?"

Xue Sui glanced at him, put the chopsticks in his hand on the edge of the bowl, and smiled softly.

"I have heard of that merchant in the old mausoleum marsh before. He is quite well connected, and Your Highness has not chosen the wrong person. Since he said so, it must be true. When the new imperial envoy is selected, he may be able to introduce him to Your Highness..."

Li Huan looked a little suspicious, "Do you know this person?"

Xue Sui said: "He opened an antique shop in the Caoshi of Jiuling Marsh. Anyone who wants to get information or smooth over connections will go to him for help. He does everything. He is ruthless when asking for money and always asks for a lot. But who can blame him for his ability? He can do things that others can't do."

Li Huan asked: "From what you have seen, can he get in touch with the imperial envoy?"

Xue Sui smiled slightly, "I can't say for sure. I have never met this person, I have only heard about him. But I think he would not dare to offend Jiuling Marsh. It all depends on the prince's intention of looking for the envoy, and... whether the prince can gain his trust."

Li Huan frowned slightly when he heard this.

He told the man that he wanted to do salt and iron business.

Selling private salt and private iron violated the imperial ban.

In order to gain his trust, would he really have to resell salt and iron?

Li Huan rejected this idea and continued to test Xue Sui.

After praising the dishes for their ingenuity and their good color, aroma and taste, he gradually led to the case of going to Beijing.

"The body parts fished out of the moat that day have been confirmed by Jingzhao Prefecture to be You Zhimu. The bones were all smashed, the body parts were scattered all over the place, the hair was stuck with pieces of flesh and clothing, and scattered everywhere... This is how the body was torn into pieces. The murderer's methods were extremely cruel. When Old Lord You came to identify the body, he fainted on the spot when he saw the piles of flesh and bone residue..."

Xue Sui was shocked.

The hand holding the chopsticks trembled violently, and the piece of meat suddenly slipped off.

With a plop, it fell on the table.

Her eyes widened and she wiped them quickly. Her body was extremely tense. She lowered her head as if she was going to vomit, but she endured it, with her slender brows furrowed.

"It's really cruel. A good person died in such a way..."

You deserve it.

She didn't finish the rest of the sentence and just acted scared.

Thinking about You Zhimu's end, her mind reappeared the scene in which You Zhimu wore shiny black deerskin boots, the bumpy blue bricks and stones, and ruthlessly crushed her fingers and stepped on her face with his soles. When he stepped on her chest, the arrogant and disdainful smile on his face appeared on her face. She felt that Li Zhao had done a great job.

At that time, she was tortured like a dog.

No matter how much I begged for mercy, I couldn't get any mercy from those people.

Such inhuman beasts deserve to be tortured to death and sent to hell.

Li Huan noticed that she didn't touch the meat again.

The fear and horror on his face were genuine.

He then continued, "You Zhimu was dismembered and died in a horrible way. Yao Wei fell into a cesspool and lost half his life. Gu Jie is now in prison, which is unbearable..."

Xue Sui put down his chopsticks and frowned slightly.

There were pieces of rotten flesh and corpses, and a huge cesspool and prison.

She said, "Your Majesty, I'm done eating, please enjoy."

Li Huan examined her reaction, trying to find a flaw in her expression.

However, no.

There was no trace of falsehood in her expression, and her whole face looked like she couldn't eat because of nausea.

Li Huan smiled faintly.

"I'm done too. Ask someone to get some water."

To ask for water is to take a bath.

After bathing, it is usually necessary to rest.

Xue Sui didn't say much, just smiled and called someone to come in and clean up.

"Ruyi, prepare water for His Highness."

Ruyi answered yes outside, but she was nervous. She held Xiaozhao's arm tightly with both hands, shaking non-stop: "What should I do? What should I do?"

Xiao Zhao folded his arms and leaned against the wall.

"What are you afraid of?"

The servant in bed is not anxious, but the girl is anxious to death?

Ruyi's forehead was covered with cold sweat.

"Aren't you afraid? Aren't you worried about the girl?"

Xiao Zhao shook his head: "I'm not afraid, I'm not in a hurry. As long as the girl doesn't nod, I will kill anyone who dares to offend her. I don't care whether he is a prince or not."

The two girls were talking in low voices over here.

On the eaves of an unused side room beside the Tan Qiu Courtyard, two anxious spies were standing in the thick darkness.

They were more anxious than the two girls.

"I'm afraid I won't survive this time."

"Brother, have you finished writing your suicide note?"

"I haven't lived enough, why should I write a suicide note... What a pity, I hid dozens of taels of silver under the sycamore tree in the yard, and I didn't have time to tell my mother..."

"It's too late to write a suicide note, but is it still too late to take action?"

One of the spies said, and spat.

The other spy stared at him nervously.

"What are you going to do? His Highness only told us to monitor secretly, investigate more and report more, and protect Miss Xue Liu, but he didn't tell us to take action, to alert the enemy, to alarm Prince Duan..."

"Hehe." The spy laughed slyly, "We won't touch Prince Duan, but we can touch his house."

The two looked at each other, their eyes rolled around, and they understood each other's thoughts.

"Brother, where should we burn it?"

"Stay away from Tanqiuyuan, don't burn Miss Xue Liu..."

"good idea!"

"Dry!"

"Who lights the fire?"

"Rock-paper-scissors!"

……

The bathing water was quickly carried into the purification room of Tanqiuyuan.

The room was filled with light.

Li Huan slowly raised his hand towards Xue Sui, motioning her to come over and help him undress.

Xue Sui walked over calmly, wondering why Xue Yuechen didn't send someone to invite Li Huan...

If she doesn't come, how should I deal with it best?

She lowered her brows and looked at Li Huan's neat collar, her eyes cold and expressionless.

Li Huan also looked her up and down, with a face that showed he didn't want to sleep with her.

There seemed to be a subtle sense of competition in the air.

It depends on who will be the first to call for a stop. Just at this moment, a sharp scream was heard outside the house.

"Oh no."

"There's a fire in Shuyu Pavilion."

"There's a fire, there's a fire... someone come quickly!"

Shuyu Pavilion was the residence of Concubine Yuan.

Li Huan's expression froze.

He glanced down at Xue Sui and quickly put on his coat.

"You take a rest first, I'll go take a look."
-
There was something strange about the fire.

Ruyi was also arranged by Jinshu to go and see the excitement.

It is said that Concubine Yuan was holding her little daughter, trembling with fear, and when she saw Li Huan, her tears started to flow down, and her daughter also hugged Li Huan and called him father, crying silently...

Li Huan could only stay there to accompany Concubine Yuan and his daughter. He sent someone to Tan Qiuyuan to tell them that he would not come tonight and asked Mrs. Xue to have a good rest.

Concubine Yuan was so frightened that her eyes were swollen from crying.

But with Prince Duan by her side, she was not hurt and soon calmed down and began to complain.

"Your Highness, the candlelight in my room has always been carefully watched, how could it catch fire innocently?"

"Your Highness, could it be that someone wants to burn me and my daughter to death?"

Li Huan looked solemn, frowning slightly, and no one knew what he was thinking about.

Or the table of food in Tanqiuyuan, or the pair of white and soft hands, and the faintly light scars that were revealed when she raised her wide sleeves...

"Don't let your imagination run wild. There are so many people in the palace, and it's inevitable that the servants will be careless."
-
Just as Yuan Qingzhu suspected Xue Yuechen, Xue Yuechen also suspected Yuan.

She led a few maids towards Shuyu Residence, with a lot of thoughts in her mind.

"Sixth sister has been very kind to me. If the prince had favored her, it would have been great to have a child with her. What a pity..."

Feicui knew that she said one thing and meant another, and she kept getting entangled in it, so she didn't say much. She could only blame the man from Shuyuju angrily.

"Perhaps it was Concubine Yuan who was behind this. She hates to see the princess being well off. The prince went to Tanqiu Courtyard for the princess' sake. This is clearly to slap you in the face..."

Xue Yue was silent for a moment and sighed quietly.

"You're right. Yuan is very brave. It's possible that she started the fire herself."

"It depends on what the prince thinks..."

The fire in Shuyu Residence did not become a big fire and was put out by the servants who came to guard the house.

The timing and the intensity of the fire were just right, neither more nor less.

The two spies who carried out the operation were very proud.

"Brother, the contribution we made this time is enough to buy our lives!"

"I wonder if our master can give out more rewards?"

"Hehe, of course there is. Of course there is. Put the back of your head on the roof, it's higher, and you'll have a good dream!"

"Bah, crow's mouth!"

There was chaos in the palace because of the fire fighting.

In the Tan Qiu Courtyard, Xue Suichao continued to practice calligraphy without distraction.

When the time came, she undressed and went to bed.

When there were three long and two short knocks on the window, her heart sank slightly. She got up from bed and put on her clothes again. Through the window, she asked in a low voice, "Who is it?"

A cold voice came from outside, "Looking for the Gu master."

Xue Sui: ...

There was silence in Tanqiu Courtyard.

The small bell on the pigeon cage under the eaves was blown by the night wind, making a few crisp sounds...

Xue Sui slowly opened the window.

The moonlight was like water, and the shadows of the trees were scattered on the ground in patches.

Li Zhao was like an agile cheetah, covered in fragmented silver moonlight.

In just a moment, he tapped his toes lightly and leaped in nimbly, standing in front of her.

"If the Shuyu Pavilion hadn't caught fire, would you have planned to sleep with me tonight?"

His voice was low and his tone was unfriendly.

His eyes were like those of a man-eating wolf, staring at her.

Xue Sui certainly has her own way to deal with Li Huan.

Li Huan didn't think much about sleeping with her.

That’s all. There’s no need to tell this person.

She raised her head slightly, her expression calm, "Your Highness is questioning me?"

Li Zhao said: "I asked this on behalf of the love thread Gu."

Xue Sui smiled jokingly: "Your Highness, let it speak."

Li Zhao: "Just let it come out and die."

Xue Sui couldn't help laughing: "Your Highness, that's a nice thought."

Li Zhao's face turned cold, "As long as the love silk Gu is here, you will never betray me."

Xue Sui looked at him calmly: "Your Highness and I have no love or affection, so how can I talk about betrayal?"

Li Zhao sneered, with a complex emotion flashing in his eyes.

"If I can't, why can you? Xue Ping'an, you are being unfair."

After saying this, he sat down lightly on the carved wooden bench by the window, his figure tall and straight, like a breeze from the mountains, free and easy, totally unaware of the danger.

There was no one else in the room.

The candlelight flickered, and the warm yellow light and shadow swayed on the two of them.

The originally simple and plain room seemed to suddenly take on a somewhat ambiguous and charming boudoir atmosphere.

Xue Sui had a slight headache.

Li Zhao came uninvited twice, which made her feel helpless.

"You smashed human bones, cut them into pieces, and dumped the bodies into the moat, causing panic among the people of Shangjing. Your Highness the Crown Prince did all these things, but he made me face the interrogation of Prince Duan. I don't blame Your Highness, but Your Highness came to me to find trouble?"

Li Zhao said "oh" nonchalantly.

"Stop pretending, Xue Ping'an, you're worse than me."

He turned sideways and picked up a bird food jar that Xue Sui had carved for Ling Yu on the wooden table on the windowsill and played with it, the corners of his mouth slightly raised in a faint smile.

"If You Zhimu falls into your hands, his fate will be even worse."

Li Zhao waved his wide robe sleeves lightly, bringing a wisp of fresh breeze with a hint of coolness in the night.

Xue Sui felt a slight itch in his nose.

"Li Huan suspected the old tomb swamp."

Li Zhao raised his eyes with a deep gaze.

"He was not wrong. The mastermind is you, Miss Xue Liu."

The voice was cold and brutal, and contained a murderous aura and power that could devour one's heart.

However, for a woman like Xue Sui, who had experienced fear thousands of times and whose heart had been torn and patched up, such intimidation could not cause much waves.

What's more, Li Zhao was in her hands at this time.

So Xue Sui retorted.

"And what is your Highness? My accomplice?"

Li Zhao: If possible, can I stop being an accomplice and do something else?
Xue Sui: Tell me, who do you want to kill?