good season

Chapter 30 Candied Yam
Princess Jiayi pursed her lips. She could hear that the little girl was criticizing her.

Prince Consort Xiao was so distressed that he quickly held the princess's small hand with his big hand, and everything was said without words.

Zhao Shiqing watched coldly, she actually saw a thousand connections between the couple's eyes, she wanted to eat the sweet potato with sugar made by her master.

Zhao Shiqing quickly turned her face away and secretly swallowed the saliva that was about to choke her. When she turned around, she was facing Xiao Zhen's miserable face. The sweet potato tasted as bitter as coptis.

It turns out that bitter melons can also grow on melon trees. What the master said is indeed right. I should go down the mountain for a walk often. The world is so wonderful. Goddess Nuwa really put a lot of thought into creating human beings.

Xiao Zhen didn't know that just a quick glance at the little girl in front of him had already caused him to have a lot of imagination.

Zhao Shiqing said righteously: "How is Mr. Zhen's investigation going?"

Xiao Zhen came back early in the morning, but did not come to see his parents. Instead, he sat in the open hall outside and watched the morning glow in the sky. When they heard Zhao Shiqing ask this, Princess Jiayi and Prince Consort Xiao pricked up their ears curiously. They wanted to know too, but since their son didn't tell them, they didn't dare to ask.

As soon as Xiao Zhen opened his mouth, half of Zhao Shiqing's body went numb.

She quickly looked towards the half-open window so that she could not see Xiao Zhen's face. It was not that she judged people by their appearance, but Xiao Zhen's expression, as if no birds had flown away from him, really did not match the voice.

In fact, after experiencing a life-and-death situation, Xiao Zhen's voice no longer had the clarity of an eighteen-year-old boy. His voice carried a hint of indifference and casualness that was inconsistent with his age. But for Zhao Shiqing, whose ears were often poisoned by Xiao Su's hoarse voice, this was the sound of nature.

Xiao Zhen said: "The damage to the painting was caused by human beings, and the one who tampered with it was Li Wenlan."

The warm smile on Prince Consort Xiao's face was frozen at this moment. He moved his lips for a while before he spoke: "Li Wenlan, Brother Li? How, how is this possible?"

Princess Jiayi's eyes sparkled: "I told you, that Li has a pair of triangular eyes. His appearance reflects his heart. You can tell at first glance that he is not a good person."

The reason why Princess Jiayi disliked Li Wenlan was not only because he had a pair of triangular eyes, but also because of his flattering face.

A royal noble like her has seen too many such flattering faces and doesn't like it.

Therefore, when Prince Xiao's former classmate came to visit her that day, she just nodded coldly and turned away. Instead, Prince Xiao chatted with that person enthusiastically. They talked about poetry and songs, praised the ancient and modern sages, and talked about everything from the lotus in Daming Lake to the drizzle outside the Misty Rain Tower. When they were excited, Prince Xiao took out the original painting of the saint.

This painting depicts a lotus pond in the rain.

At that time, Prince Consort Xiao was still secretly happy. Fortunately, Prince Liang was not in the palace that day, otherwise he would not have the elegant opportunity to appreciate the excellent works with Brother Li today.

Thinking of this, Prince Consort Xiao regretted deeply. No wonder Li Wenlan brought up the topic of lotus flowers and drizzle even though it was clearly spring.

"Ah Zhen, you must believe in your father, Brother Li. No, Li Wenlan was not like this when he was young. Moreover, he was a master of painting."

Xiao Zhen ignored him and continued, "Li Wenlan is lustful and has an affair with a woman who lives alone. Unexpectedly, he was set up by a honey trap. The trap told him that you have an authentic painting with you and asked him to find a way to destroy the painting without anyone noticing. This is as difficult as ascending to heaven for others, but it is easy for him. He just put a few bugs into the painting box when you were not paying attention. When you returned to Liangdu and took out the painting again, you found a few more worm holes on the painting."

Princess Jiayi quickly corrected: "It's not several wormholes, it's one, there is only one wormhole." Xiao Zhen: "They are all the same."

Princess Jiayi hurriedly looked at Prince Consort Xiao, and Prince Consort Xiao comforted her with his eyes, saying, "Don't worry about it. It was me who made my son angry. No matter how wrong I am, it's all my fault."

Xiao Zhen continued, "Xiao Su has a servant named Jinbao by his side, and his mother has a servant named Xiubao by her side. He is also a traitor. Prince Liang was not in the palace, so he was the one who spread the news that the painting could not be delivered."

Princess Jiayi was stunned: "Xiubao? Who is Xiubao?"

Xiao Zhen: "He is a eunuch, the apprentice of Eunuch Li, twelve years old this year, and has been living in Wisteria Villa these days. I had someone find him this morning, and he has confessed everything. No one forced him, he just wanted to make money, ten taels of silver for one piece of information. Oh, mother, you have recently fallen in love with an opera singer named Huang Fengxian, right? He sold this piece of information for fifty taels."

Princess Jiayi.
She quickly defended herself: "That Huang Fengxian is Kundan, she is a woman."

Xiao Zhen: “All the same.”

Xiao Zhen said again: "Dad, don't look at my mother. You should change your habit of leaving poems everywhere. Why do you think those two scholars who wanted to give gifts appeared in that restaurant?"

Prince Consort Xiao was a third place winner of the imperial examination. Although he had indulged in romantic affairs over the years, his wisdom had not been dulled. He immediately thought of something. Facing his son's sharp gaze, Prince Consort Xiao had no choice but to bite the bullet and say, "There are two poems I left behind in that restaurant a few years ago."

He had been to that restaurant in his early years, and on a whim, he wrote a poem in the restaurant.

Later, he won the third place in the imperial examination and married a beautiful woman. On his way back to his hometown to worship his ancestors, he passed by Liangdu and went to the restaurant again. He was shocked to find that the poem he had written casually in the past had been re-inked, and there was a sign next to it that read "The place where the third place poem was written."

So Prince Consort Xiao wrote another poem for the restaurant.

This time when he came to Liangdu, even if he didn't pass by the restaurant that day, he would still revisit the old place.

So people had guessed that he would go, and had sent people to follow him. When they saw him go in, the two scholars followed him in, sat down next to him, and with a few seemingly unintentional words, they led him into the pit.

Princess Jiayi and Prince Consort Xiao lowered their heads at the same time, like two children who had done something wrong.

Xiao Zhen looked at Zhao Shiqing: "Li Wenlan and the woman have been silenced, but I caught the woman's husband, and Xiubao is now in the villa. The second lady can go to see them at any time. As for the two scholars and the mastermind behind the scenes, I'm sorry, I didn't catch them. However, the woman's husband said that he saw a man who acted like a woman."

Zhao Shiqing's eyes lit up at first, then he sighed.

"There are effeminate men not only in the palace, but also in our Prince Liang's Mansion and your Princess Chang's Mansion. Unless we can draw a portrait of that man, what good will it do? Who knows if he is still alive? Even if he is still alive, we can't get into the place where he is hiding."

Yes, they can dig three feet deep in Liangdi, but what about the capital and the imperial palace?
There was a chill in Xiao Zhen's voice: "That being said, I still painted the portrait."

He took out a portrait and handed it to Zhao Shiqing: "I copied a few more, this one is for the Second Miss. Whether the Second Miss wants to use it to practice flying knives or stab villains, it's just a thought."

Zhao Shiqing: Bullshit idea, that's the murderer of my father!
(End of this chapter)