The fire was raging and smoke filled the air.
Gu Shen, Yin of Shuntian Prefecture, got the news and hurried to the gate of Shuntian Prefecture. His steps were hurried and his clothes were messy, completely ignoring that he was not fully dressed.
If he hadn't been stopped by his men, he would have rushed in by himself. Cold sweat broke out on his forehead, his hands on his waist, pacing back and forth, his eyes anxiously staring at the door.
The government officials transported water to the house in wooden barrels one by one from outside the door. The fire was out of control and showed no signs of being extinguished. Instead, it burned more and more fiercely.
"Ahem." Several servants ran out of the fire, their clothes stained with ashes and their faces darkened by smoke. Covering his mouth with one hand and holding an empty bucket in the other, he coughed dryly for a while outside the door.
Gu Shen kicked him over: "You and I are about to move our heads, why don't we rest! Come on, come on!"
Several people quickly filled the buckets and rushed in with their noses covered.
Leheng forcefully pushed through the crowd of onlookers and walked inside.
When Gu Shen saw Le Heng, his entire breakdown reached its climax.
"Master Le, what should we do? What should we do?" Gu Shen wailed and tugged on Le Heng's sleeve to wipe away his tears.
"Everyone is in there?" Leheng looked at him seriously, word by word.
"Man, who is he? A prisoner?" Gu Shen couldn't help but shudder.
Gu Shen was just worried that the government office would be burned and he would not be able to explain to the superiors. He did not consider that there were people inside. To be precise, in his eyes, the death of one or two prisoners is not a big deal.
Leheng's heart sank when he saw Gu Shen's uninformed reaction. He struggled to put his arm away, then he grabbed a servant who was putting out the fire, and asked eagerly: "Where are the prisoners? Are they all inside?"
The official was stunned by the question. He shook his head first and then nodded, looking guilty.
"Are you inside?" Le Heng's eyes became even more anxious, and he kept asking, his eyes still looking closely at the door of the mansion.
"Song Chang fell asleep and knocked over the oil lamp. We called him to run, but he was too asleep and didn't respond. At this moment, he and the prisoner were still inside." The official almost cried with guilt.
After hearing this, Leheng took a deep breath, grabbed the bucket from the Fu Chai's hand without any hesitation, and carried it into the sea of fire.
The flames moved wildly, greedily devouring everything around him, and kept testing the edges of his clothes. The smoke made him confused and he groped forward by feeling.
"Master Le - Master Le -" Seeing this, Gu Shen was so frightened that he jumped behind him and watched Le Heng disappear into the thick black fog.
When the fire subsided, the house was in a mess.
Burnt charcoal crunched underfoot. Leheng was carried out by two government officials, followed by several burnt corpses.
The skin was burnt black and his face was unrecognizable.
The identities of a few people could only be vaguely identified based on their tattered clothes. One of them was still wearing the clothes of the Fu Chao, and he was probably the Song Chang who the other Fu Chai said had knocked over the oil lamp while sleeping.
Gu Shen's body was like an empty shell with his soul removed, and he fell on the steps at the door of the house. Leheng walked to him and sat down beside him.
The two of them looked haggard and tired, and sat there in silence until dawn.
The sky was beginning to whiten, and the burnt smell from last night's fire still lingered in the air.
Leheng stood up, patted the ashes of his clothes, and sighed: "Let's go, it's time to go to court."
In the main hall, Gu Shen looked pale and knelt on the ground with his head lowered.
Chen Chaoci was so angry that he threw the tea cup at the past. Gu Shen didn't dare to dodge, and the tea cup hit his shoulder hard.
The tea splashed everywhere, and hot tea splashed on his face. He gritted his teeth and endured the pain of the hot tea burning his shoulders and face.
Chen Chaoci scolded him sternly: "Tell me, why did Shuntian Mansion, which was so good, go into trouble?"
There was silence below. The ministers looked at each other, no one dared to say anything.
Chen Chaoci stood with his hands behind his hands, his face gloomy, and he glanced at the ministers below. He pointed at Leheng and said, "I heard that the dead ones were all the Qi traders you arrested that day?"
The emperor threatened and pressed tightly on Le Heng's heart. He took a deep breath, strode to the center of the hall, and bowed.
"To report to your Majesty, I believe that this matter is not as simple as a scam."
"Oh?" Leheng's words quickly aroused Chen Chaoci's curiosity. He raised his eyebrows, and a trace of doubt flashed in his eyes.
"I believe that someone intends to kill someone and silence them."
As soon as these words came out, other officials in the palace began to discuss, with various complex emotions in their eyes. Liu Yunqi hid in it, lowering his head and keeping silent.
Chen Chaobai cast his sharp gaze on Le Heng, sizing him up.
Chen Chaoci thought about it carefully and felt that what Le Heng said was reasonable, and his tone softened a lot: "What can you find out?"
"Report to your Majesty. When I was investigating the relationship between the assassin and the Qi merchants, I also discovered something." Le Heng paused, raised his head slightly, and glanced in the direction of Chen Chaobai.
Chen Chaoci frowned.
"I discovered that the sister-in-law of Xia Chun, the subordinate of His Highness Prince Xuan, has close contacts with these traders."
"Master Le." Chen Chaobai's voice was cold and high-pitched, and he looked sideways at Le Heng.
"Lord Le, do you suspect that this king bribed Qi's assassins to murder his own sister?" Chen Chaobai narrowed his eyes slightly, and a murderous aura suddenly enveloped his face, rushing towards Le Heng.
"I don't dare." Le Heng lowered his eyes, not daring to look directly at Chen Chaobai.
"Don't you dare?" Chen Chaobai looked at him with disdain, "Or do you think I started the fire last night?"
"That's not what I meant. I just truthfully reported the clues I found to the Holy One."
"Okay. A few days ago, King Xuan informed me about Ming Xia Chun's sister-in-law. However, due to lack of evidence, Xia Chun was King Xuan's savior, so he was transferred out of the capital first."
Which link is the problem? Liu Yunqi frowned, an ominous premonition welling up in his heart. Chen Chaobai actually acted first and made it clear to the emperor before they did.
Cutting off an arm to save yourself and Xia Chun was really clever.
"Xia Chun left the capital?" Le Heng raised his head in surprise and looked at Chen Chaoci.
"Why do you still doubt that I lied to you?" Chen Chaoci looked unhappy.
"I don't dare." Leheng lowered his head, but his eyes met Gu Shen who was kneeling on the ground.
Chen Chaoci lazily sat back on the dragon chair, looked at Liu Lian beside him, and pointed at the tea spilled on the floor.
Liu Lian instantly understood what the emperor meant, and immediately ordered a young eunuch to go up and clean the ground.
Chen Chaoci sat and held his breath for a long time, and then continued to speak: "The Empress of Jinxiu Palace is happy, and it is not easy to see these dirty things. Now, I will spare your life, and you will be fined for one year, and you can go on your own Repair the Shuntian Mansion Office."
"And you," Chen Chaoci pointed at Le Heng and said, "Let me continue to investigate this matter."
"I obey the decree."
"If there is nothing else, I will stop here today and leave the court without anything else." Chen Chaoci leaned on the dragon chair, supported his tired head with his hands, and glanced at His Highness's ministers with cold eyes.
"Your Majesty, I still have something to report."
The speaker was Lu Jiang, the uncle of the state. It was obvious that he wanted to use the topic to say something about Concubine Chen's pregnancy.
"I'm tired today. Mr. Lu has something to discuss some other time." Chen Chaoci raised his eyes, his eyes like sharp swords, sending shivers down the spines of the ministers below.
Before Lu Jiang could speak, Chen Chaoci had already left with Liu Lian and others.
Chen Chaobai curled up into a sneer, snorted to Leheng, and walked away.
Le Heng looked at his leaving figure, clenched his fists, and tried his best to suppress the anger in his heart.
Before noon, Song Ran took advantage of the excuse of coming to visit Madam Liu on behalf of his mother and concubine, and waited for Liu Yunqi to go to court at Liu Mansion.
Liu Yunqi had ordered that no one else should reveal anything about what happened last night except the housekeeper and the maid who knew about Song Ran and Leheng's night visit to Liu Mansion.
Song Ran sat in Mrs. Liu's room for a long time, but she didn't see Liu Yunqi coming back from the court, and she couldn't help but feel worried.
Mrs. Liu seemed to have noticed something was wrong with Song Ran and backed away from the people around her.
Madam Liu stroked Song Ran's hand and asked softly: "Look at this look on her face, is the princess okay today?"
"Madam, it's okay." Song Ran gently patted the back of Mrs. Liu's hand and smiled at her reassuringly.
Liu Yunqi returned home and heard that Song Ran was in his mother's room. Before he could change out of court clothes, he rushed over.
When Song Ran saw his brows furrowed, her heart became excited again.
Song Ran followed him back to the study. He sat quietly beside him, not daring to disturb him even though he was full of doubts.
She watched Liu Yunqi read the memorial left by Le Heng yesterday over and over again. This memorial was supposed to be handed in today.
He suddenly tore it into pieces and murmured: "What went wrong?"
"Brother Qi, what happened in the court today?" Song Ran was confused.
Liu Yunqi relayed everything that happened in the court today to Song Ran.
Song Ran became more suspicious of Chen Chaobai.
What happened was so coincidental that Song Ran had to believe that Chen Chaobai did all this. However, they had no evidence and could do nothing to him.
Liu Yunqi knew that he had lost control of his emotions just now, and saw Song Ran shrouded in sadness beside him, with a slightly uneasy look on his face.
He stared at her closely, stretched out his hand and gently put it on her back, touching her clothes with the palm of his hand. He did not dare to use force, and said comfortingly: "This game is not necessarily a dead game. Chen Chaoci was clear on his face. Although I excused Chen Chaobai, there was still some suspicion in his words."
"Will the case continue to be investigated?" Song Ran asked with a bitter face.
"Chen Chaoci has ordered Leheng to continue the investigation. However, Xia Chun was transferred away from the capital, and the rest of the people related to him are dead, so it is very difficult to continue the investigation." Liu Yunqi shook his head, with a very helpless expression.
"Isn't there Xia Yu here?" Song Ran suddenly thought of this person, her eyes lit up, and she hurriedly asked Liu Yunqi.
"On my way back from next morning, I heard that Xia Yu was already wearing a white cloth and crying at the gate of Shuntian Mansion. I think Gu Shen is still very anxious at this moment. If she is arrested and tortured together at this moment, I'm afraid it will cause a stir. Public outrage.”
Song Ran was suddenly discouraged and leaned back. She forgot that Liu Yunqi's hand was still on her back.
Her body pressed the back of his hand against the back of the chair, and she truly felt the warmth of Liu Yunqi's palm.
At the moment of contact, the two looked at each other.
