Yun Ya continued, “If I were to speak to you with great emotion, would you believe it came from the bottom of my heart?”

Feng Miaojun replied without thinking: “No.”

Oh no! As soon as the words left her mouth, she knew she was in trouble!

Had her brain been frozen? Why would she blurt out such a truth?

Sure enough, Yun Ya’s face darkened immediately, and even his chuckle sounded like a cold wind blowing from hell: “So Miao Fengxian says a few words, and you believe him?”

How much did he dislike Miao Fengxian? Feng Miaojun responded: “What about you? How are you so certain he’s the killer?”

“I never claimed he was the killer,” Yun Ya corrected her. “I’m simply not so shallow as to exclude him from the list of suspects after hearing a few kind words.”

The “shallow” Feng Miaojun touched her nose and quickly shut her mouth, not responding to his barbed comments.

As the two were about to reach the alley entrance, they unexpectedly heard the sound of horse hooves, as hundreds of soldiers galloped past.

The one leading them was someone both Feng Miaojun and Yun Ya recognized:

Xu Lin.

He sat atop a tall horse, head held high, chest out, his face exuding an air of authority and killing intent. The dejection from days before seemed to have vanished without a trace.

After the procession had passed, Feng Miaojun shook her head: “The King of Yao has assigned him another task?”

“No,” Yun Ya’s expression grew solemn. “He’s still wearing the uniform of the City Defense Commander.”

Feng Miaojun was moved: “He’s been reinstated?”

This wasn’t good. She didn’t know how he had managed it, but despite having been dismissed from his position earlier, the King of Yao had now reinstated him.

Yun Ya slowly said: “Do you know that the Golden City itself is a magical artifact?”

“Yes, I know.” He had mentioned it before, and she remembered everything. “This is a secret magical artifact passed down in the royal family of Yao, only for the sovereign to wield.”

“Which means, every person who enters the palace enters the magical artifact and comes under the King of Yao’s control,” Yun Ya said slowly. “Within such an enormous magical artifact, the wielder is like a god, and no one can disobey his commands.”

“That’s just theoretical, isn’t it?” Feng Miaojun wouldn’t be constrained by such rules. “Otherwise, the Crown Prince wouldn’t have been killed.”

“The King of Yao is mortal; he won’t waste effort examining every person who enters the Golden City. But he still wants to ensure the palace’s safety, so there’s only one way—”

“Issue waist tokens called ‘Gold Accumulation Permits.’ Only those wearing these permits can move freely within the Golden City. We wore them when we entered the royal court, remember?” Yun Ya paused, and seeing Feng Miaojun nod, he continued, “For safety, the tokens are only valid for three days. Once expired, they turn to gold dust and fly back to the roof tiles of the Golden City.”

Feng Miaojun made an “Oh” sound: “So within three days, everyone in the royal court, including consorts and palace servants, must exchange their Gold Accumulation Permits, or else?”

“Or else they can’t move an inch within the Golden City,” Yun Ya said softly. “Literally cannot move—everyone in the Golden City is controlled by the spirit of the artifact; without the token, they can’t budge. Only the two princes of Yao, the State Preceptor, and the North and South City Defense Commanders are exceptions. And with so many palace servants and the tokens being replaced so frequently, the distribution work has always been shared by the North and South City Defense forces.”

Feng Miaojun suddenly understood, but a moment later she asked: “However, what does this have to do with Xu Lin being reinstated?”

“Foolish! How can someone by my side be so foolish!” Yun Ya suddenly became impatient and dismissed her with two sentences: “Think it through yourself. Don’t follow me.”

She couldn’t help but ask: “Where are you going?”

“To buy wine.”

Feng Miaojun stood in place, watching his figure disappear before turning back towards the embassy, not knowing how she had offended him again. The State Preceptor’s temper always came without any warning.

However, since Yun Ya told her to think for herself, it meant the clues he’d given were enough, and she just hadn’t thought deeply enough.

With Yun Ya no longer beside her, the cold wind on her face made her thoughts even clearer.

Where was she just now? Oh yes, both the North and South City Defense forces were responsible for replacing the Gold Accumulation Permits. Also, Xu Lin had been reinstated, which meant the unfortunate soul who had been serving as commander for those ten-plus days had been dismissed.

How could it be such a coincidence that Xu Lin had avoided the period when the Crown Prince died?

Feng Miaojun’s eyes flickered, and suddenly a clear thought crossed her mind:

That’s it.

The murderer could move freely within the Golden City, meaning they also had a Gold Accumulation Permit that hadn’t expired. So the question was: who issued that token?

Xu Lin had been dismissed by the King of Yao seven days before the Crown Prince’s death, and the permits he had issued from the City Defense Office would have long expired.

This meant the incident could be considered unrelated to him; the murderer wasn’t let in by him but was the responsibility of the commander who succeeded him. The King of Yao would inevitably summon that person for questioning. If they had secretly colluded with the murderer, it would be a capital offense punishable by beheading. Even if not, they would be charged with dereliction of duty, definitely lose their position, and face a series of severe punishments.

The first step was dismissal, which was why the King of Yao had reinstated Xu Lin. Although he had failed to track down the killer of the Wei envoy, at least the serious offense of the Crown Prince’s murder hadn’t occurred during his tenure. And when it came to understanding the City Defense forces and Inzi City, who could surpass Xu Lin?

This wasn’t good news for Feng Miaojun.

On the surface, Xu Lin should have no connection to the Crown Prince’s murder case. However, Feng Miaojun remembered the unusual behavior he had displayed at the Shun Dong Feng.

At that time, he had thought Captain Ma’s death was just an accident, and that the Wei people truly wanted to kill the Crown Prince, yet he had said, “It might not be a bad thing.”

Was someone attempting to assassinate the Crown Prince a good thing?

Looking at it now, his dispute with the Wei people had resulted in his previous demotion, yet it had also legitimately helped him avoid a major disaster.

The gains and losses were clear at a glance.

Unless Xu Lin had extraordinary luck, he must have known in advance about the Crown Prince’s assassination and made these arrangements.

Hmm, in that case, his dismissal ten-plus days ago might have even been a self-requested “step down.” This wouldn’t be difficult; he only needed to leak details of his conflict with Qi Tianxing to the censors, who would naturally impeach him.

Xu Lin’s move was played very smoothly, even incorporating her and Yun Ya’s scheme into his calculations.

So, conversely, who would know in advance that something would happen to the Crown Prince?

Of course, the murder suspect!

Even if Xu Lin wasn’t the main culprit, he must have provided convenience for the perpetrator. Feng Miaojun was certain that the Gold Accumulation Permit used by that person to access the Golden City was most likely given by Xu Lin.

The question was, Xu Lin, had stepped down ten-plus days ago, so how could the permits he issued still be effective, allowing the assassin to commit the crime seven days later?

There was another matter.

Recently, Inzi City had been experiencing troubled times, and Miao Fengyuan’s emotions had been fluctuating greatly. How could the murderer have determined when the Crown Prince would visit Consort Zhao?