The minor official led the two of them inside.

Then he summoned Liu Dan, the Minister of Revenue.

Liu Dan glanced at Li Cheng, then took the imperial edict and examined it from left to right.

His two mustaches twitched and swayed.

As if he absolutely had to ferret out some flaw in that imperial edict before he would give up.

After considerable “effort,” he finally managed to pick out a problem.

He pointed at a seal on it: “Lord Li, this seal… it appears to be the seal of the late Lord Gong, who just committed a capital crime, doesn’t it?”

On the imperial edict, there were two seals in total.

The Hanlin Academy Scholar had stamped one.

Gong Shilin had also stamped one.

Li Cheng nodded: “It is his.”

“This person is already dead, so the imperial edict… I’m afraid…”

“What, just because the person is dead, the seal no longer counts? Besides, this seal was stamped before the incident occurred.”

“I understand, I understand.”

Li Cheng straightened his chest, raised his chin, and said: “Lord Liu, stop wasting time. Hurry and take me to the archives. After I finish investigating what I need to investigate, I can return early to organize everything.”

Liu Dan closed the imperial edict, frowned, and asked: “Having the imperial edict, there’s no problem with conducting an investigation, but I wonder what exactly you want to investigate? If you tell me, I’ll find the materials and have them sent directly to the City Administration Department. Wouldn’t that be better?”

“You don’t need to concern yourself with that. Besides, the various departments are not supposed to interfere with each other, so I cannot openly tell you what I’m investigating.”

“That makes sense, but…”

Before he could finish speaking, Li Cheng raised his hand to interrupt: “Why are you being so troublesome? I’ll go to the archives, finish investigating, and leave. It won’t take much time! Lord Liu, you’ve been dawdling with me for so long—could it be that you’re deliberately stalling for time?”

Even the best temper couldn’t withstand such grinding.

Upon hearing this, Liu Dan quickly explained: “A misunderstanding! As Minister of Revenue, I naturally must conduct a thorough investigation.”

“The imperial edict is here, I’ve explained the reason to you, so can you take me there now?”

“Of course.” Liu Dan returned the imperial edict, turned his head to instruct the minor official, “Take Lord Li to the archives.”

The minor official responded: “Yes.”

Li Cheng finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Jingrong and Ji Yunshu, who had been standing behind him dressed as guards, also breathed a sigh of relief.

The three of them followed the minor official all the way to the entrance of the archives.

The place where the Ministry of Revenue stored materials was a two-story small building, with several armed guards stationed outside.

Moreover, all along the route leading to this small building, guards were posted.

Extremely tight security.

Once someone intruded, it would certainly be detected.

The minor official said: “Lord Li, if you need anything, just give orders. This subordinate will wait outside.”

Li Cheng waved his hand: “When I’m investigating inside, it’s best if you don’t come in and disturb me.”

“Yes.”

Immediately after, Li Cheng prepared to enter with Jingrong and Ji Yunshu.

But they hadn’t even touched the door yet—

A voice suddenly came from behind: “The Ministry of Revenue is truly lively today!”

Na Yan’s voice traveled from far to near.

Looking back, they saw him leading his own people from afar, walking along the corridor toward them.

Minister of Revenue Liu Dan followed closely behind.

Sure enough, the reason Liu Dan had stalled for so long earlier was indeed to delay for time.

However, he hadn’t expected that the person Liu Dan had secretly gone to notify was actually the Second Prince.

This was troublesome now!

Li Cheng’s heart tightened with worry as he glanced at Jingrong and Ji Yunshu.

Then he signaled for the two of them to hide well.

They must not be discovered!

Jingrong, however, was very calm.

As if he had prepared in advance.

He unhurriedly retrieved a small piece of charcoal from his sleeve, rubbed it on his fingers, then smeared it across his face.

Then he turned sideways, grabbed Ji Yunshu’s shoulder, and drew two small mustaches on her mouth.

Ji Yunshu froze for a moment.

“What… is this?”

“Charcoal.”

“You carry this with you?”

“Just in case.” Jingrong calmly tucked the charcoal back into his sleeve.

Now, both of them had black smeared on their mouths, sporting two small mustaches.

Ji Yunshu touched hers, then said softly: “Give me the charcoal.”

“Hm?”

“Hand it over.”

Jingrong took it out and gave it to her.

She rubbed it on her index finger, then smeared it under her eye bags.

Jingrong frowned and asked: “What is this?”

She replied: “Dark circles under the eyes!”

Pfft—

Although Jingrong didn’t understand what dark circles under the eyes were, he followed suit and smeared some under his own eye bags.

He even dotted a mole on his face!

Quite comical.

Ji Yunshu felt it was “not enough” and made her two thin eyebrows even thicker and bolder.

The two of them looked completely transformed!

Surely Na Yan wouldn’t recognize them now, would he?

Na Yan approached and indeed didn’t notice them. Instead, with a smile on his face, he said to Li Cheng: “I didn’t know Young Lord Cheng was also here. We’ve run into each other.”

Li Cheng said: “Why has the Second Prince come here?”

“I happened to be passing by the Ministry of Revenue and came in to take a look. I just heard from Lord Liu that you wanted to find some materials. As far as this prince knows, Du Mubai’s case has already been closed, and all matters have been transferred to the Ministry of Justice. Why does Young Lord Cheng still need to investigate something? And it’s something that cannot be disclosed—this makes this prince rather curious.”

Li Cheng remained composed: “Since it’s a matter of my City Administration Department, it seems to have nothing to do with you, Third Prince, does it?”

“Of course it has nothing to do with me.”

“Since it has nothing to do with you, then what I’m investigating also has nothing to do with you.”

Na Yan smiled: “That’s right, it all has nothing to do with me, but… it concerns the court, and matters involving the court naturally concern this prince.”

“What do you mean?”

“What this prince means is… what exactly have you come to the Ministry of Revenue to investigate? If you don’t explain clearly, I’m afraid you won’t be able to enter these archives today.”

He was pulling out his princely authority!

Li Cheng had come here under the guise of the City Administration Department—how could he have any reason to give him?

He couldn’t possibly expose Jingrong and Ji Yunshu!

He swallowed and said: “It seems the Third Prince didn’t happen to pass by at all, but came here specifically.”

Na Yan didn’t hide it: “Consider it so.”

“Then if I can’t come up with a reasonable explanation, you wouldn’t go so far as to charge me with a crime, would you?”

Na Yan smiled: “That depends on whether you can come up with a reasonable explanation.”

The two confronted each other.

Li Cheng was usually full of clever ideas, and in the current situation, after calculating in his mind, he naturally came up with a plan.

He said: “Fine, then I’ll tell the Third Prince the reason.”

“I’m all ears!”

Li Cheng said with a sincere expression: “To tell the Third Prince the truth, I came to investigate a woman.”

What?

Na Yan thought he had misheard and questioned: “A woman? What woman? Connected to the City Administration Department?”

“A woman who keeps coming to make trouble for me every day.” Li Cheng’s lips secretly curved into a deep smile as he said, “Everyone in all of Gaoding City knows that I, Li Cheng, am a romantic rake. In my early years, I incurred quite a few romantic debts. A person can’t always have smooth sailing—there’s always the occasional stumble. Well, recently I’ve encountered just such a situation.”