After Wang Zhe went inside, Jingrong and Ji Yunshu hid at the corner watching, but even after quite a while, they still hadn’t seen anyone come out.

What exactly was Wang Zhe doing in there?

“What exactly are we waiting for?” Jingrong asked her.

Ji Yunshu frowned slightly, “Waiting for someone to come out.”

“Wang Zhe?”

“Not waiting for Wang Zhe.”

“The more you talk, the more confused I get.”

She smiled faintly, withdrew her gaze from that door, met Jingrong’s eyes and said, “Once I resolve the doubts in my heart, I’ll tell you everything one by one, and then you’ll naturally understand.”

Fine then!

He wouldn’t ask anymore.

Suddenly, that tightly closed door opened. A man dressed in coarse hemp cloth emerged from inside. However, he was dressed quite neatly. He had a thin build, a sallow complexion, and at his chin there was a mung bean-sized black mole with a hair growing from it, looking rather disgusting. With a vigilant expression on his face, after closing the door, he looked around the vicinity with shifty eyes, confirmed that no one was paying attention, then lifted his robe and left the alley.

Little did he know someone was hidden to one side.

Ji Yunshu immediately pulled Jingrong’s hand, “Let’s go, follow him.”

The two quickly followed.

That man stealthily made his way to the brothel that Chen Youfu had entered, but instead of using the front entrance, he went to the back door. He knocked on the door, and after someone opened it, he went inside, all very secretive, as if afraid of being discovered.

After that door closed, the corner of Ji Yunshu’s mouth curved up as she said, “It seems that big fish will soon take the bait. What happens next depends on Ziran.”

The two didn’t continue watching there, but instead turned around and sat down in the teahouse across from the brothel.

Quietly waiting for news!

Inside the brothel, Shi Ziran had been watching the second floor from downstairs the whole time, but still hadn’t seen Chen Youfu come out from inside.

“Could he have run away?”

With this thought, he simply went upstairs. His footsteps seemingly casually wandered to the doorway. Squinting his eyes, he tried to look inside, but everything was blurry and unclear. It was also very quiet inside, with no sound of people talking.

At this moment, a man came over, hunched over, holding a pot of wine in his hands.

He quickly moved away, leaning against the redwood railing to look down below.

That man walked to the door and knocked a few times.

He called out, “Boss Chen?”

“Who is it?”

“Bringing you wine.”

“I didn’t order wine.”

“It’s a gift from our proprietress.”

“Come in then.”

The man carried the wine and pushed the door open. Just at the moment the door opened, Shi Ziran quickly glanced inside and saw Chen Youfu sitting properly inside. On the table was a thick book densely covered with writing. Beside his hand was an abacus, which he was flicking with agile fingers, moving the smooth beads intermittently, while occasionally staring at that book, extremely focused.

Huh?

Shi Ziran was somewhat puzzled. He didn’t recall Chen Youfu carrying those two items when he went in.

Or were those things originally placed inside?

If that was the case, wouldn’t this private room be Chen Youfu’s long-term reserved room?

But what was this fellow doing here flicking an abacus?

Before he could figure it out, the wine-delivering man placed the wine to one side and said, “Boss Chen, this wine was personally brewed by the proprietress. She says it’s your favorite.”

“Got it, go out.”

Chen Youfu didn’t even lift his head.

The man went out and closed the door.

Shi Ziran wanted to investigate further, but unexpectedly, less than a minute later, Chen Youfu came out.

Moreover, his expression was hurried. When he came out, he looked around, as if searching for something.

Shi Ziran pretended to walk past him and didn’t arouse his suspicion.

Immediately after, Chen Youfu hurriedly left.

After leaving the brothel, he returned home, closed his door, and never came out again.

After Shi Ziran waited on the rooftop for a while, he left.

He hurried to report back!

After watching for almost a whole day, it seemed nothing much had come of it.

…

Jingrong and Ji Yunshu saw Chen Youfu leave the brothel from the teahouse, and also saw Shi Ziran following behind.

“Ziran has never been to that kind of place before, he probably suffered quite a bit.” Jingrong said sympathetically.

But Ji Yunshu smiled, “It’s good to let him burrow in there for a bit.”

“How so?”

“A grown man who’s always appearing and disappearing mysteriously should go see a bit of the world.”

“They’re all vulgar powder-faced women.”

“Not entirely. There are also those who sell art but not their bodies. You should know that from when you and I went to that pleasure house last time.”

Jingrong’s face turned pale, “Don’t mention that incident.”

Just thinking about it sent chills down his spine!

A lifelong trauma.

Then he poured himself a cup of tea and drank a mouthful. His eyes turned as he asked seriously, “By the way, shouldn’t you explain all this to me now?”

“Don’t you understand yet?”

“What am I supposed to understand?”

Ji Yunshu took a breath and said, “Hasn’t the court been saying all along that the Vice Minister of Works Wang Ye and his nephew Wang Zhe have been lining their pockets and using their private authority to embezzle and break the law?”

“Is that so?”

“Everyone says they don’t know how much ill-gotten money they have in their hands! And don’t know how many common people they’ve harmed! But rumors are just rumors. Without evidence, back when Minister Yu had conflicts with Vice Minister Wang, since the two were mortal enemies at court and couldn’t stand each other, Minister Yu went to great lengths to find evidence of Vice Minister Wang’s embezzlement. As a result, he got into quite an unpleasant conflict with Vice Minister Wang, and to this day they haven’t reconciled.”

Jingrong was curious, “How do you know all this?”

“These gossip tidbits naturally come from the grapevine. Actually, quite a few people know, they just don’t say it openly. I also learned of it unintentionally from Minister Jiang’s mouth. That Vice Minister Wang also told me about his tense relationship with Minister Yu. Moreover, I also know that the Censorate has been investigating evidence of Vice Minister Wang’s embezzlement, but the evidence is insufficient and they can’t impeach him. As for whether there are any inside dealings, that’s unclear.”

After hearing her explanation, Jingrong became even more confused and asked, “But what does this have to do with Wang Zhe and Chen Youfu, the owner of Linglong Embroidery Shop?”

“Of course it’s related!” she said. “Think about it, why did the walls of the main courtyard at the Yu residence crack after only three years since renovation? Isn’t it because the Ministry of Works cut corners? So the embezzlement matter absolutely cannot be groundless rumors. This uncle and nephew pair of the Wang family must have done many things regarding embezzlement. But why can’t the Censorate find anything? Isn’t this very strange? Unless they converted the embezzled money into legitimate money through some channel, which is why they could deceive everyone and even fool the Censorate.”

“You mean… Linglong Embroidery Shop?”

“Exactly!”

So it really is related to Linglong Embroidery Shop?

Jingrong was curious, “How can you be so certain?”

Ji Yunshu said, “Previously I also couldn’t figure out what method they used to escape the Censorate’s investigation. And for so long they’ve remained safe and sound. Until yesterday when I went to Linglong Embroidery Shop wanting to investigate the Yu residence murder case, I unexpectedly learned about Wang Zhe’s affairs by accident.”

Mm-hmm? It seems this matter is getting more and more interesting!

“And then?” Jingrong pressed.

Then…