After Duan Zhihong left, Li Yuan asked, “Shimin, is there something wrong with this Wu Meixue?” He had quite an impression of this woman—first, Shimin had repeatedly protected her, and later when Xuanba passed away, it was she who had accompanied Jiang Caiping kneeling day and night before the spirit altar.

At this point, Li Shimin had nothing left to hide, so he voiced his suspicions about Wu Meixue. Li Yuan was utterly shocked, “She’s an assassin?”

“Your son can’t be certain, but I have suspicions, after all… everything is too much of a coincidence.” After these words, both father and son fell silent.

After a while, a guard by Li Yuan’s side hurried in, holding a carrier pigeon in his hands, and said respectfully, “Reporting to you, sir, a carrier pigeon from the eldest young master.”

After discovering Feng Li’s death in Honghua Commandery, Li Shimin had immediately sent a message by carrier pigeon asking Li Jiancheng what had happened. Since Honghua Commandery was nearly a thousand li away from Hedong, the carrier pigeon had only just returned.

Li Yuan immediately said, “Bring it here quickly.” After the guard handed over the carrier pigeon, he took out an extremely thin silk cloth from the small bamboo tube tied to its leg.

After reading the words on the silk cloth, Li Yuan handed it to Li Shimin. After reading it, the latter said in shock, “Feng Li… was sent by elder brother to kill Wu Meixue?”

Li Yuan stood up with his hands behind his back, “Your elder brother was originally afraid you would become obsessed with feminine charms and neglect important matters. As a result, Feng Li died instead. Looking at this situation, Wu Meixue is most likely the female assassin. To cover her identity, she first killed Feng Li, then killed Xuanba and Ajin’s family. This woman’s methods are truly vicious.”

Although Li Shimin found it difficult to accept, he also knew that the facts were most likely as Li Yuan had said. After a long silence, he said, “But your son clearly investigated—she wasn’t disguised, and she and Shen Yunyi are not the same person. This… what exactly is going on?”

Li Yuan was silent for a moment, then said, “The most likely possibility is that this Wu Meixue and Shen Yunyi have long known each other and are both assassins!”

Both assassins… Li Shimin slowly chewed over these words. He still remembered the scene when he first met Meixue—because she had been tricked by Feng Chunxiu into drinking a cup of ginseng soup, her inner fire was excessive, her whole body was feverish, and she had lost her qualification to lead the dance. She had been sadly weeping alone.

And when she learned that he had fought for her opportunity to perform at Songtao Residence, her shy and joyful expression—could such a woman really be an assassin?

If it were really so… then he would be the most ridiculous person under heaven, completely played by a woman!

For the next period of time, neither Li Yuan nor Li Shimin spoke. After about an hour, Duan Zhihong returned. This time, his expression was much more serious than before, “Your subordinate went to the Jiang family. Jiang Caiping said that yesterday, just after leaving the residence, Wu Meixue said she needed to fetch medicine for her father and left first. Your subordinate remembered where the Wu family lived, so I went there as well. Wu Laosan said that from yesterday until now, he hasn’t seen Meixue.” After a pause, he said hesitantly, “There’s another matter—I don’t know if I should mention it.”

“Speak!” Facing Li Yuan’s command, Duan Zhihong said, “When your subordinate went to ask Steward Lin earlier, he said that on the sixteenth, Wu Meixue had received Third Madam’s permission to leave the residence once. And just the day before that, she herself said she had seen Third Young Master. Your subordinate suspects she might be connected to Third Young Master’s incident.” Even Duan Zhihong, who didn’t know the full story, was beginning to have suspicions.

Li Shimin painfully closed his eyes. At this point, he had no choice but to believe it. Meixue… was truly an assassin!

Li Yuan sneered repeatedly, “Excellent! So the assassin has been hiding in the residence all along, and we knew nothing, being deceived by her at will.” Saying this, he commanded coldly, “Go! Invite an artist to the residence. Have him draw Wu Meixue’s portrait according to Nanny Yang’s description. Post wanted notices throughout the commandery with a reward—anyone who finds this woman will receive two hundred strings of cash.” As Duan Zhihong was about to leave, he called out again, “Also, send people to monitor the Wu family. She might very well return to find Wu Laosan!”

“Your subordinate obeys!” After Duan Zhihong left, Li Yuan said gently, “Shimin, rest well. Your father will come see you again later.”

“Father, take care.” After the door closed, Li Shimin turned his gaze to the small table by the long window, where sat a potted plant that had already lost all its flowers. It was the yellow wintersweet he had previously asked Chuyi to give to Yunyi. When she hadn’t accepted it, Chuyi had brought it back and placed it in his room, where it had remained. After winter passed, all the golden, waxy flowers had fallen, leaving only green leaves still hanging on the branches.

Meixue… why did it have to be Meixue? From the time they met until now, was every word she spoke to him a lie, never containing even half a truth?

What about Wu Laosan then? Could he also be an assassin, pretending to be father and daughter with Meixue? But he had clearly seen the neighbors around the Wu family, and from their conversation, he could tell they were very familiar with the Wu family. Oh right, he had heard that Madam Fang say that Wu Laosan had lived in Changshi Lane for decades, and Meixue was someone she had watched him pick up as a foundling. No matter how you looked at it, the Wu father and daughter couldn’t be assassins—unless even all the nearby neighbors were assassins too, or they had been planning this assassination for decades. But this… was it possible?

No matter how Li Shimin thought about it, he couldn’t figure out the key points. He always felt that everything was strangely suspicious and couldn’t be straightened out.

After drinking the medicine that Chuyi brought, he remembered something and said, “Chuyi, I remember that before Feng Chunxiu died, she was living with Zhao Shi, right?”

While cleaning up the medicine bowl, Chuyi said, “It seems so. Second Young Master, why do you ask about this?”

Li Shimin thought for a moment, then said, “Go summon Zhao Shi.”

Chuyi said with some difficulty, “But the physician said you need to rest well and nourish your spirit. Whatever matter you have, just instruct me to do it.”

“I’m fine. Besides, I’m just asking a few questions—it won’t take much energy. Go quickly.” Under Li Shimin’s urging, Chuyi had no choice but to go to the music workshop and summon Zhao Shi.

“Second Young Master.” Zhao Shi called out timidly, her heart full of anxiety, not knowing why Li Shimin had suddenly called her over.

“Tell me carefully everything that happened before Feng Chunxiu died.” His words surprised Zhao Shi somewhat. Chunxiu had been dead for so long—why was the Second Young Master asking about this again? Strange as it was, she didn’t dare ask too many questions. She carefully recounted everything, concluding with, “Chunxiu originally shared a room with Jirong. Later, after Jirong left, Nanny Yang moved me to her room. Then she left without even eating her evening meal, and after that, I heard she had died.”

Li Shimin said in a concentrated voice, “So you’re saying Feng Chunxiu suddenly left after spying on Meixue bathing?”

“Yes, she left particularly hurriedly at that time and wouldn’t say what the matter was. But seeing how she forcibly took a waist token to leave the residence, it must have been some urgent matter.” After a pause, she added, “Chunxiu and Jirong were the closest. It’s a pity she’s not here, otherwise she might know something.”