“But…” Before Shen Moping could continue, Yunyi was already touching her cheek and saying quietly: “This face has indeed been exposed, but the other one hasn’t, so we still have a chance.” Speaking thus, she said: “Is there any news of Meixue?”

Shen Moping understood her meaning and shook his head: “I haven’t heard anything. Should this servant…”

“No rush. Let’s wait until my injuries heal a bit more. This sudden fire at the medicine room – the people in the governor’s mansion might very well suspect you, so don’t go out again for the next two days.” As soon as she finished speaking, her stomach suddenly rumbled. Shen Moping remembered that Yunyi hadn’t eaten anything since last night, and he himself was already famished. He slapped his forehead hard: “This servant is truly confused. I should have gone to the kitchen to get some food while I was at it.” Speaking thus, he stood up: “They should still be busy at the medicine room and haven’t dispersed yet, so it would be perfect to…”

Before he could finish, Yunyi was already scolding: “Didn’t you hear what I said? You’re not allowed to go out for the next two days!”

Shen Moping said worriedly: “But Master, if you keep going hungry like this, how can your body endure it?”

“It’s only a few days. It won’t kill us.” Before Shen Moping could say more, she continued: “This matter ends here. Don’t mention it again.”

Shen Moping reluctantly agreed and lowered his head to continue pounding the medicine. At the same time, Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin had received reports from the servants and arrived at the medicine room one after another. The fire had already been extinguished, but smoke was still lingering.

Li Jiancheng stared at the medicine room steward who kept wiping his sweat, his face dark: “What happened?”

The medicine room steward hurriedly said: “This humble one doesn’t know either. This humble one was the last to leave, and clearly extinguished all the candles and even specially checked inside and out. I really can’t understand why it suddenly caught fire.”

“Really?” Seeing the suspicion in Li Jiancheng’s words, the medicine room steward said frantically: “Everything this humble one said is true. I would never dare deceive the eldest young master.”

Li Jiancheng snorted lightly but didn’t speak. At this moment, a guard who had gone in to investigate the cause of the fire came out holding a blackened object, saying respectfully: “Eldest Young Master, Second Young Master, this is what this subordinate found at the source of the fire. It looks like a fire starter.”

“Fire starter?” Li Shimin, who had been silent until now, raised his eyebrows: “So someone deliberately set the fire?”

“This subordinate doesn’t dare to be certain, but there is this possibility.” Li Shimin looked around at the guards and servants standing before him and called out: “Who was the first to discover the fire in the medicine room?”

Everyone looked at each other, and someone stepped forward: “In response to Second Young Master, we all came out after hearing someone shout about fire, but… this humble one seemed not to see anyone outside at that time.” Speaking thus, he turned back: “Did you see anyone?”

Everyone answered in a jumble, but the answer was the same – no one saw the person who had shouted. Li Shimin lowered his head and thought for a while, then said to the medicine room steward: “Go see if any medicinal materials are missing.” The fire wasn’t large and was extinguished promptly, so the medicinal materials stored in the drawers weren’t greatly affected.

Li Jiancheng keenly sensed there was more to his words: “Second brother, what are you thinking?”

Li Shimin said hesitantly: “I suspect… the fire was set by those two assassins!”

“Them?” Li Jiancheng frowned, then shook his head the next moment: “Impossible. This back courtyard has been searched thoroughly inside and out. They couldn’t possibly be hiding here, and there are guards watching the entrance day and night without leaving their posts. How could they get in to set fires?”

Li Shimin didn’t say anything, only: “This is just my suspicion. We’ll discuss everything after the steward returns.”

After a while, the steward hurried over: “Reporting to Second Young Master, the medicine room is missing a bottle of wound medicine. Additionally, there are traces of someone having disturbed several medicinal materials including bezoar and honeysuckle.”

Li Shimin murmured and repeated this several times before saying: “I remember these two medicines both have heat-clearing and detoxifying effects, commonly used for high fever with delirium and detoxification, isn’t that right?” After the steward nodded, he said to Li Jiancheng: “Elder brother, Shen Yunyi was severely injured when she escaped. Even if she managed to stop the bleeding, without medicine, the wound could easily become infected and cause fever. In that case, bezoar and honeysuckle would become her life-saving medicine, not to mention a bottle of wound medicine is also missing. Besides them, who else in the mansion would urgently need these medicines?”

Li Jiancheng’s face turned ugly: “So the fire really was set by the assassin? Where are the guards responsible for guarding this place?”

The two guards quickly stepped forward upon hearing this: “This subordinate is here.”

“How dare you! I told you to carefully guard this place, yet you neglected your duties and allowed the assassin to come and go freely. Do you think I won’t punish you?”

“This subordinate doesn’t dare!” One of the guards said in panic: “This subordinate and the other have been guarding the back courtyard without leaving our posts since we took over the shift, not taking a single step…” Speaking to this point, he paused and said urgently: “This subordinate remembers now. At the third watch, we heard a disturbance and went to investigate. At that time… we left for a while.”

Li Shimin picked up the conversation: “The assassin deliberately lured you away, then entered the back courtyard to steal medicine, set the fire to create chaos, and left during the confusion.”

“Immediately send people to ambush around the medicine room. As soon as the assassin appears again, capture them immediately. As for you two…” Li Jiancheng coldly swept over the panicked guards, “Go receive your punishment!”

“Elder brother.” Li Shimin pulled Li Jiancheng aside and whispered a few words. The latter pondered for a long while, nodded slightly, and called out: “No need to set up an ambush here. Everyone go back. I’ll make other arrangements. As for the medicine room, I’ll speak with Steward Lin tomorrow and have him send people to repair it.”

Although everyone didn’t understand his meaning, they didn’t dare ask more questions and left as instructed. After they all left, Li Jiancheng said: “Second brother, are you really this confident?”

Li Shimin nodded: “I wouldn’t dare say for certain, but I’m about seventy percent sure they’ll definitely go there.”

“Good. I hope we can catch them this time, otherwise I really don’t know how to explain to father. And there’s also Second Mother – she’ll definitely take the opportunity to tell father that we’re incompetent.” Li Jiancheng spoke somewhat irritably.

Li Shimin smiled: “Second Mother has always been like this. Why should elder brother get angry over such pointless things?” Speaking thus, he casually asked: “By the way, elder brother, do you know what Uncle Xiahou came to Honghua Commandery for this time?”

Li Jiancheng stopped his step that had just been taken, stared at Li Shimin with a solemn expression: “Do you really want to know?”

Li Shimin said in surprise: “What’s wrong?”

Li Jiancheng didn’t answer but patted his shoulder: “Come, let’s go to my place. I’ll tell you slowly.”

Qingchun Garden was Li Jiancheng’s residence. Li Yuan was very fond of this legitimate eldest son, and this place was the most sunlit area in the entire governor’s mansion. Even during the coldest winter days, as long as there was sun, this place would definitely be warm and comfortable.