Could casual conversation make Ye Yuqing wander the streets with her? Yin Gezhi didn’t believe it. Someone like Ye Yuqing would never waste time on people useless to him. If he was willing to stroll around with her like this, he must be planning to use her.
Was this girl too stupid to notice, or did she think he was fool enough to be deceived?
“Oh, but I just remembered something quite interesting,” sensing the change in the atmosphere from the person in front, Fengyue immediately changed the subject, speaking mysteriously: “It’s about you, young master. Would you like to hear it?”
Yin Gezhi turned his head, his eyes showing slight impatience, clearly writing four words: Just say it directly!
Clearing her throat, Fengyue gossiped: “A few days ago, a client came to me, saying his sister had taken a liking to you and wanted to send you some snacks. Those snacks were quite specially designed – they were peach slices.”
Stopping in his tracks, the color in Yin Gezhi’s eyes deepened as he looked at her intently.
As if unable to understand his gaze, Fengyue smiled sweetly: “The client was generous. Gave me a hundred taels of silver to help get you to eat the snacks. Thinking of his sister’s deep feelings, I still have those peach slices on the flower rack. Why don’t you go back and eat them? I could still get the remaining several hundred taels of silver, and we could split it fifty-fifty?”
Several hundred taels of silver just to get him to take one bite of a snack – this young lady must truly be lovesick.
The mockery in his eyes grew stronger as Yin Gezhi reached out and pulled her along.
“Ah! Ah! Ah!” Being dragged into a run, Fengyue spoke delicately: “Young master, please slow down! I can’t run that fast!”
Despite her words, her feet beneath her skirts moved as if flying, not letting Yin Gezhi drag her too roughly.
As soon as they reached Menghui Tower, they went straight to her room. Yin Gezhi closed the door and asked: “Where are the snacks?”
Fengyue turned and took out the box of peach slices, handing it to him: “Here.”
He picked up a slice and sniffed it carefully, then rubbed a bit between his fingers to taste it. Yin Gezhi spat it out, his expression extremely ugly.
Was his life worth only a few hundred taels of silver?
“What’s wrong? What’s wrong?” The person beside him asked frantically like an agitated turkey: “Is there a problem? Does it taste bad?”
“Whoever eats this dies.” Yin Gezhi said coldly: “It’s laced with deadly poison.”
Drawing in a sharp breath, Fengyue’s eyes widened enormously as she clutched her handkerchief and jumped back half a step: “This has nothing to do with me! When the items were delivered, I didn’t even look at them carefully.”
Fortunately, she hadn’t been greedy enough to taste them. Yin Gezhi pressed his lips together, closed the lid, and thought for a moment: “Do you remember what that person looked like?”
“I do!” Fengyue said: “He was fat, very wealthy, and seemed to be someone who regularly uses a brush.”
She even knew what tools the person regularly used. His eyes flickered slightly, and Yin Gezhi suddenly softened his expression, put down the box, and walked closer to her, lowering his head to stare into her eyes.
Her heart jumped, and Fengyue leaned back against the wall: “Young master?”
“Help me with something.” Yin Gezhi said.
His tone was very gentle, and though it couldn’t compare to Ye Yuqing’s genuine gentleness, for an iceberg to melt even a small corner was enough to amaze people.
Blinking her eyes, Fengyue gave a dry laugh.
She had a bad feeling about this. When Yin Gezhi showed this kind of expression, could the favor he wanted her to do be anything easy?
Half an hour later.
“Ah—” A scream broke the tranquility of Menghui Tower, and Madam Jin rushed up waving her handkerchief: “What happened?!”
The sound came from Fengyue’s room, and naturally, all the girls were delighted to see the commotion and gathered around.
When the door opened, Fengyue was sitting collapsed on the ground, one hand supporting herself, the other covering her mouth, tears threatening to fall from her eyes as she trembled, looking toward the bed.
Everyone looked up in that direction to see a supremely handsome young master leaning against the headboard, his face blue, blood continuously flowing from the corners of his mouth.
Drawing in a sharp breath, Madam Jin hurried over to support him, looking at Fengyue in disbelief: “What happened here?”
How could Crown Prince Yin be coughing up blood in her Menghui Tower?!
Fengyue opened her mouth to speak but seemed too frightened to say anything, only able to point at the box of peach slices on the table.
“Quick… quick, report to the authorities! Someone’s been poisoned!” One of the girls outside screamed.
You only report to authorities when someone’s dead! Rolling her eyes, Fengyue felt that if she didn’t speak up soon, these women’s screaming would be enough to kill Yin Gezhi.
“Go get a doctor.” She said chokingly, covering her face and continuing to cry: “Hurry and get a doctor!”
Reminded by her words, Madam Jin finally came to her senses and pushed the group of girls out the door.
Menghui Tower immediately became bustling with activity, and the news that a client had been poisoned in Fengyue’s room spread from one to ten to a hundred, quickly reaching half of Buyin City.
Rumors are things that change shape – though the truth was clearly that Yin Gezhi had been poisoned and was coughing blood but hadn’t died, once spread, it became that a client had been poisoned to death in Menghui Tower, blood flowing from seven orifices, dying in an extremely tragic state.
So early the next morning, Ye Yuqing came to Menghui Tower to investigate, his face unusually stern.
“What happened?”
Menghui Tower had already suspended business for rectification. Madam Jin helplessly knelt in the main hall, saying: “The person is fine now. The doctor examined him and said he had accidentally ingested poison. The poison has been cleared, and he’s been sent home to recuperate. As for how the poison got there… I don’t know, and Fengyue would never poison a client.”
“Where is Fengyue?” Scanning around without seeing her, Ye Yuqing frowned.
“She was taken to prison last night.” Speaking of this, genuine worry appeared in Madam Jin’s eyes as she looked up at Ye Yuqing: “That girl is truly innocent. If you can help, please rescue her. After all, she’s a young woman – how can she endure the hardships of prison?”
With Yin Gezhi being poisoned, Fengyue wouldn’t be easily bailed out. Ye Yuqing shook his head, pacing back and forth with considerable headache.
At the envoy’s residence.
“Guanzhi.” Yin Gezhi, lying in bed, called out: “How are things in the prison?”
“Everything has been arranged as planned, the lady won’t be harmed,” Guanzhi said: “And as you predicted, early this morning, Lingshu went to buy mung bean cakes with silver.”
His expression tightening slightly, Yin Gezhi asked: “Did you intercept it?”
Handing him a silver ingot, Guanzhi pressed his lips together: “We intercepted it, pretending to be bandits, and robbed them of the silver. The items are here for your inspection, master.”
Looking at it, there seemed to be nothing wrong, but once he held it in his hand, Yin Gezhi narrowed his eyes and squeezed it forcefully. The silver ingot crumbled, revealing a small paper ball inside.
So there really was something wrong. Yesterday when he heard the maid talking with the madam, he had felt something was suspicious. Fengyue had even tried to divert his attention to focus on the poisoning incident.
He wasn’t stupid. While the poisoner needed to be investigated, he also needed to investigate what she was hiding.
What a clever girl. She knew how to use such methods to exchange messages with people. If she hadn’t met him, perhaps no one would have ever exposed her tricks.
Unfortunately for her, she had met him.
Letting out a light snort, he unfolded the paper ball and looked down at it.
“No need for rescue. Investigate Three Offices Commissioner Shan Wenhe.”
Something in his heart seemed to be squeezed tight, and then his whole body tensed up. Yin Gezhi stared fixedly at this line of text, his expression extremely ugly.
“Master?” Coming over to look, Guanzhi frowned: “This Miss Fengyue is not simple at all, to even know the Three Offices Commissioner’s name and want to investigate him.”
“She told me that the person who wanted me to eat the pastries was fat, wealthy, and regularly used a brush,” After a long while, Yin Gezhi finally spoke, his voice cold enough to pierce bone: “As far as I know, matching these conditions and frequenting brothels, there’s one in Shan Wenhe’s household – his accountant, Zhu Laicai.”
“Master even remembers such a person?” Guanzhi marveled.
Yin Gezhi gave a cold laugh.
It was normal for him to remember, after all, he had things to do. But what about her? A prostitute not only had such an intelligence network but also played a commanding role within it, knew people’s backgrounds, and dared to investigate the current Three Offices Commissioner.
Her abilities were truly not small – she could make trusted subordinates betray their masters, could obtain the mechanical drawings of the general’s mansion, and could get Wang Han’s token. Whenever he said he wanted to investigate someone, she could immediately provide him with relevant items. Her actions were more efficient than any of his subordinates.
Approaching the Crown Prince of Wu, seducing him, the Crown Prince of Wei, with unknown purposes, but already having numerous people dancing in her palm.
Such a person…
Such a person absolutely could not be allowed to live safely under his nose!
“Guanzhi.” Crushing the paper note, Yin Gezhi said in a deep voice: “Prepare. We’ll visit the prison tonight.”
“Master.” Guanzhi was stunned: “Didn’t you say we could release her tonight?”
The original arrangement was to pretend the master had truly been poisoned, so they could arrest her and directly determine guilt. According to the agreement, Miss Fengyue would suffer one night in prison, confess the mastermind behind it, and that would be it. But looking at the current situation, why did it seem his master had no intention of releasing her?
“Releasing her would be releasing a disaster.” Yin Gezhi closed his eyes and said: “Today, don’t receive any visitors, just say I’m still recovering. Send both disciples back to their respective households; we’ll continue lessons after I’ve recovered.”
“…Yes.”
The smell in the prison cell wasn’t very pleasant. Fengyue crouched on the ground, looking at the sunlight streaming through the small window, suddenly feeling that it was quite peaceful here, with nothing to worry about.
Someone opened the chains and called out: “Prisoner, come quickly and pay respects.”
Looking back, she saw Ye Yuqing stride in with a stern face, staring at her with a complex gaze.
“Young master.” After a sleepless night, she was somewhat haggard. Fengyue smiled at him: “For you to see me in such a state, I’m truly ashamed.”
“How did he end up being poisoned in your room?” Ye Yuqing frowned: “Even if you didn’t administer the poison, your days ahead will certainly be difficult.”
Sighing, Fengyue thought to herself that she hadn’t wanted this either. Who knew that psychopath would say that if she helped him with this favor, no one else would dare proposition her in the future, and the Crown Prince would take special interest in her? Thinking about it, it wasn’t a losing business, so under his threats, she had agreed.
“I am innocent, and believe I will be released soon.” Letting out a soft laugh, Fengyue said: “But as for that young master, there are quite a few people who want to harm him. Last time he encountered assassins, this time someone trying to poison him.”