Princess Jinyang of the Tang Dynasty

"If you do something bad, you need to be rewarded. Fang Shizi is getting more and more courageous." Li Mingda sighed.

"It's nothing." Fang Yizhi smiled modestly, said goodbye to Li Mingda, and immediately set off to thoroughly investigate the two matters that he had just discussed with Li Mingda.

When Fang Yizhi was leading people away from the Department of Mirrors on horseback, he just saw Cui Qingji's carriage passing by the Department of Mirrors.Cui Qingji stopped Fang Yizhi through the window screen, then got out of the car, and greeted Fang Yizhi.

"There is another case to be investigated in such a hurry?" Cui Qingji asked.

Fang Yi directly agreed.

"I didn't know about your wedding until I was on duty today, but I ran into you when I got home, so I must congratulate you." Cui Qingji saluted Fang Yi politely, naturally to congratulate him on being married by a sage.

Fang Yi nodded with a faint smile, and Quan responded politely to Cui Qingji.

Cui Qingji observed that Fang Yizhi didn't even respond to him, knowing that he didn't want to talk to her, the smile on the corner of his mouth deepened unconsciously, and he said goodbye to Fang Yizhi.

"Looking at Cui Liulang in a good mood?" Fang Yi straightened his eyes and deliberately stayed on Cui Qingji, then turned around and got on the horse, taking advantage of the situation to condescend to Cui Qingji, "But now even the saints are grieving over the loss of a good minister , I advise Cui Liulang to be happy when he returns home."

Cui Qingji was stunned for a moment, and when he came to his senses, he only saw the back of Fang Yizhi running away.Fang Yizhi's words made people feel more angry the more he thought about them, was he making fun of his shallowness and gloating?Cui Qingji was very annoyed that she couldn't refute it, she lowered the corners of her mouth, drove with a sullen face, and urged the driver to go home quickly in displeasure.

The coachman shrank his neck in response, and hurried away with his whip.The carriage jumped forward suddenly, causing Cui Qingji, who had not had time to sit still in the carriage, to bump his head violently.Cui Qingji groaned in pain, wanted to curse, opened his mouth but closed it again.Thinking of Fang Yizhi's words just now, Cui Qingji didn't want to become a shallow person who was unlucky because of schadenfreude and retribution.

So Cui Qingji covered her head and endured it with a dull face until she went home.When getting off the car, the pace was hurried, with a gust of wind.

Cui Gan is taking a rest today, and he just took his wife to Zheng Guogong's residence to attend the funeral.Not long after returning home and settling down at this moment, after lamenting the impermanence of life, he saw his six sons come to greet him with a bad complexion, and there was a red spot on his forehead.

"What happened to your forehead?" Cui Gan asked.

"It's okay, I accidentally bumped into it." Cui Qingji replied.

Cui Qian immediately scolded Cui Qingji's followers, "Why didn't you take care of this trivial matter?"

"slave--"

Cui Qingji waved his hand to signal his entourage to retreat, and saluted Cui Gan: "It's my son who was careless."

"You, you are too kind, that's all, since you pleaded, I won't pursue it this time." Cui Gan said with some relief, he was very proud of having such a good quality with his son.

"The son will retire first." Cui Qingji said.

"Why are you going? You should have heard the news from the palace. Didn't you always worry about Princess Jinyang and Fang Shizi before? Now that Fang Shizi's marriage has been appointed, you should be happy." Cui Gan didn't care what Cui Qingji said. So, he himself couldn't help laughing happily.

Cui Qingji thought about Fang Yizhi's state just now, and couldn't be happier at the moment, "Although Fang Shizi is engaged to get married, the saint has lost interest in me. So this good thing may not fall on our family. What do I have to do?" Are you happy?"

"Hey, it's natural to take it step by step. After this step, it's not difficult to make the saint interested in you again." Cui Qian smiled, and then asked people to prepare wine and dishes, hoping that the father and son would drink together chat.

"As soon as Aye finished his funeral, we were drinking. It's inappropriate. Another day." Cui Qingji bowed to Cui Qian, expressing that he still had something to do, and then left.

Cui Gan was stunned for a moment, feeling more and more that his son was thoughtful and sensible, and watched him leave with satisfaction.

After Cui Qingji returned to the room, she paced around with her hands behind her back for a while, and after a moment of silence, she asked the cronies around her if there was any message from Wei Wanshu.

"No, there has been no news since the last incident at the Plum Blossom Temple. Do you want the slave to pass on a message?"

Cui Qingji thought for a while, then shook his head, "No need, we probably won't be able to be friends in the future."

"Liulang means that after she marries Fang Yizhi, she will oppose us?"

"This woman is not simple, it's hard to say." Cui Qingji laughed disdainfully, and said with emotion, "Whoever marries such a restless person is unlucky."

The entourage echoed, "Not only Wei Erniang, I think Wei Shizi is also a rascal. Last time, in order to protect his second sister, he deliberately poured dirty water on Liu Lang."

"It's not surprising, brothers and sisters, if one is like this, the other will not be any better."

After Cui Qingji said lightly, he yawned.In the past few days, he finally dealt with those people in the Ministry of Industry who made things difficult for him, but it was too exhausting.It is rare to have a rest today, Cui Qingji plans to go to bed early to catch up on sleep.

……

Fang Yi brought people to Zhenyun Temple to investigate.In order to avoid leaking the news, he only brought three people disguised as pilgrims to the Zhenyun Temple, and the rest were waiting three miles away from the mountain.Not long after Fang Yizhi moved into Zhenyun Temple, a charming young man brought someone along and lived next door to him.

So in the evening, Fang Yizhi started talking to the wall.

"I didn't bring the notebook I used for daily writing today, or I'll talk about it with my mouth first."

After Fang Yizhi finished speaking, he deliberately paused, staring at the wall, as if he could hear the response from the other side of the wall.

Then he began to share his experience of the day, from how he was persecuted by the anxious Lu Shi when he was at home in the morning, to the dialogue between Ming Jingsi and Xiao Kai and others, and then he described the encounter with Cui Qingji and everything after that. come out.Everything, big or small, will be 'reported'.

Li Mingda was lying on the couch with a smile on his face, but when he heard Fang Yi directly talking about Cui Qingji, he frowned.Li Mingda felt that Cui Qingji's actions were a bit gloating, but was Fang Yizhi's behavior just now a complaint?

The next morning.

After Li Mingda washed up, he brought Tian Hanshan out of the courtyard.Fang Yizhi just came out of his yard.Both sides turned their heads at the same time, looking at each other.

Tian Hanxiu didn't know that Fang Yi had arrived long ago, and happily said to Li Mingda when he saw someone, "What a coincidence, I met someone I know."

Fang Yi came straight to salute, and called out "Nineteen Lang".

Hearing this long-lost address, Li Mingda suddenly remembered the time when they were sent to Anzhou, and couldn't help laughing.

"Let's go to the thatched cottage first." Li Mingda suggested.

Fang Yi nodded, and sent Luo Ge to lead the way, and went to the thatched cottage in the back mountain.

Although the thatched cottage has been unoccupied for a long time, the grass on the roof is newly replaced, and the fences, doors and windows also have traces of repairs. It seems that people from the Taoist temple will come to take care of it regularly.

The door of the thatched hut was not locked, and it opened as soon as it was pushed. The inside was already covered with a layer of dust, and soon after entering, there was a stuffy and musty smell.But looking around, the arrangement is still neat, the table by the window is made of shiny old sandalwood, which is worth a lot of money at first glance, and the paintings on the wall are all written by Wu Daochang himself.Each of the painted landscapes is outlined like a fairyland. It can be seen that Wu Daochang is dedicated to cultivating the Tao, and yearning for the Tao to become a fairy.The bedding on the bed is still there, neatly folded, and it looks like it can live in people after dusting it off.Li Mingda saw that the house was well maintained, and thought that the crowd of Zhenyun audience might have kept the hut as it was when Taoist priest was alive because they respected Taoist priest Wudao.Li Mingda then went to the table and looked at the pen holder and inkstone on the table and the books with Taoist scriptures, but found nothing particularly useful.

Li Mingda then opened the closet and saw that there were indeed clothes left by the old Taoist in the closet.After flipping through, Li Mingda found a robe of obviously different size from the closet.

Seeing this, Fang Yizhi also walked over, looking at the robe. "This size should be worn by a teenager."

Li Mingda nodded, then flipped through the inside of the robe, and found nothing special, but found a hidden pocket on the sleeve, and there were some debris in the two corners of the pocket, which looked like fine sand when rubbed with his fingers.Dark brown and tasteless.

"Although the clothes have been stored for a long time, they are clean and should be washed before being stored in the cabinet. And this kind of debris is likely to be ignored when washing clothes."

Li Mingda then poured all the scraps in the bag onto the paper.

Fang Yi touched the material of the clothes, "The tribute, if there is no accident, should be a reward from the palace, you can check from the records of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in previous years."

Li Mingda nodded, and then asked Tian Hanshan to fold the clothes, ready to take them back to the palace, and ask the people from the Ministry of Internal Affairs to check.

"See what it looks like?" Fang Yizhi looked at the pieces that Li Mingda had fiddled with on the white paper with a bamboo stick.

Li Mingda squinted his eyes, looked carefully, and said straight to Fang Yi: "It looks like something like a fruit stem has been ground. It's a pity that the original color can't be seen. This thing should have dried and changed color, and it's so old." It's been so long that it doesn't even have any flavor."

Fang Yi nodded, "But it's still a clue, if it's not complete, it will be useful."

Li Mingda agreed, wrapped the paper bag well, and asked Tian Hanshan to keep it carefully, and then went to look through the books on the bookshelf, including the ones in the painting jar.Later, the two found two paintings signed by Xiao Kai from the painting tank.

"The scene painted is a few pine trees on the east side of the mountain behind Zhenyunguan." Fang Yizhi recognized it at a glance.

Li Mingda glanced at him suddenly, guessing that Fang Yizhi should have come here to investigate the situation before, but the thatched cottage did not move, and he deliberately left it for himself.

"That's nothing new. Looking at his two paintings, he probably wanted to imitate Wudaochang's 'immortal'. However, this proves that Xiao Kai once lived with Wudaochang in the thatched cottage for a year. .”

"It's a year and a half." Fang Yizhi immediately told Li Mingda that he had inquired about the specific time period.

"Then this time coincides with what Jiang Lin said." Li Mingda sighed.

Fang Yi nodded his head.

Li Mingda thought about it, and then asked someone to bring these two paintings with him.

When going down the mountain, Li Mingda couldn't help but sigh with Fang Yi, she actually didn't want Xiao Kai to be the murderer in her heart.In their eyes, Xiao Kai is usually a man who sticks knives for his friends and is very loyal.Moreover, he is always laughing and joking, and does things casually, making people completely unaware that he is different from ordinary people.Even now that Li Mingda suspected him, he didn't see any obvious flaws in him. Perhaps this is where the real murderer behind the scenes is really powerful.

"Now that I think about it, if he is really the real culprit behind the instigation of Jiang Lin and others, I still feel shocked and a little hard to accept. Of course, if he is really a murderer, he deserves to die, and we will not be soft."

Fang Yi nodded, "I'm the same as the princess, I really hope that we are too worried about this matter, but I'm afraid that someone will use sympathy and trust to do something wrong."

Li Mingda nodded heavily, of course she knew the seriousness of this matter.If there are people like Ji Wang, Jiang Lin, Hui Ning, and An Ning now, there will definitely be others in the future.In any case, the murderer who instigated people behind the scenes must be caught.

Li Mingda and Fang Yizhi then met the Taoist Master Kong Wu of the True Cloud Temple. Only the Taoist Kong Wu knew about their secret visit to the True Cloud Temple, and he repeatedly warned him not to spread it.

Daoist Kongwu also knew the seriousness of the matter, and Princess Jinyang's noble status was not something he could offend.So he handled all matters in a lawful manner.Don't dare to neglect in the slightest.

Fang Yizhi then asked Taoist priest Kong Wu when the Taoist priests who traveled abroad would be able to return.

"It will take three or four days at the earliest. I have followed Shizi's instructions and taken the money to let them find a way to come back as soon as possible." Kong Wudao said long.

Fang Yizhi nodded, and asked Taoist Master Kongwu to send someone to notify him immediately once these people came back.

Fang Yizhi and Li Mingda then bid farewell and left Zhenyun Temple.After the two arrived at the foot of the mountain, they joined the guards who had been waiting there before.

"How's the inquiry going?" Li Mingda asked.

Naturally, Fang Yizhi would not let them wait here, he had ordered them to inquire about the people nearby, if they had witnessed the situation at the back mountain of Zhenyun Temple back then.

"Not many people know about what happened three or four years ago, but a cowherd boy said that when he was grazing cows by the river at the bottom of Zhenyunguan Mountain, he once saw a little nun go up the back mountain. Because he was very puzzled at that time, why would there be a nun climbing up the Taoist mountain, so he remembered it very clearly." The guard replied.

"Little nun? How old are you?" Li Mingda asked emphatically.

"You look at the profile, you are not very old, because the nun is walking in a hurry, and there are bushes on the mountain, so you can't identify it very clearly, but it can be concluded that she is not an adult woman." The guard then replied.

Li Mingda asked Fang Yizhi what he thought.

"Little nun, where is the nun?"

Fang Yizhi immediately asked the guard if he could ask the nun how she was dressed and whether she was wearing a hat.

The guard was stunned, and then shook his head apologetically, indicating that he would ask again immediately.

"Then by the way, can I see if the nun has hair?" Li Mingda added.

Fang Yizhi couldn't help smiling, the princess really understood what he was thinking, he asked the nun if she was wearing a hat, in fact, he wanted to know whether the nun was a real monk or a disguise.

Not long after, the guard who answered came back and told Fang Yizhi and Li Mingda, "The nun is wearing a hat, but I don't remember whether she has hair or not. The old farmer would say no at times. No further questions."

Li Mingda praised the guard for doing a good job, forcibly questioning him will only get the wrong direction.

"It seems that there are only so many clues today." Fang Yi sighed.

Li Mingda nodded, she got on the horse and walked with Fang Yizhi.

Both of them rode forward slowly.

The sun began to warm up, making the face a little hot.

"Princess stayed at True Cloud Temple last night, did you hear any useful news?" Fang Yi asked directly.

Li Mingda looked up at the rising sun in the east, then turned his eyes and squinted at Fang Yizhi, "How do you hear it, there was a little nagging in my ears last night, and I couldn't hear anything else."

Fang Yi suppressed a smile, pretending not to know who the 'little chatterer' the princess was referring to, and deliberately asked: "Really? Who is so bold as to disturb the princess to rest."

"Yes, I'm getting more and more courageous, I just finished expressing my feelings not long ago." Li Mingda deliberately glanced at Fang Yizhi, seeing that he was smiling smugly, and couldn't help but add, "Maybe it's something to do. "

Fang Yi raised his eyebrows, and his gaze became very bright when he saw Li Mingda, "Then how does your lord plan to deal with him? Yi Zhi suggested that you must deal with him severely."

Li Mingda was stunned, he felt that there seemed to be something else in Fang Yizhi's question.It's a good chat, and when I come to him, I can bring out a good taste in a word.Is this the Fang Yizhi she knew before?Or is it the gentle gentleman who everyone praises?

"Princess, we're here." Fang Yizhi pulled his horse to a stop, and handed Li Mingda his hands, his eyes naturally filled with reluctance.

At this moment, the two of them cannot go back to Chang'an City together.From here on the official path, there are many people with mixed eyes, and there is not much evidence for the investigation of Xiao Kai, so it is natural to act in a low-key manner, so as to avoid being seen by others, and to startle the snake.

Li Mingda took a breath slowly, cupped his hands, and said goodbye to Fang Yi with a smile.Then she rode off quickly and disappeared without looking back.Fang Yizhi kept watching.

After Li Mingda galloped for a long distance in one breath, he slowed down the speed of the horse, and then looked back slightly hesitantly, naturally he couldn't see anything.Even though she knew this, she would still turn around to confirm that the person was really not there.That's reassuring, so you don't have to look back.

Li Mingda wore a black gauze straw hat, and went straight to Chengyang Princess Mansion after entering the Zhuque Gate.

Ever since Du He was bestowed to death, Princess Chengyang has been in mourning, and even complained that Li Shimin was too ruthless.In the past few months, she has been bored in the princess mansion and never went out.Li Mingda has seen her several times, and her mood has not improved, so I will come to see her again today.

Princess Chengyang made an exception today and went out to greet Li Mingda in person.Seeing that she looked good today, Li Mingda felt a little relieved, and asked how she was doing, "Do you want to go to the palace to play with Hui'an for two days later?"

"I won't go to the palace, let me delay for another two months. As long as you and Hui'an are well." Princess Chengyang immediately took out a letter and handed it to Li Mingda.

"What is this?" Li Mingda asked.

"Brother's letter, to be precise, should be his last words before he died. I entrusted his cronies to give it to me, and I just received it yesterday." After finishing speaking, Princess Chengyang looked at Li Mingda seriously, "Will you send the letter to Li Mingda?" Have you told your father this secret?"

"No, since it's a secret letter from your elder brother, what right do I have to comment on it." After reading the letter, Li Mingda raised his eyes and assured Princess Chengyang.Everyone is dead, she has nothing to worry about.

"I thought your elder brother would hate you, or at least blame you a little bit, but he didn't. The letter was full of guilt towards me, you, and our Aye." Princess Chengyang stretched out her hand and pushed the letter away. You have to get closer to Li Mingda, "Aren't you going to take a look?"

"Don't read it, I said it earlier, this is a letter from my eldest brother to my sixteenth sister, I shouldn't read it." Li Mingda said.

"Are you too guilty to watch?" Princess Chengyang asked.

"What am I guilty of? Did I do something wrong?" Li Mingda asked Princess Chengyang.

Princess Chengyang was stunned, "Then you—"

"Big brother passed away, why am I not sad? The brother-sister friendship for many years cannot be erased. But this does not mean that I am guilty of what I did at the beginning. Rebellion is wrong after all, and this right and wrong will not change." Li Mingda's tone was abnormal The firmness and even worse attitude make Princess Chengyang daunting.

Princess Chengyang was silent for a while, then sighed, "You are right, but I am confused and blame the wrong person."

"Sister Sixteen has lost her true love, so it's normal to be overwhelmed for a while." Li Mingda comforted her.

Princess Chengyang saw that Li Mingda returned the steps to her, she smiled in relief, and grabbed her hand, "Among the sisters, you are the only one who understands life the most. But I heard some news today, Aye She married Fang Shizi, and it wasn't you?"

"Yes." Li Mingda agreed.

Princess Chengyang was surprised, "Don't you like him? When you two came to me to investigate the case, I saw that you cooperated very well, and the way he looked at you, I really wanted to see you. You and Sixteenth sister tell me, do you have any thoughts about him?"

"It's all about marriage, it's so boring to talk about it." Li Mingda looked at Princess Chengyang, "I see that Sixteenth Sister is getting better, so I feel relieved, and I will leave first."

"You are not allowed to leave, but I want you to explain the matter clearly." Princess Chengyang pulled Li Mingda back, and seeing that Li Mingda insisted on leaving, she looked at the letter written by Li Chengqian on the table, "Just don't tell me this, I I advise you to read the letter too. Aren't you always curious about who caused you to fall off the cliff?"

Li Mingda was surprised and looked at Princess Chengyang.

Princess Chengyang continued: "Then do you know about Shizi?"

"How did Miss Sixteen know?" Li Mingda frowned.

"Of course it's this letter." Princess Chengyang squinted at the letter on the table, "Brother said it."

Big brother actually knew?Li Mingda was in a hurry to get the letter, but at this moment Princess Chengyang held the letter down with her hand.

"I didn't mean to watch it, but now I'm watching it again? You can watch it if you want, then tell me the truth, do you have any thoughts about Fang Shizi?"

"Why did Sister Sixteen force me to ask this?"

"Cui's family." Princess Chengyang looked at Li Mingda bluntly, and answered very frankly.