Back in the capital, the rain gradually stopped.

Ye Jingtang put away the oil-paper umbrella and handed it to Luo Ning beside him: "I have to go to the palace later, and I may come back late..."

Luo Ning held a small medicine bag in her hand and paused slightly: "Aren't you going to Minglongtan to practice? What are you doing here?"

Do……

Ye Jingtang said seriously: "Cheng'an Hall is the place where the empress sleeps after all. Even if I practice, I can't really spend the night. I try to come back as early as possible to avoid Luo Nuxia worrying."

Luo Ning felt that the little thief wanted to see the clothes she bought today, so she said coldly: "You can come back if you want. I'll make the medicine for you first." She turned around and left along the street.

Ye Jingtang watched from a distance, touched the hungry bird, first bought some food on the street, and then arrived near the Imperial College in the north of the city.

The Imperial College was full of imperial students, and the surrounding area was very civilized. Most of the streets were filled with Confucian scholars, and there were also quite a few scholarly ladies.

Ye Jingtang walked along the street for a while and found a bookstore that seemed to be old. He entered it and searched around.

"Tears of a Chivalrous Woman" is a miscellaneous book. Although it offended Yuxu Shan, no matter how powerful Yuxu Shan was, he would never interfere with the imperial court's ban on books. Therefore, there are only a few copies on the market, and collector's editions are rare.

As for the book "The Secret History of Queen Marie Marie", just by looking at the name, you can tell that it is a banned book, and it was written by a queen mother of the previous dynasty. A hundred years ago, whoever wanted to kill whomever, although it is not forbidden nowadays, it is not easy to find it.

Ye Jingtang looked back and forth in the bookstore for a long time. He didn't find "The Secret History of Queen Marietta". Instead, he found a picture album of "The Book of Beauty in the Jianghu". He picked it up and flipped through it. Sure enough, there was "The Goddess of Toad Palace" in it, and there were pictures next to it.

.

But Nuxia Luo traveled around the world before the empress succeeded to the throne, and then rarely showed her true face to others. The pictures were printed with engravings, and she looked more like a low-profile version of Xiao Yunli.

Ye Jingtang glanced at it casually and put it aside. After searching for a long time, he found nothing. He had to find the old shopkeeper of the bookstore, showed the sign of Prince Jing's Palace, and asked for help in the search in the name of investigating the case.

The shopkeeper found it convenient and dug out an old book from his private collection and reluctantly sold it to him.

After Ye Jingtang got the book, he rushed to Prince Jing's Mansion and walked along the way, looking for clues hidden in it.

Miscellaneous books that can be circulated in the market for hundreds of years, no matter how hard they are on the table, are still classics and ancient books, and they must have merits. This is the case with "The Legend of Queen Marietta", although the author dropped his book bag a little, mentioned various buildings, and started talking at length

Allusions, but the plot can also be said to be full of ups and downs and dangers.

After reading it for two-quarters of an hour, I can confirm that this book is not a random fabrication. For example, the direction and specific location of the ginkgo tree in Fushou Palace are exactly the same. It even points out that there is a certain order in a room in Fushou Palace.

The secret passage leads directly to the Prince's Mansion outside the imperial city.

This news seemed crucial, but if it could be recorded openly in a book, more than two hundred years later, some of the tunnels had already been sealed by the court. It was said that Prince Wu wanted to use this to sneak into the palace to commit an assassination, which was extremely unlikely.

Ye Jingtang continued to look back, and found that the key plot of this book-bag-dropping author was unexpectedly well written...

——

On the other side, on the top floor of Mingyu Building, in the study room.

Dongfang Liren sat upright behind his desk, looking at a letter in his hand with doubts in his eyes:

"There are thieves in Prince Wu's Mansion... What's going on?"

The white-haired old woman stood in front of her and said softly: "Shang Jianli went to see him, and it is said that this person is very skilled in martial arts. According to Nangong Shaofeng's oral report, the opponent used the fourteen sticky cloud moves to defeat Nangong Shaofeng and escape."

"one move?"

Dongfang Liren knew Nian Yun Shishou and knew Nangong Shaofeng’s temperament, so he thought about it a little:

"Could it be that Master secretly entered Beijing?"

"If it was Master Xuanji, how could Nangong Shaofeng be discovered if he couldn't even see his shadow... I estimate that he is someone related to Master Xuanji. Master Xuanji is very charitable and often enlightens warriors in the world. It's hard to guess who it is.

.”

Dongfang Liren thought so and asked, "Did Prince Wu throw something away?"

"No. The valuables were placed in the darkroom under the study. Shang Jianli went in and took a look. They were all calligraphy and painting treasures given by the palace. Nangong Shaofeng was copying the scrolls in there, and he happened to run into the thief head-on."

Dongfang Liren couldn't figure out the whole story, so he asked the white-haired old woman to arrange for people to investigate. While he was continuing to read the news, a maid from the palace came up and said that the Night Terror Hall was coming.

Seeing this, Dongfang Liren put down his official duties, got up, went down from Mingyu Tower, and came outside the palace.

As soon as he turned around the screen wall, he saw Ye Jingtang, dressed in black robes, standing outside the gate of the palace, with his left hand behind his back, holding a book in his hand, and he was concentrating on reading.

The fluffy bird squatted on its shoulders and lowered its head, tilting its head to look carefully.

Dongfang Liren was slightly startled. The Ye Jingtang she had seen before was all cold and resolute with a pine-like figure. This was the first time she had seen this kind of elegant and bookish person who could not let go of the book.

Dongfang Liren raised his hand to ask the maid to wait, and walked towards the door very lightly. As a result, there were still more than ten steps away, and Ye Jingtang closed the book, put it in his arms, and turned around:

"Your Highness, why did you come out in person?"

Dongfang Liren restored the Queen's deportment and walked up to him in a leisurely manner:

"I said I would take you into the palace, so I will come out naturally. What are you looking at?"

Although Ye Jingtang speculated that the murder on Zhuji Street was most likely related to King Wu, the clues about King Wu were provided by the leader of Pingtian. He had no definite evidence, so he could not say that he sneaked into the prince's study on a whim and discovered the "Yanyan"

"Secret History of the Later", and then speculated from the Yellow Book that Prince Wu had evil intentions.

Faced with Dongfang Liren's inquiry, Ye Jingtang just responded with a smile:

"It's just some reference books for handling cases. I don't know anything about investigating cases. I'm just learning."

Dongfang Liren was stunned, but still wanted to see what Ye Jingtang was reading to learn how to handle cases, so he raised his hand:

"Show it to me. If you have any questions, I will be able to explain it to you."

Ye Jingtang did not refuse politely, and motioned to the approaching carriage:

"Your Highness, please get in the car first. I do have some questions that I would like to ask for advice on."

Dongfang Liren didn't say much when he saw this. He stepped onto the carriage and sat down in the large carriage. He got some snacks for Birdie and let him eat by himself.

Ye Jingtang boarded the carriage and sat on the small couch next to the window. He took out the old book from his arms, covered his name with his hand, and turned directly to the page about digging the tunnel, indicating the writing on it:

"The last person who died was a junior official from the Ministry of Industry. He was also tortured and interrogated, so I wanted to look for books related to architecture. I saw in this book that there was an oil that can dissolve stones. Is there such a thing in the yamen?

?”

It was inconvenient for Dongfang Liren to stick his head in, so he stood up and sat next to Ye Jingtang, shoulder to shoulder, and carefully looked at the small print on the paper - it was written about the details of digging tunnels. The terminology was very professional, but it looked like

Like a miscellaneous book, the protagonist is still a prince of the previous dynasty...

Dongfang Liren was a little confused, but still responded:

"You mean molten oil? It's true. The objects studied by craftsmen in the previous dynasty can make most of the stones brittle after soaking for a day or two."

"Become like cinders, which break into pieces when stepped on?"

"Yes. Although the effect is slow, it can be used secretly to deal with city walls, prisons, bridges, etc. It has miraculous effects and is strictly prohibited by the court. There was a case last year where thieves destroyed the foundation of a pagoda, causing the seven-story pagoda to collapse and smash

More than thirty people died..."

When Ye Jingtang heard this, he immediately had a guess in his mind - the stone bricks outside the observation building of Prince Wu's Mansion had traces of corrosion, most likely caused by accidental dripping while transporting molten oil.

Prince Wu was studying books about digging tunnels and obtained molten oil. The purpose must be to secretly destroy a certain building...

Dongfang Liren was thoughtful when he saw Ye Jingtang, so he wanted to take this unread miscellaneous book and take a closer look.

But Ye Jingtang knew what Benben's reaction would be when he saw the words "The Secret History of Marie Claire". He put the book into his arms with a flick of his wrist and looked serious:

"I have some ideas about the last case. Would you like to hear it, Your Highness?"

?

When Dongfang Liren saw Ye Jingtang suddenly put on such a serious expression, he pressed back his hand that was about to grab the book and sat upright:

"Do you have any idea?"

"I feel like the murderer last time, who tortured a junior official from the Ministry of Industry, was targeting a special building."

"The yamen can see it, but they don't know where the thieves are targeting. Xu Bailin's martial arts skills are not low, and the background of the people she can recruit is definitely high. If they are from the Green Bandit, the target is most likely to be me and the Holy One. The Holy One is here

There are countless secret guards in the palace, so it is useless to look for the layout of the palace; I also have guards at my side, so assassinating them on the road is no easier than entering the palace."

Ye Jingtang shook his head: "It's not necessarily for assassination. I happened to see a book about digging tunnels today, and I guessed that the murderer was digging tunnels in the dark, hoping to destroy some key place by dissolving oil?"

Dongfang Liren felt that this thought was a bit jumpy and thought about it carefully:

"The amount of work required to dig a tunnel into the palace is too large. It is difficult to hide from others, and nothing can be done once you enter. In other places, it seems that this method can only be used in prison robbery..."

Prison robbery?

Ye Jingtang felt that this statement was very possible and asked:

"Is there anyone particularly important in prison?"

Dongfang Liren shrugged slightly:

"Those who can be imprisoned in the capital are not simple people. The heavier the weight, the more stringent the defense. Before the target of the murderer is determined, it is difficult to say which place to guard. The last time there was a murder in Zhuji Street, I have already stepped up the security.

"

Ye Jingtang thought for a while: "Think about the worst in everything. If it is a certain vassal king who is secretly plotting evil and trying to rob the prison, who do you think your Highness will pay attention to?"

"?"

Dongfang Liren blinked his eyes and looked seriously at the Night Terror Hall:

"Night Terror Hall, did you find something?"

The Night Terror Hall did find out, but there was no witness or physical evidence. Speaking of it also exposed the background of the "black silk thighs", so it could only say:
To be continued...