The next day, after packing up, the group prepared to leave Huangjue Temple and return to Beijing. Jiang Yuan came to see Xie Yunxiao, who happened to be awake, and Zhou Qian'an was feeding him porridge with a bowl.

As soon as he entered the room, Qu Ying made a sound of "tsk tsk tsk" and said teasingly, "Oh, it seems that you two are very affectionate."

Zhou Qi'an glared at Qu Ying, but Xie Yunxiao didn't care. He said bluntly, "Well, if I could marry a woman like Brother Qi'an, I would be content."

Zhou Qian'an blushed, put the bowl next to the bed, and said to Xie Yunxiao, "Drink it yourself."

Xie Yunxiao's right arm was suspended and he could only use one hand. He kept moaning for a long time, but Zhou Qian'an ignored him.

Jiang Yuan bumped Qu Ying with his shoulder and said, "You caused the trouble, so you have to clean up the mess. You can't let Fourth Brother go hungry."

Xie Yunxiao looked at the two of them and nodded aggrievedly.

Qu Ying pulled a frown on her face, reluctantly sat down beside the bed, and fed her porridge in a bowl. After only two mouthfuls, Xie Yunxiao begged for mercy, "Second sister, second sister, I was wrong. Are you feeding me? If you want to choke me to death, just tell me directly."

Zhou Qian'an couldn't bear it anymore and went over to feed him again.

"Are you returning to Beijing today?"

"Yes, I came here specially to see you. I will be leaving soon."

Xie Yunxiao sat up straight and grinned, "Um, did you give the things to the princess?"

Jiang Yuan replied, "I have given it to you. Don't worry. The emperor will take care of the rest. You just stay here and take care of yourself.

Brother Lu also went back. He said he would clean up the yard and wait for you to go to his house to recuperate. "

Xie Yunxiao smiled calmly and leaned back, "It's the same if I recover here. If I go back to Beijing, there might be people coming and going, which will be troublesome."

He spoke casually, but Jiang Yuan could hear the helplessness and sadness in his words.

Qu Ying also quietly tugged at Jiang Yuan's sleeve and winked at her.

Jiang Yuan coughed lightly, "My brother will be taking the exam next month, why don't you go and see him off? I'll go back and tell you about it, and I won't play with you anymore."

"No, no, no, how could I forget? Zichang is going to take the imperial examination. Don't worry, I will definitely go to see him off." Xie Yunxiao suddenly became energetic.

Zhou Qian'an also laughed happily, "I'll stay here with you for a few days, so we can have some peace and quiet. When your injury gets better, we'll go back to Beijing."

After giving a few instructions, Jiang Yuan decided to keep Chunzhi and Luzhu as they had no maids to serve them. Fortunately, Zhishu and Mohua were still at home.

When Jiang Yuan left, he took off the silver hairpin on his head and handed it to Chunzhi. There were guards and shadow guards left here, as well as Zhou Qian'an, so there was no need to worry about safety. Leaving the silver hairpin behind was also for Chunzhi and Luzhu to protect themselves.

On the way back to Beijing, Lu Chuan left first and went to Cangwu Academy. The academy was not far from Huangjue Temple, so he went to say hello to Jiang Huai first.

A new batch of Yun's incense orders was placed on the table in the room. Jiang Yuan ordered Mo Hua to prepare the materials. She wanted to make this batch before Jiang Huai took the imperial examination.

Zhishu was sewing knee pads for Jiang Huai and making a cloak. Jiang Yuan left the Marquis' Mansion and planned to go back to Jiang's house.

As soon as she came out of the Marquis' Mansion and turned the corner, she realized that someone was following her. Chunzhi had said before that someone from the Prince of Jin's Mansion was following her.

I guess these two people are the servants of Prince Jin’s Mansion.

Jiang Yuan was cautious and entered Tianxiang Tower. The shopkeeper already knew her. Seeing her coming alone, he greeted her warmly, "Miss Jiang, the room on the second floor is empty. Are you staying upstairs?"

Jiang Yuan deliberately said loudly, "No, boss, I'll just order a few dishes to take back today, and I'll just sit here for a while."

"Okay, what would you like to eat, girl?"

"Squirrel fish, deep-fried quail, crispy duck roll, lotus three-fresh soup, minced meat and egg custard." Jiang Yuan ordered all the dishes that Qu Ying and she liked.

The shopkeeper understood immediately and said happily, "You are going to take this back with Miss Qu Er, right? This is new fruit wine, brewed in winter and drunk in spring. It's green plum wine. Would you like to try it, Miss?"

"Okay, give me two jars."

"Okay, please sit down for a moment, the food will be ready soon."

After the shopkeeper finished speaking, Jiang Yuan glanced at him and saw that there was only one person left out of the two people, and he should be going back to report the news.

"Shopkeeper, I remembered that I have something else to do. Please deliver the dishes to the Marquis' Mansion and find Miss Zhishu at the back door." He stopped the shopkeeper who was about to leave and spoke to him in a low voice.

"No problem, young lady, you are busy. I will send the food to you when it is ready."

After paying the silver, Jiang Yuan walked out of Tianxiang Tower. He caught a glimpse of the remaining servant from Prince Jin's Mansion from the corner of his eye. His face changed slightly and he was a little shocked, but he still followed Jiang Yuan.

Princess Jin and Qin Yunzheng arrived at Tianxiang Tower but did not see Jiang Yuan, nor did they see the servant. They were too embarrassed to ask, so they went up to the second-floor room and ordered a few dishes at random.

Qin Yunzheng was in the side room. He saw from the window that two waiters were carrying food boxes and wine out of Tianxiang Tower, heading towards the Marquis' Mansion. He punched the table in anger.

I didn’t catch anyone, which was very annoying. The next day, something even more annoying happened.

Early the next morning, a scream was heard from the moat, followed by the people’s commotion and gathering to watch, because a corpse was floating in the moat.

People from the government office came and fished the body out of the water. Even though it had been soaked overnight, the body still smelled of alcohol. The people gathered around and pointed and talked.

After a brief autopsy, the coroner said to the bailiff, "Captain Chen, there are no obvious injuries on the body, but there is mud and sand in the mouth and nose, and the mouth smells strongly of alcohol. He must have accidentally drowned because of drunkenness."

Captain Chen covered his nose with his hands, looking very disgusted. He waved his hand and said, "Take him back and check his identity."

A young yamen runner at the side recognized him after seeing him, "Captain, I recognize this man. He is a servant of the Prince of Jin's Mansion."

"A servant from the Prince Jin's Mansion?" Captain Chen frowned and muttered, then asked someone to carry the body back to the government office, to the Prince Jin's Mansion, and let them identify it."

"Yes."

The housekeeper of Prince Jin's Mansion went to the yamen to identify the person and confirmed that he was a servant of Prince Jin's Mansion. After returning to the mansion, he found Qin Yunzheng in panic.

"Prince, Prince~"

Qin Yunzheng was listening to the girl playing the pipa and was annoyed by being interrupted. "What's wrong?"

"Prince." The butler glanced at the girl holding a pipa beside him, and seemed to be hesitant to speak.

Qin Yunzheng waved his hand impatiently. After the girl left the room, the housekeeper said, "Sir, the servant who was sent to follow Miss Jiang yesterday was found this morning, drowned in the moat."

"What?" Qin Yunzheng stood up suddenly. "Dead? Killed?"

The housekeeper shook his head. "No, the coroner from the government office performed an autopsy and said he drowned after drinking."

"Impossible, how could he have drowned after drinking? He must have been murdered." Qin Yunzheng didn't believe it. The servant didn't come back yesterday and followed Jiang Yuan. He should have come back to report even at night. Even if he had ten times the courage, he wouldn't dare to sneak away to drink.

The butler swallowed his saliva. He didn't believe it either, and asked the coroner to check again. "Sir, the coroner checked carefully and there is no wound on his body.

His mouth and stomach were full of alcohol, it was obvious that he drowned, but even if I don’t believe it, there is no evidence.”

Qin Yunzheng was so angry that his face became numb after biting his teeth, "Jiang Yuan~"

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like