Taming beasts starts with understanding bird language

Inside the Censorate.

Yan Li, who was unaware that the truth had been exposed, was walking arm in arm in the back garden with her mother Bai Xi.

Ever since Yan Li came back as the prince's concubine, Bai Xi has been grinning from ear to ear all day long. He thinks his daughter is truly amazing; she just went on a simple trip to Kyoto and was favored by the prince.

This made her feel that her daughter was indeed capable, and it might not be impossible for her to become the Crown Princess in the future.

With this thought in mind, Bai Xi reminded, "My daughter! The Prince's Mansion is not like our home. You must serve the Prince well and strive to climb up the ladder. Only in this way can you be invincible."

"Don't worry, mother! I came back this time just to get a good ranking in the poetry meeting. In this way, I will have face when I return to Kyoto, and the prince will love me more then." Yan Li said softly.

"Didn't the prince ask you to do something else, such as helping him deal with Gu Chan?" Bai Xi asked curiously.

Nowadays, the army sent by the Crown Prince cannot march straight in and completely control the Jiangnan area because of the support of the new lord Gu Chan. So under this circumstance, she doesn't believe that the Crown Prince didn't ask Yan Li to come back to help deal with Gu Chan.

Furthermore, Yan Li had a grudge against Gu Chan before, so isn’t this a great opportunity for Yan Li to deal with Gu Chan?

Yan Li shook her head and said, "Mother, it's strange to say. Before I came here, the prince specifically told me not to provoke Gu Chan. He only asked me to get a good ranking in the poetry meeting, and he only asked me to take one thing when I return."

"What is it?" Bai Xi asked.

"An iron sword. It is said that this iron sword is in our Censorate's Mansion. It is a sword made of tinplate." Yan Li explained.

Bai Xi frowned as she listened and tried to think carefully in her mind, but after thinking for a long time, she still couldn't remember where there was such a white iron sword in the Censorate.

Yan Li said again, "Mom, I haven't told Dad about this yet! Do you know where this white iron sword is?"

"Where can we find such a sword? I have never seen such a thing in the mansion in all these years. Why don't we go to the warehouse at the back and look for it?" Bai Xi said.

Yan Li nodded in agreement.

Then the mother and daughter left the back garden together and headed towards the warehouse behind the Censorate's Mansion.

Soon the two of them arrived at the warehouse at the rear.

Since few people come to the warehouse, it is extremely dirty everywhere, and the corners are full of spider webs.

After the two came in, Bai Xi covered his mouth and nose with his hands and said with disgust, "It stinks in here. I don't know what's piled up here. I guess I have to ask the servants to come and clean it up some other day."

"Mom, just wait for me at the door. I'll go in and look for her." Yan Li said with a smile.

"Then you better be careful!" Bai Xi said with concern.

Yan Li waved her hand nonchalantly, picked up the lantern and went into the warehouse alone to look for it.

After searching for about an incense stick of time, she walked out of the warehouse holding a white dagger that was only as long as a child's arm.

Bai Xi looked up and said in surprise, "Oh! There really is such a white iron sword! But it's so rusty, what does the prince want it for?"

"I don't know either! I'm just very curious now. This thing is so rusty, it looks like it has been stored in our warehouse for a long time. Even we don't know that it exists in the Censorate. The prince has stayed in Kyoto for many years, how could he know about it?" Yan Li said puzzledly, holding the tin sword in his hand.

"Yes! Could this be some great treasure?" Bai Xi said in surprise.

After saying that, she quickly reached out and snatched the white iron sword from her daughter's hand, and began to look at it carefully over and over again.

But after looking at it for a long time, she found that it was just a rusty tin sword. There was nothing special about it, and it didn't look like a great treasure.

In the end, she could only return it to Yan Li with a look of disappointment, and said helplessly, "Forget it, if he likes it, you can take it back to Kyoto and give it to him. It's not a valuable treasure anyway, and there's no use for it."

"Then let's go, mother! It's too dirty here, there's no need to stay here any longer." Yan Li said as he put away the slate sword.

Then the mother and daughter left the warehouse together and walked outside.

But what they didn't expect was that soon after they walked out, a maid ran over and said, "Madam, Miss, I finally found you. The master is back and is now in the study room as if he has lost his soul. I don't know what happened to him, so I came to find you and asked you to go see him quickly."

"Okay, I got it. We'll be there right away." Bai Xi waved his hand and said.

The maid calmed down, followed them silently, and went to the study together.

After the mother and daughter came to the study, they found that the facts were just as the maid said. At this moment, Yan Xishan seemed to have lost his soul. He sat beside the desk like a walking corpse with an extremely desperate expression.

The two walked up to him. Bai Xi stretched out his hand and waved it in front of him and said, "What's wrong with you? Did someone steal your soul away?"

The next second, Yan Xishan suddenly went crazy, stood up, raised his big hand, aimed it at Yan Li's face, and slapped her hard.

"Snapped!"

A loud slap was immediately heard in the study.

"what……"

Yan Li screamed and was hit by her father, her body tilted and she fell to the ground. Blood soon flowed from the corner of her cracked lip. She grimaced in pain and looked confused.

Bai Xi quickly leaned over, helped her daughter up from the ground, glared at Yan Xishan and yelled, "Are you crazy? Why are you hitting your daughter for no reason?"

"You have spoiled her since she was a child, and she was ruined in your hands. Do you know that she cheated in the poetry meeting and has been discovered by the lord and the old academician?" Yan Xishan roared with red eyes.

Bai Xi stood there with his eyes wide open, unable to believe his ears.

Yan Li was feeling extremely aggrieved at first, but when she heard what her father said, she covered half of her face with her hands and instantly felt extremely guilty.

Bai Xi looked at her daughter and cried, "Tell me, is what your father said true?"

"Mom...I...I don't know what Dad is talking about." Yan Li said intermittently.

"You are still pretending. Do you know that in the next five competitions, the five test questions were tampered by the lord and the old academician, so that the test questions had wrong meanings. All the participants in the poetry competition answered according to the wrong test questions, except you. When you answered the questions, you didn't even read the questions carefully. You copied the answers that others had written for you without any changes. You are such an idiot!" Yan Xishan raised his finger and pointed at Yan Li, cursing her.

Yan Li's body trembled and she froze in place. Only then did she realize that she had fallen into Gu Chan's trap!