Chapter 56 Routine Operations
Miss Yinlan speaks slowly and leisurely, which is completely different from Xuelian's crisp voice.
"The first night that Prince Zhao stayed in my room, I played chess and music with him, and listened to him talk about the customs of South Vietnam. I saw him carrying a purse with him, and it was bulging, but I didn't know what it was. Later, I saw him tuck it under his pillow, and I couldn't help asking him out of curiosity. He took it out and showed it to me. It was really an exquisite treasure. He took it away when he left the next day. As for when he lost it, I don't know."
This was her answer when Fu Chen asked her this question before.
On the contrary, Xuelian was curious at the time: "What treasure?"
The two of them had always been at odds. Yinlan smiled and stopped talking, which made Xuelian feel annoyed.
"That little bitch just likes to put on airs." Xuelian couldn't stop talking: "Miss, you must believe me. I really don't know what treasures are in Prince Zhao's purse. Besides, in our line of work, we just need to make the customers happy and get more rewards. Who cares what treasures the customers carry with them?"
After being interrogated separately, there were only two of them left in the room. After Tang Ying tried several times, Xuelian's attitude became much more easy-going.
"Have you ever seen the purple purse that Prince Zhao always carries with him?"
Xuelian racked her brains and thought hard, but she was still a little confused: "Didn't Prince Zhao bring a pine-smoke-colored purse that day?"
When the two of them were interrogated together before, they did not ask about the color of the purse.
But it is not surprising that wealthy people change their daily accessories, let alone a young man as charming and dashing as Prince Zhao.
Tang Ying: "Are you sure?"
Xuelian: "...It should be pine smoke color." She hesitated again: "We drank a lot of wine that night, and won a lot of money from the prince." She was famous for her gambling skills and drinking capacity. Many gambling guests who came here liked to come to her room to play, and it was normal to drink some wine to cheer herself up when she was in high spirits.
Tang Ying opened the door and informed Xiong Yu to find the madam and call the maid who delivered wine to Xuelian's room that night. Xuelian was still supporting her chin with her hand, thinking hard about the color of Prince Zhao's purse.
Just as Xuelian said, and consistent with the testimony of the maid who delivered the wine, Prince Zhao was also a great drinker. The two of them drank nearly two jars of aged wine together, and only went to bed in their clothes after they had enough fun.
Xuelian: "When I woke up the next day, it was already noon. The prince had disappeared long ago, and there was no purse left on the bed."
When the group came out of Yuanyang Tower, it was already late at night and many shops were closed.
Liu Zhong's stomach growled. He rubbed it shyly and said, "Sir, how about we find a place to eat?"
Fu Chen: "What does the Fourth Prince think?"
Yuan Jian is an easy-going person: "I will listen to Master Fu."
Fu Chen led a few people through the streets and alleys, almost making people dizzy, before he came to a shabby storefront. He saw a tattered lantern at the door, and after lifting the curtain and going in, he saw a dozen greasy tables in the small shop, and the smell of mutton hit him in the face.
The drowsy shop owner with gray hair who was sitting behind the counter hurriedly came up to Fu Chen when he saw him. "Are you busy again and past mealtime? We have soft lamb stewed in clear soup today. Would you like to have a bowl of hot soup to drive away the cold?"
Fu Chen nodded, and the old man went to the back kitchen to get the mutton. He also asked the waiters to make pancakes, start cooking, and started working in a lively manner.
After taking a mouthful of the hot mutton soup, Tang Ying suddenly realized, "No wonder Uncle Wen always said that adults used to be busy until midnight and would not have supper. It turns out there is a place to eat."
Xiong Yu muttered: "Uncle Wen still has the nerve to say that. If it weren't for his poor cooking skills, why would the master return home in the middle of the night and not even have a good meal? Shouldn't the master eat outside?" After being glanced at by Fu Chen, he hurriedly took the bowl and went down the table: "Can't I eat in the kitchen?"
Tang Ying chuckled.
When the food was served, the old man obediently left the kitchen, leaving only their table of four in the empty restaurant.
Several people exchanged the information they had obtained while eating.
Tang Ying said first: "According to Xuelian, she and Prince Zhao drank a lot of wine that night, but when asked, she did not remember the color of the purse wrongly. The purse that Prince Zhao used to hold the ghost ball was exactly the color of pine smoke. But when she woke up in the morning, Prince Zhao was gone, and she did not see him drop the purse. If she is telling the truth, the thing was not lost in her room."
Fu Chen said: "She didn't steal the things, but it might not have been lost in her room."
The next day, Prince Zhao woke up and strolled back to Sifang Pavilion. He had breakfast on the way. He said that he passed by a stall performing various kinds of acrobatics, and went over to watch the fun and threw a handful of silver.
When I went back to change clothes, I found that the purse containing the ghost ball was missing.
Yuan Jian: "How did Master Fu conclude that the Ghostly Ball might have been lost in the Snow Lotus Room?"
Tang Ying: "What do you mean, sir?"
Liu Zhong was a lazy guy. He had been writing for the whole day but had no idea what to do. So he simply didn't take part in the discussion and just buried his head in eating.
Fu Chen: "I wasn't sure at first, but when I was interrogating Yin Lan, I casually asked her about it. The incense in her room smelled very good. Her personal maid boasted that the incense was made by Yin Lan herself."
Tang Ying's mind was in a knot: "Could it be that the incense is related to the disappearance of the ghost ball?"
"It's just a guess." Fu Chen took a sip of mutton soup and said, "The Grand Princess has four maids around her. Three of them followed her into the Imperial Cavalry Division. Now only Yao Niang and Chun Niang are left. Yun Niang has been staying in the Princess's mansion to take care of the internal affairs."
A thought flashed through Tang Ying's mind: "What about the other one?"
Liu Zhong was finally not confused this time, and asked excitedly: "Is it that Xin Niang?"
"Xin Niang?" Yuan Jian was not very familiar with the personnel affairs outside the palace, let alone the internal affairs of the Imperial Cavalry Division.
"Is she good at making perfume?" Tang Ying counted on her fingers: "Yun Niang is in charge of the internal affairs of the Grand Princess's Mansion, Yao Niang is the head of the Shadow Guard, Chun Niang is in charge of torture and is in charge of the inner prison. This Xin Niang must also be good at something, right?"
Fu Chen smiled slowly, his eyes full of praise: "Yes, Xinniang is good at making perfume. But she is not only good at this, she is also good at making medicine, the kind of..." His expression froze for a moment: "In short, it is a medicine to enhance sexual pleasure." Perhaps he felt it was inappropriate to say this in front of the girl, and he glanced at Tang Ying twice more.
Tang Ying suddenly realized: "...Your Excellency is saying that Yinlan might be related to Xin Niang? Could she be her apprentice?" This Xin Niang is really an interesting character. She mainly studies various kinds of blue pills, and her lifelong pursuit is to enhance the sensory pleasure of customers. Her pills should sell very well in Yuanyang Building, but I don't know if she has any business dealings with the madam.
“……”Master Fu was very upset.
He just gave a slight hint and Tang Ying understood it instantly.
The innocent young man Yuan Jian didn't understand what he heard yet, so he asked in the spirit of studying: "Aphrodisiac medicine? Could it be gold and stone medicine?" His face changed drastically: "This... After the founding of this dynasty, we learned from the lessons of the previous dynasty and Taizu issued an order to ban gold and stone medicine. How dare the eldest princess?"
Tang Ying stroked her forehead and said: Young man, you are wrong!
Fu Chen's icy face could hardly be held still, and he quickly buried his head in drinking the soup - the people who should understand don't understand, but the people who shouldn't understand understand, what is this?
"Golden Stone Medicine?" Liu Zhong couldn't help but slam his head on the table and laugh wildly: "What is Fourth Prince thinking of? It's a medicine for the boudoir, it's a medicine."
Yuan Jian's face suddenly turned the color of liver, and he hurriedly buried his head in drinking the soup. Unexpectedly, there was a layer of oil on the mutton soup, just like a layer of plastic wrap on the bowl, which slowed down the cooling of the mutton soup. He took a big gulp and the burn went all the way from his tongue to his stomach. He almost jumped up and knocked over the bowl of soup.
Tang Ying slapped the table in front of Liu Zhong, looking unkind: "Master Liu, don't bully the child!"
If you make fun of this boy again, I’ll beat you up!
Liu Zhong: “…”
Fu Chen: "I remember you seem to be about the same age as the Fourth Prince."
Yuan Jian: “…” Are you mocking my ignorance?
He just felt that everything from his stomach to his face was burning hot, with burns inside and shame outside.
Tang Ying sighed, "I feel like I have lived a lifetime. My mental age is probably around 30 or 40 years old." This was just some nonsense spoken casually to explain Yuan Jian's predicament, but it caused Fu Chen to misunderstand him, and he remained silent.
Liu Zhong thought about the last time he was defeated by Tang Ying and was severely trained by the hard-hearted Lord Fu for a while. He still hasn't recovered his strength. He couldn't be tough with Tang Ying and quickly apologized to Yuan Jian: "I'm talking nonsense. Your Highness is magnanimous. Don't argue with me!"
Yuan Jian waved his hands with a red face, but Tang Ying poured him a cup of cold tea and handed it to him. He drank it in one gulp and felt much better. He dared not drink mutton soup again. He only ate a few chopsticks of food and did not dare to ask questions easily for fear of saying the wrong thing.
Returning to the case itself, Fu Chen said: "This Xin Niang is not only good at mixing perfumes and making medicines, but is also said to be extremely dexterous. She carved the Grand Princess's private seal. I also checked the secret files and found that Yao Niang had been to South Vietnam on a mission."
"Prince Zhao, Xin Niang, Yin Lan, Yao Niang...are there any relationships between these people?" Tang Ying always felt that there was no basis to connect these people.
Fu Chen said, "What if Yao Niang had a relationship with the King of Nanyue?"
Yuan Jian was a good and conscientious boy. Before going to Sifang Pavilion, he had looked up the information about Nanyue. "Zhao Jiang was not the King of Nanyue before. The previous King of Nanyue was his elder brother Zhao Dechang. But Zhao Dechang was ambitious and had the intention of becoming an enemy of our Southern Qi. He even stationed 100,000 troops on the border, but later they did not fight for some reason. Anyway, I heard that Zhao Jiang was trusted by the King of Nanyue in recent years. After Zhao Dechang died the year before last, it was not his son who succeeded to the throne, but Zhao Jiang who passed the throne in front of all the ministers of Nanyue. This is very strange. I heard that Zhao Dechang also had three sons."
He found this passage very strange when he saw it, but the turmoil in the vassal states was a good thing for Southern Qi. The capital was far away from Nanyue, and secret reports would never fall on his desk, so he did not investigate further.
Fu Chen said: "Yao Niang went to South Vietnam more than ten years ago and stayed there for almost two years."
Liu Zhong and Tang Ying understood it instantly. That is to say, Yao Niang went to South Vietnam on a mission more than ten years ago. Perhaps the political turmoil in South Vietnam and even the way of succession from brother to brother were also related to Yao Niang. Moreover... almost two years was enough to give birth to a child.
The Shadow Department had many spies lurking around a man, either a prince or a powerful official, in order to gain trust and have children. It was a completely routine operation, but the Fourth Prince Yuan Jian was unaware of the existence of the Shadow Department.
Fu Chen seemed to be afraid that everyone hadn't thought enough about it, and said: "In fact, the ghost ball has another name, called...concentric ball."
