The two constables on night duty last night were completely unaware of what had happened and were knocked unconscious. Fortunately, Ye Qi didn't falter; she clearly saw the eyes of the woman who came to break into the prison and confirmed that she was the assassin who attempted to assassinate the prince that day. Following the lead of Tianxiang Tower, they will surely be able to uncover the secrets of this assassin organization.
Yu Hanjiang immediately said, "Go to Tianxiang Tower right away and see if we can find any evidence."
It was inconvenient for Shao Qingge and Ye Qi to show themselves at Tianxiang Tower during the day, so Yu Hanjiang told them to stay at the prefectural office and wait for news. He then took Xiao Lou and Lao Mo to Tianxiang Tower to search for evidence.
Jiangzhou's famous flower street is bustling with people after dark, but during the day it's unusually deserted, with not a single person to be seen. Yu Hanjiang strode to the Tianxiang Tower at the end of the street and pounded on its door.
The gatekeeper yawned and lazily muttered, "Who is this person, knocking on the door of a brothel in broad daylight? Are they crazy...?"
Mo Xuemin said solemnly, "This is our Prefect, Lord Yu."
The servant shuddered and immediately smiled obsequiously, "Lord Yu! Ahem, what brings you here?"
Yu Hanjiang asked in a low voice, " Has Aunt Qing come back?"
The servant shook his head: " Aunt Qing hasn't come back for two days!"
Yu Hanjiang strode into Tianxiang Tower.
According to Ye Qi's description, apart from the maids and servants, there were fifteen girls officially registered to welcome guests at Tianxiang Tower. Most of them were skilled in both singing and dancing, and they lived on the second and third floors. Twelve of them participated in the Prince's birthday banquet, including the first group of four dancers, the second group of five sword dancers, and three girls who were responsible for playing musical instruments as accompaniment.
After Snow Goose's assassination attempt failed and he fled, the remaining girls and the boss, Aunt Qing, were captured and taken to the dungeon. Now, except for Ye Qi, they have all been rescued.
In other words, there were as many as eleven women involved in the case, only Ye Qi was unaware of it.
Three girls from Tianxiang Tower hadn't attended the Prince's birthday banquet yet; it was eight in the morning, and they were still asleep. Yu Hanjiang had someone wake these girls up, while he took Mo Xuemin and Xiao Lou to check on the other girls' accommodations.
The servants of Tianxiang Tower were alarmed and tried to stop him, but were frightened back by a sharp look from Yu Hanjiang.
Mo Xuemin said, "The Prefect is investigating a case; all bystanders must leave immediately!"
These servants dared not oppose the officials, so they could only tremble and hide to the side, whispering among themselves about what had happened to Aunt Qing that had attracted the prefect to personally search Tianxiang Tower.
Yu Hanjiang swiftly searched the rooms of all the girls who had participated in the Prince's birthday banquet, with a particular focus on Aunt Qing's room.
He found a locked wooden box in Aunt Qing's room, pried it open, and found it full of jewelry, including a lot of gold and silver jewels, which looked like a woman's secret stash of money. Among the pile of jewelry, a long chain caught Yu Hanjiang's attention—this chain didn't seem to be a necklace, but it wouldn't fit around the waist either, so what was it for?
He didn't understand women's jewelry, but he had a gut feeling that there was something wrong with the chain, so he handed it to Xiao Lou beside him and whispered, "Madam, look, this thing is a bit strange, and the style of this jewelry seems to be different from the jewelry worn by women in the Great Qi State."
Xiao Lou wore no jewelry, only a simple wooden hairpin in his hair. He didn't know much about jewelry, so he took it and looked at it carefully. He said, "This piece of jewelry has a very special shape and design. I've never seen it on the streets of Kyoto. It certainly doesn't seem like the kind of jewelry that women in the Great Qi State usually wear."
Mo Xuemin leaned closer for a closer look and murmured, "I feel like I've seen this somewhere before... Oh right, I have a book in my study called 'Records of Customs and Things,' which contains records about women's jewelry!"
Upon hearing this, Xiao Lou immediately asked with interest, "Do you still remember what was in the book?"
Mo Xuemin stepped forward, took the jewelry from Xiao Lou's hand, examined it carefully, and said, "The book 'Records of Customs and Traditions' records some customs and habits of the four countries. At first, I thought that the book was not very relevant to the case, and just introduced the characteristics of the clothing of the four countries. I glanced at it once and put it aside. I remember that the jewelry worn by women in the four countries has different styles. This kind of jewelry made of colored stones and silk threads should not be commonly used by women in the Great Qi State, but I can't remember which country it is from."
It's not entirely Lao Mo's fault. He spent two days going through all the case files from Jiangzhou over the years and memorizing the key cases, which was already quite an achievement. It's impossible for him to memorize all the books on the bookshelf.
Seeing the guilty look on Lao Mo's face, Xiao Lou quickly smiled and said, "Don't worry, the book is still here, right? We'll check it when we get back."
Yu Hanjiang also said, "Take these pieces of jewelry back and compare them carefully with that book."
Old Mo nodded immediately and carefully put the jewelry box away.
Yu Hanjiang searched the other women's rooms and found similar jewelry, which he handed over to Lao Mo to take back.
He looked down from the end of the third-floor corridor—in the most secluded spot in the backyard, there were some carrier pigeons, presumably used for delivering letters. However, no trace of letters was found in any of the women's rooms, or in Aunt Qing's. It seemed the owner of Tianxiang Tower was very cautious; she had burned all the correspondence after reading it, leaving no evidence.
When Yu Hanjiang returned to the hall, the three girls who had been sleeping in had already been woken up.
The three women had no idea of Aunt Qing's whereabouts. They all said they wanted to attend the Prince's birthday banquet, but Aunt Qing thought their dancing skills weren't good enough and wouldn't let them go. Ye Qi was summoned.
I went because he was the top star at Tianxiang Tower and had a big reputation.
So, only Ye Qi was kept in the dark about the assassination attempt on the prince that day.
Yu Hanjiang frowned and asked, " When was Tianxiang Tower built?"
A girl named Qiushuang said, " Tianxiang Tower has been in Jiangzhou for ten years. I heard that a wealthy patron once spent a lot of money to build Tianxiang Tower. Aunt Qing then became the owner of Tianxiang Tower and recruited many talented girls."
Yu Hanjiang asked, " Do you know anything about Aunt Qing's background? Where is she from?"
Qiu Shuang thought for a moment and said, "It is said that he is from Jiangzhou. He lost both his parents at a young age and suffered a lot. He only returned to Jiangzhou ten years ago."
Yu Hanjiang asked, " How does Aunt Qing usually treat you?"
Qiu Shuang said, "She treats the girls very well. We get 60% of the tips from the customers, and if a customer gets drunk and bullies a girl, Aunt Qing will take the initiative to help the girls out. She is the best boss on this street."
Yu Hanjiang paused for a moment, then asked, "When did you all come to Tianxiang Tower?"
Qiu Shuang looked at her two sisters beside her and said, "The three of us, plus Miss Ye, all arrived a year ago."
Yu Hanjiang asked, "What about the others?"
Qiu Shuang said, "The other dozen or so girls only arrived in the last two years."
Yu Hanjiang asked, "Do you know the girl from Tianxiang Tower?"
Qiu Shuang said, "When we came here, several girls from Tianxiang Tower had earned enough money and left on their own. Others found men willing to marry them, paid enough ransom to get their indentures back, and went to become their concubines."
A girl named Qiuyue added, "By the way, I heard that the previous prefect took a fancy to Yang Liu, the top courtesan of Tianxiang Tower back then, and even took her as his concubine."
Yu Hanjiang looked at Mo Xuemin, who looked embarrassed. He had no idea about this. No wonder he only got an A in the heart room every time. It seemed he wasn't careful enough. He hadn't investigated the former prefect's family affairs and never expected that the prefect would actually take a girl from Tianxiang Tower as a concubine!
Yu Hanjiang didn't blame Lao Mo. After all, the former prefect had already died when Lao Mo came to this world, and Yu Hanjiang was immediately transferred to Jiangzhou. The case hadn't happened yet, so it was understandable that Lao Mo didn't investigate the former prefect.
He turned to look at Qiu Shuang and asked, " Are there any detailed records of the names and whereabouts of the girls who have left Tianxiang Tower over the years, those who have come in, those who have been redeemed, and those who have married?"
Qiu Shuang said, "We don't know, but Aunt Qing should have a record, right?"
Qiuyue said, "In the two years we've been at Tianxiang Tower, there's been no change in our staff; it's always been the same group of fifteen."
Yu Hanjiang's gaze swept over the three of them, and finally he asked, "You really didn't see Aunt Qing last night?"
The three of them said in unison, "No!"
Qiu Shuang added, " Aunt Qing and the others haven't returned since they went to perform at the Prince's Mansion. We're all very worried, but we don't dare go to the Prince's Mansion to look for her... My lord, what exactly happened to Aunt Qing?"
Yu Hanjiang couldn't openly say that the " Aunt Qing " they were talking about was the head of the intelligence organization, so he could only give a vague answer: "She's involved in some cases and is currently being detained by the authorities for investigation. If you see any other girls returning at Tianxiang Tower, report to the authorities immediately, understand?"
All three nodded obediently.
*
After leaving Tianxiang Tower, Yu Hanjiang returned to the prefectural government and went directly to Master Mo's residence with Xiao Lou.
Mo Xuemin quickly retrieved the book "Fengwu Zhi" (Records of Customs and Things) from the bookshelf, which introduced the clothing of the four countries.
Liu Qiao had been keeping a close eye on the case's progress and had come to the prefectural government to inquire about information. He also made some poisonous powder and gave it to Xiao Lou for future use, in case they encountered danger and lacked the strength to attack.
Shao Qingge and Ye Qi followed after hearing the commotion. The group gathered in Mo Xuemin's study and found that he had a wall of bookshelves filled with countless books.
Ye Qi couldn't help but exclaim, "How can I possibly remember all these books?!"
Mo Xuemin said with a headache: "Most of them are classics, histories, philosophical works, and collections of literature, so there's no need to look through them. There are also some case interrogation notes from when I was a legal advisor. I focused on the case-related ones. I didn't look at this book, 'Fengwu Zhi,' which records clothing and folk customs, carefully. I just flipped through it casually. I didn't expect this book to be the key clue!"
Fortunately, he glanced at it and vaguely remembered the customs and clothing of various countries described in the book. Otherwise, if he had missed this clue, it would have been too difficult to find out the source of Aunt Qing's jewelry.
Yu Hanjiang handed the book to Xiao Lou.
Xiao Lou sat at his desk and carefully flipped through the documents. He quickly found the relevant records. He turned to page ten of the "Records of Local Customs," pointed to a type of jewelry, compared it with the jewelry that Tianxiang Tower had found, and then looked up at Yu Hanjiang, saying, "This is a headband from a Yan State woman."
The teammates around him gasped.
After all this investigation, they actually found Yan State?! Could it be that Aunt Qing and the others are all from Yan State?
Realizing the seriousness of the problem, Yu Hanjiang immediately went to Xiao Lou's side and bent down to examine him closely.
The illustrations in the book are in black and white, while the jewelry is in color, but the shapes, designs, and constructions are exactly the same.
Xiao Lou said, "According to the records in the book, the people of Yan State, located in the northwest, are fierce and many women learn martial arts and hunting from a young age. They are a nomadic people, and they like to make jewelry from natural stones. When a girl is born, her mother will make her a 'hairband' by hand, with a beautiful stone wrapped around it with colorful silk thread. It serves as a 'talisman' given by the mother to protect her daughter."
Aunt Qing's unique piece of jewelry was indeed made of many pebbles and colorful silk threads strung together.
Although Yu Hanjiang didn't understand women's jewelry, his keen observation skills made him immediately notice something was wrong—the key point was that while the other pieces of jewelry were either made of jade, gold, or silver, this one was decorated with many colorful stones tied together with silk thread.
This clue might be missed by a careless person.
Now, a shocking truth has been uncovered simply from the woman's jewelry—
Aunt Qing is from Yan State, and it's very likely that all the girls at Tianxiang Tower are also from Yan State!
Mo Xuemin asked in confusion, "This headband has many stones strung on it. Is there any symbolic meaning?"
Xiao Lou speculated: " Aunt Qing's hairband had the most pebbles, while most of the other women's hairbands had 18 to 20 pebbles. Since their mothers strung the first pebble on their hairbands at birth, perhaps an extra pebble was added each year on their birthdays, as a blessing? Of course, the number of pebbles is not recorded in this book, so I'm just guessing."
Yu Hanjiang agreed, saying, "Madam's speculation makes a lot of sense."
He called her "Madam" quite naturally, and Mo Xuemin didn't mind, thinking that Captain Yu was seriously playing his role, so he followed up by saying, "It seems that this headband is of great significance to the women of Yan State, which is why they keep it with them."
Xiao Lou nodded and said, "I guess Aunt Qing and the others acted hastily last night and didn't have time to go back to Tianxiang Tower to retrieve these jewels; or perhaps something happened on their way back to Tianxiang Tower, so they changed their plans and left these jewels behind." He looked at Yu Hanjiang and said gently, "Fortunately, Captain Yu was alert enough and didn't miss this clue."
Yu Hanjiang was pleased by the praise, and a smile involuntarily appeared in his eyes.
Shao Qingge waved his fan thoughtfully and said, "I've heard my father say that Yan State is located in the northwest and has a harsh climate. The people there never wear silk; they make clothes from animal fur. Our Shao family's business has never been able to open up the market in Yan State."
Ye Qi analyzed enthusiastically: " Aunt Qing is actually from Yan State! Aren't Yan State and our Great Qi State at war? If all these girls in Tianxiang Tower are spies sent by Yan State, then their assassination attempts on Lord Yu and the Prince make sense!"
Yu Hanjiang rubbed his temples and said, "It seems our previous speculation was wrong again. The assassin group and the people who murdered the young lady and Young Master Lin are not the same group at all."
They had always subjectively tried to link the assassin group with the murder, believing that the assassins were sent by someone who wanted to rebel, and that the young lady killed them to silence them after she witnessed it.
But now it seems that these assassins were spies planted by the enemy state long ago in the Great Qi State.
In ancient times, it was common for two countries to send spies to the other side during wartime.
Xiao Lou said helplessly, "This time, two cases were just coincidentally mixed up. They are actually not very related, so we have to discuss them separately. The assassin is one line, and the murder of the eldest daughter of the royal family is another line."
Yu Hanjiang nodded in agreement. He opened the "Records of Local Customs" and looked at the map of the four kingdoms on the page. He said in a low voice, "The setting of this world is the four kingdoms of Qi, Chu, Yan, and Zhao. Chu does not make friends with any kingdom, nor does it make enemies with any kingdom. It is a country that only cares about itself and should not be related to this case."
He lightly tapped the pages of the book with his long, slender fingers, tracing the spheres of influence of Yan State, Qi State, and Zhao State, and said, "Of these three countries, Yan State and Qi State have been at war on their border for many years. The General Who Conquers the West, whom Great Qi State sent to the front lines, must be a formidable figure, having repelled Yan State's invasions on numerous occasions. As for Great Qi State and Zhao State, they have always maintained a policy of marriage alliances and have friendly relations."
Xiao Lou said thoughtfully, "That's why Yan State sent Aunt Qing to Jiangzhou ten years ago. Jiangzhou is the border between Qi State and Zhao State. If Aunt Qing set up an intelligence organization here, she could keep an eye on the movements of Qi State and Zhao State at any time."
Yu Hanjiang nodded: "After this marriage alliance is successfully concluded, if Qi State and Zhao State join forces to deal with Yan State, Yan State's fate is predictable. Therefore, it is reasonable for them to set up an intelligence organization at the border between Qi and Zhao to assassinate the Prefect of Jiangzhou and the Eighth Prince. The death of the former Prefect of Jiangzhou was certainly not simple."
Xiao Lou said, "The former prefect married the top courtesan of Tianxiang Tower... Hasn't Lao Mo heard about this?"
Mo Xuemin shook his head and said, "I don't recall this incident. However, it's a private matter for the prefect to take a concubine, so it's normal that he wouldn't tell the clerk. Besides, there's no need for a grand banquet when taking a concubine; he can just bring her home directly. It doesn't sound very good for a dignified prefect to marry a girl from Tianxiang Tower. Perhaps he secretly brought this Yang Liu girl home?"
Yu Hanjiang frowned: "I remember Lao Mo saying that the former prefect died of illness, right?"
Mo Xuemin said, "That's what the document records: He was old and in poor health, and he died at home."
Xiao Lou said, "His health has always been poor, which may be due to a chronic illness or chronic poisoning. If the girl he married, Tianxiang Tower, is also a member of an intelligence organization, it would be very convenient for him to poison the food every day after becoming the prefect's concubine."
Mo Xueming shuddered and said, "That makes sense! Oh, right, there's a detail I overlooked. Although the former Prefect of Jiangzhou is dead, what about his family? His wife and children, it seems none of them are in Jiangzhou."
Yu Hanjiang said with a grim face, "His family members may have already met a tragic end."
Ye Qi suddenly said seriously, "I have a guess that the girl named Yang Liu married the elderly Prefect of Jiangzhou as a concubine. She went to the Prefect's side to gather information. She might have been able to secretly see the court documents and such. In the end, when the Prefect discovered that she was not doing something, she simply killed the Prefect's entire family to silence them?"
Shao Qingge followed with a smile, saying, "However, our Lord Yu is known for his deep affection for his wife, and he is also a very upright person. The girl from Tianxiang Tower..."
The plan to infiltrate Lord Yu's inner circle would be difficult to achieve, so why not simply assassinate him on the night he arrives in Jiangzhou to take up his post, hoping to eliminate this troublesome official?
Old Mo said, "They assassinated the prince, probably to sabotage the marriage alliance between Qi State and Zhao State, right?"
Ye Qi immediately nodded vigorously: "That's right! With the death of the Perfect of Jiangzhou, the court will have a headache for a while. With the prince dead, the marriage alliance will have to be postponed, and Qi State and Zhao State will be unable to form an alliance. Perhaps these assassins will then smear the Zhao State delegation, causing Qi and Zhao to turn against each other? In any case, the more chaotic Qi State is, the more beneficial it will be for Yan State!"
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang exchanged a glance.
Under their influence, the teammates all began to seriously deduce and act like detectives.
Now that Aunt Qing and the others' true identities have been revealed, Ye Qi, Lao Mo and others' reasoning is also very logical. The assassins came from Yan State. The Yan State people's assassination of Yu Hanjiang and the prince had nothing to do with the rebellion, but rather to disrupt Jiangzhou and destroy the marriage alliance between Qi and Zhao.
Their operation failed, so they will definitely have a next step in their plan.
Thinking of this, Yu Hanjiang suddenly stood up, his expression changing: " Second Miss is in danger!"
******