C231

"Young prince, you called me here, is …" Han Yan watched the young man leisurely eat the fourth piece of cake and drink the second cup of tea. He finally couldn't help but ask.

Zhao Qingyan raised her head to look at him. With a smile, she turned to the side and raised her chin, "Did you see that? There have been two people there since we entered the teahouse. "

Han Yan followed his gaze and looked at the two men. He laughed, "So they are here to keep an eye on young prince."

Zhao Qingyan knew that he had already noticed the two men and was not surprised by his words. "That's right. They were here when I arrived at the inn. "It's been such a cold day for so many hours …" Holding the teacup in his hand, he blew away the hot air.

The corner of Han Yan's eyes twitched. "Didn't you say that your highness didn't know you were here for a drink?"

Zhao Qingyan glanced at Han Yan and could not help but chuckle. "Then let's see which prince it is."

Han Yan was stunned. "Ah?"

When Zhao Qingyan saw his appearance, the smile in his eyes became even more pronounced: "Oh they are people sent by Ninth Uncle."

Han Yan looked at the two of them for a moment and guessed something. "Did the young prince purposely wait here today to let them see?"

Zhao Qingyan nodded slightly and took a sip of tea, "I have to do something to make them think that I was the one who sent Ran Shisan Qian away. Besides, I'm only here to see you off. If he's gone, could I not be a little bit impatient? "

Han Yan's face slightly changed. A moment later, he asked, "Are they really starting to suspect you?"

"Not really." Zhao Qingyan played with the cup in her hand, her jade-like pale fingers appearing exceptionally slender against the background of the cup. "Perhaps I don't want to have too much to do with the martial arts world, and I don't want to care about matters outside of Bianliang City. Although... They've been following me for days. "

Han Yan slightly frowned, "Will they continue to follow us?"

Zhao Qingyan lowered his eyes and looked at the cup of tea. His thick eyelashes made his face look exceptionally gentle, so gentle that it could tolerate anything, "After today, I will not leave the Qi King Manor easily. No one in the house will bother to look at me. "

Han Yan looked at him for a while, then suddenly said, "Fighting in the open and fighting in the dark, our people are all devilish."

Zhao Qingyan raised her gaze and looked at him with a questioning gaze.

Han Yan shrugged his shoulders and smiled with some helplessness. "Isn't this what Young Prince hates the most?"

"Yeah." Zhao Qingyan looked relaxed. She did not show any more emotions because of the current situation, "But I hate being a fish that people can rip apart. For this, I have to do what I have to do — for myself, and for some people I care about. "

Han Yan subconsciously grabbed the teacup in his hand and gulped the tea down a long time later. "Won't you be tired?"

Zhao Qingyan smiled. On the contrary, the tiredness in her eyes was completely concealed by her smile. "If I get used to it, I won't feel too tired."

Han Yan muttered, "How can one get used to this kind of thing?"

Zhao Qingyan took a piece of pastry and slowly chewed it. He didn't know whether it was because he didn't hear Han Yan's words or if he pretended not to hear them, but he didn't reply.

He turned his head to the side and looked at the snow falling from the sky and the people standing in the snow for a few hours. He smiled thoughtfully and said softly, "It's starting to snow again."

If it snowed, the tracks in the snow would be covered.

Something that was left especially for them to see, it might be erased...

Ninth Uncle, you have to hurry.

The young prince lowered his eyes, concealing his amusement and thoughts as he continued to drink his tea.

There were still things that needed to be done with the Awakening Wine.

— —

"Three rows of fresh footprints, like the footprints of three companions. There are three of them. "

"A scattering of footprints, looking like the tracks left by a dozen people a quarter of an hour ago. There are more than a dozen of them. "

"A large, indistinct footprint. If one does not pay close attention, one would not be able to see the footprint …" dozens of people. "

King Xin fiercely smashed down the stack of papers in his hand and asked with a cold smile, "Carrying an adult male, what kind of good lightness skill do I need to leave behind an almost imperceptible footprint? Is it possible for thirty or forty to appear at once? "

Shen Yifan's forehead was hit by the paper, and the paper scattered in all directions, landing on his body and in front of his knees. He hurriedly lowered his body a bit, "This lowly officer is incompetent, please punish me, Your Highness."

King Xin said, "Answer my question! Could thirty to forty people with such accomplishments appear in this place at the same time in order to save a few people? "

Shen Yi Fan pursed his lips, "To reply to Your Highness, that's impossible."

King Xin sneered, "Snow sky!" This was a snowy day! One step at a time! Why don't you report back to me with the results of less than twenty people leaving? Then tell me, what about the rest? "Fly?"

Shen Yi Fan looked at the paper in front of him, which was a simple footprint. The more he looked at it, the more confused he became.

Ok, Nine, it's no use venting your anger at them." "Prince Huan stood up and slowly lowered Prince Xin's arm. He tried his best to persuade him to sit down again." "At least we managed to catch up to a fight. Fragments and pieces of it can gather the blood of a few dead men.

"What do you think this means?"

Prince Huan looked at Shen Yifan and signaled with his eyes for him to clean up the scattered papers on the ground. He replied to his brother, "Vice General Shen …" I mean Shen Yifan. He described it in great detail. At least it could be seen that a large gush of blood was spurting out of a large wound — half a neck, an arm or a thigh. Besides, it wasn't something that could be spat out by a single person. At least two or three people die in this way.

He threw the ink pen with cinnabar on the table to the side, picked up the Xuan paper and placed it where both the King of Letters and Shen Yifan could see it.

The paper was transparent, and the color of cinnabar was eye-catching. It was not difficult to see the rough shape.

The messenger looked at the "masterpiece" that had been drawn out by Prince Huan for a quarter of an hour and frowned repeatedly. Despite his disdain, he didn't say anything. He only nodded, indicating for him to continue.

There was a black line there. "This is a rut on the carriage, and at the place next to the blood stain, it could also be said to be the place where the rut started. The traces are especially deep. At the back, there was blood. But the rut stopped. With the horse carriage as the center, there is only a single track. "

Shen Yifan was stunned, revealing a look of realization on his face. The messenger also listened to his words and slowly fell silent, deep in thought.

Duke Huan laughed, "To put it simply, it's this carriage. It only has the mark of leaving and there's no trace of coming. Therefore, he had stayed here long enough for the snow to cover the ruts he had left behind when he had arrived. I remember that there was no snow since yesterday, when it was no longer snowing. The snowflakes falling in the night were intermittent, almost to the point of being overlooked. Therefore, this carriage stopped there two days ago at the latest. "

The King of Letters asked, "This place is still a long way from the location of release, and there is very little human smoke. If they wanted to escape, the only way was to sneak into a bustling place. But here, it's not near anywhere. "

Duke Huan laughed and shook his head, "It's more than not getting close? After exiting the city, it didn't even take an hour to drive the carriage to the most bustling place. Two quarters of an hour would be sufficient to pass through the place where the prisoners were released. But look at this place where the carriage is parked — it will take us another three quarters of an hour to get from here to this point, and another quarter of an hour to reach our supposed destination. Moreover, the journey they took to find the carriage was made on the basis of their legs. "

He pointed his finger at the city gate, the forest where the prisoners had been released, and the nearest market place.

Most of the prisoners held in the prison were gatekeepers. The prisoners who could be released under amnesty could not be negligent on the way. That was why they were escorted to the deserted suburbs and then released.

This place was not located between the south city gate and the next prosperous location. Instead, they had to exit from the city gate and head towards the east. They would only be able to reach this place if they went all the way east.

Just as King Xin had said, after knowing that there were pursuers behind them and they were clearly prepared, escaping into the crowd was the only way to escape. It was naturally impossible for them to return to the capital, so the only place they could go was this place.

However, the appearance of this carriage was hard to understand. Because the carriage did not turn west, but headed east. To the east, half a day's journey was covered with snow. There was no way to even find a place to hide. In this cold winter, being surrounded by pursuers was tantamount to seeking death.

"Thirteenth Brother, what do you think?"

Prince Huan knew that his elder brother had already come up with a plan, so he smiled and did not answer. "Ninth brother, please speak."

"Luring troops." "They did not bring one or two people with them, but dozens of them. There were too few people that could be carried in a carriage. At least most people left on foot. "

Duke Huan laughed, "I also think that the sudden appearance of this carriage is a lure. But with this pool of blood, I changed my mind. Because... The carriage may not be able to hold many living people, but it is enough to hold a whole carriage of dead people. "

The emperor's expression changed slightly after a moment. "You're saying …"

Prince Huan spread out the badly drawn map in his hands and looked at it. "The traces of a chaotic battle, the blood spurted out from the severed limbs of at least two or three people, the blood that was scattered all over the area where the fight was fought, and the blood that flowed from the rut where the carriage left."

He raised his head and looked at his brother. "Nine, where do you think the body went?"

"Master, what does the intermittent blood on the rut mean?" Shen Yifan suddenly asked. The King of Convicts looked at him but did not reprimand him.

Duke Huan tilted his head, as if he was thinking about how to answer this question. "It shows that this is an inferior carriage, and there are quite a few gaps in the splintered planks beneath the carriage. There are fresh, dripping bodies in the carriage. "

The King of Letters and Shen Yi Fan looked at each other, understanding.

Duke Huan watched as the painting retreated a few steps before crashing into a chair and sitting down. He seemed to be deep in thought as he continued, "Following this carriage, we should be able to find a few corpses. The fact that there were no dead bodies in here showed that these people's actions were related to Mo'er. "If you are inside there too …"

Shen Yifan subconsciously answered, "That means young prince is completely unaware of this matter."

Duke Huan glared at him, "If Ran Shisan Qian was also inside, I would have had to think of a way to stop Mo'er, to prevent him and Hao from carrying a blade and rushing out!"

Shen Yi Fan was stunned for a moment. The corner of his mouth was twitching, as if he couldn't imagine the young prince's appearance at all.

Prince Xin was also a bit at a loss whether to laugh or to cry. "If there wasn't Mo'er's arrangements for Ran Shou to leave, he would have long since known that the prison cart had been robbed. He didn't charge into the palace right now, but he's already rushing out of the city with a blade."

"Actually, this doesn't count as a robbery." Duke Huan casually corrected himself, then realized that he had paid attention to the main point wrongly. He hurriedly added on, "In short, someone has already checked the carriage. We just need to wait patiently for them to come back and tell us how many people are inside."

King Xin frowned. "Have we forgotten something?"

Duke Huan was startled. "Did you forget something?"

"Footprints." Shen Yifan reminded, causing the two princes to look at him with puzzlement. Their voices became uncertain as well, "That's right, those people who flew away …"

The king slapped his thigh, "That's right! How did they leave? " He waited for four to five breaths after he finished speaking. There was still silence in his ears. He turned his head to look at Duke Huai, "Thirteenth Brother, what do you think?"

Duke Huan locked eyes with him for a moment, then slowly opened his hands and changed his expression into that of helplessness.

"You!"

Seeing that King Xin was about to get angry again and turn his head back, preparing to vent his anger on Shen Yi Fan, King Huan hurriedly said: "Actually, it's not like there's nothing we can do."

Prince Xin turned his head away and immediately said, "Speak!"

Prince Huan gave two dry coughs, feeling a bit regretful and embarrassed. He thought for a long time before slowly reminding Jiang Chen, "There is a way, but it's not too feasible."

The king said, "Tell me first."

"Mo'er and Han Yan definitely know about this. Can't Nine just ask them directly?" Seeing his brother's increasingly hostile expression, Duke Huan added carefully, "And Ran Hao, that's fine too."

The Duke of Xin's expression was indeed rather ugly. "Are you adding to the mess?"

Duke Huan sighed, "Ninth Brother, I don't really understand. You should find out how they left or who the people who took Ran Li away are. What benefits are there?"