Tibet

The next morning, when the couple was tasting jade and drinking tea in the study, Xiaokang said in the courtyard: "Princess, the housekeeper Liu of the main palace sent someone over. Madam, please ask the prince to come over. It seems there is something urgent!"

Xiaokang changed her surname to Wang, and Wang Changling named her Wang Xiulin, which means "Mu Xiu Yu Lin", and she was adopted as his granddaughter by Wang Changling. Li Ye originally wanted to keep her in Suiye, but the little girl refused, so he had to take her back to Chang'an. She is now following her Dugu Xinyue is a relatively special existence. She is neither a master nor a maid. She is equivalent to being fostered by a distant relative in their home.

Dugu Xinyue plans to find a good in-law for her in a few years when she is fifteen or sixteen years old.

Li Ye stood up and said, "I'll go take a look!"

Li Ye hurried to the second house where his parents lived. As soon as he entered the door, Pei Sanniang said nervously: "Just now, Chang'an County sent someone to say that a murder occurred at Taipingfang House. It seems that the old bandit was killed. I have asked Liu Wutong to lead his men. Aunt Kou and her granddaughter took it over, did you go and see what happened?"

Li Ye's face suddenly turned ugly. He vaguely guessed that the murder of the old bandit might have something to do with the secret room.

He immediately rode towards Taipingfang with a dozen soldiers.

When they arrived in front of the mansion, they met Liu Wutong taking Aunt Kou and her granddaughter into the car. Aunt Kou burst into tears when she saw Li Ye.

Li Ye comforted them and asked Liu Wutong to take them back home directly.

He got off his horse and walked into the mansion. There were many government officials in the mansion, and the leading official was County Lieutenant Wang Qi. He quickly stepped forward and saluted, "Wang Qi, the humble county lieutenant, comes to see the county king!"

"Excuse me, Lieutenant Wang, how could my servant be killed?"

"Please come with me, Prince!"

Wang Qi took Li Ye to the inner courtyard and walked into the small courtyard where Li Ye lived. Wang Qi pointed to a pool of blood on the ground and said: "This is the murder scene. We asked the aunt and the time was probably around five o'clock in the night. , Uncle Kou heard something moving outside, so he got up and lit a lantern and came to check, but he was killed here."

"How did you die?"

"He was lying on the ground, face down, with a knife in his chest and a knife in his throat. They were all very sharp daggers. The other party was very experienced in killing. He first cut his throat to prevent Uncle Kou from screaming, and then stabbed him in the chest, killing him with one knife. "

"Did you find any clues?"

County Lieutenant Wang shook his head, "All the rooms are locked from the outside, so we can't go in to check. We don't have any clues now, and none of the neighbors heard anything."

Li Ye pondered for a moment and said: "This is not an ordinary murder case, so don't continue the investigation. And where is Uncle Kou's body?"

"The body is at the county government, ready for burial. The family can claim it and bury it on their own. If you are willing to pay 300 yuan, the county government can arrange a coffin and a cemetery for a more decent burial. During the burial, we will ask the family to throw the soil together."

Li Ye nodded, "I'll pay the three hundred guan, so I'll trouble the county government. The family of the deceased is at my parents' house in Xuanpingfang."

"I know, I will definitely make arrangements for Mr. Li's residence!"

County Lieutenant Wang also knew that this was not an ordinary murder case. Since Prince Li would not let them interfere, they were happy to leave it alone, and he immediately left with his men.

Li Ye asked his soldiers to close the door. He entered his study room and saw at a glance that the bookshelf had been removed, revealing the dark doorway of the secret room, and a pig iron crowbar was left on the ground.

Sure enough, it was aimed at his own secret room. The secret room had been safe and sound for so many years, and now someone actually came to take action.

It means that someone has always known about the existence of his secret room, but has been hiding it. Who could this person be? If you can think with your toes, there will be no one except the Emperor.

Of course, the emperor will not take action, but he will arrange for others to kill people with a borrowed knife, which has always been the emperor's best method.

Li Ye looked at the roof. There was a big hole in the roof, where the night spies came down.

Li Ye pondered for a moment and said to the leading soldier Zhang Huan: "Go and buy twenty large wooden boxes!"

Li Ye was almost certain that the other party must still be monitoring his house in a very hidden place. In this case, he would simply take advantage of his plan.

The big box was placed in the mansion, and Li Ye went to Dongshi.

He quickly found the target, a large jewelry building with three large lanterns hanging from the eaves. There were three large characters on the lanterns, 'Made by Good Works'.

Li Ye walked into the shop, and a waiter came up to him and said with a smile: "Young Master is welcome to the store. If you need anything, please just tell me!"

Li Ye was too lazy to chat with him, so he took out his gold medal of the county king and said in a flash, "Let your shopkeeper come to see me!"

The waiter was startled and ran to find the shopkeeper. Not long after, a middle-aged man came out. He thought he was the prince of the clan. He quickly bowed and saluted: "My surname is Yang. He is the shopkeeper of the shop. Who is your highness?" Which prince, lest the villain fail to entertain you properly."

Li Ye smiled slightly, "I am the Prince of Gaochang County!"

"ah!"

Only then did Shopkeeper Yang realize, "It turns out that the Jiedu Envoy is here. It's really rude. Please come and sit in your guest room!"

Li Ye followed him to the guest room. The shopkeeper asked the maid to serve tea. Li Ye sat down, took out the jade box from his bag and put it on the table, "Is this what you guys made here?"

Shopkeeper Yang picked up the jade box, took a look at it, and said with a smile: "I still remember this jade box. This kind of jade box is not available off-the-shelf, it can only be customized. The other party spent 500 yuan to order it."

Li Ye perked up and asked quickly: "Who customized it and when?"

"It was customized by a Taoist priest about two months ago. It took us a month to make it, and he took it away in early October."

"Taoist priest?"

Li Ye asked: "What kind of Taoist priest?"

"An old Taoist priest, a very old Taoist priest, probably sixty or seventy years old, but he is energetic and has a childlike face, like a cultivator of immortality."

"What about the accent?"

"I can't tell you the accent, it seems to be the Guanzhong accent!"

Li Ye asked for some more details and then left.

He then came to Dugu Ming's Prince Consort's Mansion. Dugu Ming was at home tomorrow and couldn't leave. When he heard that Li Ye was coming, Dugu Ming personally welcomed him out.

"Something happened. I came here to discuss it with my second uncle."

Dugu Ming nodded, "Go to my study and talk!"

When he came to the study and sat down, Dugu Ming asked the maid to serve tea.

Li Ye said: "Last night, a murder occurred in my house in Taiping Mansion. The old man who looked after my house was assassinated."

Dugu Ming said slowly: "Is it because of the secret room?"

"Second uncle also knows there is a secret room there?"

Dugu Ming nodded, "In fact, all of us know that the secret room was built secretly in the 15th year of Kaiyuan. The six of us apprentices took turns to supervise the construction. There was no Shi Kun at that time, and it took a year and a half to complete."

"That person also knows about the secret room?"

"If any of our disciples defect to the Emperor, the Emperor will know about it. Anyway, I didn't tell the Emperor. Even though I am his son-in-law, I will not betray Feilong."

"Where is Gao Xianzhi? He once snitched."

"Actually, he is the most likely. You know Gao Xianzhi was dismissed from his post not long ago, right?"

Li Ye nodded, "I heard from my grandfather that the emperor hated him for being corrupt, so he dismissed him from the post of Jiedushi and appointed him as the general of the Yulin Army."

Dugu Ming smiled and said: "Ge Shuhan and An Lushan were ten times more corrupt than him, so why did they still confer the title of king? Gao Xianzhi, but the emperor couldn't find an excuse to remove him, so he found a crime of corruption.

The real reason why he was exempted was because he was Feilong's apprentice, you understand! Including sending my daughter to Khitan for marriage, it was also because of Feilong. The emperor hated Feilong deeply, but was afraid of him. Do you know why? "

"Father-son relationship?"

Dugu Ming shook his head, "The royal father and son have always been enemies. The emperor is afraid of Feilong because Feilong has achieved Taoism and opened his clairvoyance. In the twenty-fourth year of Kaiyuan, Feilong told the emperor that Concubine Wu Hui would die in the next winter. The emperor did not believe it. Sure enough, Concubine Wu Hui died in the winter of the 25th year of Kaiyuan. He then made another prediction, saying that the emperor would marry his daughter-in-law Yang. The emperor was very angry. Unexpectedly, Concubine Yang appeared. Then Feilong said that he would be punished by heaven if he leaked the secret. He cherishes his words like gold and no longer makes predictions for the emperor, so the emperor hates and fears him."

Li Ye was silent for a moment and asked, "Does my second uncle know about the Qiaoling incident?"

Dugu Ming gave Li Ye a meaningful look.