I’m soooo sorry… I posted the wrong chapter earlier!!! This is the right one. Ao Tian is a man with a few words but a lot of actions… I can see why some of the readers like his character… Over 3,350 words.
This chapter was edited by Din2.
Gu Yun entered Lan Yue building, only saw Zhuo Qing’s loose hair was dropping on her shoulder, she supported her cheeks, a tired looking appearance on her face. Gu Yun sat down in the stone bench, mockingly said: “You did not sleep good last night.”
“En.” At first, she thought to refute it, unexpectedly, Zhuo Qing generously nodded, depressingly groaned and said: “The next few days, I think there will be very exciting stuff.” Zhai Xing pavilion was really close to Lan Yue building, she was afraid that seeing the Princess frequently would really be awkward. She could not move and abandon Lou Xi Yan regardless, hey……
Gu Yun lightly knitted her eyebrow, oddly said: “What did I miss?” Was it not that she was saying sweetly that she wanted to get married last night, then it underwent a change of weather first thing in the morning?
Zhuo Qing shook her head, looked towards the side of Zhai Xing pavilion, smilingly said: “You did not miss anything, this was just staging a good show!”
Following her line of sight to look, as it turned out it was formerly Qing’s Zhai Xing pavilion courtyard, there were four tall and strong men were standing, distinguish long waists, outside of the room. Furthermore, there were two young girls who were dressing as maids and guarding at that place. Gu Yun asked: “What is the situation?”
Zhuo Qing mockingly shrugged her shoulder, helplessly said: “Hard to explain in a few words, a simple saying is the Princess from Qiong Yue is secretly in love with Lou Xi Yan. When she heard that he was getting married, she tried to kill herself at the Imperial palace. After she was rescued, the Empress Dowager wanted to make Lou Xi Yan to marry her daughter, but he refused, so she arranged for the Princess to recuperate at the Prime Minister’s manor. I reckoned that she intended for her to be in close proximity first, perhaps she was hoping that the rice was cooked or like a drama, ok.”
Finished listening, Gu Yun laughed heartily: “The meaning of your words is that you have a love rival.”
Gu Yun laughed brashly, Zhuo Qing could not help to laugh lowly on her own either: “You can consider it like that, right.” The first time that she fell in love with a man, who would think that she would complicate the issue deliberately, it was not supposed to be like these twists and turns.
Zhuo Qing’s smile showed a trace of bitterness, Gu Yun comfortingly said: “Lou Xi Yan is so outstanding, it is normal that you have a love rival, what is the most important is his approach.”
Zhuo Qing nodded, and said with self mockery: “He has said that he only wants one wife, it seemed that it should be me at the present time.”
“Then it is alright, but you still need to be careful, the power of hatred caused by love is big and can make someone is so terrifying.”
She had seen so many cases like this, the deeper the love, the bigger the power to devour, especially when the other part was a Princess, she was somewhat anxious for Qing.
“I will.” Quietly smiling, and did not want to make Gu Yun to be anxious because of her, Zhuo Qing asked: “You come here to find me today, is it because the case has a new progress?”
“En.” Taking out the slip of paper that Qu Xin handed over to her yesterday, Gu Yun passed it on to Zhuo Qing. Zhuo Qing stared at it and put it in her hand to look at that slip of paper for a long time, suspiciously asked: “What is this?”
It was not that she wanted to ask this kind of vain question, but the note was filled with ‘front, front, back, back, left, left, right, right’ on it, what did it have anything to do with the case.
Gu Yun explained it: “According to Qu Xin’s words, this was Yang Liu’s careful treasured thing over the last years. I think it has something to do with the gold case, but I do not understand what the meaning of these words, I want to listen to your opinion.”
She was seriously studying the piece of paper on her hand one more time, and hoping that she could find some rhythm, but the outcome was still blank. Zhuo Qing shook her head: “I am not that clear either, I will study it again carefully in the evening, ok, when are you going to look at that rock cave place.”
“I am going in a moment.” She and Dan Yu Lan made an appointment to meet at noon at the gate of Ying Tian Government Office.
“I am also going.” While talking, Zhuo Qing braided her long hair quickly, Gu Yun lightly laughed: “Are you sure that you want to run around all over the place during this unusual moment now?” The other person was pressing in from the inside of the house.
Zhuo Qing turned over to give a supercilious look, coldly groaned and said: “Do I have to stay behind to play the eyes staring game? I do not have any spare time.” Pulling Gu Yun, both of them hurriedly went out of the Prime Minister’s manor.
********
Zhuo Qing, Gu Yun and Dan Yu Lan met together afterwards, with Ao Tian’s lead, the delegation of people finally arrived at the rock cave near the suburbs of the capital. During the examination of each of the exits of the cave, Qu Ze’s location was indeed the most convenient place to enter or exit the rock cave.
They did not find anything at the outside of the cave, several people walked into the middle of the cave again, the interior of the rock cave was accessible from all sides, but the lane was narrow. The deepest cave was half the size of a soccer field in dimension, the inside was damp, the water was still seeping out from the top of the wall frequently, one could clearly hear the sound of running water. Looking carefully at the side of the cave, there was an underground river about 7-8 meters wide.
Gu Yun crouched at the side of the underground river, lightly tapped on the side of the hard rock, slightly narrowed her eyes to look towards the fine sand and stones that was at the bottom of the river, inside the cave, one could find this kind of small stone. Grabbing some of the fine sand and stone on her hand and lightly kneaded them with her fingers, the stone produced a rustling sound afterwards, and they disintegrated slowly on her hand. Gu Yun looked at the fine powder on her hand, she called out in a low voice: “All of you, come over to see.”
Hearing her calling out, a delegation of people encircled to come over to see that she was crouching in front of a stack of tiny sandy soil. They were watching attentively and earnestly at the grain of rock on her hand, Qian jing did not understand and asked: “Some sand and stones, that is all, what is the problem?”
Inside the prison, he heard all along that this woman who just called out, Qing Mo was very good, he did not understand and even had his disdain that a person like Ao Tian seemed to change and admire her. He came over to follow them today, just for the purpose to see how she would judge the case so amazingly, but what could be so suspicious about these pile of sand and stones?
Lightly patting to remove the thin rock from her hand, Gu Yun pointed at the thick layer of sandy soil from the inside of the underground river, and answered: “The problem is, here is the solubility rock that receives erosion from water after it forms the rock cave, it should not have this type of fine sand and stones, furthermore, it appears that there are too many sands and stones.”
“The meaning of your words are, these sand and stones are deliberately transported here by someone.” Dan Yu Lan narrowed his eyes, even though the light ray was not so good, but he could still see that the section of this body of water, compared to the section of the river that was in front of the cave entrance, the riverbed was higher by a lot.
Carefully looking, just as Gu Yun was saying, there was a big cave on the side of the underground river, there was many tiny sand and stones, it was clearly difference with the upstream of the water. Qian Jing crouched on the side of the underground river, and talked to himself: “This remote rock cave like this, what are they transporting the sand and stones for?”
Gu Yun’s heart already guessed the whole story faintly, smilingly said: “You all thought that it was strange, right, there were so many men and horses who searched the place at that time, unexpectedly, they could not find the chariots that transported the gold. There would be nothing that could disappear without any trace on this earth, everything was merely diversionary tactic.”
Next to the sound of flowing river made Zhuo Qing’s eyes bright, she answered: “The stream in the underground river here is plentiful, the drainage system is flourishing, this place can definitely be used to hide and store the gold.”
Gu Yun nodded her head: “Correct, as long as the gold are dumped to enter the underground river, then use the sand and stones to bury them, then wait until after the event to dig out the gold again and transport them, it will naturally be top secret. Looking at this, the wagon marks at that time were not used to transport the gold out, it was rather to transport the sand and stones to enter the cave based on this evidence.”
Dan Yu Lan crouched down, grabbed the spongy stone on the ground, but it felt soft to the touch, perhaps, there was some truth in her analysis, this way, it could be explained how the gold disappeared from everyone’s investigation, but where was the evidence?
Qian Jing appeared to have the same thinking as Dan Yu Lan, turning around, Qian Jing said: “You simply guess, that is all, even if it is true, it has already been three years, the gold should be transported out long ago. Some fine sand can not be used to prove your opinion.”
Gu Yun did not start talking either, she already got into the small hole by the side, roaming to inspect next to the smiling Zhuo Qing, Zhuo Qing smilingly said: “That will not be necessary, that much gold to be dumped into the underground river, it is impossible to dig them out cleanly. And this underground river, the stream is plentiful, some small gold will follow and roam down the stream, we should still be able to find some gold.”
Qian Jing patted his thigh, and called out: “Looking at the downstream now, we will know whether or not there is gold.”
Zhuo Qing nodded her head immediately, smiled to look at Qian Jing, she answered: “That was what I meant.”
What was that in her expression…… It gave people goose bumps, Qian Jing lowly called out: “You are going to make me go down to check it?”
Zhuo Qing’s hands were still on her chest, the corner of her mouth raised lightly, groaningly said: “Do not tell me that I have to go?”
********
It was cold in the underground river, not to mention a woman, how long could a robust man stay in the river, Qian Jing already knew the rhetorical answer himself, curled his lip embarrassingly, removed his jacket unhurriedly, took off his shoes and socks…..
“Pu tong.” (Splashing sound when somebody went in the river).
Qian Jing was still dilly dallying, he just heard a loud splashing sound from all around, Ao Tian’s dark silhouette already entered the underground river.
Qian Jing’s shoes and socks were already taken off, he was just standing at the shore to look somewhat embarrassed. Zhuo Qing looked one glance at him, then all of her gaze was focused at the middle of the underground river where the black clothing with silver hair silhouette was.
Putting the clothes back on now would be too humiliated, Qian Jing lightly coughed and mockingly said: “My swimming ability to reach the deep downstream is better, then I will go to look for it.”
Nobody paid attention to him, Qian Jing disappeared instantly to pass through the small cave and entered the downstream of the underground river.
Ao Tian was already roaming and diving in the water for a long time, just now he floated up, Gu Yun urgently said: “How did it go?”
Ao Tian’s complexion was very dark and did not say anything, simply shook his head silently.
Zhuo Qing and Gu Yun looked one glance to each other, could it be that they were wrong?
Dan Yu Lan actually had confidence and said: “Look for it again, the thin rock cave seems to be relatively easy to leave the gold.”
Ao Tian submerged in the river one more time, the black dresses was rippling, one was almost unable to see where he was, luckily, the shiny bright silver hair reflected out a little rays of light, so one could still know his position.
This time was even longer, just when Zhuo Qing was somewhat anxious if there was an accident, Ao Tian finally came out of the water again.
“Did you find it?”
Ao Tian was gasping for air and did not answer, he only took and threw out the stuff that he found to the shore.
The bright orange yellow flowed out after, then the ticking sound of a metal rolled out, several people encircled it to see, sure enough, it was a broken size of big and small gold.
These pieces of gold should be the ones dumped into the river for a period of time, so it was disintegrated into small pieces.
Dan Yu Lan checked out the surface of the gold carefully, he could see half of the government letter on the corner of the gold ingot, it should be the seal of the government money. Putting the gold into the pocket, Dan Yu Lan looked towards Gu Yun and said; “It is really the gold, moreover, it is the government money, your guess should be correct.”
They really used this method to hide the gold in the underground river during that time.
“Hey, come over quickly, look what I find out.” Several people were still studying the gold, Qian Jing’s excited voice came through from the downstream.
Several people went to the downstream, just to see Qian Jing’s happy smile and lifted out a shining gold ingot from his hand, loudly called out: “50 liang of gold ye.” Who could have thought that there was really gold in the underground river. Taking the gold ingot and put it on the shore, Qian Jing excitingly smiled and said: “The water here is clearer than the front, it should still have gold, I will go to look for them again.”
The water in the underground river was ice cold, he was already staying in the water for a period of time, his lips already became somewhat purple. Looking that he wanted to go down and dive again, Zhuo Qing hurriedly said: “No need, these are already enough proof, you come up, ok.”
Qian Jing opened his big eyes, unhappily answered: “There are gold but I can not pick them up, it is very unfortunate, ok.” 50 liang of gold, ye, he had to catch several people for that money, there was 50 liang of gold ah.
Strictly speaking, he wanted to go down and dive again, Zhuo Qing was half annoyed, lowly roared and said: “Qian Jing! You want money but do not want your life la! These gold are the government money, they will not be yours even if you pull them out, you come up quickly.” He was already beginning to tremble when he was speaking, he unexpectedly did not agree to climb ashore either, he really liked money so much!!
Listening that the gold would still be transferred to the authorities, Qian Jing was disappointed and curled his lip, finally climbed up the shore,
Dan Yu Lan collected the gold ingot that Qian Jing found, this piece was quite intact, so he could see clearly at the bottom of the gold ingot to see the seal ‘State Treasury Government Money’ on the stamp, this was definitely the gold that was lost during that time.
Taking the gold and hold it in his hand, Dan Yu Lan slightly low voice said unhurriedly: “Since there is a clue in the gold case, I will report to the Imperial household immediately, this will be investigated thoroughly again.”
This meant that the Dynasty would be necessary to experience the wind and rain. (Trail and hardship).
*****
Dan Yu Lan returned to write the account book, Su Yu seemed to sustain injury during the army training, Gu Yun returned to the General’s manor hurriedly, Zhuo Qing overcame her boredom and returned to the Prime Minister’s manor. The time was still early, Zhuo Qing intended to return to Lan Yue building to catch up on sleep.
Walking to the lane at the Prime Minister’s manor, her ears heard the vague melodious zither sound, it was a little gloomier when compared to the zither, the mellow sound was pleasant to listen also, as if one soft hand was stroking your thought. The sound of the zither had the same kind of popular feeling to appease the strength, Zhuo Qing did not understand any stringed instrument and she was not a music expert either. But she could be captivated by this type of low chant of the zither, her feet unconsciously went to the direction of the place where the zither sound was.
The zither sound came from Lou Xi Wu’s courtyard, who would have thought that Lou Xi Wu unexpectedly had this skill to play the zither, she was sure enough a famous family daughter, she really admired her.
This was also the first time that Zhuo Qing entered Lou Xi Wu’s courtyard, the bright and beautiful Indian Azalea flowers were planted everywhere inside the courtyard, just in time for the flowering season, the color of the delicate flowers that decorated the courtyard was splendid and magnificent.
There was a big pavilion in the middle of the courtyard, there were thin light muslins floating in the all four sides, she could vaguely see Lou Xi Wu’s beautiful silhouette. Zhuo Qing sniggered, this young girl could still create this type of atmosphere, it looked like there was no appearance that resembled a noisy, rude and unreasonable girl like in normal time, she was rather classy.
Approaching to look again, she discovered that there was still another white silk silhouette in front of the courtyard, his back was towards her, the white snowy clothes, black hair as if it was black ink, free and at ease. Accompanying and sitting on the ground, his knees were supporting the dark red zither, slender and delicate forefingers were wandering on the stringed instrument, the beautiful melody was flowing, as it turned out, he was the one who was playing the zither!
The ink hair with the white clothes, the view of the back of this person, but he was already appeared clean, tranquil and with calm personalities, she could not see his appearance. Zhuo Qing nevertheless, already determined in her heart that this person was certainly indifferent and peaceful, a person with elegant and refined manners, she just had this feeling but she could not tell what the reason was.
Was he the person inside the Prime Minister’s manor?
The inside of the Prime Minister’s manor unexpectedly still had this kind of person, who…… was he?
