Chapter 1255: Investigate to the End (5)

Qi Xiuyuan took the letter and opened it. The Minister of Justice, who was making a report, immediately stopped and stood respectfully. Rong Xuan, Yan Du, and the others carefully glanced up as they stood there.

After quickly skimming through the letter, Qi Xiuyuan pulled out a piece of white paper. He picked up a red brush and wrote two words on it. Then, he took out a jade seal and stamped it before handing it to Eunuch Wan.

Knowing that he had done the right thing, Eunuch Wan was happy, but he did not show it on his face. After bowing, he took the paper before leaving.

Since the paper was stamped with the jade seal, it was considered an imperial edict. However, this imperial edict was obviously too casual. Hence, Eunuch Wan felt that it was better to keep a low profile in case some imperial censor came to disturb the Emperor tomorrow.

Eunuch Wan folded the piece of paper and placed it in another envelope. Then, he called his disciple over and asked him to deliver it to Queen Consort Rong personally.

Hence, Lord Bai, who had just thought of an excuse to leave, not only saw the guard who entered the palace to request an imperial edict, but also an eunuch beside him.

He watched helplessly as the eunuch took out a letter from his pocket and respectfully handed it to Queen Consort Rong.

When Mu Yangling opened it, she saw two big red words on it. She immediately handed the letter to Lord Bai with a smile and said, “Lord Bai, can I take him away now?”

Lord Bai looked at the red words on the paper and felt very helpless. That was the Emperor’s handwriting. As the Court of Judicial Review Minister, he was still certain of this.

“Your Highness, these prisoners are all vicious criminals. Why are you taking them away?”

Mu Yangling spat out two words. “Shopping!”

Lord Bai’s mouth fell open.

Hence, Mu Yangling got someone to change the dozen bandits and the assassin in black into clean clothes and ordered her men help them out of the prison.

They had all undergone severe torture. At this moment, even if the guards let go and let them walk freely, they would not be able to escape. Therefore, Mu Yangling did not get her men to shackle and chain them. Instead, she got them to support them as they walked.

When one of them saw that the person interrogating them was a woman, he immediately sneered and looked at Lord Bai. “Why? Are you sending a woman to interrogate us since the man’s whip didn’t work? Let me tell you, no matter what schemes you use, we won’t betray our adoptive father.”

Lord Bai snapped, “Watch your mouth. Do you know who this is? This is Queen Consort Rong!”

This time, everyone looked up and sized up Mu Yangling. After a while, they said, “Very good. We’ll remember you. If we manage to get out of here alive, you’ll be added to our assassination list.”

The corners of Mu Yangling’s mouth twitched, and she could not help but ask, “Are you really Qin Fang’s godson? I think you look more like Dumbo’s godson.”

Startled, the bandits asked, “Who’s Dumbo?”

Mu Yangling shook her head sincerely. “I don’t know. He’s just called Dumbo.”

Lord Bai’s cheeks twitched and he had to muster a lot of strength to suppress the smile on his face. As he took a closer look at the dozen or so prisoners, he felt that Queen Consort Rong was right. Having seen the sinister and cunning Qin Fang before, these people did not look like they were groomed by Qin Fang at all.

The assassin in black looked at Mu Yangling and said in a hoarse voice, “She’s messing with you.”

The bandits instantly glared at her angrily.

Mu Yangling turned around nonchalantly and said, “Let’s go. I’ll bring you to the streets to play.”

Lord Bai hesitated for a moment before decisively following them. After all, these dozen criminals were convicted of serious crimes. What if they lost them and allowed them to escape?

King Rong might get away with it, but not him.

With this thought in mind, Lord Bai followed them righteously. Then, as soon as he lifted the curtain of the carriage, he saw Qi Haoran’s big grin.

When Qi Haoran saw that it was Lord Bai, he instantly stopped smiling and asked, “Why are you here? This is my wife’s carriage!”

Lord Bai pointed outside with a wooden face and said, “Her Highness is taking away so many important criminals at once, so I have to follow her. Only then did I realize that my carriage was borrowed by King Rong this morning. I had no choice but to use Her Highness’s for the time being. Her Highness is somewhere ahead on a horse.”

When Mu Yangling, who was riding on a horse, heard Qi Haoran’s voice in the carriage, she immediately came over and bent down to ask, “Why are you here? Didn’t you say that you had something urgent to attend to?”

“That’s right. I’m also eager to know what urgent matter King Rong has to leave this important case behind. You have to know that King Rong is the person appointed by His Majesty to handle this case.” Lord Bai turned to Mu Yangling and said gently, “Your Highness, do you mind if I delay King Rong for a while? I really have a lot of questions that I want King Rong to answer.”

Qi Haoran had avoided Lord Bai early in the morning precisely because he didn’t want to face him. On the other hand, he was very curious to know why Ah Ling wanted to take away the criminals, which was why he showed up. Who knew that he would still be caught by Lord Bai?

Qi Haoran looked at his wife pitifully.

Mu Yangling immediately decided to side with her husband instead of reason. She coughed lightly and looked at Lord Bai apologetically. “I also have some matters to ask King Rong about this case. Lord Bai, you also know that King Rong hasn’t been home for the past few days because of this case. As such, there are many things that I haven’t had the time to ask. Why don’t you let me have King Rong first, Lord Bai?”

“Sure, sure. I’ll lend myself to you.” Before Mu Yangling could finish speaking, Qi Haoran nimbly dodged Lord Bai and sat on Ah Ling’s horse.

Lord Bai couldn’t bear to look at King Rong and could only helplessly lower the carriage curtain.

Qi Haoran sat behind Mu Yangling and hugged her. Although he really wanted to ride with Ah Ling, it wouldn’t be good to show his affection so brazenly in public. He could only wave his hand and ask the guard to send another horse over.

After Qi Haoran jumped onto another horse and sat down, he turned around and asked, “Are you really bringing them shopping?”

“Of course!”

Naturally, Mu Yangling couldn’t really take them shopping down the entire street. Instead, she went straight to a teahouse in the south of the city.

They got out of their carriages at the corner of the street and sat down in the teahouse.

Most of the people living in the south of the city were poor, and the slums of the capital were here. Therefore, most of the people who patronized this teahouse were ordinary folks. Here, an entire pot of tea cost just two copper coins.

Though Mu Yangling and the others were not dressed luxuriously, they did not look like the commoners in the teahouse. Naturally, they attracted everyone’s gaze.

However, Mu Yangling sat down on a long stool without any change in expression and said to everyone, “You guys sit down too.”

Then, she called the waiter over and ordered a table full of food.

The nosy waiter asked, “Why did you come to the south of the city to drink tea? With your status, you should go to the city or the east of the city.”

Just like what Mu Yangling had instructed him early in the morning, the guard replied, “Our master likes to listen to stories. Recently, Qin Fang’s matter has caused an uproar. I heard that the commoners in the south of the city have suffered because of Qin Fang, so our master is curious and came here to take a look.”

When the dozen or so prisoners heard this, they were about to flare up, but the guards sitting beside them immediately placed their knives on their waists and said in a low voice, “Her Highness has given us instructions prior to this. If you keep quiet, you’ll return unscathed. If you cause trouble, we don’t mind using you people to appease the people. Since it’s not like you’re going to spill anything anyway, maybe you’d be more useful dead than alive.”

There was a guard each behind the dozen or so prisoners. When they heard this, their bodies stiffened. When they thought about how their deaths would be of value to the Great Qi royal family, they immediately gave up any thoughts of dying.

Seeing that they were sitting obediently, the guards moved their knives away slightly.