Chapter 19

After less than a quarter of an hour, Yan Shi returned.

    "Brother, how are you? Are you hurt? I was really scared to death just now, why did you suddenly run after that man? You didn't even say hello, do you know how worried I was." As soon as Hua Ling saw Yan Shi, he talked incessantly, with an undisguised urgency on his face and a tone full of worry.

    Seeing the young princess appearance, Yan Shi's heart softened, and there was a hint of guilt: "I made you worry."

    "It's good to know that I'm worried, so will you still this not do this in the future?" The little wangfei was able to climb up the ladder by following the pole, and would not rest until he got a satisfactory answer.

    "I will definitely put my own safety and security first in the future." There was a hint of doting in Yan Shi's words that even he didn't notice.

    As he spoke, he had arrived at the place where the man had disappeared, and Yan Shi squatted beside Jiang Qingyue: "Have you found anything?"

    "Yes," Jiang Qingyue pointed to a silver needle on the ground with his hand, "I suspect that this silver needle has corpse-melting water on one end, and the murderer used this silver needle to kill people. When he finished killing people, he then took the silver needle when the people were panicking and no one was looking. The murderer did not have time to take the silver needle away because he happened to meet His Highness after this crime."

    When Hua Ling heard that the silver needle on the ground might have been contaminated with corpse water, he pulled Yan Shi back a few steps.

    Yan Shi patted him comfortingly and wanted to go up and take a look again, but Hua Ling's hand tightly gripped his arm and wouldn't let him move a single inch, so Yan Shi had to stand still and said, "That man's kung fu is very high, so I let him escape before I fought him.

    There was a pharmacy not far from here, and Yan Shi went there to buy a small porcelain vial containing medicine. He had to do this, as neither Hua Ling nor Jiang Qingyue knew martial arts, and the strength of their hands was definitely not as accurate as his, and they did not know how strong the corpse-transforming water left on the silver needle was.

    "Phew-" Hua Ling let out a long breath and patted his chest with his hand, unable to help but complain, "You've got me worried again." It was clear that you had just said that you would never let me worry again.

    Yan Shi smiled faintly and actually joked, "I have worried your ladyship again, so damn it damn it."

    Hua Ling's face reddened slightly, and he opened his mouth to say something else, but nothing came out.

    The three of them slowly walked towards the royal residence, while Yan Shi and Jiang Qingyue were still discussing the case.

    "Your Highness," Jiang Qingyue said, "they actually killed someone in this night market today, I think it must be nearing the day they are going to actually do something."

    Yan Shi looked up at the moon, "Looks like we have to hurry."

    After arriving at Ruiying Wangfu, Yan Shi excused himself to have something to do and asked Hua Ling to go back to Nuanyang Pavilion first.

    After Jiang Qingyue and Yan Shi were left alone, Yan Shi said, "Qingyue, do you have something to say to me?"

    "It's His Highness who understands me." A smile appeared on Jiang Qingyue's face, then he added, "I'm afraid that this case has something to do with seizing the throne." He still couldn't fully trust Hua Ling.

    "The patrol battalion is Prince Mu's people, so if he wanted to do something, he could have done it without going to such great lengths." Yan Shi said, "Then it's only Prince Zhaoge and Prince Yan Sheng, but what exactly do they want to do?"

    Jiang Qingyue said, "Prince Mu can't be ruled out completely, he has always been meticulous, so there's no guarantee that this isn't a cover-up. But whether it's related to seizing the throne or not, they will definitely make some moves in the near future, and this city gate must be well controlled to prevent the smuggling of forbidden goods."

    While Yan Shi was discussing the case with Jiang Qingyue, Hua Ling had already returned to Nuan Yang Pavilion.

    Mute Sister looked behind her and made sure he was alone before saying, "Why are you the only one back?"

    Hua Ling couldn't keep the joy out of his face, "I've been with my brother all day today, and he'll be here later." This was something that he had never even dared to think about before.

    "Outrageous." Mute Sister bristled and brought over a plate of dim sum, "I made it today, try it."

    Hua Ling pinched a piece and put it in his mouth, "If people in the jianghu knew that you spend your days in the kitchen making dim sum, I wonder how many people would laugh off."

    Sister Mute gave him a chestnut on the head, "Little beast, I am doing this for you. Besides, if anyone dares to laugh at me, I'll beat him to death!"

    Hua Ling rubbed his head and laughed for a while, then he told her all about what had happened today.

    Mute Sister listened and said, "I can't believe that the man beside the Prince is really good at finding out about this corpse water. However, it is rumoured that the corpse water has been extinct for a hundred years, so I don't know who has it now."

    When it comes to business, Hua Ling slowly put away the smile on his face, "A hundred years ago, the only people who had the secret recipe for the Corpse Water were the Blood Moon Divine Sect and the Ghost Spirit Sect, although these two sects had been wiped out at that time, there is no guarantee that there are no fish in the net. Go check on their descendants and see if you can get any clues."

    Because he was afraid that Yan Shi might return at any moment, Hua Ling and the mute sister did not dare to say much, and only finished the matter before the mute sister retreated.

    It didn't take long for Yan Shi to return, and Qing Ji also came looking for him, "Your Highness, someone came from the palace today."

    "Oh? Who is it?" Yan Shi asked.

    Qingji said, "The Empress sent someone to say that she is going to hold a flower appreciation banquet in the palace tomorrow and invite the Crown Princess to attend."

    The Successor Empress loved flowers and held a flower viewing banquet every year. The concubines and princesses of the palace and the wives or ladies of the dignitaries in the imperial city were invited to attend. Hua Ling had not married in previous years, so he had not been invited. But this year, he was married, so naturally he was on the list of invitees.

    The men had to be married and Yan Shi was the welcoming party, so he could not attend. As Hua Ling is the only one going tomorrow, Yan Shi is vaguely worried.

    But the young princess looked as if he didn't care at all: "Mother likes me very much, nothing will happen." Of course it would be fine, it was just a small banquet to enjoy the flowers. Tomorrow, he would make a good stir.

    Looking at Hua Ling's innocent smiling face, Yan Shi's uneasy heart gradually calmed down. Tomorrow, there would be too many people and the Emperess would probably not be able to bother him, so he would be fine.

    As a precaution, Yan Shi explained to Hua Ling what he had to pay attention to and what he should say and what he should not say. Finally, he took a jade bracelet out of a box: "If you meet Huajia tomorrow, give this to her for me. Tell her that all is well with her brother and that she need not worry about him."

    Yan Shi had bought this jade bracelet for a long time, but had never had the chance to give it to Princess Huojia.

    At the time of Queen Yuan's accident, Yan Shi was eight years old and Princess Huijia was only four. It was customary for royal sons and princesses to be given to the Empress to raise. The emperor also had to send them to his successor. The Emperor was angry and left him alone in Zhengyang Palace, giving him a personal eunuch, Qingji.

    As for Princess Huijia, she was still young and did not know much about the feud between the previous Empress (T/N: Queen Yuan, Yan shi's mother) and the succeeding Empress, so she did not want to go if her brother did not. However, because she was so young, she did not behave in the way that Yan Miao did. At that time, concubine De had just had a miscarriage and the imperial physician had concluded that she had injured her health and would not be able to have any more children in her life, so when she saw the situation that Yan Miao's brother and sister had found themselves in, she was moved by compassion. But she could not raise a son, so she could only plead with the Emperor to let him raise Princess Hujia.

    The concubine was in favour at the time, and the Emperor granted her request as she could no longer bear children. To this day, the Princess is still in the palace of the concubine. Later on, the number of young and beautiful concubines in the palace increased, and the concubine had long since fallen out of favour.

    Yan Shi knows what life is like for the disgraced concubines and imperial sons in the palace, and Princess Huijia has grown up without a single piece of decent jewellery. In the past, Yan Shi did not have any silver in his hand and could not leave the palace, so he could not give his sister anything. Now that he has left the palace to build a house, he is naturally thinking of her.

    As for the concubine, it was not that Yan Shi did not want to give her something, but as a grown-up prince and a concubine in the palace, he was afraid that people would gossip if he gave her something. He can only repay the favour later.

    Hua Ling carefully wrapped the bracelet in a small handkerchief, then tucked it into his arms and patted it, "Don't worry brother, I will definitely give it to my sister."

    Yan Shi smiled, "Thank you very much."

    "Brother, don't be so out of touch with me, Huo Jia is your sister, which means my sister." Hua Ling paused for a moment, "Speaking of which, tomorrow is the first time I see my sister, so I should give her some gifts. But what should I give her? The shops outside have long since closed, so it will be too late to go shopping tomorrow. I don't have anything for women in my dowry either."

    Looking at Hua Ling's anxiousness, Yan Shi's heart felt ironic: "It's alright, Huajia won't blame you."

    "But I can't live with myself." If only my mother were here, I could borrow something from her, but now I don't even have anything for a woman."

    The sweat on Hua Ling's head was coming down and Yan Shi couldn't help but say, "What about your mother's dowry?" It was not that he wanted Hua Ling to choose a few items from his mother's dowry to give to Huo Jia, but when he heard what Hua Ling said, he thought there was something strange about it and asked.

    "My mother prepared a dowry for me, and there is nothing for women in it." Hua Ling replied. Yan Shi really did not know how much dowry Hua Ling had, but at that time he was unhappy with the marriage, so he left it in the hands of Qingji.

    Yan Shi felt more and more that this was not right: "I mean your birth mother's dowry."

    Hua Ling gave him a puzzled look, it seemed that this little fool really didn't understand, so Yan Shi gave him a general explanation of the law in this regard. According to the Great Abyss Dynasty, the dowry was the private property of the marrying party, and the husband's family could not use it. If the bride died, the husband's family could not use it, and the dowry was to be left to his children.

    For those like Hua Ling who married over, their mother's dowry was also to be brought over with them, but in this case, it was not.