The King of Qin rested his elbow on the armrest, propped up his chin and looked at Li Wenshan with an expression that said "I knew you were stupid, but I didn't think you'd be this stupid".

  Jin Cuiyan's face was twisted in a strange expression, as if she had already reached the extreme of speechlessness. Lu Yi turned his face away, desperately holding back laughter. Gu Liu kept blinking her eyes non-stop. Li Wu said, "Doesn't this sound wrong? His father has no one to take care of him?"

  Guo Sheng stared at Li Wenshan, subconsciously glanced around, calmly staring at the toe of his shoe, this kid didn't have the right to speak here, well, this was probably what they called a childlike heart...

  After a while, Jin Shu spoke with a long sigh and suddenly poked Li Wenshan with his fan, "If Luo Zhongsheng heard you say that, he would have to knock himself dead!"

  Lu Yi couldn't help it, and burst out laughing, "Wu Lang, your father's side, from your eldest uncle to Luo Shuai Si, to... us few, really all took good care of you."

  "That's right, I said it, the more you listen to this, the more it doesn't sound right! You say that as soon as Lu General heard that something was going on at your house, he would be worried sick and definitely send someone over to take a look. Li Wu, are you speaking with a guilty conscience?" Gu Liu jumped up and slapped Li Wenshan's head with one palm.

  "Don't bother with him anymore, no matter what. As long as it involves his family members, especially Xia, he's bound to be extremely foolish." Qin Wang put down his arm and looked at Guo Sheng, "Since Li Wu has complained, I should take care of it. This small matter in the Hengshan County government office, you can handle it with more attention."

  Guo Sheng hastily bowed his head, "I dare not, Your Highness is too kind, it's just a matter of duty."

  "You're alone, just be careful, from now on, anything related to the Hengshan County government," Qin Wang looked at Lu Yi, "inform him."

  Lu Yi bowed his head in response.

  "You'd better hurry back now. The matter of the corpse has been exposed, let someone send him out of the city." These were Qin Wang's last words as he looked at Lu Yi and instructed.

  Guo Sheng hastily knelt down and bid farewell. Qin Wang made a hand gesture to Li Wenshan, "You go, see off this Master."

  Lu Yi took Li Wenshan and Guo Sheng out of the small courtyard, handed Guo Sheng over to Cheng Ying, and bowed his hands with a smile: "I won't see you off far, let Wu Lang send you out."

  Guo Sheng Chang bowed deeply to thank Lu Yi, and walked forward shoulder-to-shoulder with Li Wen Shan. Seeing Cheng Ying and several other attendants retreat far away, he understood that they were leaving some space for the host and guest to have a private conversation.

  "Everything is fine at home, Fifth Master doesn't need to worry." Time was limited, so Guo Sheng got straight to the point. "There are two things: first, I've taken the initiative to visit Jiangning Prefecture and reminded Li Fu, Fifth Master can rest assured."

  Li Wenshan let out a sigh of relief. He was anxious to recover from his illness, and also eager to find Mr. Qin and ask him to remind his uncle...

  "Secondly, this matter, today's incident, doesn't need to be mentioned to Mr. Qin, he doesn't need to know about it, and it shouldn't be discussed with anyone else either. Those who should know already do, and those who don't are not supposed to know. Also, from now on, anything you hear or see while serving the prince, not a single word is to be leaked out, remember that." Guo Sheng paused for a moment, "As the saying goes, 'a minister's lack of discretion leads to his downfall'."

  Li Wenshan nodded continuously, "Don't worry, sir. I understand this. Sir, regarding your father, you must take extra care."

  "Master Wu, rest assured." Guo Sheng's mouth curled up in a smile as he nodded towards the small courtyard, "It's all settled, no one will be at a disadvantage. At home... what else does Master Wu have to worry about? Just put your mind at ease."

  "Alright, I'll be counting on you, sir." Li Wenshan was about to bow and leave when Guo Sheng grasped his hand. "No need for formalities, Fifth Master. Hurry back now. Before this case is settled, please follow the arrangements made by His Highness, don't go out, don't see outsiders, and don't take matters into your own hands. After all, one must prioritize the proper order of things."

  "I know, thank you Mr. Li." Li Wenshan thanked him again and wanted to send him off further, but was stopped by Guo Sheng, who watched as Guo Sheng quickly walked away with big strides.

  ………………

  Watching Lu Yi leave the courtyard with Li Wenshan and Guo Sheng, Qin Wang looked at Jin Xuyan, who was also looking at him. The two of them almost simultaneously burst out laughing. Gu Liu looked puzzled, "What are you laughing about? Laughing at Li Wu?"

  "Scoff at you!" Jin Zuo spoke disdainfully and scorned Gu Liu with a sentence, looking at Qin Wang: "From Zheng Cao's place, start from here?"

  "Hmm, this Li Wu and that Guo Sheng are quite good, just what I was worried about, sent right to my doorstep. Let Feng Ge arrange it, Feng Ge is really skilled at arranging such things, I heard it's a family tradition?"

  "Isn't his family's traditional kung fu just about pretending to be a pretty girl?" Gu Liu added.

  The King of Qin burst out laughing and pointed at Gu Liu, "I'll definitely tell Feng Ge about this later."

  ………………

  The Magistrate of the Waterworks Department, Ma San, strode into the Waterworks Yamen through the side gate, ran quickly to the second gate and asked to see Zheng, the Waterworks Commissioner.

  Zheng Zuo had just finished his breakfast and ordered Ma San to come in. Ma San paid his respects, glanced around the room, and said, "Master, it's an urgent matter."

  Zheng Cuo nodded and raised his hand to dismiss the maidservants, "Speak, have you found any solid clues?"

  It just so happens that Hou Wu, a loafer who hangs around Nancheng, came to see me early this morning. He said that yesterday at noon, he was having tea at Cuishan Teahouse and happened to sit next to Li Wuya's attendant, Wutong, from the Hengshan County government office. As soon as Wutong sat down, before his tea had even arrived, a man sat down across from him. Wutong took out a paper tube from his sleeve and handed it to the man, who opened it and looked at it. Then Wutong pulled out a small piece of paper from his sleeve and pushed it over to the man, saying that he had searched everywhere in the prison and was certain that the name on the paper matched the one on the list.

  Just then, Tea Doctor sent tea over, and the small piece of paper was brought to the ground. The man took a few glances, handed a silver note to Wutong, and left. Hou Qi said that people came and went, and the small piece of paper arrived at his place. He hurriedly stepped on it with his foot, picked it up and took a look, and surprisingly, it was Zhao Hongqing's name.

  Hou Qi said that Zhao Hongqing was a fellow scholar and they often met to discuss literature in the past. Zhao Hongqing is from Xikou Town, Hengshan County. His elder sister married into the Hu family of Qiaotou Town, Yanquan County. The third son of the Hu family now works as a clerk in the Constitutional Court.

  Ma San said, holding up a piece of paper and handing it over.

  Zheng Cuo took the note, stood up and ordered: "Go invite Mr. Yuan, come to the study room immediately!"

  Mr. Yuan arrived very quickly.

  The little servant boy brought a bowl of strong tea soup to Mr. Yuan and retreated to the door, standing guard outside.

  "Take a look at this." Zheng Cao handed the paper to Mr. Yuan, briefly telling him what Ma San had said, "...I'm afraid it's not good news."

  "Dong Weng, that case in Shanyin County, it's said that the abbot of Ning'an Temple and Zhao Chen's wife had an affair, and killed a young monk who stumbled upon their secret. I've always felt that there might be more to this story than meets the eye." Mr. Yuan listened intently, then spoke up about the case in Shanyin County.

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