chsdbacks Chapter 58 It wasn't stealing, it was borrowing.
Chapter 58 It wasn't stealing, it was borrowing.
Ye Qingxue remained silent for a long time before asking, "How did Gu Changshan survive?"
"He shouldn't have been in that supply corps. He was probably somewhere else, perhaps he discovered something. Later, he stole the token and the fragments of the breathing exercises from the Eastern Palace and escaped, but was chased and killed on the way, eventually dying in a cave."
"What do the token and the fragments of the breathing exercise have to do with this?"
Lin Yan thought for a moment, then spoke:
"That fragment belongs to the Crown Prince's palace. Gu Changshan reached the third rank in just a few years using this technique. This technique is very likely a secret passed down in the Crown Prince's palace, accessible only to his confidants. The token is a token; holding it allows one to mobilize the Crown Prince's forces."
"So Gu Changshan stole the token and the fragment to prevent the Crown Prince from rapidly cultivating his trusted henchmen, and also to prevent him from using the token to mobilize people to continue framing others?"
"It could also be to preserve evidence."
Ye Qingxue picked up the black jade tablet and examined it several times.
Then she looked up.
"Lin Yan, I need to investigate this matter."
"Investigate the Crown Prince's Palace?"
"Investigate the Crown Prince's Palace."
Lin Yan looked into her eyes. She didn't look away; her eyes were still red, but her gaze was steady.
How will you investigate?
"Let's start by investigating that secret letter from back then. The letter was sent out by the Crown Prince's Office of Imperial Sacrifices, and the head of the Office of Imperial Sacrifices was surnamed Lu. Wu Baichuan's supplier for reselling military rations was that person surnamed Lu. As long as we find that person surnamed Lu, we can follow the clues and find more information."
"The man surnamed Lu has been escorted back to Beijing."
"I know. But he still left a lot of people in the north. Although Yongfeng was raided, the account books are still there. Those account books record more than just the sale of military rations. I had someone check the household registration office. Yongfeng operated in Zhenbei City for seven or eight years, and its business ranged from medicinal herbs to ironware to horses.
"You suspect that the Crown Prince's palace has been in contact with the Northern Barbarians?"
Ye Qingxue nodded. "If it were just something that happened seven years ago, the Yongfeng wouldn't have needed to be so deeply rooted in the Northern Territory. The fact that they've been here for seven or eight years means that this passage has been in use all along."
Lin Yan stood up and paced around the courtyard for a few steps.
The wound on my right shoulder is a little itchy, which is a sign that it is healing.
"To check Yongfeng's account books, we need the military government's approval. As for Governor Cao..."
"Governor Cao will not approve it."
Ye Qingxue interrupted him, "Yongfeng is the Crown Prince's property. If the military government investigates it, it's openly going against the Crown Prince. Governor Cao can deal with Wu Baichuan because the evidence against Wu Baichuan is conclusive. But Yongfeng's account books involve too many things, so he might not be willing to touch them."
"How do you want to investigate?"
"Investigate in a private capacity. After Yongfeng was raided, the account books were sealed in the household registration office in Zhenbeicheng, with a three-day gap for transferring the files. During these three days, whoever can go in and copy a copy can obtain evidence."
Lin Yan stopped and turned to look at Ye Qingxue.
She sat on the stone bench, the moonlight shining on her face, making her appear even whiter.
"You've come to me to ask me to steal the account books for you?"
"It's not stealing. How can you call our business stealing?"
Ye Qingxue put away the letter and the jade tablet, and said, "It's a loan. Borrow it for one day, and return it after you've read it. But the door to the household office isn't a place for ordinary people to enter."
The storeroom door was a seven-ring lock made by the Imperial Workshop of the Great Yan Dynasty, requiring two people to turn the key simultaneously to open it. One person was present, while the other pushed the trigger from the outside.
"Can you pick locks?"
"When my mother was in the Imperial Household Department, besides doing embroidery, she also helped clean the study and storeroom. She had seen the principle of the seven-ring lock and taught me about it. But without the hearing of a True Qi Realm cultivator, she couldn't tell where the lock rings were stuck."
Lin Yan understood, "You need someone at the True Qi Realm to help you listen to the lock."
"right."
Lin Yan thought for a moment, "Tonight?"
"At the third watch tonight, the old clerk on night duty in the Revenue Department will change shifts. There will be a fifteen-minute break between shifts, and no one will be on the warehouse side."
Lin Yan went back to her room, told her mother, changed into a dark-colored short-sleeved shirt, and took the roll of wound medicine with her.
The two left the small courtyard and walked along the shadows at the base of the city wall toward the houses on the east side of the town's north side.
The night wind was cold, and there were few pedestrians on the street. Occasionally, soldiers on night patrol would pass by the alleyway with torches in hand. The two men pressed themselves against the wall and waited for the patrol to pass by.
Ye Qingxue walked ahead, her steps light, just like when she was at Qipanling.
When they reached the alley behind the house, Ye Qingxue whispered, "This is it."
There is a small locked door in the backyard of the house.
Ye Qingxue took out two thin iron needles from her sleeve, inserted them into the keyhole and twisted them a few times. The door lock opened with a slight, crisp sound.
The two slipped inside and crept along the corridor to the warehouse door.
The warehouse door was much thicker than the courtyard gate, and a round copper plate with seven ring patterns was embedded in the door panel.
"This is a seven-ring lock."
Ye Qingxue lowered her voice, "There are seven layers of iron rings inside, each ring is stuck in a groove. When you turn the key, you have to push the rings open one by one. You can hear the sound of the rings locking into their grooves from the outside, a total of seven sounds, each sound corresponding to a different ring position, if you miss one, it won't open."
Lin Yan pressed his ear against the copper plate and spread out the "Viewing the Mountain" instrument.
The sounds of footsteps, wind, and distant coughs of night patrolmen were all filtered out, leaving only the mechanical sounds from inside the bronze plate.
"The first ring. The second ring is in the top left corner, and the third ring is—"
Ye Qingxue turned the lock disc according to the position he gave.
With each turn, a soft clicking sound came from the lock cylinder. After seven clicks, the door opened.
The warehouse was dark, with only moonlight filtering in through the windows.
A row of shelves against the wall was filled with account books, labeled with the year and the business name. Ye Qingxue lit a small candle and searched through the books on the shelf.
"Here it is. Yongfeng, from the 32nd to the 34th year of the Wu Lie era, a total of three volumes."
Ye Qingxue pulled out the account book, and then pulled out a thin brown paper bag from another bookshelf.
"What is this?"
"The legal list of Yongfeng Firm. A detailed list must be made for all the shops that have been seized, specifying all the deeds, inventory, and business partners under the shop's name."
Ye Qingxue opened the brown paper bag and pulled out an old yellow paper.
It's not a property deed.
It is a list.
The list was densely packed with the names of dozens of people, some of whom were already blurred and illegible.
The top line reads: "The Court of Imperial Sacrifices has capable men in the northern border."
Ye Qingxue's hands began to tremble.
Lin Yan took the list and glanced at it, noticing several familiar names.
The first one is Wu Bochuan.
Further down, there were a few people he didn't recognize, but their positions were clearly marked: former Deputy Commander of the Rui Battalion, Head of the Criminal Division of the Zhenbeicheng County Government, and Manager of the Qingfengxiang Branch Office.
"These people are scattered everywhere—in the military, county government offices, and businesses," Ye Qingxue said. "If this list is handed over to Governor Cao, it will prove that the Crown Prince has laid a complete dark network in the northern border."
"But we can't hand it over now, it would alert them."
Ye Qingxue folded the list neatly and put it in her arms.
Then he opened one of Yongfeng's account books and turned to the last page.