Jiaohua

Chapter 1621 She is pregnant
After Xia Zhaoyi climbed over the inner wall from the corner, she discovered that there were traps everywhere that could take a person's life.

She walked carefully, making her way to the back of the house by sound.

The windows of the side rooms, the secondary rooms, and the end rooms were all locked and could not be opened. Once, she was almost pierced by a silver needle.

Finally, she climbed onto the roof and eavesdropped from there.

A man's voice came from inside; he had just come from the residence of the Minister of Rites.

A dignified female voice said, "Lord Liu, in fact, there are many people in the world who can successfully deduce the celestial constellation map, not just those two deceased friends. In the Chongmen sect, as well as the Wangxing Sect and Yuanhe Sect, there are at least five more people who can deduce it."

Lord Liu said, "This junior official has a clean background and has no connection with the Chongmen faction, the Wangxing Sect, or the Yuanhe Sect."

The woman said, "You mean..."

“I’m thinking, could we recruit him? Perhaps the old gentleman needs someone like him.”

The woman flatly rejected the idea: "Now is not the time to recruit talent. The more people there are, the less stable things will be. Lord Liu, have you found Zeng Yuanzhi, whom I asked you to find?"

Lord Liu said, “We’re almost there. After Ren Qingshu resigned and left, Zeng Yuanzhi remained in the Ministry of Rites’ Food Service Department. Later, he wasn’t on the list of the Six Ministries that accompanied Li Ju to Hebei. After Li Ju left, Song Zhiyi entered the capital, and Zeng Yuanzhi stayed in the capital, unaffected by the turmoil. I found out his previous residence and heard that he had prepared ample food rations before the incident and even helped his former colleagues afterward. Later, his house was forcibly taken away by the court, and he and the residents of that neighborhood were driven to the west of the city. In recent years, the west of the city has been undergoing demolition and renovation, with tens of thousands of people crowding there, making it difficult to investigate quickly. Now, with the matter of Madam Yan, the Ministry of Rites is very busy, and I am frequently summoned by the Emperor, so this detailed investigation will probably take several more days.”

Xia Zhaoyi was slightly taken aback when she heard Ren Qingshu's name.

Ren Qingshu was once Li Qian's Minister of Rites. He resigned and returned home. He was assassinated when he left the capital and arrived in Fenghe County. Half of his hand was cut off.

What is the relationship between Zeng Yuanzhi and Ren Qingshu?

The woman said, "You just need to find him; you don't need to worry about anything else for now."

Lord Liu said, "Very well, but June 23rd is approaching. Do you have any plans, sir?"

The woman said, "Yes."

She didn't say anything else.

Liu Renshu had no choice but to stand up: "Then, I will go back first."

The woman didn't leave immediately; she remained sitting inside.

After a while, she picked up her teacup.

Summer tea cools slowly. She sighed, sipped her tea slowly, and seemed lost in thought.

Not long after, someone came in from outside.

A slightly younger man asked, "What brings Liu Renshu here?"

The woman briefly summarized Liu Renshu's words.

The man said, "If it is true, then that minor official is quite talented. There aren't many people in this world who can deduce the celestial constellations."

The woman said, "It's not important right now."

"Yes, but we can keep that in mind. If we need it in the future, we can find him. Unlike now, it takes so much effort to find Zeng Yuanzhi."

The woman looked at him but didn't say anything.

There was a brief silence in the room, then the woman said, "What did the old gentleman want with you just now?"

"It's my lord's business."

The woman immediately frowned: "What is it, my lord?"

“It’s still the Qiao family,” the man said in a deep voice. “The heads of the Liao, Wei, and Jin families are getting old and each has their own grievances. Our lord has run out of pills and doesn’t have enough Qiao family members to spare.”

The woman said, "It's getting harder and harder to find people with the surname Qiao. There are a bunch in Yunliang, but Shen Lie has a lot of troops there."

"Yes, Shen An intercepted us."

The woman was somewhat indignant: "The old man mentioned to our lord long ago that what we need are not swordsmen like the Fang family, but real clan soldiers and elite troops. If we had military power, why would we be hiding like this? We should just storm Chuanyunliang and capture all those people surnamed Qiao."

The man shook his head: "It's not that simple."

"How difficult is it?"

"Which of our ancestors wasn't a soldier under our lord's command?"

The woman remained silent. The man continued, "And now, who isn't being supported by the lord? The Fang family complains when they receive less, the Liao family doesn't have the same standing as the Chen family in the lord's eyes, and they're constantly causing trouble. The old gentleman is also constantly viewed with suspicion by the lord. The lord dislikes the Wei family the most, but he can't do without them either."

After a pause, the man corrected, "No, our lord despises the Qiao family the most. You have seen what happened to the Qiao family. One family like that is enough."

The woman asked, "What are your plans now, sir?"

"There's no solution yet, but he regrets it."

"What do you regret?"

"I regret not treating the Qiao family like dogs. The army can't support them, but raising a few dogs is no problem."

The woman nodded: "In that case, we won't have to worry about not having enough people."

The word "use" reminded Xia Zhaoyi of the coffins on the Kuozhou River and the corpses in the pillars of the Qianqiu Palace.

In their eyes, the Qiao family were not human beings, but rather livestock and sacrificial offerings.

She listened for a while longer, but the rest of the conversation between the man and woman was mostly filled with insults and contempt towards the Qiao family.

However, the man mentioned Yan Qinglin's funeral before leaving.

Yan Qinglin's execution took place on June 23rd, very hastily, catching everyone off guard, just like her death. Their manpower was temporarily stretched thin, and the next two days would be focused on this matter.

After the man left, the woman remained sitting alone in the room for a long time before finally getting up and leaving.

Xia Zhaoyi, hiding on the roof, felt something was amiss.

Neither Liu Renshu nor the man who came later mentioned the men sent by Wang Yitai when they spoke to each other.

Their location had clearly been exposed; several of Wang Yitai's men had died there, but they seemed unconcerned.

However, their target in Beijing was precisely that batch of treasures from Hengxiang, which Wei Xingchuan was very interested in.

No one came into the house below. As the night grew deeper, Xia Zhaoyi climbed over the roof ridge and went down from the front.

It was pitch black, with only the moonlight providing illumination.

Xia Zhaoyi followed the direction in which the man had come in and left.

She stopped silently at the corner.

Footsteps came from around the corner.

As soon as he turned around, Xia Zhaoyi stepped forward and, with swift movements, snapped his neck in an instant.

Xia Zhaoyi silently put the man down, then touched him and found a key.

It's unclear what kind of key it was, but she took it nonetheless.

After knocking down three more people, Xia Zhaoyi found her way to the back courtyard.

This house is not a regular square building; the back courtyard is located in the northwest corner where the house extends outwards.

The area is heavily guarded, with people hiding in the shadows keeping watch.

Xia Zhaoyi quickly determined that Nangong Qiuming should be in that room disguised as a storage room.

Or perhaps it's in a secret passage beneath the house.

Just then, the door to the storage room opened, and a tall, slender woman walked out.

The moonlight fell perfectly on the woman's stunningly beautiful face.

Xia Zhaoyi frowned slightly, somewhat surprised; her eyebrows were crimson.

The only courtesan in Hengxiang Yanchun Pavilion once kidnapped Tu Xiaoxi and her friends, attempting to sell them as orphans. She also helped the Qian family in Huanglu County search for the Qiao family.

She also has a very special identity: Shi Yingying's daughter and Shen An's half-sister.

Hengxiang has been searching for her for many years, but there has been no news of her.

She trafficked so many girls; she deserves the death penalty.

But Xia Zhaoyi's gaze fell on her lower abdomen, which was swollen high; she was pregnant.