Besides lying down, I also know a little about power struggles

Chapter 72: Not Like a Fool
"Tea lady?" Feng Twelve's eyes darkened. "Where is she?"

The guard hesitated and said, "There are two tea ladies in the teahouse, but neither of them has ever been to the second floor."

Feng Twelve stopped.

The guard lowered his head and said, "They were all in the lobby at the time. I, Hu Zi, and several other guests saw it with our own eyes."

Feng Twelve continued to walk up: "Is there any other exit from the teahouse?"

"There is a side door in the lobby that leads to the backyard. I have just checked it out and there is nothing unusual."

Feng Twelve arrived at the door of the private room and looked inside.

The tables and chairs in the house were still arranged as they were when he left, except for a wooden plate on the floor with many pine nuts scattered on it.

Feng Twelve stood by the door: "This is how you came up?"

"Yes." The guard whispered, "I failed in my duty. Your Highness, please punish me."

"Let's talk about it when we get back." Feng Twelve slowly walked into the house.

The sun has set outside the window. A thin layer of dusk spreads on the floor. Pine nuts shine with oil and a faint scent of pine floats in the room.

Feng Twelve's eyes moved across the floor inch by inch, as if he wanted to count all the pine nuts on the ground one by one.

"There are traces of someone sitting down on the floor near the chair. It should be Fang Tong." Feng Twelve took a few steps in the opposite direction of where the wooden tray fell. "Most of the pine nuts are scattered on her side, but there are also some on this side. They should be thrown by her."

Xiao Nian followed behind him and asked in a low voice: "According to this, the falling leaves were in front and the pine nuts were thrown in the back. Your Highness, could it be that Miss Fang grabbed a handful of pine nuts to fight back against the bad guys? But what good are pine nuts? Why didn't she ask for help earlier?"

"She is not someone without a strong opinion," Feng Twelve said, "The other party must have a weapon and could kill her at any time, so she didn't dare to speak rashly."

Xiaonian looked at the marks on the ground and said, "That is to say, Miss Fang's life was threatened at first, but the other party did not kill her immediately. Later, she threw out the pine nuts and gained a little space, and then she shouted for help?"

Feng Twelve's eyes swept towards the door. "She shouted 'Help' and ran to the door. A dozen pine nuts fell from here to the door. They must have stuck to her skirt and were carried over by her."

"She ran to the door, why didn't she come out?" Xiaonian was puzzled. "The door was neither bolted nor locked."

Feng Twelve walked back to the door and looked outside: "Light the lamp."

Several candles were lit. Xiaonian and several guards, each holding a candlestick, followed Feng Twelve out of the private room.

Feng Twelve walked a distance deeper into the corridor and stopped in front of a door.

He bent down and picked up a small pine nut from the ground, then reached out and pushed open the door in front of him.

This was also a private room. There was no one in the room. There was a window on the side facing an alley.

"Your Highness, there are pine nuts here too." Xiaonian used candlelight to illuminate the ground and found another one.

Feng Twelve glanced out the window.

"She was knocked unconscious before she could leave the house. In order to avoid being seen, the other party brought her to this room and escaped through the window."

Xiaonian went to the window and looked down: "The terrain here is not high, but if you want to jump down with someone, your Qinggong must be quite good."

Feng Twelve's eyes were gloomy as he scanned the deep alley outside the window: "Leave two people to search nearby, and the rest of you follow me back to the inn."

"Only two left?" Xiaonian scratched his head, "Is that enough?"

"Tell Magistrate Gao that someone is missing and ask him to send runners to look for him." Feng Twelve said.

"Shall we just leave it at that?" Xiaonian asked.

"do not care."

After Feng Twelve finished speaking, he turned and walked out of the room.

The night was dark and warm, Fang Tong woke up quietly. What caught her eye was a red silk curtain with large acacia flowers embroidered on the top, woven with gold and dotted with kingfisher feathers, which made it look vivid and fragrant.

The gorgeous scene rushed into her eyes. She closed her eyes and felt dizzy and nauseous.

She now believed that Feng Twelve had not been too ruthless when he knocked her unconscious that time, because the blow she received today was much more painful than what he had done.

She would see stars if she moved the slightest, so she could only lie flat and breathe slowly.

She could have escaped from the private room without any problems.

No matter how weak the kung fu of this body is, it still has a foundation of more than ten years. She used pine nuts to sneak attack the right protector, and the blow was not light.

She took the opportunity to escape to the door, opened it and was about to go out, when suddenly a figure appeared in front of her. She only had time to make eye contact with the other person before he knocked her out with a palm.

She still remembered that the person who knocked her out was a pretty woman.

Unfortunately, good-looking people are not necessarily good people. Fang Tong sighed secretly and worried about what would happen next.

She was recognized by the right protector of Bai Niao Pavilion. They didn't kill her, probably because they wanted to get something out of her. From what the right protector said, she seemed to be particularly worried about her whereabouts in the past two months.

Was he afraid that the assassination of Prince Ping would be leaked? But the other assassins had already confessed, and they had also revealed the prince, knowing more than Bing Qi.

So what is the Right Protector worried about?
The door opened slightly and someone walked in.

A cool fragrance came to the bed, and a cold voice said, "Now that you're awake, don't pretend."

Fang Tong opened her eyes and saw the man who knocked her out.

The woman changed into a green dress embroidered with landscapes, and wore a layer of gauze over the outside of the dress, which set off her jade-like face and made her look as graceful as a fairy from the Cloud Palace.

Seeing her looking at her without saying anything, the woman asked coldly: "What are you thinking about?"

Fang Tong said: "Sister is so beautiful."

The woman was silent for a moment.

She looked at her and suddenly raised a cold smile: "Hong Xiao, it seems that she is not a fool."

Fang Tong saw a woman in red walking towards him. She was the tea lady who appeared in the teahouse today, and the right protector in Bing Qi's memory.

Hong Xiao cast a glance at Fang Tong, her eyes filled with disdain and resentment: "Deputy Envoy, I checked the birthmark on her shoulder, and she is indeed Bing Qi."

Fang Tong's heart skipped a beat. She had a birthmark on her shoulder? This was troublesome.

"I don't know who you are talking about," she slowly sat up, endured the dizziness, looked at the woman in green, and pleaded, "Sister, my name is Fang Tong, not Bing Qi."

She paused, then continued: "If you don't believe me, go to the inn and ask. I, I was rescued by the twelfth prince."

The two women in front of her changed their expressions when they heard her mention Feng Twelve.

Hong Xiao leaned close to Qing Luan's ear and whispered, "The person who just inquired came back and said that Feng Twelve did bring a woman into the teahouse, and tonight he asked Gao Tiancai to search the entire county for the woman's whereabouts. It should be Bing Qi."

"How did they get together?" Qingluan asked coldly.

"I heard that Feng Twelve rescued her from the bandits," Hong Xiao said, "She was unconscious when she entered the city. Gao Tiancai asked a doctor to treat her and found that she had amnesia."

"Amnesia?" Qing Luan examined Fang Tong's frightened face, "Which bandits?"

"I don't know." Hong Xiao said, "There shouldn't be any other bandits on the road except our people, but we followed Feng Twelve's carriage before and didn't find Bing Qi in it."

Qing Luan narrowed her eyes and suddenly grabbed Fang Tong's neck: "Tell me, what are you doing!"

(End of this chapter)