Proud Feather

Chapter 45 Secret Passage
This is a guest room, which is decorated exquisitely and elegantly.

The detective led them over and pushed open the cabinet in the corner, revealing a door at the back.

"Secret passage?" Chu Ling frowned. "Where does it lead to?"

The captain immediately said, "Send two people to explore the way."

"Yes."

While they were exploring the way, Jiang Shijun came over and carefully examined the room.

"Sir, we really didn't know there was a secret passage here! This room is not used often. We just sweep and wipe it. We haven't even looked at it carefully." The guy who was pulled over for questioning defended himself.

The captain naturally didn't believe it and interrogated him strictly.

"Princess, please look." Jiang Shijun discovered something.

Chu Ling walked over and saw him touching the edge of the cabinet, and his fingers were covered with a layer of mud.

She wondered, "How could someone who comes to a room like this to drink have mud on their shoes?"

"And it's in this location. The surroundings are clean, except for this place." Jiang Shijun didn't understand it either.

"Someone must have leaned their shoes here." A voice interrupted from behind.

Chu Ling turned around and looked over, raising an eyebrow: "Young Master Yang, aren't you leaving yet?"

Yang Yu raised his sleeve, which contained a hand. "It's not that I don't want to leave, it's the Ninth Young Master who won't let me go."

Chu Ling looked over in confusion, but heard Chu Xiaojiu chuckle and say, "If I go back like this, I'll definitely be punished by the family..."

"so what?"

"So, I'll stay here a little longer. If my dad asks, I'll say I'm helping the princess with the case, and he won't scold me."

"Then you don't need me to accompany you, right?" Yang Yu said.

Chu Xiaojiu said: "If I keep it to myself, my father won't believe it. It's different with Young Master Yang. I'm just taking advantage of him. It's reasonable!"

"..." Yang Yu was speechless. "You should focus on studying. Why don't you even have this little freedom?"

"Why read books? It's too tiring! I was born with a title, why should I bother with this?" Chu Xiaojiu said righteously.

"Well said!" Chu Ling curled his lips, "But why should I let you stay?"

Chu Xiaojiu pleaded, "It's just a small favor, you won't refuse to help, right? Auntie!"

Chu Ling shook him off: "This princess's nephew is only three years old, it doesn't seem to be you, right?"

Chu Xiaojiu hurriedly pulled Yang Yu over and said, "Princess, we can help. Didn't Young Master Yang see the problem just now?"

"That's Young Master Yang, not you!"

"I'm taking advantage of it, taking advantage of it!"

While they were arguing here, the scouts sent out over there came back.

"Princess, this secret passage leads to the backyard. Over the wall is the vegetable garden of Dahuai Temple!"

This result was not surprising. Chu Ling nodded slowly: "So, someone came from Dahuai Temple, walked through the secret passage, and met here?"

Jiang Shijun gestured and agreed with this guess: "Young Master Yang is right. This person passed through the Dahuai Temple vegetable garden, so his shoes must have been covered in mud. When he came out of the secret passage, he took off his shoes and placed them here. Look, there are faint shoe prints in the secret passage."

This secret passage is the connection between Dahuai Temple and the outside world. The person Jinghui mentioned went to Dahuai Temple from here, so naturally, people in Dahuai Temple can also meet others through it.

"Is this room rarely used?" Chu Ling turned and asked the waiter.

The waiter was suddenly questioned by the princess and stammered excitedly: "Yes, this room is at the back. It is usually used for preparation. The shopkeeper personally brings people in."

"So what do the regular customers look like? Do you remember?" The waiter thought for a moment and said, "I remember a few."

Chu Ling turned around and asked, "Is the portrait out?"

The captain immediately ordered his men: "Quick, hurry up."

They had been out for a while, and soon a scout came over: "Princess, the portrait!"

Chu Ling didn't need to do anything about this. The captain took it and showed it to the waiter: "Do you recognize this person?"

The guy looked left and right and said uncertainly, "It looks familiar, but not quite the same."

The captain called the others over, and after comparing themselves, they came to the conclusion: "They look different, but they do look a little bit alike."

Yang Yu said, "I don't know what this person is like, but since he's involved in confidential matters and even found a secret passage, it's not surprising that he's in disguise, right?"

Jiang Shijun agreed: "Young Master Yang is right."

Okay, we're stuck at this point again.

The secret passage has been found, but the abbot and the shopkeeper, who knew the truth, are dead and have escaped. The remaining key figure, whose face isn't even real, is nowhere to be found. Is this like looking for a needle in a haystack?
The monks of Dahuai Temple can still conduct an investigation, but it is hard to say how much they know, and it is possible that they are completely unaware.

"Princess, the owner might not be able to find him," Jiang Shijun said. "He's been running the restaurant here for so long, how could there not be any trace?"

Chu Ling nodded and asked the captain to continue asking.

Unexpectedly, the guy's testimony was astonishing.

"Family? We've never met the owner's family. They're said to be back home."

"Where is your hometown? The shopkeeper never told me in detail, only that it's in the suburbs of Beijing."

"Where to live? The owner lives in the store. You have already searched the house."

"Friends? I haven't seen any either. The shopkeeper usually only interacts with vegetable vendors..."

Jiang Shijun was speechless. How could such a clean person exist in this world? There was simply nothing to dig up.

"Don't you usually find it strange?"

The clerk replied, "We have so much to do every day that we don't have time to care about others."

That’s right. How can people who are busy making a living have so much curiosity?

"Where's the owner?" Chu Ling asked, "Who owns this restaurant?"

Many large restaurants had other owners behind them, operating under the names of released servants. Given the scale of Wenxianju, it was highly likely that there was an owner.

The captain replied, "Princess, we have checked. The deed from the government office is in the shopkeeper's name."

“…” The other party was indeed well prepared and cut off any possibility of revealing his identity.

Jiang Shijun sighed. "So, we can only hope for two breakthroughs. One is to investigate the monks and accounts of the Dahuai Temple to see if we can find any clues. The other is to hunt down the shopkeeper and find out his background."

This is a common tactic for the Imperial City Bureau, but the other party is so well-informed and handles things so cleanly that Chu Ling has no hope.

She asked the captain, "Aren't you guys at the Imperial City Bureau the most well-informed? Who's behind which industry? Even things like this aren't recorded?"

"Uh..." Dutou replied, "I am not qualified to know this."

Chu Ling snorted. She really had to cultivate her own manpower. Besides the Imperial City Division, she could also mobilize the power of the Three Law Divisions and the Eastern Palace.

There were some things she couldn't ask the Imperial City Bureau to do; that would be like telling her father. Of the three judicial departments, the Censorate was a noble and respected official who would definitely not listen to her orders, and Lin Wenyu from the Ministry of Justice was slippery and would likely pretend to obey but actually disobey. Gao Mian could be used, but he wasn't a trusted confidant yet and would require time to train. Only those with the same goals as the Eastern Palace would naturally be her helpers.

Looks like I need to go...

Chu Xiaojiu raised his hand timidly: "You want to know who is behind Xianju? I think I know..."