My Gentle and Pure Sect Leader Husband - Chapter 25

In order to find out what Ji Qing experienced before being severely injured, Yan Hongyin thoroughly examined all the items in Ji Qing’s residence.

In a hidden compartment of a drawer, she discovered some notes with fresh ink.

Yan Hongyin unfolded each note, which clearly recorded the movements of all the people Ji Qing had been tracking since arriving in Lin’an Prefecture, including the first time he followed Ah Yu.

Ji Qing had an excellent memory, and since these written records were potentially dangerous evidence, he wouldn’t have written them down unless he had discovered something significant. It appeared he was methodically investigating each lead.

On one note, the location “Fengsheng Pawnshop” was circled in cinnabar.

Yan Hongyin gathered the notes into a box and continued searching for other useful clues.

But Ji Qing was undoubtedly an excellent dark envoy. His residence contained almost no traces of his activities, appearing just like the lodging of an ordinary young man.

Realizing there was nothing more to discover in Ji Qing’s residence, Yan Hongyin left.

Walking on the street, Yan Hongyin’s brows furrowed.

Looking around, she noticed the streets were noticeably less crowded compared to previous days.

Recently, murders had been occurring frequently, from concubines in wealthy merchants’ and officials’ residences to street vendors, and even beggars seeking alms in abandoned temples outside the city hadn’t escaped the assassin’s clutches.

The uninformed common people were anxious, but the Jinyiwei knew clearly that all these victims were spies from the Luocha Sect who had openly or secretly allied with Han Mei, as well as remaining disciples of the Divine Water Palace.

“This young lady, would you like to buy a couple of flowers?” An enthusiastic flower vendor called out to Yan Hongyin as she passed by. The vendor’s broad, kind face immediately inspired goodwill. “This young lady should always wear fresh flowers to look pretty!”

Yan Hongyin wasn’t interested in flowers, but the vendor insistently tugged at her sleeve. “Young lady, please have a look. These flowers were freshly picked this morning. They’re tightly wrapped and will definitely surround you with fragrance for three days!”

Yan Hongyin’s hand, which had raised to brush away the flower vendor, stopped. She turned to stand before the flower stall and, looking down at the flowers on display, suddenly asked, “Auntie, which flower do you think suits me best?”

The flower vendor’s eyes crinkled with a smile as she handed Yan Hongyin a tulip, saying warmly, “Young lady, this tulip suits you perfectly! It’s a precious flower, not commonly seen. Its fragrance is also long-lasting. Once you wear it, the scent will linger for days without fading!”

Yan Hongyin twirled the tulip stem in her hand, then took out a small piece of silver from her sleeve and placed it where the tulip had been displayed. “Is this enough?”

The flower vendor quickly pocketed the silver, releasing Yan Hongyin’s sleeve, and said with a smile. “Since young lady is a regular customer, I’ll give you a discount. It’s enough, it’s enough.”

Yan Hongyin pointedly remarked. “Since I’m a regular customer, next time don’t use hanging meat at the entrance as a way to alert me. The smell is too strong.”

The flower vendor’s eyes concealed a sharp glint as she replied, “We’re just running a small business here. When someone comes to steal, it looks bad if word gets out. We need some kind of warning, don’t we?”

Yan Hongyin said nothing more, gave the flower vendor a look, and left with the tulip.

So it was the black market people who had hung the Hefang Shop assistant’s corpse on the fence that day….Although this was indeed the black market’s style of handling matters, Yan Hongyin felt that if it was merely to warn Chu Liuxiang about disrupting the black market, their reaction wouldn’t have been so extreme.

And this tulip…what was the intention?

Tulip….Chu Liuxiang?

What was the black market trying to tell her with this message?

Yan Hongyin was still piecing together these fragments in her mind when she arrived home.

It was dinnertime, and Lianqiao would have already delivered the food box to the Bamboo Grove Courtyard, so Yan Hongyin headed directly there.

A gentle breeze blew toward her, carrying the scent of the tulip to her nose. Yan Hongyin stopped in her tracks as a sudden realization struck her.

She took out the portrait she had been carrying with her, unfolded it, and brought it to her nose. She detected a very faint scent of tulip.

This tulip fragrance with a hint of salty sea breeze was Chu Liuxiang’s unique scent.

This portrait had been in Chu Liuxiang’s possession for a long time!

Why would Chu Liuxiang care so much about a portrait that didn’t even show the facial features?

Yan Hongyin examined the portrait carefully once more, focusing on areas other than the fox mask.

Though only half of the subject was shown in the portrait, the clothing style was depicted in great detail.

Yan Hongyin’s gaze suddenly paused on the weapon held by the person in the portrait.

Although half was missing, at the edge one could faintly see that what the subject held wasn’t a rod-like weapon, but a… partially opened oil paper umbrella.

[That person came out of Hefang Shop… later went to an umbrella shop to buy an oil paper umbrella…]

Yan Hongyin’s eyes trembled, and she looked again at the half-sleeve of the outer garment visible in the portrait.

The artist seemed to have captured every detail of what they saw, afraid to miss even the slightest element.

The outer garment of the person in the portrait was a light cyan color, with gold-threaded bamboo leaf embroidery at the cuffs—a Su embroidery pattern most familiar to Yan Hongyin.

[Afterward, he went to the back courtyard of Yan Hong Hall, then left to speak with the manager at Fengsheng Pawnshop across the counter…]

Ji Qing’s report when he followed Ah Yu echoed in Yan Hongyin’s mind.

If Ji Qing had traced the clues to Fengsheng Pawnshop and began investigating everyone who had interacted with it…

“Ah Yin? Why are you standing here?”

A gentle, refined voice came from ahead. Yan Hongyin slowly raised her head and looked to the end of the small path.

In the small courtyard surrounded by bamboo, a man with a gentle and elegant appearance smiled faintly. His hair tips were slightly curled, shimmering with threads of golden brown in the light.

Those glaze-colored eyes crushed the sunlight, bringing out a dangerously rich gold.

One of her hands was behind her back, and a sleeve dagger silently slid into her palm.