The prisoner’s suspicious death made the officers of the Court of Revision hesitant to handle the situation on their own. Therefore, when Wen Ze and the others arrived, they saw two corpses tied to wooden stakes.
Rui Jia wanted to look but was afraid to, hiding behind Pu Qianjun, only poking her head out like a chick seeking shelter from its mother hen.

Pu Qianjun let her tug at the back of his clothes, even when the front collar tightened around his neck, without telling her to let go.

In fact, Pu Qianjun could have taken a step forward, thus allowing Rui Jia to let go while preserving her dignity, but he didn’t. He clearly remembered that in his previous life, Rui Jia suddenly died of illness not long after Wen Ze ascended the throne.

At that time, he was ordered to suppress bandits in Qingzhou and wasn’t in Yongdu. He only heard about it upon his return, and it saddened him for a long time. Now, seeing Rui Jia appearing well before him again, he couldn’t help but indulge her a little. After all, in those years when he was Wen Ze’s study companion, Rui Jia was always a tagalong chasing after them. He also regarded Rui Jia as a younger sister in his heart.

“Autopsy.”

The Crown Prince tossed out those two words and turned to leave the prison cell.

Because the prison cell was dimly lit, the two corpses were moved outside to a room specifically for coroners to perform autopsies. While the autopsy was being conducted, someone interrogated the prison guards responsible for watching the prisoners at the time. Wen Ze listened from behind a curtain nearby. After a long wait following the interrogation, he finally learned the cause of the two prisoners’ deaths.

The two prisoners had been tortured, but the perpetrators were experts who knew how to control their strength, leaving no fatal wounds. Therefore, they didn’t die from external injuries but from poison.

That made sense. Not all poisons took effect immediately. A slow-acting poison could explain why they suddenly died in the prison cell when no one else was around.

But Rui Jia still didn’t understand: “Then why did they shout, ‘Don’t come over’?”

The coroner explained, “Perhaps the poisoned men were hallucinating and reacted in that way.”

However, while they clarified the cause of death, they couldn’t determine who administered the poison or even what the poison was called.

For this reason, the Court of Revision specifically sent someone to Jishi Hall to invite the most skilled toxicology doctor there.

The doctor circled the corpses for a long time, then took the blood of the two prisoners and tested it with every bottle and jar from a chest he had brought.

Wen Ze, who usually disliked wasting time, seemed exceptionally patient this time. On the contrary, Pu Qianjun, who was beside him, seemed somewhat anxious.

Wen Ze was holding the jade pendant that the Court of Revision had returned to him, examining it without success. He looked up and saw the unconcealable unease on Pu Qianjun’s face, so he asked, “What are you thinking about?”

Pu Qianjun glanced at Rui Jia, who was staring intently at the doctor dripping medicine into the blood, bent down, and whispered into Wen Ze’s ear, “This subordinate is just thinking, if other reborn individuals learn that the important prisoners from the Sitian Tower died in the Court of Revision’s prison after Your Highness visited, most will think Your Highness killed them to silence them.”

Wen Ze: “…”

That’s right. They all believed that the Sitian Tower case was the Crown Prince’s doing, so the death of the important prisoners captured from the Sitian Tower would naturally make the Crown Prince the prime suspect, especially since the prisoners had seen the Crown Prince before they died.

Wen Ze was now in a situation where he couldn’t defend himself no matter how hard he tried.

But fortunately, Wen Ze didn’t intend to defend himself.

Rui Jia, tired of staring at the doctor, ran back to sit beside Wen Ze, picked up a teacup, and asked, “Royal Brother, what are you holding in your hand?”

Wen Ze casually handed the jade pendant to Rui Jia. After taking a sip of tea, Rui Jia took the seemingly ordinary jade pendant.

The jade pendant was made of white jade with very ordinary quality, but the carving was excellent. The lotus flowers on it were carved vividly, and you could even see the water droplets on the lotus leaves.

Wen Ze only told her after Rui Jia, whose eyesight wasn’t good, had put the jade pendant right in front of her eyes, “It’s poison.”

Rui Jia didn’t understand for a moment. After reacting for a while, she hurriedly threw the jade pendant onto the table, frantically asking for water to wash her hands, fearing that she would die of poisoning like the two prisoners in the next moment.

The officials of the Court of Revision dared not neglect her and quickly ordered people to fetch water.

The doctor, who was still laboriously testing for poison, looked up at the jade pendant on the table, his face full of desire. He wanted to take the jade pendant to test it and see if it really contained the poison that killed the two prisoners, but it was the Crown Prince’s property, and he dared not act rashly.

Wen Ze signaled Pu Qianjun, and Pu Qianjun took the jade pendant to the doctor. After placing the jade pendant down, Pu Qianjun was grabbed by Rui Jia and had his hands washed thoroughly.

As for her own brother, Wen Ze, who had also touched the jade pendant with his bare hands, Rui Jia was so angry that she didn’t want to pay attention to him. But after a while, she still hesitantly took out her handkerchief, wet it, and threw it to him.

Wen Ze wiped his hands with the handkerchief without any guilt.

The doctor carefully examined it and soaked the entire jade pendant in medicine. After a long time, he put down the instruments in his hands, bowed to Wen Ze, and replied, “Your Highness, there is no poison on the jade pendant.”

Rui Jia suddenly turned her head to glare at Wen Ze, but Wen Ze remained calm: “Anything else?”

“Yes.” The doctor held up a small dish with a small amount of powder that was almost invisible without looking closely. “This was scraped from the jade pendant. It seems to be a type of face powder.”

Face powder, which touched on the doctor’s blind spot.

Rui Jia became excited. Since there was no poison, she boldly leaned over to smell it and said firmly, “It’s not face powder. It’s pollen. I smelled it when I went to Dan Nan this time. The Caiqi flowers from Linxi are so beautiful and smell better than ordinary flowers. But I heard that Linxi doesn’t allow people to plant this flower casually. Now I know why I felt a fragrance on this jade pendant just now.”

Because her eyesight was poor, Rui Jia’s sense of smell was more sensitive than most people.

Caiqi flower pollen…

Wen Ze propped his head up, wondering what he was thinking about, and remained silent for a while.

Pu Qianjun and Rui Jia didn’t interrupt him. Soon, Wen Ze spoke, ordering the coroner to re-examine the bodies of the two prisoners. This time, Wen Ze asked the coroner to shave the prisoners’ heads.

The coroner was puzzled because there were no wounds on the prisoners’ heads. But after shaving their heads, he discovered that there were several bumps on the prisoners’ scalps, hidden under their hair, and he found thin bee stingers in the bumps.

But bee stingers alone couldn’t determine what kind of bee it was. At this time, the well-informed doctor from Jishi Hall had something to say.

He said that bee stingers had barbs on them, so they couldn’t be easily pulled out after being embedded in the skin. When a bee wanted to fly away after stinging someone, it would leave its stinger behind. The end of the stinger was connected not only to the venom gland but also to the internal organs, which would be pulled out of the bee’s body along with the stinger. In other words—

The bee might die after stinging someone, but the person might not necessarily be in trouble.

Subsequently, the prison guards searched every inch of the torch-lit prison cell and finally found several dead bees on the ground.

The doctor took the bees’ corpses and immediately recognized them as blind bees, which were only found in Linxi. The venom of blind bees was fierce. Being stung could cause paralysis and respiratory failure within half an hour, leading to death.

Moreover, blind bees were different from other bees. They not only stung when attacked but also stung when they smelled the scent of their own kind’s internal organs, following the scent to attack.

And blind bees especially liked Caiqi flowers.

After hearing the doctor’s explanation, Eldest Princess Rui Jia also remembered an old story about blind bees: “I heard my imperial grandmother mention that my imperial grandfather once had a concubine from Linxi who used a blind bee and a bottle of hair oil made from blind bees to kill the most favored Consort Shu at the time.”

After delivering her afterthought, Rui Jia sighed, “I didn’t expect that the tricks used in the harem to compete for favor could be used here. No wonder those two prisoners shouted, ‘Don’t come over.’ They must have heard the buzzing of the blind bees but were tied up and couldn’t escape.”

Pu Qianjun wasn’t as carefree as Rui Jia and felt very helpless after hearing this: “Please don’t openly talk about these harem secrets.”

However, Rui Jia didn’t realize it at all and even asked Wen Ze, “Royal Brother, where did this jade pendant come from?”

That was a good question.

Wen Ze, who was sitting on the side, stood up and walked out of the Court of Revision without looking back.

Rui Jia was confused: “Did I say something wrong again?”

Wen Ze rode his horse all the way to the palace. Although Yongdu forbade galloping horses on the streets, the Crown Prince clearly didn’t take this rule seriously.

Fortunately, although this person was famous for his arrogant and unruly behavior, he excelled in both scholarship and horsemanship, and he didn’t harm any pedestrians along the way.

Pu Qianjun led his men to chase after him, but to avoid hitting anyone, they kept a distance from the Crown Prince’s mount.

Wen Ze finally pulled on the reins when he reached the palace gate.

Jia Yuan, who had been waiting at the palace gate for a long time, hurried forward to greet him: “Your Highness, Crown Prince, you’re finally back. The Empress wanted to ask you to escort Miss Yin back, but when she learned that you weren’t in the palace, she flew into a rage.”

After hearing this, Wen Ze asked, “Did Yin Zheng leave?”

Jia Yuan: “She just left. Does Your Highness want to apologize to the Empress?”

Wen Ze laughed meaningfully, tightened the reins, and turned his horse around: “No hurry, first follow Mother’s intention and escort Second Miss Yin back to her residence.”

Jia Yuan was stunned for a moment, not understanding why Wen Ze suddenly became concerned about Yin Zheng.

Wen Ze also asked, “Do you know what the national preceptor originally said about the ‘Hu calamity’?”

Jia Yuan stuttered for once: “How… how would this servant know? But I heard my godfather say that the late emperor didn’t blame the Hu people because of the ‘Hu calamity.’ There’s also a rumor that after the national preceptor predicted the ‘Hu calamity,’ he said, ‘Calamity, fortune leans upon it. Fortune and misfortune are interdependent and cannot be stopped.’ I don’t know if it’s true or not.”

Wen Ze didn’t know if it was true or not, but he knew that not a single word from that Second Miss Yin of the Yin family was true!

Wen Ze swung his whip. After the sharp sound of the whip breaking through the air, there was a “smack!” The horse neighed and ran again.

The noble ladies who left the palace after the flower-viewing banquet all returned to their residences in carriages. Wen Ze didn’t know which carriage was Yin Zheng’s, but he had a feeling that he would definitely find Yin Zheng.

In fact, his premonition was correct. When passing a carriage, the rushing wind lifted the curtain of the carriage window. Wen Ze subconsciously turned his head and happened to meet Yin Zheng, who was also looking out from inside the carriage.

The light inside the carriage was poor. One of them was outside the carriage, bathed in the bright sunlight, his embroidered patterns clearly visible at a glance. The other was inside the carriage, shrouded in dimness, and nothing could be seen clearly except for those blue eyes.

Wen Ze reined in his horse. The horse’s body turned sideways with Wen Ze’s strength, stopping directly in front of the carriage and blocking its path.

The servant driving the carriage for the Yin residence hurriedly stopped the carriage and said to Yin Zheng inside, “Miss, someone is blocking the carriage.”

“A misunderstanding.”

Wen Ze seemed to have suddenly lost his memory, forgetting how he had just been tricked. With a smile in his voice, he drove his horse to the carriage window and said to Yin Zheng through the lowered carriage curtain, “Mother asked me to see Miss Yin off.”

As he said this, Pu Qianjun happened to lead his men to meet him. Wen Ze raised his voice to Pu Qianjun, “Qianjun, come over and drive the carriage for Second Miss Yin.”

Inside the carriage, the corners of Yin Zheng’s lips stiffened slightly—

The Crown Prince was personally escorting her, sending the commander of the Tiger Howl Army to be the coachman. Was he afraid that people in Yongdu wouldn’t know the great name of Yin Zheng?