Chapter 759: Floating to the Surface

Yu Ruqing didn't equivocate this time. She answered directly, "You've probably already guessed it: it's the Shi family. Their most beloved son, Shi Kun, died at the hands of you and the Crown Princess. If it were just you, the Shi family, with their power, could always find a way to deal with you. But with the Crown Princess also being a 'culprit,' they are powerless."

"If the Crown Prince becomes emperor in the future, she will be empress, and the Shi family will have no hope of revenge. Actually, having no hope of revenge isn't the scariest part; what's terrifying is that they can't gauge the Crown Princess's attitude towards this matter. What if she, having accidentally killed Shi Kun, becomes wary of the Shi family? Then the Shi family would be doomed to ruin. After all, everyone knows the Crown Prince's situation; the Crown Princess is the one who ultimately makes decisions. Offending her would spell disaster for the Shi family."

"The Shi family couldn't pin their hopes on something vague and uncertain. So, they decided to go all out: eliminate the Crown Princess directly. This would both avenge Shi Kun and resolve the Shi family's future concerns."

Zu An sighed, "But if such a plot were exposed, it would prematurely condemn the Shi family to eternal damnation."

Yu Ruqing replied calmly, "But at least this time, they hold the initiative, which is better than being at the mercy of fate later on. Speaking of which, their biggest mistake this time was dragging you into this case. It was supposed to be a sure thing, but then, for some unknown reason, you managed to escape."

Zu An scoffed, "So I was just collateral damage all along. That day, they really almost killed me."

Yu Ruqing looked apologetic. "I'm sorry, Ah Zu. I never imagined they would choose you as the man 'involved' with the Crown Princess. Otherwise, I would have absolutely stopped them."

Zu An took her hand. "Actually, if you hadn't shown up, I wouldn't have thought about you at all. You exposed yourself to save me; how could I be so ungrateful as to doubt you?"

Hearing him say this, Yu Ruqing immediately beamed. "I certainly didn't misjudge you."

Zu An couldn't help but ask, "By the way, is Xinrui one of your people?"

Yu Ruqing shook her head. "No."

Zu An fell into thought. He then asked, "I always feel like something's off about this. Is it just Prince Wu and the Shi family controlling everything, or is there another power involved?"

Yu Ruqing stared blankly at him for a long time before letting out a breath. "Ah Zu, you are indeed clever. Yes, there is another power involved. But for various reasons, I cannot tell you who they are. You know I bear the fate of many people and cannot betray others for my own selfish reasons."

Zu An smiled. "It's fine. Say what you can, and don't say what you can't. Your honesty upfront is much better than trying to deceive me with other words. Besides, your answer confirms my suspicions, so in fact, I should thank you."

Yu Ruqing looked at him with a complex expression. "Ah Zu, you are always so understanding."

Zu An chuckled, reaching out to pull her into his embrace. "Actually, I'm more than just words."

"Naughty~" Yu Ruqing playfully chided, her cheeks flushing a bright crimson.

***

After some time, Zu An looked at Prince Wu, who was sleeping soundly in the corner with a silly grin, and couldn't help but worry, "What do you plan to do next? You've already exposed your intentions to him. When he wakes up, I doubt he'll let you off the hook."

Yu Ruqing smiled, pursing her lips. "Don't worry. Under the influence of my Heavenly Demon's Eye, he'll forget what just happened. That's why I dared to be so confrontational with him."

Zu An couldn't help but exclaim, "Your Heavenly Demon's Eye is too powerful! Don't ever use it on me."

Yu Ruqing looked resentful. "I did use it on you back in Jibei Commandery, and it nearly backfired on me."

Thinking back to their first encounter, Zu An couldn't help but smile.

Yu Ruqing continued, "Oh, by the way, those people who tried to assassinate you were discovered by the city defense army. This case is likely to be solved soon. Zhao Yan and I also need to leave the capital quickly to avoid being implicated. I don't know when we'll meet again."

Zu An gently smoothed the stray strands of hair from her temples. "When fate decrees, people meet across a thousand li. Wasn't it fate that brought us together this time?"

"'When fate decrees, people meet across a thousand li'?" Yu Ruqing's eyes lit up. After murmuring the phrase to herself, she looked at Zu An with admiration. "Ah Zu, I didn't realize you were so eloquent."

Zu An, naturally, shamelessly took credit for the quote, pulling her into his embrace. "Do you like me even more now?"

"Naughty~"

***

Eventually, it was time to part ways. The two bid farewell reluctantly. After leaving Prince Wu's residence, Zu An headed directly for the Imperial Palace.

Before entering the palace, he changed into his Golden Badge Eleven attire.

As soon as he arrived at the Embroidery Building, he saw a man with a receding hairline at the entrance.

"Boss!" Chen Laoba ran over, looking excited. "You're finally back! Something big just happened in the city outskirts."

"Oh?" Zu An remained composed, wanting to see what intelligence the Embroidered Uniform Guard had. "What happened?"

Chen Laoba led him into the building, explaining, "Just now, there was a fierce battle at Xinrui's mother's house in the city outskirts. They even used military siege crossbows! The Emperor is furious and has dispatched the Grand Marshal to conduct a thorough investigation."

Dai Laoqi, who had a somewhat high hairline, appeared from somewhere and added, "Judging by the bodies left at the scene, they appear to be military assassins. The Grand Marshal is verifying their identities. It's a pity we don't know who they were besieging. So many people, even using siege crossbows, couldn't succeed. That person must be incredibly powerful."

Zu An unconsciously puffed out his chest, thinking, *If I didn't know there's no way you could know my identity, I'd think this guy was just flattering me.*

"I suspect this assassination attempt with the siege crossbow is connected to the case we're investigating." A steady voice came from the side. It was Xiao Jianren, who had come out after hearing the news.

"Oh?" Zu An was curious, wanting to hear what he had deduced.

Xiao Jianren said, "Last time, Boss asked me to investigate which nobles in the capital might be harboring experts capable of silently killing casino owners."

"I've reviewed various files in the Embroidery Building and found that while such people are not numerous, they are not uncommon either. Almost all high-ranking officials and nobles keep some foreign individuals as their subordinates. After ruling out those clearly unrelated to this case, I discovered that among the Shi family's retainers, there's a woman named Jia Sili, from the mysterious Southern Border, skilled in spirit possession. For her to silently kill a casino owner would be quite easy."

"Furthermore, the siege crossbow used this time, along with the assassins, are all military-trained. The Shi family head, Shi Miao, rose to his position through military merits. Now, his third son, Shi Tong, is a Saicheng Captain in one of the capital's six major garrisons. I suspect those assassins came from the Shi family."

"Moreover, the incident occurred at Xinrui's mother's house. How could it be such a coincidence that every detail links the Shi family to the case we're investigating? So, I suspect the Shi family is behind the plot to frame the Crown Princess. We just don't know who they were actually trying to kill this time."

Zu An chuckled. "Excellent. Your analysis is very good, almost exactly like the truth."

Xiao Jianren forced a wry smile. "It's a pity all of this is just speculation. We have no evidence, and the Shi family can easily deny everything. Whether it's the siege crossbow or the assassins, the Shi family can simply claim they have no connection. Although the Grand Marshal is investigating their identities, as they are assassins, they're likely untraceable."

Dai Laoqi and Chen Laoba, standing nearby, sighed in unison. They had been investigating this case for so long, and just when they seemed on the verge of uncovering the truth, they lacked evidence.

If it were anyone else, they could simply arrest them and extract confessions through torture. But the Shi family was no ordinary household. The family head, Shi Miao, was one of the esteemed Eight Dukes of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and all his sons were top-ranking nobles in the imperial court.

His eldest son died young, so he wasn't mentioned. His second son, Shi Qiao, was a Censor in the Ministry of Personnel. His third son, Shi Tong, was a Saicheng Captain in one of the six major field armies. His fourth son, Shi Jun (浚), was a Palace Attendant in the Imperial Secretariat, and his fifth son, Shi Jun (俊), was a Provincial Governor. The least accomplished was arguably his sixth son, Shi Kun, but he had also served as a Crown Prince's Retainer.

Therefore, the Shi family was a truly powerful and influential household, a top-tier clan in the entire Great Zhou Dynasty. Furthermore, they possessed a death-exemption gold tablet, making it truly difficult for the Embroidered Uniform Guard to act against them.

Seeing the group's disheartened expressions, Zu An smiled and said, "Don't worry, I have evidence. I'll go see the Grand Marshal first."

Watching his retreating figure, Xiao Jianren and the others exchanged glances:

"We used the entire Embroidered Uniform Guard's resources and couldn't find any evidence, but Boss just stepped out and got some?"

"The Boss is truly unfathomable!"

"He truly inspires awe!"

***

Zu An arrived at Zhu Xie Chixin's office and found him losing his temper with his subordinates. It turned out that after half a day of investigation, they discovered that none of the assassins left at the scene were registered in the military records; in fact, their existence couldn't be found in any official records.

"How could so many people appear out of thin air? Even assassins would leave traces in the capital over the years. Are you telling me you can't find anything?" Zhu Xie Chixin roared furiously.

His subordinates replied fearfully, "It might take a bit more time. Perhaps we can uncover something."

"'Might,' 'perhaps'?" Hearing those words, Zhu Xie Chixin became even more enraged. "The Emperor is pressing so hard now! Where do we have the time?"

The group became as quiet as cicadas in winter, none daring to speak. Zu An cleared his throat. "Grand Marshal, I actually have a lead here."

"Oh?" Zhu Xie Chixin was startled to see him at first, but then his expression turned to joy. "What lead do you have?"

Looking at him, Zu An felt a momentary trance, remembering how he had fought fiercely against Zhu Xie Chixin in Jia Sili's illusion. But he quickly composed himself. "There are some things I need to discuss with the Grand Marshal privately."

Knowing Zu An's special status, Zhu Xie Chixin waved his hand, signaling the others to leave.

As those people left, they were a mix of relieved and envious. Relieved that they no longer had to face the Grand Marshal's wrath, and envious that this Golden Badge Eleven, having just arrived, seemed to have greatly won the Grand Marshal's favor, constantly engaging in private conversations with him.

Once only the two of them remained in the room, Zu An finally said, "The person those assassins were trying to kill was actually me."

Zhu Xie Chixin was shocked and quickly pressed, "What exactly happened?"

Only then did Zu An recount the events of the day, naturally omitting the details involving Yu Ruqing. "After that, I fled, and those experts relentlessly pursued me."

"How audacious of the Shi family!" Zhu Xie Chixin was so enraged that he slammed the table, shattering the fine pear blossom wood desk into pieces. "From your description, those three experts must be Bu Zhou of the Golden and Silver Rings, Luo Xin of the White Horse and Red Spear, and Yuan Fu, the Rival of Three Hammers. They are all renowned warriors in the military, having followed Shi Miao in many campaigns and earned significant merits. It's truly rare that you managed to escape from their combined efforts. Unfortunately, we have no evidence. Even if we confront them, the Shi family will deny everything."

"Who said there's no evidence?" Zu An said with a strange expression, clapping his hands to signal the people outside to enter.

Seeing the three corpses being carried in on stretchers, Zhu Xie Chixin's eyes nearly popped out of his head in shock. "It's them..."

***

*Author's Note:*

I've been revising previous chapters these past few days, so updates might be unstable. There's only this one chapter today.

*Sigh*, I've tried my best to avoid explicit descriptions in this book, glossing over almost all related scenes, often just using an ellipsis and "I don't know how much time passed" to jump to the next day. This was to avoid repeating the issues of my previous book, but I didn't expect it still wouldn't be enough...

Are couples not even allowed to show affection, even without any specific descriptions from me? Do I have to make the protagonist a chaste boy from beginning to end?

Actually, the policies aren't that strict at all, but some people insist on creating such an atmosphere, and I'm truly speechless.