Four hours ago the kindly old man had been standing before him talking, apologizing for his insensible granddaughter.

As the dean of the Martial Arts Academy, he had come personally to apologise to An Zhe. This clearly showed his character.

Before the old man left, An Zeng"s mind still echoed with the old man"s words, ""Come to my place when you have time, I have good tea.""

The tea was still there, but the man was dead.

""How dare you! How dare you act so rudely in front of the empress dowager!""

A voice thundered in An Zeng"s ears, pulling An Zeng out of his boundless anger.

An Xuan bent over. ""We pay our respects to the empress dowager and to the king.""

Yan w.a.n.g Mu and Mu Changyan waved their hands. ""Rise … I brought you here to ask you about it because someone saw it earlier. The headmaster has met you before.""

An Zeng recounted the details of his meeting with Sang Hai Cla.s.sic in detail, and did not hold back at all.

But there was no mention of Vice Minister Ding and his son, saying only that there was some contradiction between him and Sang Rou.

He knew that the clearer he was at this point, the more helpful he would be in solving the case.

He saw Sang Rou kneeling beside Sang Haijing"s corpse. She was already crying to the point of fainting.

At that moment, An Zeng felt as if a knife was stabbing into his heart.

Sang Haijing was the headmaster of the martial inst.i.tution chosen by the former Ministry of War, Shang Shun Ping, and was naturally the person whom Hao Ping trusted.

Now Hao had died peacefully, Sang Hai had died, and all of this had happened after he had arrived in Fang Shoucheng.

In less than ten days, the Military Department"s Martial Arts Academy suffered a series of major incidents.

Dozens of people, including a vice princ.i.p.al, had been apprehended in the Martial Arts Academy for the sake of settling the dispute.

And the military minister, Hao Ping, had died peacefully, including seven or eight military officials.

Such things seemed to be inextricably linked to the struggle for peace.

Empress Dowager Su Qing Qing kept listening, and after the argument was over, she turned to the people around her and said, ""In other words, he also has the possibility of a.s.sa.s.sinating President Sang?""

Yan w.a.n.g Mu and Mu Changyan"s expressions changed, ""Yes, he does, but he has always been in the martial arts practice field with the examinees. He has never left.""

Su Qing replied warmly, ""That"s true, since there"s nothing wrong with him, let him go down.""

Mu Changyan let out a sigh of relief before waving her hand, ""You can leave first. Don"t spread this news in advance, so as to prevent chaos among the examinees.""

An Zeng agreed, his mind was a mess as he walked out of the meeting hall. In his mind, he saw Sang Haijing"s affable face, and in the next moment, he saw the familiar black oil-paper umbrella.

Chen Shaobai.

When An Zhe saw Chen Shaobai, he was standing not far from the empress dowager.

Everyone"s attention was focused on An Zhe. No one noticed the faint smile on Chen Shaobai"s face when he looked at An Zeng.

An Zhe was sure that he had seen the black oil-paper umbrella before. Soon after he arrived at Fang Shoucheng, Chen Shaobai came looking for him with the oil-paper umbrella in hand.

Then, An Zaiyue"s mind suddenly lit up … … The elder of the three dynasties, the Right Prime Minister Zhuge Yan had died on that day.

An Zeng quickened his pace and left, feeling a fire burning in his heart.

This Chen Shaobai was extremely suspicious, he had to find out what was going on.

Until late at night, all the examinees were not allowed to leave the Martial Arts Academy.

A few tall platforms were temporarily built on the training field, and there were elite archers on top of them, keeping an eye on the platform at all times.

After the Imperial Guards left, the cavalry of the Infantry Division came in to maintain order.

The military had 1200 cavalry in the capital, which was part of the city defense army. They were all transferred here.

Half of Fang Gu City was sealed off, and not a single pedestrian could be seen on the street.

Hao Ping"s death was now defined as suicide, but Sang Haijing was different. He had been a.s.sa.s.sinated and died under the noses of the empress dowager and the Yan Emperor.

In other words, the killer hadn"t been far from the empress dowager and the Duke of Yan at the time. What if he hadn"t been trying to kill Sang Haijing but the empress dowager and the Duke of Yan?

The people from the Board of Justice began to intervene, examining the examinees one by one. However, most of them were not under suspicion, because they were all on the martial arts practice field at that time and could testify against each other.

Qu Liuxi and Gu Qianye leaned against each other as they rested with narrowed eyes.

An Zhe saw Chen Shaobai not far away, leading a team of imperial bodyguards to a.s.sist in the investigation.

""This has been a bit strange recently.""

One of them lowered his voice and said, ""First, the old prime minister has left, then the Military Affairs Minister has left, and now the headmaster of the Martial Arts Academy has left … The old prime minister is an elder of the Three Dynasties. It is said that he died of illness.""

""And Master Shang Shu said that it was suicide to apologize … I"m afraid it"s not that simple.""

Another asked, ""Why?""

""You don"t know?""

As for the old prime minister and … ""

He did not say the following words, nor did he dare to say them out loud.

Of course, An Zhe knew what he wanted to say. Prime Minister Zhuge Yan and the empress dowager had always been at odds, and she had always been resisting the control of the imperial court by the later generations.

When the empress dowager Su Qing received instructions from the Great Xi Chen to get rid of the Duke of Yan, Zhuge Yan went to the palace to report.

However, King Yan died the next day, so no one knew whether Zhuge Yan had a chance to tell him.

An He speculated that Zhuge Yan didn"t have a chance to say it out loud.

That was why the empress dowager had let Zhuge Yan live for a few more years. Now that the empress dowager had suddenly used force, it was obvious that she had heard something.

Zhuge Yan, Hao Ping, Sang Hai Sutra … An Zaihai"s mind connected these three people into a line.

These were the more important figures among the forces defending against the empress dowager. These people had died one by one, and now the only person in the imperial court who could be considered the leader of the forces defending against the empress dowager was Chen Zaiyan.

This matter absolutely had nothing to do with the empress dowager.

Chen Shaobai was now the inner official of the brocade palace"s guard. If he made a move … everything was explained clearly.

It was the empress dowager who had Chen Shaobai kill someone, and Chen Shaobai was one of the empress dowager"s lackeys.

An Zeng suddenly had a nauseating feeling. He couldn"t help but lower his head to look at the soles of his feet.

There was a lot of dust on the soles, but no dog s.h.i.t.

The dog s.h.i.t was no longer in the soles of his shoes. In his heart, that dog s.h.i.t was called Chen Shaobai.

The entire night pa.s.sed without a word. Perhaps it was because none of the examinees had the time or motivation to a.s.sa.s.sinate the Sang Hai Scripture. By the afternoon of the next day, they were finally all released.

However, the martial arts exam that was supposed to take place could only be delayed.

No one knew when it would happen, but when they left, everyone"s heart was filled with a thick shadow.

An Zaixin was in a bad mood, extremely bad mood.

When he walked out of the gate of the Martial Arts Academy, he saw a white-clothed Sang Rou.

Standing there, she looked like a pitiful Gesang Mei Duo.

The people of the Western Regions called Gesang Mei Duo a "Blessed Flower", but at this moment, how could Sang Rou be so happy?

""You"re looking for me?""

An Zeng walked over and asked.

Sang Rou nodded. ""I"m looking for you.""

""What is it?""

""Avenge me!""

An Zeng was stunned for a moment. He carefully looked at the young girl in front of him, who was gnashing her teeth as she said those words.

""Why?""

Anjou asked.

Sang Rou"s expression collapsed, tears streaming down her face. ""Because … I don"t know who else to trust.""

My father is a scholar, and my mother cannot cultivate. The only one who can avenge my grandfather is me.

But I knew that I might not be able to do it myself, that I might be silenced before I could find an enemy.

I know it"s unreasonable to impose my hatred on you, but I can"t help it.

""I"m looking for you because that day, you dared to beat a.s.sistant Minister Ding"s son in front of so many people. I wanted to hit him a long time ago, but I didn"t dare.""

""Thank you.""

She suddenly knelt down and kowtowed without waiting for any reaction. ""If you can avenge my grandfather, I will promise you anything you want, even if it means becoming your slave.""

An Zeng suddenly understood, in fact, Sang Rou"s view of right and wrong was also established by Sang Haijing, so she was a very good girl in the bottom of her bones.

She had stood in front of an argument that day and argued for reason only because of Ding Ningdong, not because of Ding Taichun.

A girl like her shouldn"t have any friends. Perhaps Ding Ningdong was the only one.

Most of the time, most of the people were actually helping their relatives to not help them out, so no one was allowed to look down on Sang Rou.

""I"ll try my best to help you find the culprit, but it"s better for me to handle this matter personally.""

Many people said that women should not kill, should not have blood on their hands.

However, every girl who was willing to enter the Martial Arts Academy was actually not willing to lose to a man.

""Being happy is not a man"s business. I"ll help you find it, you can kill it.""

An Zhan turned around and said, ""Carry the wine and kowtow in front of your grandfather"s grave, this is revenge.""

When he returned to the sect, the only person he could find was the eunuch.

At that time, An Chengli had followed Duke Yan, Mu Changyan. Mu Changyan had always been with the empress dowager.

So if Chen Shaobai had not been by the empress dowager"s side when Sang Hai died, An Chengli would have known.

That afternoon, An Zui arrived outside the Heavenly Temple and sent someone to deliver a message to An Chengli.

He had given the Imperial Army a silver ticket before they agreed. This was one of the most hated things in the war, but there were times when he had no choice but to do it.

Unexpectedly, An Chengli soon came out of the palace, pretending not to know what was going on, and walked straight ahead. An Shang knew that he was avoiding his eyes and ears.

The two of them left Empyrean Terminus Palace one after the other. An Chengli was waiting in a small forest to settle down.

""Master An.""

When An Chengli saw An Zaidao, he clasped his hands and said, ""I know why you"re looking for me. You want to ask who wasn"t there at that time?""

An Xuan was stunned for a moment. He thought to himself that a person who could become an imperial eunuch at the age of seventeen or eighteen was indeed extraordinary.

""Can you give me a reason?""

""As far as I know, you have nothing to do with President Sang.""

An Zhan replied, ""Princ.i.p.al An"s granddaughter, Sang Rou, asked me to investigate.""

""So it"s between a man and a woman.""

An Chengli shook his head and sighed, ""I don"t understand, but many people say that this is one of the hardest relationships to reject.

Since everyone said so, there must be some reason behind it.

""You didn"t hide anything from me, and I"ll be honest with you … At that time, none of the people by the Emperor and Empress Dowager"s side left the venue.""

An Zhan frowned. ""Not a single one?""

""…"" said the empress dowager.

An Chengli waved his hand, ""Perhaps you don"t believe in my memory or my observation, but I want you to remember one thing. You came to find me, and I told you that if you doubt me, then why did you come to find me?""

There were twelve close guards by the empress dowager"s side, all of them present.

The imperial guards who were led by the imperial guards were also present.

""But of course there are guards by the empress dowager"s side who don"t show themselves, I don"t know that.""

An Zaiyue clasped his hands. ""Thank you, Eunuch.""

He handed over a gem. It was worth ten thousand gold.

An Chengli looked at the gem and shook his head. ""This thing has no meaning to me.""

This gem was really nice to look at. It was also worth a lot of money. If it was in the hands of the common folk, then even the daughters of the yellow flowers would have been able to buy dozens or even hundreds of them.

But for me, no matter how good a gem is, can you buy me a chicken - ba?

""Obviously, I can"t, so … don"t send me anything else in the future. I don"t have a chicken anymore, so I don"t want to lose my life.""