Di Renjie walked toward the main road. The city was under curfew, and only constables were still patrolling the streets.
From afar, he saw a group of constables gathered together. Their expressions were grave, as if they had encountered some thorny issue.
Suddenly, a constable noticed someone approaching. With a clang, he unsheathed half his blade and barked, “Who goes there! Do not move!”
Just then, his companion clearly saw the token hanging at the newcomer's waist and hurriedly stepped forward to pull him back. “Sheathe your blade! Are you blind?! This is Lord Di!!”
The restrained constable reflexively looked at his waist, his pupils shrinking instantly. He hurriedly sheathed his blade and retreated to the side. The others also cleared a path one after another.
Di Renjie walked through them, his eyes locked onto the corpse on the ground. Zeng Tai lay prone on the ground, fresh blood spreading in all directions from beneath him.
The Golden Crow Token lay soaked in the pool of blood, its golden luster nearly covered by the crimson stain.
Di Renjie crouched beside Zeng Tai, just staying there quietly. The surrounding constables looked at one another in silence. None of them spoke again, tacitly backing away a few meters to leave him some space to be alone.
An unknown amount of time passed. He did not actively count the minutes, but the numbness in his legs had already faded.
Even though this had been within his calculations, when it actually happened, he realized that the emotions in his heart were not something he could control...
Exhaling all the pent-up emotions in his chest, he picked up the token soaked in the pool of blood, preparing to stand up and leave.
Yet, this very action allowed him to see some characters that Zeng Tai's hand was pressing down on. Di Renjie felt a sudden chill. He gently moved Zeng Tai's hand aside, only to find several characters written in blood beneath the palm.
Seventeen, male...
Why did Zeng Tai leave this information?
Di Renjie's thoughts spun rapidly. Seventeen referred to the age, and male was the gender. Then, this was likely the person who killed him.
A seventeen-year-old youth had killed several elite guards, killed Zeng Tai, and taken the forged secret letter.
Was this the killer's information...
Di Renjie stared at the characters written during the final moments of Zeng Tai's life. He gripped the blood-stained Golden Crow Token tighter and tighter in his hand.
Emotions that were impossible to read surged deep within his eyes.
...
After obtaining the secret letter, the youth headed straight for the Third Prince's Residence. In his heart, he had already sneered at Di Renjie's reputation.
The Number One Detective? Merely average.
The Third Prince paced in his bedchamber, his shadow stretched long by the candlelight. The irritation between his brows was illuminated by the firelight.
Knock, knock.
“Come in!”
As the muffled knock resounded, the youth pushed the door open and entered, kneeling on one knee as he reported, “Your Highness, I have intercepted the secret letter.”
The Third Prince's face lit up with joy, and even the gloom between his brows dissipated quite a bit. He hurriedly took the secret letter from the youth's hands.
Only, the moment he opened it, the joy on his face instantly froze. Seeing this, the youth could not help but tense up. The next instant, the Third Prince raised his leg and kicked him viciously.
The youth was knocked to the ground. Before he could even scramble back up, he heard the Third Prince's rage-filled roar.
“Open your worthless eyes and take a good look at what this is!!”
The youth looked down in a daze. Thrown before his feet was a piece of paper with only three characters on it, yet every word cut to the heart.
Rebel traitor!
These three characters struck the Third Prince viciously in the face, stabbing him in the back as a rebel who had deceived the Emperor!
“Di Renjie!” The Third Prince's eyes were completely bloodshot as he growled through gritted teeth.
The youth stared blankly at the paper. The very person he had found laughable just moments ago had now utterly outmaneuvered him...
Smash!
The teacup smashed heavily against the youth's forehead, and bright red blood flowed down.
“What are you still standing here for? If you do not bring back Di Renjie's head, you can end your own life!”
The Third Prince stared at him sinisterly, his tone full of impatient disgust. The youth lowered his head, a flash of killing intent passing through his eyes.
As the door closed once more, the Third Prince collapsed wearily into a chair, his eyes staring blankly at the fake secret letter on the floor.
The bad news that had accumulated over the past few days had already pushed his nerves to the brink of collapse.
And this was the final straw that broke the camel's back...
Three years of calculations had been ruined in an instant...
No, there was still a chance!
The Third Prince took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes again, they were filled with the madness of a desperate gamble. Having reached this stage, any schemes were utterly meaningless. Only the most heavy-handed methods remained!
“Convey my words to Li Guan. Have him standby with my army ten li outside the city.”
The bedchamber seemed to contain only the Third Prince, but no one noticed that the darkness behind the screen had faded slightly.
And on this very night, Li Guan led those six thousand plus elite troops straight to Fengcheng, quietly stationing them ten li away, ready to be dispatched by the Third Prince at a moment's notice.
During the Hour of the Tiger, inside Six Doors.
In Di Renjie's study, an oil lamp was still lit, illuminating the densely packed files on the desk. They detailed the Third Prince's movements over the years, including his contacts with certain high-ranking court officials, influential families, and merchant guilds.
Yet, there was a single, solitary red line connecting the Third Prince to a young boy.
This was a young boy whom the Third Prince had taken in years ago, raised by the prince's most loyal followers, and had now become a fully qualified hidden blade.
Di Renjie closed the file and slowly leaned back in his seat.
The candlelight stretched his shadow, and next to it, another, longer shadow appeared.
As if he had not seen it, he continued to sit quietly.
The youth behind him glared at his back, his face filled with killing intent. His eyes also held a trace of humiliation—he had actually been played by this man once!
The blade reflected the candlelight, adding a faint, flickering play of light to the room.
Death was gradually closing in on Di Renjie...
Yet, when he was only two steps away, the youth suddenly came to a halt.
His expression turned vacant as Di Renjie's casually hummed melody drifted into his ears.
“The youngest drives the sheep up the hill, a guest has come to the home.”
“Father seeks wine to entertain the guest, and Mother laughs with joy...”
The hummed tune was intermittent, but the youth listened in a daze, the fragmented pieces piecing together in his mind.
A warm, childhood scene flashed by.
“Where did you hear this song?!” The youth, completely forgetting about the assassination at this moment, asked with great agitation, his voice trembling slightly.
Di Renjie stopped humming and turned around to look at the youth, showing not the slightest surprise at his appearance.
Looking at the youth's anxious face, he spoke slowly, “I heard it from your mother's lips. She said this is her son's favorite song to listen to.”
The blade in the youth's hand dropped to the floor, making a crisp clinking sound as it hit the ground.
He stared at Di Renjie in disbelief. He opened his mouth, but no words came out, only staring blankly, utterly speechless.
Di Renjie rose from his chair and walked slowly up to him. “Your name is Zhang Er. Your mother's name is Xu Fang. You were the most cherished youngest son in the family, but you were taken away all those years ago.”
“Your mother has been searching for you all this time. However, as over a decade passed and she could never find any trace of you, her mind gradually grew unstable. In the end, she would always unconsciously sing this lullaby.”
Zhang Er's eyes widened, and he mumbled to himself, “My... mother...”
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