The sky was getting brighter. Wen Mingtang, who had turned a page in the book, yawned and rubbed her tired eyes. She walked to Liang Hongjin, who was dozing in the corner, put the book in her hand, and said, “Lin Shaoqing will come in a while. Give this booklet to him.”

Liang Hongjin, who had not yet fully woken up from his sleep, yawned and muttered half asleep: “Why don’t you give it to him yourself?”

Wen Mingtang stuffed the book into Liang Hongjin’s arms, looked at the fish-belly-white sky, and said, “I’m going back to make breakfast.”

How could a qualified chef forget such a thing?

Liang Hongjin: “…”

With sleepy eyes, she closed the book in her arms and waved her hand toward Wen Mingtang. When Wen Mingtang saw this, she turned and left.

…

Zhao Mengzhuo, the minister of Dali Temple who was dragged out of bed by his wife early in the morning, rushed to the entrance of Third Street and Nine Alleys and was immediately stunned by the scene in front of him.

Ignoring the crooked official hat on his head, he looked at the once smooth ground now shattered into a mess. Dead soldiers lay everywhere, resembling hedgehogs with arrows. In the corner, there was a broken cart board with an iron plate nailed to it.

Zhao Mengzhuo almost fainted after seeing it.

The yamen officer who had come early to investigate the scene ran out of the alley and ran towards this side.

Zhao Mengzhuo had a white face and stopped the guard before he could speak. He said, “Don’t say anything else. Tell me the result first. Are Lin Fei, Liu Yuan, and the others okay?”

“Lin Shaoqing is okay!” The guard said.

Zhao Mengzhuo subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief, but before he could fully exhale, he heard the Yamen guard say, “There’s a bit of an issue with Sicheng Liu and Sicheng Bai…”

Zhao Mengzhuo’s expression suddenly changed.

…

…

When he was brought to Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu were sitting on the stretcher. Seeing these two people, Zhao Mengzhuo, who was originally pale, turned green. He turned around, pointed at the two people, and asked the officer expressionlessly: “What is this?”

The officer pointed at Liu Yuan and said, “Liu Sicheng sprained his foot while running fast.” He paused, then pointed to Bai Zhu aside and said, “Liu Sicheng sprained his foot and fell. When he came down, he hit Bai Sicheng’s hand, and Bai Sicheng’s arm was broken.”

Zhao Mengzhuo: “…”

Glancing at the two people sitting on the stretcher, Zhao Mengzhuo looked around and searched around, but couldn’t find the figure who should have been seen at first sight. He turned around and asked the guard beside him, “Where is Lin Shaoqing?”

The guard said, “Lin Shaoqing has entered the palace to meet His Majesty.”

Yesterday, naturally, he could not enter the palace to meet the Emperor without evidence. But today, even if there was no evidence, the murder on the street was true, so he naturally had to go to the palace to face the Emperor.

As for entering the palace, it naturally had nothing to do with Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu, who had injured their feet and hands. After a series of arrangements, they were carried into the Dali Temple. Touching their grumbling stomachs, the two finally remembered the forgotten matter today.

They haven’t had anything to eat in the morning today!

Since now it was already the time for lunch, Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu were greatly disappointed. Next was Master Sun’s lunch, which really didn’t make people look forward to it.

After returning to Dali Temple and finishing the morning meal, Wen Mingtang explained to Ah Bing and Tangyuan and went back to catch up on her sleep.

Wen Mingtang slept until one in the afternoon. She got up, washed her face with cold water, and went to the public kitchen to start making the mung bean cake she had promised Liang Hongjin yesterday.

Last night, Ah Bing and Tangyuan helped soak the peeled mung beans, and now they were steaming in the pot. While the mung beans were steaming, Wen Mingtang began preparing the ingredients for making mung bean cake: milk, honey, and Liang Hongzhan’s favorite mint, which was called “Bamo” in this dynasty.

Ah Bing and Tang Yuan obviously recognized this plant called Bamo. Seeing that Wen Mingtang was still preparing to use it, they couldn’t help but ask in surprise, “Can you eat this Bamo? Isn’t it for ornamental purposes?”

Wen Mingtang nodded and said, “It’s edible, with a refreshing taste. Those who like it, especially like it. You two can try it later.” Liang Hongjin particularly loves this cool flavor.

The two of them said “Oh” and continued to watch Wen Mingtang making mung bean cake.

…

While Wen Mingtang was making mung bean cake, Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu followed Lin Fei to see the County Prince of Huaishan and his family who were brought to Dali Temple for questioning.

There was such a big commotion yesterday. Although no one was damaged in Dali Temple, almost all the death soldiers raised by the Huaishan County Prince’s family were lost.

After Lin Fei reported this matter to His Majesty, the Huaishan County Prince, and his family were brought to Dali Temple for questioning.

The matter was so big that Zhao Mengzhuo rushed over and asked Lin Fei: “Do you want me to interrogate them personally?”

Lin Fei looked at Zhao Mengzhuo who came over and said: “This case… Your Excellency has never followed it before!”

Zhao Mengzhuo: “…”

It was not easy to interrogate such cunning and protected murderers as the Huaishan County Prince and his family. Zhao Mengzhuolai, who did not understand the case, suddenly may not be able to handle it.

“I’ll handle it myself,” Lin Fei declined Zhao Mengzhuo’s offer, paused, and added, “Your Excellency can listen from the side.”

After all, the Huaishan County Prince’s family had a special status. When the case was settled, Zhao Mengzhuo needed to come forward to close the case.

Zhao Mengzhuo: “…That’s fine!”

If he had known earlier that this case would involve relatives of the Emperor, he would have come to take it over. Now that his subordinates had taken over, it was still necessary to keep things under control.

After the group of people entered the prison, Li Zhao stood up and spoke first: “There must be some misunderstanding about this matter. I only knew about the attack on everyone in Dali Temple yesterday, and I didn’t know anything about it.”

Hearing these words, Liu Yuan, who was following behind, rolled his eyes and looked at Li Zhao, who stepped forward with a seemingly gentle and courteous face. The face that appeared kind and polite on ordinary days now seemed truly hypocritical and shameless.

Obviously, it was not until this moment that Li Zhao and others realized that Li Yuan, who rushed to question him yesterday, had been tricked by Lin Fei. If Lin Fei really had evidence, why would he use harsh words to Li Yuan? Go to the palace early!

Yesterday, it was true that something happened suddenly, and they were really guilty. In desperation, they immediately called for the death soldiers.

But what was a death warrior? They were raised to do things they couldn’t do on their behalf. Now that the death soldiers are dead, who could prove that these dead soldiers were from the Huaishan County Prince’s Palace? Even if someone had seen these death soldiers, they could argue that they were bribed or something.

Even if the people in Dali Temple didn’t believe this, they couldn’t do anything to them without evidence.

The defense from Li Zhao’s family didn’t surprise Lin Fei, and he didn’t engage in arguing about the identity of the individuals responsible for yesterday’s attack by the group of death soldiers. After a brief pause, he spoke, “We have already learned the truth about the events from twenty-five years ago.”

Zhao Mengzhuo on the side glanced at everyone present, his eyes fell on the faces of Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu, who also had blank expressions, and after a pause, he thought to himself: It’s not us, it’s me. I’m afraid Lin Fei is the only one who knows the truth!

As soon as these words came out, Li Zhao’s face froze, as if an invisible hole was torn from the gentle and polite mask.

(End of chapter)

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I didn’t find a recipe to make the exact mung bean cake, but here is a popular one.