The matter came to a stalemate with the death of Master Sun.

Why would a chef from the public kitchen of Dali Temple who had nothing to do with the Goguryeo envoy serve Croton to the envoy?

“He was still gloomy when he asked for ‘sick leave’ that day,” Ji Caimai thought for a while and said, “When I went to see him yesterday, he was in a very good mood and said he would come back…”

In the public kitchen, Master Sun obviously didn’t take Ji Caimai or Wen Mingtang seriously. After all, no matter how much Wen Mingtang and Ji Caimai disliked him, they couldn’t do anything to him. They couldn’t drive him away. At most, they could just scold him! Scolding might work for those with thin skin, but for an “old man” like Master Sun, it would just go in one ear and out the other.

Ji Caimai’s description of just a few words was enough for an experienced Dali Temple official like Wei Fu to piece together a very possible reason.

“He must have suffered something before or was coerced or threatened by someone who took advantage of his weakness. The other party asked him to do something, which was most likely to drug the Goguryeo envoy.” Wei Fu said, “The man must have allowed him to do this thing, and everything would be written off. The ashes that were split into black ash by the thunder and fire may be the reason why he did these things.”

Even if he wanted to assassinate the envoy, Master Sun’s Croton… It was also a sight that made people shake their heads. Witnessed by so many people sneaking into the inn, the real murderer would not choose to cooperate with such a person, but would only treat him as a knife to be thrown away after use.

“In the end, he is still stupid!” Liu Yuan, who strode over, also had an ugly face. “He is in Dali Temple, but he doesn’t ask for our help, but dares to listen to the words of those vicious people. I don’t know what he is thinking!”

“Will we ignore him just because his cooking is bad?” Liu Yuan walked in front of everyone and said, “If so, we would have kicked him out of Dali Temple long ago, how could he stay until now?”

Although he complained and didn’t like Master Sun, he always felt a little blocked in his heart when he thought that he died in such a confused way.

“For now, we have to check whether Master Sun has contacted anyone in recent days.” Wei Fu said, but the solemnity on his face did not ease at all.

The other party would push Master Sun out instead of doing it himself, which showed that they had already prepared a foolproof plan and would not leave any handle that could be easily found.

Ji Caimai, who was standing opposite, hesitated after hearing this. After a long pause, he said, “Sun Dingren… has actually been involved with Prince Yu’s people in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.”

Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been an incident against Wen Mingtang.

How could a cook be involved with envoys from other countries unless he was in contact with the rich and powerful? If it was Prince Yu… Liu Yuan and the others seemed to have mentioned during their evening meal that Prince Yu was once involved in an old case, and there were people from Goguryeo in that old case.

Was it such a coincidence? Although Ji Caimai was just a clerk, he had been in the Dali Temple for a long time, so he had always acquired some habits. It was really a coincidence that Prince Yu appeared in the whole thing.

The coincidences that Ji Caimai could find, Liu Yuan and the others had naturally found them long ago.

“We will go to look for the Goguryeo prostitute Jin Yanxiu in that case in a while,” Liu Yuan said, looking at Wen Mingtang, and said, “We will go after we have lunch made by Master Wen…”

Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Wei Fu. He touched his slightly twitching eyelids and said, “We are already a step too late with Master Sun. We’d better go and see the prostitute earlier. The murderer won’t wait until lunchtime to take action!”

With these words, Liu Yuan hurried to see the prostitute named Jin Yanxiu without having lunch.

When they arrived at the entrance of the brothel with their men, before they could even step into the brothel, they heard a scream from inside the building. This scream scared Liu Yuan and Wei Fu so much that they jumped. They were afraid that they would face another dead body this time, so they rushed in.

Then, they saw the prostitute named Jin Yanxiu at a glance. She was hanging in the air with iron wires hanging on her body. She was wearing a Hu people’s dance skirt and struggling and twisting in the air, screaming.

Seeing this scene, Liu Yuan and Wei Fu’s faces suddenly changed. They exclaimed, “Oh no, save people!” and were about to rush to the stage, but were stopped by the madam and the receptionist.

“Sir, wait a minute!” The madam shook the round fan in her hand helplessly, pointed at Jin Yanxiu hanging in the air, and said, “We are practicing the flying dance!”

Flying… flying dance? The two who were about to rush onto the stage were startled, and then they noticed that many prostitutes were hanging in the air not far from Jin Yanxiu. However, compared with Jin Yanxiu’s struggling, twisting, and screaming, those prostitutes were much better in terms of dancing skills and postures, and some of them were even humming softly.

The two looked at the prostitutes and then looked at Jin Yanxiu who was screaming in the middle. After a moment of silence, they said to the madam, “Put her down! We have something to ask her!”

The madam nodded and asked the receptionist to put the screaming Jin Yanxiu down.

Seeing that her steps were a little unsteady after she was put down, Liu Yuan and Wei Fu turned to the madam and said, “She is obviously not suitable for learning the Flying Dance. Why do you want her to practice it?”

Hearing this, the madam spread her hands helplessly and sighed, “Sir, her appearance and singing voice are all average! She is not young anymore, and I can’t keep an idle person here!”

Hearing this, Liu Yuan pointed at Jin Yanxiu who was sitting there to rest, and said, “Her dancing made us think that a murder case had occurred. You want her to dance the Flying Dance with that posture?”

Of course, this was not possible! The madam was also very worried. She couldn’t help complaining, “Others have some skills, but she doesn’t! If it weren’t for the fact that His Royal Highness Prince Yu is so loyal and comes to see her once a month, we would have kicked her out long ago!”

Before they could ask, they heard the madam mention “Prince Yu”. Liu Yuan and Wei Fu looked at each other and asked the madam, “Will His Royal Highness Prince Yu come to see Jin Yanxiu?”

Prince Yu was indeed not a good person, but judging from his picky look, he had been unable to do anything because Master Wen was too “simple”. Now Jin Yanxiu is not as good as Master Wen. Liu Yuan and Wei Fu certainly wouldn’t believe Prince Yu’s “loyalty”. There must be something else going on.

Jin Yanxiu, who was standing aside, seemed to have recovered at this time and was looking over here. Although she was a Goguryeo person, she had been in Darong for many years and could speak fluent Chinese.

“His Highness is a good man!” Jin Yanxiu heard them mention Prince Yu and quickly spoke happily, “He was very generous. He didn’t even ask me to sing the song. He just asked me to accompany him for tea.”

Was she talking about the Prince Yu they knew? Liu Yuan and Wei Fu were stunned when they heard this. After a while, they came back to their senses and looked at Jin Yanxiu with a little more scrutiny in their eyes: “Why does Prince Yu treat you so well?”

This Prince Yu was not a good man. There must be a reason for his actions.

(End of this chapter)

---