All the ancestors in the capital begged me to be a substitute

The visitor held the palace lantern in his hand, and the light from the candlelight shone down from the steps, getting closer and closer to the ice cellar.

Shen Lingxi hid behind a water tank, looking at the snowball's arched back, it was enough to see that the person who came was not a kind person.

Since she dared to run around in the palace alone, she made all the preparations, fumbled in her sleeves, held a palm-sized medicine bag in the palm of her hand, and waited for someone to take the medicine by surprise.

However, to her surprise, there was a sudden "crash" sound upstairs, as if someone was pulling out the iron chain on the wooden door.

The person holding the lamp was obviously attracted by the movement, vigilantly blew out the lamp in his hand, and walked up lightly.

"Meow...meow..."

Xue Tuan seemed to have discovered something, his back suddenly flattened, he turned his head and yelled at Shen Lingxi twice, and ran up excitedly.

Shen Lingxi raised her eyebrows, thinking of the appearance of Xuetuan rushing out in Shen's Biezhuang, she immediately understood who was making the noise above.

She relaxed slightly, put the medicine bag back into her sleeve, pondered for a while, lit the palace lantern in her hand, and walked up the steps.

The closer you get to the top, the clearer the sounds of the fight.

It wasn't until Shen Lingxi stepped on the last step that there was only a "huh", followed by a woman's muffled groan, and the sound of a heavy object falling to the ground came from outside.

"Meow!"

Xuetuan yelled excitedly, obviously the battle ended with the victory of the friendly side.

However, the next moment——
An extremely fierce sword energy suddenly hit Shen Lingxi from outside the house.

Shen Lingxi subconsciously moved her steps and dodged away.

"It's you?" The visitor saw Shen Lingxi's face clearly, and quickly withdrew his sword.

And Shen Lingxi suddenly realized that the footwork of avoiding the sword qi just now revealed flaws. After all, when facing the assassination of the man in black in Fu'an Hall, in order to avoid Chu Yan's temptation to "send her to death", she always Do not hide.

With a "hiss...", she hurried to make up for it, pretending to sprain her ankle, and fell weakly on the ground to cover up her movement just now.

The falling palace lantern illuminated the expressions of the two of them very clearly.

She saw his face that had never changed, with sharp edges and corners, wearing a purple gold python robe and a golden crown on his head, with an incomparably noble and solemn appearance.

And he also saw, under her feigned tenderness, her sharp body, and the guilt she tried to hide under her eyes.

well.

It turned out that even though he was the one who tried the first thing about the assassin of Fu'an Hall, the person in front of him was not innocent.

She was the first person who could fool him around.

Shen Lingxi saw that the other party's black eyes were getting darker and darker, and she had a feeling that something was wrong, so she pretended to be puzzled and asked, "His Highness recognizes me?"

She called him "Your Highness", which made Chu Yan realize that he was wearing a boa robe today to attend the palace banquet.

With this identity, Shen Lingxi has never been seen before.

"I don't know." Chu Yan turned his eyes lightly, retracted the long sword into the scabbard, and bent over to pick up the palace lantern, avoiding her sight.

"But why do I feel... Your Highness looks very similar to an old friend of mine." Shen Lingxi made an inquiring look, "Does Your Highness recognize 'Ning Liulang'?"

Old friend?

Now Ning Liulang can be promoted to "old friend"?

Heh, an old friend who met by chance.

Little liar.

Chu Yan's dark pupils looked at her quietly, completely unwilling to continue the topic of "old friend".

"do not know."

He put on a businesslike attitude, and asked in a tone of questioning the suspect: "Why did you appear here at the palace banquet today? What does that woman outside have to do with you?"

Shen Lingxi sighed slightly.

It seems that this one is probably suspicious of her again.

She knew very well that in the case of Bingjiao, she appeared here for no reason. If the embroiderer really found out, she would not be innocent just relying on the Taoist theory.

But right now, there is no better way to explain the relationship, so I had no choice but to bite the bullet and say: "The Empress Dowager asked me to use divination to find Xue Tuan's body. The divination indicated that it was in the Eastern Palace. I came to look for it, but I did not expect to see it In this locked courtyard, I felt that there was a lot of resentment here, so I came in to take a look. You said that the woman just came in, and I don't know her."

Chu Yan bent his fingers slightly, picked up the open lock on the ground, looked at the keyhole a few times by the candlelight, and raised his eyebrows, "So, you opened the lock here?"

"Yes..." Shen Lingxi lowered her eyes guiltily.

Lockpicking is a technical task, and these days, only the thieves would bother to study it.

It's not a skill that a good girl like her should know.

However, in front of the Embroidered Clothes Commander, she had to explain herself no matter what, "One time I was burying someone's body, and the door was locked and I couldn't get in. I accidentally... learned it."

"If you learn it by accident, you have such a skill." Chu Yan stared at her with his black eyes, and his thin lips curved lightly, like a mockery.

He let go of his fingers, and let the lock fall from his fingertips to the ground, and said in a neutral voice, "The girl is really talented."

"Your Highness, thank you." Shen Lingxi could hear the sarcasm in his tone, and said humbly, "They are all trivial skills, just to make a living."

The words "make a living and earn a living" somewhat bring the bitterness and difficulty of ordinary people.

This time, Chu Yan didn't say anything.

"What did you find in the ice cellar?" He stood up, asked casually, and planned to walk into the ice cellar with the lantern.

It seemed that she didn't notice at all that Shen Lingxi just "sprained her foot" and was still sitting on the ground at this moment.

He didn't "pay attention", but since Shen Lingxi had already pretended to be like this, she had to continue to pretend, otherwise it would be impossible to explain why she was able to avoid that sword just now.

"Your Highness, don't go down by yourself." She called Chu Yan, and kindly persuaded: "This ice cellar contains the case that Mu Shaoqing is currently investigating, and Xue Tuan's body, and there should be other things. It is most appropriate for people from Dali Temple to investigate first."

This is the East Palace.

It also involved the murder scene, and also involved Yuzhu and An Wang.

In Chu Yan's capacity, avoiding suspicion is the best policy.

What's more, there is half a tank of human blood and blood clothes in it...

Chu Yan didn't expect that at this time, she would still think for herself, and turned to look at her, her dark eyes like deep pools reflected the candlelight, and there was a faint stream of light passing by.

But soon, he remembered that last time in Yinyue Pavilion's old lair, she had "thought" for him in this way, and that stream of light disappeared in the shadows again.

"Can you get up?" He was condescending, and handed her the wooden handle of the palace lantern with his backhand, motioning for her to use his strength to get up, "Gu will take you back first."

Shen Lingxi looked at the handle of the lamp, and thought about it seriously. When she came here, she had to walk for half an hour. If she pretended to be lame and went back, she didn't know when she would go, and she might show her flaws.

"I sprained my ankle, I really can't walk." She said sincerely, "Please return to Shoukang Palace, Your Highness, and let Xiaodouzi bring someone to carry a soft sedan chair. I..."

Before she finished speaking, Shen Lingxi saw the other party's cold and profound face, and bent down towards her. Her tall body bullied her with a sense of oppression, which made the alarm bells ring in her mind.

However, the next moment——
She just felt that her body was empty, and she was hugged into his arms...