The Duchess An and the wife of the heir to the dukedom were so angry that their whole bodies trembled, and their faces turned deathly pale. All the jewelry they had put in the boxes was gone. Even the hair ornaments they had taken off before going to bed were missing, and the jade bracelets on their hands had been taken away. They were truly penniless.
If it weren't for the silver notes the wife of the heir to the dukedom had hidden in her clothes, they would have been left with nothing.
"Who? Who on earth is it? The prestigious Duke Anguo's Mansion has been robbed like this. Who is targeting our ducal mansion?"
Duke Anguo slumped to the ground and roared. He really couldn't figure out which court official was trying to deal with him.
There were many people in charge of the theft case in the ducal mansion, including the Jinwu Guards patrolling the streets, officials from the Jingzhao Prefecture, and those from the Dali Temple. The nature of the case was too special as it involved many mansions, so the emperor personally gave an order to conduct a thorough investigation.
After the Jinwu Guards learned about the situation in each mansion, they conducted strict inspections in the city. The officials from the Jingzhao Prefecture and the Dali Temple were also searching the mansions for any suspicious clues.
They witnessed a great spectacle in the capital today. The Fourth Prince had been poisoned, and the Tenth Prince had been beaten half to death. Both of them were lying motionless like invalids. And so many mansions had been robbed, leaving only the ponds and the lotuses in them. Of course, the corridors hadn't been stolen, and the roofs hadn't been torn off.
They didn't dare to laugh, and at the same time, they were worried that if they couldn't solve the case, their own homes might also be robbed like this in the future.
The Deputy Magistrate of Jingzhao was still comforting Duke Anguo. "Your Grace, please calm down. A total of more than a dozen mansions in the capital were robbed last night. The Fourth Prince and the Tenth Prince were also secretly attacked and fell into a coma. Your Grace might as well think carefully. Have you offended anyone recently?"
Hearing this, Duke Anguo felt a little more at ease. Fortunately, it wasn't just his mansion that had suffered like this.
Then, he began to think seriously. He had been inexplicably fined his salary and beaten with a board and was recuperating at home. He had no time to offend anyone.
He shook his head, and then suddenly remembered something. No, he had sent someone to watch outside Princess Wenyang's Mansion yesterday. If there was a conflict with the Duke Anguo's Mansion, it was only those two children from the princess's mansion. Could it be the work of the Seventh Princess?
He immediately told the Deputy Magistrate of Jingzhao his speculation, but he concealed the fact that he had sent someone to lurk outside the princess's mansion.
The Deputy Magistrate frowned slightly. "Your Grace, don't make random speculations without evidence. I'll pretend I didn't hear this. The Seventh Princess was put under house arrest yesterday, and there are imperial guards guarding the gate of her mansion. It couldn't be the princess's doing."
He simply didn't believe that the Seventh Princess had such great abilities. There were more than a dozen mansions involved. It was obviously the work of a group of people. How could a single princess accomplish such a thing?
He thought that it was most likely the work of a certain force in the martial arts world colluding with some people in the capital, or one of the robbed mansions. They did it to confuse the public and also emptied their own mansion, and must have hidden the stolen items in a secret place.
Seeing that the deputy magistrate didn't believe him, Duke Anguo was still a bit reluctant. "The Seventh Princess knows martial arts. If she wants to leave the mansion, those imperial guards simply can't stop her. Your Honor should think about it. In the capital, those who can do such a big thing under the noses of the imperial guards without being noticed are by no means ordinary people. They must at least have status and position."
The deputy magistrate just gave him a meaningful look and said indifferently, "Your Grace, rest assured. I'll report this to the magistrate of the prefecture truthfully."
As for whether the magistrate would believe it or report it to a higher authority, that wasn't his concern.
There were many officers and soldiers in the robbed mansions for questioning and investigation. The servants in each mansion were called together. First, they checked the servants in each mansion one by one, and then they searched for clues in each mansion, but they found nothing.
The streets and alleys in the capital became lively because of this incident. The Jinwu Guards patrolling the streets intensified their patrols. There used to be petty thefts on the streets on ordinary days, but today there were none at all. Everyone behaved themselves.
Different from their busyness, Xi Qingyue and Xi Weilan woke up leisurely at the fourth quarter of noon.
Xi Weilan rubbed her sleepy eyes and wiped the saliva from the corner of her mouth. There was still a happy smile on her face.
"Sister, we've slept for a long time. I'm hungry."
Xi Qingyue smiled and rubbed her head. "Yes, after we wash up, we'll have a meal. After that, we'll go to the teahouse for tea. The teahouse must be very lively today."
The two sisters looked at each other and smiled, then opened the door. When Xiaolian and the others outside saw them getting up, they all got busy.
Xiaolian sent someone to prepare the food and bring it up. She also sent someone to fetch water and then personally started to dress and comb Xi Weilan's hair.
After the two of them washed up, the table in the hall was already filled with a table full of food, including all kinds of pastries and various delicious dishes.
Xi Qingyue pulled Xi Weilan to the table and sat down. The two of them picked up their chopsticks and happily started to eat.
"Xiaolian, we got up late today. Has anything interesting happened in the capital?"
Hearing Xi Qingyue's question, Xiaolian wasn't surprised, because she had asked the same question yesterday.
She immediately told the two of them the news she had heard today with great enthusiasm and even gesticulated with her hands as she spoke, which made Xi Weilan giggle.
Xi Qingyue pretended to be shocked and asked, "Really? So many mansions have been robbed. Did they do something immoral and get retaliated against?"
Hearing this, Xi Weilan nodded in agreement. "Yes, definitely. I've heard that if you do too many immoral things, you'll get retribution. Sister, let's finish our meal quickly and go out to have a look. It must be very lively outside."
Xiaolian didn't know what to say for a moment. The first reaction of others when they heard this incident was to say how pitiful it was, but these two sisters thought that the people had done something immoral and got what they deserved. What were they thinking? They were really just kids.
Two quarters of an hour later, Xi Qingyue carried Xi Weilan out of the yard and headed towards Lu Jinshuang's yard.
When they got there, Lu Shiwan hadn't left yet. The two of them obediently greeted, "Hello, Sister Shiwan! Hello, Sister Jinshuang!"
Seeing the two of them coming, Lu Shiwan's lips curved slightly. "You two can really sleep. If you sleep too much, you'll have trouble falling asleep at night."
Xi Qingyue replied seriously, "Don't worry, Sister Shiwan. We're kids. We need to sleep more to grow. If we don't sleep, we won't grow tall."
"Yes, I'm too short. I want to grow taller quickly," Xi Weilan said even more seriously.
Lu Jinshuang smiled and stroked her head. "Okay, sleep if you want. Now that you're awake, do you want to rest for a while before practicing martial arts?"
As she said this, she looked at Xi Qingyue for her opinion.
Xi Qingyue shook her head. "Sister Jinshuang, we want to go out and play. We want to go to the teahouse to listen to storytellers. We'll practice martial arts when we come back at night. We won't go out tomorrow."
Before Lu Jinshuang could say anything, Lu Shiwan directly nodded in agreement. "Okay, I'll take you. I'm free now anyway. It's better to do something than just sitting around."
This made Lu Jinshuang very frustrated. She was still under house arrest and could only watch as the others left the mansion.
She could go out too, but she would have to disguise herself. Thinking about the abnormal situation outside today, she endured it. It was better to keep a low profile at this time.
She wasn't a child anymore, and there were quite a few people keeping an eye on her. Maybe a bunch of them were trying to frame her for what happened last night.
When Xi Qingyue left the mansion, she noticed that the spies from various mansions outside were gone.
She murmured to herself, "Sure enough, I should keep them busy so they don't have time to cause trouble."
