"Miss Huan, don't tell me you've fallen for him?" Qi Lei's question made Song Yihuan's eyelashes flutter slightly.
She shook her head at Qi Lei and said hoarsely, "Uncle Qi, I haven't."
Qi Lei let out a sigh of relief. "That's good."
He said earnestly, "Miss Huan, listen to Uncle Qi's advice. The Prince Ning's Mansion is by no means a good destination for you. The heir of the Prince Ning has already married, and his wife is your elder sister. This was a marriage bestowed by the emperor, and there must be no mistake. If you... if you follow him, you can only be a concubine. But do you think the Marquis Ding'an's Mansion will let you become his concubine so smoothly? It will cost you your life!"
Song Yihuan said softly, "I know all these. So, Uncle Qi, I must leave. When the time is right, I will take Xuan'er and leave here forever. By then, we'll find a deserted place and live a quiet life."
Qi Lei returned to his chair and sat down. He rubbed his face hard, his eye sockets red.
"I was wondering why you've been staying in the Prince Ning's Mansion and not leaving. It turns out this is the reason. Why didn't I notice this until now? If I had discovered it earlier, I could have found a way for you earlier." He blamed himself deeply.
"Uncle Qi, don't think like this. It's all because fate loves to play tricks on people." Song Yihuan lowered her eyelids and said.
"So, the reason you've been investigating the Changyue Nunnery is to get the evidence of your elder sister's affair?" Qi Lei frowned and pondered. "Since you couldn't find anything from this list, it means the other party was extremely careful and concealed their tracks. However, we have another way."
Qi Lei looked up at Song Yihuan. "How did she find out she was pregnant, and who prescribed the abortifacient for her? As long as we find that doctor, we'll have both a witness and material evidence."
Song Yihuan nodded vigorously. "Uncle Qi is right. We also have to find the doctor who diagnosed my elder sister. But there are so many medical clinics in the capital. It may take a long time to find this person."
"Don't worry. I'll take care of everything. Whether it's the divine doctor who can cure Xuan'er or the doctor who diagnosed your elder sister, I'll help you find them." Qi Lei's tone softened, and his eyes were filled with pity as he looked at Song Yihuan.
"As for you, you have to go back to that cage and deal with that bitch."
Song Yihuan looked up at the grapevine stretching into the air. Her eyes were filled with determination and tenacity.
"Uncle Qi, you once said that the sky hasn't fallen yet. I'll be careful and try to gain my elder sister's trust, get useful clues from her, and then strike back. She plotted against me like this. I'll never let her get away with it."
After bidding farewell to Qi Lei, Song Yihuan put on her veil hat and walked back to the Prince Ning's Mansion.
Not long after she left, Ji Lingchuan rode his horse and stopped in a hurry at the entrance of Yongning Alley. He dismounted and strode into the alley. He came to a certain door and raised his hand to knock on the door ring.
"You girl, did you forget something again?" Qi Lei opened the door helplessly, but it was Ji Lingchuan's face that greeted him.
For a moment, Qi Lei was stunned. Then he smiled and said, "Lord Ling, why are you here?"
Ji Lingchuan didn't miss the address Qi Lei mentioned just now. He tightened his grip on the things in his hand and said, "She was here just now?"
"You mean Miss Huan? Lord Ling came here specifically to look for her?" Qi Lei said. "That's a pity. She just left not long ago. If Lord Ling wants to chase after her, you should still be able to catch up."
However, Ji Lingchuan fell silent. He looked down at the muddy water on his robe that he didn't know when it had been stained. He held out the things in his hand and said, "This is the reward and commendation order for solving the case. Since she has left, please give them to her on my behalf, Uncle Qi."
Qi Lei took them as he was told. Then he was surprised to find that the two money bags in his hand were very heavy. There must be a lot of silver in them.
"Since Lord Ling is here, why don't you come in and have a cup of hot tea before leaving?" Qi Lei invited.
Ji Lingchuan shook his head and turned away.
After leaving Yongning Alley, Ji Lingchuan mounted his horse. He looked in the direction of the Prince Ning's Mansion and guessed that Song Yihuan should already be on her way back. He tugged on the reins and turned his horse's head towards the outside of the city.
The Changyue Nunnery was located thirty li outside the western suburbs of the capital. It took an hour to get there from the capital by the official road.
However, Ji Lingchuan's horse was a fine thoroughbred, and with his excellent riding skills, he reached the outside of the Changyue Nunnery in just half an hour.
When he arrived at the Changyue Nunnery, he didn't rush to go inside to see Song Nanxin. Instead, he stopped in a small forest about a hundred meters away from the nunnery and whistled a special birdcall.
After a while, a guard quietly left the Changyue Nunnery and knelt on one knee in front of Ji Lingchuan.
"Your subordinate pays respects to the heir."
Ji Lingchuan said indifferently, "Tell me everything the heir's wife has done in the Changyue Nunnery in the past few days."
"Yes!" The guard said in a low voice. "Three days ago, after the heir's wife arrived at the Changyue Nunnery, she stayed in a meditation room in the backyard of the nunnery. In these three days, the heir's wife would get up early and chant scriptures and pray with the nuns in the nunnery to offer salvation to the dead. After lunch and a short rest, she would copy scriptures until evening. After dinner, the heir's wife would discuss scriptures and play chess with the nuns in the nunnery and go to bed at the end of the Xu hour."
"She never left the Changyue Nunnery for a moment?" Ji Lingchuan asked.
Getting a negative answer from the guard, Ji Lingchuan fell into deep thought. It seemed that Song Nanxin had behaved herself in the Changyue Nunnery and hadn't done anything extra.
But he always felt something strange about her that he couldn't ignore.
"Go and get a copy of the scriptures copied by the heir's wife and bring it to me. Be careful not to alarm anyone."
The guard Ji Lingchuan sent to protect Song Nanxin was carefully selected and well-trained by him. He was very agile. He only left for a moment and then came back to him with what Ji Lingchuan wanted.
"Heir, here is the scriptures copied by the heir's wife. Please take a look."
Ji Lingchuan sat on a stone by the roadside, unfolded the scriptures in his hand, and frowned as he examined them.
Song Nanxin used excellent Lin'an rice paper to copy the scriptures. The small and delicate hairpin-like regular script was neatly arranged. At first glance, the handwriting was indeed very similar to those on the letters stored in Ji Lingchuan's black wooden box.
However, perhaps because Ji Lingchuan had been looking through the letters in the black box recently, those handwriting had been deeply engraved in his mind. So he quickly noticed the difference.
Although the handwriting was very similar, there were obvious differences in the strokes of some characters. The characters on this piece of scripture were written a little impatiently and not steady enough.
Ji Lingchuan couldn't help but think of the missing materials in the Imperial College again. Song Nanxin had gone to the Imperial College in May and taken away all her test papers there. What was her purpose? And where were those test papers now?