Shen Li still nodded faintly and walked slowly on the road with Han Yue.
"You just need to keep an eye on things related to the Art of Mysterious Gates and this temple recently. You can put the matter of the silver - masked man aside for the time being or hand it over to someone else."
After saying that, Shen Li used his light - body skill and disappeared. Han Yue didn't ask any more questions and also used her light - body skill to vanish under the afterglow of the sun.
Then many people came out of the Marriage Maze, including He Yimeng and Xiao Luochi. It seemed that these two had walked out smoothly without experiencing any danger.
Shen Zhang was getting a bit anxious. He grabbed the little monk's hand and said, "Why don't you accompany me to find my cousin first? I'm really afraid something might happen to her."
The little monk thought for a while and then went into the maze himself to bring out Shen Zhen. Due to Shen Zhang's injury, the two decided to stay temporarily in the side rooms of the temple.
...
It was another early morning in Ye Yousi.
Shen Yi changed into formal attire and sent someone to call Shen Li.
"Brother, you're dressed so formally. Where are you going?" Shen Li leaned against the door frame, looking at Shen Yi with a beaming smile.
Shen Yi rolled his eyes, continued to tidy up his clothes, picked up a jade pendant from the table and fastened it to his waist. He shook his head helplessly and said, "I saw you having a great time with the young heir of the Prince Li on the Qixi Festival the other day. Can you still remember your elder brother?"
Mentioning the name of Xuan Yuanjue, Shen Li recalled how Xuan Yuanjue had looked last night. His high - spirited face smiling at her instantly conjured up an image in her mind.
"Brother, wasn't it you who told me to go? After all, it's hard to disobey an elder brother's order!" Shen Li spread out her hands, looking innocent.
By this time, Shen Yi had also finished tidying his clothes. He walked to the door and tapped Shen Li on the head with his hand. "You're such a smooth - talker."
"I'm going to see the Emperor today. You should keep a close eye on things." Shen Yi casually glanced around, then leaned close to Shen Li and whispered, "Remember what I told you before."
Shen Li's brows suddenly knitted together, then relaxed in an instant. She put on a smiling face and looked at Shen Yi. "I know. You're going to report on your duties today. Not even a fly can get into our place. What are you worried about? Go quickly and come back soon."
In broad daylight, Shen Yi felt a bit more at ease.
He walked straight in the direction of the palace.
With his token, Shen Yi entered the Dongling Palace without any hindrance. Shen Yi's face was like a living token. There was probably no one in the world who would dare to stop Shen Yi of Ye Yousi.
"So it's Lord Shen. The Emperor gave orders early this morning that if Lord Shen came, he could go directly to the study." Eunuch Li spoke in a shrill voice. He was extremely respectful when he saw Shen Yi coming.
Shen Yi smiled and nodded slightly at Eunuch Li, which was also a way of greeting. "Thank you, Eunuch Li."
"Oh, there's no need to say thank you. Lord Shen is dedicated to serving the country and the people. This really makes this old servant admire you."
Shen Yi didn't react to Eunuch Li's flattery. He just kept smiling and followed Eunuch Li into the imperial study.
In the imperial study, the Emperor was still reviewing memorials.
Eunuch Li was a perceptive person. Since Shen Yi had already arrived in the imperial study, he quite naturally withdrew from the imperial study, leaving the place for Shen Yi and the Emperor.
"I pay my respects to the Emperor." Shen Yi didn't perform the great bowing ceremony in front of the Emperor. This was his privilege.
When the Emperor saw Shen Yi coming, his frowning brows relaxed. "Shen Yi, you've finally come."
Hearing the Emperor's breathing, Shen Yi felt that the Emperor's health was getting worse day by day.
"Your Majesty should take more care of your health."
But the Emperor didn't seem to care. "We'll talk about that later. First, take a look at these." Then he directly spread out a stack of memorials so that they came into Shen Yi's sight.
A martial artist's sharp eyes had already caught the words on them.
Salt!
Shen Yi narrowed his eyes slightly, the corner of his mouth curving up gently. He took a step forward, casually picked up a memorial on the table and looked at it. His voice was very cold as he said, "It seems these people are getting bolder and bolder."
"Do you know about this?" The Emperor stared fixedly at Shen Yi, hoping to get some more information from him. Those useless officials in the court couldn't give him much useful information at all.
Shen Yi nodded. "I just found out about these things recently. It was my younger sister who told me. But this matter is very complicated. They didn't act before, so I didn't dare to report it to Your Majesty rashly. It was only recently that we managed to find out some of their people. That's why I'm coming to the palace today just for this matter."
"Oh?" Hearing what Shen Yi said, the Emperor couldn't help raising his eyebrows. His eyes were shining. "You've already found out some of their people?"
Shen Yi nodded. "My younger sister is in charge of this matter. The private - salt business was colluding with the people from Panhu Stockade before. But since their people have been silenced, we have no way to investigate further. However, my younger sister found other clues recently. Now we're still further verifying them. The result should come out in less than a month."
Recently, the Emperor had been vigorously cracking down on the private - salt business, which made many people stop their small tricks. But this also made it difficult for the Emperor to find the mastermind behind it, which had been giving the Emperor a headache. Even with Ye Yousi and the officers and soldiers working together, they couldn't find any trace of those people. It showed that these people were very cunning.
"Then, does Miss Li have any evidence?" The Emperor stood up anxiously. His eyes were full of hope. After all, the private - salt business had been bothering him for a long time. The Emperor thought that if this matter continued and the mastermind wasn't found, it would definitely cause great harm to the Dongling Kingdom.
Because of this matter, he couldn't sleep well at night and his health had declined significantly.
Shen Yi shook his head, pursing his lips and saying, "Li'er said this matter is still under her investigation. She just told me about it and didn't tell me anything else. She said that for the sake of safety, she couldn't leak any information to avoid another incident like the one at Panhu Stockade."
Hearing this, the Emperor couldn't help feeling disappointed. He sat back down on his chair and let out a long sigh. "I see. Then we can only wait for Miss Li's news. But this is still better than having no news at all."
Then the Emperor picked up the teacup on his table. His hand touched the porcelain cup and felt the temperature of the tea.