Jing Wan'er returned to the courtyard and was just about to close the door when a hand stretched out from the gap, holding it open.

  Jing Wan'er looked up and stared at him: "Isn't the Temple Administrator out visiting?"

  Shen Xingwen stared at Jing Yuanyu's face with a distant and indifferent expression.

  Jing Wan'er's hand was propping against the door, but she didn't open it and couldn't close it again. "Is there something going on, Temple Master?"

  Jing's eyebrows slightly raised as she lightly opened her mouth: "Miss Jing wants to speak with Shen like this, without inviting Shen in... would you like another cup of tea?"

  Jing Wan'er had just brewed tea and now brought it back like this, still placing it on the table.

  Shen Xingwen's hand slowly exerted force and pushed open Jing Yuanyuan's door. Jing Yuanyuan looked at him with a hint of coolness.

  Shen Xingwen smiled slightly: "Just as Shen Mou had just left the door, he suddenly thought that going to visit like this would be no different from startling a snake in the grass. So if this is what startled away the only witness left in Chang'an, it would be a loss."

  Jing Wan'er looked at him: "What did Temple Tiao come here for?"

  Shen Xingwen stared at Jing Yuane, and after a long while, said: "Because Shen Mou also just realized that Shen Mou committed a stupid thing of 'darkness under the lamp'. If we talk about witnesses who are close at hand and can be asked, why do we need to go far away to what city west?"

  Jing Wan'er didn't say a word and just looked at him, her expression becoming even more melancholic.

  "Miss, would you be willing to have a chat with me? Or rather, answer a few questions for me?"

  Jing Wan'er slowly opened her mouth: "Shen Temple, if I'm not mistaken, you're investigating the case of the crown prince being framed twenty years ago. At that time, Wan'er hadn't been born yet, so no matter what, she has nothing to do with this case."

  Shen Xingwen's smile deepened at the corners of his lips: "Is that so, Miss Jing also answered me like this?"

  Jing Wan's face showed a few threads of anger: "What do you mean?"

  Shen Xingwen directly strode into the room, and by the time Jing Yu'er reacted, it was too late to stop him.

  Shen Xingwen took a few glances around Jing Yuanner's room, and it could be said that he had never

  I have never seen such a simple and humble daughter's boudoir, without any preciousness or privacy of a girl's room.

  Jing Wan'er's voice had completely cooled down: "Has Temple Shen looked enough?"

  This isn't a crime scene, no need to look around like that.

  Shen Xingwen turned around, gazing at Jing Yuane, he was very clear that even as a sixth-grade temple official, his behavior just now was not in line with the rules and had already provoked this gentle yet strong-willed young girl.

  Even when Pei Tan spoke to Jing Wanyu, he treated her with courtesy, and she had not felt the sensation of being offended for a long time.

  Shen Xingwen suddenly smiled and said with a sigh, "From the Qinglong Temple onwards, I suppose Shen Mou has long since lost any good impression in Miss's heart. However, Shen Mou is not an unreasonable person either. Usually, when Shen Mou wants to talk to Miss alone, there hasn't been an opportunity. Now that Master is entertaining guests in the front hall and won't be back for a while, Shen Mou can have a good chat with Miss."

  Jing Wan'er was shocked in her heart, she didn't know if Shen Xingwen had just happened to meet the visiting Guanglu Temple Master at the door when he went out, and would have turned back. At least this remark of his did not stop there.

  Jing Wan'er wasn't one to only know how to avoid things. She stared at Shen Xingwen and said, "What do you want to ask?"

  She no longer addressed him as "Shen Temple Assistant", at least indicating that Jing Yuanyu was angry.

  Shen Xingwen didn't mind either. After a moment, he calmly opened his mouth: "Why Shen Mou appears here, with Miss's cleverness, you should have an idea."

  It's not that Jing Wan'er said that when Crown Prince Zhang Huai passed away, she hadn't been born yet, which just shows that she really knows nothing.

  Jing Wan'er looked at Shen Xingwen, waiting for him to continue speaking.

  Shen Xingwen's expression was calm: "I, Shen, will speak directly. I wanted to ask you a few questions, but now I'd rather know how much you already know?"

  Jing Wan'er didn't evade his gaze, "I don't know anything."

  "Miss, are you saying that you don't know what happened back then, or...you don't know why your family got involved?"

  Jing Wan's face was devoid of any emotion, nothing had been revealed by Shen

  Xing Wen saw it and replied: "Investigating what happened that year is Shen Temple's responsibility."

  Shen Xingwen nodded: "Indeed, Shen Mou is to blame. It's like this case seems to have no leads, and after checking the case files with you for days, we can only see some insignificant clues, and we can't get a glimpse of the truth at that time. So I thought of the only way with you, to thoroughly investigate those people who were active before and after the Crown Prince's case back then, and find out who framed the Crown Prince."

  Jing Wan'er didn't say anything.

  Shen Xingwen said, "At this time, your case, Miss Jing, is just included in it."

  Jing Wan'er looked at him and finally spoke after a long time: "Do you want to ask about my family?"

  In the aristocratic families of Chang'an, the Jing family was just a small household, so much so that no one specially recorded the affairs of the Jing family.

  Shen Xingwen did not beat around the bush and looked at Jing Wanyu: "Miss Jing, was your father highly valued in the imperial court back then?"

  "He came from a humble background," said Jing Wan'er, "and being called 'Du Hu' is just an empty title."

  "In name, I have no real power. My father studied hard in poverty and was top of his class in high school, but in the end, he just became a subordinate to these powerful people."

  Shen Xingwen's gaze fell on Jing Wanyu's calm face, and when he mentioned these things, the girl did not have any verbal disguise.

  Father has been exiled and suffered in that harsh and cold place for many years, it was originally the fault of the imperial court's nobles.

  "Does your father have any enemies?" Shen Xingwen lowered his voice.

  Jing Wan'er replied calmly, "No, even if we commoners become officials, we won't be taken seriously. My father is a loyal subject, and even though the king treats him like a disposable pawn, he doesn't have any complaints."

  Shen Xingwen fell silent for a moment. Suddenly, he smiled and then turned cold: "Jing young lady, although this may make you uncomfortable, but... these nobles' games, even if it's just a pawn, must have value. Your father is so mediocre and useless, how could he be involved in such a big case?" The last few words were spoken softly, but he saw Jing Wanyan's clenched fists.

  Jing Wan'er looked at Shen Xingwen: "If you want to add insult to injury, the ones who are guilty are not my father and Jing Shi, but rather those who manipulate others behind their backs."

  The guilty are not those who have been harmed, but the perpetrators. When can this world be fairer and not confuse this most basic principle?

  Shen Xingwen looked at her: "When Qi Shenjun died, the Empress Dowager also ordered the death of several officials who followed him. Why did everyone else die, but your father, a powerless and insignificant third-grade official, was able to survive?"

  Jing Wan'er took a deep breath to calm her inner turmoil. "I can't answer that question."

  Shen Xingwen furrowed his brow: "Is it that you can't answer, or does Jing young lady have something difficult to say?"

  Jing Wan'er looked at him: "If my dad could have lived, it means that he didn't make a mistake that would have gotten him killed back then."

  Don't offend that mercurial empress, said Pei Tan.

  Shen Xingwen nodded slightly: "As far as Shen Mou knows, that princess has never had any compassion."

  Killing a minister is so simple, just kill him and be done with it. Whether the minister has committed a capital offense or not makes no difference at all.

  Jing Wan'er said word by word: "Shen Temple, I'm tired."

  Recalling the events of those years, she was still unprepared, if Pei Tan had spoken earlier

  If she hadn't left, maybe she would have had the courage.

  Shen Xingwen's eyes showed no emotion: "Mr. Shen has one last question."

  Jing Wantong really didn't want to answer because she already felt terrible.

  Shen Xingwen suddenly said with a profound meaning: "Jing Niangniang, as a palace maid, you are indeed all-knowing and all-powerful."

  Because of this sentence, Jing Wanyu picked up her already tired face and looked up at him.

  Shen Xingwen's tone was even more explicit: "What is your purpose for getting close to the adults, I'm afraid it has already been achieved through this case?"

  Jing Wan'er's face fell, staring at him, "Shen Xingwen, don't go too far." Her hand clenched again, she could answer Shen Xingwen's question, but couldn't tolerate involving Pei Tan.

  Shen Xingwen and Jing Yu'er locked eyes, speaking slowly: "On the last night at Qinglong Temple, Master was injured. Shen and others were all focused on Master's body. But at that moment, Miss Jing, who was most worried about Master's safety, picked up a dead pigeon from the courtyard and left."

  Jing Wan's chest felt as if it was being grasped by a hand.

  Shen Xingwen shook his head: "If it weren't for the girl's action, Shen Mou wouldn't have thought of taking another look. This glance revealed that the pigeon wasn't a wild pigeon flying from the mountain, but a carefully raised homing pigeon."

  Shen Xingwen said here, can perceive staring at their own pair of eyes, has not been as calm as just now.

  Shen Xingwen seemed to be watching Jing Yuanyu with great interest: "Later, Shen Mou recalled that when he was doing the autopsy, he had seen a snow-white pigeon under the window of the autopsy room. Because pigeons wouldn't just stop anywhere, and only someone who raised them would know, Shen Mou thought it was interesting. I had asked the bailiff before, and there were no specially raised pigeons in the Dalisi Temple, because they didn't usually need to send messages."

  Jing Wan'er looked at him: "Is Shen Temple finished speaking? If so, then please leave."

  Shen Xingwen said: "Shen Mou hasn't asked the last question, although the girl has always been close to adults and rarely talks to Shen Mou. However, in the previous cases, Shen Mou participated, especially in the case of Qinglong Temple... it was what Shen Mou thought he had"

  It turns out that Shen Mou has become the mantis stalking the cicada, with the oriole lurking behind. Those carrier pigeons... are actually related to the young lady, aren't they? Or perhaps the master of the carrier pigeons is none other than you, Jing Niang.

  Shen Xingwen's facial expression had completely turned into a gloomy smile, making people feel so uncomfortable.

  This man was chosen by Bae Doo-seon, but he really is a bit too... sharp of a knife.

  Jing Wan'er stared at him for a long time, and suddenly, the corners of her lips curled up with a hint of coldness: "Shen Temple is indeed being generous, when it comes to thinking oneself clever, who can compare to you?"