Chapter 256 Find a new way
As night fell, candlelight flickered in the Di Mansion's study.

Di Chun gently served tea to Di Renjie, Zhao Ji, Li Yuanfang and Ru Yanyan who were sitting around him.

Li Yuanfang looked solemn, his brows furrowed. "In the afternoon, General Huan and I checked the previous owner of the Xiuzhenfang courtyard, hoping to find clues from him, but we found that he had died of illness a few months ago."

Zhao Ji couldn't help but sneer when he heard this: "Dead from illness? I'm afraid he was silenced!"

Di Renjie took a deep breath and concluded, "No matter what, with Jingkong's death and the escape of the assassin in Yuan's mansion, all clues of the Snake Spirit in the Divine Capital have been cut off. Therefore, we must find another way."

Ruyan asked, "What do you want to do, uncle?"

Di Renjie stood up, walked to the window, and said in a deep voice: "Since the clues to the capital of gods have been cut off, we will start from the main altar of the snake spirit in Liuzhou. Didn't Yuan Fang and Wen Kai make quite a few gains in the Liuzhou government office and catch a lot of traitors? It's time to take the next step!"

Zhao Ji nodded in agreement: "Wen Kai has received urgent letters one after another, asking when the net can be closed."

At this moment, Li Yuanfang suddenly had an idea in his mind and exclaimed, "Oh, sir, Xiaomei and I met in an ancient temple in Dayang Mountain. According to Ruyan's inference, the main altar of the Snake Spirit is likely to be in Dayang Mountain."

Di Renjie's eyes flickered when he heard this: "Oh? What do you mean?"

Ruyan took over the conversation and analyzed clearly: "Xiaomei is the head of the nine halls. Under normal circumstances, as long as the head of each hall is summoned to the main hall, he is not allowed to go out until he leaves."

"Xiaomei took the risk to meet Yuanfang at Dayang Mountain. From this, we can infer that the main altar must be in Dayang Mountain, and it must not be too far away from the small temple."

Li Yuanfang added, his eyes gleaming with memories, "That night, Xiaomei was seriously injured and the snake killers were chasing her. I vaguely heard the leader ask Xiaomei, 'Who did you come out of the main hall to meet so late at night?'"

"It's not hard to tell from this sentence that the main altar must be not far from the small temple!"

Zhao Ji blinked slightly and asked curiously, "Since Xiaomei is at the headquarters and can't go out, how did she know that you were in Liuzhou?"

Di Renjie also pricked up his ears, obviously also very interested in this question.

Li Yuanfang explained: "Oh, the time at the ancient temple was the second time Xiaomei and I met. The first time we met was at Qingyang Inn in Liuzhou. At that time, Xiaomei hadn't yet gone to the main temple!"

Hearing this, Di Renjie nodded slowly, then turned to Ruyan and said, "Ruyan, could it be that Qingyang Inn is a secret base of the Snake Spirit?"

Ruyan shook her head and said, "It seems not. Uncle, you may not know this. In order to ensure the secrecy of the organization, Snake Spirit has a strict rule that subordinates are not allowed to meet privately unless there is a mission."

"Once you violate the rules and are discovered by the organization, you will be dead. So of course we can't let the organization know where we are meeting."

Zhao Ji heard this and couldn't help wondering, "Then there is another question. Since Qingyang Inn is not a contact point, how did Xiaomei know that Yuanfang arrived at Qingyang Inn?"

Li Yuanfang sneered: "According to Ruyan, I left a mark on the wall of Qingyang Inn! I stayed in Qingyang Inn for more than a month, and then Xiaomei saw the mark and came to find me!"

Zhao Ji pretended to be enlightened: "That's it!"

However, Di Renjie shook his head gently: "It's still not right. Did you also wait for more than a month like Yuan Fang when you met Xiaomei before?"

Ruyan was stunned for a moment, then shook her head and said, "It seems... not. In the past, Xiaomei always came to see me within a day or two."

Zhao Ji secretly complained in his heart, Xiaomei, Xiaomei, your plan is too rough.

Di Renjie continued to ask: "Then why did the meeting with Yuan Fang take so long?"

Li Yuanfang was speechless for a moment, and Ruyan answered uncertainly: "Maybe Xiaomei was busy with other tasks at that time, so she was delayed?"

Di Renjie did not comment, and then asked: "Yuan Fang, where did you leave the mark? Is it conspicuous?"

Li Yuanfang thought for a moment and said, "Just leave it on the wall of the main hall of the inn. It seems quite conspicuous."

"When you and Xiaomei met privately in Liuzhou in the past, did you always leave a mark first?" Di Renjie asked again.

Ruyan answered truthfully, "Since I am not often in Liuzhou, I usually leave the mark for Xiaomei."

Di Renjie stopped talking and began to pace slowly again.

Li Yuanfang and Ruyan looked at him quietly. Zhao Ji stroked the teacup in his hand, with a thousand thoughts in his mind.

Suddenly, Di Renjie stopped and turned around: "According to the information we have, Yuan Tiangang holds a huge secret about Luohe." "This secret may even overthrow the court and endanger the lives of the emperor and court officials. Therefore, the profit-seeking people of Sheling are willing to spend a lot of effort to save an old master who has been missing for ten years."

Upon hearing this, Li Yuanfang and Ruyan exchanged glances and nodded in tacit understanding. Zhao Ji also straightened his back slightly and perked up a little.

Di Renjie took a deep breath and said slowly: "Now, the clues to the capital of the gods have been cut off. I think the only way to crack this huge conspiracy is to start from the headquarters in Liuzhou."

"Yuan Fang, you and Ruyan will set out tomorrow to Liuzhou and explore Dayang Mountain for the second time! Chengyuan and I will ask for permission from His Majesty and arrive soon. We will mobilize the government troops and clear out the snake spirits in Liuzhou!"

Li Yuanfang responded solemnly: "Please rest assured, sir, with Ruyan's help, Yuanfang will definitely fulfill his mission this time!"

Zhao Ji stepped forward, patted Li Yuanfang on the shoulder, and said earnestly: "This journey is extremely dangerous, please take care of yourself. Think more about the affairs of Youzhou and Pingzhou, and think more about the style of the Snake Spirit!"

Li Yuanfang smiled carefreely: "Don't worry, those snake spirits can't hurt me!"

"It's getting late. We stayed up all night yesterday and we still have to travel tomorrow. Let's all go to bed early!" Di Renjie ended the meeting in a timely manner, his words full of concern.

Zhao Ji, Li Yuanfang and Ruyan bowed to Di Renjie one by one and said goodbye, then left the study.

The study room regained its tranquility. Di Renjie continued his pace, whispering as if he was sorting out complicated clues: "Xiaomei... Qingyang Inn... Yuan Tiangang... The missing prince... Xiaomei..."

His brows were furrowed, and it was obvious that certain fragments were flashing back in his mind, but it was difficult to connect them into a line.

"Di Chun!" He suddenly called out loudly, interrupting his thoughts.

Upon hearing the voice, Di Chun quickly entered the study room: "Master, what do you want?"

"Go and ask Miss Ruyan to come over!" Di Renjie ordered.

Di Chun took the order and left. Not long after, Ruyan appeared in the study again with a hint of doubt on her face: "Uncle, what do you want to talk to me about? You're not going to stop me from going to Liuzhou, are you?"

Di Renjie shook his head and laughed: "No, I wanted to ask you something about Xiaomei. I remember that time..."
-
midnight.

The place where Zhao Ji and Xiao Feng had a secret meeting in Chongwen Hall of the Eastern Palace.

Xiao Feng smiled happily and patted Zhao Ji on the shoulder: "You are amazing! It's done!"

When Zhao Ji heard this, instead of smiling happily, he raised a bitter smile and said, "What great achievement have you made? Alas!"

The joy on Xiao Feng's face froze instantly, and worry emerged: "What's going on? Did Di Renjie find something?"

Zhao Ji sighed, his eyes complicated: "I'm afraid he already knows the relationship between you and my sister. Except that we can't match the person yet and there is no evidence, he knows everything else!"

After that, he narrated to Xiaofeng in detail what had happened in Yuan Mansion and Xiuzhenfang during the day, and his words revealed deep worry and uneasiness.

Xiao Feng was skeptical and tried to comfort him: "This... isn't this all your guess? You even guessed that Di Renjie guessed it. We have almost no evidence left. Aren't you just scaring yourself!"

Zhao Ji closed his eyes, his expression tense: "Humph, you will suffer a great loss if you underestimate Di Renjie! A flaw is a flaw, you can't deceive yourself. Once Di Renjie's suspicion begins, it will not end until the truth is discovered."

It doesn’t matter if there is no evidence. Soon there will be Wen Kai’s famous scene, the Qingyang Inn murder case without any evidence but with solid evidence.

Xiao Feng bit her lip, and finally looked a little worried: "In that case, won't your identity be exposed soon?"

Zhao Ji stroked his chin, as if he was talking to himself, or as if he was looking for an answer: "Soon, but not that fast. Maybe my initial idea was wrong, and I have to find another way!"

Xiao Feng looked confused and didn't understand at all: "What do you mean?"

Zhao Ji did not respond directly, but asked, "Can you contact your sister? Have you sent pigeons to each other?"

"Sure, what do you want to do?" Xiao Feng became more and more confused.

Zhao Ji's eyes sparkled in the darkness, and his voice was deep and powerful: "I'll ask her to make some preparations! And you, you have to go meet Huan Bin in person!"

(End of this chapter)