AUBTN -Chapter 12 Facing Off

Lu Yan suddenly stood up.

“Zhao Conghu!”

Zhao Conghu, waiting outside the door, immediately rushed in. “Reporting in, sir!”

“Take a squad immediately and verify whether Minister Li has a concubine!”

Zhao Conghu froze for a moment, then his face lit up with joy. “Sir, do you have a lead?”

“Enough chatter. Go now! Bring the person back to me!”

“Yes, sir!”

Zhao Conghu saluted and left at once, his footsteps fading quickly.

The room fell silent again.

Lu Yan turned around and looked down at Yu Qing from above.

Yu Qing was completely stunned.

【What the…? A concubine? Wait… that’s exactly what I was just thinking!】

【No way! This is too coincidental! Could this be the legendary “telepathic connection” they talk about?】

Lu Yan noticed her eyes darting around wildly and the faintest trace of a smirk tugged at the corner of his lips.

This woman, though constantly babbling nonsense and acting absurdly, somehow knew things more accurately than even the intelligence network of the Jinyiwei.

This was the second time now.

The first was the tiger tally at Tongfu Inn.

This time, it was Minister Li’s concubine.

She was like a hidden intelligence repository, exposing the city’s darkest secrets in the most playful way.

“Scared stiff?” Lu Yan rarely spoke first. His tone was still cold, but the murderous edge had lessened slightly.

Yu Qing snapped out of her daze and immediately put on a look of starry-eyed admiration. “Sir, you are wise and mighty! You foresee events with divine insight! My admiration for you is like an endless river, flowing without end…”

【Oh my god, I’m so scared right now!】

Lu Yan didn’t call out her flattery, just gave her a cold glance. “Stay here obediently for the next few days. If… you happen to remember anything interesting, you can tell me anytime.”

With that, he strode out.

Since he had a lead, he had to personally oversee things. This time, Li Yan would not escape.

Two hours later.

Beizhen Surveillance Office, Zhaoyu Prison, the interrogation room.

Li Yan slumped on the torture rack, utterly broken, staring at the account books the Jinyiwei had seized from Willow Leaf Alley and the heavily pregnant woman standing beside them.

“I… I’ll confess everything…”

Faced with irrefutable evidence, Li Yan confessed all his crimes to protect the unborn child and even implicated several of his accomplices.

Lu Yan walked out of the interrogation room. The sky outside was pitch black.

He looked at the heavy confession in his hand but felt little joy.

All of this… was thanks to that crazy little palace maid.

When he returned to the back courtyard, Yu Qing was already asleep.

She slept in a terrible position, sprawled out across the bed, the blanket kicked to one side, murmuring in her sleep.

Lu Yan stood outside the window, watching her in the moonlight.

Suddenly, a faint thought reached his mind—a sleepy, half-conscious mixture of grievance and prayer:

【Sob… Wanwan… I want hotpot…】

【Please, all the gods, let me see Wanwan… she’s so delicate, such a bookworm, if she falls into that dead eunuch’s hands at the Eastern Bureau, he’ll bully her to death…】

【That pervert Shen Jue—if he dares so much as touch a hair on Wanwan’s head, even as a ghost, I won’t let him go…】

【I miss her so much… I wonder if she’s like me right now, locked in some dark room eating cold meals…】

Lu Yan’s steps, which had been moving away, suddenly froze.

Wanwan?

That damn eunuch from the Eastern Depot?

His pupils constricted slightly.

On the day of the funerary sacrifice, two palace maids had indeed caused a commotion.

One had clung to his leg—that was Yu Qing, right in front of him now.

And the other… seemed to have clung to Shen Jue’s boots?

The scene had been chaotic, and all he remembered was that Shen Jue had indeed taken away one of the maids.

So they were working together.

And judging from this voice in his head, that maid named Wanwan was also not someone to be underestimated?

Lu Yan turned his gaze toward the direction of the Eastern Depot, a glint of sharpness flashing in his eyes.

Shen Jue, always opportunistic and never doing anything without gain, must have kept that maid for a reason—she had value to him.

And this Yu Qing in front of him, though she appeared to be a clueless drama queen, had repeatedly surprised him.

If that’s the case…

“Send someone.” Lu Yan lowered his voice and called.

From the shadows, a covert guard immediately appeared. “Yes, my lord.”

“Go check on the palace maid recently taken back by the Eastern Depot. Find out her name and where she is now.” Lu Yan paused, his gaze sweeping over the sleeping Yu Qing in the room. A meaningful, cold smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

The next morning, outside the Golden Dragon Hall.

After the morning court dispersed, officials streamed out like a tide—but almost instinctively split into two separate flows.

On one side were the Jinyiwei in flying-fish robes, their waists adorned with embroidered spring knives, faces stern, radiating lethal intent.

On the other side were the Eastern Depot officers, pale-faced and beardless, dressed in dragon robes.

On the only path through the Imperial Garden, the two forces met head-on.

Today, Shen Jue’s eyes carried three parts mockery and seven parts cunning; to anyone, he appeared the very image of a worldly gentleman.

He idly twisted a string of eighteen red agate beads in his hand, bright red as blood, making his pale hand almost translucent.

“Commander Lu.”

Shen Jue stopped, slightly tilting his head, a half-smile curling at the corner of his lips. His voice was lazy.

“Last night, the North Zhenfu Office was brightly lit. I heard that you, Commander Lu, interrogated overnight, and from that incorruptible Minister Li’s bed, extracted a pregnant concubine?”

He chuckled lightly, his gaze scanning Lu Yan’s icy, hard face.

“Commander Lu’s nose is becoming sharper by the day—he can even smell the sour stench buried under layers of makeup. Truly a man riding high, even solving major cases.”

Lu Yan halted, and Zhao Conghu and the others behind him immediately placed hands on their sword hilts, eyes fixed warily on the Eastern Depot officers.

Lu Yan remained expressionless in the face of Shen Jue’s mocking tone.

A chill radiated from him, warning strangers to keep their distance.

“In one’s position, one fulfills one’s duties,” Lu Yan said, his voice cold, like sharpened ice.

“The Jinyiwei help His Majesty bear the burden—catching a few rats and clearing out the court’s trash is merely part of our duty.”

When he spoke the word “trash,” his gaze swept unflinchingly over the Eastern Depot officers behind Shen Jue, full of implication.

Shen Jue didn’t even lift an eyelid; instead, his smile deepened, though it didn’t reach his eyes. “Yes, cleaning up trash is a good thing. But Commander Lu is so decisive and swift… I’m afraid some might lose sleep. A friendly reminder: investigating a case is one thing, but those around you aren’t necessarily clean. Don’t catch the rats outside, only to get scratched by the cats inside.”

There was meaning in these words—a soft thorn aimed directly at Lu Yan.

Lu Yan’s eyes flickered.

Yesterday, Yu Qing had revealed the irregularities with the food delivery officer. Following that lead, he had quietly uncovered a long-hidden spy inside the North Zhenfu Office—a secret agent of the Huayin Sect.

He had handled the matter with utmost secrecy; even Zhao Conghu only learned the truth at the moment of the arrest.

How did Shen Jue find out?