In the next few days, He Gu almost entered a fixed pattern of going back and forth between two points and one line. During the day, he observed and studied in the Imperial College, and at night, he basically stayed in the training room of the Shao Guoshifu.
In order to implement the concept of acting as naturally as possible and not arousing suspicion, he carefully spread out his visits to the remaining seven palaces within seven days, only going to one place every day, and deliberately arranged it in the afternoon when all his colleagues were free.
Deliberately create a trace that is not sneaky and that is fair and aboveboard.
To others, it seemed like he was checking in regularly and every day was very regular.
Yun Ying followed him out all day, either consciously staying on the first floor of Tingtian Pavilion or waiting outside Bafang Hall.
As long as he didn't take the initiative to talk to her, she could remain silent the whole time.
Although the person was a bit dull, He Gu felt very comfortable getting along with him.
Because he stayed in the training room for a long time as soon as he returned, the two personal maids in the living room had less contact with him every day.
Often we can only see each other twice a day, once when we return home in the evening, and once when we get up in the morning to go out.
What He Gu didn't know was that the two maids secretly began to think wildly and mistakenly thought that the young master was not satisfied with their daily service.
They know that their status is low, and they dare not go beyond asking questions even if they have the intention. They can only work hard in silence to make the details more perfect every time they get the opportunity to serve for a short time.
If unfortunately they were sent back to Shang Palace, they could not imagine the consequences.
He Gu was originally worried that the man from the palace would suddenly come to see him again, but that didn't happen.
It was as if a new page had been silently opened. He was simply the newly promoted young master who had successfully passed through the palace examination and had no other connections.
As these peaceful days passed day by day, he gradually felt more at ease.
At the same time, as I went to Bafang Hall and returned disappointed again and again, I couldn't help but feel more and more depressed.
Finally, on the seventh day, when he once again failed to withdraw the power of his consciousness from the jade bead on the stone pillar, He Gu looked helpless and couldn't help but frown tightly.
He had gradually discovered that the filtered results did not include the scope of the imperial capital. For this reason, he spent a little more time searching and verifying each time. Unexpectedly, the last book in the West Palace also lacked relevant records!
It seems that it has been blocked, or it is not recorded to exist here in the first place, which is quite strange.
Such an unusual situation gave him a strong intuition that the missing key part was most likely the location that contained clues to the truth!
In addition, he also accidentally discovered a suspicious pattern, but it was completely unrelated.
Among all the contents screened by Bafangdian, in recent years, some people with identities ranging from big to small have disappeared inexplicably. There are more than a dozen cases in total, and they are all coincidentally young men.
What's even more coincidental is that nearly half of the missing persons in more than a dozen cases were notorious prostitutes who loved women.
If he hadn't finally reassembled the contents of the eight books in his mind, and had the recent impression of the mysterious disappearance of the son of a Criminal Ministry official whom he heard at a banquet some time ago, it would have been difficult for him to notice this detail.
Of course, it's also possible that he was just overly worried due to the influence of what he heard.
It's none of his business anyway, so I didn't take it to heart anymore after paying a little attention to it.
At this point, He Gu had taken a close look at all the inner courtyard buildings except the outer courtyard school area, and the only one left that he had not yet set foot on was the top floor of Tingtian Pavilion.
Since the old Imperial Master had no intention of mentioning it to him, he did not dare to act rashly for the time being and could only think about it in the long term.
When I went out, I saw an extra person standing at the entrance of the hall. Judging from his appearance, he must be an assistant teacher in the prison.
As soon as the assistant teacher saw the young master coming out, he immediately saluted respectfully and said, "Old master, I would like to ask the young master to take some time to visit Tingtian Pavilion."
Not talking nonsense, He Gu nodded to show that he understood, and then took Yun Ying there.
When he reached the fourth floor with only his clothes on, he unexpectedly saw another skinny old man he had never seen before. He was wearing luxurious court clothes and was obviously of high status.
The skinny old man was walking back and forth in the hall, looking very uneasy. When he saw He Gu appear, he immediately stopped.
He looked slightly stunned at first, then gritted his teeth slightly and strode forward with an expression like a dead horse being treated as a living horse doctor.
"Young Imperial Master, please do me a favor!" He burst into tears as he spoke, then knelt down on one knee to salute.
I don't know whether Leng Buding could really make him kneel down after being hit like this, and he immediately bent down and stretched out his hand to stop him.
He said with some confusion: "Old gentleman, please get up. If you have anything to do, please tell me slowly."
The old Imperial Master sitting in the upper seat stood up and walked towards the two of them. He introduced to He Gu with an explanation tone: "This is Mr. Li from the Criminal Department who had an accident at home a few days ago. This time he came here privately under the instruction of His Majesty.
Turn to you for help."
Seek help privately?
He Gu was momentarily confused.
Obviously he had heard the old Imperial Master say at the banquet before that if the Li family needed help from the Imperial College, they had to go through the process and bring the approval document to the door, but now he heard that it was a personal request.
What I couldn't figure out even more for a moment was why the empress didn't just issue the approval directly, instead of directing the old man to find her privately.
Is it because the family scandal cannot be publicized, and is it simply to take care of the Li family's face?
I still feel like it doesn't make sense.
He felt a little weird, but he quickly reacted and showed no hesitation.
Pretending to be surprised, he then said with a serious expression, "Since it is His Majesty's wish, if I can do what I can, I will do my best to help!"
Mr. Li was immediately grateful.
In fact, he didn't understand why His Majesty asked him to find the Young Master in private, but he couldn't help but realize from this unusual detail that the identity of the young man in front of him was of great importance, and he knew that he must not offend him.
That's why he went out of his way to show off his dignity and give a big courtesy when he met someone.
Now that his only precious son has unfortunately passed away, and there has been no progress in the case for a long time, he is really at the end of his rope and can only place his hope on the secret arts of the Imperial College.
No matter what, he found out the truth and couldn't let his son die unexplained!
Seeing that He Gu basically agreed, the old Imperial Master beside him casually found a reason to leave.
Rather than hiding it for the sake of face, Mr. Li immediately told the whole story in detail, including the unspeakable things about his own incompetence that led to the difficulty of having a child in his old age.
At the end, He Gu was handed a file from the Ministry of Justice, which contained all the information on the case so far. There were as many as a hundred suspects identified.
If someone else took over, they would most likely think about accidents or harm from enemies first. However, because He Gu had just noticed something suspicious about similar incidents from the Bafang Hall just now, he suddenly thought more about it.
It was clear at first glance that this was a difficult matter, so after some consolation and courtesy, he asked Mr. Li to go back first.
Mr. Li also knew that time was needed, so he did not dare to be too wordy at the moment due to the unusual status of his identity, so he bid farewell respectfully.
In a blink of an eye, only He Gu was left in the hall. After reading the case information carefully, he couldn't help but smack his lips.
Mr. Li's son Li Hu is far more disappointing than he imagined. Not only does he go to Tinghua Tower every night to have fun, but he also has some rather perverted masochistic tendencies.
After reviewing all the records, the name of an oiran named "Feng Yan" from the dark area of Tinghua Tower gradually fell into the focus of his attention.
In the four or five nights before Li Hu disappeared, he would spend a fortune with this woman, and then find a different girl to spend the night with.
From the earlier travel records, we can also see that Li Hu has been going there every three to five times, but before the incident, he changed his normal behavior and became a must-consumer every night, except for the one who sold the treasure map to Li Hu.
Besides the stall owner, he is the most suspect target.
Of course, He Gu believed that people from the Ministry of Punishment must have investigated this, but the starting point of his suspicion was different. In his eyes, this woman seemed more suspicious than the vendor.
However, for the sake of safety, he still left the Imperial Academy and went to the Heavenly Prison.
Anyway, he is idle now, and he doesn't have to worry about the loss of life span caused by divination like ordinary fortune tellers. Naturally, he doesn't have to rush and use his brain to prepare lazy methods to eliminate them one by one.
It must have been that Mr. Li had greeted him in advance from the prison, and he easily met the vendor and the dozens of suspects locked up together.
Among the hundreds of suspects, except for those with high status and background that made it difficult for the Ministry of Criminal Justice to arrest them immediately, the rest are here.
Mr. Li, who had just met him, hurried over after hearing the news. He was extremely touched that He Gu could take action immediately and expressed his heartfelt thanks.
Why treat it calmly?
The divination ability of the Tianji Guapan requires at least a medium that is closely connected with the object being divined.
Naturally, the stronger the connection with this medium, the better the effect!
With the help of Mr. Li, he ordered the jailer to take a drop of blood from each of the suspects one by one.
Master Li was very surprised by this unexpected arrangement. At first, he thought that He Gu could only do divination for the merchant alone.
After the blood sample was taken, He Gu, who had meditated, started to divine the hexagram "whether he had ever intended to harm Li Hu".
Even though he had secretly deliberately slowed down the speed of divination, the efficiency he showed still made Master Li on the side marvel in his heart.
Previously, he had spent a huge amount of money to invite three diviners from outside the dynasty system to work together to deduce the whereabouts of his son's body. He also knew that the difficulty of divination between the two was different, but in comparison, he could not see how to take care of it at all.
This process is light and easy, and it's much faster.
Time passed little by little, and the results that came out were all without exception-the word "not" was directly displayed one by one.
"Let these go, this matter has nothing to do with them." He Gu opened his eyes and said slowly.
Even though the luck carried by these people was relatively average, and it did not consume too much of his spiritual power each time, there were so many people that he couldn't stand it, and he felt a little tired at the moment.
Calculating the remaining number of people, it would take at least two days to figure it out, and he also knew that he should not reveal too much, so he said goodbye to Mr. Li with the words to come back tomorrow, and stood up to leave the prison.
Mr. Li wanted to send it off in person but was politely declined. Only then did he remember that there was someone waiting at the door, so Mr. Li did not insist.
Yun Ying was still waiting outside quietly. When he saw the young master's complexion worsening, he immediately moved slightly and quickly stepped forward to help.
A little surprised by her sudden reaction, He Gu couldn't help but be bolder, and his steps suddenly became unsteady.
I don't know if it was due to his personality, but Yun Ying showed no resistance and supported the young master as if it was business.
Enjoying the long-lost wonderful touch on his right arm, looking at the darkening night, the satisfied He Gu thought for a while and then said in a gentle voice: "By the way, I have something else to do tonight, so you don't have to follow me. Get some rest early."
."
The oiran in the dark area of Tinghualou was not among the suspects in the Tianlao. If he was really guessed, there would be no need to continue the rest, so he planned to go there tonight.
After all, it was such a place, and he didn't want to embarrass the innocent woman next to him.