Many Princes

After confirming Cang Yinyue's token, the armored guards at the city gate asked a few more questions.

In the end, after glancing at Li Musheng, the handsome-looking "wanted criminal" of the Imperial Secret Police, they recorded the information and allowed the two of them into the city.

Passing through the broad, long gate passageway, they stepped onto the bluestone-paved streets of Shangyang City. The mule and horse hooves struck the stones with crisp clatters.

Before long, the clamor of countless voices crashed over them.

Li Musheng and Cang Yinyue rode side by side through the streets. As far as the eye could see, pedestrians flowed like woven threads, carriages and horses packed the roads, shops stood row upon row along both sides, and banners fluttered in the wind, with no end in sight.

"Let's eat first after entering the city. I'll report your situation to the Hidden Spy Bureau while I'm at it."

Cang Yinyue brought Li Musheng to a thriving restaurant. After ordering several dishes from the waiter, she left Li Musheng behind and entered the restaurant's rear courtyard alone, vanishing from sight.

Li Musheng did not mind. The Hidden Spy Bureau was reputed to be Great Li's foremost intelligence organization, yet it had no official government office on the surface.

The Hidden Spy Bureau's spies and agents held countless different public identities, but their true identities were forever revealed only in the shadows.

While waiting for the food and wine to arrive, Li Musheng sat in a private room, sipping the restaurant's free tea while listening to the conversations of the patrons, whether loud and unrestrained or hushed and secretive.

In places where so many people gathered, one could always hear amusing tales, as well as explosive news whose truth was impossible to tell.

"Have you heard? Another Seventh Prince showed up at Aurora Pavilion. Tsk, tsk—this is already the sixty-first prince to appear in the past month!"

"Exactly. When I first heard that someone had found the Seventh Prince who'd been lost for years, I was curious enough to go watch in person. Who would have thought it turned out to be a mistake? He wasn't a prince at all. Later, more and more princes appeared, until I've gone numb."

"In times like these, some people just want to soar to the heavens in a single step. If you ask me, anyone claiming to be a prince should be charged with deceiving the emperor and beheaded for public display."

"You can't put it that way. What if you accidentally behead the real Seventh Prince?"

"If you ask me, there's no need to search for any real prince at all. The one in prison possesses literary talent and martial prowess that shock heaven and earth—he is Great Li's true dragon. That prince who supposedly wandered among the common people for twenty years might be nothing more than an ignorant hooligan or beggar now. Bringing him back would only disgrace the Great Li Imperial Family."

"Shh, you really dare to say that? Be careful, or the Heavenly Brocade Guard will throw you in prison and chop off your head."

"What don't I dare say? My eldest uncle used to work at Seventh Prince's side. He told me many times that Seventh Prince would surely become Great Li's enlight—ruler... cough, cough..."

A young gentleman in a sapphire-blue brocade robe was holding a wine cup, his face flushed as he spoke. Someone beside him hurriedly covered his mouth, causing him to choke on his wine and cough violently.

That jolt immediately sobered Zhang He considerably. Realizing he had misspoken while drunk, he hastily shut his mouth and said nothing more.

Yet at that moment, the door to his private room was suddenly kicked open.

Three people strode in from outside, led by a young man with a sinister expression.

On one side of the young man stood a woman in a long green dress. She was beautiful, though her gaze was somewhat cold.

On the other side stood a burly man built like an iron tower. He had a swallow's jaw, tiger whiskers, and stood over seven feet tall.

It was this burly man who had kicked open the door. He swept his gaze over the five people in the room and shouted in a deep voice:

"Just now, I heard someone speaking recklessly about the prince and His Majesty. That is an act of great treason. Come with me to the government office."

Hearing this, Zhang He was about to rise and speak, but another man in blue robes beside him stopped him. Cupping his hands, the man said:

"Brother, you must have heard wrong. We have been drinking here all along, chatting about poetry and songs in passing. We absolutely did not discuss anything concerning the prince or His Majesty."

As soon as those words were spoken, the other three men and Zhang He immediately caught on and nodded repeatedly.

"That's right. We were only drinking and chatting, reciting poems and composing couplets."

Then Zhang He's eyes flickered, and he instead raised his voice to question them:

"Who are you people? Why did you suddenly barge into our private room? Are you deliberately looking for trouble?"

The burly man snorted coldly and said sternly:

"You're quite good at twisting words. We heard every word you said just now from the room opposite."

With that, he reached out to grab Zhang He. Clearly, he had recognized Zhang He's voice as the one who had been speaking earlier.

"You dare lay a hand on me? My eldest uncle is the Vice Minister of Revenue. Hurt me, and you'd better watch out, or your head won't stay on your shoulders."

Zhang He had some foundation in martial arts. As he shouted angrily, he quickly darted backward.

But the burly man's hand, like an iron pincer, was swift as the wind. The instant he reached out, his body shot forward in a blink.

Zhang He was clearly slower than his opponent. Just as he was about to be seized, the blue-robed man beside him suddenly threw a punch. His fist wind was like a blade as it shot straight at the burly man's side of the face.

Sensing the threat in that punch, the burly man immediately abandoned Zhang He. He tilted his head to evade the fist, then changed his claw strike and went straight for the blue-robed man's chest.

Before long, the two had exchanged dozens of moves and were locked in combat.

The table full of fine dishes and wine was overturned amid their fight, while tables, chairs, and stools were blasted into splinters by the surging fist wind and claw force.

The sinister-faced young man and the woman in the green dress stood by the doorway, remaining motionless.

Meanwhile, Zhang He and the other three pressed themselves against the private room's wall, not daring to interfere in the battle between the burly man and the blue-robed man.

Just then, after trading a punch with his opponent, the burly man suddenly raised his leg in a side kick, violently smashing down a wooden wall beside him.

The restaurant's private rooms were separated by several thick wooden panels. When the wall was kicked down, it collapsed with a thunderous crash, revealing the scene in the next room.

"Didn't you say you were reciting poems and composing couplets? Why not hear what the people next door have to say, and what exactly they heard just now?"

The burly man spoke in a muffled voice. After driving back the blue-robed man with one move, he swiftly retreated toward the doorway.

The blue-robed man's expression changed, but in the end, he stopped and did not pursue. He merely went to stand beside Zhang He.

At this moment, a woman was seated in the adjacent private room. She did not even glance at the collapsed wooden wall, merely drinking the tea in her cup quietly.

"Miss, did you hear these spoiled young masters' rebellious words just now? Please speak as a witness."

The woman in the green dress stepped forward and took the initiative to ask the woman in the next room.

At this sight, a flash of panic crossed Zhang He's eyes, and he hurriedly shouted:

"My eldest uncle is the Vice Minister of Revenue!"

The meaning behind his words was obvious. He intended to intimidate the woman in the next room and prevent her from speaking carelessly.

The woman in the green dress glanced at Zhang He, then took out a waist token and said:

"Miss, there is no need to be afraid. We are from the Imperial Secret Police."