I'm competing with the male lead for a woman (GL) - Chapter 14

The capital city has been experiencing frequent rain recently.

The rain dripped onto the dark tiles of Lord Yan’s Mansion, like jumping white jade beads. Before long, it mottled the walls, turning them into an ink scroll.

In the eastern side of Lord Yan’s Mansion, there was a small pavilion named Yexi.

Originally, many mint plants were placed beside the Yexi Pavilion, verdant and delightful.

However, the servants are now carrying dozens of pots of mint, preparing to move them elsewhere. After all, an uninvited guest has come to the pavilion, and the flowers and plants in the mansion will suffer.

As for the uninvited guest herself, she is now leaning on a bamboo wheelchair, letting the pretty little servant comb her hair.

Putting on the snow fox fur coat that Princess Zhaohua had just sent yesterday, holding a warm hand warmer, Xiao Jin immediately felt that life had become complete.

The servants picked up the flower pots, but they didn’t know where Xiao Jin wanted to move these mints.

They could only ask in fear and trepidation, “Your Highness, where do you want to move these flowers and plants?”

Xiao Jin took the tea handed by the servant, didn’t drink it immediately, but raised her eyelids and glanced at the mints.

“Since these flowers were sent by the Crown Prince, they naturally can’t be thrown away casually.”

The servants thought, you also know that this was sent by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. If something given by the heir is not handled properly, it is a considerable crime.

Xiao Jin didn’t care, and said again: “I heard that mint has the effect of brightening the eyes and cooling the bl00d, and is suitable for medicine, so carry it to Cangjin Alley. I think Doctor Su should be able to use it.”

After hearing Xiao Jin’s words, the servants were dumbfounded.

Even if the prince favors Doctor Su, or has other plans, he shouldn’t give wild mint, right?

No one gives green mint as a gift.

Moreover, this is the mint sent by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, how can the prince give it to others?

In fact, Xiao Jin didn’t intend to consider the Crown Prince’s feelings, and had no intention of doing anything to Su Tan. She just couldn’t think of a good candidate for a while, so she gave it to Su Tan casually.

What’s more, mint is a good thing, clearing bl00d and brightening the eyes, and can be used as a medicinal material. Both its attributes and color are very suitable for Su Tan.

Repaying kindness with kindness, and green with green, is what a gentleman should do.

However, the reason why Xiao Jin wanted to move these mints was because she accidentally learned from the servants that these potted plants were actually sent by the Crown Prince to the original owner and had been placed in the pavilion for many years.

Although mint itself is an innocent plant.

But as long as she knew that these plants were moved from the East Palace, according to common web novel routines, Xiao Jin always felt that there was likely to be a slow-acting poison in the potted plants.

And it’s the kind that can kill people little by little.

So a few days after she came through, Xiao Jin began to transform the original owner’s yard and moved all the things sent by the male lead.

Watching the servants lift a crystal bottle with force, and looking at the instantly empty yard, Xiao Jin couldn’t help but sigh that the male lead gave the original owner too many things.

She planned to pile part of it in the warehouse first, and if possible, check if there was any colorless and tasteless poison smeared on it.

After straightening her hair, the servant picked up the hairpin and fixed Xiao Jin’s hair.

Xiao Jin held the teacup, took a sip of tea, and looked at the servant standing beside her.

After staring at the wrinkles on the servant’s face for a long time, she suddenly remembered that in the original story, the funeral jade ware that the original owner was buried with seemed to be arranged by the Crown Prince and this person.

So she put down the teacup: “Old Zhang, I heard that you seem to know a lot about antiques and jade ware.”

Steward Zhang was stunned, a little surprised. How did the prince know that he liked to collect jade ware?

After entering the mansion for twelve years, Steward Zhang knew that this master was very suspicious, and smiled on his face, answering truthfully: “Your Highness, I dare not say that I know a lot about antiques and jade ware. I can only be regarded as having a little knowledge.”

“A little knowledge, huh?”

Xiao Jin played with the token in her hand, pretending to hand it to Old Zhang casually: “Then help me see if there is anything wrong with this token.”

Steward Zhang looked at the token handed by Xiao Jin. Although he was confused, he still took it respectfully.

Staring at the patterns on it, he carefully reached out and stroked the copper token.

Wherever his fingertips touched, there seemed to be some wear marks.

Xiao Jin lowered her eyes, seemingly staring at the patterns on the lid, but actually observing Old Zhang’s expression from the corner of her eye.

Since the original owner’s funeral was arranged by the Crown Prince and Steward Zhang, it was not impossible for Steward Zhang to be a spy placed by the Crown Prince in Lord Yan’s Mansion.

Following this logic, if this assassination was done by the Crown Prince, then when Old Zhang saw the token, he would definitely have an abnormal reaction.

However, facts have proved that once it comes to the field of appraisal, Old Zhang is very energetic.

Touching the hard lump token, he held it in his palm like a Heshibi, so focused that he didn’t even blink his eyes, let alone show any abnormality.

Realizing that she had miscalculated, Xiao Jin couldn’t help but support her forehead: Sure enough, a passerby like Old Zhang is unlikely to have any hidden identity cards.

But she didn’t want to. Just as this thought came to her, Steward Zhang’s expression became serious.

Xiao Jin became interested, but remained calm on the surface, waiting for Old Zhang’s next move.

After a while, Steward Zhang held the token and asked respectfully, “Your Highness, can I smell the smell of this token?”

Xiao Jin remembered the pungent smell and nodded: “Yes, but this thing smells bad, just take a light sniff.”

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

Steward Zhang felt that the prince’s temper had improved a lot, so he worked even harder.

Even though the token was extremely smelly, he still endured the discomfort in his nose and sniffed carefully.

After a while, Steward Zhang shook his head: “Your Highness, this token should not be made of antique bronze, but made of old purple copper.”

“Oh?”

Xiao Jin didn’t expect that there were crouching tigers and hidden dragons around the original owner, hiding such a powerful human treasure appraiser.

So she asked: “Why do you say that?”

Old Zhang held the token and said slowly: “Your Highness, if you want to imitate purple copper into antique bronze, the most important thing is to remove the crimson color of purple copper, make it dark and stained with antique air.”

“So antique dealers often use oily walnuts to smear purple copper, and then repeatedly wipe it with sulfur, so that purple copper will gradually become dark black, and the color is exactly the same as antique bronze.”

Xiao Jin frowned: “So the pungent smell on this token comes from sulfur and oily walnuts?”

Old Zhang returned the token to Xiao Jin: “That’s right.”

In this way, this token must have been deliberately imitated by someone, and the purpose is to frame someone else.

Xiao Jin was thinking, who in the original story likes crape myrtle, but a guard walked into the yard in a hurry.

The guard walked into the pavilion, knelt on the ground and presented a letter: “Your Highness, this is given to you by the Minister of the Dali Temple.”

Taking the letter, Xiao Jin just glanced at it and had a headache.

The full text of traditional characters and classical Chinese really made her, a book-wearing person with low cultural level, very ashamed.

Xiao Jin was dizzy from reading, and didn’t want to read it at all.

So she gave the letter to the steward: “Old Zhang, you read it.”

Steward Zhang stared at Xiao Jin with wide eyes, overwhelmed by favor.

The prince actually let him read such a confidential letter. Has he become a confidant who can be reused by the prince?

He didn’t know that Xiao Jin was simply too lazy to read traditional characters and classical Chinese.

Facing Xiao Jin’s calm eyes, Steward Zhang was so moved that his hands trembled. He took the letter and read it loudly.

Xiao Jin automatically filtered out the pedantic sentences and extracted the key information from it.

The letter said that the assassins who assassinated her were all Jianghu warriors. They couldn’t find their household registration or know who they were working for.

Their identities are so clean, there is a problem at first glance, but I don’t know whether the Dali Temple deliberately concealed it or it is really clean.

After all, the Minister of the Dali Temple is a solid member of the Crown Prince’s camp. If the male lead wants to attack her, it is only natural for the Dali Temple to hide it and not report it.

Fortunately, Xiao Jin also hid a corpse, which she could have a reliable and professional forensic doctor examine to see if she could find any clues.

Thinking of the autopsy, Xiao Jin’s mind was filled with the image of the wronged soul in green clothes, and the chattering white parrot in the cage.

Great, she’ll ask Su Tan to come and examine it tomorrow.

The system has always been very accurate in calculating her lifespan. After Xiao Jin completed two missions last time, she gained a total of nine days of life.

So these days are her free time. It won’t be until her lifespan is about to run out that the system will release the next mission at the right time.

However, the system also kindly reminded Xiao Jin.

“The host can use this time to find out the truth about the [Assassination Mystery] in order to complete the main and side missions a few days later.”

The fact that the system can say this means that the truth of the assassination is definitely related to the main and side missions.

With four days left, Xiao Jin decided to find some useful clues.

But she was indeed a little hesitant about where to start.

Xiao Jin always felt that there weren’t many trustworthy people, and it would be too reckless to tell others about the token and the corpse.

At this time, Xiao Jin thought of Chu Shao.

Once she thought of Chu Shao, images of the bl00d-soaked sleeves and the graceful dance-like posture when swords and shadows approached inevitably appeared in her mind.

Chu Shao walked calmly, holding a silver sword, but she looked like a merciful spring god, waving dew-laden willow branches and sprinkling nectar on the world.

However, what dripped from the sword was not dew, but bl00d.

Although Chu Shao was a very dangerous person, Xiao Jin had a feeling that she held many secrets and might know something about the crape myrtle token.

Living in the world of the book, Xiao Jin did feel that a madwoman was more trustworthy than someone lurking in the dark.

Thinking of this, she made up her mind to find Chu Shao to discuss important matters.

So she said to Steward Zhang, “Later, please invite the Princess Consort to my room, and tell her I have important matters to discuss with her.”

Stewart Zhang was stunned at first, then raised his head and looked at the dim sky above.

Seeing Xiao Jin’s inscrutable eyes, he instantly understood something, and a smile bloomed on his face: “Don’t worry, Your Highness, I understand.”

••••

That night.

After dinner, Chu Shao sat in a chair, playing with the dagger in her hand, bored.

This dagger was given to her by her mother. The blade was engraved with delicate patterns, and the tip was sharp. It could easily stab into someone’s heart without poisoning.

With a slight flick of the wrist, after pulling it out, the bl00d sprayed from the chest would splatter on her.

However, this kind of pleasure was too monotonous and not a novel experience.

The thin blade shone with silver light, reflecting Chu Shao’s eyebrows and eyes.

She looked at the beauty mark under her eyes and suddenly remembered the ice lotus flowers blooming in the snow and the bl00d splashed all over the ground.

Chu Shao wanted to hear the nursery rhymes sung by the children again and remember those beautiful tunes, but after a long time, she couldn’t remember them clearly.

Just as Chu Shao was in a daze, a knock on the door sounded outside.

Chu Shao came back to her senses, put away the dagger, and smiled: “Please come in.”