"Yes, I remember. It came from the southeast and was heading to the north." The servant knelt down and replied respectfully.
"From the southeast to the north," thought Yun Shang.
Yun Shang narrowed her eyes, she found the whole thing suspicious. Just then, Luo Qingyan turned to Liu Wenan, who was standing aside, and asked, "Who are on the southeast side of the yard where Crown Prince resides?"
When Luo Qingyan and the others stayed in the tavern yesterday, the secret guards had already investigated the surroundings in detail.
"Your Majesty, the family living in the southeast is the dumb woman who broke into the tavern before."
"The dumb woman?" Yun Shang opened her mouth abruptly. She only knew that the dumb woman lived next to the tavern. Since the woman had been deaf and mute since childhood, she didn't ask who else was in her family.
Liu Wenan seemed to understand the hidden meaning of Yun Shang's question, he quickly replied, "She has an old blind father and a young brother. They are living with her at the moment. It is said that her mother died of hard labor five years ago when she gave birth to her brother." "The whole family is either old or disabled. How strange. The father is blind and the daughter is deaf and mute."
Luo Qingyan tapped his slim finger on the table and said, "Bring me the brush, ink, paper and inkstone."
Liu Wenan responded in a hurry, fetched the things he required, poured some tea and grounded the ink for Luo Qingyan.
With a steady head, Luo Qingyan quickly and carefully copied the words on the note and put the original note back into the bamboo tube.
"Release the pigeon," he ordered.
His attendant took the bird and went out. After a while, he came back and reported, "Your Majesty, the dove is flying north."
Yun Shang raised her eyebrows and turned to Luo Qingyan, "Isn't Xia Houjing the big boss behind the dumb woman? Then how come the words on the note were written in the ancient language of the State of Yelang? And why is the pigeon flying north?"
"Who knows?" Luo Qingyan shrugged and replied, "Maybe we guessed wrong before. The dumb woman is not working for Xia Houjing, but is working for someone from the State of Yelang. Or maybe it's just a cover up to mislead us to suspect Cangjue Qingsu."
Lou Qingyan blew dry the paper he had just written on and continued with a low voice, "But it doesn't matter who she is. She is just a pawn sent by someone to test us. If it doesn't rain later, we will leave here tomorrow. The top priority is to get to someone to find out what is written on the note."
Yun Shang frowned but she agreed with his decision anyway. Despite the doubt in her heart, she remained silent. "Is the dumb woman really one of Cangjue Qingsu's pawns?" thought she solemnly.
At the moment, the State of Yelang was at an absolute disadvantage in the war at the border. Cangjue Qingsu was in the middle of a mess. How could he have the time and energy to deal with spying?
Deep down, Yun Shang still believed that Xia Houjing is the one who instigated the dumb woman to test them. This was just a cover up by the calculative Xia Houjing.
"The dumb woman was released by me not long ago, and now she had already made a move and sent out a messenger pigeon. Isn't it too deliberate? Don't forget, it is daytime. The messenger pigeon could be seen at a glance when it passed by the sky over the tavern. Even if the it wasn't shot down accidentally by Chengye, the secret guards would probably not let it fly away under their noses. All in all, it's not a smart way to send a message out."
Hearing Yun Shang's murmuring, Luo Qingyan couldn't help but chuckle, "Yes, the Empress is absolutely right on this one."
She could tell he was just flattering her, with a faint blush on her face, Yun Shang had another idea in her mind. 'Maybe it is a deliberate trap to begin with!' she thought to herself.
What if the dumb woman knew what they were thinking? She pursed her lips and wondered if she should discuss the matter thoroughly with him.
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