Chapter 63 Playing a Long Line to Catch a Big Fish

Bright natural light shone upon the glazed windows, refracting dazzling, multicolored beams.

Song Shiyu wore a grave expression, her brows and eyes brimming with sharp, cold intensity. "You mean to say there is a traitor in the palace?"

Li Xubai did not share Song Shiyu's heavy demeanor. With an injury on his back, he dared not lean against the head of the bed; remaining in one position for too long strained his lower back. He shifted his weight, wriggled into the most comfortable posture he could find, and said nonchalantly, "It's not just my implication; it's a matter of fact. Otherwise, where did those two women in the Chugong Palace who speak the Khitan language come from? Could it be that the people of Great Yu felt one can never have too many skills and deliberately picked up a foreign tongue? However, regardless of whether they are Khitan or Great Yu, as long as they are in the palace, they are right under our noses. Finding them and finishing them off should be as easy as reaching into a pocket and grabbing something."

Amused by Li Xubai's playful remark, Song Shiyu felt the dark clouds in her heart dissipate somewhat. She smiled and nodded, "You make it sound so easy. Why don't you go find them?"

Li Xubai chuckled, looking exceptionally mischievous. "How could I have such ability? The monumental merit of catching a traitor ought to belong to a heroine like Sister-in-law."

Song Shiyu let out a light, disdainful snort before instantly turning serious. "Over the years, Western Xia and the Khitan have never given up their desire to destroy our Great Yu, and their infiltration into Great Yu has been all-pervasive. In this palace," she turned her head to scan her surroundings, "in this palace, who knows how many there are who are not of our kind and whose hearts harbor ill intentions."

For reasons unknown, Li Xubai, who in his past life had always clung to the philosophy of seeking modest comfort and peace, suddenly found himself harboring an inexplicable sense of sorrow for the state and concern for the people after transmigrating into this uncharted Great Yu dynasty recorded in no history books.

Just as the two of them sat in mutual silence, brisk footsteps suddenly echoed from outside the hall.

"Er-lang, is Er-lang awake? Er-lang?" Zhao Yizhen was the first to walk into the hall. Catching sight of Li Xubai sitting on the bed, his expression suddenly relaxed. He hurried over and asked, "Er-lang is awake. Do you still feel any discomfort?"

Li Xubai was practically overwhelmed by this unexpected favor.

This was the Emperor himself—with God first and the Emperor second, how could he possibly bear such warm and solicitous inquiries?

"Thank you for Your Majesty's concern. This subject is already much better and can leave the palace to go home today," Li Xubai replied.

"No rush, there's no rush." Zhao Yizhen waved a hand, took a stack of papers from Yu Zhong, and handed them to Li Xubai. "Er-lang, take a look at these. Do you see anything suspicious?"

With a stomach full of doubts, Li Xubai flipped through a few pages and nearly hurled the thick stack of papers away.

Was this something he was supposed to look at?

Take away all these stumbling blocks on his path to becoming a salted fish! Take them all away!

"Your Majesty, why show these to me? Aren't these matters within Commander Sheng's purview?" Li Xubai was utterly terrified, fearing that if he glanced at it even one more time, he would lose a day of wealthy ease as a salted fish.

Zhao Yizhen had not expected Li Xubai to treat these testimonies like venomous serpents, avoiding them at all costs. Perplexed, he asked, "These testimonies won't eat people. What is Er-lang afraid of?"

Li Xubai: "......"

Seeing that Li Xubai offered no reply and instead wore a tangled expression of distress, Zhao Yizhen was greatly astonished and asked again, "If Er-lang has any concerns, just speak your mind."

Li Xubai grew even more troubled.

He just wanted to peacefully live as a salted fish—doing nothing and thinking about nothing every day, simply lying on a mountain of gold and silver counting and spending money.

Were those thoughts he could actually voice out loud?

Would that land him a nine-familial annihilation special?

Weighing his words, Li Xubai adopted a more tactful phrasing. "Your Majesty, all of this falls under Commander Sheng's duties, and the testimonies have already been secured. For this subject to pop in at this moment and snatch away ready-made merit doesn't seem quite appropriate, does it?"

"......" Zhao Yizhen froze.

"......" Yu Zhong froze as well.

It had been a long time since they had encountered someone with such uniquely bizarre train of thought.

Zhao Yizhen gave a light cough. "Er-lang worries too much. These two tasks originally belonged to Yanming. I just want you to see if there are any loopholes in these testimonies or if you can discover any other clues."

Li Xubai breathed a sigh of relief and began to carefully flip through the documents once more.

He read with utmost concentration, going through it word by word without missing the slightest detail.

He truly pushed his sharp-eyed observational skills—honed back when he was an entertainment journalist—to the absolute limit.

"Your Majesty, look at this." Li Xubai pulled out one of the testimonies and handed it to Zhao Yizhen. "Look, Your Majesty. This Khitan spy stronghold is a pastry shop. Although it has been established for half a year, this pastry called Diamond Blossom Cake has sold over fifty thousand boxes. On average, that's more than three hundred boxes sold daily, with eight pieces of Diamond Blossom Cake in each box. There is only a single chef in this pastry shop. With such a massive sales volume, even if the chef's hands were worked to the point of breaking off, I imagine he wouldn't be able to make them all."

Zhao Yizhen's expression turned icy, and he set that particular testimony aside by itself.

Li Xubai then produced another sheet, pointing and gesturing over it. "Your Majesty, look at this. A medicinal herb shop run by people from Western Xia has been open for a full six years, yet no ledgers or anything of the sort were found—only some scattered medicinal herbs. Either the Western Xia people received word in advance and transferred these items away, or they never ran the business properly at all and merely put up a false front. But that would be strange: if the Western Xia people got word beforehand and evacuated important documents and assassins, there would be no need to haul away ledgers and medicinal herbs together. If they never ran it properly and just put on a facade, then the matter becomes huge. How were the taxes investigated and collected over the past six years? Didn't the immediate neighbors find it strange how this shop managed to stay afloat?"

Zhao Yizhen's complexion grew even more unsightly.

Li Xubai picked out more than a dozen problematic testimonies, analyzing them point by point.

These loopholes could only be described as utterly preposterous.

Yet, astonishingly, these very loopholes had never been detected by the Patrol Bureau during their daily rounds.

He truly could not tell whether the Patrol Bureau was simply perfunctory in their duties or if the entire bureau was crawling with spies from Western Xia and Khitan.

Resisting his rising anger, Zhao Yizhen asked, "In Er-lang's view, given the current situation in Bianliang City, how should we proceed if we wish to completely root out the underground agents of Western Xia and Khitan?"

At these words, Li Xubai instantly perked up.

The spy thrillers he used to watch, coupled with his battle-hardened skills in digging up gossip, finally had a stage to display their usefulness.

Li Xubai expounded eloquently, "They say the greatest hermits hide in the marketplace, and places teeming with people are precisely the best locations to gather intelligence. Western Xia and Khitan have been operating in Bianliang City for decades; their roots must already run deep and dense. Merely uprooting a few strongholds cannot shake their foundation. In this humble subject's shallow view, rather than trying to uproot them, it is better to make good use of them. Action is inferior to stillness—why not take advantage of this assassination incident to force them to expose their own tails?"

Zhao Yizhen was both startled and delighted.

He was startled by Li Xubai's audacity, and delighted that Li Xubai actually possessed such audacity.

"Then, Er-lang, explain in detail: how should we do it?" Zhao Yizhen asked intently.