The Little Consort's
Eps. 29: Letter of Secrets

Long Ji Man who was exhausted after scolding ten officials to the point, immediately laid his body on his bed. His emotions and energy were drained to debate the stubborn officials.

Today, he not only cuts the salaries of the Minister of Economy, but also the Minister of Administration, the Minister of Development, and two other ministers. They fared the same as the Minister of Agriculture because of their negligence and inaccuracy in taking care of the people.

Those who oppose the pay cuts are also subject to sanctions. The opponents cut his salary for three months as a form of reprimand and reflection. Come to think of it, today Long Ji Man had already cut the salaries of many officials.

The man who had just closed his eyes for a moment was interrupted due to the small commotion on the front porch of Hongwu Palace. Either because he was too tired or indeed because he was lazy to get up, Long Ji Man chose to keep laying down his body on the bed.

Meanwhile, outside, Li Anlan clashed with Xiao Biqi. He insisted on wanting to meet Long Ji Man, but was blocked by Xiao Biqi because the king had just arrived from the court. Previously, Long Ji Man advised that no one would enter or disturb him. Xiao Biqi could not let this concubine interfere with the rest time of her king. That was why, even though Li Anlan was pushy, he still would not let her in.

"Concubine An, please don't make things difficult for me!"

"Little eunuch, who am I?"

"His Majesty's concubine."

"No, since yesterday, who am I?"

Xiao Biqi seemed to think.

"His Majesty's servant."

"Can't I see him?"

"May, but not for now."

Li Anlan was angry at himself. Fighting mouth with this stupid eunuch would only waste his time and energy. There was something more important that he had to tell immediately, about the empty apple-scented letter he got from a bird.

Li Anlan kicked the shin of Xiao Biqi's leg with all his might until the young eunuch jumped up and endured the pain. As Xiao Biqi's body position slightly moved away from the door, Li Anlan pushed the door and barged in. He ran towards Long Ji Man's bed. However, alas, due to lack of caution, the bottom of the maid outfit she was wearing stepped on her own feet, until Li Anlan's body rolled forward. As a result of losing balance, Li Anlan fell on her stomach in front of Long Ji Man's bed.

Seeing his concubine on her stomach, Long Ji Man immediately burst into laughter. The woman looked at Long Ji Man while pouting. This is the result of interrupting his rest. In his heart, Long Ji Man said, "Li Anlan, karma is real!"

Li Anlan hurriedly got up. His forehead was slightly bumped due to the impact with the floor. When he saw Long Ji Man still lying down, Li Anlan immediately approached the man, pulling his hand so that he would wake up immediately.

"There's something I want to give you!"

Li Anlan's power was comparable to Long Ji Man's. As a result, the burly man's body was attracted to rise. His position becomes sitting. Li Anlan and Long Ji Man faced each other.

"Look!"

Li Anlan thrust the apple-scented paper at the man. Long Ji Man frowned.

"Apple vinegar?"

Li Anlan nodded. The woman took out a candle, then burned her wick. In front of Long Ji Man, he placed the paper on the fire until the originally empty paper became filled with writing.

"Your Majesty can read it? I don't recognize these letters."

Every letter listed on the paper was read by Long Ji Man carefully. It was only fitting that Li Anlan did not understand it, as these letters were ancient scripts used by the previous three dynasties. If you want to know the contents, then someone must open the library and list of symbols to find out the characters that are formed. The way to read it is not easy either. The meaning of his words was hidden in figurative form.

In addition, this paper is also spiked with several symbols between the letters. Based on the library, the symbols are used to mark every one syllable of the sentence formed. The paper is very complicated. It needs someone with high intelligence to break its contents.

But, to Long Ji Man whose background was a scholar and a king, reading letters like this was the same as reading ordinary reports. The difficulty level is not too high.

"Where did you get this?"

"From a bird I found."

"You can shoot?"

Li Anlan nodded lightly.

"Your Majesty, what is it?"

"Letter notice."

"Well, the author is really great!"

"What does it really contain?"

"News about what happened in court today."

Long Ji Man started to think about various speculations. A letter written with apple vinegar, he had often encountered. But, if the letter is written using ancient characters and symbols, this is the first time he encountered. The author of the letter certainly does not want others to know the contents of the letter. At first glance, if an uninterested person found this letter, that person would definitely throw it away thinking this blank letter was just a letter made by a less-worked person. If the inventor of the letter managed to bring up letters, it would be difficult to understand the meaning if not clever and did not master the ancient scripts of the previous three dynasties.

The biggest question was, why would this letter-delivery bird pass around his palace? The bird could not have been mistaken in its route, unless something had lured him to fly over Hongwu Palace.

"Is there a living creature in your palace?" ask Long Ji Man.

"of course. I, Xie Roulan, two eunuchs, and six guards and plants and small fish in the pond."

"I mean, bird."

"Oh. I keep a female pigeon."

"It's just worth it."

So, what caused this letter-bearer bird to take the wrong route was because there was another bird in Xingyue Palace that managed to lure him. Come to think of it, the secluded Xingyue Palace lay across Houchi Lake. If the bird is accustomed to flying straight, then it can be ascertained that the direction came from the palace complex around the central palace. If the bird flew across Hongwu Palace, it would go to the main gate, not the backyard of Hongwu Palace which was adjacent to the front of Xingyue Palace.

Long Ji Man smirked. Finally, he knew that within this palace there was indeed a spy watching his entire movement. If not, how could he have been attacked while he was undercover, and the events in the court earlier could be known. That means the spy is around here, but he's too good at hiding.

"Where is the bird?"

"I told Wang Tianshi to take him to Tao Zhun."

"You crazy?"

"I'm still sane."

"Tao Zhun is a human healer, where can he treat birds?"

"He should be able to. A physician must be multitalented."

Long Ji Man turned his face to the side, avoiding the innocent face of Li Anlan who was always speechless without burden. His tiredness disappeared somewhere. The careless manner of the woman in front of him had a bit of comforted her.

"Your Majesty, does this mean that there are spies?"

"Where do you have this kind of thinking?"

"From the novel I read and the colossal drama I watched."

"Colossal drama? A novel? Who is the author who so dares to tell such a lie?"

"Originally you know, a story like this will become a legend in the next five hundred years."

Li Anlan's words were getting more and more strange. There were so many words that Long Ji Man did not understand. Perhaps, Li Anlan's brain suffered severe damage from day to day, until the woman began to slur.

"You better not interfere."

"I have to get involved. Your Majesty, what if you're in danger? What if you die? If you die, who's gonna give me a paycheck?"

"About!"

Aware of his words, Li Anlan immediately closed his mouth. He directly ran out before Long Ji Man scolded him. Li Anlan also avoided Xiao Biqi, worried that the young eunuch was demanding a reply to her.

Meanwhile, in his bedroom, Long Ji Man folded the secret letter paper, then kept it under a pillow. The man hit his bed hard and it rang. Hands clenched.

He'll definitely find the fucker!

...***...

Hello, dear reader Author! The author wants to ask, if anyone knows who the spy is? If you know or anyone can be suspected, write in the comments! Stay tune continues to be the same story, because after this Li Anlan will really start to show himself. See you in the next episode!