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Глава 34

He knew they had taken something.

They probably know what it is.

How could he know?

She jumped up and knocked on the door next door with no less force than Han Zhang.

When Zhan Zhao opened the door again, he had already put on his outer robe.

"Prince Ning..." Mo Yan stopped abruptly when she saw Zhan Zhao's expression, and asked in surprise, "Are you feeling unwell? You look so pale?"

Zhan Zhao glanced at Han Zhang, who was following Mo Yan around, and remained silent.

"Could it be because you took off your clothes and gave them to me last night and caught a cold?" Mo Yan immediately felt guilty. "If I had known, I should have let you ride in the sedan chair with me, and nothing would have happened."

"Take off your clothes!?"

Han Zhang opened his mouth wide again, but after receiving Zhan Zhao's suppressed anger, he had no choice but to close it again.

"I'm fine." Zhan Zhao looked at Mo Yan again. "What were you trying to say just now?"

“I mean, Prince Ning…” She looked around, “Let’s go inside and talk.”

Before Zhan Zhao could even nod, she had already stepped in, followed by Han Zhang, who was determined to continue his tactless behavior.

The three of them had just sat down at the table when Mo Yan hurriedly stood up, ran to the door and called out, "Waiter, could you please bring the hot tea we ordered to this room?"

"A sip of hot tea will probably make you feel better."

She turned back to explain, still believing Zhan Zhao had caught a chill because of what happened last night. Still feeling uneasy, she walked around Zhan Zhao to sit down, placing her palm on his forehead and her other hand on her own forehead to check...

"Thankfully, I don't have a fever," she said with a smile.

Zhan Zhao reluctantly removed her hand: "I'm really fine."

Although this action made him feel very embarrassed, especially in front of Han Zhang, he knew that she meant well, so Zhan Zhao could only feel helpless but not angry.

Chapter Twenty-Five

"How would Prince Ning know what we took?" Mo Yan asked, sitting down and frowning at Zhan Zhao. "You're not really going to return it, are you?"

"The new textile commissioner is about to take office, and the accounts will definitely be audited. I don't know the background of this new textile commissioner..." Zhan Zhao frowned slightly. "If the account books are fake, we will return them to avoid alerting the enemy." He was worried about the relationship between the new textile commissioner and Zhang Yaozuo.

"What if it's true?"

Although it sounded like she was asking him a question, Mo Yan was glaring at him almost fiercely.

“Of course I can’t return it,” Zhan Zhao said calmly.

Upon hearing this, Mo Yan smiled brightly. Just then, the waiter brought in hot tea, and she hurriedly poured a cup for Zhan Zhao. She then asked, "By the way, you've been looking at that ledger all day. Have you figured anything out?"

Zhan Zhao shook his head.

"Even you can't understand it..."

Mo Yan was frustrated. She had flipped through that account book the day before yesterday, but although she could read all the words, she couldn't understand a single detail of how the accounts were calculated, matched, and summarized. At the time, Zhan Zhao only said that he would take a closer look, and she had thought that he was at least an official, but she hadn't expected that even he couldn't understand it.

"So you've already got the account books!" Han Zhang belatedly exclaimed, his voice so loud that Zhan Zhao and Mo Yan almost simultaneously wanted to shut him up.

"Keep your voice down! We stole it!" Mo Yan glared at Han Zhang, then her eyes suddenly lit up: "Second Brother Han, come and take a look, maybe you can understand it."

"I...I can't."

"How will you know if you don't try!" Mo Yan poured him a cup of hot tea and said with a smile, "If you can understand it, maybe I'll remember where that hammer is."

Upon hearing the second half of the sentence, Han Zhang, who had already stood up, hesitated and sat down again. Although Zhan Zhao had little hope, he could only try at this moment; even if Han Zhang could understand one or two strokes, it would be good.

To make checking the accounts easier, the thick ledgers had been carefully unbound. Zhan Zhao took out a portion and placed it in front of Han Zhang, who still tried to struggle: "Xiao Qi, I'm still hungry."

"Tell the waiter to make me a bowl of noodles and bring it to my room. Also, order me a bowl while you're at it." Mo Yan didn't even lift her eyelids as she took a portion of the noodles, preparing to return to her room for a closer look.

As dusk approached, when Ning Wangshu hurriedly came to Han Zhang to ask for help with a friend's bloodletting, Han Zhang, who was already dizzy, treated her as his savior. Without even asking any questions, he followed her without his feet touching the ground.

Mo Yan and Zhan Zhao read through the books until late at night. Although they could barely understand them, it was really difficult for them to distinguish the truth from the falsehood. Zhan Zhao was surprised to see Mo Yan sitting quietly looking at the accounts all day. He had thought that it would be difficult for her to calm down with her lively and impulsive nature, but he really did not expect her to be so calm when faced with important matters.

Han Zhang was not seen again until the evening of the next day. He came with Ning Wangshu. As soon as he saw Mo Yan, he begged for mercy: "Little Miss, please spare me. I can handle the money in my hand, but I'm really not good at writing it down in the account book."

Mo Yan herself was also completely baffled, knowing she couldn't blame him, so she had no choice but to let it go. Han Zhang was overjoyed and quickly offered to treat her and Zhan Zhao to a meal as an apology, practically dragging them along.

Unable to sort out their thoughts, Zhan Zhao and Mo Yan both looked preoccupied; Ning Wangshu was also troubled and melancholy; only Han Zhang, in an attempt to distract the three of them, enthusiastically recounted his experience of performing acupuncture and bloodletting on someone the previous night: "...You can't even imagine how badly that person was injured. The poison was truly potent; his body was covered in rotten flesh, with wounds filled with blood and pus..."

Upon hearing this, Zhan Zhao silently put down his chopsticks. In the bowl, there was still a piece of glutinous rice lotus root coated with sugar syrup, with small holes and the sugar syrup as thick as blood.

Mo Yan, unusually, had no appetite. She poked at an empty cup with her chopsticks, spinning them around, completely oblivious to what Han Zhang was saying. After a while, she suddenly said impatiently, "Why don't we just grab a pawnshop manager and make sure he doesn't tell anyone?"

"Absolutely not!" Zhan Zhao immediately rejected the idea. "The ledgers of the Imperial Textile Bureau are not for just anyone to see."

Mo Yan glanced at Han Zhang, who quickly said, "It's no use looking at me anymore, I can't understand that stuff."

“Since Lord Zhan is so worried, why don’t you take it back to Kaifeng and let Mr. Gongsun take a look?” Ning Wangshu suggested from the side.

"We can't wait until then. We need to return this thing as soon as possible. If someone finds out, it will alert them, which would be bad." Mo Yan frowned, her teeth itching with hatred for the new textile master she didn't know.

Zhan Zhao hesitated for a moment, then said in a deep voice, "Since we can't understand it, we can only copy it down and bring it to Mr. Gongsun."

"Copy..." Han Zhang gasped as he looked at the thick, brick-like ledger.

"It seems there's no other way," Mo Yan sneered. "The more shady things happen in this court, the more trouble there will be."