I traveled back to the Southern Song Dynasty and was actually outmaneuvered by Yue Fei.

Chapter 030: Qin Keqing

Zhao Bozong stood aside watching her.

The girl was about seventeen or eighteen years old, and had a very pretty face.

She wasn't the kind of strikingly beautiful, but rather the kind of delicate beauty that made you instinctively lower your voice at first glance.

Her eyebrows were like distant mountains, her eyes like autumn water, and raindrops still clung to her eyelashes.

Her hands were very white, with long, slender fingers; they didn't look like someone who did manual labor.

"Many more young masters."

The woman's voice was very soft and delicate.

Zhao Bocong asked Liu An to help her pick up the last few pieces of clothing. When she took them, she bowed slightly, and strands of hair slipped down from behind her ears, revealing a small section of her fair neck.

The woman seemed to realize her embarrassment and hurriedly gathered her hair back, but her hasty movements only made her look more disheveled.

Liu An watched from the side, a hint of pity in his eyes, and said in a low voice, "Miss, the rain is getting heavier."

"What's your name?" Zhao Bocong asked.

"Qin Keqing." She lowered her head, her voice so soft it was almost drowned out by the sound of the rain.

"From Lin'an?"

"I'm from Zhenjiang." The woman paused. "My family was in trouble, so I came to stay with relatives, but they moved away, and I ran out of money."

Zhao Bozong noticed that although the bundle she mentioned was old, it was very clean and the edges were carefully sewn.

A woman in distress who maintains such neatness despite her predicament must either have an innate sense of dignity or have received excellent upbringing.

He didn't say anything more, and had Liu An give her a few strings of copper coins.

When Qin Keqing accepted the copper coins, her hand trembled slightly. She thanked him softly, then carried her bundle and walked west along the alley.

The white-clad figure grew smaller and smaller in the rain, finally disappearing at the end of the alley.

Zhao Bozong stood there, gazing at the spot where the woman had disappeared. He pondered for a moment, then turned and boarded the carriage.

In early March, Zhao Bozong went to Shunhe Tea Shop to check with Manager Wang on the latest changes in intelligence nodes.

As I left the teahouse and was heading towards the dock, I suddenly heard the sound of porcelain shattering as I passed through a narrow alley in the west of the city.

He turned to look and saw a waiter at a small eatery deep in the alley, standing with his hands on his hips, cursing at the door. A rough porcelain bowl was broken on the ground, and noodle soup was spilled all over the floor.

Qin Keqing stood at the door, still dressed in her plain white clothes, head bowed, admitting her mistake. It turned out that she had accidentally broken a bowl in the shop while delivering the washed clothes, and the shop assistant was insisting that she pay for it.

Zhao Bocong walked over and placed a string of copper coins in the shopkeeper's hand. "Is that enough?"

Qin Keqing looked up and saw him. She recognized him, but instead of the panic she had felt last time, she felt a quieter surprise, as if she hadn't expected to meet him again.

She bowed to thank him, and Zhao Bozong noticed that although her plain white dress was old, it was clean, starched, and the frayed fibers on the cuffs had been carefully trimmed.

One detail caught his eye: a very faint ink stain on the inside of her collar.

It didn't look like an accidental smudge; the ink stain was located precisely where a person's clothes would touch the table when they were sitting, and she could read.

He couldn't explain what this detail meant, nor did he delve into it further.

I ran into him a few more times after that, mostly in the western part of the city.

This finally aroused Zhao Bocong's suspicion.

"Liu An, go and investigate her background," Zhao Bocong said.

A strange woman appeared out of nowhere in the alley of Lin'an City. He happened to bump into her by his carriage. She was so beautiful that he couldn't ignore her. She appeared in his sight many times afterward.

There are too many coincidences in this world; he doesn't believe in coincidences.

Liu An responded.

Several days later, Liu An returned to report.

Whether it was because this guy was really interested or not, he actually managed to find out the woman's identity.

"He came from Zhenjiang. His family used to be in the medicinal herb business. Last winter, his father offended the local officials in Zhenjiang, and the shop was shut down and the family property was confiscated."

"After her parents passed away one after another, she was an orphan with nowhere to go. She went to Lin'an to seek refuge with a distant relative, but that relative had already moved away. She had no relatives or friends in Lin'an and temporarily rented a small house in the west of the city to live in, making a living by washing clothes for others."

Liu An gave a detailed report: "The day Your Highness met her, she had been kicked out by her landlord and was walking on the street with her bundle when she was targeted by those hooligans."

After listening to the report, Zhao Bozong didn't say much. Liu An's investigation was very detailed, including information on Zhenjiang medicinal herb merchants, local officials, and seizure records.

Everything matches up perfectly, which is consistent with the investigation results brought back by Li Yanxian.

Qin Keqing's identity was completely undetectable.

But he always felt something was wrong. It wasn't that Liu An's investigation was wrong, but that the woman herself was wrong. Her hands were too thin, unlike the daughter of someone who was in the herbal medicine business.

Herbal medicine merchants have to sort, weigh, cut, and dry herbs. Their fingers are constantly under pressure, and thin calluses will form on their hands and fingers.

Qin Keqing's hands were so white that there were almost no other colors, but that might be because she was raised in seclusion and never got involved in business.

Zhao Bozong went through the explanation in his mind but couldn't find a reason to refute it.

Although this matter was strange, it did not have much impact on him.

His communication with Manager Wang had become regular; they would meet at the tea shop on the third day of every ten days, and go to the dock on the eighth day of every ten days to check on Li Bao's ship schedule.

Qin Keqing seemed to frequent the shops in the west of the city that offered laundry services. Occasionally, when they met at the alley entrance, she would bow slightly but not say much.

On one occasion, Zhao Bocong went to Manager Wang's place to retrieve an urgent intelligence report. The report indicated that the cook at Qin Hui's residence was making unusual purchases of ingredients, suggesting that Qin Hui might be hosting an important guest in the coming days.

As Zhao Bocong passed through the west of the city, it was already late. He saw Qin Keqing squatting by the wall in the corner of the alley, drawing something on the ground with broken tiles.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a few characters: "copying calligraphy".

She copied Chu Suiliang's "Preface to the Sacred Teachings of the Wild Goose Pagoda". The strokes are elegant and the structure is well-proportioned. Although it was written on soil with broken tiles, the flow of the brushstrokes is clear at a glance.

When Qin Keqing saw him, she quickly stood up and used her foot to wipe the words off the ground, her movements as fast as a child caught stealing.

"It's very well written," Zhao Bocong said.

"I studied with my father for a few years when I was young," she said, her head bowed. "I apologize for making a fool of myself, young master."

Zhao Bocong did not press the matter further.

The daughter of a medicinal herb merchant from Zhenjiang practiced calligraphy on the muddy ground using broken tiles, copying the style of Chu Suiliang.

Perhaps it was to save money on paper and pens, or perhaps he simply didn't want to leave any traces in the house; whatever the explanation, it only added to his doubts.

But this girl lived quietly, supporting herself by washing clothes with her own hands, and never interacted with anyone.

There was no desire in her eyes, only an unfathomable calm.

In late March, Feng Yi sent an urgent message through Manager Wang.

Qin Hui recently had a private conversation with an official from the Privy Council, during which he mentioned "unusual mobilization of the Zhenjiang naval forces".

Zhao Bozong immediately rushed to the dock. Although he was now the Prince of Puan, there were some things he still preferred to do himself.

Lin'an City is not large, but it is not small either. Not everyone knows what Prince Pu'an looks like, so Zhao Bocong has a certain degree of freedom of movement.

Qin Hui's surveillance had always been ongoing, but this was no problem for Li Yanxian. Even Liu An, who often served him, was kept busy by Zhao Bocong.

This time, Zhao Bozong was alone again. He rushed to the dock to check if the dock's communication was secure before Li Bao's ship was scheduled to depart.

When he passed through the west of the city, he instinctively slowed down.

In the misty, rain-soaked alley, several drunkards emerged from a tavern and staggered deeper into the alley.

Just as Zhao Bozong was about to turn around, he suddenly saw Qin Keqing squatting on the ground in front of the small house at the end of the alley, collecting the clothes that were drying in the sun.

Raindrops dampened her hair, and her plain white dress clung to her body, outlining her very faint features.

The drunkards also saw her. The leader chuckled crookedly and staggered toward her.

Qin Keqing looked up and saw them. She wasn't too panicked. Perhaps she had gotten used to being bullied over the past year. She just took two steps back when the drunkard approached, and turned to go inside while holding her clothes and basin.

The drunkard in the lead reached out and grabbed her wrist.