76 The Oracle

Finally entering the hall, Bai Shuixian tensed up the moment she saw the amount of people staring at her. The hall was completely silent except for one official speaking at the moment. It made her anxious when she could hear her footstep one by one echoing in the huge hall as they continued to stare at her.

Lin Dalong saw the anxiety in her through her body gestures, so he slowed down and patted the backside of her hand. Feeling his hand on her hand, Bai Shuixian immediately calmed down, albeit only by a little bit. At the same time, she took a quick look at him in surprise, not expecting it.

When they reached the middle and front of the hall, Lin Dalong announced, "Imperial Father, Lady Bai has come as you have asked."

Staring at the two of them standing in the middle, Lin Tengfei told the official who was interrupted, "Stand back while I address this young lady."

"Yes, Your Majesty," the official respectfully responded and went back to his spot in the long rows of officials.

"Lady Bai, have you heard of the rumors in the capital?" Lin Tengfei asked with a grand gesture.

"His Highness told me this morning," Bai Shuixian answered, not staring down or at Lin Tengfei, but straight ahead of her.

"That is good. Do you accept taking responsibility for those rumors?" Lin Tengfei asked as he changed his position on the dragon throne.

Confused by what he meant responsibility, Bai Shuixian asked back, "Your Majesty, how am I supposed to take responsibility for something I cannot handle?"

Chuckling at her response, Lin Tengfei said, "Zhen is sure that Long'er has told you already."

Wait, that is why he told her was going to take her to the imperial physician hall and the medicinal stores? This was the responsibility she had to take care of? Why did he not just say this, but instead beat around the bush?

"It seems to be so," Bai Shuixian replied, sneaking a glance at Lin Dalong.

"Then, you must have also heard that Zhen will grant you a title today?" Lin Tengfei asked with a hidden smile.

"Yes," Bai Shuixian responded, changing her stare to the floor as though she was actually being respectful to him for hearing that she would receive a title.

Seeing her fake regard for him, Lin Tengfei quietly laughed to himself as he announced to all the officials, "From now on, Lady Bai will be known as the Oracle."

As soon as Bai Shuixian heard the oracle, she tilted her head up to where the emperor was sitting. Her eyes opened wide as she opened her mouth, struggling to speak. Did Lin Tengfei know that something that everyone else did not know about?

"According to your title, Lady Bai, you are allowed to not bow down to me, you are granted full access to the palace, and receive an estate in your honor. Naturally, Zhen will not forget the rewards and such," Lin Tengfei continued to say, examining her shocked expression. "Alright, you two can move aside now."

Hearing that Lin Dalong started moving to the side. However, when he noticed that Bai Shuixian was not moving, he grabbed her hand and dragged her with him. He did not think she would become so shocked that she would freeze at her spot.

When the official earlier came back up to the front to discuss matters with Lin Tengfei, Lin Dalong asked Bai Shuixian with a low voice, "What's the matter? Are you surprised?"

"Huh?" dragged out from her clashing thoughts, Bai Shuixian slowly reacted. "What?"

Admiring the cute shocked expression on her face, Lin Dalong asked again, "Are you surprised?"

Back to normal, Bai Shuixian asked, "Your Highness, does His Majesty-... Forget it…"

"What's the matter? You can ask," Lin Dalong told her when he saw her struggle.

Sighing, Bai Shuixian rejected, "No need. It is not anything important."

While she said this though, Bai Shuixian was thinking that she would ask Lu Lianhua to investigate Lin Tengfei. By then, he would answer her questions. She was frozen in shock earlier only because there were only a small number of people that knew she could do divination.

Though the number exceeded a handful, Bai Shuixian was confident that there would be no rumors about her knowing how to read the future. All the people that knew about her divination, half of them were dead. The other half, were her people that always stood by her side.

Having organized her thoughts, Bai Shuixian started to pay attention to what the official was saying. Lin Dalong also focused himself on the matter at hand. Although, there were a few moments where he was tempted to look at her cheeks, with a want to pinch them.

"Your Majesty, rumors have spread amok that people in the capital are disappearing one by one," the official said. "It has become so famous that commoners are worried about their life now. Many people are refusing to leave their homes in case they get targeted."

"Are there any witnesses for this case?" Lin Tengfei asked with seriousness all over his face. "What are the statistics? How many people have disappeared over the month and what social circle are they in?"

"We are unable to find any person who has personally seen a kidnapping. However, our department has managed to gather that over a hundred people have disappeared. About half of them are commoners, however, the other half are officials or nobles," the official stated. "A few of them are even big noble families."

"How could they have disappeared if they are a big noble family? What about their clans?" Lin Tengfei asked, his brows furrowing.

"The clans have wrapped the news of the families disappearing. This one was only able to find out the news through hidden alleys," the official answered.

"Have you found out why they are getting kidnapped? How all those people who have disappeared are related to each other?" Lin Tengfei asked, changing his position once again as his back was in pain from his previous position.

"Your Majesty, this official was unable to find out how they were all related to each other. However, our department found out the majority of nobles and officials that disappeared were in the illegal salt trade," the official stated with full seriousness.

Hearing that, Lin Tengfei did not care about their disappearances anymore. Truly, karma does attack evil. How dare they engage in the illegal trade.

Giving out an evil laugh, Lin Tengfei said, "Since they are engaged in illegal activities, there is no need to try to solve their disappearances. Give out a statement for those families instead and punish the clans. Truly, to think that they could do something like that under my nose. What a waste!"

"Your Majesty, even if we do give out a statement and many of the civilians begin to trust us again, I'm afraid that… the majority of them would still stay inside. Your Majesty, this will affect our economy if it continues," the official stated with a waver as he shivered, thinking about the impact that the citizens would bring to the overall economy.

If all of this happened in a normal village, town, or city, it would be fine. Even in a major trade center, it would still be fine. However, this is the capital!

Anything that happens in the capital could affect the entire empire! It was no simple matter that could be resolved with a few words. This case needed an independent person to fully investigate it in order to quell the fear of the commoners.

Sighing, Lin Tengfei called, "Long'er!"

"Imperial Father," Lin Dalong repeated back, hearing his name called out.

"In the next seven days, I expect a report on the situation for this missing people case," Lin Tengfei commanded.

Curtseying, Lin Dalong said, "Yes. This son will get it done."

Turning to the officials still standing in their spots, Lin Tengfei told his eunuch, "Zhen is retiring."

Having gotten the command, the eunuch announced, "Court is dismissed!"

Soon, the eunuch followed after the emperor. As for the officials, they all left the hall in partners and groups. Every individual that walked out, discussing about the title given to Bai Shuixian and the case that was passed onto Lin Dalong.

Walking up to Bai Shuixian, Lin Dalong asked, "Are you fine? You were quite tense when we entered."

"Huh? Oh, yes," Bai Shuixian answered, a little dazed.

Bai Shuixian never thought that one day she would be seeing an actual scene of a morning court session. When they were all talking, she was actually fangirling inside. Since she was young to now, she always read novels about imperial life and visualized what it would be like.

Aside from the surprising act of Lin Tengfei, everything was like how she would imagine it to be. Being able to see all the sights in front of her, she began to get excited for the drama she read from her novel. In fact, right now, she was waiting for the villainous girl that was jealous of the main character for getting the attention of the male lead.

Seeing that Bai Shuixian was still in a daze, Lin Dalong knocked her forehead and said, "Let's go back. What are you thinking about that you are so out of it?"

Rubbing her forehead, Bai Shuixian looked at the prince, a bright glint in her eyes. Currently, she was imagining a scene of many girls running up to Lin Dalong, wanting to catch his attention as they overwhelmed him with their strong perfumes. Waiting for them to attack him with the smell of musk from their makeup.

For some reason, when Lin Dalong felt her gaze on him, he shivered. He did not know why, but it was a pleasure to have her gazing upon him. At the same time, he had a feeling that she was thinking about something not good to him.