Two days passed in the blink of an eye.
And after two days, the drought was significantly alleviated.
Many dried-up rivers, due to Ding Yun's frequent transportation of water, regained their flow and vitality. At this point, Ding Yun specifically used the Arbitrary Gate to find an uninhabited area in the grassland and settled down temporarily.
She had never experienced this kind of situation before.
She wasn't sure if her merit was enough to suppress the world's antagonism.
To be safe, she had deliberately gone to an uninhabited area to stay for a while, to see what would happen next and understand her current situation.
Only then could she determine what to do next.
If she wasn't particularly unlucky, it would mean her plan was effective, and she could continue according to plan. If she was rather unlucky, she might have to go into hiding for a while to cultivate subordinates, develop her power, and continue to earn merit and good fortune.
If even drinking cold water got stuck in her throat.
Then it would be troublesome.
But she felt that with her actions during this period, even if not immeasurable merit, it should be considered quite a lot of merit.
She probably wouldn't be that miserable!
...
While Ding Yun was temporarily residing in the uninhabited area, testing the world's consciousness's antagonism towards her, those who had suffered losses were almost driven mad. Even in the imperial court, no one was paying attention to the disaster areas and refugees where the drought had just slightly eased.
Instead, they were fiercely discussing the thieves!
They were even scolding the Ministry of Justice officials as useless, stating that after so long, there was still no news.
The officials of the Ministry of Justice were also driven to the brink of madness.
With such a wide scope of cases, involving so many officials, nobles, aristocratic families, and even feudal lords, it was a case they had never seen or heard of before.
So much gold, silver, and jewelry, so much grain, and even suspected armor and weapons were lost, yet there were no signs of transportation.
There were no signs of passing through any gates or leaving the city.
Those Ministry of Justice officials truly wanted to collapse and shout, "This subject truly cannot do it!"
With no clues, what could they do?
For such a huge case, they couldn't just arbitrarily arrest someone, torture them into a confession, and make them bear the guilt.
After all, it was easy to get someone to confess.
But how to explain the whereabouts of the gold, silver, and grain?
They couldn't just say they were gone, lost, or sank to the bottom of the sea!
With so much gold and silver stolen, let alone sinking to the sea, even if it sank to hell, those aristocratic families, clans, and feudal lords would send people to dig through hell to find it.
Therefore, this was an unsolvable matter.
After a few days, the Ministry of Justice could no longer bear the pressure of the entire court, the feeling that anyone could call them incompetent. So, during the grand court assembly that day, without waiting for other officials to question the Ministry of Justice's progress, the Minister of Justice, along with all eligible Ministry of Justice officials, stepped forward to beg for punishment and resign.
The reason was readily available: they were truly incapable of handling this case, unable to find any clues or signs, which showed their incompetence as officials of the Ministry of Justice.
They voluntarily requested to be stripped of their titles and dismissed.
After speaking, the Minister of Justice took the lead, first removing his official hat and placing it aside. Then, the Ministry of Justice officials behind him immediately followed, indicating their resolve.
Their intention was quite clear.
That is, they could not handle this matter, nor could they resolve it.
If they were to continue handling it, continue investigating, then it would be a complete breakdown. They would all resign, and whoever wanted the vacant positions in the Ministry of Justice could have them, as they would not endure this torment.
Alternatively, the case should be handed over to another department.
Whether it was to the Divine Constable Bureau or the imperial Dark Ice Platform, the Ministry of Justice would no longer be involved.
That's right...
The Minister of Justice was employing a tactic of "retreat to advance."
He was confident that neither the Emperor nor the assembled officials could accept the resignation of all officials from the Ministry of Justice.
As for whether this would offend the Emperor,
Making the Emperor feel he was coercing him, forcing him to submit.
It didn't matter. If they didn't show their fangs now and let them know that the Ministry of Justice was not to be trifled with, those aristocratic families and feudal lords, who were almost bankrupt, would absolutely take out their anger on the Ministry of Justice if the culprit was not found, and they would still suffer.
Moreover, by doing this.
He believed the Emperor should be able to understand.
Indeed, as the Ministry of Justice officials made their stance, both the Emperor and all the officials were stunned. Then, some questioned, some were dissatisfied, some stirred up trouble, and some tried to persuade. It was truly a myriad of expressions from the officials.
Finally, Emperor Yuhe had no choice but to mediate:
"Alright, Minister Li, please rise quickly. This matter is not entirely your fault. It is indeed that others have gone too far.
I have also sent people to investigate this matter thoroughly, including the Divine Constable Bureau, who have conducted both overt and covert inquiries, but the final result, like Minister Li of the Ministry of Justice, is that there is no outcome."
"I believe you, and the families behind you, must have also spent considerable effort investigating. And what was the result? If you have found much more information than the Ministry of Justice, then I will severely punish the Ministry of Justice now. If not, then do not speak nonsense.
Whoever thinks they are capable.
I believe Minister Li would not mind temporarily handing over the position of Minister of Justice to you. Who is willing to take over?
Who has the ability to take over!"
In reality, for Emperor Yuhe, this matter was not entirely a bad thing. Although he didn't know what hidden force was responsible, or if there were truly immortals and gods, the reality was that he had suffered no losses. The losses were all borne by those great aristocratic families and feudal lords.
And these great aristocratic families and feudal lords were precisely the existences that he, and even his ancestors, had tried their best to weaken. Now, they had been weakened without bloodshed.
He could laugh out loud in the middle of the night!
However, this joy could not be too obvious, and he even had to show a united front with them, otherwise, they might suspect that he was secretly behind it.
Therefore, at this moment, although Emperor Yuhe was speaking up for the Minister of Justice, he deliberately appeared very dejected and dissatisfied.
Afterwards, there was indeed a period of silence.
Emperor Yuhe was right. How could these people place all their hopes on the Ministry of Justice?
They had also conducted desperate investigations themselves.
However, beyond discovering that a large amount of grain had been entirely absorbed by an unseen entity, and that gold and silver jewelry had also been mysteriously absorbed by an unseen entity, they had no other gains.
To speak of it now would only be to invite ridicule.
It even increased the credibility of the idea that these people had offended immortals and gods, and were being punished by them by having their gold and silver taken away.
In the end, this matter could only be handled with coldness.
However, Emperor Yuhe's worries did come true, as some did suspect that Emperor Yuhe had acted against them. After all, the fortunes of so many people had been emptied, and only Emperor Yuhe's private treasury was unharmed.
This made it difficult for them not to suspect Emperor Yuhe.
It had to be said that the black pot Ding Yun had thrown made it truly difficult for Emperor Yuhe to prove his innocence. He also could not go to those aristocratic families and feudal lords to prove his innocence.
Only Ding Yun, on the other hand, remained innocent.