Zou Cheng Yi wrote down the details of the Liu Ling case in a memorial, presenting it to Ji Hong.
Ji Hong stroked the dragon patterns on his dragon robe, a sinister chill flashing in his slightly narrowed eyes. Every word on the memorial felt like a mockery and a taunt against him, the Emperor. To frame a disciple of the Medicine King Valley, they murdered the legitimate son of a minister of Lin Yuan?
Good, truly excellent!
Ji Hong laughed in anger, raising his hand to sweep a teacup from the table. The teacup shattered on the ground, porcelain shards flying. The hot tea splashed onto a eunuch, who felt as if the scalding liquid were embers from a fiery inferno, a mere few sparks enough to burn him to ashes.
In the imperial study, eunuchs and palace maids knelt on the ground, trembling with fear.
...
At noon, Zou Cheng Yi sat in the prison cell. Before him was a table laden with delicacies, its grandeur rivaling a state banquet.
“Lord Zou, please, help yourself to the food!” Nan Shiying ate and drank with chopsticks, her wine cup refilled by Lu Wan as soon as it emptied. She showed no signs of being imprisoned at all.
Seeing her unreserved behavior, Zou Cheng Yi’s face darkened. He picked up his chopsticks and took a bite of the small, bright green, oily bok choy. The moment it entered his mouth, he found the vegetable crisp and delicious. He took another bite, forgetting that he had just been condemning her extravagant indulgence.
Truth be told, the food from the princely manor was truly delicious!
Feeling thirsty, he picked up his wine cup again. The mellow aroma as it entered his mouth, Zou Cheng Yi squinted in comfort.
His eyes were spaced too wide, and when he squinted, they looked like a severed thread that could never be reconnected. Nan Shiying couldn’t help but admire him again, marveling at the beauty of Madame Zou through Lord Zou’s appearance.
Feng Quan, catching the scent, glanced at his own midday meal. He looked up and met the eyes of Lords Zhang Yi and Sun Ming Long. A sense of shared tragedy welled up within him.
Although their lunch was also quite abundant, with three dishes and one soup, featuring both meat and vegetables, nothing could withstand comparison. Comparison only led to tears flowing like a waterfall from a height of three thousand feet.
After eating half his fill, Nan Shiying spoke, “Lord Zou, I heard that Yuan Yi used to be a coroner in the Ministry of Justice?”
Zou Cheng Yi glanced at him, then at his surroundings. He didn’t care about Feng Quan and the others, but Qin Xiaorong, who was separated by a wall… if she overheard anything and started her own wild imaginings, it would undoubtedly be troublesome.
Thinking this, he glared at Nan Shiying.
Lu Wan, smiling sweetly, poured Zou Cheng Yi a cup of wine. Her voice was melodious, but her words were enough to make anyone standing in the sweltering heat of midsummer break out in a cold sweat.
“Lord Zou, rest assured. Miss Qin has been mentally exhausted and physically fatigued these past few days. Even if she heard something, it would only be noise in her confused state, entering her ears but not her mind.”
Zou Cheng Yi’s head shot up, his gaze sharp as knives, chilling and severe.
Lu Wan lowered her gaze, smiling demurely. Nan Shiying continued eating and drinking with an unperturbed expression. Neither of them was intimidated by Zou Cheng Yi’s stare. Far from being afraid, they even found it a bit dull and uninteresting.
Nan Shiying ate a piece of fruit to cleanse her palate and then said to Zou Cheng Yi, “Lord Zou need not be angry. It’s nothing serious, it won’t harm her!”
She was fabricating it casually.
She didn’t care whether Qin Xiaorong lived or died; as long as she didn’t die by her hand, everything would be fine.
Zou Cheng Yi’s eyes blazed with anger, his aura so imposing that even Feng Quan, several meters away, felt a sense of pressure. Zou Cheng Yi, Feng Luan, and even the maid had not bothered to lower their voices. The blatant act of Feng Luan’s personal maid drugging Miss Qin’s mansion was utterly lawless.
But considering that this maid was likely a confidante of the Prince, it wasn’t entirely surprising!
After all, the Regent of Lin Yuan, who dared to lead troops to surround the imperial city and make His Majesty the Emperor unable to lift his head, would certainly have no ordinary confidantes.
Let alone the former daughter-in-law of the Zou family, even the current daughter-in-law, she might dare to drug her right in front of Lord Zou.
Not harming her body was already an act of great mercy on their part.
“Young Master Feng, this is not the princely manor. This is my Ministry of Justice prison. I don’t care how you behave outside, but here, I hope you will restrain yourself!”
Hearing Zou Cheng Yi’s admonishment, spoken through gritted teeth as he suppressed his anger, or at least what could be considered an admonishment, Nan Shiying was silent for a second and then nodded, “Alright, Feng understands!”
She spoke sincerely, but her tone was lacking, and her expression was perfunctory. She propped her chin on her hand, holding a wine glass and sniffing its aroma while looking at Zou Cheng Yi. Zou Cheng Yi suddenly felt that his own good-for-nothing, useless son was more pleasant to look at than this Feng Luan.
Zou Cheng Yi had not been this angry and unable to vent his fury for a long time. The suppressed rage clogged his chest, making his internal organs ache with frustration.
Already生气了?
This is also不行啊!
Thinking back to the ministers of the Great Yuan, they could hold out for a few rounds with me before their faces turned pale with anger, they’d clutch their chests and feign death, shouting ‘The Empress brings disaster, demons run rampant!’ and then those with stronger temperaments would be so enraged they’d vomit blood or tragically throw themselves against a wall.
Nan Shiying recalled the ministers of the Great Yuan who relied on their seniority. A wicked, cold, and ferocious smile flashed in her eyes. Zou Cheng Yi’s angry gaze, which had been fixed on Nan Shiying’s face, suddenly constricted. He felt as if the burning rage in his heart had been suddenly plunged into a cold iceberg, at the bottom of a frigid pool. The coldness spread from his scalp into his body, nearly freezing his blood.
Zou Cheng Yi remembered her actions in the courtroom a few days prior.
Immediately, he felt that her merely giving Qin Xiaorong some harmless medicine was already showing leniency!
He suddenly wasn't angry anymore.
Nan Shiying looked at Zou Cheng Yi’s calming expression and was slightly taken aback, overturning her previous thought—not bad, not bad, she was still a bit better than those idiots from the Great Yuan!
Zou Cheng Yi no longer dwelled on Feng Luan drugging Qin Xiaorong. He finally answered her question, “Yuan Yi was indeed a coroner in the Ministry of Justice before!”
Oh ho, changing the topic quite quickly!
Nan Shiying followed up on this question, “Then why did he leave the Ministry of Justice?”
Zou Cheng Yi thought of the incident that had happened before. He was unwilling to elaborate, as it wasn’t a glorious matter. He simply said, “Due to some matters.”
Nan Shiying: “?”
“Specifically!”
Zou Cheng Yi looked at her, pondered for a moment, and said, “Yuan Yi is a pure person. However, a pure person is not suitable to stay in the Ministry of Justice, nor is he suitable to stay in officialdom.”
Nan Shiying said, “Oh,” “Understood. A pure person who has seen too many sordid things can no longer tolerate it and leaves in indignation.”.oγg
Zou Cheng Yi: “……”
Why did a good person have such a mouth?
“Then that means the Metropolitan Prefecture is still considered pure?”
Zou Cheng Yi: “……”
To step on one to praise another is a bit too much!
He gritted his teeth, “It’s just that compared to the Ministry of Justice, the Metropolitan Prefecture is more suitable for him.”
Nan Shiying said, “Oh,” again, “Understood. The Metropolitan Prefecture is less sordid than the Ministry of Justice.”
Zou Cheng Yi: “……”
This conversation is unsalvageable, it's dead!
Nan Shiying naturally knew the situation in officialdom. Since Zou Cheng Yi was unwilling to speak, she couldn’t help but make a few sarcastic remarks. However, according to Zou Cheng Yi’s words, Yuan Yi had become a pure official who refused to go along with the corrupt crowd.
This was not right!