Shen Xihe had Zhenzhu and Purple Jade prepare some food for the little beggar, along with old clothes and supplies from the Princess’s mansion, as well as rice and firewood. She herself disguised as a maid and went to the Lonely Garden. She couldn’t just report this matter based on one account – she needed to verify it herself.

Since this matter had been brought to her attention, she couldn’t ignore it. Moreover, since it involved the Lonely Garden, one wrong move could result in all these innocent children being silently eliminated. She couldn’t make a big show of going there either, as too many people were watching her.

Especially after Emperor Youning had hinted at marrying her into the Eastern Palace, even more people were scrutinizing her every move. If she went to the Lonely Garden, everyone would notice something unusual.

Fortunately, the Princess’s mansion regularly provided aid to both the Lonely Garden and Beitian Temple. When Shen Xihe went to the Lonely Garden herself, she also sent another group to the Beitian Temple, both carrying plenty of supplies for daily use.

The Lonely Garden looked cold and desolate, with an unpleasant odor carried by the bitter wind – sour and foul. While Zhenzhu and the others could tolerate it, it was particularly difficult for Shen Xihe with her sensitive nose. Worried that covering her nose might hurt the children’s feelings, she had to endure it.

When she finally met Qi Pei, the smell became truly nauseating.

“Everyone disperse. I’ve come on the Princess’s orders to check on your illnesses,” Zhenzhu immediately scattered the crowd.

This made things slightly more bearable for Shen Xihe. She pretended to cough, using her sleeve to cover her nose and mouth. The cool fragrance from her sleeve helped ease her dizziness. Zhenzhu looked at Qi Pei, the young boy who had delivered the letter to Shen Xihe – he was only thirteen years old.

The kneecaps of both his legs had been dug out, with the wounds festering from both injury and frostbite. The flesh was a bloody mess, with yellow pus oozing out. He was running a fever and shivering in confusion from the cold.

Although Zhenzhu had seen many gruesome wounds while following Old Master Baitou, Qi Pei’s injuries still made her draw in a sharp breath. Maggots had indeed formed. She needed to clean his wounds, and fortunately, with A Xi’s help, the two of them working together didn’t waste any time.

An hour later, they had properly tended to him. Shen Xihe walked around the Lonely Garden to get a general understanding of the situation there.

At the same time, at the mansion of Yang, the Minister of Justice, a steward hurriedly ran in. The old lady opened her eyes from her rest and dismissed the other servants. The steward whispered in her ear, “Old Madam, we found him – he’s at the Lonely Garden.”

“Why haven’t you brought him back yet?” the old lady immediately ordered.

“It’s not that we won’t arrest him, but today Princess Zhaoning sent people to the Lonely Garden for charity,” the steward lowered his head, expressing worry and anxiety. “She even sent her maid to examine and treat illnesses.”

“Why would Princess Zhaoning suddenly send people to the Lonely Garden? And specifically to examine illnesses?” The old lady’s expression showed slight panic.

“It must be coincidence. The Princess was seeing off the Western King from the city today and happened to encounter a beggar who fainted in front of her carriage,” the steward shared his speculation. “She took him back to her mansion and then released him. Perhaps this made her think of the Lonely Garden and Beitian Temple, so she immediately had people from her household deliver food and supplies to both places. Since coming to the capital, the Princess has often sent unused items from her mansion to these places.”

Old Lady Yang collected herself: “In that case, we’ll act after they leave.”

“Your servant heard they’ve been there for an hour already. I’m worried that if the Princess’s maid treats Qi Pei, he might know she’s from the Princess’s mansion and say something inappropriate that could harm the Second Young Master,” after expressing his concerns, the steward suggested, “At this point, Old Madam, we probably need to inform the Master to make a decision.”

“You useless lot!” Old Lady Yang’s face darkened. “A man with no legs managed to reach the capital and slip into the imperial city!”

The steward lowered his head silently at the scolding.

Old Lady Yang fingered a string of gold beads: “Go fetch the Master, and send more people to watch the Lonely Garden closely. If there’s no other way… set fire to the place and send someone in to kill Qi Pei!”

Shen Xihe was still unaware of the approaching danger. When she heard Qi Pei had awakened, she returned to the room. Zhenzhu had cleaned it and placed an incense burner, so when Shen Xihe entered again, she no longer felt dizzy.

“Prin-” Qi Pei, clearly aware of Shen Xihe’s identity, became very excited and tried to struggle to sit up.

“No need for formalities. Your injuries are too severe. Keep it brief, don’t strain yourself,” Shen Xihe sat down on the chair Zhenzhu had brought.

“Princess…” Qi Pei couldn’t hold back his tears. “Please help my family of over forty people seek justice. The officials in Hebei protect each other, forcing confessions through torture, turning black into white…”

Qi Pei, a thirteen-year-old boy, released all his accumulated grievances and sorrows at once. Through his crying and accusations, Shen Xihe finally understood the whole story.

The County Magistrate of Li County was Yang Xulin, the eldest legitimate son of Minister of Justice Yang Zhongxing. He had passed both imperial examinations in the thirteenth year of Youning’s reign, and in the sixteenth year was appointed as the magistrate of Li County. To be fair, this Yang Zhongxing wasn’t entirely corrupt – he hadn’t extorted from the people or made muddled judgments.

His three years of governance in Li County weren’t outstanding but weren’t completely worthless either. As his three-year term was approaching its end, he faced performance evaluation and promotion. Then a theft occurred at the wealthy Qi family in Li County – a group of bandits broke into the Qi residence at night.

They killed one of the Qi family’s guards and stole some hairpins and silver from the bedroom of Qi Jun’s wife, before being driven away by the family’s guards, all escaping.

Qi Pei’s elder brother Qi Jun reported the case early the next morning. After investigation, there were too few clues to solve the case. The current dynasty had regulations requiring theft cases to be solved within a specified time, and if the deadline was exceeded, the local official would also be held responsible.

At this point, Yang Xulin didn’t want such a blemish, so he forcefully claimed that Qi Jun had discovered the guard was having an affair with his wife, thus killing the guard and fabricating a theft case to cover up the murder.

The guard was a Qi family servant, so killing him wasn’t a major issue, especially with the alleged crime of having an affair with the lady of the house. Yang Xulin refused to pursue the case. When Qi Jun heard this, he was furious, assuming it was because he hadn’t provided enough bribes, so he took several hundred gold pieces to bribe Yang Xulin.

Unexpectedly, Yang Xulin returned all the money. Qi Jun had nowhere to appeal his grievance, but since he hadn’t suffered great losses, he thought to let the matter rest.

However, after Qi Jun’s rivals learned of this from the county office, they used it to humiliate him, widely spreading rumors about his wife’s affair with the guard. The scandal became known to everyone, and Qi Jun’s wife, unable to bear the shame, committed suicide.

Qi Jun couldn’t stop her in time and was devastated. Just then, the county office caught a group of thieves who admitted they were the ones who had broken into the Qi residence that night and killed the guard.

Having lost his wife, Qi Jun was determined to seek justice from the office, so he reported this to Shanggu Prefecture in Dingzhou. What he didn’t know was that the Prefect of Shanggu was a disciple of Minister of Justice Yang Zhongxing, Yang Xulin’s father, which was why Yang Xulin had been appointed to Li County in the first place.