◎Young Master, help me write documents for a lifetime?◎

Hearing this, Luo Wanqing immediately jumped up. She hurriedly threw on some clothes and rushed to where Jiqing was being held.

Jiqing had been placed by Baili in a small courtyard. When Luo Wanqing arrived, she could hear Jiqing’s wailing from the alley.

“Let me out! Let me go! Please! Otherwise, I’ll bash my head and die here! Let me go! Let me go!”

Luo Wanqing rushed into the room to see two guards restraining Jiqing, who was crying with snot and tears streaming down his face. Seeing Luo Wanqing enter, Jiqing’s eyes immediately lit up as he cried out, “Inspector! Save me!”

Luo Wanqing frowned and raised her hand slightly.

The guards immediately released him and bowed. At this moment, Jiqing hurriedly rushed to Luo Wanqing, kneeling and clutching at her clothes, wailing loudly, “Inspector, spare me! Let me go back!”

Hearing this, Luo Wanqing glanced around. The guards looked somewhat embarrassed. Luo Wanqing patted Jiqing’s shoulder and reassured the guards, “Don’t worry, I know you didn’t do anything. Go down first. I’ll interrogate him alone.”

Hearing this, the guards finally felt relieved, bowed, and left. When only Jiqing and she remained in the room, Luo Wanqing looked down at the middle-aged man kneeling before her, crying with tears covering his face, and said coldly, “Let go of me first. We’ll talk slowly.”

“No, Inspector Liu, I can’t stay here for even a moment longer. Please let me go…”

“Let go!”

Luo Wanqing shouted sternly. Jiqing instantly stiffened, then realized the person before him was an Inspector of the Supervision Department.

The Supervision Department wasn’t as easy to talk to as Zhang Yiran. He hurriedly let go, kowtowing repeatedly, saying urgently, “This humble one knows his wrongs, this humble one has offended Your Honor, this humble one is guilty.”

“Stop.”

Luo Wanqing sat in a chair. As soon as she spoke, Jiqing immediately stopped.

Luo Wanqing, wearing her outer robe, poured herself tea from the side, drinking tea while looking at the person kneeling before her, trembling.

From yesterday’s entry into the city until now, she finally had time to properly observe the man before her.

He appeared to be around forty years old, thin and frail in build, with calluses only where he held his pen—the typical appearance of a scholar.

He seemed very timid, frightened into stillness by just a few words. She had seen this type of person at the Supervision Department—they were the easiest to interrogate, but also the most difficult to convince to testify.

Because they were too cowardly. To make them testify, you had to make them believe that their side was absolutely powerful.

Luo Wanqing thoughtfully took a sip of tea, set the teacup aside, and said gently, “You should know what kind of place the Supervision Department is. I don’t have Lord Zhang’s disposition, nor much patience. If you’re willing to testify, I can let you redeem your crimes through merit. If you’re unwilling to testify,” Luo Wanqing smiled, leaning forward slightly, her tone very light, “you don’t think that with Zhou Chun dead, you can escape from the things he did, do you?”

Hearing this, Jiqing dared not speak, thinking rapidly.

Seeing his reaction, Luo Wanqing knew he was a clever man. If he weren’t clever, he wouldn’t have kept such important evidence as Zheng Pingsheng’s token.

She straightened up, leisurely holding her teacup, persuading, “A wise bird chooses its tree to roost in. Clerk Ji, since you’ve come to the Eastern Capital, if you don’t do something, you won’t be able to return. I know you fear the Zheng family—aristocratic nobles, and you’re just a commoner. How could you not be afraid?”

Hearing this, Jiqing tentatively raised his eyes. Luo Wanqing smiled, “But you must also think—if you’re afraid, why aren’t Lord Zhang and I afraid? You need to understand clearly who stands behind the Supervision Department, and for whom we’re moving against the Zheng family now. During this time, I’ll prepare other documentary evidence. Clerk Ji will have more time to rest and learn about the Eastern Capital. Think it through clearly, and you can have someone send a message to find me for a response. Don’t think about dying or living.” Luo Wanqing stood up, walked to him, and reminded him softly, “The Supervision Department is already taking care of your family. If not for yourself, think of your family too, right?”

Hearing this, Jiqing’s pupils contracted sharply. Luo Wanqing knew he understood, so she patted his shoulder without saying more and got up to leave.

Coming out of Jiqing’s courtyard, Luo Wanqing quickly returned to the mountain, simply washed and ate breakfast, then went to find Zhang Yiran to get the case files he had prepared in Jiangnan.

When Zhang Yiran handed over the case files, he seemed quite hesitant. Seeing his hesitant movements, Luo Wanqing couldn’t help but say, “What is Lord Zhang worried about?”

“Xiniang,” Zhang Yiran thought, then couldn’t help but remind her, “If you just want to achieve merit, you don’t necessarily have to handle this case.”

Luo Wanqing was somewhat puzzled, looking up at Zhang Yiran, “Why does Lord Zhang say this?”

“This case involves Zheng Pingsheng, and possibly concerns the Third Prince,” Zhang Yiran said, his expression showing worry, “It’s not so easy to handle.”

Hearing this, Luo Wanqing thought for a moment, then couldn’t help but smile, “Since you know it’s not easy to handle, why is Lord Zhang still handling it?”

“If I hadn’t encountered it, that would be one thing,” Zhang Yiran said seriously, “but I did encounter it. Knowing this is a wrongful case, how can I sit by and watch? Moreover, this person was my father’s friend, and Miss Luo and I had a childhood betrothal. Even for the souls of old friends, I should seek justice for them.”

Hearing this, Luo Wanqing couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow, then asked carefully, “Have you asked Aunt Zhao about this?”

“Mm.”

Zhang Yiran nodded seriously, “Mother said I indeed had a childhood betrothal when young. The tokens are still there, but Father said at the time it was a drunken joke, and when we grew up, it would depend on our feelings. But since tokens and birth charts were exchanged, I should naturally honor the agreement.”

Hearing this, Luo Wanqing suddenly felt somewhat grateful for her identity as Liu Xiniang. She coughed lightly and nodded, “This… anyway, the deceased are gone. Lord Zhang shouldn’t think too much about it.”

Saying this, Luo Wanqing picked up the case files from the table, smiling as she jumped onto the windowsill, “Lord Zhang is a good official, and I also want to be a good official. I’ll seek this justice. Lord Zhang should rest well.”

Zhang Yiran was stunned, and Luo Wanqing leaped away from the window with the case files.

Luo Wanqing returned to the Supervision Department with the case files. As soon as she returned, she encountered Xie Heng leading Qingya and others down the mountain. Seeing Xie Heng, Luo Wanqing immediately held the case files and bowed to the side, “Young Master.”

Xie Heng glanced at her, nodded faintly, then led the group down the mountain.

As they passed each other, Luo Wanqing smelled the plum fragrance on him. Thinking of what he said last night, she didn’t know why her face reddened.

Luo Wanqing returned to her room with the case files, spending the afternoon thoroughly reading through them and roughly organizing everything.

Zhang Yiran was very meticulous in handling cases, organizing the entire case situation from everyone’s testimonies, checking the contents of all testimonies one by one.

The evidence proving her father sold salt mainly consisted of upstream salt merchants’ testimonial statements, salt confiscated from the Luo household by officials, identification by people who bought salt from her father, and her father’s own confession.

Now, the salt merchant who identified her father had long been executed for salt trafficking.

The people who bought salt had either died, moved far away, or didn’t exist at all.

As for the salt confiscated from the Luo household…

The salt had been placed in the warehouse by Li Guiyu beforehand. When Zhou Chun led people to confiscate it, naturally nothing could be discovered.

But fortunately, this time Zhang Yiran found a breakthrough—several wealthy merchants testified that in the past, Jiang Shaoyan often conducted business with them in the Luo family’s name. When fabric was urgently needed, Jiang Shaoyan would directly take them to the warehouse to get goods.

That warehouse was the very one said to store the Luo family’s private salt.

Although this didn’t prove anything, it could prove from another angle that the warehouse’s management authority wasn’t solely Luo Qushu’s.

With witnesses missing and the warehouse not solely managed by Luo Qushu, the most important evidence proving her father trafficked private salt became that confession. If Jiqing was willing to testify that this confession was obtained through forced confession, then her father’s case would become a wrongful conviction.

Jiqing had kept Zheng Pingsheng’s token. As long as Jiqing admitted it, there would be both witness and physical evidence to identify Zheng Pingsheng’s abuse of power and framing of others.

Thinking this, Luo Wanqing pulled out her father’s confession from the case files. The characters on the confession were written by Jiqing, which wasn’t strange—most cases’ confessions were transcribed by nearby jailers. But what was strange was…

This confession only had a fingerprint, no signature.

Normally, confessions required both a signature and a fingerprint. Only illiterate people would need only fingerprints. It’s just that literate people were always a minority in the world, so most confessions only had fingerprints.

But her father was literate—why didn’t the confession have a signature?

When Supervision Department personnel were present, if her father was literate but didn’t sign, why didn’t the Supervision Department react immediately?

Thinking this, Luo Wanqing felt something was wrong. She immediately opened the record of her father’s final autopsy in Yangzhou, confirming that when her father died, his body was intact with no abnormalities. Then she opened her father’s prison entry records, finding it recorded: “Cannot read or write, requires jailer to read documents aloud.”

How was this possible?

Thinking about it, Luo Wanqing understood—this must have been Zheng Pingsheng’s trick when her father refused to confess.

She scoffed, pushed the documents aside, pulled out a blank memorial, and began writing the case filing document.

Cui Heng had taught her how to write case filing documents before, but this was her first time writing one formally.

She carefully wrote the document, organizing all suspicious points, evidence, and conclusions logically. Seeing it was getting late, she went down the mountain for dinner, then went to the White Tiger Division, found carrier pigeons, and sent a message to Qin Huaiyu, asking him to find Luo Qushu’s lifetime writings and wealthy merchants’ evaluations of his literacy.

After finishing this, she returned to her room to see Zhuisi standing by the window. Seeing Luo Wanqing enter, it tilted its head.

Seeing Zhuisi, Luo Wanqing couldn’t help but smile. She walked to the window, removed the paper strip from Zhuisi’s foot, and saw it was written in Cui Heng’s plum blossom small script:

Clear breeze and bright moon, light wine prepared. Can the Inspector come tonight?

Below the characters was a drawing of a little person waving in expectation. The drawing style was quite adorable. Luo Wanqing pursed her lips in a smile and replied, “Coming.”

She sent Zhuisi back, then took her completed case filing memorial to Xie Heng’s small courtyard.

All Four Chiefs were in Xie Heng’s courtyard, apparently discussing matters. Luo Wanqing waited at the door for a while before Xuanshan and Baili came out.

Seeing Luo Wanqing, Baili’s face showed some kindness, “Xiniang has come.”

“Master. Xuanwu Envoy.”

Luo Wanqing greeted both of them. Xuanshan nodded faintly and walked down the mountain.

Baili glanced at the courtyard, then also turned and said, “Since you’re here to find Young Master, I won’t chat with you. I’ll go first.”

Luo Wanqing saw Baili off. At this time, Zhusi, who had gone to announce her, returned and invited Luo Wanqing inside.

Luo Wanqing entered and bowed, hearing Xie Heng above speaking to Qingya, “Find an excuse to bring this person to the Supervision Department. Investigate for a while first. When we return later, he won’t be suitable anymore.”

Saying this, Xie Heng turned to look at Luo Wanqing, “What brings Xiniang here?”

“Reporting to Young Master,” Luo Wanqing took out the memorial from her sleeve and said respectfully, “This subordinate has finished writing the case filing document and wishes to submit it to Young Master for review.”

“What case?”

Xie Heng asked as if he had no prior knowledge of it.

Luo Wanqing couldn’t help but be stunned, then understood that Xie Heng was truly conducting official business.

For some reason, Xie Heng’s businesslike attitude made her feel much more at ease. She became more serious, explaining carefully, “When this subordinate was in Yangzhou with Lord Zhang, we noticed many suspicious points in the Luo family salt trafficking case handled by Minister Zheng years ago. Now we have collected evidence and wish to overturn the case for Luo Qushu.”

As she spoke, Zhuisi flew back from outside the wall.

For some reason, it seemed to have taken a stroll outside. When it landed on Xie Heng’s shoulder, Luo Wanqing’s written note was still attached to its foot.

Seeing Zhuisi, Qingya couldn’t help but chuckle, “Oh, Young Master, Zhuisi has a letter.”

Saying this, Qingya reached out to take the letter, but fortunately, Xie Heng moved faster, embracing Zhuisi in his arms and saying flatly, “Then submit the document.”

Hearing this, Qingya stood up to take the document from Luo Wanqing. Luo Wanqing knelt on the ground, respectfully presenting the document, watching as Xie Heng calmly removed the note from Zhuisi’s foot. As if it were extremely important correspondence, he seriously read it once, then, in front of Luo Wanqing, tucked the note into his sleeve before taking the document Qingya handed up.

From beginning to end, his expression didn’t change at all. Qingya didn’t even notice, curiously asking, “Using Zhuisi for overnight correspondence—must be some important news?”

Hearing this, Xie Heng opened Luo Wanqing’s document, responding low, “Mm. Quite important news.”

Saying this, Xie Heng scanned through Luo Wanqing’s document and threw it back on the ground, “Not according to regulations. Rewrite it.”

This stunned Luo Wanqing, but she dared not ask more, only bowing and responding, “Yes.”

She took the document and left, couldn’t help but open it again to examine it carefully, really unable to figure out why Xie Heng wanted her to rewrite it.

Wasn’t it written quite well?

She was somewhat puzzled and couldn’t help but turn back to look at the people in the courtyard.

That person looked no different from when she left the Eastern Capital, but she sensed that when she saw Xie Heng in the courtyard before, she felt he was like a lonely ghost guarding a desolate grave. But now, although still carrying frost, he had some vitality.

Perhaps she stared too long—Xie Heng, while talking to Qingya, also looked over.

Seeing Luo Wanqing standing motionless at the door, a flash of amusement crossed his eyes.

That amusement was so quick it seemed like Luo Wanqing’s illusion, but when he deliberately looked away instead of at her, Luo Wanqing knew he had indeed smiled just now.

Otherwise, according to Xie Heng’s habits, if he noticed someone staring, he would stare back until the other person surrendered, not actively avert his gaze.

Having disturbed the person himself, Luo Wanqing knew she had stared too long and left with the document.

Since Xie Heng asked her to rewrite the document, it naturally wasn’t to deliberately make things difficult—there must be something improperly written. She went down the mountain to borrow several case filing documents from Baili, then took them back up the mountain to study carefully for a long time.

By zi hour, Zhuisi landed at her window again, with Xie Heng’s jade pendant and another note.

“Wine warmed three rounds, can one return?”

Below was a crying little person. Seeing this note, Luo Wanqing laughed, only then realizing it was already zi hour.

Looking at this note, Luo Wanqing realized that Xie Heng had been consistently keeping their agreement. If it were before, he probably would have come over himself already.

She took Xie Heng’s jade pendant, didn’t reply, just patted Zhuisi’s head, and got up to climb out the window.

There weren’t guards watching Xie Heng daily at the Supervision Department. The back mountain of the Supervision Department was already heavily guarded, and Xie Heng had specifically sent people away today—his small courtyard was completely empty.

Luo Wanqing quickly climbed over the wall, following memory to the back window, pushed it open, and leaped inside. Before landing, she was embraced around the waist and lifted. Luo Wanqing was so startled she almost cried out, but then realized and stopped herself, letting Xie Heng hold her as he spun around in the room, directly throwing her onto the bed, then leaning down with a smile, “Finally got the Inspector here.”

Luo Wanqing adjusted her breathing, feeling Xie Heng’s presence filling the bed curtains.

Surrounded by plum fragrance, Luo Wanqing couldn’t help but say, “The plum fragrance in Young Master’s bed curtains is stronger.”

Xie Heng leaned forward slightly, smiling, “Because here, I miss the Inspector even more.”

Luo Wanqing pursed her lips in a light smile, turning her head aside, “Didn’t you invite me to drink?”

“Always wanting to drink,” Xie Heng pinched her nose, “no wonder your documents are written so poorly.”

“Where exactly did I write wrong?”

Hearing this, Luo Wanqing immediately became serious, somewhat unable to understand, “I wrote everything according to what you taught me before.”

“Want to know?”

Xie Heng rolled over to lie beside her, smiling as he looked at her, “If the Inspector kisses me, I’ll tell you.”

Luo Wanqing glanced at him without speaking, propping herself up. Seeing this, Xie Heng knew he had no chance and sighed, “Alright, alright, then Inspector bring…”

Before he finished speaking, Luo Wanqing leaned over and kissed him boldly.

Xie Heng was stunned for a moment. Luo Wanqing had already gotten up like a domineering bully, savoring the taste, “Quite good.”

Saying this, she turned to look at him, somewhat curious, “Did you eat candy?”

Xie Heng reacted and couldn’t help but curl up and laugh softly. Luo Wanqing poked him, “Stop laughing. The document is in my room.”

“Then go to your room?”

Xie Heng looked up. Though he was going to help her revise documents, when he asked, Luo Wanqing felt some other kind of invitation.

She turned away somewhat unnaturally, softly responding, “Mm.”

“Let’s go then.”

Xie Heng pulled her up. The two leaped over the high wall together, walked through forest paths, and came to her small house.

Xie Heng walked in front, and Luo Wanqing followed behind. She looked at his white single robe and hair ribbon holding up his hair. Without turning back, just looking at his back, he was no different from Cui Heng.

She watched him walk up the long corridor, leading her to the desk in the middle of the room. Xie Heng lit the lamp and raised his hand. “Where’s the document?”

Luo Wanqing pulled the document from the desk and handed it to him, then sat beside him.

Xie Heng looked carefully, took a red brush to circle things for her, “Look, your form of address here is wrong. You can now only be considered a fifth-rank Inspector. When addressing Zheng Pingsheng, you need to add ‘Your Honor.’ And here, ‘Luo Qushu was upright and honest’—you can’t write this kind of thing.”

The lamplight was somewhat dim. To see the document clearly, Luo Wanqing had to get closer. Xie Heng held the document, beginning to explain various possibilities to her item by item.

Luo Wanqing initially sat straight listening, but gradually felt somewhat tired, unconsciously leaning on Xie Heng’s shoulder, listening to him constantly give examples.

After talking for an hour, Luo Wanqing was somewhat drowsy and couldn’t help but yawn.

Xie Heng turned to look at her and laughed, “Quite efficient at handling matters, writing documents like this, and still not listening properly?”

“Young Master,” Luo Wanqing could barely keep her eyes open, “did you sleep today?”

“I did sleep.” Xie Heng knew what she meant. After their all-night activities last night and his writing documents for Luo Wanqing, he explained, “I slept as soon as I returned from morning court, scaring Baili into calling Wei Qianqiu over, thinking I had fainted.”

Luo Wanqing was amused by him, closing her eyes and saying, “I’m so sleepy. Help me write it.”

“Where is there precedent for asking your superior to help write documents?” Hearing this, Xie Heng didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, “You’re getting bolder and bolder.”

“I heard,” Luo Wanqing leaned against Xie Heng, “this work should originally be done by the Shadow Envoy. Inspectors handle external duties, Shadow Envoys handle internal affairs. Only I’m alone, handling both internal and external duties.”

This left Xie Heng speechless. He held the document covered with his red circles, holding back for a long time before finally saying, “Fine… I’ll help you this time.”

Luo Wanqing won this round, laughing out loud, closing her eyes and saying, “What about in the future?”

Xie Heng didn’t speak, lowering his head to imitate her handwriting as he wrote the document. Luo Wanqing leaned against him, saying softly, “Young Master, help me write documents for a lifetime.”

“Dream on.”

Xie Heng immediately retorted, “Tomorrow I’ll pick some well-written case filing documents to show you. Study them properly. The days ahead are long—even if you don’t write case filing documents, you need to learn how to write scolding documents.”

Luo Wanqing laughed once without responding.

Xie Heng let her lean against him, using the information she provided to write the case filing document for her.

She had written the main content very well—it was just that officialdom always had many meaningless formalities, so he polished it slightly.

Writing halfway through, seeing “Heaven’s principle is eternal, covering all people” that Luo Wanqing had written herself, he copied it down and couldn’t help saying, “Xiniang.”

“Mm?”

“If you can’t win the case, what will you do?”

Luo Wanqing didn’t speak. Xie Heng continued, “Heaven’s principle won’t naturally fall on everyone’s head. Your chances of successfully prosecuting Zheng Pingsheng are minimal.”

“But I must first believe in justice.”

Luo Wanqing closed her eyes, saying calmly, “Young Master, when others hurt you and you resist, that’s called retaliation. When others haven’t hurt you, but you assume they’re bad and proactively hurt them, even if they’re later proven to truly be bad—that’s still harming others. We need to give this world a chance. I prosecute. If I can’t win, then what I do will be called retaliation.”

Hearing this, Xie Heng couldn’t help but find it strange, “Is there meaning in this? Whether the Zheng family is good or bad, do you still need to test it?”

Luo Wanqing didn’t speak.

Xie Heng thought, then chuckled softly, “Fine. As you wish. But Xiniang,” Xie Heng held her hand with one hand, “if you lose the bet, retreat in time.”

“Mm, I understand.”

Saying this, Luo Wanqing felt her consciousness becoming somewhat scattered.

How could she not know she couldn’t win against Zheng Pingsheng?

But if she had never been prosecuted, how would people in this world know what Zheng Pingsheng had done?

She couldn’t let dirty water keep being thrown on good people.

She thought hazily, holding Xie Heng’s hand.

For some reason, she suddenly remembered today’s letters from Zhuisi asking again and again, remembered his back walking on the long corridor. Tonight, for the first time, she so clearly sensed Cui Guanlan’s existence in him.

She didn’t know why, but for a moment, she missed the time in the Eastern Capital waiting for Cui Heng before going to Jiangnan.

When feeling wronged, thinking back to those days, she only remembered the anxiety and grievance of waiting for him.

Now, leaning against him, she realized the sudden blooming joy in her heart every time Cui Heng appeared.

“Lingshu.” Luo Wanqing held his hand, murmuring, “Come find me tomorrow.”

Xie Heng’s movement paused, then he smiled warmly, “Mm.”

When Luo Wanqing woke from sleep, it was half an hour before the mao hour of early morning.

She was still somewhat confused from sleep, woken by Xie Heng’s ministrations, feeling like she was in a dream, calling hoarsely, “Lingshu?”

“Sorry.”

Xie Heng held her, saying softly, “Very quickly.”

Though he said very quickly, Luo Wanqing still felt it went on for a long time. When it ended, Xie Heng hastily cleaned her up and ran out with his clothes.

This kind of thing made one extremely sleepy afterward. Luo Wanqing lay there and slept again. When she woke, it was already daylight.

Xie Heng’s jade pendant lay on the bed. She belatedly realized what had happened. Smelling the scent in the bed curtains, she was momentarily speechless. When she got up in frustration and took a bath early in the morning, coming out to see the completed case filing document on the desk, her mood immediately improved.

She took the document and calculated the time. As soon as Xie Heng’s court session ended, she hurried over. This time, when she submitted the document, Xie Heng didn’t say much, only nodding, “The document is fine, but you need to confirm Jiqing’s side. If he’s willing to testify, in two days at the Lantern Festival palace banquet, I’ll take you to attend together. Your promotion document to Four Chiefs is already being reviewed by His Majesty. After the palace banquet, he’ll meet with you privately. At that time, you can personally present this case.”

Luo Wanqing nodded in agreement, took the document back, and went straight to Jiqing.

As soon as she arrived at Jiqing’s small courtyard, she saw him hanging a white silk noose on a tree. Seeing her approach, Jiqing immediately stuck his head into the noose, wailing, “If I can’t return to Yangzhou, let me die! Dying at the Supervision Department is better than dooming my whole family!”

Hearing his words, Luo Wanqing walked into the small courtyard, looking at the obviously too-high stool, listening to Jiqing’s wailing as she walked straight over.

Jiqing secretly observed her, dry-sobbing, “I’m just a commoner—how dare I do these things? This is forcing people to death! Help…”

Before finishing, Luo Wanqing kicked over the stool.

Jiqing immediately lost his support and was truly hanging from the white silk.

His face changed dramatically as he began struggling frantically, saying with difficulty, “Save… save me…”

Luo Wanqing leaned against the tree watching the show without moving. Seeing Jiqing’s face gradually turn red, then purple, Luo Wanqing finally drew her blade and cut the white silk with one stroke. Jiqing fell to the ground with a “thud,” and Luo Wanqing’s blade instantly stuck in the ground beside him.

Jiqing was so frightened that his whole body stiffened. Luo Wanqing half-crouched before him, smiling coldly, “Clerk Ji, how does death feel?”

Jiqing breathed lightly. Luo Wanqing placed her hand on his spine, saying coldly, “How many tortures the prison has, I’m sure you know very well. The feeling just now—I can give it to you a thousand times, ten thousand times.”

“What do you want to do?!” Jiqing finally exploded in rage, shouting as he looked up, “This is forced confession!”

“You know it’s a forced confession, too?”

Luo Wanqing smiled coldly, “When you and Zhou Chun forced confessions from Luo Qushu, did you think of today?”

Hearing this, Jiqing stiffened. Luo Wanqing looked at him coldly, “Jiqing, having done so many things with Zhou Chun, don’t you have nightmares?”

Jiqing breathed rapidly. Luo Wanqing confronted him icily.

After a long time, Jiqing laughed mockingly, “You think you can scare me?”

“Not pretending anymore?” Seeing him finally speak properly, Luo Wanqing drew her blade and sheathed it.

“What are you to compete with the Zheng family?” Jiqing lowered his head, his hands trembling slightly, “You want to die, but don’t drag me along. You’re an Inspector of the Supervision Department who has handled countless criminals, and I’m the same. After I do what you want me to do, I understand my fate better than you.”

Jiqing gritted his teeth, “Don’t think about testimony. Stop dreaming.”

“Then why did you tell Zhang Yiran?”

Luo Wanqing seemed to see through his heart, saying calmly, “If you didn’t want the truth known to the world, why tell Lord Zhang?”

Jiqing didn’t speak, seeming to find it difficult to face.

Luo Wanqing looked at him, speaking with understanding, “Because Lord Zhang is different. Jiqing,” Luo Wanqing stood up, with some pity, “I know you want to tell too.”

“I don’t.”

“You want what they did to be known by the world. You still have a conscience.”

“I don’t! Telling you all this is the limit of my benevolence,” Jiqing looked up viciously, “Even if you kill me, I’ll never say a single word in court!”

Author’s Note:

[Mini Theater]

Li Zong: “Heng’er has been strange lately. He always zones out during morning court, even yawns, and runs away as soon as court ends every day. What’s wrong with him?”

Zhuque: “Young Master has been strange lately. He sleeps during the day and disappears at night. Today, when the morning court was about to start, there wasn’t even a shadow of him. I just caught him returning over the wall. What’s wrong with him? Where did he go?”

Li Guiyu: “I know about this.”

Li Zong & Four Chiefs & Court Officials: “Hmm?”

Li Guiyu: “He’s in love, stealing my girl, that bastard!”

[Mini Theater 2]

Luo Wanqing: “I’m saying, can you not do this right when it’s time for work? What if you’re late?”

Xie Heng: “…Then I just won’t go to work.”

Four Chiefs & Emperor & Court Officials: “!!!”

Xie Heng: “Hah, I’ve long wanted to quit this crappy job!! Who’s born to be a workhorse who likes going to work?!”

Zhang Yiran: “Me.”

Xie Heng: “That’s because you don’t have a girlfriend.”

Zhang Yiran: “…”

Xie Heng: “Like nobody’s ever been single before.”