People surged from all directions. Luo Wanqing ran while shouting, but the other party only paused briefly before turning to leave. Luo Wanqing widened her eyes urgently: “Master Xie, Li Guiyu, and Zheng Pingsheng conspired to frame my father…”

As soon as these words came out, the faces of everyone around changed drastically. A jailer suddenly pounced over, pressing Luo Wanqing to the ground and covering her mouth, roaring angrily: “What nonsense are you spouting!”

Many people rushed up at once, holding down Luo Wanqing and blocking her mouth. Luo Wanqing struggled continuously, making “wu wu” sounds, trying to speak. The two sides persisted for only a moment before a young man’s voice rang out from above: “Move aside.”

Everyone’s movements froze. The chief jailer standing at the front smiled obsequiously: “Well, Zhuque Envoy, this is just a madwoman…”

“Can’t I see for myself whether she’s mad or not?” the young man spoke coldly, shouting low: “Move aside!”

Hearing this, the jailers hesitantly released their grip. Luo Wanqing quickly turned over and knelt on the ground, respectfully kowtowing: “I greet you, my lord.”

“Were you just filing a complaint?”

“Yes,” Luo Wanqing replied resolutely, “This common woman accuses my former fiancé, Jiang Shaoyan, of conspiring with Minister of Justice Zheng Pingsheng to frame my father, Luo Qushu.”

“Do you have evidence?”

This question stumped Luo Wanqing. She hesitated for a moment, then gritted her teeth: “This common woman has none, but my father…”

“Without evidence, what complaint are you filing?” the young man interrupted her.

Luo Wanqing urgently raised her head: “But my father…”

“Evidence!” the young man emphasized.

Luo Wanqing was stunned. She looked up, staring blankly at the red-clothed young man before her, instantly realizing he wasn’t asking for evidence.

He was telling her not to file the complaint.

“The Supervision Department doesn’t want to take the case, does it?”

Luo Wanqing stared at him incredulously. The young man’s face showed a trace of guilt, then immediately became arrogant again, speaking with official authority: “Each department has its procedures. If you want to file a complaint, either have concrete evidence or follow proper procedures. Anything else, we won’t and can’t handle. Do you understand?”

After speaking, the young man didn’t dare look at her again. He turned to look at the chief jailer beside him, who was relieved, saying lightly: “How did this prisoner escape? How were you watching her? If this happened in the Imperial Prison, I’d skin the lot of you alive! Take her down and teach her a lesson. Pretend she was never here,” the young man warned the chief jailer with a glance, “Understand?!”

Hearing this, the chief jailer thought briefly and understood. He quickly said, “Understood. This subordinate will send her back immediately. Today’s events will not spread. Please rest assured, my lord.”

The young man nodded with satisfaction upon hearing this.

Luo Wanqing knelt on the ground, listening to the young man’s departing footsteps, her mind continuously echoing his earlier words.

The Supervision Department wouldn’t take the case.

Without evidence, the Supervision Department simply wasn’t willing to accept it.

Her mind was filled with this thought, fear, and confusion surrounding her.

The chief jailer respectfully saw the young man off into the distance, then immediately rushed forward in three steps, grabbed her hair, and slapped her hard, angrily saying: “You bastard! You think coming here will make the Supervision Department handle your affairs?! Don’t you think about what kind of people you’ve offended? Do you think there’s justice in this world?!”

Luo Wanqing said nothing. She looked up coldly at the chief jailer.

The chief jailer glanced around and angrily said: “Drag her to the torture chamber, give her a few lashes to teach her a lesson, then send her back to the water dungeon. Find out how she got out.”

“My lord,” a jailer beside him hesitated, “Still sending her to the water dungeon?”

“Didn’t you understand the Supervision Department’s meaning? Treat this as if it never happened. Where she came from, that’s where she goes,” the chief jailer glared at the jailer, “Get moving!”

The jailer quickly responded and dragged Luo Wanqing toward the torture chamber, cursing all the way. After entering the torture chamber and tying her to the rack, one jailer said to another: “Old Three, you go rest. I’ll discipline her.”

The jailer called “Old Three” was quite happy to save work and waved his hand: “Fine, I’ll go play cards. Call me when it’s time to escort the prisoner.”

“No need. Just one young lady,” the speaking jailer smiled, “I can carry her back by myself.”

As they spoke, Luo Wanqing saw the jailer called “Old Three” turn and leave. The jailer who said he would torture her also turned and left the torture chamber after Old Three departed.

The torture chamber was suddenly empty. Luo Wanqing couldn’t help but be stunned. She raised her head and saw a screen standing in the distance ahead. Only then did she discover that behind the screen, someone seemed to be sitting.

“I am an envoy of the Supervision Department, here by the Chief’s order to investigate this case.” From behind the screen came a man’s disguised voice. Though the tone left no recognizable traces in one’s ears, every syllable was extremely clear as he said seriously: “Please, miss, speak freely and hold nothing back.”

Hearing this, Luo Wanqing’s eyes immediately widened. Her heartbeat quickened as she spoke tremblingly: “You’re willing to take the case?”

The other party didn’t acknowledge this, calmly inquiring: “Please explain what you meant earlier about your father.”

“The other parties are a prince and the Minister of Justice,” Luo Wanqing didn’t speak rashly, emphasizing again with a slightly trembling voice, “You’re still willing to take the case?”

The other party fell silent.

After a long while, he continued softly: “Your father Luo Qushu’s case of selling illegal salt has conclusive evidence. Yesterday, it should have been recorded by the Supervision Department, but he killed himself in prison the day before, out of fear of punishment. The pottery shard he used for suicide was from a prison food bowl. From the wounds, he cut his own throat with no external force.”

“He was driven to death!”

Luo Wanqing immediately spoke: “Jiang Shaoyan told me personally. He gave my father that pottery shard and personally watched my father kill himself. My father didn’t commit suicide at all – he was forced to!”

“Why would Jiang Shaoyan do this?”

“I don’t know. But since the evidence is conclusive, even if your Supervision Department records prisoners and retries the case, there should be no difference. Why would my father fear punishment and kill himself instead of waiting for execution after autumn? Why did Jiang Shaoyan need to drive my father to death early? What my father might have said during the prisoner recording is exactly what your Supervision Department should investigate!”

“Besides this, do you have any other clues?”

“No.” Luo Wanqing spoke with difficulty, then defended: “But my father wasn’t that kind of person. He was once a wandering hero, a guest retainer of great families, following the Cui clan in battles for the country. He would never sell illegal salt for money!”

The other party didn’t speak, apparently thinking deeply. After a long time, he said seriously, “The Cui clan committed treason. You need not mention your father’s service to the Cui clan to others in the future.”

“But…”

“Today, you never saw me. Keep your father’s death to yourself. The person you killed today, the Chief, has been cleaned up. Don’t think of anything else in the future. Accept the sentence and go quietly to your exile in Lingnan. Your father’s case – the Supervision Department will investigate secretly. If the case is overturned in the future, you’ll be summoned back to the Eastern Capital.”

Hearing this, Luo Wanqing frowned: “Why investigate secretly?”

“Do you know that if my Chief had stopped even one more step today, you wouldn’t live past tomorrow?”

“Why?” Luo Wanqing already understood in her heart, but still angrily questioned: “The Supervision Department can’t even protect an ordinary citizen?!”

“The Supervision Department isn’t divine.” The other party’s tone was flat. “The person you killed today belonged to Li Guiyu. Since they left you alive, they never intended to kill you. Going to Lingnan is your best way to preserve your life.”

“And then?” Hearing ‘Lingnan,’ Luo Wanqing’s tone became agitated. “I just wait in Lingnan?”

“Yes.”

“What if I die on the road to Lingnan?”

“I’ll give you some life-saving medicines shortly,” the other party’s tone was calm without any fluctuation. “You and your mother are both doctors. I’ll have people watch the regulations closely. As long as the guards escort you according to regulations, you’ll be fine.”

“Then how long must I wait?” Knowing the other party had no intention of changing their attitude, Luo Wanqing couldn’t help but laugh mockingly.

“Someday.”

“Someday…” Luo Wanqing laughed out loud. She looked up at the pitch-black rafters and smiled: “My lord, some results that come too late become meaningless.”

Just like in the dream of her previous life, perhaps Jiang Shaoyan died not long after her death, but for that Luo Wanqing in the dream, it was also meaningless.

“I apologize.” The young man remained unmoved, only saying: “But today’s Great Xia will not move a minister or even a prince over the death of a commoner.”

“What about Prince Guangjiang?!” Luo Wanqing shouted angrily. “When he seized farmland, didn’t your Supervision Department handle it too?!”

“That was because he blocked the Supervision Department’s path.” The young man spoke calmly. “The farmland seizure case was just the surface excuse. Power struggles are the real reason these nobles and high officials fall.”

These words made Luo Wanqing’s eyes widen.

The young man across from her was completely frank: “The current Supervision Department cannot give you justice.”

“Then will Great Xia,” Luo Wanqing clenched her fists, “ever have this justice?”

“Perhaps.” The young man seemed regretful, sighing softly: “I humbly request that you wait for that day.”

Luo Wanqing said nothing. She stared at the screen, tears welling in her eyes, her body trembling slightly.

Seeing her silence, the young man waited a while, then stood respectfully: “If there’s nothing else, I take my leave. I hope to see you again in the Eastern Capital someday.”

“Good,” Luo Wanqing looked at the young man’s figure and smiled, gritting her teeth: “In some future year and month, I will meet you again in the Eastern Capital, my lord.”

The young man said no more. The person behind the screen seemed to bow, then opened the torture chamber door and left under the moonlight.

Not long after, the jailer from before returned. After saying “pardon me,” he took down a whip from the side and lashed it toward Luo Wanqing.

The pain of flesh splitting made Luo Wanqing cry out instantly, but in the pain, she felt she had never been so clear-headed.

She was wrong.

From the very beginning, she had been completely wrong.

The Luo Wanqing in the dream had always been waiting for Jiang Shaoyan, always hoping Jiang Shaoyan would come to save her. Later, she hoped someone would act with righteous justice and kill Jiang Shaoyan for her.

Having had that dream, having already waited a lifetime, now she was placing her hopes on others again.

Hoping Xie Heng could clear her father’s name, hoping the Supervision Department could give her justice.

But how was this different from hoping Jiang Shaoyan would save her, hoping others would kill Jiang Shaoyan?!

This person was right – right and wrong, justice could never determine the fate of those princes and high officials. Only power, only power.

Better to depend on yourself than to beg people, gods, or Buddha. If she didn’t kill Jiang Shaoyan herself, if she didn’t save herself, who would help her?

Now this Supervision Department Chief was placating her, but it was just that the Luo family case was the same as that Qingzhou farmland seizure case – if someday the Supervision Department wanted to bring down Jiang Shaoyan, then the Luo family would become one of their chess pieces.

But if they didn’t want to, then she would be like in the dream, staying in Lingnan for a lifetime.

But Xie Heng and Jiang Shaoyan were destined to be allies in the future. Counting on them?

Luo Wanqing laughed mockingly.

By now, her body had been whipped several times, all bloody wounds.

The jailer took her down from the rack and secretly placed a bottle of medicine on her, whispering: “This is medicine from my lord for you. It can save your life.”

Hearing this, Luo Wanqing raised her head and gave him a brilliant smile, panting: “Thank you, my lord.”

The jailer was stunned, feeling the person before him was so beautiful she was almost demonic. Even though she was a woman, he didn’t dare look directly at her and hurriedly averted his eyes, calling for people to come in and carry Luo Wanqing to the water dungeon.

Luo Wanqing lay on the stretcher, feeling blood drip from her fingertips. She looked up at the pitch-black sky and the solitary moon above, constantly calculating.

She wouldn’t beg anyone. She would take everything she wanted for herself.

She would protect her family. She would climb to the center of power and become someone who could point swords at princes.

Currently in prison, the most feasible path she could think of was to pass the Supervision Department’s examination, gain a special pardon through the Supervision Department, and enter the Supervision Department.

Every year, the Supervision Department recruited capable people from prisons to take examinations. Those who passed could receive special pardons, enter the Supervision Department, serve with merit in the Supervision Department, clear their criminal records, and become official civil servants.

Because the Supervision Department examinations were mostly life-or-death affairs, for ordinary prisoners, taking the examination was tantamount to seeking death. Moreover, ordinary prisoners had other pardon channels – for example, exile criminals, upon reaching their exile destination, could become commoners after three years of service, though they could never return to the Central Plains. Therefore, the Supervision Department examinations only targeted death row inmates; non-death row inmates couldn’t register.

In a previous life, Qin Jue had used this method to climb to the position of Supervision Department Chief.

If Qin Jue could do it, so could she. As long as she obtained the Supervision Department like Qin Jue, she would kill Jiang Shaoyan.

But Jiang Shaoyan wouldn’t give her any chance to climb up. She had to escape Jiang Shaoyan’s control.

The only way to do this…

Liu Xiniang’s face suddenly flashed through Luo Wanqing’s mind.

She remembered the discussions about Liu Xiniang’s fate among prisoners in her previous life.

“Her? The court issued a wanted notice for her, and Fengyu Pavilion issued a wanted notice too. After she escaped from Yangzhou Prison, she never returned to Fengyu Pavilion. That place, Fengyu Pavilion – unless you’re dead, who can get out alive?”

“To kill her, Fengyu Pavilion sent out many people. Even the King of Heaven couldn’t withstand that.”

“She finally died in the northwest, they say, under a poplar tree.”