Lian Jie and Lian Qin looked at her with some alarm. Xiao’an frowned and glanced at Aluo, but seemed indifferent toward Suzhen. After all, she no longer had any entanglement with the emperor. Aluo shook her head and quietly reached out to grasp Lian Yu’s hand. Lian Yu patted her arm.

Li Zhaoting quickly withdrew his hand from Suzhen’s grasp and bowed to Lian Yu and Xiao’an. “This subject pays respects to Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager, Seventh Prince, and Ninth Prince.”

Suzhen groaned inwardly. How had these people come here?

The only thing she understood was why Murong Jin was also here—probably feeling uncomfortable because of Aluo, he hadn’t followed them inside.

“Case investigation is tedious. This official was just joking with Minister Li. Ha ha, ha ha.” She quickly followed with her own bow and said with a laugh.

Lian Yu showed no particular joy or anger, only calmly instructing Mingyan who had entered, “Have them bring two basins of water for Judicial Commissioner Li and Minister Li to wash their hands.”

“Yes.”

Mingyan Chu bowed in agreement, having just hurried in and now hurrying out again.

The people from the Judicial Commissioner’s office and Lian Xin who followed didn’t know what had happened before, so they were somewhat confused by the situation.

Soon the water was brought. Suzhen had wanted to apologize to Li Zhaoting, but with things having come to this point, apologizing would make it worse. The two began washing their hands.

Mingyan Chu was meticulous in his arrangements. Palace maids stood nearby with white towels ready to serve. Just as she was about to get up, Lian Yu’s voice drifted down lightly from above her head: “Little Chuzi, give the towel to Judicial Commissioner Li to dry her hands. Minister Li’s hands aren’t clean yet—continue washing. The effort seems insufficient to me.”

Suzhen was startled. How could she not hear the underlying meaning! A eunuch beside Mingyan Chu sprinkled in some soap pods and added a brush.

“Young master… aren’t they clean already?”

Apart from Xiao Si looking somewhat dazed, at this moment probably only Zhuiming was still staring wide-eyed, unable to understand the situation. Everyone else understood what Lian Yu intended to do.

Li Zhaoting remained composed, his pale, slender ten fingers still scrubbing in the copper basin. It was clear he was using great force. In no time, the skin had broken, and where the brush scraped, blood seeped faintly into the basin, dissolving in the water.

Aluo’s brow furrowed almost imperceptibly, but she ultimately didn’t speak.

Xiao Si finally understood what was happening. His eyes widened in terror as he knelt and kowtowed to Lian Yu. “Your Majesty, Your Majesty, my young master has washed clean, already washed clean. Please be merciful—”

“What are you? In front of His Majesty and the Empress Dowager, is it your place to speak!” Mingyan Chu coldly scolded from the side. “Someone, take him away.”

Soon two eunuchs stepped forward and skillfully dragged him out. He shouted outside, was severely slapped several times, then there was muffled groaning. Suzhen’s mindset was different from before—she felt no pity for Xiao Si’s suffering. It wouldn’t be bad for this sharp-tongued servant to learn a lesson. But Li Zhaoting was implicated because of her. If she spoke rashly, it might only intensify Lian Yu’s anger, but if she didn’t—seeing the water in the basin growing deeper and deeper in color, bright red, Li Zhaoting’s hands were already torn and bleeding.

Suzhen threw caution to the wind. Without pleading, she stepped forward and snatched the brush from Li Zhaoting’s hands. “This subject proceeded simultaneously with Minister Li. Since Minister Li hasn’t washed clean, then this subject must not be clean either.”

Xiao’an was furious. “What an insubordinate minister! You dare to use twisted logic to defy His Majesty’s orders!”

“Hong Gu, slap her mouth for me!”

“Yes.”

Hong Gu agreed and immediately stepped forward. Suzhen moved quickly too, returning to her own basin and immediately scrubbing several times. Lian Xin cried out in alarm. Wuqing and the others were about to rush forward to stop her when Lian Yu had already stepped forward, kicked over the copper basin, pulled her up entirely, and blocked Hong Gu’s path.

“Stand down!” he commanded.

Hong Gu didn’t dare act rashly and retreated to Xiao’an’s side.

The top of Suzhen’s head brushed against Lian Yu’s chin. Their eyes met. Lian Yu’s eyes contained anger, his large palm gripping her hand tightly, the burning temperature like boiling water. Suzhen only felt that her wounds didn’t hurt anymore, but her heart shook violently.

“Fine, all clean now. Go do your work. My time and the Empress Dowager’s time are not something you can afford to waste.” He gave the order in a heavy voice.

“Thank Your Majesty. This subject will begin work immediately.”

Suzhen didn’t answer, but Li Zhaoting stood up and bowed in response. His hands were no longer presentable, but his attitude remained very composed and respectful.

The corner of Lian Yu’s mouth lifted coldly.

Aluo stepped forward and grasped his hand. “Your Majesty, let Judicial Commissioner Li and the others begin their investigation.”

Lian Yu nodded. “Good.”

“Judicial Commissioner Li, Minister Li, this case has remained unsolved for over a decade. Today we accompany His Majesty to see this former residence. We hope you won’t feel pressured and that the case will soon come to light.”

Seeing order restored, Lian Yu said nothing more. Yan Da stepped forward and explained the purpose of this trip to Suzhen and Li Zhaoting.

The two acknowledged this. Suzhen said earnestly, “Prime Minister, rest assured. Huaisu will certainly do her utmost in this case and not disappoint the hopes expressed in your letter that day.”

Yan Da seemed somewhat stunned.

At this moment, Xiao Zhou took out a pair of gloves from the box Zhuiming was carrying and handed them to Suzhen. Suzhen quickly put them on, then after thinking said, “Take out another pair for me.”

Xiao Zhou frowned but complied. Suzhen took them and tossed them to Li Zhaoting. “A joke from me implicated you. I’m truly sorry. Here, try not to touch anything when we go in. If you really need to pick something up to examine it, wear these. If you encounter filth, your hands will be worse off. Also, sweat stains and such will affect evidence. Of course, such minute distinctions don’t mean much for current examination techniques, but I believe future advances will be completely different.”

“Thank you. I agree with your words.” Li Zhaoting quickly reached out to catch them and nodded to this person for the first time.

Everyone didn’t say much more, watching the two work. Between the two of them, it had temporarily become Suzhen as primary and Li Zhaoting as secondary.

Xiao’an had been angry before, but now seeing Suzhen’s very efficient movements, the anger in her eyes faded considerably.

Suzhen soon came to request permission. “This subject and Minister Li will now enter to examine the room. I wonder if Your Majesty and the Empress Dowager also wish to enter and look? If so, please follow this subject, but apart from you two, this subject doesn’t recommend anyone else entering the room, lest their movements disturb things and damage evidence.”

“Granted. I and the Empress Dowager won’t enter either—we’ll just look from outside the room.”

Lian Yu gave permission. Aluo lowered her eyes slightly.

The Empress Dowager sighed. “Your Majesty, seeing familiar places brings sad memories. Don’t let yourself become too grief-stricken.”

“Your son understands. Mother, please don’t worry.” Lian Yu released Aluo and supported Xiao’an.

At this moment, this mother and son, intimate yet having twice had conflicts, drew close again.

Suzhen watched this family happiness and felt somewhat comforted in her heart as she slowly walked to the innermost room of this courtyard. This square courtyard wasn’t small, with one large room each on the left and right sides of the center.

Each room housed about seven or eight palace maids, with the entire courtyard having a total of about twenty people. Back then, Xiao Yu had lived in this central room with Lian Yu. According to the materials Suzhen had retrieved from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, seven other palace maids had also lived there.

And Xiao Yu had lived here and also died here.

Since her body had already been destroyed beyond examination, after reading through the previous Judicial Commissioner’s records on this case several times, Suzhen decided to make this trip to see the life and death matters of this consort. Though she was almost certain that after so many years, no evidence would remain.

Lian Yu stood with Xiao’an and Aluo at the foremost position by the door, while the others curiously craned their necks from behind.

Suzhen and Li Zhaoting entered the room. Though Li Zhaoting wasn’t in the corpse examination profession, he was extremely cautious. He stood beside Suzhen without moving around, and both first observed their surroundings.

The room was very dilapidated. Spider webs hung everywhere from the ceiling and walls. On the right side was a row of kang beds, with coarse matting covered uniformly in blue cloth. On the kang were several worn rattan pillows, but the coarse matting was deteriorated, the blue cloth full of dust mites, and the rattan had all sprouted out. In the corner of the bed, a large black spider crouched there.

In the middle position of the kang bed, under the pillow was a pool that should be blood stains—too much time had passed, and it had weathered to a dark black color.

In the front left wall corner at the very back, there was a tall cabinet and two boxes. Spider webs also draped over the cabinet and boxes. Between them was space for one or two people to retrieve things. A bit in front of the cabinet were three tables. Behind the tables, in the passage between them and the bed, were six or seven chairs arranged particularly neatly, placed somewhat far from the tables—about one and a half steps away—not far from the bed but still allowing people to pass through easily. On the tables, several copper mirrors stood in disarray, entirely blackened with green patina. Around the mirrors were several rouge boxes, combs and brushes, and two wooden jewelry boxes that looked worthless.

One copper mirror had a blood stain in its upper right corner, dark as spilled ink. Under the mirror on the table were also old blood stains, congealed into dark spots.

Finally, near the door was an old copper basin with some dried insect corpses and shells inside.

Suzhen squinted as she looked, wanting to go examine the cabinets and boxes. After all, everything else was visible, only their contents were hidden, though clothes and items in the cabinet couldn’t be related to this case. She most wanted to examine those blood stains, but always felt something strange and wrong about this room, though she couldn’t say exactly what.

At this moment, she suddenly heard Li Zhaoting speak softly, “Your Majesty, may I ask—after Jade Consort passed away that day, were the palace maids sharing the room afraid and did they immediately move away from here very hastily? Has no one entered this room for many years since?”

“Correct. That night several palace maids were frightened and requested the female officials to temporarily move to the other two rooms in this courtyard. I, along with three palace maids who were close to my mother consort, left the palace with the eunuchs. Mm, they buried my mother consort at the mass grave in the west city. Palace maids aren’t worth anything—after death they’re just carelessly thrown and buried in a corner. Later on, everyone moved out of this courtyard.”

Then came Lian Yu’s voice.

Apart from his voice being slightly hoarse, no emotion could be heard, as if he were narrating someone else’s affairs.

Suzhen’s heart inexplicably tightened, and she turned her head slightly away.

Aluo reached out and tightly grasped Lian Yu’s arm. Lian Yu drew her into his embrace. Suzhen lowered her head and randomly glanced at the corpse fragments in the copper basin.

At this moment, someone seemed to come outside and report something in the ears of Yan Da and Marquis Murong Jing. The two men, who had been standing with the Lian Jie and Lian Qin brothers, had Yan Da step forward and whisper something in Lian Yu’s ear.

Lian Yu frowned and looked toward Suzhen. “I leave this place to you. I have some urgent matters to handle. I hope you two won’t disappoint me.”

He led people away hastily as he spoke. Aluo also followed him.

Murong Jin came over and took Xiao’an’s arm, her eyes reddened, only saying she wanted to return to the palace with the Old Ancestor to talk.

Xiao’an sighed lightly and didn’t stay longer, leaving with Hong Gu and Murong Jin.

Seeing the two had left, Lian Xin ran over excitedly and whispered to Suzhen, “Come with me. I’ll take you somewhere. We’ll be right back—it’ll be good for you.”

“Stop fooling around. I’m working here.”

Suzhen refused. Lian Xin’s eyes widened. Unable to withstand this ancestor’s stubbornness, and telling Li Zhaoting she would go with her first, if she didn’t comply with her wishes, she would cause trouble and prevent them from working anyway.

On the way, she asked Lian Xin where they were going, but Lian Xin refused to say. When they reached their destination, it turned out to be Murong Jin’s palace.

“What’s going on?” Suzhen ground her teeth.

“She says she has something to tell you, about Sixth Brother and Aluo. She wants you to wait for her to return.”

“No,” Suzhen firmly refused. “Tell her that how your Sixth Brother and Aluo are has nothing to do with me, and I couldn’t possibly join forces with her to deal with Aluo. With Lian Yu there, no one can touch Aluo. Consider this a piece of loyal advice I’m giving her through you.”

She made to leave, but Lian Xin panicked. However, her half-baked martial arts skills ultimately couldn’t stop her. But when she reached the palace entrance, three guards blocked her way with swords. Suzhen was helpless—she definitely couldn’t fight them. It seemed she had no choice but to have a conversation with Murong Jin today.

She pinched Lian Xin viciously and sat waiting for Murong Jin.

Unexpectedly, she waited until dinner time before Murong Jin returned, apparently having been whispering with Xiao’an about something.

She looked at her, speaking politely for the first time. “Li Huaisu, you don’t blame me, do you? I was also forced to this desperate measure, having Princess invite you over. Let’s cooperate.”

She personally poured a cup of tea and handed it to Suzhen.

“Consort Jin, Huaisu is merely a minor official, while you are an imperial consort in the rear palace. It seems we have no grounds for cooperation,” Suzhen said.

Murong Jin’s expression showed some complexity. She stared at her for a long time before saying, “We’ll join forces to eliminate Gu Xiluo. As long as you don’t oppose me in the future like Wei Wuyan, I can share the rear palace equally with you.”

“Your Majesty, even if I wanted to help you eliminate Gu Xiluo, His Majesty would have to be willing. Now I no longer have any relationship with His Majesty. Huaisu also advises that you’d best not harbor such thoughts. I’ll take my leave first.” Suzhen sighed deeply.

Murong Jin’s expression became ugly. She bit her teeth before saying quietly, “His Majesty was quite fond of you before. From what I saw today, he still has old feelings. Don’t be hasty in answering me. Go back and consider carefully. I’ll find you again.”

Suzhen had wanted to refuse again, but on second thought, it would be better to string her along for now—otherwise, who knew when she’d be able to leave this palace.

“Hearing Your Majesty speak thus, there is indeed some warmth. Very well, allow Huaisu to consider for several days, and I’ll reply to Your Majesty later.”

Murong Jin’s expression cleared slightly. She personally escorted her out, repeatedly instructing her to come find her in three days.

Having escaped, Suzhen wanted nothing more than to strangle Lian Xin, who quickly fled.

Returning to the abandoned palace maid quarters, the sky had completely darkened. Some places in the palace were beginning to light lanterns. She entered the courtyard but found that Wuqing and the others were gone, and Li Zhaoting was nowhere to be seen either.

Had they gone home from work? But it was indeed quite late today.

She left the courtyard, wanting to find the imperial guards to ask about everyone’s whereabouts, then remembered that to facilitate their free investigation, the imperial guards had been stationed farther away. Though there were dozens of palace maid quarters in this area, who would dare approach here?

At this moment, there was no one around, and the courtyard was eerily quiet. She wasn’t unafraid. She quickly left the courtyard. As she was about to exit the palace maid quarters entirely, she thought about the case again. As she walked, she suddenly realized something!

Yes, that’s where the room’s wrongness lay.

She was both surprised and delighted, but then became suspicious. Why was it there?!

She had wasted a lot of time today. After thinking it over, she couldn’t resist turning back to investigate.

When she entered the courtyard, it was dark and quiet all around.

But she distinctly heard sounds coming from inside.

Not from the left or right rooms, but from the middle one!

Creak—creak—

The sound came eerily.

Once, twice… She was startled, gently placed the palace lantern she had gotten from a palace maid on the path in the courtyard, took out the fire starter she always carried from her bosom, lit it, and crept forward to peek inside.

Damn, there’s someone inside!

When her sight caught a mass of hair in the middle of the passage, these words immediately rushed into her mind, and her heart jumped heavily.

That black shadow was kneeling on the ground, rotating something that looked like iron or stone on the floor.

The sound came once, twice. Suddenly, the ground shook, and the blue bricks rapidly sank downward. She was greatly alarmed. The person lost their footing and suddenly fell down. In this critical moment, with only a split second’s hesitation, she rushed forward, trying to grab the person’s hand.

Unexpectedly, the downward force was too great. Just as she grasped the other person’s hand, she was pulled down by them.

Her feet found no purchase. She heard a rumbling sound from above as the blue bricks closed up!

Everything before her eyes was pitch black.

In her panic, not knowing how deep this underground space was, she broke free from the other person’s hand. Following the light martial arts techniques her father and brothers had taught her, she flipped in mid-air. She heard a “bang” as that person crashed heavily to the ground, while she borrowed the momentum to roll and landed sideways. Though her hands and feet were injured, her internal organs were relatively unharmed.

But that person’s injuries were unknown—probably not light. She hoped nothing serious would happen or… that they wouldn’t die.

Otherwise, she’d really be in a world of trouble!

She struggled to get up. Her nose was filled with a musty smell, and a chill rose in her heart. What was this place exactly?

Why would there be a mechanism under an ordinary palace maid’s quarters?

She wanted to go check on that person’s injuries. From her impression, they had fallen about ten feet in front of her.

After thinking, she still needed to find the fire starter—that damned thing had fallen out when she tumbled down.

She groped around on the ground and suddenly touched something ice-cold. Suppressing her panic, she picked it up and felt around a bit more, nearly screaming out loud.

This was the arm bone from hand to fingers of a person—

Having performed many autopsies these past days, she wasn’t unfamiliar with this. Her heart pounded wildly. She swallowed saliva and suppressed her voice.

If there were other people here, she’d be in trouble.

But if there were other people here, they would have long since turned into bones like this dead soul!

Where was that damned fire starter?

She dared not continue searching on this ground. After brief consideration, she felt around in her bosom and took out another tool—an extremely sharp dagger that could cut through iron like mud!

She drew it from its sheath and forcefully struck the bone in her hand. A section of bone fell to the ground, but the remaining half-section in her hand emitted a ghostly phosphorescent glow. She was delighted—she could vaguely see that the surroundings were quite large, with passages leading in all directions and many cave openings going everywhere. Several skeletal remains were scattered on the ground, along with bags of miscellaneous items and memorial tablets… A bit further ahead seemed to be another cave opening. She took a deep breath and couldn’t spare time to examine these things carefully. She quickly walked to the injured person’s side, knelt down, and checked their breathing.

Though weak, there was still breath. She was greatly relieved. She helped the person up, enduring the pain in her leg bone, placed them on her knee. Where she touched was all wet. She withdrew her hand and looked—her palm was slippery. She frowned tightly and patted the person’s face. “Wake up, wake up! Don’t sleep—we need to find a way out, or we can only die here!”

“Who’s there?”

Suddenly a cold voice came from the front cave opening. Her heart went from joy to alarm. She gritted her teeth and answered, “What person?”

“Feng Suzhen?” The person asked, but also affirmed.

This voice made Suzhen’s heart settle, but she also said in slight surprise, “How are you also here?”

A figure quickly walked out from the cave.

But Suzhen began to feel apprehensive and various kinds of miserable again.

The most romantic thing she could think of was growing old slowly with someone she loved, while the most unromantic thing she could think of was being trapped in the same place with her ex-boyfriend’s girlfriend and her ex-ex-boyfriend, slowly waiting to die.

[Author’s Note: Saturday and Sunday updates combined. Next will be the case, fighting Luo, touching the reverse scale, flogging to death, and marriage. Though the plot seems substantial, it will develop quickly. Regarding the case, some readers focus more on emotions, but many readers trust me and want to see the case without reduction. The author needs two days to organize thoughts and see how to balance the case length without weakening the emotional storyline. Looking forward to everyone’s continued diverse discussions, guessing the real culprit and the emotional directions of several couples. Also, there’s still climax and story after the flogging and marriage. The content will be somewhat bold then—giving everyone a heads up now. Only when Suzhen’s story and love truly reach the ending will it be complete. See you Wednesday.]