Jingrong arrived at the back courtyard kitchen first. Before even getting close, he could hear sounds coming from inside.

“I said we should add more salt, but you just wouldn’t listen. Now look, it’s all bland. How can we eat this?”

“You’re the one who kept adding water, kept adding water, diluting all the salt. Now you’re turning around and blaming me!”

“I only added a tiny bit of water.”

“I saw you add two ladles.”

“You added too little salt.”

“You added too much water.”

“You used too little salt!”

The argument went on endlessly!

During their quarrel, crackling sounds also came from the kitchen.

Jingrong stepped inside and saw a scene that was both ridiculous and amusing.

Lang Bo was holding a spatula!

Bai Yin was holding a wooden pot lid!

Both were facing each other with hostile energy.

Lang Bo was still arguing incessantly: “You used too little salt.”

“You used too much water,” Bai Yin countered.

Neither would yield an inch.

Jingrong frowned and asked: “What are you doing?”

Hearing the voice, the two people holding the spatula and wooden pot lid both looked toward the door.

“Your… Highness.”

“What exactly is going on here?”

“We…” Lang Bo quickly hid the spatula behind him and forced a smile. “Nothing, we weren’t doing anything.”

“From the looks of it, it doesn’t seem like nothing!” Jingrong clearly didn’t believe him. He looked at the honest Bai Yin. “Speak, what were you arguing about?”

Bai Yin was very serious. He sighed, then pointed at a dish on the cutting board.

“Look at that plate of meat.”

Meat?

Jingrong looked over.

There was indeed something in the plate, but… it was a dark mass, completely unrecognizable as… meat!

“What the hell is this?” Jingrong frowned.

“Meat,” Bai Yin emphasized again.

Jingrong walked over, picked up chopsticks from the side, and lifted a small black lump.

He held it to his nose and smelled it. There was no meat smell at all, but rather a heavy burnt odor.

Seeing this, Lang Bo quickly said: “Your Highness, try tasting it.”

Ugh!

Who would dare taste this thing?

Jingrong immediately put down the chopsticks.

His face full of disgust!

“Forget it.” He composed himself and asked, “So you’ve been arguing for ages over this plate of meat?”

“No!” Lang Bo said. “It’s because the taste of this meat is wrong. I kept telling Bai Yin to add more salt, but he refused. We originally planned to make some late-night snacks, but the meat tastes very bland and is completely inedible.”

Upon hearing this, Bai Yin couldn’t take it anymore and rushed over saying, “I added plenty of salt. It’s clearly because you kept adding water to the pot that diluted the salt.”

“That’s because you burned the meat! I could only add water. Look, the meat has become like this—even His Highness can’t recognize it as meat! Back in the day, the meat His Highness stir-fried was better than yours.”

Jingrong’s head was covered in black lines.

Hey, hey, hey, can we forget about the past?

Back then, for some unknown reason, Jingrong suddenly became very interested in cooking and made meals for several days straight, giving everyone diarrhea!

And these words were just heard by Ji Yunshu, who had rushed over.

She couldn’t help but laugh!

Back then, she was one of the “victims” too!

She said with a smile: “You’ve been arguing for ages over whether there’s too much or too little salt in one pot of meat? Just now Young Master Song thought something had happened to you and rushed over anxiously to tell us.”

Bai Yin: “We didn’t fight.”

Lang Bo: “It’s just over a plate of meat!”

Perhaps at this moment, only Lang Bo and Bai Yin’s commotion could sweep away everyone’s gloomy mood from these past days.

“Alright, put everything down quickly! Stop arguing.”

Lang Bo and Bai Yin obediently complied, putting the things in their hands back where they belonged.

“What about this plate of meat?” Lang Bo asked.

Jingrong thought for a moment and said: “Didn’t you want a late-night snack? Then eat all of it.”

“Eat all of it? Your Highness…”

“Don’t talk so much nonsense. I’m telling you to eat, so eat. Don’t waste it.”

“…Yes!” This was the fate of being a subordinate!

Bai Yin secretly smiled and whispered to him: “Eat more, otherwise during the long night, you’ll probably be terribly hungry.”

“You…” He almost went to grab the spatula again.

Fortunately, he restrained himself!

That night, Lang Bo ate the entire plate of meat. Unfortunately, he also had diarrhea all night.

This time, it was even worse than when he ate his own prince’s dark cuisine back in the day.

The next day.

People from the Ministry of Justice brought news.

The person found Ji Yunshu and said: “Master Ji, someone wants to see you.”

“Who?”

“Bingzheng.”

“Him? What does he want with me?”

The messenger shook his head: “Not clear. He only said he wanted to see you and has something important he wants to tell you privately. So I came to notify you. If you don’t want to see him, then forget it.”

How could she not see him?

Ji Yunshu immediately agreed: “Take me there.”

Since it was a private meeting, naturally Jingrong couldn’t accompany her directly, and the Ministry of Justice prison was different from the City Department prison—not just anyone could enter.

So, after Ji Yunshu left, Jingrong summoned his own guards.

He instructed: “Follow secretly behind Miss Ji. You must ensure her safety. If there’s anything suspicious, immediately come back and tell me.”

“Yes!”

All four guards mobilized.

They quietly followed behind Ji Yunshu.

Ji Yunshu followed the person from the Ministry of Justice all the way to the Ministry of Justice prison.

After a few words at the entrance, she was led inside by a jailer.

Finally, they arrived outside Bingzheng’s cell.

Bingzheng sat in a corner, his arms hugging his knees, head lowered, hair disheveled, covering his face.

His clothes were also torn in several places!

There were even bloodstains on them!

It seemed he had been beaten by the Ministry of Justice.

The jailer said: “Master Ji, you can talk from outside the door.”

“Let me go inside instead.”

“But…”

“It’s fine.”

The jailer hesitated: “Alright then.”

He opened the cell door.

And stepped aside.

Ji Yunshu walked in, standing before Bingzheng, looking down at him.

“They said you were looking for me?”

Bingzheng didn’t respond.

“What do you have to say to me?”

“…”

“If you want me to help you with something, if you don’t speak, how will I know what you need?”

After a while, Bingzheng raised his head.

Those haggard, red and swollen eyes lifted and met her gaze.

Ji Yunshu was startled!

It had only been a few days—how had he become like this?

“You finally came.”

“What exactly do you want to tell me?”

“Last night, a letter came from my hometown, telling me that… my grandmother passed away.”

Ji Yunshu expressed her sympathy but didn’t understand why he was telling her this.

“Is this why you had someone notify me to come see you?”

Bingzheng: “That’s right.”

“So?”

“Didn’t you suspect before… that I deliberately exposed flaws to let you catch me?” Bingzheng said. “That’s right, I did it on purpose.”

Ji Yunshu was stunned.