Ji Yunshu set down the clay she was molding, wiped her hands, walked around the desk in front of her, and went over.
The little fellow took a step back.
Ji Yunshu’s lips curved in a smile as she bent down and asked him: “What’s your name?”
“Qi Li.”
His voice was tender and childish!
So this was the son of Transmission Officer Qi Wenxiang.
Which meant that Minister Qi had arrived at the residence?
As she was thinking this, Qi Li tilted his head. “Sister is really pretty.”
Pfft—
Ji Yunshu scraped her finger across his nose: “What will happen when you grow up?”
Qi Li touched his nose, his attention completely drawn to the half-molded clay skull on the table. He stretched out his little finger and pointed at it.
“What’s that?”
Ji Yunshu turned and picked up the “skull,” holding it in front of Qi Li.
The little fellow had never seen such “terrifying” things before. There wasn’t a trace of fear in his eyes—instead, they were filled with curiosity.
Ji Yunshu told him: “This is a skull molded from clay. It’s not finished yet.”
“What’s a skull?”
She tapped his head with her finger. “It’s your little head.”
“Then what’s clay?”
“It’s something used to mold various shapes.”
“Can you mold candy?” Qi Li licked his lips.
Ji Yunshu was amused by his expression. She really wanted to mold him a candy from clay, but the little fellow’s interest suddenly shifted again. He ran to the desk and stared at the various diagrams spread out on it.
Those were all anatomical diagrams of the skull that Ji Yunshu had drawn, each one extremely detailed.
Qi Li’s eyes lit up as he blinked hard and looked intently.
But he couldn’t make sense of what they were.
Ji Yunshu didn’t disturb him and let him continue standing on tiptoe to look.
At that moment—
A maid came rushing in through the doorway. She bowed to Ji Yunshu: “Miss Ji, Minister Qi is leaving and has asked for Young Master Qi to come.”
After Qi Li was led away, Ji Yunshu also went to the front hall.
Just as Minister Qi was taking his son away!
Jingrong stood outside in the courtyard, hands clasped behind his back, his expression grave. His cold, penetrating gaze made it difficult to fathom his current emotions.
Ji Yunshu walked to his side, looking at that profile backlit and cold as ice.
She opened her mouth, but the words on her lips were swallowed back down.
She didn’t know whether she should say something?
Or should ask something?
After a long while—
Jingrong gazed at the brilliant starry sky and said: “Are power and status really so important?”
Uh!
Ji Yunshu trembled: “The emperor, he…”
Jingrong turned his head to meet her moist eyes: “Leave the matters of the court to me to handle.”
“Then… what do you plan to do?”
He said solemnly: “If the court is unstable for even one day, I will not withdraw for that day. The day after tomorrow, I will return to court and reorganize the government.”
This was clearly a stance of confronting Wei Yi head-on!
Having spoken.
He grasped Ji Yunshu’s cold hand. “Promise me, stay as far away from this matter as possible! Focus on investigating Minister Yu’s case. Don’t concern yourself with other matters.”
Ji Yunshu’s heart ached, her voice choked: “How can you ask me to stay far away?”
“…”
“The person sitting on the throne today is not only the Son of Heaven of Da Lin, but also Wei Yi.”
Her body trembled violently!
Jingrong: “I know how you feel. I also hope all of this is just me overthinking. You asked me to trust him, but haven’t I trusted him? If I hadn’t trusted him, I wouldn’t have…”
“Wouldn’t have what?”
Wouldn’t have altered the edict!
The words were on his lips, but in the end he swallowed them down.
He only said: “In any case, right now I can’t just let go and ignore this! But once you get involved, I’ll be in a very difficult position. Yunshu, promise me.”
His grip on her hand tightened.
“I…”
She struggled internally for a long time.
In the end, she still nodded!
Jingrong pulled her into his embrace and held her tightly.
The next day.
Early in the morning, Minister Qi went to the Ministry of Finance and quietly pulled Minister He aside.
“Oh my, Minister Qi, what’s gotten into you? Speak plainly. All this pulling and tugging—what kind of behavior is this?” Minister He straightened out the wrinkles that had been pulled into his clothes.
Minister Qi requested: “I must trouble Minister He to pull out the files of the recently promoted officials.”
“Files? What does Minister Qi want with those?”
“Recently the Office of Transmission has many memorials to file. Since new officials have been promoted and entered the court, naturally they’ll be submitting memorials in the future as well. So I’m verifying everything once to avoid future trouble.”
The Office of Transmission was responsible daily for screening the memorials submitted by court officials to the emperor. After reviewing and examining them one by one, only those without problems would be sent before the emperor for approval. Although checking official files wasn’t strictly necessary, knowing each official’s background was very important—to avoid accidentally intercepting the memorial of some official with connections and offending someone, which would be quite troublesome.
Minister He was somewhat hesitant: “This…”
Minister Qi said: “It’s routine business.”
Since it was routine business, Minister He naturally had no reason to refuse.
He had someone pull out the files of all the recently appointed court officials.
And instructed: “Return them immediately after looking.”
After Minister Qi obtained the files, he immediately sent them to Prince Rong’s residence.
At the same time.
Ji Yunshu had spent the entire night and finally completed the portrait reconstruction of the skeleton.
She had someone take it to verify, and learned that the person in the portrait was indeed Hua Ling.
It really was her?
That’s impossible!
Harboring her doubts, she changed into official robes and went to the Ministry of Justice prison.
The Ministry of Justice prison was dim and damp, though slightly cleaner and more spacious than county jails, and didn’t have much odor—it was a conscientious prison by comparison.
According to regulations, the Ministry of Justice had previously ordered that no one was permitted to visit prisoners. Even Yu Wei had begged Justice Minister Li for a long time before being granted the time it took to burn one incense stick to enter.
But Ji Yunshu was the Director of Scrutiny for Prisons, so naturally her comings and goings were freer.
The jailer led her in.
She carried a candlestick herself and also carried a food box.
All the way to the cell holding Minister Yu.
These past days, Minister Yu had suffered greatly!
He was whipped almost every day.
But he gritted his teeth and refused to confess, refusing to sign the confession even at the cost of death.
His integrity was strong!
At this moment, he leaned against the corner, his spine long unable to straighten. His feet collapsed beneath him, hunched over, his hair disheveled, almost covering his entire face, revealing only one hollow, powerless eye shot through with blood. His white prison garment was covered with bloodstains, whip marks layered one upon another. The scabs on his wounds hadn’t healed before they were split open again.
Footsteps sounded in the distance, drawing closer and stopping at his cell door.
He wondered—were they coming to drag him to the execution grounds?
So this moment had finally arrived.
“Clang… clang…” The sound of iron chains colliding.
The cell door opened.
Ji Yunshu waved her hand, signaling the jailer to leave.
The jailer bowed and walked away with the chains.
Minister Yu perked up his ears, hearing light footsteps approaching him, treading on straw and making “swishing” sounds.
Finally stopping before him.
Ji Yunshu was both shocked and saddened to see Minister Yu in this state.
His body was crisscrossed with countless wounds, one after another, a heart-wrenching sight.
Minister Yu kept his head lowered and could only see a pair of shoes before his eyes.
Official boots!
Women’s official boots!
Among those currently in court who could wear women’s official boots, besides Ji Yunshu, who else could it be?