Zhang Zhe came from the Clerical Examination background.

The Clerical Examination was different from the jinshi degree. The clerks selected after the examination differed from ordinary officials who received the sovereign’s salary. After being recruited into government service, they followed the principle of “use them when urgent matters arise, dismiss them when matters are settled”—essentially temporary staff assisting officials with affairs. This dynasty had long-standing regulations that “clerks” could not serve as censors, nor could they participate in the imperial examinations again. Therefore, generally speaking, those who took the Clerical Examination were either those who had repeatedly failed the examinations or those from humble origins.

Zhang Zhe belonged to the latter.

He lost his father in youth and was raised only by his widowed mother. Though his talents were excellent, he wasn’t very proficient in eight-legged essays, classical arts, or strategy. After the Clerical Examination, he served under Henan Circuit Surveillance Commissioner Gu Chunfang, specializing in redressing injustices and administering law, demonstrating extraordinary talent.

Gu Chunfang therefore exceptionally recommended him to the court.

Within three years, because he made a judgment on a suspicious case before His Majesty, he caught the Emperor’s eye and was appointed as Supervising Secretary of the Office of Scrutiny for Justice.

It was just that in her previous life, his subsequent official career had been truly far from smooth—full of hardships.

Thinking about it, Jiang Xuening felt bitterness in her mouth.

He could have been recorded gloriously in history, staying far from the palace’s tumultuous struggles through his “uprightness” and “righteousness,” yet he was drawn in by her.

When Zhang Zhe had just been promoted to Vice Minister of Justice, the Embroidered Uniform Guard wanted to completely control judicial power, but Zhang Zhe felt the Guard acted arrogantly and abused private punishment. There was considerable jurisdictional conflict between the two departments, so they were always at odds.

And Zhou Yinzhi happened to control the Northern Pacification Office.

He was determined to eliminate Zhang Zhe, while Zhang Zhe strove to reclaim judicial power and repeatedly impeached Zhou Yinzhi for perverting the law for personal gain and corrupting court discipline.

The two were like fire and water.

Behind Zhou Yinzhi was Jiang Xuening. At that time she was opposing the Xiao clan and had many occasions requiring Zhou Yinzhi’s services, so at first she saw Zhang Zhe as a stumbling block—the more she looked, the more displeased she was.

At first, it was making things difficult based on their positions.

Later, she discovered this cold-faced person was actually quite fun to toy with.

She was after all the Empress. Even if her words and actions were somewhat excessive, Zhang Zhe couldn’t provoke her, so in earlier times he mostly endured and yielded to her. But she wasn’t someone who knew when to stop—instead, she increasingly pushed her luck.

Zhang Zhe thus often advised her with loyal counsel.

At that time, Jiang Xuening was held up by everyone and didn’t take this loyal counsel seriously. She only felt this person was pedantic and obstinate. Until later when Xiao Shu and the Xiao clan pressed her step by step, one day presenting evidence of Zhou Yinzhi’s faction engaging in corruption and bribery, exposing it all at once, deliberately having it tried by the Ministry of Justice, letting this case fall into Zhang Zhe’s hands.

The court and inner palace were intimately connected.

Xiao Shu was proud and arrogant, targeting the Empress position. Moreover, she was now pregnant. If she gave birth to an imperial heir, that would be extraordinary. If she then successfully defeated Jiang Xuening’s forces in court and obtained the Empress position, Jiang Xuening would have no burial place after death.

After all, they had fought so fiercely before.

Between her and Xiao Shu, whichever one gained the opportunity wouldn’t let her enemy remain unharmed.

Overnight, Jiang Xuening suddenly reached a desperate situation where it seemed she could only expose her neck to the blade.

People always love adding flowers to brocade but rarely send charcoal in the snow.

The people who had gathered around her when her momentum was at its peak suddenly scattered like a receding tide.

But Jiang Xuening didn’t want to die yet.

Thus, she chose Zhang Zhe.

That day, Shen Jie summoned several cabinet ministers including Xie Wei in the Qianqing Palace, along with Zhang Zhe who was responsible for trying this case. The discussion continued even after the palace gates were locked, so an edict was transmitted for the ministers to stay overnight in the palace.

Jiang Xuening stood waiting beneath the long palace wall.

Her figure was covered by the wall’s shadow.

The little eunuch leading the way carried a lantern in front, illuminating the shadows of two people walking toward her, one after the other.

The person walking in front was Xie Wei.

Perhaps because they had walked closer, he recognized her at a glance and actually stopped, saying: “I suddenly remembered I left a jade pendant at the Cabinet duty room this morning. I’ll go back to retrieve it. Minister Zhang can go ahead.”

Having said this, he turned back.

One of the little eunuchs immediately followed with a lantern.

Only then did Jiang Xuening emerge from that patch of shadow, looking at the person remaining in place and saying: “Minister Zhang, this palace has words I wish to speak with you.”

Zhang Zhe seemed not to have expected that she would dare to be so bold as to intercept him in the palace at midnight.

Not to mention that today Grand Tutor Xie was accompanying him.

He silently lowered his eyelids, already guessing her intent, only saying: “Your Majesty’s request—forgive Zhang Zhe for being unable to comply.”

The night was deep, a lone man and woman.

One was the Empress, one an outside minister.

Though Zhang Zhe conducted himself uprightly, he also feared accumulated slander could destroy bones. Having only said this sentence, he was about to bow and retreat to avoid suspicion. But just as he was about to leave, Jiang Xuening reached out and grasped his wide official robe sleeve.

The step he had taken immediately stopped.

Her slender, snow-white fingers rested on that dark embroidered pattern. She slightly raised her eyes to look at him, her voice carrying a slight tremor: “Does Minister wish to watch me die?”

Zhang Zhe was silent.

Jiang Xuening’s fingers then slowly tightened. Her transparent, rounded nails bore bright red polish, carrying a startling decadent beauty in the dim night. She used a soft posture she wasn’t accustomed to, begging him: “When the carriage overturned from the post road, you would rather break your leg than protect me. When the Celestial Doctrine rebels assassinated us, I hid in the wild grass, yet you willingly risked great danger to lead them away. Zhang Zhe, you’ve been so good to me—can’t you continue being so good to me?”

At that moment, his stiff palm hanging at his side slowly clenched as he said: “Your Majesty is the mother of the nation. Zhang Zhe is a minister of the dynasty. Eating the sovereign’s salary, loyal to the sovereign’s affairs. Encountering difficulty and danger, exchanging my life for Your Majesty’s safety is Zhang Zhe’s duty. But Zhou Yinzhi’s faction corruption case is originally a state affair. The dynasty’s prosperity or decline all depends on this. Zhang Zhe dares not act from personal motives.”

“Duty…”

Jiang Xuening grasped the corner of his robe, stubbornly refusing to let go. Hearing this, she actually laughed, her eyes looking straight into his.

She only asked: “Really?”

Zhang Zhe finally avoided her gaze, also closing his eyes. His rolling Adam’s apple seemed to hide a struggle as he said heavily: “If Your Majesty feels that this minister’s past rescue was truly harboring transgressive thoughts, this minister is willing to accept punishment.”

Jiang Xuening then slowly released her fingers.

That corner of the sleeve had been grasped until somewhat wrinkled, falling down.

She only said desolately: “I know Minister Zhang’s eyes cannot tolerate sand. These people in court form factions for private gain and should naturally be punished by law. But do you know what fate awaits me once Zhou Yinzhi falls? I don’t ask Minister Zhang to spare them forever, but please, Minister Zhang, show mercy and let me pass through this crisis. In the future, these people’s crimes—I will present them all before Minister one by one, letting them confess and submit to law!”

Zhang Zhe lifted his steps to leave.

Jiang Xuening didn’t obstruct him again either. She only looked at his cold and lonely back about to disappear into darkness and spoke the greatest lie she had told in her previous life: “Zhang Zhe, help me. After this time, I’ll be a good person, alright?”

Zhang Zhe stood in place for a very long time.

The sky was too dark. Though there was hazy moonlight overhead, she truly couldn’t discern what Zhang Zhe was thinking at that moment.

What she could hear was only her own heart beating like a drum.

That evening, Zhang Zhe ultimately didn’t say another word and left from beneath that long palace wall.

Xie Wei, who had gone to retrieve the dropped jade pendant, also didn’t return for a long time.

Jiang Xuening stood in the night until the dew grew heavy, listening to the palace’s timekeeping sounds, before returning to Kunning Palace.

Each following day was torment for her.

Until half a month later—

The case of Zhou Yinzhi’s faction engaging in corruption and bribery, after joint trial by the Three Judicial Offices, news spread that half the implicated had conclusive evidence and according to their crimes were dismissed and exiled or sentenced to execution after autumn. The other half, however, were spared due to ambiguous evidence and contradictory testimonies—some demoted by one rank, others restored to original posts.

Moreover, during the trial of this case, some matters of the Xiao clan forming factions in court were uncovered, causing Shen Jie’s wariness.

The Xiao clan’s scheme fell short of success.

Jiang Xuening’s Empress position was preserved.

That day she was genuinely happy from the bottom of her heart, continuously sending people to inquire when court would dismiss. She didn’t even want to see Zhou Yinzhi—only thinking about where she should intercept Zhang Zhe later and what she should say to him.

But she never could have anticipated that the person who returned to report actually said Minister Zhang had been imprisoned.

The earring she had just picked up to hang from her ear immediately fell and shattered.

Despite all her calculations, she hadn’t calculated that human hearts easily change.

Or perhaps Zhou Yinzhi had always been a wolf that couldn’t be domesticated.

In this crisis, she had done everything to preserve her power, to preserve Zhou Yinzhi. Yet she hadn’t realized that early on when this matter had just been exposed, Zhou Yinzhi had already weighed the pros and cons and at some unknown time switched allegiance to the Xiao clan, pledging loyalty to Xiao Shu.

Whether that half of the people were truly innocent or not, Jiang Xuening didn’t know.

She only knew that it was Zhou Yinzhi who, after the joint trial by the Three Judicial Offices ended, presented conclusive evidence of these people’s corruption and bribery, instantly placing Zhang Zhe, who had previously judged them innocent, in danger. He then united upper and lower censors at court to impeach Zhang Zhe for perverting the law for personal gain and accused him of having an illicit relationship with the Empress.

A lifetime of purity, ultimately tainted.

In the past he was the Embroidered Uniform Guard’s mortal enemy. Once fallen into the imperial prison under Zhou Yinzhi’s control, how could he fare well? Not to mention there was also Vice Minister of Justice Chen Ying who opposed him at every turn, skilled in various cruel tortures.

Jiang Xuening didn’t dare imagine what kind of days he passed in prison.

Nor did she dare imagine whether he thought she had calculated against him, ultimately wanting to eliminate him.

She only knew that barely half a month after Zhang Zhe entered prison, his family home was raided. His unattended elderly mother, worrying day and night about her only son’s safety, fell ill from worry and distress until finally succumbing, departing this world.

Zhang Zhe was a famous filial son.

Yet while in prison, he couldn’t even see her one last time.

People transmitted that the cold-faced, cold-hearted Vice Minister Zhang, on the night he learned of his mother’s death, wailed in grief in prison.

He was upright his entire life, judging countless cases, never with error or omission.

He had a virtuous reputation among the common people.

At that time, all the judges trying Zhang Zhe’s case didn’t dare or didn’t wish to write to convict him. There were also many in court petitioning for him. But ultimately, it was he himself who, on the third day after his mother’s death, requested that the prison guards lay out brush and ink. He then picked up the brush himself and, sentence by sentence, confessed his crimes, writing the verdict sentencing himself to the extreme penalty—execution after autumn.

When the verdict was submitted to the Three Judicial Offices, half the court sighed.

Looking back now, that night’s plea beneath the palace wall was actually the last time Jiang Xuening saw him.

She also didn’t know whether, in the previous life, Xie Wei had kept his word.

The person had already gradually walked far down that long street obscured by the rain curtain. Wind poured in from outside the window, seeping into the bones. Jiang Xuening slowly withdrew her gaze, finally feeling a bit of cold.

Raising her hand to her face, it was covered in tears.

Zhang Zhe, in the previous life, I was the Empress, a bad person, and owed you so much.

This life, I won’t be Empress. I’ll be a good person—

Would I then be worthy of you?

“Miss, what, what did you see? Why are you crying?”

Watching her stand by the window motionless for so long, Lian’er and Tang’er both came forward to check, only to be shocked by the tear stains covering her face.

But Jiang Xuening smiled, taking an embroidered handkerchief to wipe her reddened eyes, saying: “It’s nothing. The wind was too strong and got in my eyes, that’s all.”

She had the two maids close the window. Having waited for Yan Lin until somewhat weary, she reclined on the imperial concubine couch inside to rest. When she slightly lowered her eyes and closed them, there was actually complete peace in her heart.

She only said softly: “Wake me when Yan Lin comes.”

Both maids replied in low voices: “Alright.”

But this late, would Young Master Yan still come?