Actually, not moving was exactly like Shen Qiyuan. If he had truly acted, Ruyi would have suspected he’d been possessed by something.

But when the water splashed down on her, she still got angry.

The wet talismans clung to her hair bun, water droplets dripping down her collar. Even under the brilliant autumn sun, it was piercingly cold.

That group of people stood at the entrance of the great hall, watching, discussing among themselves.

“How could this be a demon? The talisman water shows no reaction at all.”

“But her behavior is indeed strange. Women of Great Qian are mostly reserved and timid – none would dare come to the golden hall as a witness like her.”

“I heard her reputation isn’t very good, not a proper person. Testing her does no harm.”

Ruyi’s long eyes turned ice-cold, the corners of her mouth drooping downward.

It wasn’t anger at these malicious words – she was long accustomed to them. She suddenly understood that Shen Qiyuan’s favoritism toward her at the Lin’an magistrate’s office wasn’t because he feared she’d suffer in prison, but because if she were imprisoned, no one would come testify for him.

She had thought heaven had sprung a leak and an immortal had been moved to tenderness. Who would have thought she had misjudged him instead?

Pulling back a talisman that was about to fly away, Ruyi snorted coldly.

Trivial tricks.

Shen Qiyuan kept his eyes lowered. After waiting a moment, he bowed to the sovereign: “Right and wrong have been clearly distinguished. Lord Xu shows no remorse and even admits to administering rapid paralysis grass to witnesses. Please, Your Majesty, pass judgment.”

The sovereign was furious: “Xu Houde has betrayed imperial grace, endangered the forbidden palace, and implicated the Empress in wrongdoing. Order: confiscate his family wealth and exile him to Lei Zhou.”

After speaking, he wearily added: “The Empress is unwell – do not disturb her.”

Look at that – even cold-hearted emperors have soft spots in their hearts. But Shen Qiyuan, standing beside him, remained sharp and upright as frost, not even glancing at her once.

“Lady Zheng still has unresolved charges and must return to the ministry with the Justice officials.” The water from the dragon pillars stopped, and a young eunuch approached quietly: “This young lady has no other matters and may follow me to the nearby Morning Dew Pavilion to change clothes.”

“No need.” Ruyi stood up, dragging her soaking wet dress, saying coldly, “Just let me out of the palace.”

She was already thin and frail, and with her wet clothes clinging to her body she appeared even more fragile. Her crystal-white neck trembled in the autumn wind, her back also slightly shivering.

Zhou Tingchuan hurried over, anxiously saying: “Miss, you should change clothes first – you’ll catch cold like this.”

Ruyi looked at him mockingly: “I’m just a piece of evidence your lord brought to the palace – used casually and discarded casually. Why care whether I catch a cold or not?”

With that, she pushed past his shoulder and continued walking out with the young eunuch.

Xu Houde’s accomplices still needed to be sentenced one by one. Shen Qiyuan couldn’t leave and could only watch helplessly as her figure disappeared beyond the East Side Gate.

Ruyi didn’t return to Lord Zongzheng’s separate courtyard. With the major case solved and the shops returned to her hands, she went straight to Scripture Street.

The documents from the Commerce Bureau hadn’t arrived yet, and the Immortal Meeting Restaurant’s main door still bore official seals. She glanced at it and slapped the door open with one palm.

Her wet dress hem swept over the threshold and instantly returned to normal, all dishevelment vanishing. Ruyi adjusted the golden hairpin in her bun and walked slowly inside.

The shop assistant’s mouth fell open: “Boss, boss?”

Opening the door before the seals were removed would incur punishment!

She maintained a lazy attitude, unconcerned: “In the coming days, there will likely be many distinguished guests visiting. Find me a fine guest room and bring some drinking snacks.”

The assistant hadn’t yet recovered from the shock of her breaking down the door and only nodded dumbly.

Ruyi casually picked up a jar of wine and strolled upstairs.

“Ziyan, Ziyan?”

The sovereign found it curious: “Having just solved a major case and achieved remarkable merit, why don’t you seem happy? Instead, you appear troubled.”

Shen Qiyuan came back to his senses and sighed lightly: “This subject only feels that if we don’t eliminate the accomplices, there will be endless future troubles.”

Xu Houde alone couldn’t have established such a vast black market, not to mention that, besides the surface dealings, there was also the secret business of selling weapons and grain. Those involved must all harbor treasonous intentions.

However, the sovereign shook his head: “Ziyan, a ruler must weigh carefully rather than simply punish evil and promote good. Dealing with one Xu Houde already serves as a warning. The remaining implicated parties span across court and countryside – surely we can’t drag them all out for execution? As long as the rest don’t make major moves, that’s sufficient for the state.”

Shen Qiyuan frowned: “The Justice Ministry officials have been working tirelessly for over three years collecting evidence on these people. Some have lost brothers and husbands, sons and lives for this cause.”

The sovereign smiled benevolently: “I will promote their ranks and reward them generously.”

Shen Qiyuan closed his eyes.

Moonlight enveloped the “Righteous and Bright” plaque, yet that plaque remained dark and unlit, gloomy and heavy.

“My lord.”

As soon as they left the palace, Zhou Tingchuan approached, saying awkwardly: “Miss Liu seems to be angry.”

He stepped onto the carriage expressionlessly: “Given the circumstances, then, if I had shown further favoritism, it would have harmed her instead.”

“What use is telling me this?” Zhou Tingchuan climbed up after him. “She is, after all, a young lady who got soaked. You should at least go coax her a bit.”

Even without Zhou Tingchuan saying so, Shen Qiyuan had planned to check on her, but being told this way somehow constrained him.

He said: “What kind of person is she that I must necessarily coax her?”

Zhou Tingchuan was stumped, feeling it made sense. What kind of personage was their lord? Usually, when he spoke an extra word to someone, they’d be flattered beyond measure. How could he lower himself to coax anyone?

He nodded: “That’s right, then I’ll go in my lord’s place.”

Shen Qiyuan: “…”

He looked at his companion and said quietly, “Last time when I had you help bury corpses at the morgue, did you find it quite relaxing?”

Mentioning this made Zhou Tingchuan’s face fall.

He still didn’t know what he’d done wrong – inexplicably assigned to bury corpses, spending two days burying over a hundred bodies until he was so exhausted he wanted to dig a hole for himself.

“Not relaxing, very tiring.” He said miserably.

“Good, then you go home and rest.”

“Thank you, my lord.”

The carriage stopped, dropped off one person, and then continued forward. The wind stirred, lifting Zhou Tingchuan’s robe hem, filling him with emotion.

Their lord was truly kind, letting him off duty to return home so early. Such a superior was hard to find these days.

After walking a few steps, he realized something was wrong.

The direction their lord was heading – didn’t it seem like it wasn’t toward Lord Zongzheng’s separate courtyard?

Night deepened. From the guest room on the second floor of Immortal Meeting Restaurant, one could see a small pond in the distance, with floating light like gold and still shadows like jade.

Ruyi leaned against the window, trying to see clearly if fish were jumping in the pond, when the door behind her was pushed open.

Someone silently entered and stood there.

Sensing his presence, she didn’t turn around, only snorted lightly: “Breaking into a maiden’s chamber at midnight – if word got out, it would be enough for Lord Zongzheng to face several memorial impeachments.”

Shen Qiyuan remained silent, placing a bowl of ginger soup beside her hand.

Ruyi knew this was already the greatest extent of apology he could express.

However, she didn’t even look at it. With a flip of her wrist, the bowl of ginger soup spilled out along the windowsill.