Zhao Yanning’s face revealed an expected mocking expression.

This was their emperor. It was precisely because of such an emperor that the Ministry of Justice had so many solvable cases that were forcibly turned into cold cases, and the court had so many murderers going unpunished.

He was seized by the Imperial Guards. Far from resisting, he couldn’t even be bothered to move.

“Wait a moment,” Ruyi spoke up.

Li Zhaoying frowned, secretly gesturing for her to stop, but she acted as if she hadn’t seen it, speaking directly before the emperor: “The murderer cannot be him. Your Majesty cannot wrongly force an innocent person to accompany the dead.”

The emperor found this amusing: “Miss Liu, I did praise your exceptional courage last time, but I never permitted you to contradict the imperial presence.”

“This humble woman does not intend to contradict, but merely thinks that Your Majesty’s achievements are brilliant, that you are an enlightened ruler who will be remembered for eternity. If you left regrets over such a small matter, wouldn’t that be a pity?”

Everyone loves to hear flattery. The emperor snorted with laughter and gave her an opportunity: “Tell me why the murderer cannot be him.”

“Your Majesty heard earlier that the guards said Zhao Yanning had been loitering nearby all along. Rather than killing someone and traveling two li back and forth within the time of one incense stick, this humble woman thinks it more likely that the murderer stole his waist sash to frame him.”

Who would easily drop something like a waist sash, and conveniently at a murder scene, no less? The murderer wasn’t a fool—surely they would notice if their clothing came undone.

“In this humble woman’s crude opinion, the murderer should be a man, to be capable of killing Lord Hai, who was eight chi tall.” She measured against her head. “If it were someone like this humble woman, even jumping up, I probably couldn’t reach Lord Hai’s shoulder, much less the back of his head.”

At these words, quite a few people chuckled softly. His Majesty also relaxed his expression, but still said: “By your reasoning, Zhao Yanning is also over seven chi tall.”

Ruyi shook her head: “Lord Yun said that Zhao Yanning previously had grievances with Lord Hai. In that grove, the trees were spaced far apart. When the murderer struck, they couldn’t hide their form. If Lord Hai had seen Zhao Yanning, how would he dare turn his back on him and let him strike the back of his head?”

Yuncheng’s expression darkened: “Every word you speak defends Zhao Yanning. Don’t tell me you have history with him?”

Ruyi nodded: “Since Zhao Yanning resigned from his position at the Ministry of Justice, he has worked as an accountant at this humble woman’s wine house. It’s not old friendship, but naturally, if you know me, you also know him.”

Yuncheng angrily turned away: “With such a relationship, how can your words be trusted?”

“Even the best relationships can turn to enmity. What importance do relationships have in this world? What matters is reason.” Ruyi bowed to the emperor. “This humble woman believes that compared to an enemy, it’s those close to someone who more easily strike when that person is completely off guard.”

At these words, everyone in the pavilion laughed.

“Is Miss Liu suggesting Lord Yun was better positioned to kill Lord Hai? Ha, ha, ha, you don’t understand these two lords well enough. A friendship grown from childhood—how could he strike so cruelly?”

“Indeed.” The emperor also laughed. “I was almost ready to believe you when you said Zhao Yanning wasn’t the killer, but now you’re getting more and more absurd. I still remember when they first entered service—I only needed one Left Censor, but these two said either neither would serve, or both would stay together, forcing me to create an additional Right Censor position.”

“Later, when I promoted Haiyan to Grand Censor, Yuncheng was happy for his good friend without the slightest jealousy. With two people so close, what motive would Yuncheng have for murder?”

Ruyi shrugged: “This humble woman only said that close relationships make it easier to strike. I never said the murderer was Lord Yun.”

“Besides the one kneeling outside, the murderer couldn’t be anyone else. Who else would want to kill Haiyan?” The emperor waved his hand. “Enough, we’ll wait for Ziyan to return and close the case.”

Just as he finished speaking, someone outside reported: “Your Majesty, there’s also a woman with disheveled outer robes requesting an audience.”

“Bring her in.”

“Yes.”

The expressionless Zhao Yanning finally grew tense. He glanced sideways as Fuman entered wearing loose robes, holding another waist sash in her hands. Without looking at him, she knelt upon entering.

“This humble woman has a speech impediment and fears polluting Your Majesty’s hearing, so I resort to this crude method. I beg Your Majesty’s forgiveness.”

She unfolded a piece of paper with words already written on it.

“While hunting, this humble woman was knocked unconscious by someone. Upon awakening, my waist sash was missing. Zhao Yanning, to protect this humble woman’s reputation, lent me his waist sash. If the waist sash is involved in the case, the person implicated should be this humble woman, not him.”

She quietly waited for the emperor and everyone to finish reading the words on the paper, then set down that much-too-large waist sash, took the one Yuncheng had obtained, and tied it perfectly around her waist.

A woman’s measurements—a man could never wear it, so Zhao Yanning couldn’t substitute even if he wanted to.

Zhao Yanning grew anxious: “I was separated from her for only the duration of one incense stick, and that was an hour ago. At that time, she couldn’t have gone to kill anyone. She was indeed knocked unconscious—there are bruises as evidence.”

Knowing this emperor didn’t much care about the truth of this case, he still argued loudly for Fuman’s sake: “She’s even more delicate than Miss Liu—even less capable of striking the back of Haiyan’s head. I beg Your Majesty to investigate clearly!”

Yuncheng sneered: “So you did lie earlier. Your waist sash wasn’t lost unintentionally, but when you were loitering outside the pavilion and heard that a waist sash was involved in the case, you gave yours to her.”

Zhao Yanning had no rebuttal.

“Deceiving the emperor is already a capital crime, and harboring a murderer makes it even worse!”

“How is Lord Yun so certain this woman is the murderer?” Ruyi spoke up.

“If she’s not the murderer, what are they guilty about?” Yuncheng sneered. “All this concealment and evasion—there must be something fishy.”

These two had handled not eight hundred, then a thousand cases between them, accumulating so many enemies that they naturally had to be on guard. Moreover, seeing the emperor’s earlier attitude toward Zhao Yanning, Zhao Yanning would certainly want to extricate Fuman so she could remain safe and sound.

But none of this could be stated directly.

Just as the Imperial Guards stepped forward again to arrest Fuman, Shen Qiyuan’s voice finally sounded from outside.

“The murderer could only be a man.” He strode in, blocking the guards’ movement, and stepped forward to bow to the emperor.

For a moment, both the emperor on his seat and Zhao Yanning outside breathed sighs of relief.

The emperor felt a headache coming on: “Ziyan, quickly catch this murderer and close this case.”

Shen Qiyuan sighed: “Your servant is incompetent. I can only eliminate several people, but cannot determine who the murderer is.”

He looked toward Fuman nearby: “The murder weapon was a sharp stone weighing five jin. Given this young lady’s build and height, she couldn’t have struck from above downward.”

“The deceased was very relaxed when he died. There were no signs of struggle or fighting in the surroundings, so it was most likely a sneak attack. Judging by the spacing of trees in that grove, the murderer should have first approached the deceased, then picked up a stone from the ground to strike while he was off guard.”

With this explanation, even Zhao Yanning, with his grudge, was ruled out.

“Your servant asserts that the murderer should be a man of similar build to the deceased, close to him, and who changed clothes within the past half hour.”