“What is the marquis looking at?” Young Master Qiao asked with a faint smile.

Shao Mingyuan coughed lightly and said seriously, “I think this gold-painted landscape screen is getting a bit old. We should replace it with a new one.”

Qiao Mo smiled with lowered brows: “The marquis is right—it should indeed be replaced with a new one. By the way, how did the investigation go?”

Shao Mingyuan dusted off his clothes, sat down, and took the warm water handed to him by his guard. He took a sip, but upon tasting it, couldn’t help but pause and look at the guard.

The guard explained: “Miss Li said that since the general travels constantly, drinking honey water would be more soothing for your throat.”

Shao Mingyuan quickly glanced at Qiao Mo, wanting to maintain a calm expression, but his upturned lips betrayed his mood: “Miss Li said that?”

If only his brother-in-law weren’t here, he would have asked several more times. Hearing about Zhaozhao’s concern for him from someone else felt wonderful.

“Yes, Miss Li said that. Miss Li also said it’s already late and you shouldn’t drink tea,” the guard added.

Shao Mingyuan nodded repeatedly: “I understand.”

The guard lowered his head to hide his smile.

Was the general being foolish? Why tell him, “I understand”? He couldn’t relay that to Miss Li anyway.

Qiao Mo looked deeply at Shao Mingyuan, his smile slightly freezing.

When had his elder sister become so concerned about this fellow? She had even secretly instructed the guards to prepare honey water for him, and he didn’t even know!

Young Master Qiao felt a deep sense of helplessness at his sister being carried off by a wolf, and his gaze toward Shao Mingyuan grew increasingly profound.

Sensing his brother-in-law’s strange look, Shao Mingyuan immediately restrained his smugness and coughed twice: “Brother-in-law, what were you asking just now?”

Qiao Mo lightly tapped the armrest of his chair and said coolly: “The marquis doesn’t have a very good memory.”

Someone maintained his composure as he lifted the cup and drained it: “After drinking the honey water, I remembered. Brother-in-law was asking about the investigation, right? The Three Judicial Offices will work through the night organizing case files and cross-referencing the account books, striving to preliminarily compile the list of implicated officials by tomorrow.”

Qiao Mo nodded silently.

Seeing this, Shao Mingyuan consoled him: “Don’t worry, brother-in-law. His Majesty has given the order, so those people will work diligently. You should be summoned in a couple of days.”

As the victim in the Qiao family fire case, Qiao Mo would certainly appear in court.

“That’s good. The marquis has been busy all day—go wash up and sleep.”

“Brother-in-law should also rest early.”

Shao Mingyuan returned to his quarters, removed his clothes, and stepped into the steaming bathtub. His robust, tall frame slowly submerged into the water. Since the cold poison had been expelled, his exposed skin was no longer as pale as before but had taken on a faint wheat color.

“You may leave,” Shao Mingyuan dismissed the personal guard attending his bath.

When the door closed, he completely relaxed, picked up a ladle to pour water over himself. The hot water washed over his solid frame as warmth flooded his heart.

Zhaozhao had secretly instructed the guards to prepare honey water for him—

Shao Mingyuan closed his eyes, a slight smile playing at his lips.

So this was what it felt like to be constantly thought of by someone.

His Zhaozhao was surely the best wife in the world.

Night fell quickly.

Winter nights were very quiet—no bird songs or insect chirps, only the occasional north wind gently tapping against the window frames.

Many people slept soundly, but many others found it difficult to sleep through the night.

The Ministry of Justice offices were brightly lit, with shadows moving against the window screens. The subtle rustling sounds of turning through case files, though faint, seemed very clear in the deep night.

A clerk knocked and entered, beaming as he addressed the busy officials: “Esteemed lords, this humble one has been ordered by the Minister to bring you a midnight meal.”

One official put down his brush and asked with a smile: “What kind of meal? I’m getting a bit hungry.”

Having worked busily until now, everyone was both hungry and tired.

“Bird’s nest porridge,” the clerk said, opening the food box and taking out bowls of bird’s nest porridge.

“Bird’s nest porridge—how nice,” a young official smiled.

The clerk delivered the bird’s nest porridge to each official in turn: “Our Minister instructed that you’ve all worked hard and shouldn’t have to suffer with empty stomachs.”

All the officials laughed and began sipping the porridge in small mouthfuls.

On such a cold night, a bowl of bird’s nest porridge was naturally extremely comforting.

The clerk stood silently to one side. Seeing everyone finish their porridge, he approached with lowered eyes to clean up.

“Alright, you may go. We still need to continue with the case,” the young official said, but suddenly felt his vision blur. Before he could finish speaking, he fell asleep.

The clerk watched coldly as everyone fell asleep one by one, a smile playing at his lips.

He gently set down the food box and searched for a long time before finally finding the two most important account books. He removed the lamp shade, brought it close to ignite them, and only breathed a sigh of relief after they had burned to ash. He then knocked over the oil lamp and silently withdrew.

Soon flames shot skyward, and those who discovered the fire shouted: “This is terrible—fire!”

“The lords are still inside—”

Voices clamored in chaos. After two quarters of an hour, the fire was extinguished. The officials rescued from the room had regained consciousness and were all in a sorry state.

Minister of Justice Kou Xingze had taken a brief nap due to his advanced age, never expecting such a major incident to occur during his short rest. He was so anxious that his face turned ashen.

“What exactly happened?”

The officials who had just experienced the fire looked bewildered.

Kou Xingze’s face turned iron-blue with anger: “Did all of you fall asleep?”

He hadn’t said he was going to rest—it was these bastards who said he was too old to stay up all night and strongly urged him to take a short nap. Could it be that after persuading him to leave, these people just wanted to sleep collectively?

“Minister Kou, don’t rush to interrogate the details. Let’s first see what was lost,” the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review reminded him.

Naturally, Kou Xingze couldn’t lose his temper with people from other offices, so he glared at Vice Minister of Justice Li Guāngyàn.

Li Guāngyàn raised his sleeve to wipe his face, immediately adding two streaks of black soot that made him look particularly comical.

However, no one was in the mood to laugh at this moment—everyone felt heavy-hearted.

“Why are you all standing around dumbfounded? Hurry and check what was burned,” Li Guāngyàn said. As the second-in-command of the Ministry of Justice, he felt utterly humiliated today, first being severely scolded by his superiors about the Jia Feng investigation, and now encountering this situation.

He had an ominous premonition and led the inspection.

One department head’s face turned deathly pale, his lips trembling: “This is, this is terrible—”

Everyone looked at him.

The department head’s complexion was already as ugly as death as he stammered: “Those two account books… are completely, completely burned…”

“Minister Kou—” the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review quickly supported Kou Xingze, who nearly collapsed.

“Burned completely? Are you certain?” Kou Xingze’s vision darkened repeatedly as he barely managed to steady himself with the Court Minister’s help.

The department head’s face was ashen, as if the sky had fallen. He covered his face and wept: “This subordinate is not mistaken—those two account books were placed on this very shelf—”

“Search again!”

After a frantic scramble, everyone present looked as if they were in mourning.

“Sir, sir, what should we do now?” an official asked Kou Xingze carefully.

The Minister of the Court of Judicial Review sensed something was wrong and gently pushed Kou Xingze, his face changing dramatically: “This is terrible—Minister Kou has fainted.”