After a chaotic scene of people tumbling and horses falling, everyone sat silently in the room with dazed expressions.

All the materials they had organized today were burned to ashes. Most importantly, both account books were completely consumed by flames. When dawn came, how would they explain this to His Majesty?

“What exactly happened with this fire?” Minister of Justice Kou Xingze had been vigorously pinched at his philtrum by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court until he regained consciousness. Now appearing to have aged a decade, he asked weakly.

The room fell into deathly silence.

“Speak!” Kou Xingze slammed his hand on the desk.

A young official said cautiously, “We were busy working when a clerk came to deliver our late-night meal on your orders. After this subordinate finished eating, I somehow fell asleep without knowing when—”

The others chimed in one after another: “This subordinate was the same. After eating the late-night meal, I seemed to fall asleep very quickly. When I regained consciousness, it had become like this…”

Both the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate looked toward Minister of Justice Kou Xingze.

From these officials’ words, it wasn’t difficult to deduce that there was likely something wrong with those late-night meals.

Kou Xingze’s hands trembled violently as he angrily said, “What clerk? I was sleeping at that time. How could I have ordered someone to deliver late-night meals to you? Don’t you use your brains?”

The group of people hung their heads after being scolded, wanting to retort but not daring to.

They had been so drowsy their eyes could barely stay open, and their stomachs kept rumbling. Who would have thought there was something wrong with the clerk delivering the late-night meal?

This was the Ministry of Justice’s offices, not some teahouse or tavern.

“Can you still remember what that clerk looked like?”

Everyone hung their heads even lower.

“Have you all become mute?” Kou Xingze was getting on in years, and being angry now made his head dizzy. He had to force himself to calm down.

What calm? Who could stay calm? When His Majesty found out, he would surely have them all executed!

“My lord, that clerk kept his head down the whole time. This subordinate didn’t pay attention at the time…”

“Didn’t pay attention? I think you were all focused on eating!” Kou Xingze was so angry that his whiskers twitched up and down.

The Chief Justice sighed deeply: “Minister Kou, let’s think about how to handle the aftermath.”

As he spoke, he exchanged glances with the Left Censor-in-Chief, both showing helplessness in their eyes.

The account books were burned in the Ministry of Justice offices. Their responsibility was smaller, but only by a tiny bit.

The Three Judicial Offices were jointly reviewing this case. When problems arose, none of them could escape responsibility.

“That clerk is certainly no longer in the offices now. I think we shouldn’t waste time on him for the moment,” the Chief Justice said.

“With the account books burned, how should we explain this?” the Left Censor-in-Chief asked.

The Chief Justice looked deeply at Kou Xingze: “Minister Kou, let’s go next door to talk.”

The top officials of the Three Judicial Offices went next door to deliberate.

“Minister Kou, how do you think we should explain this to His Majesty?” the Chief Justice asked.

Kou Xingze opened his mouth, then suddenly raised his hand to his forehead: “My head hurts terribly. I’m getting old and not useful anymore.”

The other two: “…” This isn’t fair! Who made the rule that being old means you can be shameless?

“Does Chief Justice Zhang have any ideas?” Kou Xingze asked while glancing out the window, murmuring, “Dawn is approaching.”

Chief Justice Zhang’s mouth twitched.

How did this become his problem?

Of course, without a solution, none of them could escape. The three were grasshoppers tied to the same rope.

Chief Justice Zhang said tactfully, “Natural disasters are much more acceptable than man-made calamities.”

At their current status and position, some things didn’t need to be said too explicitly – a hint was enough.

The officials worked through the night reviewing the case, fell asleep from exhaustion, and an oil lamp accidentally overturned and ignited the account books. This was much better than having someone infiltrate the Ministry of Justice and drug a group of officials.

The former could be directly attributed to an accident, while the latter would raise many questions.

What was that clerk’s true identity?

If he were an outsider, how did he infiltrate the Ministry of Justice offices? Were all those guards just for show? If he were from the Ministry of Justice, who originally recommended this clerk? And whose orders was he following to do such a thing?

Where was the clerk now? If they couldn’t produce the person, didn’t that mean these people were incompetent?

The chain of problems this would trigger was enough for His Majesty to strip all three of them of their official robes.

“What do you two lords think?” Chief Justice Zhang asked tentatively.

The Left Censor-in-Chief’s face was dark as water. After thinking for a long time, he said, “Even if it’s a natural disaster, His Majesty will probably still be furious.”

“That can’t be helped,” Chief Justice Zhang sighed.

They were going to be unlucky – it was just a matter of how unlucky.

“Minister Kou, what’s your view?”

Kou Xingze closed his eyes and remained silent.

Chief Justice Zhang’s mouth twitched as he raised his voice: “Minister Kou!”

Was this old fellow asleep?

Only then did Kou Xingze open his eyes, glance at his two comrades, and say in a heavy voice, “Why don’t we invite Marquis Guanjun over to see if there’s any solution?”

“With the account books burned, what use would inviting Marquis Guanjun serve?” Chief Justice Zhang didn’t understand his meaning.

Kou Xingze, thinking of his grandson-in-law Shao Mingyuan as a last desperate measure, sighed and explained, “One of the account books was brought back by Marquis Guanjun after all. What if Marquis Guanjun made a copy?”

Chief Justice Zhang and the Left Censor-in-Chief exchanged glances and couldn’t help shaking their heads.

Marquis Guanjun was just a military man – would he think to copy account books?

No, even they wouldn’t bother with such troublesome work when away from home.

“Regardless, let’s invite him over to ask,” Kou Xingze said, rubbing his temples.

At Marquis Guanjun’s residence, Shao Mingyuan was sleeping soundly when his guard whispered, “General, wake up. Someone from the Ministry of Justice is here.”

Shao Mingyuan opened his eyes alertly and rolled out of bed: “What’s the matter?”

The guard handed him his outer robe. Shao Mingyuan took it and put it on, then draped the fox fur cloak hanging on the screen over his shoulders before striding out.

The Ministry of Justice offices were brightly lit. When Shao Mingyuan arrived with the official who had been sent to fetch him, he swept his eyes around and immediately knew something had happened.

Kou Xingze and the other two were waiting in the inner room. When they saw him enter, they all stood up.

After exchanging greetings, Shao Mingyuan looked at Kou Xingze and asked respectfully, “What matter requires Minister Kou to summon me?”

In such circumstances, he naturally had to address Kou Xingze by his official title rather than as grandfather.

“There was a fire in the study tonight. Those two crucial account books were burned,” Kou Xingze said straightforwardly, his feelings quite complex when facing this tremendously powerful grandson-in-law.

Upon hearing this, Shao Mingyuan’s expression showed little change.

On his way here, he had already noticed signs of fire damage, with wet black water still pooling on the ground. Combined with being summoned in the dead of night, he had already had a vague idea of what had happened.

Seeing Shao Mingyuan’s unchanged expression, Chief Justice Zhang asked with delight, “Has Your Lordship made other preparations?”

“Hmm?” Shao Mingyuan raised an eyebrow slightly.

“The account book about Xing Wuyang’s collaboration with foreign enemies was brought back by Your Lordship. Did Your Lordship perhaps make another copy?” Chief Justice Zhang asked hopefully.

They had no hope for the other account book, but if they could preserve one, His Majesty’s punishment would be lighter. After all, what truly enraged His Majesty was originally the account book documenting Xing Wuyang’s collaboration with foreign enemies.

Shao Mingyuan shook his head: “This Marquis did not make another copy.”

The last hope of Kou Xingze and the other two was completely extinguished, but then they heard Shao Mingyuan’s tone change: “However, that account book can still be recovered.”