Feng Zhiwei tightly grasped Hua Qiong’s hand and asked in a low voice, “How did you get in?”

She was somewhat worried that Hua Qiong had barged in recklessly without regard for consequences, which would still constitute an offense, major or minor.

“How could the Ministry of Justice be so easy to break into now? Even if I don’t care about myself, I must consider you,” Hua Qiong said. “Barging in would just give those people another opportunity to add charges against you, wouldn’t it? I’m not that foolish—I came in following Prince Chu.”

“Oh?” Feng Zhiwei’s eyes flashed.

“Since your case is now at the Ministry of Justice, as the imperial prince overseeing the Three Judicial Offices, no one can stop him from coming to investigate,” Hua Qiong said with a grin. “The Ministry of Justice has a whole bunch of vice ministers, bureau directors, and officials of all ranks who were all ordered about by him—one moment demanding case files, the next wanting to see evidence, then calling everyone together to discuss how to properly handle this important imperial case. As His Highness’s attendant, no one dared stop me from wandering around here and there. ‘Accidentally,’ I made my way over here.”

Feng Zhiwei couldn’t help but smile. Hua Qiong quietly leaned close to her ear and said, “I’ve been here for a while. His Highness told me not to rush, to wait until Peng Pei started torture before acting. Oh my, listening to that really made me furious—it took all my effort to hold back. Heh heh, killing that Gui Jianzhou was so satisfying!”

Feng Zhiwei patted her shoulder and also whispered, “Why didn’t anyone notify Peng Pei when Ning Yi came?”

“Well, someone would have to notify him for that to happen,” Hua Qiong said with a grin. “His Highness’s guards blocked them all.”

Feng Zhiwei’s mind wandered for a moment before she smiled and began tearing her own sleeve, saying, “Is it still bleeding? Let me wrap it for you.”

“Don’t,” Hua Qiong stopped her. “Let their physician handle it—I need to put on a show. I’m staying here now, and no one will dare touch a hair on any of you in this prison!”

She turned and lazily lay down, crossing her legs, and beckoned to the jailer who had shrunk far away. “Go, why hasn’t the physician arrived yet?”

“Go get me a bowl of black chicken soup!”

“Is the Ministry of Justice so poor they don’t even have black chicken? Isn’t it said that you often receive silver from petitioners? First from plaintiffs, then from defendants? Isn’t it said that some murderers are just slaughtering white ducks—rich people buying poor people as scapegoats to be executed? I heard the market price for a substitute is three thousand taels plus a courtyard with three entrances… Oh, the black chicken soup is coming right away? Good, I’ll stop talking.”

“…”

Miss Hua lay on the table in the Ministry of Justice’s prison, comfortably drinking chicken soup and humming little tunes, commanding a group of tearful prison officials and jailers in circles. She even said regretfully, “Alas, too bad there aren’t enough people, otherwise we could gamble at tiles.”

After a while, quilts, cloaks, and walnuts were delivered to Feng Zhiwei. Yan Huaishi came to bring supplements for his wife—but it wasn’t really supplements, it was practically a pharmacy, with ginseng, bird’s nest, and shark fin everywhere. Yan Huaishi also conveniently slipped silver notes to all the prison officials and jailers present. Between the couple’s stick-and-carrot approach, the jailers were completely won over and even diligently helped carry the supplements.

While eating the rose and gold thread cake that Yan Huaishi had sent, Feng Zhiwei smiled and pointed at the wound on Hua Qiong’s arm. “Does it hurt?”

“It hurts!” Yan Huaishi answered candidly. Just as Hua Qiong was about to glare at him, he grinned and said, “But she was right to take it. It would have been better if I had taken it instead.”

Hua Qiong gave him a smack and laughed with mock anger, “With your frail body, what could you withstand!”

Her eyes sparkled, her dark pupils bright and lively in the lamplight, full of laughter.

Feng Zhiwei watched the young couple’s playful banter with a smile, her eyes showing shallow joy mixed with faint loneliness.

Young Master Gu, who had been silently eating walnuts the whole time, watched the couple seriously, tilting his head as if pondering something.

Yan Huaishi couldn’t stay long. After delivering the items, he left, but not before winking at Feng Zhiwei. Feng Zhiwei slowly nodded.

“Get some sleep early tonight,” Hua Qiong said. “I heard that today the Cabinet argued fiercely over whether this case should be tried solely by the Ministry of Justice or directly by the joint Three Judicial Offices. His Highness was very busy today—both presiding over the Cabinet to obtain a favorable decision and monitoring the Ministry of Justice to prevent any tricks today, while also being careful of anyone whispering in His Majesty’s ear. As the prince overseeing the Three Judicial Offices, it wasn’t convenient for him to see you today. He asked me to tell you that he trusts you, and you should trust him.”

“Of course I must trust him,” Feng Zhiwei said lazily, stretching. “If he can’t protect me, then this Ministry of Justice won’t be his anymore. Their brotherly rivalry has reached the point where they might as well draw blades. On the battlefield for imperial power, no one can afford to lose.”

“I’m staying here because I’m afraid someone will torture you with sandbags tonight,” Hua Qiong said comfortably as she lay down and smiled. “I know you probably have your own arrangements, but I’ll only feel at ease seeing it with my own eyes.”

“Who could be more suitable to stay here than you?” Feng Zhiwei squeezed her hand and said softly, “Sleep now.”

She slowly lay down to sleep on her own soft, comfortable cloak. Beneath the cloak was the straw of the Ministry of Justice prison, rustling with sound. In those fragmented sounds, she thought of her mother and younger brother. Back then when they were in the imperial prison, were they lying on straw like this? Was the pampered Feng Hao very frightened? How did Mother comfort him?

At that time, no one came to visit, no one shed their blood and protected them with their own body, no one sent warm, soft cloaks. On the last night of their lives, holding a heart full of fear and sorrow, they slept on moldy, rotten straw.

The sound of the watch drum in the distance carried here, already sounding empty and desolate. The dim yellow light of the oil lamp cast a gloomy glow on the dark shadows in the prison, which seemed to writhe slightly, looking like countless departed figures walking in silent, slow procession.

In the quiet breathing, Feng Zhiwei lay with her eyes wide open, unmoving.

After a long while, tears gradually gathered at the corners of her eyes, growing larger and larger until they finally formed heavy, trembling arcs that couldn’t bear the wind’s trembling and slowly flowed down the corners of her eyes, silently seeping into her temples.

That patch of dark hair was instantly dampened.

This was the first time in two years she had truly shed tears for her mother and brother’s deaths. All the tears she had shed that day in Ning’an Palace before Emperor Tiansheng had been an act—she was crying, but her heart was burning with grief and fury.

Later, during that night of vigil, carrying the coffins away in the heavy snow at dawn, personally digging two graves in the forest on the outskirts of the capital—through all of it, she had not shed tears.

She kept the bloodiest memories buried deep in her heart, not allowing herself the indulgence of grief.

She only let the tears flow in her heart, daily soaking through her bitter years.

Tonight, in the same prison, the past came flooding back, echoing the footsteps of that year’s cold, snowy march.

Tears fell silently.

Across from her, Gu Nanyi suddenly opened his eyes and listened quietly in the darkness.

Though he clearly couldn’t hear anything, he seemed to hear everything clearly.

Tears fell silently.

But suddenly, distant flute music drifted over.

Feng Zhiwei was startled.

Her first thought was that it was Zong Chen. She remembered he was extremely skilled at playing the flute, but because she often heard him play, she was familiar with his flute sound—his playing was ethereal and light, like drifting clouds, with a vast and profound air. This flute music, though not inferior to his in technique, was clear and deep, warm and gentle. Though the melody was somber, it contained no mournful or melancholy intent. Instead, it subtly possessed a transcendent and expansive quality that made listeners feel both tender and broad-minded.

The flute is an ethereal instrument that easily produces mournful tunes, but this flute music was special.

The Ministry of Justice compound was vast, and this dungeon was deep underground. For the flute music to reach here proved the player was using internal energy. Using internal energy to play the flute couldn’t last long, or it would easily cause internal injury.

Feng Zhiwei concentrated and listened quietly in the darkness, almost cherishing each rise and fall of the melody. The tune was very unfamiliar, not one circulated in the court or marketplaces. It began plainly, with a wandering quality that made one think of tentative hesitation and pacing—those subtle emotions of wanting to approach but not daring, wanting to retreat but unable.

Gradually it became deeper and heavier. Between each tightening, sinking, falling, and rising, suddenly arose light, joyful notes—melodious and prolonged, brilliant and radiant, like clouds parting to reveal the moon, like ocean tides surging beneath the moon.

Listening to that melody, Feng Zhiwei’s lips gradually curved into a smile. At this moment, she felt spiritually connected to the flute player, knowing that right now, that person must also be immersed in heartfelt joy.

However, that light, lively sound lasted only an instant. Suddenly there was a turn, almost becoming a broken note. Feng Zhiwei’s heart jolted at the sound. The flute music suddenly changed to high and passionate, like a silver vase shattering with rolling wind and thunder, like lightning and thunder in the nine heavens—light rising, clouds forming, fire bursting, stars falling… heaven and earth splitting into a vast, impossible-to-bridge chasm…

Feng Zhiwei’s eyes widened in confusion. The tear tracks at her eye corners had long since dried. Now she focused entirely on waiting for that flute music, wanting to know what the next movement would be.

The flute music rose again, slightly melancholy, carrying a sense of bewilderment and helplessness that made one’s heart tighten. Feng Zhiwei’s fingers curled slightly as she waited in her own heartbeat for the flute sound to sink into eternal sorrow.

However, the flute sound didn’t continue sinking. Instead, it gradually turned tender—soft and delicate like the fine rain of spring, following the wind to penetrate silently and nourish things without sound. Not startling or shaking, not forcefully seizing, clear and shallow yet patient, wandering and meandering again and again, like a breeze roaming through the vast universe, impossible to find yet omnipresent.

In such seemingly present yet absent melody, Feng Zhiwei suddenly felt tired. Listening to this flute performance was like hearing one person’s tumultuous life journey. At the end, after all the glory bloomed and faded, there remained only the wish for peaceful years.

The turbulent sea of her heart, as if illuminated by moonlight, gradually became calm.

She closed her eyes and fell asleep.

In her dreams, vaguely, that flute music remained, so distant, tirelessly soothing for so long.

When dawn came, Feng Zhiwei opened her eyes feeling energized and vigorous, her eyes so bright they could kill.

Though she never suffered from insomnia over the past two years, she had many dreams—plagued by nightmares and mental exhaustion. She had even asked Zong Chen for medicine, but it wasn’t very effective. She knew it was a heart ailment.

Last night, listening to the flute in the dark prison, somehow it matched her state of mind, and before she knew it, she had fallen into deep sleep. She didn’t even have a single dream. This night in the dark prison turned out to be her best sleep in two years.

Remembering that in her dream she seemed to vaguely hear the flute music throughout, Feng Zhiwei felt secretly grateful. She didn’t know how long that person had played—this method of playing was very harmful to the body. She hoped he hadn’t suffered internal injury. She figured someone with such skill and expertise must be Zong Chen. She didn’t know where he had learned this new melody. Feng Zhiwei planned to personally thank him in person once this matter was resolved.

Hua Qiong, seeing her in good spirits, said with a grin, “I kept hearing flute music last night. Did it disturb you?”

“You found it disturbing?” Feng Zhiwei looked at her in surprise.

“Not really, it sounded quite nice, but I didn’t feel anything special,” Hua Qiong said, stretching and getting up.

Feng Zhiwei remained silent, thinking that indeed, different melodies are played for different people. Without a matching state of mind, the feelings would naturally be different.

Last night she had originally thought something would surely happen and hadn’t planned to close her eyes, but unexpectedly it was calm and peaceful. She had even been lulled to sleep by the flute. She didn’t know how much effort Zong Chen, who was arranging guards outside, had put in.

With a creak, the prison door above opened. A man whose face couldn’t be seen clearly stood at the entrance and called out loudly, “Summon Minister of Rites Wei Zhi for joint trial—”

Hearing those words “joint trial,” Hua Qiong’s face showed joy. She smiled and said, “Good, joint trial!”

A joint trial by the Three Judicial Offices would at least prevent the Ministry of Justice from tampering with case files and testimonies alone, and large-scale torture to extract confession would be impossible.

A single phrase “joint trial” sounded simple, but achieving it under these circumstances was not easy at all. Feng Zhiwei’s mind wandered again before she smiled.

Peng Pei, his face dark, came down with a group of Ministry of Justice officials. With a wave of his hand, jailers came forward and opened the cell door. Holding up a set of ordinary shackles, they raised them toward Feng Zhiwei with some difficulty, saying, “This is the regulation, my lord. Please bear with it.”

Feng Zhiwei smiled and extended her hands. Across from her, Gu Nanyi suddenly gave a cold snort.

Yesterday he had broken a jailer’s finger with just a pebble. The jailer, frightened, quickly fumbled for a smaller set of shackles from his person.

Gu Nanyi snorted again and lowered his head to search the ground, apparently looking for pebbles.

The jailer had no choice. In the end, he produced what appeared to be women’s fine chains and said with a bitter face, “My lord, these are the lightest…”

Feng Zhiwei smiled at Gu Nanyi and mouthed the words “wait for me to go home together,” then cooperatively let them put on the shackles. Peng Pei and his group stood far away on the steps, keeping their distance from Hua Qiong, who was roasting walnuts over a fire, afraid that if they got too close, this crazy woman would raise her hand and flip the brazier onto them.

Hua Qiong grinned at them, thinking to herself that they were smart.

Feng Zhiwei was escorted out surrounded by a large group of guards. Hua Qiong suddenly called out loudly, “Peng Pei, I heard your daughter married into the Li family of Minnan and just gave birth to a son? Congratulations, congratulations! I heard your grandson was born weighing seven jin and eight liang? Very sturdy? Congratulations, congratulations! I heard your son was just appointed to the Military Selection Bureau as treasury officer at the Ministry of War? Such a lucrative position! Congratulations, congratulations!”

Having his family’s affairs, large and small, revealed by Hua Qiong in just a few words, Peng Pei suddenly stumbled…

The joint trial court was still set up at the Ministry of Justice. The Ministry of Justice presided, with the Court of Judicial Review and the Censorate participating in the trial. Grand Scholars Hu Shengshan and Wu Yuanming, all the imperial princes, and Chief Eunuch Jia from the Emperor Tiansheng’s Nine Instruments Hall attended the trial—quite a luxurious lineup. The last time there was a similar lineup was during the founding era’s Duke of Wu’s treason case.

Several imperial princes each had their own table arranged in a row on the left side of the hall, all leisurely drinking tea. Among them, Ning Yi kept coughing. The Second Prince glanced over sideways and said with a smile, “What’s wrong with Sixth Brother today? Too exhausted yesterday? Or didn’t sleep at all last night?”

“Nothing compared to Second Brother’s exhaustion,” Ning Yi said, his hand forming a fist and placing it at his lips as he coughed a few times. His voice was slightly hoarse. “I heard several newly taken wives at your prince’s mansion have been visiting quite frequently lately. Spring chambers must be lonely? Second Brother has always been vigorous as a dragon and fierce as a tiger—how is it you can no longer provide equal favor and attention? Ha ha.”

The Second Prince’s smile froze—the princes all had concubines in their mansions, some they took themselves, others sent by their brothers. The former were fine, but everyone knew the latter were actually spies. The Second Prince had originally thought he had already cleared out the concubines in his mansion, having dealt with those Ning Yi had sent over. But hearing Ning Yi’s tone, it seemed they hadn’t been completely cleared. His mansion’s minor wives often socialized with subordinates’ female relatives through wives’ circles, and Old Six even knew about it!

He calculated how to conduct another major purge when he returned to the mansion, and thus forgot to continue his cold mockery. He laughed it off and glossed over it.

“Bring in the prisoner—”

The row of officials and princes with brilliant feathered caps and buttons all raised their eyebrows and couldn’t help sitting up straight. Only Ning Yi remained leaning sideways, slightly frowning, thinking this form of address sounded really unpleasant when applied to Feng Zhiwei.

The clear, delicate sound of shackles rang out. Ning Yi’s brow furrowed again. Then he saw in the doorway’s backlit silhouette the slow approach of a youth in plain cloth robes.

Having shed his official robes and wearing only everyday white cloth robes, the youth walked calmly among a group of armored guards, his pace neither hurried nor slow, his expression somewhere between a smile and neutrality. He looked nothing like a prisoner being escorted for trial, but rather like the court official he usually was, being escorted to court on a normal day.

Everyone put on wooden expressions while inwardly admiring this young man’s unbroken composure. Only Ning Yi examined him thoroughly with his gaze—from the expression on his face down to the fingernails on his hands, everything underwent detailed scrutiny in an instant, yielding basically satisfactory results.

Peng Pei, suppressing a chest full of angry fire, waited until Feng Zhiwei swaggered up to the hall. He struck his gavel and said sternly, “You there! Prisoner in the hall, why don’t you—”

Before he could finish, and before the officials on all sides could react to stop the somewhat out-of-line Peng Pei in astonishment, Feng Zhiwei, with a crisp “thud,” knelt down very smoothly.

Peng Pei was stunned. He had wanted to intimidate Feng Zhiwei and humiliate him while he was at it, but the man had no backbone at all and knelt so proactively and consciously. It was like his fist had struck cotton.

“From what place—”

“Wei Zhi, from Luoma Village, Changting County, Liuzhou Prefecture, Shannan Circuit. Born in the thirteenth year of former Cheng Jia Long. Father Wei Jing, mother Yin Furong.” Feng Zhiwei recited his false background fluently. “…In the thirteenth year of Changxi, specially selected by His Majesty from Qingming Academy, successively served as Scholar of Zhaohua Hall, Right Middle Allowance of Right Spring Chamber, Director of Qingming Academy, Compiler of ‘Records of Tiansheng,’ Vice Minister of Rites…”

Chief Eunuch Jia from the Nine Instruments Hall, sitting to one side, said with a smile, “This Lord Wei has held so many positions in just two years.”

Everyone immediately turned their smiling gazes toward him—though Eunuch Jia was a eunuch, he was an old hand who had served by His Majesty’s side since the Emperor ascended the throne. Having survived years of palace turbulence in that murderous place, he could never be a simple character. Today he was sent to observe the trial, actually representing the Emperor’s personal presence. No one dared take him lightly.

Old Jia was someone close to Emperor Tiansheng and always discreet and cautious, rarely expressing opinions on any matter. These words today made Peng Pei and others exchange glances—could Eunuch Jia’s meaning be that this young man rose too quickly, that it was improper?

Eunuch Jia’s meaning could very well be His Majesty’s meaning.

Some people grew excited, while others frowned. Eunuch Jia chuckled and waved his hand, saying, “This old servant was impertinent and shouldn’t have spoken out of turn. This old servant understands nothing. Please proceed with the trial, my lords.”

Peng Pei gave a cold laugh. After Feng Zhiwei finished his recitation, he said sternly, “Wei Zhi, why don’t you confess your crimes of neglecting your duties, betraying His Majesty’s favor, and stealing the spring examination questions one by one…”

“This guilty minister Wei Zhi received a bribe of five thousand gold from people of the Jianghuai Circuit, students of Qingming Academy including Li Changyong. On the night of the second day of the third month in the fifteenth year of Changxi, I first used the pretext of a banquet at Yan Chun Wine House to steal the personal keys of Vice Ministers You and Zhang of the Ministry of Rites. Then I directed Gu Nanyi, a fourth-rank armed imperial attendant, to enter the Ministry of Rites at night, kidnap the night-duty official Ji Jiang, a bureau director of the Ministry of Rites, bind him in the cellar beneath the south wall of the Ministry of Rites’ rear kitchen, then infiltrate the secret archives’ locked cabinets to secretly copy the examination questions for the fifteenth year of Changxi spring examination. Gu Nanyi then transferred them to Li Changyong, who made multiple copies of the questions intending to sell them, before being discovered by night patrol soldiers of the Imperial Capital Prefecture…”

Amid the hall full of dumbfounded officials, Feng Zhiwei spoke faster and faster, his tone flat without any inflection, like reciting from memory. Finally he suddenly stopped, raised his head, and smiled.

“…The above is the complete ‘confession’ that Minister of Justice Peng Pei directed his subordinate sixth-rank prison official Gui Jianzhou to prepare in advance last night, intending to force Wei Zhi to confess under severe torture!”

“You!”

Peng Pei leaped to his feet amid the commotion in the hall. “Complete nonsense!”

“What nonsense?” Feng Zhiwei raised his eyes and glared at him sideways. “You tortured me with severe punishment, your subordinate Gui Jianzhou tortured me with the punishment of ten thousand snakes biting—”

“Lies!”

“Shameless!”

“Falsely accusing in court—you’re seeking death!” Peng Pei sneered. Since the torture wasn’t actually carried out yesterday, there was no evidence to prove otherwise.

“Openly denying in court—you’re incompetent!” Feng Zhiwei also sneered. Did you think that because the torture wasn’t carried out, this lady couldn’t do anything to you? Fool.

“Lord Peng,” seeing the two of them squaring off like fighting roosters, Grand Secretary Wu of the Cabinet couldn’t help but remind him. “That prison official Gui Jianzhou—where is he now? Just summon him to question and confront the accusations.”

This was clearly helping Peng Pei. He didn’t ask whether Feng Zhiwei had torture wounds, but asked about Gui Jianzhou instead. Gui Jianzhou was Peng Pei’s subordinate and a prison official—even if brought directly for questioning, he certainly wouldn’t admit to it.

Peng Pei opened his mouth and froze. Gui Jianzhou was already dead, but the cause of death couldn’t be explained clearly. Yesterday, afraid of being blamed, he hadn’t dared publicize this matter and had directly reported to the Imperial Capital Prefecture that it was an accidental drowning. If he brought up Gui Jianzhou’s cause of death now, it would inevitably lead to Hua Qiong, and once Hua Qiong was involved, it would lead to the reason for the killing. By then, who knew what that terrifying mouth might say?

“Gui Jianzhou drowned accidentally last night,” he said after deliberating for a long while, ultimately ignoring someone’s pointed look and saying coldly, “His family has already buried the body today.”

“Died at such a convenient time…” The Tenth Prince muttered, propping his head up. His voice wasn’t loud, but everyone could hear it clearly.

“Bang!”

Just as he finished speaking, a drum sounded in the distance. The sound was deep and powerful—just one beat, but everyone heard it clearly. Immediately a jailer rushed over and said, “My lords, someone is beating the drum to appeal for justice—”

“At a time like this, what appeal!” Peng Pei said furiously. “Have the clerk record it first!”

But the jailer didn’t leave, stammering, “They say it’s an appeal regarding the stolen examination questions case…”

Peng Pei’s heart tightened. Just as he was thinking of a reason to refuse, Ning Yi above spoke first: “Summon them!”

It was just one word, brooking no argument. Some wanted to obstruct, but Ning Yi was the highest-ranking person present. If he really pulled rank, no one could say anything.

Then they heard someone approaching with large strides while laughing loudly, “What Ministry of Justice is this? This is a dragon’s den and tiger’s lair! From the dark prison to the main gate, ten groups of people tried to stop me!”

Hearing this voice, Feng Zhiwei’s heart immediately filled with warmth.

Peng Pei’s complexion changed.

The light and shadow at the doorway flashed, revealing the dashing Hua Qiong holding a drum mallet, tossing it up and down playfully. Seeing Peng Pei, she raised her hand and threw the drum mallet at him with a bang, laughing, “Your appeal drum isn’t very sturdy! It broke after one strike! Your Ministry of Justice can’t withstand scrutiny!”

The drum mallet whistled through the air as it smashed toward him with fierce momentum. Peng Pei’s face paled with fright. He no longer dared maintain his dignity and with a swish jumped backward. The drum mallet hit the ground and shattered into two pieces.

“Hua Qiong!” The Second Prince said sternly, “If you want to appeal, then appeal. If you cause more disturbance in court, we’ll have you thrown out!”

“Who said I’m appealing?” Hua Qiong glanced sideways at him. Everyone in the hall was startled.

“Then you…” The Minister of the Court of Judicial Review began questioningly.

“I’ve come to confess!” Hua Qiong raised her head high, looking more like she was receiving an honor than confessing. “I killed Gui Jianzhou!”

The entire hall fell silent for a moment. The Tenth Prince again very timely muttered, “Huh, didn’t they say he drowned accidentally?”

“Who was spouting nonsense in court telling you he drowned accidentally?” Hua Qiong smiled fiercely. “What fell was a dog’s life, what he fell into was filthy water! Yesterday, sixth-rank prison official Gui Jianzhou, at Lord Peng’s direction in the Ministry of Justice’s dark prison, attempted to torture the current court official Wei Zhi with the punishment of ten thousand snakes. I happened to be visiting Lord Wei and witnessed it. I tried to persuade him, but Gui Jianzhou, completely deranged, actually tried to stab me with a knife—” She swiftly rolled up her sleeve, revealing the wound deliberately wrapped in layers upon layers, turning a three-inch wound on her arm into something like a club. “I had no choice but to defend myself, and in dodging, I accidentally killed Gui Jianzhou—I’ve come to confess today!”

“You!” Peng Pei nearly fainted from anger. Before he could say anything, Hua Qiong suddenly took a step back, grabbed Feng Zhiwei’s sleeve and rolled it up, saying, “Words without proof—here are the torture wounds!”

Everyone craned their necks to look. On Feng Zhiwei’s arm were numerous wounds, deep and shallow, showing blood-red colors that looked very much like something had bitten them. Everyone gasped at seeing that bloody red mass.

“Ten thousand snakes…” Eunuch Jia’s face went white. “The Ministry of Justice has such a terrifying punishment?”

“Ten thousand snakes!” The Tenth Prince looked nauseated and said angrily, “Killing is just a matter of a nod of the head! Is there any need to be so vicious?”

The moment Hua Qiong rolled up Feng Zhiwei’s sleeve, Ning Yi, who had been leaning sideways, immediately sat up straight. His eyes flashed over and after looking carefully twice, an amused expression appeared in his eyes. He covered his face with his teacup and leaned back again, but his mouth was shouting angrily, “Peng Pei! Who gave you permission to abuse private torture before the joint trial even began?”

“My lords, Your Highnesses, Eunuch Jia—” Feng Zhiwei only called out this one mournful cry before bowing down with eyes full of tears.

His thin shoulders were like a crane about to take flight but with broken wings, trembling pitifully in the wind with such grievance.

Except for certain people, the entire assembly sighed. Seeing how the national hero and first-rank official who had been welcomed into the capital by all officials not long ago had suddenly fallen to imprisonment and suffered such calamity, everyone felt the sorrow of the hare grieving for the dead fox.

Feng Zhiwei didn’t say a word but achieved the height of grace.

Peng Pei had long been frozen in place. After a long moment, he suddenly jumped up and shouted furiously, “You’re making things up! You’re falsely accusing! We never tortured you at all—”

“Lord Peng!” Feng Zhiwei raised his head sorrowfully, his eyes blazing as he stared at him. “Seeing is believing—you still have the nerve to deny it?”

“You’re falsely accusing!” Peng Pei was frantic with rage. “Falsely accusing in court—you call yourself a first-rank official?”

“Denying when caught in the act—you call yourself the nation’s foremost criminal justice official?”

“Why would I torture you?” Peng Pei was driven mad by this brazen false accusation. The veins in his neck bulged. “You confessed so quickly yourself—there was no need to torture you at all!”

“Yesterday you forced me to confess to this!”

“What you confessed wasn’t this at all!”

“How wasn’t it this?”

“You clearly confessed that you were a Great Yue spy, saying something about being directly under Great Yue’s Prince An’s Thousand Mechanisms Guard…” In his extreme rage, Peng Pei blurted this out. By the time he realized he had said the wrong thing, it was too late.

“A Great Yue spy?” Ning Yi swiftly sat up straight, his expression serious. “Minister Peng, why didn’t you immediately report such important case information to me?”

“Thousand Mechanisms Guard?” The Tenth Prince widened his already round eyes. “I’ve heard of that! Great Yue’s premier spy organization, specially dispatched to various countries!”

“Why wasn’t such a major case immediately reported to the Cabinet?” Grand Secretary Hu said, narrowing his eyes.

Sweat began appearing on Peng Pei’s forehead.

“Everyone,” the Second Prince, who had been unable to get a word in, couldn’t help but speak. “If Wei Zhi truly is a Great Yue spy, the case is far more serious than the stolen examination questions—that’s a crime punishable by extermination of nine generations of relatives. Wei Zhi isn’t stupid—why would he not confess to a lesser crime but confess to a serious one?”

“Second Brother makes an excellent point,” Ning Yi immediately picked up the thread. The Second Prince didn’t relax though, his eyes blazing as he stared at him. Sure enough, he heard him say casually, “But since the prisoner made such a confession, according to our Tiansheng legal code, regardless of what the prisoner confesses, it must be recorded on the spot and reported to the relevant authorities for investigation—Lord Peng, I did not see this confession in Wei Zhi’s case files. When I summoned you last night to inquire about the case, you also did not mention this matter to me.”

“Your Highness…” Fine sweat began seeping from Peng Pei’s forehead. His voice was low as he said, “The accused spoke complete nonsense, nothing but absurd words—saying his codename was ‘Rising Higher and Higher,’ that his capture at Pucheng and difficult escape were all a ruse to gain His Majesty’s trust, steal a high ministerial position, intend to disrupt Tiansheng’s national talent examination with the stolen questions case, incite student unrest, collude with seditious elements, coordinate with Tiansheng’s border army generals who would march on the Imperial Capital under the pretext of clearing out treacherous ministers, while Great Yue dispatched a million troops to the northern frontier in support… Complete nonsense from beginning to end—how could I dare present such things to His Majesty’s ears and cause His Majesty’s fury, wrongly initiating a major investigation?”

“It sounds very reasonable,” the Tenth Prince said, suppressing a smile, his large eyes blinking. “I think there isn’t a single flaw—why do you think it’s absurd, Lord Peng?”

“Lord Peng, this is where you’re wrong,” Minister Ge Yuanxiang of the Censorate, a jinshi degree holder who had recently been promoted and hadn’t yet been drawn into the muddy waters of officialdom, spoke purely on the merits of the case. “No matter how absurd a prisoner’s testimony, it should still be faithfully recorded and investigated. This is precisely what makes criminal justice fair and transparent. There is no provision that says if you suspect a lighter crime, you can avoid investigating a more serious one, nor any provision that says if the Ministry of Justice finds it absurd, you can avoid investigation. Lord Peng, though you’re not from a criminal justice background, you should still understand national law and code. This conduct and these words are truly difficult for people to accept.”

“This prince also cannot accept Lord Peng’s last statement,” Ning Yi said, sipping his tea and speaking leisurely. “What do you mean ’cause His Majesty’s fury and wrongly initiate a major investigation’? His Majesty is brilliantly wise with supreme intelligence—what’s true and false, who’s right and wrong, would naturally be clear as black dye on white cloth once it reached him. Why speak of ‘wrongly initiating’? Could it be Lord Peng thinks His Majesty is the kind of mediocre ruler who would wrongly take up arms based on a minister’s casual words?”

These words were extremely serious. Eunuch Jia gave a timely cold snort. The Second Prince opened his mouth but ultimately couldn’t say anything. He glanced at the Seventh Prince for help, but the Seventh Prince was concentrating on examining the newly embroidered fan tassel on his fan case.

How could the narrow shoulders of the civil official Peng Pei bear the serious crime Ning Yi had so lightly added? He hurriedly stepped down from his seat, bowed toward the south, and said in a trembling voice, “This humble minister would never dare think such things…”

“You’ve already done such things,” Ning Yi still smiled faintly and spoke gently, yet every sentence was a killing blade. “I truly don’t know where Lord Peng gets such audacity—to dare use a single word ‘absurd’ to dismiss matters of military and national importance. If one day Jin Siyu truly does have his troops at the gates of the Imperial Capital, should we dispatch Lord Peng to shout ‘absurd’ from atop the city walls to repel Great Yue’s million-strong army?”

Pressed step by step by Ning Yi, Peng Pei felt panicked and his hands trembled. His lips quivered as he kept retreating, finally bumping into the Seventh Prince’s table with a bang. The Seventh Prince immediately stood up and steadied him, then turned and smiled, saying, “Lord Peng made mistakes in this matter. The torture confession was due to being too anxious to solve the case—excessive haste is understandable. Failing to record the interrogation was careless. He should remember to add the record later and submit a memorial of self-criticism to His Majesty. Now that this matter has been reported to Sixth Brother, you still need to report it directly to His Majesty for separate handling. But we were ordered here today to try the spring examination case, and His Majesty is still waiting to hear the results. Why don’t we each handle our own cases—set aside the rest for now and try this one first?”

Grand Secretary Wu of the Cabinet also smiled and said, “Seventh Prince truly speaks with mature wisdom! That’s exactly how it should be.”

Feng Zhiwei had just taken advantage of Ning Yi’s offensive to get a little rest. Now she opened her eyes to look at the warmly smiling Seventh Prince, thinking that Old Seven was known as the Worthy Prince with an excellent reputation throughout the court and country. Seeing him now, he was indeed flawless—those words were both reasonable and appropriate, lightly glossing over Peng Pei’s mistakes while imperceptibly returning to the main topic. Formidable.

She half-raised her head and met Ning Yi’s eyes above. Ning Yi was leaning sideways, hand supporting his forehead, his wide sleeve half-fallen to reveal a wrist bone as delicate as jade. But Feng Zhiwei thought he seemed to have lost some weight, and couldn’t help giving him a faint smile, her eyes conveying the meaning “thank you for your hard work.”

Ning Yi glanced at her, coughed once, and quickly turned his head away. He coughed again, a faint red appearing on his neck that against his jade-like skin looked enticingly vivid.

Feng Zhiwei was somewhat surprised, thinking why was this person so weak today? After saying just a few more sentences, he already looked exhausted. Could yesterday’s efforts to secure the joint trial by the Three Judicial Offices really have been that difficult?

“Lord Wei,” Peng Pei was wiping away sweat while Minister Zhang Yong of the Court of Judicial Review temporarily assumed questioning duties. “Regarding the crime of leaking the spring examination questions that the Ministry of Justice charges you with, do you have anything to say?”

“Yes.”

“Please speak.”

“Since I have not confessed to this crime and Gu Nanyi has yet to be interrogated,” Feng Zhiwei smiled, “I would like to ask you lords—this statement that clearly explains the causes and consequences of an examination leak case—how did you come to know of it?”

The entire hall showed thoughtful expressions. Yes, when the parties involved haven’t given testimony, where did this passage that explained everything so clearly come from?

“Only someone who participated in the matter would know the ins and outs most clearly, isn’t that right?” Feng Zhiwei said meaningfully with a sinister smile.

“But that’s where you’re wrong,” Peng Pei finally calmed down somewhat and looked at Feng Zhiwei with eyes that could kill, smiling fiercely. “Don’t think you can escape responsibility by deflecting here and there. Just because you won’t confess doesn’t mean no one will! Haven’t you heard that circumstantial evidence can also pile up like a mountain?”

He spoke with some satisfaction, but when he turned around to return to his seat and glanced at his master, he saw him sitting with a frown and an expression of hesitation and unease. This made his heart skip a beat, but at this point, the arrow was on the string and had to be released.

He struck the gavel with a “crack.”

“Bring in the witness!”

The jailer’s long, drawn-out call echoed and reverberated into the distance.

“Bring in—the witness—”