Ding Yi looked at his own lord and hesitated for a moment. “Not yet.”

Yan Sanhe stood up. “Buyan, accompany me outside for a walk.”

Li Buyan: “Alright!”

As Yan Sanhe passed by Pei Xiao, she paused briefly and spoke coldly.

“Pei Mingting, face—that thing is useful in the inner chambers but useless in prison.

Useful in favorable circumstances but useless in adversity.

Useful on a wealthy young lady but useless on a prisoner.”

Pei Xiao looked up at Yan Sanhe, the red filling his eyes bit by bit. After the door closed, the red finally turned to tears that rolled down.

Xie Zhifei reached out and pressed on Pei Xiao’s shoulder, patting it lightly a few times.

Pei Xiao turned his face away, sniffed, his voice choked with emotion.

“I only worried about whether they’d be bullied inside, but never imagined she would… Why couldn’t she just wait a little, endure a little?”

Xie Zhifei looked at him, momentarily unable to speak.

They had traveled this road through wind and rain, day and night, running horses to death—all to get the Ji family out earlier.

But it turned out fine—they hadn’t given up, yet she had!

Li Buyan and Yan Sanhe were not wrong by half a word. What a waste of the suffering and hardship they’d endured these past two months.

“Collect your tears. Now’s not the time to cry. Once those two shrewd women see this, they’ll mock you again.”

Xie Zhifei patted Pei Xiao’s shoulder a few more times, his gaze shifting to Ding Yi.

Ding Yi fell to his knees with a thud. “My lord, this servant lied. It was eldest brother who was worried about your health, my lord, and ordered this servant to wait here for you.”

“I figured as much. Get up and answer questions.”

Xie Zhifei: “What torture was Uncle Ji subjected to? Can he endure it?”

Ding Yi climbed up. “He took fifty strokes of the rod in total. Imperial Physician Pei spent some silver to go in and check on him once. The injuries aren’t too severe.”

Xie Zhifei paused, then reacted. “Censor Lu and the Northern Bureau still showed mercy out of consideration for the Crown Prince’s grandson!”

Though Censor Lu didn’t like using torture when trying cases, when he did use it, he definitely wouldn’t be soft-hearted. Fifty strokes of the rod meant nothing to him—it wasn’t even torture at all.

As for the Northern Bureau, if Cai Si wasn’t willing to turn a blind eye, let alone Imperial Physician Pei—even a fly would have trouble getting in.

“Has he… confessed?”

“Lord Ji refused to confess no matter what, taking all responsibility upon himself.”

Xie Zhifei glanced at Pei Xiao.

Ji Lingchuan doing this was both wise and unwise.

The wise part: The matter stops with him, not implicating more people. Given the Crown Prince’s character, as long as life remains, the Ji family won’t be badly treated in the future.

The unwise part: This way, all the crimes fall on his head. With so much silver embezzled, if the case is truly closed, the outcome will be very harsh.

Xie Zhifei asked again: “What’s the situation in the capital?”

Ding Yi unconsciously lowered his voice. “They say the Crown Prince was scolded by His Majesty and knelt for half a double-hour. The next day his leg ailment flared up.”

Xie Zhifei’s pupils contracted sharply.

The Crown Prince’s leg was lame—in cloudy or rainy weather his leg ailment would flare up. Because of this, His Majesty exempted him from kneeling during court and occasionally even granted him a seat.

Half a double-hour of kneeling as punishment was already extremely severe punishment for the Crown Prince.

Ding Yi: “After the Crown Prince knelt in the palace for half a double-hour, he returned to the Eastern Palace and placed the Crown Princess under house arrest.”

“This isn’t surprising. The Crown Prince has always been the type who can’t tolerate even a grain of sand in his eye. This house arrest is being shown to the Zhang family and to His Majesty.”

Xie Zhifei: “Oh right, has there been any movement from Prince Han’s side?”

“Reporting to my lord, after the case was handed to Censor Lu and the Imperial Guard, Prince Han’s side has shown no movement. The Ministry of Justice hasn’t made any private moves either. Everything is being conducted openly and aboveboard.”

“It appears there’s an expert behind this matter.” Pei Xiao, who had been silent, suddenly spoke, his face cleared of tear stains.

Xie Zhifei nodded with deep agreement.

Huairen had once said that Prince Han had practiced martial arts since childhood and wasn’t someone who could maintain composure.

Yet this time he showed no further moves, appearing to leave everything to Censor Lu to handle impartially, when in reality…

This was no good thing!

“There’s one more matter—this servant doesn’t know whether to mention it at this time.”

Xie Zhifei knew what Ding Yi wanted to say but didn’t dare say.

“Mingting isn’t an outsider. Just speak—what did you find?”

Ding Yi: “Reporting to my lord, our people walked through all of Shuidong County in Anhui Prefecture but couldn’t find out Miss Yan’s true identity.”

Xie Zhifei was shocked again. “Couldn’t find out even a trace?”

Ding Yi shook his head. “Not even a trace.”

Xie Zhifei: “What about his former old friends? Did you visit them?”

Ding Yi: “Reporting to my lord, whether former old friends or living Yan clan members, we visited them all one by one, but couldn’t find anything out.”

Xie Zhifei turned his face to look at Pei Xiao. “Then where did Yan Sanhe come from? Popped out of a stone crevice?”

Pei Xiao: “I’m in no mood to deal with this now. Let’s resolve the Ji family matter first. Ding Yi, the matter of Old Lady’s heart demon…”

“Mingting.”

Xie Zhifei stopped him. “What kind of person is Yan Sanhe—haven’t you figured it out on this journey? She’s more anxious than us in her heart. Don’t add pressure to her.”

Pei Xiao slumped down.

Xie Zhifei: “Come on, let’s go back to our rooms and rest. There are still three days of travel—let’s push through in one go and rush back.”

Pei Xiao propped himself up on the table to stand, pointing at his heart. “Thinking of Ninth Sister, it hurts here. Hurts badly.”

Xie Zhifei rubbed his head, his voice gentle and coaxing. “Ancestor, I know, I know it all.”

Mine once hurt countless times more than yours.

…

It was already the fifth month—though the weather couldn’t compare to Nanning Prefecture’s heat, there were already traces of summer heat in the air.

Yan Sanhe looked up at the pitch-black night.

“In Xie Daozhi’s study there’s a crooked-neck tree. Several generations of masters have changed, yet it still stands tall. In the end, people aren’t even as good as a tree.”

Li Buyan knew that though Yan Sanhe said nothing aloud, in her heart she felt endless regret for Ninth Miss.

She deliberately didn’t pick up on this and started a different topic. “On the return journey, did you think of anything?”

Everyone thought Yan Sanhe had spent the whole journey catching up on sleep. Only Li Buyan knew that in her mind, she must have pieced together all the information about Old Lady Ji countless times.

“A little.”

Yan Sanhe’s thoughts were indeed pulled back. “But I’m not entirely certain yet. I still need to see one person.”

“Who?”

“Ji Lingchuan.”

“Why him?”

Li Buyan’s face changed with shock. “Hasn’t his side already been questioned?”

Yan Sanhe’s expression was stern. “I suspect he still has some things he’s hiding from us and hasn’t said.”

Hiding things?

Why hide things?

Li Buyan’s heart pounded frantically.

…

The master and servant walked for a quarter-hour before returning to the post station.

Just as she pushed open the door, she saw Xie Zhifei sitting alone at the round table, holding a tea cup in his hand.

“Yan Sanhe, come sit.”

Li Buyan had excellent perception and without another word turned and left.

Yan Sanhe walked over.

The two sat facing each other. Xie Zhifei lifted the teapot and poured tea for her.

Yan Sanhe looked down and saw it was plain water, frowning slightly.

“Don’t frown. Drinking tea at this hour—you definitely won’t sleep at night.”

Xie Zhifei set down the teapot, his lips moved several times, wanting to speak but stopping himself.