Chapter 171 Unable to Find the Direction of Justice

The candlelight inside flickered slightly in the breeze. Jin Shu lowered her eyes, pondered for a moment, and said, "This subordinate does not know." She added, "Why didn't Your Highness tell Lord Yun what you were thinking just now?"

Li Jin remained silent, then dipped his hand in the ink.

After a moment, he said slowly, "Because I don't even have a 50% chance of being right."

Jin Shu understands this.

If Tang Si were truly pardoned, it would be tantamount to announcing to the world that the dozens of people in the Shengzhou government were no match for a lacquerer in dealing with a vicious villain.

This is tantamount to saying that the prefect of Shengzhou is incompetent and cannot even remove a malignant tumor like Xuan Yutang.

It would also worry the Crown Prince, who feared that Prince Jing might use this case to his advantage and uncover any wrongdoing by the Ministry of Revenue.

No matter how I look at it, there's no reason to grant permission.

"If that's the case, why does Your Highness still want to try?" she asked.

Li Jin picked up his pen, looked at the memorial in front of him that was already half-written, and after a long while said, "The will of the people."

"I, Li Jin, am first and foremost a human being." He continued writing, "Only then, am I the Prince Jing of Great Wei, and only then am I the head of the Six Doors..."

The laws of the Great Wei Dynasty are dead, but people are alive.

Li Jin is gambling, gambling that this time, Li Yi's heart will also stand with the people's hearts, and will also beat and be vibrant.

As for the tug-of-war in the imperial court, or even the possible punishments that the Shengzhou government might face...

He looked at the memorial in his hand and smiled faintly.

Yun Jianlin had already gone all out; if he wasn't afraid, why should Li Jin be?

The memorial was sent to the palace by express courier at night. Before dawn, Li Yi had just gotten up when he saw the golden memorial in Eunuch Lin's hand.

He spread his arms wide, changing his clothes while scoffing, "The sun must have risen in the west; Li Jin is even submitting a memorial now." He narrowed his eyes slightly, "Could it be that he's going to report to the Ministry of Justice about sending assassins at night?"

After saying that, he took the memorial, raised his hand, and unfolded it.

With slightly sleepy eyes, he paused for a moment when he saw the beautiful small characters on the memorial.

He could hardly believe his eyes and looked at the memorial in his hand over and over again.

Li Yi slammed the clapper shut and tossed it into Eunuch Lin's arms, raising an eyebrow at him: "The sun really has risen in the west!"

He put on his dragon robe, pondered for a moment, and walked away with a meaningful smile. After a long while, he stroked his beard, turned around, and pointed to the memorial in Eunuch Lin's arms: "Tell him to handle it himself. This is his duty, and I will not interfere."

He stepped over the threshold, then paused: "Oh, and also, although I don't care how he handles it, he at least has to do it in a way that leaves no room for anyone to catch him red-handed."

Upon hearing this, Eunuch Lin's face lit up with joy: "His Majesty is indeed still on Prince Jing's side."

Li Yi waved his hand: "What's the use of taking sides? Let's talk about survival first." He snorted coldly, "The Crown Prince is quite composed, but Xu Weiyou and Pei Yide may not be."

He walked under the stars, gazing at the still-sleeping Great Wei Imperial Palace: "Both of them have been caught red-handed this time, and they might do something desperate."

"Wouldn't it be better if a cornered dog jumped over the wall?" Eunuch Lin understood Li Yi.

Only when a dog is cornered will it jump over the wall, allowing Li Jin to catch it red-handed.

He smiled slightly and said softly, "Your Majesty, it's time for the morning court session."

Li Yi glanced at the memorial in his arms, put his hands behind his back and smiled, becoming increasingly eager to see what earth-shattering things his two sons would do next.

As he stepped over the threshold, he casually asked, "Has the matter in Dingzhou been settled?"

“It’s all taken care of, Your Majesty, please rest assured.” Eunuch Lin smiled and followed behind him.

"Okay." Li Yi nodded and walked towards the Taiji Hall.

Once this is done, no one will be able to easily exploit Li Jin's biggest weakness: "Jin Shu is a woman."

As he walked, gazing at the vast expanse of stars, he felt that Li Jin and Jin Shu truly resembled him and Consort Xiao from back then.

But the next second, thinking of Consort Xiao, who was in the cold palace and suffering from illness, his heart suddenly tightened, and he felt so painful that he couldn't breathe.

Let's wait a little longer; it will take some more time.

Li Yi gazed in the direction of the Cold Palace and sighed.

The imperial edict arrived earlier than expected, but Tang Si, who was in the imperial prison, did not see it.

He came carrying a poison.

When Jin Shu woke up in the morning, the first thing she saw was Tang Si being carried out of the cell, bleeding from all seven orifices, with a smile on her face as if she were asleep.

Her heart skipped a beat.

Li Jin held the imperial edict in one hand, stood in front of his corpse, and sighed deeply.

“Let him be buried with his family,” he said. “May they be reunited in the afterlife.”

He looked at the imperial edict in his hand, a hint of despondency flickering in his eyes.

"Unfortunately, he didn't live to hear the news of his pardon."

Everyone present, standing in the sunlight, seemed as if time had stood still, as if the years had frozen.

Jin Shu felt as if she had been punched hard in the chest, making it hard to breathe.

For the first time, she didn't even have the thought of going forward to examine the body. She just stood there, looking at Tang Si as if she were asleep.

She couldn't speak.

It wasn't until Li Jin turned around and looked at her face that Jin Shu managed a feeble smile, lowered her eyes, turned around, and returned to her room. She sat down at the table and stared blankly at the surface.

Jin Shu suddenly felt confused, wondering what the purpose of everything she had done was.

They caught the murderer, a righteous and courageous killer whom everyone praised.

He killed a vicious, wicked villain who was hated by everyone.

If it weren't for me, if I hadn't meticulously investigated and led Li Jin to focus everything on Tang Si, would he not have turned himself in? Would he still be alive as a hero of Shengzhou? Would he not have died?

She felt lost, looking at her own hands, and for the first time truly questioned the justice she was pursuing, and for the first time couldn't find her direction.

Outside, Li Jin watched Jin Shu's back through the window grille. She stood there for a long time before gently knocking on the door.

"Jin Shu," he called, "I'm coming in."

The door creaked open, and Li Jin, backlit by the light, slowly sat down directly opposite her.

Jin Shu, standing before me, had slightly red eyes and appeared somewhat reserved, quite unlike her usual self.

As for the reason, Li Jin could figure it out.

In all his time at the Six Doors, he had seen far more perpetrators who were like "heroes" than victims who were "utterly wicked."

Li Jin also went through this period, a time when she felt that what she was doing could not be considered the right thing to do.

He turned the small blue-and-white porcelain cup on the table over, opened the tea canister, took out a little tea, and brewed two cups of tea.

"Six years ago, I disguised myself and returned to the capital. I bribed an acquaintance and saw my elder brother Li Mu in the prison. He was tortured beyond recognition and covered in wounds..."

Li Jin paused, looking at Jin Shu with tender eyes: "At that time, I thought, I was all alone, spending ten years on the battlefield, leading 100,000 cavalry to protect the country and the people, but I couldn't even protect my own mother, my blood brother, or even his unborn child."

"What's the point of all that I did?"