To protect himself, Lin Shikai insisted that he didn't know the prisoner had been replaced, since he wasn't in charge of escorting him.
If someone below him makes a mistake, he is guilty, but at most he will be implicated and punished. However, if he admits that he released the person, he will be deceiving the emperor and his life will be in danger.
Unless there is solid evidence, he will insist that he is innocent.
Seeing that he spoke with such conviction, as if he had been framed, the emperor did not insist on convicting him.
Qin Zhuo brought Han Yin in, saying he had killed a witness.
Coincidentally, Han Yin also said that he was innocent.
He also suspected that Qin Zhuo had killed him, even though Qin Zhuo arrived later. He felt that Qin Zhuo had deliberately gone there first to wait for him, just to frame him.
"Absurd, utterly absurd!"
Qin Zhuo didn't even need to explain; everyone else found his statement laughable.
Han Yin originally wanted to save his uncle, but now he almost got himself into trouble. However, if he wanted to get away with it, he could only make such absurd statements. Shen Changlin's poisoning was a foregone conclusion. If he couldn't come up with an explanation, he would really become a murderer.
Seeing the situation was getting tense, the Minister of Justice rushed over and presented the emperor with an answer: "Your Majesty, I interrogated all the officers and soldiers, and finally someone stepped forward to identify the head constable Li Erzhu. Li Erzhu's mother is seriously ill, and he has been borrowing money everywhere to treat her. His family is dirt poor, but the day before yesterday, someone saw him buying roast chicken. I sent people to search his house and found several doses of medicine he had just bought, as well as some silver on his bed."
The tray presented the silver, which gleamed brightly, along with three large silver ingots, a handful of broken silver, and a bag of copper coins. This was clearly not the property of someone who was so poor that he had to borrow money everywhere.
Lin Shikai sighed: "It's him, Your Majesty. He is a filial son, honest and dutiful, and careful in his work. I promoted him myself. I beg Your Majesty to consider his filial piety and punish him leniently."
With just a few words, seemingly pleading for leniency, he actually sealed Li Erzhu's fate.
The emperor sat firmly on the high platform, his expression unreadable, his eyes flickering. He waved for someone to leave.
Two quarters of an hour later, the eunuch came out with the decree of judgment: "Lin Shikai, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, was negligent, lax in managing his subordinates, and careless in handling affairs. He has deeply failed my favor. He is hereby dismissed from his post as Vice Minister and demoted to the position of Director of the Ministry of Justice, to be observed for his future conduct."
The Minister of the Imperial Guard was a second-rank official, the Vice Minister was a second-rank official, but the Director was demoted to a fifth-rank official, a drop of four ranks.
Lin Shikai's body trembled as he bowed his head: "Your subject...accepts the imperial decree and expresses his gratitude."
The emperor only demoted Lin Shikai, while Li Erzhu and Han Yin were naturally imprisoned. Their cases would be further investigated by the Ministry of Justice and the Court of Judicial Review.
Lu Hong, the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, wiped the sweat from his brow. "Thank goodness, I've saved my official hat."
Upon seeing the young man standing tall to one side, Lu Hong cupped his hands and bowed deeply, saying, "Thank you, Lord Qin."
If Qin Zhuo had sent the body directly to the palace, and the Han family had received the news first and made preparations, who knows who would have been dragged out to take the blame?
Yes, they all knew that Li Erzhu was being used as a scapegoat, but sometimes the truth is hard to uncover.
However, the fact that he was demoted four ranks for a single oversight is enough to prove that the emperor was as clear-headed as a mirror.
Qin Zhuo looked at him, his expression becoming much more serious: "Lord Lu is a rare good official. I am not a good person, but I can distinguish between good and bad."
There was no flattery or attempt to win him over, yet he struck a chord with Lu Hong.
Regardless of their character, which official wouldn't want a word of praise from others?
Flattery becomes insincere after a while, but straightforward and heartfelt words, which don't need fancy embellishment, feel genuine.
"Lord Qin is indeed sincere."
Qin Zhuo nodded, his expression indifferent, as if he had only said something insignificant.
Seeing this, Lu Hong felt more at ease. It seemed that Qin Zhuo had only helped him out of the ordinary and had no intention of using this as a pretext to make him loyal to the Crown Prince.
His uprightness and honesty impressed him.
He remembered this favor.
Shen Changlin's body was sent to the Ministry of Justice, where he was unexpectedly reunited with his son.
The imperial prison could not hold Han Yin. His grandfather was the Duke of Han, and his father was the Governor of the Northern Frontier. They held great power and controlled the local government. There were no fewer than ten uncles and relatives who served as officials in the court, not to mention a group of officials who were connected to them and belonged to the same political party.
Even if Han Yin is guilty, the Han family can still make a profit, not to mention that they can't really put him to death right now.
However, Qin Zhuo did not intend to kill Han Yin. In short, he would not kill him, but he would not let him have an easy time either.
------
Shen Ning remained in a daze for three days before finally waking up. When she saw herself lying in an unfamiliar place, her first thought was not panic, but relief.
She's still alive! She thought she was going to die.
Solomon's seal, that's right, Solomon's seal!
"Oh, the girl is awake."
A maid in green came closer, her pretty face entering Shen Ning's line of sight. She stood very close, her dark eyes scrutinizing her.
"Girl, are you awake? Can you hear me?"
Shen Ning raised her hand, and the maid quickly grabbed it: "I'm here, would you like some water?"
The maid in purple quickly poured water over and carefully fed her two spoonfuls with a spoon.
Shen Ning was finally able to open her mouth, her voice hoarse: "Yu Zhu, Miss... how is my Yu Zhu...?"
The maid in green replied with a smile, "She's awake and staying in the front room. However, her head injury is quite severe, so she'll probably need to recover for longer than you."
Shen Ning knew that Yu Zhu was seriously injured, but as long as she was alive, that was all that mattered.
Having survived the ordeal, tears streamed down my face uncontrollably.
The maid in green exclaimed in surprise, "Why are you crying? You've survived a great calamity, and good fortune is sure to follow. All your suffering is over."
After a while, Shen Ning suppressed the sob in her throat and said, "Thank you both, young ladies."
The maid in purple smiled and said, "We are just following orders. Please thank my master, young lady."
Knowing Shen Ning's doubts, the two smiled mysteriously: "We cannot disclose the master's identity. You will know when he arrives, Miss."
Shen Ning truly didn't know who had saved her, because her eyes were covered in blood and she was in a state of extreme panic, so she didn't pay attention to anything else.
"How should I address you, ladies?"
The maid in green said, "My name is Lümei, and her name is Ziyan. We've been watching over you these past few days."
Zi Yan pulled over a small table: "Now that you're awake, have some porridge to soothe your stomach. We'll bring you food later. Eating something will help your injuries heal faster."
The two gently helped Shen Ning up, but even with the gentlest movements, the pain from the pulling of her wounds still made her break out in a sweat.
No, it should be said that she had been in pain all along, but she didn't even realize it when she woke up.
After eating the porridge, Shen Ning watched as the two women changed her dressing. Hearing them say that she had been having recurring fevers for the past few days and couldn't take the medicine, she felt even more grateful to them and to the person who had saved her.
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