Spring Breeze
I didn't expect the Ministry of Justice to conduct the trial until midnight. They're truly dedicated. What case is so urgent?
Aruo leaned against the iron railings, rubbing her cold arms pitifully. She knew she had dark circles under her eyes without even looking in the mirror. For the thirty-eighth time today, she wanted to cry...
It had been a long time since the last night watchman's call outside; it should be dawn. Aruo knew she wasn't a great beauty, but her skin looked smooth and tender after years of exposure to the elements. Her foundation was pretty good. But lack of sleep is the biggest enemy of beauty, and there's no exception to that. Women who don't sleep well age quickly.
Aruo sighed, rubbing his chin, and looked around the prison, which was still very dark even in the daytime. "Alas, the taxes that we, the workers, farmers, and merchants, have worked so hard to save from our daily lives are used to support these..."
A flash of red caught his eye, and the delicate embroidery on the toe of the shoe. Aruo changed his tone alertly, "We raise these good officials who fight evil for the people, eliminate violence and protect the good, and more importantly, absolutely protect ordinary and innocent people like us. Especially that Minister Su, he is simply a great judge, the Zhao Guanghan of the dynasty."
"Okay, save the flattery." Su Zirui's cold voice sounded behind him.
Aruo adjusted his expression, turned around and greeted with a smile, "Good morning, Lord Su. Does the Ministry of Justice provide breakfast?"
Su Zirui raised his eyebrows. It was the first time he saw the suspect asking about the food.
"Your suspicion has been removed, you can go." Su Zirui stood with his hands behind his back, ignoring her vulgar sitting posture that had no elegance at all, and spoke in a calm tone.
Standing up and patting his clothes, Aruo couldn't help but complain in a low voice, "I'm a first-class citizen who abides by the law. Do you have evidence to lock me up? And you still dare to say that this is not a personal vendetta?"
"What are you mumbling about?" Su Zirui tilted his head, his tone slightly stern.
"You are so kind, sir, that you have given me justice overnight. I am so grateful." Who wouldn't have a business face? Aruo instantly switched to the brilliant smile of the breakfast owner.
"Are you saying we're too slow?" Su Zirui took two steps closer, looking rather condescending. "Miss, please be careful with your words. After all, with my naturally unpleasant personality, there's no telling what I might do."
"Your Excellency, you heard me wrong. I am expressing my gratitude. When I go back, I will light a stick of incense every morning and evening to pray for your Excellency, and I will be your nephew in my next life." She was more confident than defeated. The other party's willingness to let her go gave her the confidence. Aruo crossed her arms, looked up and said with a smile.
Su Zirui sneered softly, "No need for the next life. As long as you live a peaceful life, obey the law, and don't cause trouble again, that's all that's needed."
He tilted his head to signal his subordinates to open the door, then turned and left as if he was too lazy to look any further.
Aruo made a childish face at his back.
"Oh right," Su Zirui suddenly turned around, "Zhao Guanghan was beheaded, so you... were cursing me just now?"
Frightened by his sudden turn, Aruo nearly bit her tongue. She said angrily, "Master Su, have you ever heard that men who argue with women, or even treat them as rivals, are just cowards who can't compete with others outside. They are so incompetent that they can only enjoy the so-called pedantic concept of the difference between men and women. I thought Master Su was not that incompetent, or did I misunderstand you?"
Su Zirui nodded, "Indeed, it is wrong."
"Then why is your Excellency bothering with a weak woman like me now?" Although she was wearing men's clothes, she didn't believe that the Ministry of Justice had not found all her personal information.
Su Zirui suddenly took a step forward, his entire figure almost looming over the girl who was looking up at him. The invisible pressure forced her to lean back subconsciously. A strange look flashed in his deep eyes, reflecting the face that was not panicked. "You are, at best, a suspect, not a match."
"You!" Aruo wrinkled his nose, wanting to slap him. He took a step back and stared at him unyieldingly, "Why do you think I'm a bad person? I'm obviously weak, pitiful, and helpless."
Seeing her full of energy, she looked neither weak nor pitiful, nor helpless. His subordinates were almost ready to defend her personally. Su Zirui lowered his eyes and hid his concern. "My Ministry of Justice Prison is not an inn. Don't blame me if you don't want to leave..."
"Let's go!" Knowing the current situation is Aruo's way of survival. Compared with freedom and safety, this kind of man who deserves a beating is not worth mentioning at all.
She quickly walked past him towards the corridor, and seeing Beili winking at her, Aruo hurriedly followed him.
At the corner, a staggering figure in a purple official robe slowly turned out, with a kind and elderly face beneath his gray hair.
"Eh? Isn't this..." the old man who was taken away last night? Aruo pointed at him in surprise and turned to ask Beili.
"Mr. Chen~" Beili said helplessly, "Why are you here again!"
"Haha," the old man narrowed his eyes and pointed to the innermost cell, "I want that one too."
The official behind him walked him over there expressionlessly. When passing Aruo, the old man gave her a wink, with a hint of tacit understanding, "How about it, isn't that boy pretty good?"
Aruo twitched his lips. "You're already old, how can you still lie with your eyes open? No wonder you're always in jail."
"Ahem, Aruo, over here." Beilixu coughed twice and made a gesture.
"Hey, Master Su," Aruo paused, turned around and raised an eyebrow at the expressionless Su Zirui and the others, "Is your Ministry of Justice prison... really not an inn?"
The national treasury is doing well now, and it shouldn't require everyone to generate income. The Ministry of Justice shouldn't have such a sideline, right?
The people from the Ministry of Justice, led by Su Zirui, had strange expressions on their faces, and some of them couldn't help but cover their faces with their hands because they couldn't keep a thick skin.
It was no secret in official circles that the Minister of Justice, now over 70, preferred to stay in the Ministry's prison. Everyone simply understood that Chen had dedicated decades to the Ministry, and they did their best to accommodate his special preferences. However, the Ministry's staff were a little unaccustomed to the strange looks from someone who had just been in prison.
As he stepped out of the Ministry of Justice prison, Aruo felt as if he was in another world under the dazzling sunlight.
"Aruo--" Cai Xin, who had been waiting for a long time, rushed over as soon as she saw the person, touched her all over, and only let go of the worry that had been hanging in the air all night after making sure that she was safe and sound.
When she got the news, she almost went crazy. She just wanted to go to the gambling house to see if there was a chance to win back Changsheng's mother's relics, but how could she be caught by the government? Cai Xin is still frightened. "I was scared to death. Why did I end up in jail for no reason?"
"It's okay. That crazy minister is just seeking revenge." Aruo was unsure at first, but his pointed words just now made her suspect that this man was just holding a grudge against her for blocking his way twice.
"Forget it. It's better not to provoke these officials. Luckily, Brother Xu and Beili are willing to help, otherwise you don't know what you will encounter in there." Cai Xin felt grateful when she thought about it. She would charge a lower price next time they come to the breakfast stall. "If Master Huiming hadn't been ordered to pray in the suburbs, I would have come to our door."
"Don't do that! If he gets involved, that bastard Yiyuan will definitely find out, and then I'll be in trouble." Aruo shook her head in resistance. Master Huiming was a figure like the imperial preceptor of the current dynasty, and a close friend of the famous monk Yiyuan from Yangzhou. And the relationship between Yiyuan and her...it's hard to describe.
"Don't worry, I didn't look for it, did I?" Cai Xin changed her mind and smiled cunningly, "Xiao Ruoruo, you can be considered a person who has been to the Ministry of Justice and escaped unscathed."
"That doesn't sound like a good thing." Aruo rolled his eyes rudely, looking rejecting.
"What? This Ministry of Justice is not an inn. Do you think anyone who goes in can come out safe and sound?" Cai Xin praised her as a matter of course.
"How about letting you try this honor next time? My dear." Aruo hooked his arm around her shoulders and smiled maliciously.
"No, no, no, I am not worthy of such a good thing." Cai Xin supported her chin weakly, half leaning back and acting coquettishly.
"By the way, have you paid the bail?" Aruo suddenly remembered something important and asked seriously.
"What gold? Oh, you mean the silver for bribery? Of course I need it, otherwise who do you think would be so kind as to help me contact Brother Xu." Cai Xin stood up straight as if she remembered something and wanted to take two steps back.
"How much did you give?" Aruo asked, pinching her chin.
"Ten, ten taels..." Cai Xin stammered and lowered her eyes, looking so pitiful that it made people feel soft-hearted.
"What? Four taels? I only stayed for one night. How many stars is this? This Ministry of Justice is really a rip-off!" Aruo had long developed a heart of stone towards this woman, and at the moment he was only shocked by the amount of money.
"Yes... ten taels..." Wei crossed her two index fingers tremblingly. Cai Xin, facing her suddenly changed expression, comforted her, "Hey, after all, it's the most famous prison in our dynasty... Aruo, are you, are you okay?"
"Ten taels... that's two months' worth of food for us! And it's the deluxe kind!" Aruo turned and ran without a second thought, hugging the guard's thigh. "Brother, I can stay for a few more days, or else give me back my silver!"
"Aru, stop it, you scared him!"
"Su Feng, you bastard—"
"Aru, please let go."
"Don't call me Aruo. From today on, I'm Niu Hulu, Ruo!"
……………… ……………… ………………
"Look at you, you hugged someone's legs for no reason. I almost arrested you again."
Cai Xin hooked her hand around Aruo's, afraid that she would think of the ten taels of silver and rush back in a fit of rage. It's not that she didn't care about the silver, but in that situation, as long as she had it, she would spend any amount of it.
"Alright, alright, stop nagging me. I was just anxious for a moment." Aruo clutched her chest and begged for mercy. It was no wonder she was making such a fuss. Two cents could kill a brave man, and she was just a little woman struggling for money.
The two of them were talking as they headed home. Before they reached the alley in the spring breeze, they saw firecrackers crackling. Aruo wiped his face, still recovering from the shock of losing ten taels of silver. "Is anyone having a wedding here today?"
"Sister Ruo is back~" The little boy who ran to the entrance of the alley saw the two of them and waved inside. Several little kids rushed out, "Sister, you're finally back. Were you beaten with a stick? Did you get your fingers pinched? Did you..."
Several children rushed to surround Aruo. The two younger ones couldn't compete with their older brothers and sisters, so they simply bent over and crawled in to pull at the hem of Aruo's robe.
"Go away, go away! Who's going to get beaten? Do you think your sister is a criminal?" Aruo said angrily, picking up the two little ones in each hand and walking towards the courtyard, "What the hell is this?"
A fire was burning brightly at the gate of the compound.
"Stop talking nonsense! Hurry up and step over the brazier to get rid of the bad luck." Aunt Song, who lived in the same compound, came over and pulled her along, pointing to the brazier at the gate. She also handed the two children in her arms to a plump woman nearby. "I've prepared some pomelo leaves for you. Boil water with them and wash away the bad luck."
Pomelo leaves? Aruo looked at the blazing brazier on the doorstep with a puzzled look. Looking up, he saw the warm smiles of several familiar neighbors in the spring breeze, and he felt inexplicably moved.
"Don't be so superstitious. I just stayed in an expensive inn." Speaking of the ten taels, Aruo frowned and felt extremely heartbroken. He had worked for more than two months in vain!
"Child, it's such a big deal to be in jail. Now that you finally get out safely, you must be careful to get rid of the bad energy." Aunt Song couldn't help but tap her forehead.
"It hurts, Auntie." Aruo touched her forehead pitifully. She didn't really believe in this. Besides, wasn't Auntie a doctor? How could this female doctor not be gentle at all?
"What are you standing there for? Come in quickly. We have prepared something delicious for you to get rid of your bad luck." Liang Shuxian, who came early to help, stood by the table, holding her belly and waving at them.
"That's right, come quickly! The food is getting cold." Old Cai, a middle-aged man in a Taoist robe, lived in the same courtyard as Aruo, their houses just across the street. He ran a coffin shop in Beijing and also handled funeral business. He was stroking his beard and smiling.
"Auntie, I don't have to pay for this meal, right?" Aruo swallowed. She was really hungry after not eating or drinking for a day and a night.
"What nonsense! We're treating you," said Lin Xiaoniang, who lived at the end of the alley, tending to the children. Everyone in the spring breeze knew the two girls were short of money, and they were just looking for an excuse to get together for a meal, not really asking them to pay.
"I'm touched. I love you~" Aruo hugged Aunt Song and rubbed her.
"What nonsense are you talking about? How can you say such words casually as a little girl? Come in and have dinner." Aunt Song patted her head in disdain, urging her to step over the brazier and go into the yard.
Everyone finally drove the little kids to a small table on the side and talked and laughed around the table.
"Hey, let me ask you, Aruo, when did you provoke that evil spirit?" Old Cai asked curiously after taking a sip of tea.
"Who? Do you know Lao Cai?" Cai Xin asked while gnawing on a chicken leg.
"That's the character from Zhang the Opera's jokes," Old Cai said, mentioning another neighbor who still insisted on telling opera stories in the teahouse. "By the way, don't forget to save some food for him."
"Yes, yes, you have no idea how terrifying this person is." Lin Xiaoniang picked up a few pieces of chicken and gave them to the little ghosts. She also took a bowl and gave it to the actor Zhang Liucai, and said casually.
"If you mess with him, I'll prepare the store's most valuable treasure for you." Old Cai waved his hand generously.
"Thank you. I'll keep that for when I'm old." Aruo made the reservation without hesitation. The coffins at Lao Cai's coffin shop were pretty good, and she had no taboos, so she didn't hesitate to buy something that came to her door.
"Hey, you little girl..." Old Cai was furious. Thinking of his fine willow coffin, he changed his tone, "That was just a plan. Aren't you okay? So, was that man scary?"
"Who? Su Zirui? I only know that he is the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice. It is rumored that he is very good at handling cases, and he seems to be very important. He just handled a big task of treason in Huguang and was promoted as an exception. But in my opinion, he is just a lunatic without manners." Aruo thought for a while and said the part of what the old man said last night that he still remembered.
"Oh, who told you this? We have heard a lot. This Lord Su is a ruthless character with a heart of stone." Old Cai pinched his goatee, looking very profound.
"Yes, yes, everyone says he has three heads and six arms, is strong and powerful, and comes from the battlefield." Lin Xiaoniang said.
"Mom, what does it look like to have three heads and six arms?" The boy, unwilling to be lonely, plunged into the group of adults.
"Go and play by yourself, kid. Can't you see your mother is talking to everyone about serious business?" Mother Lin slapped her son back to the small table.
"How could he be so scary? He looks quite gentle when he's not talking." Even she had to admit that this man had a good face, handsome but not gaudy, and with a gentle and refined appearance. If you didn't look at his eyes, he could be called a gentle and elegant gentleman. But he had a pair of eyes like ice chips, which was a waste of his appearance.
"He is not a weak boy. I heard that Su Zirui went to the battlefield in the northwest at the age of thirteen. He did great things in the northwest and killed countless people." Old Cai said vaguely while gnawing on a pig's trotter.
Did something big? Was it bigger than hers? She was even a bandit. Aruo curled his lips in disapproval, "Come on, a kid like this who relies on his father would only be a logistics supporter even if he goes to the battlefield. Who would dare to let him really kill the enemy?"
Su Zirui's father, Su Qing, held the rank of Guanglu Dafu and would probably be appointed as prime minister soon. He was also a close minister personally promoted by the current emperor. Even she had heard of him. He must have a strong backer, so it was no surprise that Su Zirui had such a rank at such a young age.
"No, I also heard that two years ago, a famous pirate from Jiangnan was wiped out, and it was he who led his men to do it. It is said that the pirate was extremely vicious and only robbed the rich people in Jiangnan. He also liked to kill entire families, which made the local wealthy businessmen panic. The Jiangnan officials at the time were responsible for expelling the pirates, but they ended up being killed, which shocked the court and the country. The emperor was furious, and Lord Su, who was in charge of the murders of several officials, volunteered to suppress the pirates. It was a grand event." Sometimes, Lin Xiaoniang got more gossip at the vegetable market every day than the jokes of actor Zhang.
Bullshit, did she think she had never been to Jiangnan? Those wealthy businessmen were not easy to mess with. She knew a woman who was very difficult to mess with... Compared to that person, Su Zirui could only be considered not very easy to mess with.
"What? He used his beauty to capture the pirates?" Aruo struggled hard with Ji Chi while listening to the opera distractedly.
"Oh, don't interrupt. Although he was still young at the time, he led the Jiangnan Marines to wipe out the pirates in the Fuzhou area. And because those pirates killed so many innocent people, Lord Su was furious and brandished his long sword and led his men to slaughter the entire mountain, even peeling off the people's skins and displaying them to the public. It is said that the blood flowed like a river, and the people nicknamed him the Living Yama!"
Oh... Aruo blinked her round eyes, her mouth full of chicken but unable to laugh. Where on earth did this rumor go?
Su Zirui's eyes were just a little sharp, but... the living Yama, hahahahaha——
"Aruo, you little bastard, you sprayed me——"
"What you're talking about is recent. I heard that this living Yama Luo led his troops to slaughter all the bandits on a hilltop several years ago. That was truly ruthless..." Old Cai, his beard greasy from eating, took a sip of his wine and said, "His father used some trickery to suppress this matter back then. I guess they were afraid that his reputation as a ruthless man wouldn't allow him to return to the court and serve as an official smoothly."
Aruo and Caixin were busy wiping rice grains off their clothes with Lin Xiaoniang, so they didn't hear what he said. Aunt Song glared at Old Cai unhappily, "The children are here, don't say such scary things."
"That's right. Last time, Actor Zhang told them about Ximen Chuifeng's revenge story of slaughtering Kunlun. My two little ones had nightmares for several nights back home." Upon hearing this, Lin Xiaoniang glanced at the boys who were enjoying their meal with a resentful glance. She felt helpless too. Such wild stories were obviously made up, but Actor Zhang told them so vividly that even the most outrageous stories seemed to have really happened.
"Enough of that, Aunt Song. Let's have a few more cups. I've heard that your medicinal wine is really well brewed..." Old Cai wiped the wine from the corner of his mouth and burped.
Aunt Song took one look and slapped him on the back of the head in anger, "You idiot, this is the yellow rice and red date wine that women drink to nourish their bodies!"
Don’t even think about it, she is a gynecologist!
Lin Xiaoniang and the others burst out laughing, while Old Cai let out an "ah" and was in tears.
In the small courtyard, beneath the locust tree, laughter and chatter continued, as lively as a festival. Aruo drank a glass of wine, his face becoming increasingly rosy. Looking at the familiar faces, he smiled silently.
The silver palace of the Jade Palace is shrouded in clouds and mist, and the whole family is filled with joy and laughter.
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