Chapter 23, Part Twenty-Three: Farewell
Throughout the journey, Jiang Linzhi remained composed, bathed in the dim light of the carriage.
Lu Huantang was somewhat uneasy, after all, he had just secured a place for himself beside Jiang Linzhi when he encountered Nan Jinping. Moreover, the two had a falling out, which was naturally because Jiang Linzhi had stolen Nan Jinping's fiancé. Such a big grudge would make things even more difficult. So Lu Huantang said directly, "I am not a member of the Nanyang Prince's Mansion, Miss, you can rest assured."
Jiang Linzhi smiled faintly, "Even if it were you, I wouldn't care."
"If the previous private matters involved Miss, I am willing to accept punishment."
“Nan Jinping has been targeting me for a long time, it has nothing to do with you, so you can rest assured,” Jiang Linzhi reassured him instead.
Seeing that Lu Huantang still seemed willing to accept punishment, Jiang Linzhi said, "Most people think that two men must fight over one woman, and two women must fight over one man, and that everything in the world is inseparable from love and pleasure. That's because they rely on these cheap and vulgar topics for amusement every day in their dull and boring lives. Do you think the story of me helping Nan Jinping kill her unfaithful lover is more exciting, or the story of me stealing her man, her falling deeply in love with him, and clinging to me even after his death, is more dramatic and suspenseful?"
People always use their own narrow perspectives to pry into the affairs of others and speculate on their intentions, so they can only imagine a love affair in bed based on their own imagination.
Even more tragically, most people deeply believe in such illusory things, and even think that this is the truth.
This didn't sound like Jiang Linzhi's style, but Lu Huantang still chose the former and boldly asked, "Is Miss helping Princess Nanyang?"
Jiang Linzhi grinned, "Of course not. I just happened to have something to do at the time, and her fiancé's family was blocking my way. It was just a coincidence. Besides, who am I? Using the princess to do my dirty work, isn't that more reasonable?"
As expected, Jiang Linzhi's kindness came with conditions.
“But I am indeed curious,” Jiang Linzhi suddenly said, “you are naturally a womanizer, so why are you so respectful and polite to me alone?”
"Miss is different from them."
"How are the laws different?"
Inside the carriage, the young man's eyes were like a lake reflecting the moonlight—bright, but lacking warmth. He spoke earnestly, "They are like flowers. You can pick one or two to smell occasionally, and no one will die without flowers. But Miss is like water. Without water, I cannot survive for more than three days."
Very frank, a utilitarian, shameless frankness.
Jiang Linzhi was not surprised by what Lu Huantang said, and even nodded in agreement, "That makes sense. Remember to hand over the things in Wuming Village to Chen tonight. You will take office tomorrow, and it will be difficult to see each other after that. Given the Regent's personality, you will probably be going to the border. After that, I won't be able to help you much. You will have to rely on yourself for everything."
Most of the border troops were the regent's men, and someone who served two masters like him was certainly not going to have an easy time.
During his time in the nameless village, Lu Huantang would often send Jiang Linzhi small gifts along with his letters, which could be considered as a different kind of affection developing between them. However, after meeting Nan Jinping tonight, it was almost impossible to gain Jiang Linzhi's help through physical attraction and personality alone; he had to find another way.
Lu Huantang said, "Miss didn't eat much at the palace banquet, how about I take you to a private restaurant to find some good food?"
Upon hearing about the delicious food, Jiang Linzhi instantly became excited, but remembering that she had an appointment with Qi Lingjun, she said, "Go ahead, eat and get some rest." Then she walked to the backyard alone.
Lu Huantang hadn't expected Jiang Linzhi to refuse so decisively. Seeing that Qi Lingjun's room was dark, he realized that he still had a long way to go to make Jiang Linzhi bound to him in any way. He carried a lantern and used a breastplate to illuminate the path she was about to take.
Jiang Linzhi paused, turned around, and smiled, "Don't worry, I'm not angry or uncomfortable. You should go back and get ready."
Lu Huantang nodded, shook the lantern to illuminate the path ahead, and said with a smile, "Come in quickly, Miss."
Wishing you a happy and healthy new year, and see you next year.
There was no heavy snow, no plum blossoms, no sentimental scenery whatsoever. Yet, years later, when Lu Huantang walked alone on a winter night, he would always think of that carefree, laughing girl.
Turning into her own courtyard, Jiang Linzhi saw that the house was brightly lit, and she felt a warmth in her heart. She ran into the house.
Qi Lingjun was still writing something at his desk when he saw Jiang Linzhi return. He put down his pen, added coal to the pot, and said, "We just slaughtered a yellow sheep today. The kitchen is making yellow sheep meat hot pot."
With the mutton hot pot on the table, Jiang Linzhi immediately forgot her regret at not being able to eat the private kitchen dishes earlier. She threw her coat and belt aside and was about to sit down.
Qi Lingjun said, "Wash your hands."
Jiang Linzhi quickly finished washing up, shook the water off her hands, and grabbed a large piece of pork rib from the pot. The rib was served with a sesame sauce dish, and Jiang Linzhi kept breathing out hot air from the heat. After swallowing the meat, she finally felt her whole body come back to life.
"Where's Chen? Let's call him over too," Jiang Linzhi suddenly said.
Qi Lingjun helplessly rolled up her sleeves, which were about to fall into the bowl, and said, "He's not keeping vigil alone."
Jiang Linzhi almost forgot that Chen had gone to visit the soldiers on the frontier. She smiled and stuffed a big mouthful of meat into her mouth, then didn't ask any more questions.
The girl in front of him had bright red ears, like a newborn rabbit. Qi Lingjun reached out and touched her ears. "Not wearing a veil?"
"Knowing you must be getting impatient, I just got off the carriage and ran over here, I ran away."
Qi Lingjun had no reason to blame her anymore. He picked up a handful of vegetables and put them into the pot to cook. He originally wanted to give them to Jiang Linzhi, but thinking that it was the last day of the year, he didn't force her to eat the vegetables and put them in his own mouth instead.
Lu Huantang, on the other hand, felt no disappointment. The excitement of his promotion overshadowed the minor setbacks of the day. He touched the embroidery on his fifth-rank official robes, his eyes gleaming with undisguised ambition as he welcomed his new identity tomorrow.
Before dawn, the crows fly.
Lu Huantang was awakened by the commotion outside. He quickly dressed and went out to see a group of constables in black robes barging into her inner palace. They immediately said that three corpses had been found on the ice of Mirror Lake and suspected that she was involved, and that they wanted to take her away.
Jiang Linzhi rubbed his eyes and yawned, "Arresting people without any evidence?"
"Princess Nanyang saw it." The leader dropped a bombshell.
Jiang Linzhi nodded, "Okay, let her confront me face to face. Anyway, it's not like she's only just started to dislike me."
“The Princess of Nanyang is of noble status and cannot be seen by Miss Jiang at will,” the head constable said coldly.
Qi Lingjun helped Jiang Linzhi get dressed, his voice not loud, but it carried an irresistible power: "I've long heard that the people in the Censorate are impartial and upright, but now I see that even in the face of the law, status and family background matter."
Feeling slighted, the head constable angrily retorted, "Who do you think you are, daring to speak here?"
"Since rank can be absolute, why don't you tell me who died? Let's see if their status is high enough to drag me into the Censorate for severe interrogation." Jiang Linzhi sat on the bed, looking at the Censorate official with a cold smile.
"Is my status sufficient?" Jiang Jinyi came upon hearing the voice, stepped directly into the inner room, looked at the two people leaning against the bed, and frowned. "Take them away directly."
Jiang Linzhi pushed away the constable's hand, chuckled, and raised his hand, saying, "Then I'll have to trouble Your Highness."
Only a servant would hold his master's hand; Jiang Linzhi's actions were a blatant insult.
Jiang Jinyi was naturally unwilling, but then he heard Jiang Linzhi say, "If I'm not mistaken, my residence has already been sealed off. Your Highness probably doesn't want His Majesty to know before there's a result, right?"
With Jiang Yan's interference, Jiang Jinyi couldn't do anything to Jiang Linzhi. So Jiang Jinyi thought he should first make Jiang Linzhi confess his crimes, and then the rest would be up to the emperor.
Jiang Jinyi grabbed Jiang Linzhi's arm tightly and pulled her up.
Once everyone had left, Qi Lingjun asked Lu Huantang, "What happened last night?"
Lu Huantang didn't know what Jiang Linzhi and Nan Jinping had done, so he said, "She didn't let me go with her when she went out to get rid of the smell of alcohol, and there was nothing unusual about her meeting with Ali."
Jiang Linzhi hadn't given Qi Lingjun any hints, so it seemed Jiang Linzhi could handle it on his own. But Qi Lingjun was still worried. He went to the kitchen, took some damp wood, and lit it. Blackish-yellow smoke drifted out of the chimney.
This was Jiang Linzhi's first time entering the Supervisory Department. The room was laid out like a chessboard, with straight passageways, yet it exuded a sinister atmosphere.
Jiang Linzhi was tied to an interrogation chair. She looked at Jiang Jinyi with amusement, "Your Highness has condescended to interrogate me personally?"
"You know that dead man, don't you?"
"Don't know him/her, is he/she male or female?"
“The youngest legitimate son of Minister Li, the illegitimate son of Colonel Wang, and the nephew of Imperial Son-in-Law Lin.”
Jiang Linzhi nodded. "So what? What does it have to do with me?"
Seeing that Jiang Linzhi was unmoved by reason, Jiang Jinyi remained calm. He twirled the eagle ring on his hand and said slowly, "Princess Nanyang said in person that you pushed them into the water. I don't want to waste any more words with you. Quickly confess your guilt."
Jiang Linzhi laughed and said, "Then I'll say it was Your Highness who pushed them in."
"Jiang Linzhi! Do you think this is a vegetable market?" Jiang Jinyi glanced at him coldly and said even more calmly.
If Jiang Jinyi were to rebuke him angrily, Jiang Linzhi wouldn't panic. After all, only dogs that don't bite bark wildly; only dogs that bite dislike being born. They were confident of victory, a single, fatal blow.
“Without evidence, anyone can say whatever they want. When did the Censorate become so hasty in its interrogations?” Jiang Linzhi suppressed his anxiety, raising his eyes to look at Jiang Jinyi’s angry expression with neither servility nor arrogance. “I’ve heard that the Censorate likes to extract confessions through torture. I didn’t believe it before, but after seeing this today, I can’t help but believe it. Besides…” Jiang Linzhi looked at Jiang Jinyi even more ambiguously, “Your Highness should know better than anyone else where I was last night, shouldn’t you?”
This was a provocation, but Jiang Jinyi, who had interrogated countless people, wasn't fooled by it at all. He snorted and said, "This is nothing. Since Miss Jiang has a blackout, let me help you recall it."
Jiang Lin glanced at the strange, gleaming torture devices around him out of the corner of his eye, swallowed hard, but forced a smile and said, "Okay."
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