Mistakes (Part 7)
The Ministry of Justice was not far from the Court of Judicial Review, and they arrived in no time.
Judging from the main gate alone, it was no different from the Dali Temple. As soon as the gatekeeper saw them arrive, he ran over from a distance, and perhaps noticing that there was a woman among them, he gave her a special look.
The gatekeeper happened to be standing on the first step and refused to go up, so they never stepped onto it.
They watched helplessly as the guard raised his head, blinked repeatedly at them, and rubbed two fingers together, making a sound – he wanted money.
The Ministry of Justice is very busy, seeing many people every day, so these guards would secretly accept bribes. They would only take the visitors to the designated location after receiving the money.
If people outside are so blatant, it goes without saying that those inside are even more brazen. Chen Zhuangmu even suspects that it's related to their master as well.
She narrowed her eyes slightly and said, "I am the Chief Justice of the Court of Judicial Review. I am here to deliver the case according to regulations. You should be careful not to delay the time."
The two men casually picked at their fingernails, blew on them haphazardly, and said, "This is the rule now. What right does Lord Teramasa have to break this rule?"
That's quite a grand and dignified way to put it. No one has ever said such things to Chen Zhuangmu before. She's heard it for the first time today.
"Does Princess Rongshu have the qualifications?" she suddenly blurted out.
The four men frowned, then huddled together again, and she could vaguely hear them whispering.
"Isn't there a female official in the Dali Temple who is a princess?"
Yes, that's true.
"...So, should we give way or not?"
"You idiot, of course we should give way!" The speaker even bowed respectfully to the heavens, hurriedly saying, "What if she reports this to His Majesty, the wise and mighty Emperor? We'd be finished!"
The four of them made their decision and respectfully stepped aside. The colleagues who had come with her could finally hold their heads high here. Chen Zhuangmu was about to step over the threshold, but her legs wouldn't move.
Looking down, he saw that a child was hugging him, dressed in fine clothes and looking arrogant.
Seeing Chen Zhuangmu looking at him, she snorted defiantly and said, "You didn't pay, so why should you come in?"
She inexplicably lost patience with the child, bent down and gently shook his little arm, saying, "I'm going in, let go."
The child hugged her even tighter, and Chen Zhuangmu felt her legs hurt. The little guy started throwing a tantrum, yelling, "Ahhh, no! If you want to see my dad, you have to pay me!"
"Who is her father?" Chen Zhuangmu turned to ask the guard.
"This is the young master of the Minister's family."
Young Master… Shen Zhuangmu pondered these words, then had an idea. She smiled and leaned closer to him, saying, “If you let me in and follow your sister, she will provide you with snacks for a month.”
Upon hearing this, the little one immediately relaxed, stood in front of Shen Zhuangmu with his arms hanging down, shook his head and blinked, saying, "You're so big now, I should call you grandma."
Chen Zhuangmu felt like she'd been spat on, almost choking on her own breath. Pointing at herself, she said, "Mother-in-law? Me?"
The little one nodded solemnly, "Grandma."
"Mother-in-law it is," Chen Zhuangmu said, grabbing the little guy's clothes from his shoulder and instructing the people behind him, "Please go and deliver it first, I can't leave right now."
The two quartermasters behind her, who looked like they were always thinking, or to put it bluntly, dull-witted, assumed she was being pestered by a child and rushed inside without looking back.
Seeing that they had gone some distance, Chen Zhuangmu pulled the child behind a secluded wall and asked, "Do you know where there's a place here where there's a whole wall of books?"
The little guy shook his head.
Where do you usually read?
He suddenly grinned, "I won't look! It's all because of that wretched teacher that I'm forced to study!"
Unexpectedly, he was a young master who hated studying. Chen Zhuangmu changed her question, "Where do the adults usually carry those tall files?"
The young master pouted, pondered for a while, and said uncertainly, "Hmm... there should be a road to our left. Go to the end, then turn right, and go to the end again. That should be about it."
"Alright." Chen Zhuangmu magically produced a sweet cake from her sleeve and handed it to the young master.
Since starting her job, she has developed the habit of carrying food with her at all times, so that she doesn't have to worry about going hungry when she's busy.
The child picked up the cake and started eating it, then said, "Is there anything else you want to ask? I know everything!"
"You have to come with me."
So, Chen Zhuangmu grabbed the young master's sleeve and walked openly through one road after another. Those around her who wanted to greet her saw the child beside her and couldn't help but back away.
The road to the Ministry of Justice was not only narrow and long but also deep and secluded. After walking for a while, it suddenly opened up. This layout was completely different from that of the Court of Judicial Review. I don't know if it was because this was the place where serious criminal cases were handled in the country, but it was gloomy.
Before long, they arrived at the place the young master had mentioned. Chen Zhuangmu pulled him to hide behind a flower bed. Looking at the layers of guards in front of them, she fell into deep thought.
How do we get in?
Judging from the layout, the three rooms should be interconnected, meaning that if you enter one room, you can search within the other three. She observed the surrounding layout and the windows on the walls, and then she had an idea.
So, after whispering behind the flower bed for a while, the little guy went off with a mixture of belief and doubt.
He was sturdy and domineering, and for the first time he walked with such an unconfident gait. When he arrived in front of the guard, he couldn't utter a word for a long time.
The guard walked up to him and asked what was wrong, young master.
Chen Zhuangmu was surprised. She didn't expect that everyone in the Ministry of Justice knew this little guy. It seemed that the Minister often brought him along.
The young master cleared his throat and said, "I have a ball that fell into the house, and I need to go find it."
The guard's face instantly fell, feeling as if his head had become as big as a ball. He bent down and asked, "What kind of ball is it? I'll go inside and look for it for you."
The little guy shook his head firmly. "No. I want to go in. I don't like people touching my things."
Another silence followed.
The guard finally scratched his head and resignedly said, "Alright, young master, you can go in, but you absolutely must not touch anything inside. Otherwise, your ball will disappear."
"Huh?" The little guy had been exposed to two things outside his understanding in one day, and this time he readily agreed, "Okay, I understand."
The guard had no choice but to turn around and open the door.
Seeing that things had gone well, Chen Zhuangmu smiled slightly. She had already gone around to the back of the window and brought a chair from a small pavilion. If the little guy could open it, she would step on the chair to go inside.
She thought it would take a long time, but as soon as she stood up, the window opened outwards, revealing a rosy face. "Come in! But I can't see my ball."
I climbed onto a stool and grabbed the edge of the window, only to realize that I had overestimated my physical abilities. It was difficult enough to hold on here, let alone go inside.
Chen Zhuangmu gave a perfunctory "hmm" twice, then said, "You move aside first."
Then, Chen Zhuangmu leaned over the windowsill and slowly moved towards the window frame with her thighs, while grabbing the top edge of the window with her hands. In this way, she managed to kneel up.
She decided to keep it to herself, hoping she would forget about it the next day.
Chen Zhuangmu sat on the windowsill, stepping on the ladder brought by the children inside. Holding onto the windowsill, she slowly stood up. Once she had steadied herself, she suddenly heard footsteps outside. No longer caring about safety, she jumped down to avoid being discovered.
The sharp corner of the ladder hit her, and Chen Zhuangmu broke out in a cold sweat from the pain. After she got used to the pain, she hugged the ladder and slowly climbed down.
"Are you a monster?" the child asked with his big eyes.
Where do you ask if someone is a monster? Chen Zhuangmu thought this child's upbringing was really special, shook her head, and walked in front of rows of files.
The child kept following her around, chattering away, and Chen Zhuangmu would occasionally respond, but the child never got angry.
She walked around to the shelf for serious criminal cases. There weren't many files on it, only about two or three at a glance. She looked at the names on them, but none of them were the one she was looking for.
Her heart suddenly jumped.
Why can't I find my ball?
"Look again. I've seen everything; how could I be wrong?"
Chen Zhuangmu, standing behind the flowerbed, said to the child, "Your ball fell into this house." The child shook his head and said he didn't remember, so she lied to him and said she had forgotten.
She described the ball's specific characteristics directly: woven and brown. Actually, most households have one of these balls, and sure enough, the child believed her.
He didn't ask any more questions after Chen Zhuangmu said that, and turned to look for the ball, leaving her alone to wander around.
She stood there for a moment, thinking, "Why wouldn't it be a serious criminal case?"
According to Da Qun's tradition, all cases must be reviewed. No matter how complicated her mother's case was, there would definitely be someone to investigate it back and forth.
Chen Zhuangmu is officially coming to see her mother's case report today.
She eventually went to the shelf with the dates, which was piled high with files. She found the corresponding date and nervously looked at the file in front of her.
Looking from the top to the bottom, she felt as if she could hear her own breathing. When she saw the bottom line, her eyes widened in surprise.
"Yu Xingyan's plot to rebel"
Chen Zhuangmu deftly picked up the file, brushed off the dust, but felt it was oily and sticky. Without paying attention, she slowly opened it from behind the bookshelf.
There was nothing there.
She looked at it from front to back, scrutinizing every detail and corner, without missing a single word.
There were no words. Chen Zhuangmu felt her mind was foggy, and her ears were ringing. When she came to her senses, the file had already fallen to the ground.
The whiteness of the paper filled her vision, and she was momentarily stunned. She rummaged through the stacks of files in front of her, not a single case was the same.
The blinding sunlight pierced through the window in the door and fell directly on the words "Yu Xingyan". Dust particles in the air danced in the light, creating a dry and tranquil atmosphere.
"Bang bang bang!"
There was a rapid knocking at the door.
"Young master? Young master! Have you found him?"
The child in front of her opened his mouth to speak, but Chen Zhuangmu rushed to his side and covered his mouth.
“Just tell me,” she whispered in the child’s ear, “we haven’t found it yet.” As she finished speaking, she slipped a piece of candy into the child’s hand.
After hearing the child's clear and crisp reply, Chen Zhuangmu slowly released him.
How can there be cases without logs?
Not long after the establishment of the Kingdom of Qun, the founding emperor established a decree that "one should not be confused about what is clear." This was especially true for a major case like this.
She remembered her uncle saying that on the day after her birthday, he couldn't see her mother for a long time, so he went out of the city to look for her and found corpses all over the ground.
Therefore, there must be a trap; this is clearly a setup.
She suddenly raised her head, about to take a step, but was tripped by the excruciating pain all over her body. Only then did she realize that her hands were trembling slightly and her whole body felt as cold as if it were covered in snow.
The poison took effect, and it felt like sharp knives were slicing through her limbs and bones, but the thoughts in her mind kept reminding her.
This is just the tip of the iceberg of evidence that her mother was framed.
She gritted her teeth and leaned against the shelf. When she felt numb, she walked straight to the door without pausing for a moment.
"Sister!" came a child's voice from behind. "Where are you going? I haven't found my ball yet!"
She smiled slightly, without turning her head, and said, "There are no balls here. I'll have someone bring you snacks."
After saying this, she pushed open the two heavy wooden doors with all her might. The two servants outside the doors almost popped their eyes out and stretched out their arms to block her way. "Unauthorized trespassing! Who are you?"
Chen Zhuangmu presented him with a jade talisman that was smooth and lustrous.
"Cadre of the Court of Judicial Review, Chen Zhuangmu." She glanced back at the door that wasn't fully closed, and added, "I will speak to the Minister of Justice about this matter; it won't implicate you."
After saying that, she pushed away the guard's hand, and wearing the official title of Dali Temple official, she swaggered down the road to the Ministry of Justice.
The guard behind him was filled with mixed feelings.
Silent time always flows quickly, as if all the emotions of the world have passed in this moment. The sky gradually darkened, as if covered with a layer of gray gauze. A wisp of wind stirred up the withered leaves and made them fall again, then went to blow the flags beside it.
In the days since becoming the head of the Dali Temple, Shen Zhuangmu thought she had come into contact with the ultimate evil. Before, she thought that people would only draw their sharp knives when their own interests were violated.
Just like when she was inexplicably poisoned, she racked her brains to find out that she had no enemies. After taking up her post at the Dali Temple, she witnessed that people do evil without even needing a reason.
Take her mother's case, for example. The people behind it were not clever in their methods of framing her, and they convicted her mother without even investigating. What do these people value human life?
Despite feeling unwell, Chen Zhuangmu rushed back to the mansion, slammed the door open, and went straight to the horse stable, choosing a horse that was resting.
The horse stood quietly to one side, clearly taking a nap after eating and drinking its fill.
Chen Zhuangmu then had someone put the basic necessities on it, and during this time, she gently stroked the horse's neck hair.
Before she was eight years old, she could ride a horse, but most young children are not very skilled. After arriving in Huijing, her health suddenly deteriorated, and she never rode a horse again.
She imagined the posture of riding a horse, pressed on the seat, stepped into the stirrups, and finally sat on the horse's back in a somersault.
The horse's glossy coat stretched forward, and she held the reins in her hand. When she turned left, the horse turned left; when she turned right, the horse turned right.
These actions that accompanied my childhood are always deeply memorable. Chen Zhuangmu even felt a sense of having lost something and regained it. Her heart felt warm, and her body seemed less cold.
She adjusted the horse's direction and slowly walked towards the entrance of the princess's mansion. The three once-grand steps now seemed so insignificant.
He adjusted the horse's head, flicked the reins, and shouted, "Giddy up!"
With that shout, a huge weight was lifted from her heart, and the horse leaped onto the ground with a relatively steady limb.
Speeding is not allowed on the streets, but fortunately there are few people around now.
Let's go, towards the palace.
There was truly no one on the street. Withered leaves fluttered about in solitude, and all she could hear was the whooshing of the wind. Her buttocks and thighs ached, but she greedily savored the pain, because her whole body was now numb.
The palace and the market were very far apart, and even though she rode as fast as she could, she couldn't enter the palace before the gates closed.
It was getting dark.
She thought to herself, "We're almost there."
Soon, a familiar narrow path appeared before them. Chen Zhuangmu stopped the horse and slowly steered it into the path. As they neared its end, the narrow path suddenly widened. Although it was still dimly lit, it felt brighter than before.
Chen Zhuangmu and her horse slowly walked to the tightly closed red gate. She dismounted and pounded on the gate with all her might.
"What are you doing? Are you out of your mind?" came an impatient curse from inside.
With a creak, the door opened, and a man wearing a tall hat, with an ordinary appearance but a pair of clever eyes, peered out from behind it. He scrutinized Chen Zhuangmu.
Perhaps seeing that it was a young woman, he softened his tone, "Young lady, the palace gates are closed. If you have something to do, you'll have to wait until tomorrow."
Before he could finish speaking, a hand reached out from the other side, revealing a jade fish-shaped pouch that was smooth and lustrous.
The eunuch's eyes lit up, and he exclaimed, "Princess Rongshu?"
If this person recognizes you, then things will be much easier.
"I have something to discuss with my uncle, the Emperor. Don't worry, he won't blame you," Chen Zhuangmu said, putting away the jade pouch.
The small crack in the door suddenly opened, and the eunuch said, "How could that be? Princess, please come in. If you have something to do, why not use one of the other doors? This one is the furthest from the Hall of Mental Cultivation."
Chen Zhuangmu did not answer, and the eunuch tactfully took the reins from her and walked away.
At this time, most people were busy preparing food for their masters, with only a few regular servants staying in their positions.
The gate she came from was the furthest from the Hall of Mental Cultivation, so it would take her quite a while to walk there.
Walking along the garden path, with stars twinkling overhead and flowers and lakes beneath her feet, a few mosquitoes and flies occasionally approached Chen Zhuangmu, but wisely left before they could get close.
This scene gradually permeated Chen Zhuangmu's increasingly depressed mood, slowly lifting her heart back to its original place.
She initially thought those people were coming to stop her, but they all turned back as she looked up.
Before long, she arrived at the front courtyard of the Hall of Mental Cultivation. At this moment, someone approached her and said, "Princess, His Majesty has already retired for the night."
She frowned slightly and said, "I'll go ask."
After saying that, she walked around him and went inside. Before long, she saw Eunuch Fu guarding the door.
The old man's eyes snapped open, and he rubbed them in disbelief to make sure that Chen Zhuangmu was really standing in front of him before slowly walking down the steps.
"Princess, what brings you here at this hour?"
"I've come to see my uncle; I need to speak with him."
Eunuch Fu sighed softly, "Oh dear, His Majesty is already resting."
“Eunuch Fu,” Chen Zhuangmu said, her brows furrowed, her eyes blazing with anxiety, “I have urgent business to attend to. Please inform him for me.”
After waiting for a few moments, Eunuch Fu finally decided, "Alright, Princess, please wait here for a moment."
Not long after Eunuch Fu went in, he came out and smiled at her, saying, "Princess, please go in."
Before he could finish speaking, Chen Zhuangmu rushed inside, and the door to the Hall of Mental Cultivation was left open and not closed again.
The emperor hadn't slept, and before Shen Zhuangmu arrived, he had put on an outer robe. Seeing that Shen Zhuangmu looked inexplicably lost and disoriented, he asked before she could speak, "What's wrong?"
She stood not far from the doorway, just out of sight of the emperor. After a moment of silence, she finally answered, "Uncle, what have you found out in these three years?"
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