Chapter 193 Besides this one, there's another box.
Yan Zhao spent a long time processing his shock.
He knew Jin Shu was intelligent, and he also knew she had hidden some of her strength.
But he was unaware that a woman could reach such heights.
The tug-of-war between the Three Departments and Six Ministries, the power of the Crown Prince, the power of Prince Jing, and the power of the Emperor, which subtly flows between the two.
She understood the complex, tangled threads so clearly after only listening to it once.
Given time and enough experience, the power within that small body will become immeasurable.
“Jin Shu,” he said, “there’s something you should remember.”
Jin Shu looked up and saw Yan Zhao's smile under the moonlight.
He said, "The knife in your hand is a double-edged sword."
"When you have the world in your heart and defend justice, it can show you the truth, or it can bring you death."
"How to choose and balance between the two is an art."
"With your talent and learning, you will inevitably uncover the secrets of the Great Wei court sooner or later. When that time comes, you must remember one thing: retreating is advancing, and preserving yourself is preserving the truth."
Just like Li Jin, there is plenty of time ahead, and he is not in a hurry to fight with the Crown Prince.
He endured, lay low, and waited for the right opportunity. One day, he would gradually catch up with, and even surpass, the Crown Prince's pace.
That was the moment when the mistake of six years ago was completely corrected.
After entrusting Jin Shu to Yan Zhao, Li Jin didn't sleep a wink that night.
So this is what it feels like to have someone you care about.
Sitting at my desk, looking at the book in my hands, the words of the imperial edict echoed in my mind again and again.
If he wins, he will be able to persuade the court and the public to give Jin Shu a sufficient status and position.
They could offer the entire country as a dowry and present a grand wedding with a ten-mile-long procession of red bridal makeup.
But if he loses, not only Jin Shu, but everyone around him will turn to dust and die together.
He put down his book, raised his hand to brush a handful of his long hair that was loose behind him. The night was as still as water, as silent as waves, and Li Jinmu let out a long sigh.
He cannot lose; he must win.
The next day, as dawn broke, Li Jin and Su Shangxuan stood side by side in front of the coachman, listening to him recount the whole story.
Zhang Xin said he had nothing better to do, so he sat down in the small courtroom outside the prison, holding his tabby cat, and listened to the interrogation.
"I'm really just a gofer."
The coachman, his head completely white, pursed his lips and frowned deeply: "I've been a porter for more than a year or two. Who in the capital doesn't know me, Wang Er? I'm honest and upright, I do what I'm paid for, I don't ask where the money comes from, and I have an excellent reputation!"
As he spoke, he cupped his hands in greeting: "Gentlemen, that day a man who really looked like an official gave me ten taels of silver and told me to go to the alley of Guiyi Lane at 1:15 am to find a Guo family courtyard."
"They said there were two wooden boxes at the entrance. When I took them to a temple three miles outside Yanxing Gate, I put them at the entrance of that temple."
He then spread his hands innocently, saying, "I had only gone halfway when I bumped into it."
Guiyifang is located in the southwest of the capital, while Yanxingmen is in the southeast. However, the West Market, where the two carriages collided, is located quite far to the north of Guiyifang.
If what he said is true, then he took at least twice the distance to get there.
"You went from Guiyifang to Yanxingmen, so why did you end up on the streets of the West Market?" Su Shangxuan asked coldly, his expression as still as a pool of water, his eyes gleaming with a light that seemed to see through everything.
The driver, looking somewhat embarrassed and aggrieved, said, "It's not that I wanted to take a detour... it's that the official who paid me made me take a special detour, saying he was going to the West Market to pick up some snacks!"
He said, "Actually, I don't want to go around! From Guiyifang to Yanxingmen, I can run fast and it takes me at most half an hour. But going around to the West Market adds two quarters of an hour. If my employer hadn't repeatedly told me that I absolutely had to go and even added an extra tael of silver, would I have been stupid enough to go around all the way?"
At this point, he looked reluctant and muttered a complaint: "It's all my fault for being greedy and blinded by ten taels of silver."
"If I had known the box contained this kind of thing! I would never have taken this job, even if you killed me!" He pounded his chest and stamped his feet, heartbroken. "Oh dear! What a tragedy!"
It was said to be a small public hall in front of the prison, but it was actually an empty room about the size of a tea room, which was usually managed by Su Shangxuan.
Occasionally, it is also used for the initial interrogation of suspects, or to obtain information from informants.
Over time, this room came to be called the small public hall.
A stick of incense rose gently into the room; it was the Su family's homemade locust blossom scent.
Su Shangxuan was aloof and arrogant, and along with Zhu Dongli from the Ministry of Justice, they were known as the two icebergs of the Three Judicial Offices.
He glanced at the coachman, then at Li Jin, and seeing that he had entrusted the questioning to him, he asked directly, "You just said there were two boxes?"
"Huh?" Coachman Wang Er was taken aback for a moment, then nodded and said, "Yes, two boxes, exactly the same, both of them are large camphor wood chests used for daughters' weddings, they're especially heavy!"
He clicked his tongue and said, "My back was killing me when I carried it."
"What about the other one?" Su Shangxuan asked.
The coachman, Wang Er, scratched his head and said, "They're still in that courtyard."
Immediately, Li Jin pursed her lips and pointed at Wang Er's cheek: "Why didn't you speak yesterday?!"
Wang Er looked at him with a pitiful expression: "I was so scared yesterday, all I could think about was that horrible sight, and then..."
Knowing he was in the wrong, he spoke so softly that Li Jin couldn't hear the rest of his sentence.
Li Jin let out a breath, lifted the hem of her clothes and turned to leave, but was stopped by Zhang Xin.
He stroked his mustache, thoughtfully followed him out, and stood in the courtyard, whispering, "Your Highness must be extra careful in this case."
Seeing Li Jin frown slightly, he added a special note: "This coachman is a eunuch."
Li Jin paused, took a step back, and looked into the room, quite surprised: "A eunuch?"
A eunuch? What's a eunuch doing here?
Zhang Xin lowered his voice: "Although the acting was quite realistic, the smell on his body, his habit of hunching over, his walking posture, and..."
He took out a copper bell from his sleeve, held it in his hand, and shook it once.
Wang Er, the coachman inside the house, was sitting comfortably in his chair when he heard the crisp sound and jumped up.
Su Shangxuan narrowed his eyes slightly, watching his unusual conditioned reflex.
At this moment, Wang Er looked embarrassed and stiffly turned his head, meeting Li Jin and Zhang Xin's gaze through the open window.
“It’s nothing, that’s my cat call bell.” Zhang Xin nodded and smiled as he spoke, his tabby cat clung to his black robe at his feet and jumped onto his shoulder.
Wang Er turned around, glanced at Su Shangxuan's icy gaze, and forced a few smiles.
Palace eunuchs often gathered using a swift bell, so most of them were highly vigilant about the sound of the bell.
If you react too slowly, you'll be punished, or worse, lose your life. This is the rule of survival within the palace walls.
Li Jin, who grew up in the palace from the age of eight and followed General Xiao on horseback to the battlefield, knew nothing about eunuchs and couldn't tell the difference for a moment.
He glanced at the driver's face, went over Zhang Xin's words in his mind, and nodded after a long while.
"I understand the situation now, thank you, Lord Zhang."
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