Chapter 210 The Unfulfilled False Promises
Su Wanying was involved in this case, so Li Jin didn't quite believe the maid's story.
She was too calm. So calm, unlike what a normal girl should be like.
Xing'er was a maid that Tan Qin brought from her home, and she was not much different in age from Tan Qin.
When she saw the murder scene, she was not shocked or afraid. She hid behind and waited for Tan Qin to leave. Then, as if nothing had happened, she dived into the water, pulled up a corpse, and tied it to a rock at the bottom of the water.
Li Jin coldly glanced at her kneeling on the ground.
She is slimmer than Jin Shu and younger than Tan Qin.
What kind of unbearable experiences must a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl have gone through to have such amazing composure?
This is neither reasonable nor logical.
Time passed slowly, and the air inside the room gradually became somewhat scorching.
Kneeling on the ground, Xing'er's heart was pounding, and her breathing was becoming increasingly erratic.
She couldn't answer Li Jin's question.
"Who taught you these words?" Li Jin glared at her, his imposing aura making everyone feel suffocated.
Even Tan Qin looked at Xing'er kneeling on the ground in surprise, her withered lips barely moving as she uttered, "Your Highness..."
“Your Highness is in dire straits, so you’d better put away your kindness.” Li Jin interrupted Tan Qin without any politeness, his gaze fixed on Xing’er. “I’ll ask you one more time, who taught you these words?”
Xing'er remained silent, but her shoulders began to tremble slightly.
"You can't say which road you came from, nor can you say who you met." Li Jin stood up, took two steps forward, and knelt down in front of Xing'er. His tone softened considerably. "Tell me, why did you step forward to take the blame?"
At this point, he chuckled softly, glanced at the tightly closed back window inside the room, and whispered, "The crime you took the blame for won't erase what your young lady did. She's not the kind of person you think she is."
These casual words, meant only for him and Xing'er to hear, made the fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl in front of him raise her head in surprise.
Her bright eyes gazed at Li Jin's face. She pondered for a long time, then simply nodded without saying a word.
But this one action had already given Li Jin a clue.
He stood up, glanced at the two women in the room, waved his hand, and said coldly, "Send them to the Jingzhao Prefecture."
Xing'er froze, then quickly sat up straight: "Your Highness! My young lady..."
"Are you still waiting?" Li Jin turned around, looking down at the naive girl. "You can't wait for it."
Xing'er froze, her body went limp, and she collapsed to the ground: "How could this be..."
Li Jin turned around and walked out, leaving behind the words, "It's not like this is the first time she's done something like this."
This isn't the first time she's made others pay for her actions.
This isn't the first time they've used such methods to distance themselves from the situation.
Six years ago, during that bloody storm, Su Wanying was the first to kneel before Li Jin at the imperial palace, righteously accusing Li Mu of treason and the unforgivable crimes he had committed.
At the time, she spoke with absolute certainty, but later, when confronting Li Jin in court, she changed her story, saying it was just hearsay.
In order to quell Li Jin's anger and set a good example for the court, the Crown Prince made a show of it by having the Ministry of Justice take the lead in investigating the matter.
So Su Wanying pointed out three or five young ladies from merchant families, easily clearing herself of any wrongdoing.
After that, Li Jin endured for three years before secretly investigating the events of that year in detail. He discovered that the young ladies from those merchant families all had significant secrets that Su Wanying held in her hands, leaving them no choice but to admit it.
They either take the blame for her, or their whole family will be unable to move an inch from now on.
But at that time, how could Su Wanying, who was in cahoots with the Crown Prince, let them off easily?
Those who committed the crimes were punished; their homes were confiscated, and some were imprisoned.
When they were released from the prison, some were dead, some were wounded, nine out of ten houses were empty, and families were destroyed.
Those girls who either threw themselves into wells or hanged themselves, and those who survived by poisoning themselves to make their voices hoarse, secretly married off to distant places, were the ones who managed to save their lives.
The words the Grand Tutor gave Li Jin that day, the piece of paper, and the vertical line that was divided in half, were all requests for him to forgive and forget about this case.
Even now, the Grand Tutor has seen that the Crown Prince's ship is already in dire straits and on the verge of collapse, yet he dares not step into Li Jin's camp, all because this case has far-reaching implications.
He was weighing the options, he was hesitating, wondering if exchanging one of his second daughters for the stability and well-being of the entire Su family was a worthwhile trade.
Inside the courtyard, the sunlight shone like gold, creating a dazzling hue.
As Li Jin lifted the hem of her robe and stepped out of the doorway, she saw Grand Tutor Su Yu waiting at the entrance of the courtyard.
Despite being nearly sixty, he still exuded an air of dignity, dressed in court robes, standing serenely under the moon gate, watching Li Jin, who had just emerged from the house.
He clasped his hands and bowed deeply.
Li Jin glanced behind him and said to Jin Shu and Zhou Zheng, "Wait for me here."
After saying that, he put on his usual smile, stepped forward, and said in a slightly affected manner, "Lord Su, please rise. Li Jin cannot accept this bow."
But Su Yu didn't move, his waist bent at a ninety-degree angle: "This old minister is willing to serve Your Highness with utmost loyalty."
Li Jin paused.
His hand, hovering in mid-air, paused for a moment. He narrowed his eyes slightly and lowered his voice: "Has the Grand Tutor made up his mind?"
Su Yu took a deep breath: "I've thought it through."
Rather than be unjustly accused by the Crown Prince and suffer the fate of being discarded like a hunting dog after the hunt is over, with his entire family wiped out, he would rather abandon his past and seek Li Jin's protection instead.
He wasn't stupid; he knew that what happened on the street was the emperor's warning to him, a deliberate attempt by the emperor to give him an opportunity and push him in front of Li Jin.
In this way, perhaps there is still a glimmer of hope for retiring and returning to one's hometown.
Li Jin lowered her eyes: "Why?"
Although Su Yu seeking his help was something he had expected, Li Jin didn't understand why the change was so rapid.
Su Yu stood up slightly, looked at Li Jin with a firm gaze, and said in a voice that only the two of them could hear, "The Crown Prince is going to take action against Pei Yide."
He chuckled self-deprecatingly, "Even Lord Pei, who was utterly loyal to him, ended up like this..."
At this point, Su Yu shook his head and didn't continue.
This time, Li Jin held onto his arm and helped him up with force, looking at Su Yu's face and asking, "When will he make his move?"
Su Yu hesitated for a moment: "After the Mid-Autumn Festival, in the imperial court, he will join several officials to impeach Pei Yide for accepting huge bribes from Yun Jianlin, the prefect of Shengzhou, and intend to drag him and Yun Jianlin down with him."
I see.
Li Jin took a deep breath. The book of bribery and corruption in Shengzhou had truly allowed the Crown Prince to maximize its effectiveness.
He patted Su Yu on the shoulder: "I understand."
Seeing that he only said this one sentence, Su Yu was stunned for a moment, and was about to say something else.
But Li Jin glanced at him and smiled: "There's no need for the Grand Tutor to do anything in return. All that's needed is for you to remain neutral in the Taiji Hall someday in the future."
He glanced at Su Yu and solemnly performed a deep bow, his thin lips pressed tightly together, saying nothing more.
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