Chapter 235 A Heart of Stone Cannot Be Warmed
With the help of the Prince of Pingyang, Li Jin caused a ruckus for three days. Finally, he found an opportunity to lure the tiger away from the mountain and sneaked into the East Palace dressed in black.
In the vast Eastern Palace, the only person Li Jin found troublesome was Lian Shui, the Crown Prince's personal guard.
Fortunately, the Crown Prince's martial arts skills were mediocre, so except when he was in the Eastern Palace, he would always carry water with him.
Li Jin carried a small cage, kept her body low, and walked cautiously on the roof.
After searching for about half an incense stick's time, I finally spotted Jin Shu sitting alone by the window.
Unlike before, Jin Shu was dressed in a woman's ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress), and her long hair was tied back with a plain hairpin.
He lit a candle, held a pen in his hand, leaned against the table on the couch, and wrote something intently.
“I was on tenterhooks every day, fearing that the Crown Prince would torture you. I never expected that you could talk to him all night long, and even get him to call you Shu’er.”
Jin Shu paused, her hand holding the pen suddenly stopping in mid-air.
"Don't stop." Li Jin, sitting on the roof beam, said calmly, "Do you see the maid in the pavilion across the way?" He paused, "She won't leave for a while."
By the window, Jin Shu shook her head and whispered, "She won't leave. She's there watching every night."
Li Jin chuckled lightly, "We'll wait and see." Then he changed the subject, "Mr. Jin and I have known each other for a year, but we've never had a long talk. Yet you met the Crown Prince a few times and had a very pleasant conversation. You really have a bad eye for people."
Jin Shu frowned: "Your Highness, in the middle of the night, you even climbed over the palace walls just to come and have a long talk with me?"
She clicked her tongue, and the words she wrote were crooked, making them look less than neat.
She simply picked up a new sheet of paper and placed it in front of her, then casually scribbled some meaningless words.
But Li Jin seemed unable to let it go, harping on the matter: "Not only did he talk all night, but he also called you Shu'er."
Jin Shu pursed her lips into a straight line, mentally ranting about the inexplicable prince above her and the nonsensical crown prince: "The crown prince was just trying to get information out of me. The prince has no idea how hard it was for me to talk to this person who was full of hidden meanings that night."
"I don't know," Li Jin said deliberately. "Talk to me all night and let me experience it for myself. Maybe then I'll know."
Jin Shu was stunned.
At this moment, she desperately wanted to look up and see with her own eyes what kind of expression Prince Jing, Li Jin, had as he uttered these words.
Her brows furrowed: "Why are you feeling this?"
"If Shu'er wants to experience something else, that's fine too."
Jin Shu was speechless.
She couldn't write anymore, so she put down her pen, rubbed her eyes, and took a deep breath: "Your Highness, let's get down to business."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than a woman on the opposite rooftop exclaimed in surprise. The figure inside the window scrambled about, completely forgetting about continuing to monitor the situation.
Taking advantage of the opening, Li Jin flipped over from the roof beam and stood behind Jin Shu.
"What did the prince do?" Jin Shu asked in surprise, looking at the girl's appearance.
Li Jin smiled and said, "I only brought a few mice."
The red pillars between the two windows blocked Li Jin's figure. Leaning against the pillars, he saw the delicate handwriting written by Jin Shu.
The dozen or so sheets of paper were filled with detailed instructions on how to perform an autopsy, how to determine the cause of death, and the different states that occur with different causes of death...
Li Jin frowned: "Why write all this?"
Then Jin Shu, who was standing with his back to him, took a deep breath without turning around. After a long while, he said, "If we can't get out of here alive, I hope at least these techniques can be passed down."
Staring at her retreating figure, Li Jin remained silent for a long time before finally saying, "How could you possibly die here?" He continued, "How could I possibly allow you to die here?"
Jin Shu's back stiffened slightly.
"Jin Shu, Jin Shu, are you really heartless, unable to be warmed?" Li Jin sighed. "I've even accepted my homosexual tendencies and given you my jade pendant. What more do you want?"
Seeing Jin Shu standing there in a daze, even choking on her breath, Li Jin let out a long breath.
He remained silent for a long time before changing the subject.
“I went to the Imperial Study a few days ago, but Father Emperor avoided seeing me and only gave me a verbal order,” he said. “Just hold on for another half month. In just half a month, I will be able to get you out.”
Upon hearing this, Jin Shu nodded, then lowered her voice and steered the conversation further afield: "That night, the Crown Prince mentioned a few things. Fang Qing of Yizhou was burned to death on the Crown Prince's orders."
Jin Shu paused for a moment: "The case of Fan Yin was arranged and instigated by the Crown Prince, and Chen Wen was also killed on his orders."
"I tentatively asked about the wooden box containing the bodies and how the two victims were poisoned. The Crown Prince didn't say it explicitly, but he mentioned the quicksand of the Ministry of Justice."
“These cases happen to correspond to ‘sequence’, ‘ten’, ‘nine’, and ‘six’,” Li Jin said solemnly.
"The Crown Prince also mentioned the 'Eight' cases of the Imperial Academy, but he didn't mention the 'Seven' cases related to Lin Zhongyi." As Jin Shu spoke, he wrote down the corresponding characters for these cases on the paper in his hand. "He knows the whole story of these cases, how they died, and who the murderers are. He knows it all."
Upon hearing this, Li Jin fell silent.
To have a thorough understanding of a case, there is only one way besides personally investigating it from beginning to end.
"Among all the members of the Six Doors, only eight Shadows, including myself, have access to the case minutes." Li Jin closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
He usually doesn't like to assume the deepest malice in anyone around him, but the current situation forces him to suspect that there might be a mole in the shadows.
"Where is my master?" Jin Shuxun asked.
Li Jin shook his head: "Yan Zhao is not one of the Shadows. He doesn't have the key to the side room in the sect leader's courtyard." After saying that, Li Jin frowned, "He impeached you in court, causing you to be imprisoned and awaiting trial, and you still call him master?"
Jin Shu remained silent for a while, then shook her head: "I think Master has his reasons."
"On the way he brought me to this courtyard, he only said one sentence." She paused, "He said, 'The Crown Prince's actions are not just; we must not let him succeed.'"
Behind him, Li Jin crossed his arms and leaned against the red pillar, murmuring softly, "That's strange."
Li Jin had always suspected that Song Zhen was the so-called guide.
But after piecing together Jin Shu's words, he became uncertain again.
The Crown Prince, Yan Zhao, and Song Zhen appear to be in the same camp, yet each harbors their own agenda. They seem independent and unrestrained, but their actions are intricately linked.
"I'll investigate these matters after I get you out of here." After a long pause, Li Jin waved his hand. "In the next two weeks, nothing is more important than getting you out of here."
He turned around, plucked a leaf from the bonsai, and flicked it with two fingers. The leaf drew a rainbow, extinguishing the candlelight burning on the table.
“Jin Shu, Heaven is watching what people do. The justice you have upheld will eventually bear the reward of a benevolent act that can shake the world.” He stood in front of Jin Shu with his arms crossed, looking down at her face.
The moonlight, like a master painter, outlined Jin Shu's features with a dazzling silver glow.
Before she could respond, the man gently kissed her forehead in the deep night.
A dragonfly skims the water, yet its warmth lingers.
She stared wide-eyed in surprise, horror, and disbelief, unsure of how to respond to Li Jin's sudden inquiry.
"After all that beating around the bush, I can only resort to this blunt approach to bring you back to the original topic." Li Jin took two steps back, stood in the darkness, and smiled slyly, wiping his lips with his thumb.
With a lingering, wicked look in his eyes, he admired Jin Shu's flushed cheeks and her stunned, bewildered expression.
After a long while, it gradually disappeared into the dark corner.
Before leaving, he didn't forget to say, "There's no important business here, I just wanted to see you."
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