“My lords, your highness, Eunuch Jia– “ Feng Zhi Wei only managed to call out sorrowfully before tears filled her eyes as she bowed down. 

Her thin fragile shoulders were like a crane whose wings were broken just as it was about to take flight, aggrieved, fluttering pitifully in the wind. 

Stunned into silence, Peng Pei finally snapped back to attention and shouted as he jumped up, “You are spouting nonsense and false accusations! We didn’t punish you at all— “

“Minister Peng!” Feng Zhi Wei looked up in grief and indignation, her eyes boring into his “Seeing is believing, you still have the audacity to deny it?” 

“False accusations!” A furious Peng Pei shouted back, “To make wild false accusations during a trial, are you still a first-ranking official?” 

“Refusing to admit the truth even with the proof in front of you, are you really the best in the justice department?” 

“Why would I torture you?” Driven to a furious rage by Feng Zhi Wei’s shameless accusations, Peng Pei shouted with his neck veins popping out, “You confessed too fast, there was no need to torture you!”

“Yesterday, you forced me to confess this!”

“That wasn’t what you confessed!”

“How did I not confess this?!”

“You clearly confessed that you are a secret agent of Da Yue, and are one of Prince An’s Qian Jiwei Imperial guards…” In a rage, Peng Pei blurted out the words until he realized too late what he had just said. 

“Da Yue spy?” Ning Yi sat up straight, his expression somber, “Minister Peng, why didn’t you immediately report something so serious to me?” 

“Qian Jiwei guards?” Tenth Prince opened his already round eyes even wider, “I have heard of them! Da Yue’s number one spies specializing in infiltrating into other empires!”

“Why wasn’t something this important immediately reported to the imperial cabinet?” Scholar Hu asked with narrowed eyes. 

Sweat broke out on Peng Pei’s forehead. 

“Everyone.” Second Prince who had been unable to get a word in finally blurted out, “If Wei Zhi really is a secret agent of Da Yue, this case becomes even more serious than the leak of the spring exam questions. That would be a case serious enough to bring the death sentence on his entire family. Wei Zhi is not a fool. Why would he not confess to a lesser crime but choose to admit to the more serious one?” 

“What second brother said is very logical.” Ning Yi immediately agreed but instead of feeling relieved, Second Prince stared at him with apprehension in his eyes. As he expected, Ning Yi said languidly, “But since the prisoner had made this confession, according to our Tiansheng law, no matter what the prisoner confessed, it needed to be recorded accordingly and reported to the department for verification– Minister Peng, I have not seen this confession in Wei Zhi’s case file. Moreover, when I summoned you to inquire about this case last night, you did not mention it to me either.” 

“Your Highness…”  Peng Pei’s forehead was dripping with sweat as he replied in a low voice, “The prisoner was talking nonsense, full of absurd words, saying something about his code name being “climb higher and higher”, that being captured in Pucheng and his subsequent return after much hardship was all a ploy to gain His Majesty’s trust so he could steal the position of an important official. His purpose was to disrupt Tiansheng’s national talent promotion ceremony and to use the leaked test questions to incite a student movement and rebellion. Da Yue would then collude with generals guarding the border to come charging into the Capital under the call of rescuing His Majesty. Da Yue then could send tens and thousands of troops right in…this was full of absurdity, how would I dare to report it up to His Majesty and cause his fury?” 

“Sounds quite logical.” Tenth Prince held back his laugh, blinking his big eyes, “I don’t feel like there is any loophole at all. Why would you think it sounds ridiculous, Minister Peng?” 

“Minister Peng, this was indeed a mistake on your part.” Official Ge, newly promoted to the position of the commander of the justice department, has yet to enter the fray of court politics, expressed his unbiased opinion “No matter how absurd the prisoner’s confession is, it should be recorded truthfully and carefully investigated. This is also the justice of the criminal code, there is no code that says a lesser or more serious crime can be ignored, nor is there one that says the Ministry of Punishment can skip investigation on anything they deem to be absurd. Minister Peng, although you didn’t come up through the ranks of criminal justice you should know the law of the empire well. It is truly difficult to convince people with what you said.” 

“Minister Peng’s last sentence did not convince me either.” Ning Yi sipped his tea and said leisurely, “What do you mean about provoking His Majesty’s anger? His Majesty is wise beyond our comprehension, true or false, right or wrong, it becomes clear as day once it is presented in front of His Majesty. So how can you talk about provocation? Does Minister Peng think that His Majesty is some kind of foolish ruler that will act recklessly based on whatever his subject says?”

Those words were very serious, especially accompanied by Eunuch Jia’s well-timed cold snort. Second Prince opened his mouth but nothing came out and he could only cast a glance at Seventh Prince for help who promptly become engrossed in the pendant attached to this embroidered fan. 

How can the fragile shoulders of Peng Pei who came from a civil official background bear such a serious accusation that came out so casually out of Ning Yi’s mouth? He hurriedly got down from his seat, bowed towards the direction of the palace, and said in a trembling voice, “I would never dare to think that…” 

 “You already did.” Ning Yi’s smile and voice were mild but every word out of his mouth was a murderous knife, “I really didn’t know that Minister Peng was so courageous. An important national affair, you would dare to disregard it with a simple word of absurd. If one day Jin Siyu really show up in front of our imperial gate with his army, should we then send Minister Peng out to stand on the city gate so you could make Da Yue’s tens of thousands of soldier retreat with one angry reprimand of absurd? 

Feeling thoroughly cornered by Ning Yi, Peng Pei stumbled backward with trembling hands and lips until he bumped into Seventh Prince’s table with a bang. Seventh Prince immediately got up and steadied him with a hand, “This was indeed a mistake on Minister Peng’s part. It is understandable that his impatience in solving this case led to him forcing a confession. On not recording the confession, he also lacked consideration and will need to remedy that. In addition, he will need to submit an apology to His majesty. Sixth brother, this matter has more or less now been reported to you and will rely on you to report it to His Majesty directly. A new case will need to be assigned separately but today, we are here on an imperial assignment to oversee the spring exam case. His Majesty is still waiting for a report so why don’t we deal with one thing at a time, set aside the new case, and deal with this one on our hand first.” 

The cabinet secretary, Scholar Wu smiled and said, “Seventh Prince’s words are prudent and wise! This is the way it should be done!” 

Feng Zhi Wei had taken advantage of Ning Yi’s little show of temper to take a small nap. Opening her eyes now to look at Seventh Prince who was smilingly warmly, she thought to herself, Seventh Prince has the title of the wise prince and enjoys a good reputation in court. His little speech just now that is not only logical and reasonable but also lets Peng Pei off the hook lightly while skillfully maneuvering the focus back to where he wants. Admirable. 

She raised her head halfway and exchanged a glance with Ning Yi sitting on the seat above. Leaning sideways on his seat, Ning Yi is resting his forehead on his hand, his wide sleeve had fallen halfway down, exposing his jade-like delicate wrist bone. He seemed thinner to Feng Zhi Wei. She couldn’t help but flash a small smile at him, accompanied by an expression of “you’ve worked hard” in her eyes. 

Ning Yi looked at her, coughed, quickly turned his head away, then coughed again, and a faint blush appeared on his neck. The blush of red against the jade-like complexion looked especially seductive. 

Feng Zhi Wei was a little surprised, wondering inwardly why this person is so weak today. He looked exhausted after only saying a few more words. Was it really that difficult to run around the three crime divisions yesterday? 


 All text copyright @ www.Ninja-Reflection.com

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