"Yes... Yes!"
As soon as Wu Jiang withdrew with the ten exam supervisors, Chu Chu emerged from the inner room and rushed straight to Xiao Jin Yu's side. "Wang Ye, I'm coming with you to catch the killer!"
"No..." Xiao Jin Yu frowned slightly as he listened to the chaotic commotion outside. "Listen to these people—who knows how much worse they'll get... Stay here. You can see everything from the window."
Chu Chu stomped her feet anxiously. "I'm not going to watch the commotion!"
"Chu Chu..." Xiao Jin Yu pulled her closer. "Wu Jiang will protect me. Don't worry..."
Chu Chu stiffened her neck, her almond-shaped eyes widening. "Who's worried about you! I'm the coroner. When you catch the killer, I need to testify!"
Xiao Jin Yu choked back his words, both amused and exasperated. So he'd been overthinking it...
"Not today... This isn't a court session. We're just exposing the killer to calm these people down and let them focus on tomorrow's exam."
Chu Chu wore a serious expression, placing both hands on Xiao Jin Yu's shoulders and staring directly into his eyes. "When you arrest someone, you need evidence. The evidence on the corpse is the victim's testimony—the most crucial proof. I performed the corpse examination, so only my words count. You can't just make things up!"
Xiao Jin Yu was taken aback by her words. "I... I won't make things up."
"You would!" Chu Chu glared angrily at this seemingly innocent man. "You just spouted nonsense earlier—that dereliction of duty charge!"
Xiao Jin Yu smiled wryly and patted her back. "Chu Chu... interrogation is different from corpse examination. It's a technique, not nonsense..."
"I don't care! Anyway, you can't make up things about the corpse!"
"Alright, alright..." Xiao Jin Yu surrendered. "Come with me then... But stay close to me and don't run off."
"Okay!" Chu Chu immediately wrapped her arms around Xiao Jin Yu's neck, grinning to show eight small white teeth. "I'll stand right beside you and make sure nobody bullies you!"
Xiao Jin Yu gave her a light pat on the bottom, both annoyed and amused. "And you said you weren't worried about me..."
"Just a little bit, incidentally..."
Xiao Jin Yu raised an eyebrow. "Hmm?"
"I'm very, very worried!"
"Hmm..."
"Oh right," Chu Chu suddenly looked at Xiao Jin Yu with sparkling eyes. "Wang Ye, you have such a good memory—you must remember the poem you composed earlier when competing with Grand Tutor Xue, right?"
"I for... forgot... completely forgot."
"You're lying! You still remember things from three days ago!"
"I forget unimportant matters right away..."
"Really?"
"Really..."
"Then I'll just ask Grand Tutor Xue about it later."
"...!"
☆、97 Crystal Sugar Pork Knuckle (Eleven)
By the time Xiao Jin Yu had finished half of his strong tea, the outside had mostly quieted down. But the moment Xiao Jin Yu appeared in the examination hall, the place immediately erupted again.
Wang Xiaohua's troop of soldiers could form human walls to hold back the surging crowd of examinees, but they couldn't suppress the increasingly loud shouts of protest.
"Murderers must pay with their lives!"
"Stop pretending to be just and incorruptible—you're the one who set up illegal courts and treated human life as worthless!"
"Cheaters are human too! Those who treat human life as worthless must pay with their lives!"
"What skill is there in imprisoning us here..."
"Explain yourself! With all these tricks, we can't even bring our own inkstones... Is this official-merchant collusion to line your pockets?"
"Students of the Son of Heaven won't tolerate being toyed with by corrupt officials like this!""Pay with your life! Pay with your life..."
"......"
Although Xiao Jin Yu had warned her beforehand that these people would surely say unpleasant things, hearing thousands of people vehemently cursing her beloved with such conviction still made Chu Chu gnash her teeth in fury. If Wu Jiang hadn't firmly held her back, she would have rushed forward to fight them.
Despite being cursed like this, Xiao Jin Yu's face remained placid without a ripple of emotion, his gaze calmly fixed on the examinees at the front row who had shouted themselves hoarse and glared with bloodshot eyes.
After ten invigilators frantically shouted reprimands for a long while, and Wang Xiaohua nearly jumped onto the roof roaring, the examinees' curses gradually subsided.
Xiao Jin Yu lightly coughed twice and spoke coldly, word by word, "The Master said: If this can be tolerated, what cannot?"
Though his voice wasn't loud, wherever it reached fell abruptly silent.
These were all educated scholars who understood both the meaning of these words and that the words themselves weren't frightening - what was terrifying was what usually followed such statements.
Especially when spoken by someone with power and influence.
Over half of the examinees who had been screaming like demons shrunk their heads back, and even the ten invigilators felt chills running down their spines.
These were all capital officials who knew exactly what Prince An was capable of when provoked...
Even Wu Jiang tightened his grip on his sword hilt, awaiting Xiao Jin Yu's next command.
In the deathly silence, they heard Xiao Jin Yu's clear, cold voice: "You're all educated men. Who can explain what this means?"
Under the hazy moonlight, thousands of shadowy faces flickered in the dim light.
From one of the examination cells in the middle section came a lazy, impatient young voice: "If even this can be tolerated, then what can't be tolerated?"
A slight smile touched Xiao Jin Yu's lips as he continued with unshaken composure: "This prince asks not without reason... merely to remind you all that General Wang's soldiers have just returned from the southwestern battlefield. They particularly despise scholars who, well-fed and idle, create trouble without cause. General Wang holds the authority to execute first and report later. If they reach their limit of tolerance... as the saying goes, when scholars encounter soldiers, reason becomes futile. You should each weigh the consequences carefully."
Wang Xiaohua's eyes bulged larger than ox eyes on his dark face - what authority to execute first and report later? How could this man speak falsehoods more convincingly than truth with his eyes wide open!
In the ensuing silence, Xiao Jin Yu swept his cold gaze over the young examinees who had been shouting most vigorously at the front: "This prince asks you - have any of you ever witnessed with your own eyes what a torture chamber truly looks like?"
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