"Steward Zhao said... Wang Ye is an old man?"
He could accept being called mature for his age, but an old man... where did that come from?
"Not exactly, that was my guess." Chu Chu covered that pot lid, then crouched down to light another stove. While kindling the fire, she explained her reasoning to Xiao Jin Yu with clear logic: "Isn't Wang Ye the emperor's seventh uncle? I heard the emperor is several years older than me. I have a cousin's uncle who's almost fifty. Wouldn't that make Wang Ye a little old man?"
"Well reasoned..."
Years of casework experience told Xiao Jin Yu that the more others specifically didn't want him to know something, the more valuable it was to investigate. So he said mildly, "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."
After getting the fire going, Chu Chu added two ladles of water to the pot and began rummaging through cabinets. "Do you know about Six Doors? I came to the capital to find Six Doors."
Xiao Jin Yu instinctively corrected: "You mean the Three Law Divisions?"
Chu Chu turned around holding a bag of rice, looking seriously at Xiao Jin Yu. "No, not the Three Law Divisions. It's Six Doors, the one with the Nine Great Arresters."
Xiao Jin Yu was momentarily stunned. Since issuing documents strictly forbidding storytellers from fabricating tales about government offices, he hadn't heard anyone say these three words so seriously in years - and now they came with some so-called Nine Great Arresters. "Do you need to report a case, or seek justice?"
Chu Chu shook her head. "I want to be a coroner for Six Doors."
"But you took the Ministry of Justice's exam."
Chu Chu pouted, turning back to the stove as she scooped half a bowl of rice into the pot. "Originally, Brother Jing told me that was the Six Doors exam, but I only realized after taking it that we weren't talking about the same Six Doors."
First Jing Yi went through such lengths to coax and deceive her into staying, then to monitor her. Watching this small figure moving methodically around the stove, Xiao Jin Yu's brow slightly furrowed. "In that case, even if you passed this exam, you wouldn't go?"
Without turning around, Chu Chu bent over to pick two plump vegetables from a basket, carefully washing them with a ladle of water. "Well... I'll go. I just thought it through - if I don't have work, I won't even have money for meals. How could I stay in the capital to find Six Doors then?"
"What if you didn't pass?"
"But I already passed."
Xiao Jin Yu frowned slightly. Although recruiting coroners was a minor matter, the candidate list still fell under Three Law Divisions documentation. Without his signature and seal, it wouldn't be valid, and he hadn't even seen the draft list yet. How could she know? "Who told you that?"
Chu Chu opened her mouth but remained silent for a long moment. Jing Yi? Wu Jiang? Or Steward Zhao? They all made it seem like it was already settled, but thinking about it now, no one had actually clearly told her she had passed.
If she hadn't passed... she wouldn't even have travel money to return home!
Chu Chu stood frozen, holding two vegetables, her lips pursed and brow furrowed, openly directing her bewildered gaze at Xiao Jin Yu - making his usually reliable heart suddenly ache.However, Chu Chu's despondent expression didn't last as long as the fleeting pain in Xiao Jin Yu's heart. "If I fail the exam... I'll just find some odd job in the capital. As long as I can stay until I pass the Six Doors entrance exam." After saying this, she turned and calmly began chopping vegetables.
Her resolute tone nearly made Xiao Jin Yu wonder if there truly existed some mysterious and formidable Six Doors organization in the capital that he was unaware of. Fortunately, before he could be completely led astray, the pain in his back grew increasingly pronounced as his body warmed up. Wave after wave of clear agony reminded him of Jing Yi's words again, causing his slender frame to tremble slightly in the pain indirectly bestowed by this woman.
If she truly harbored malicious intentions toward his life, the opportunity he gave her tonight would absolutely deserve the description "once in a thousand years."
There were no ambushes, nor any intention of testing her—it was simply that his usually cautious and meticulous mind had inexplicably decided he purely wanted to spend some time with her.
Her every smile, word, and action gave Xiao Jin Yu an indescribable sense of ease.
If she really were an enemy, Xiao Jin Yu could have been freed tonight from those case files that seemed endless enough to last several lifetimes.
Unfortunately, what occupied Chu Chu's mind at the moment was whether these overly plump vegetable leaves should be chopped finer for better flavor when making vegetable rice.
After dicing the greens, chopping two shiitake mushrooms, and tossing half a piece of preserved tofu into the pot, she stirred contentedly before suddenly realizing she hadn't heard any movement from Xiao Jin Yu for quite some time. Turning her head, she was startled to see him slightly bowing his head, his face pale with a bluish tint, forehead dripping with cold sweat, his wheelchair-bound body still trembling. She hurried over, "What's wrong with you?"
In her panic, Chu Chu only remembered to drop the pot lid from her left hand but forgot about the rice paddle in her right. Xiao Jin Yu looked up at the large rice paddle she held raised in her hand, using all his self-control to keep his voice calm and steady, "It's nothing, just... feeling a bit cold..."
"Still cold?" Chu Chu had specifically positioned his wheelchair near the stove earlier, worried he might be cold. Now she was sweating from the heat, so how could he still be cold? "Did you catch a chill from the wind? Do you have a fever?"
Before Xiao Jin Yu could even utter the first half of "no," Chu Chu had already raised her hand to feel his forehead.
But it was her right hand that shot up abruptly, forgetting it still held a large object. Before her hand could reach him, the rounded surface of the iron rice paddle landed squarely and firmly with a "clang" right on his sweat-beaded forehead.
The blow wasn't particularly harsh or painful, but for Xiao Jin Yu who was already struggling to endure, it was enough to make his head spin for a while.
"Ah! Sorry!"
"No need to apologize..." Xiao Jin Yu said with a dark expression, pressing his hand against his forehead covered in cold sweat and rice water. "Just go ahead and do it directly, alright..."
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