Chu Chu lowered her head to look at the paper in her hand again. "It's been over twenty years, why are they reinvestigating this case now... Wait," she suddenly looked up, "weren't we supposed to be investigating the case of Sixth Prince's wife?"
Xiao Jin Yu nodded gently. "It's the same case... The case involved Grand Tutor Yun Yi, who was then in charge of the Ministry of War. He was found colluding with the Ministry of Works to produce substandard military equipment while pocketing the funds. The Daozong Emperor personally sentenced his entire family to execution... The day before the execution, Sixth Princess was just born and was carried away by her wet nurse to escape. Her whereabouts remained unknown all these years... Unexpectedly, she ended up with a merchant family named Song in Yangzhou and eventually married Sixth Prince."
Chu Chu blinked. "Does she want to clear her father's name?"
"Hmm..." Xiao Jin Yu's brow furrowed slightly. "But back then, the case was jointly tried by the Ministry of War and the Three Law Divisions. The evidence was conclusive, and the Daozong Emperor personally presided over the judgment... Yun Yi confessed readily. Although Xiao Heng never admitted guilt—he endured half a year in the Heavenly Prison, undergoing hundreds of rounds of severe torture without confessing, in the very cell where I was previously held... Six months later, during peace negotiations with the Turkic tribes, as a gesture of goodwill, the Turks presented a stack of personal letters and financial records between Xiao Heng and the Turkic Khan. Enraged, the Daozong Emperor ordered Xiao Heng to be executed by death by a thousand cuts... From all written evidence, there don't appear to be any obvious flaws in the case."
"They caused the deaths of thirty thousand people! Death by a thousand cuts three times over would still be too lenient for them!"
Xiao Jin Yu sighed softly. "Sixth Princess asked Sixth Prince to recalculate the embezzled funds from Yun Yi's collusion with the Ministry of Works. They discovered that three hundred twenty-four thousand five hundred sixty taels of silver remain unaccounted for... Since they have doubts, reexamining the case is not unreasonable... If there are any loopholes in this case, they might lie within these autopsy reports."
Chu Chu pursed her lips and glanced at the evident exhaustion on Xiao Jin Yu's pale face. Reluctantly, she said, "I understand autopsy reports. I'll help you investigate. You should get some sleep now... I promise to examine everything carefully!"
"No need, it's almost—"
Before Xiao Jin Yu could finish, Chu Chu helped him lie down. His stiff body suddenly relaxed, wrapped softly by the silk quilt that enveloped his weary form. Overwhelmed by intense drowsiness, his murmured "thank you" barely left his lips before he drifted into a deep sleep with a gentle kiss from Chu Chu.
☆ ☆ 113 Manhan Banquet (V) ☆ ☆
Xiao Jin Yu slept soundly. When he woke, the unique bright midday sunlight of late autumn was spilling generously through the half-open window.
Noon...
Suddenly remembering the two troublesome guests scheduled to arrive early in the morning, the last traces of sleepiness clinging to his eyelids vanished completely. As Xiao Jin Yu tried to prop himself up, his hand moved and he suddenly felt something soft and warm nestled in his arms. Looking down, he realized that at some point, Chu Chu had placed Qing Ping in his embrace.
Xiao Jin Yu's limited mobility meant he rarely turned in his sleep, so he didn't worry about accidentally crushing Qing Ping. Still, the sudden presence of the little one in his arms sent his heart racing wildly.Qing Ping was nestled in his embrace, sleeping soundly. His tiny hand clutched a small corner of Xiao Jin Yu’s robe, and in his dreams, he smacked his little lips. The sight instantly calmed Xiao Jin Yu’s previously anxious and flustered heart. He carefully held the slender little body a bit tighter, pulled the quilt up, and meticulously wrapped it around him, afraid that this extremely fragile little life might suffer even the slightest additional harm.
When Chu Chu returned, Qing Ping was still fast asleep in Xiao Jin Yu’s arms.
Before she left, she had worried that Qing Ping might wake up alone and be frightened, so she had placed him in Xiao Jin Yu’s bed. As it turned out, having the two of them together was indeed a relief.
"Wang Ye," Chu Chu placed a freshly brewed bowl of medicine on the bedside table, "it’s time for him to take his medicine."
"Let him sleep a little longer..." Xiao Jin Yu carefully freed the corner of his robe from Qing Ping’s grasp, laid the child flat on his own pillow, and straightened the quilt. Only then, with Chu Chu’s support, did he slowly get out of bed and settle into his wheelchair. Lowering his voice, he asked, "Chu Chu, has Ashina Suwu arrived?"
Chu Chu nodded. "He arrived early this morning. And that Xue Cishi is here too. Steward Zhao has been keeping them company in the Erquan Hall. They said not to wake you and that they’d wait... Brother Jing also came at dawn, but when he saw you were still asleep, he went to rest in a guest room at the Six Strategies Yard."
Xiao Jin Yu gave a slight nod. "How is the review of the autopsy reports going?"
Chu Chu pressed her lips together and shook her head. "None of the over thousand reports I checked had any issues... As long as the coroners weren’t lying and the clerks filling out the corpse manifests wrote the truth, then all these people truly died from being buried alive."
Xiao Jin Yu’s brow furrowed slightly, but he nodded again. "You’ve worked hard."
"Wang Ye, about the case of the Sixth Princess’s father... does that mean there was no injustice?"
Xiao Jin Yu neither nodded nor shook his head, only saying, "I’ll go see Ashina Suwu first... Stay in the room and take care of Ping'er. Do not leave the One Heart Garden."
"Don’t worry!"
When Xiao Jin Yu arrived at the Erquan Hall, Ashina Suwu was sitting with one leg crossed over the other, sipping tea and cracking melon seeds. Xue Ming sat stiffly in a chair beside him, his face dark, his hands tied behind his back. Steward Zhao stood to the side, watching the two cautiously. The moment Xiao Jin Yu entered, Steward Zhao rushed to his side as if he had seen Guanyin descending to earth. "Wang Ye..."
Ashina Suwu tossed aside a handful of melon seed shells, stood up, brushed the crumbs from his clothes, and raised the corner of his mouth in a light smile. "Prince An Manor is indeed Prince An Manor. Even the melon seeds are better than those in the Khan’s yurts."
Two years had passed, and Ashina Suwu had grown thinner, yet his features appeared more solid and stern. His already distinct facial features, sharper than those of Central Plains people, now seemed even more profound. A frivolous smile played on his lips, but his eyes remained calm and unfathomable.
"Is that so..." Xiao Jin Yu turned his head slightly and spoke calmly to Steward Zhao, "Did you hear that?"
Steward Zhao hurriedly bowed his head. "Yes."
"Prepare lunch in the Wujing Pavilion..." Xiao Jin Yu glanced at Xue Ming, who was clearly unsettled, and added, "Send someone to the Six Strategies Yard to inform Xiao Yi. Tell him to prepare and come to the Wujing Pavilion to accompany us for drinks."
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