On the night before the Winter Solstice, many people in Haojing were still awake.
Inside Yanying Hall, palace maids carefully replenished the lamp oil.
Beneath the flickering lamplight, Emperor Jianhong was beginning to look tired, a faint crease forming between his brows. Yu Shuang Xi seemed not to notice. He stood beside him like a block of wood, listening intently as reports arrived at intervals throughout the night.
“Chen Wen Ju escaped from the Censorate after taking Prison Officer Liu Min hostage. Prison Warden Fu Xi Yan is currently in pursuit. All six assassins assisting Chen Wen Ju were killed by true qi piercing their throats. The identity of their killer remains unknown.”
…
“The Lightning Division member assigned to Fu Xi Yan forced his way into the Immortal Treasury Palace’s Thunder Division branch in Haojing, but the Thunder Division failed to respond.”
…
“The disturbance at Wanli Martial Arts School has been suppressed. All rebels have been executed.”
…
“A red auspicious-cloud firework appeared above the Thunder Division branch. It is suspected to be a distress signal.”
…
“The disturbance at Shenxing Martial Arts School has been suppressed. Two people were taken alive; all others were killed.”
…
“Chen Wen Ju abandoned his saber near the Western Market. Blood and fragments of flesh were found on the blade, suggesting that he severely wounded his opponent. However, both Chen Wen Ju and Fu Xi Yan remain missing. The body of Prison Officer Liu Min has been recovered from the Yong’an Canal. His neck was broken, and Chen Wen Ju is believed to have been responsible.”
Emperor Jianhong dismissed everyone else. Once only he and Yu Shuang Xi remained in the hall, he could no longer resist rubbing his temples. “So it’s possible that neither Chen Wen Ju nor Fu Xi Yan is dead?”
Yu Shuang Xi remained silent.
Emperor Jianhong finally called him by name. “Shuang Xi. We want to hear you speak.”
Only then did Yu Shuang Xi bow. “If there are no further developments, then between the two of them, one must have won and the other lost.”
“Losing does not necessarily mean dying.”
“Yes.”
“If Fu Xi Yan had won, he would have no reason not to appear.”
“Yes.”
“So…” Emperor Jianhong murmured, “most likely, the fatty lost after all.”
He seemed somewhat pleased and yet also faintly regretful. “Do you remember Consort Dowager Chen’s Hundred Filial Sons Picture?”
Yu Shuang Xi lowered his head. “I do.”
Emperor Jianhong continued, “Mei Xia Ying said that he was afraid Consort Dowager Chen would dislike Fu Xi Yan’s appearance, so he made a few flattering alterations when painting him. But We had people compare all the figures one by one. Fu Xi Yan was hardly the only one whose appearance had been altered.
“There were also Count Jianning’s two grandsons, the sons of Marquis Dehua and Grand Commandant Liu, and Lou Wu Zai. Their portraits only vaguely resembled them, unlike the others, whose likenesses were quite accurate.
“Of those six people, four are already dead, and one is probably about to die. What a coincidence, don’t you think? Almost as though the painter could foresee death and deliberately weeded the unlucky ones out.”
Yu Shuang Xi said, “Most coincidences in this world are man-made.”
Emperor Jianhong gave a soft laugh, apparently delighted by the remark. He rolled the words around in his mouth and repeated them once beneath his breath before continuing, “If Fu Xi Yan dies at Chen Wen Ju’s hands, Count Yongfeng’s Estate will willingly become Our spearhead even without Our asking. And if We can borrow the strength of the Immortal Treasury Palace as well, victory will be even more certain.”
“There is no need for the Immortal Treasury Palace. Your Majesty’s victory is already assured.”
Emperor Jianhong smiled. “Naturally, We have complete faith in the Great Sir’s abilities.”
Fu Xi Yan was fished out of the water in the Western Market with a pole.
He had spent most of the night soaking in freezing water and was cold, hungry, and exhausted, but compared with lying drenched on the ground surrounded by a crowd while strangers tried to strip off his clothes and press around his navel, he felt he might as well climb back into the canal for another soak.
There seemed to be a whole pile of hands hovering over his stomach, and he had no idea whose belonged to whom. Unable to keep pretending any longer, Fu Xi Yan protected his waistband with one hand, grabbed the railing with the other, and slowly sat up. “No need, no need. I’m fine. I’m all right now. Thank you, thank you…”
“The Jinwu Guard is here!”
Someone shouted, and the gathered civilians quickly scattered.
The place where Fu Xi Yan and Chen Wen Ju had fought was nearby, and the Jinwu Guard had left men behind to investigate the scene. They therefore arrived quickly.
“Who are you? How did you fall into the water?”
Fu Xi Yan shakily climbed to his feet and drew a breath. “Fu Xi Yan, Prison Warden of the Censorate.”
The Jinwu Guards had already suspected as much. Their eyes immediately brightened. “So it really is Lord Fu! We’ve been looking everywhere for you!”
That was no exaggeration.
By now, dawn was gradually breaking. News of what had happened at the Censorate the previous night had spread throughout Haojing at a speed almost comparable to information spreading online. Countless people were following the fate of the Prison Warden who had single-handedly pursued an escaped prisoner, wondering whether he was alive or dead.
One of the Jinwu Guards could not resist asking the question everyone wanted answered.
“Where is Chen Wen Ju?”
His body still had not been discovered.
Fu Xi Yan steadied himself, then raised his head in bewilderment. “You didn’t catch him?”
At the Haojing branch of the Thunder Division.
After contracting his bones, Xiao Sang had been locked inside a cage meant for chickens and ducks. The cramped space was too small for him either to sit upright or lie flat, leaving him curled awkwardly on his side with his limbs folded in.
Every patch of exposed skin was covered with gleaming silver needles.
The needles had been coated in chili powder, and the pain was enough to make a person tremble uncontrollably.
Yet Xiao Sang kept his eyes closed as though asleep. Apart from an occasional involuntary twitch of his muscles, there was almost no sign that he was enduring excruciating torture.
Beside him, his interrogator stared through eyes reddened from staying awake all night and drove another handful of needles into Xiao Sang’s calf.
Qu Bi, Deputy Manager of the Thunder Division, watched Xiao Sang’s foot shrink away and sneered. “Still refusing to confess? Who incited you to trespass into the Thunder Division and steal the emergency signal flare?”
“Who?!”
As though answering him, a startled shout suddenly came from outside.
Everyone in the room looked toward the entrance. Even Xiao Sang, who had kept his eyes closed until now, could not resist turning his head.
Pei Yuan Jin walked slowly inside, carrying one of the Thunder Division members as casually as if he were holding a baby chick. More than a dozen other members surrounded him with their sabers drawn.
Qu Bi’s pupils contracted. He hurriedly rose to greet him. “Deputy Manager Qu Bi of the Thunder Division greets—”
Xiao Sang, who had remained silent for most of the night, seemed to spring back to life in an instant. The words shot from his mouth like a string of marbles:
“YoungMasterFuwasindangerIcametotheThunderDivisionforhelptheyrefusedtohelpandcapturedmeinsteadIstoleandsetofftheiremergencysignalflareandnowthey’retryingtotortureaconfessionoutofmeandsayI’matraitor—”
Pei Yuan Jin tossed the man in his hand aside, pulled the Red Dragon King from his hair, enlarged it to the size of a sword, and thrust it straight toward Qu Bi.
Qu Bi recoiled in horror. “Young Palace Master, please hear me—”
Pei Yuan Jin’s figure blurred faintly in midair.
The next instant, he was already behind Qu Bi, his sword stabbing forward again.
Qu Bi barely managed to stop and turn around, hoping to evade the strike, but he was only at the early Mortal-Shedding Stage. He owed his position as Deputy Manager entirely to the support of the Chief Manager, Ren Fei Ying. Under Pei Yuan Jin’s suppression, he could scarcely move an inch.
All he could do was watch as the sword pierced straight through his throat.
Pei Yuan Jin flicked his wrist.
Qu Bi’s head flew from his shoulders and struck the floor, rolling away with a dull thump-thump.
Pei Yuan Jin looked expressionlessly at the other Thunder Division members, whose faces were filled with shock and terror.
“Let him out.”
They exchanged nervous glances. At last, two of them summoned enough courage to open the cage and release Xiao Sang.
The instant Xiao Sang emerged, he restored his body to its normal size.
Unfortunately, he had forgotten about all the needles still embedded in him. As his skin and muscles expanded back into place, the locations of the punctures shifted, inflicting a second round of injuries.
He grimaced in agony and circulated true qi throughout his body.
The needles were immediately forced from his skin and shot toward the man who had tortured him.
The interrogator did not dare dodge. The needles struck him, and he dropped to his knees begging for mercy.
In a few rapid sentences, Xiao Sang explained everything that had happened the previous night. “The Censorate prison was attacked yesterday. Young Master Fu sent me out to get help. The attackers had Thunderclap Bombs, so they may be from the Ghostshadow Organization.”
The moment Pei Yuan Jin saw the emergency signal flare rise into the sky, he had raced back through the night without stopping. After an entire night on the road, his eyes remained perfectly clear.
“Everyone in the Thunder Division is to search for Fu Xi Yan!”
Many of the remaining members were Qu Bi’s trusted subordinates, but after looking at the freshly severed head lying on the floor, not one of them dared utter the word no. If anything, they wished they could sprout another pair of legs so they could run even faster.
Watching them retreat like a receding tide, Pei Yuan Jin asked, “Where is Ren Fei Ying?”
“Qu Bi said he entered seclusion.”
Pei Yuan Jin frowned.
Ren Fei Ying was the Chief Manager of the Haojing Thunder Division. Ordinarily, if a regional Chief Manager intended to enter seclusion, he was required to submit a report in advance and wait for headquarters to appoint or designate someone to temporarily assume his duties.
If Ren Fei Ying had truly entered seclusion without doing so, he had unquestionably violated regulations.
Pei Yuan Jin had no time to concern himself with that now.
“Stay here and wait for news.”
He had never imagined that such a serious incident would occur during his brief absence from Haojing. This was Fu Xi Yan’s home, and Xiao Sang and Xiao Zhang were both with him. Pei Yuan Jin had assumed that even if something happened, it could not become too dangerous.
He had still underestimated the viciousness of Haojing—
and Fu Xi Yan’s fragility.
He looked soft as dough, yet somehow proved as fragile as porcelain once you laid a hand on him. Even when you held him carefully, you still had to worry he might slip and shatter.
With everything having gone so badly off course, the pressure around Pei Yuan Jin had fallen to an almost freezing level. Killing one Qu Bi had done nothing to improve his mood. If anything, it only made him more keenly aware that the resistance blocking his path had become substantial enough to genuinely hinder his progress.
“Young Palace Master!”
Hurried footsteps sounded behind him.
Pei Yuan Jin had been preparing to return to Count Yongfeng’s Estate and put the white tiger to some use, to see whether it could follow Fu Xi Yan’s scent. At the sudden call, the chill accumulating around him grew even heavier.
The approaching man immediately sensed the cold pressure and hurriedly said, “Young Palace Master, Fu Xi Yan has been found!”
At the Capital Prefecture yamen.
Tu Mu had served as Prefect of the Capital Prefecture for eight years, yet never had he suffered as much as he had over these past few months.
He had only just managed to rid himself of the Four Young Lords of Haojing case and Monk Zhi Ji case, and in the span of a single night, the Censorate prison had been attacked and Chen Wen Ju had actually escaped.
If Left Censor-in-Chief Shi Wei Liang were standing in front of him right now, Tu Mu would dearly have loved to point straight at his nose and ask:
Weren’t you the one who said I was incompetent? Aren’t you supposed to be so capable? If you’re so damn capable, how did you let a prisoner escape from your own jail?
Unfortunately, the Left Censor-in-Chief was not here.
All Tu Mu had was one insignificant little Prison Warden from the Censorate.
Still, Tu Mu knew perfectly well that this particular Prison Warden was not only the son of a noble family but also had the Immortal Treasury Palace protecting him from behind. Although Fu Xi Yan, as both a witness and someone directly involved in the incident, had been sent to the Capital Prefecture yamen at the earliest opportunity, Tu Mu did not dare treat him carelessly.
He arranged for Fu Xi Yan to stay in the rear compound and ordered servants to prepare hot bathwater.
As for clothes…
someone was currently on the way to Count Yongfeng’s Estate to fetch them.
Inside a guest room in the rear compound, Fu Xi Yan removed his clothes and examined his smooth, unblemished back in a bronze mirror. Then he lowered his eyes to the garment in his hands and stared at the clean saber slit across its back.
He frowned slightly.
Tu Mu’s eyes remained fixed on the official documents in his hands, while his mind calculated how soon he could get the hot potato sitting in his rear compound sent somewhere else.
The Censorate prison had practically been blown apart. He refused to believe Shi Wei Liang would willingly let someone else investigate such a disaster.
Besides…
Tu Mu sneered inwardly.
Even if Shi Wei Liang did let another office investigate, between the Ministry of Justice and the Court of Judicial Review, which one was not supposedly more “competent and capable” than his humble Capital Prefecture yamen?
The only reason the matter had landed in his hands at all was probably that the various parties had not yet had time to react. Once they collected themselves, the distinguished guest in his rear compound would almost certainly be sent elsewhere.
The household steward came in to report. “The physician has already examined Prison Warden Fu. He has no external injuries. He was merely frightened.”
“No external injuries?” Tu Mu stared at him in surprise.
He had personally seen the ragged clothes hanging from Fu Xi Yan’s body.
“Are you certain? Did he take his clothes off for the examination?”
“Yes. There were no injuries. But Prison Warden Fu asked for a brazier and burned the clothes he had been wearing. He said they were unlucky, and that once they were burned and he stepped over the fire, the bad luck would be gone.”
A sharp gleam flashed through Tu Mu’s eyes.
The sky was practically falling down around them. Why would anyone suddenly decide to burn a perfectly good set of clothes?
Then he reconsidered.
Fu Xi Yan belonged to the Censorate. The prison that had been attacked belonged to the Censorate. In all likelihood, the investigation would eventually return to the Censorate as well.
What did any of that have to do with him?
“Let him do as he likes. Don’t ask unnecessary questions.”
Once Fu Xi Yan had eaten and drunk his fill, exhaustion immediately caught up with him. He had originally hoped to sleep for a while, but the Capital Prefecture yamen urgently needed his statement, so he could only force himself to stay awake and cooperate.
Representatives from the Jinwu Guard and Ministry of Justice were also present for the questioning.
The Head Constable of the Capital Prefecture yamen glanced to either side. Seeing that neither of the two observers intended to speak, he finally asked, “Prison Warden Fu, could you describe what happened last night?”
Fu Xi Yan nodded and sank into his memories—
the moonlit night beneath a sparse scattering of stars, the overwhelming rain of arrows, the earthshaking Thunderclap Bombs, six highly skilled assassins, and Chen Wen Ju emerging from the prison cells with a black saber in his hand.
“Last night, Prison Officer Liu Min and I were composing poetry together…”
Everything he told them—from the beginning of the attack to the inexplicable deaths of the six assassins and his decision to pursue Chen Wen Ju alone—contained no fabrication whatsoever.
Until he reached the Yong’an Canal.
“Chen Wen Ju threw Liu Min into the water. I wanted to save him, so I immediately jumped in after him. But it was too dark, and I can’t swim. I thrashed around in the water for a long time without finding him, and eventually I started running out of strength myself. All I could do was barely keep myself afloat.”
The representative from the Ministry of Justice asked, “I hear Prison Warden Fu is a late Vajra Stage expert. And the Yong’an Canal is hardly an endless ocean. Even if you cannot swim, surely you could have gotten yourself back onto shore?”
Fu Xi Yan replied, “For someone who can’t swim, the most frightening thing in the water isn’t the water itself. It’s your own fear. At the time, I felt as though something had bound my hands and feet. I couldn’t move, and I was afraid to try.”
“But you still jumped in.”
Fu Xi Yan gave a bitter smile. “Before I jumped, I wasn’t in the water yet. I didn’t know how frightening the water would feel at night.”
The Ministry of Justice representative had gradually taken control of the interrogation. “Then what about Chen Wen Ju? Why didn’t he kill you?”
Fu Xi Yan answered, “He was an escaped prisoner. Why would he insist on killing me? With such a good opportunity in front of him, shouldn’t his first priority have been getting away?”
Although the explanation was perfectly reasonable on its face, the Ministry of Justice representative still felt something was wrong.
No.
Something was very wrong.
It was as though a terrifying battle of life and death ought not to have ended in such a sloppy, anticlimactic fashion.
Just as the questioning was about to conclude, he abruptly asked, “Did you know that Liu Min is dead?”
Fu Xi Yan did not appear surprised.
“After Chen Wen Ju threw him into the water, he didn’t struggle.”
“And you still chose to jump in and save him?”
Fu Xi Yan sighed. “Right before everything happened, the two of us had been sitting together composing poetry. We were friends. When people don’t have time to think, emotion is often what makes the decision for them.”
The Ministry of Justice representative fell silent, apparently accepting the explanation.
Fu Xi Yan watched them slowly leave and finally let out the breath he had been holding inside.
He had been pressed for time and could not possibly fabricate too many details. The only reason his story—full of holes as it was—had survived questioning was the information asymmetry between the two sides.
First, they did not know that before escaping, Chen Wen Ju had considered killing Fu Xi Yan absolutely necessary. Without that crucial piece of information, there was no reason for them to question why Fu Xi Yan would abandon his own safety and jump into the water to rescue Liu Min.
Second, they could never imagine that Fu Xi Yan would voluntarily surrender the enormous credit of killing Chen Wen Ju. In anyone else’s eyes, if Fu Xi Yan had killed Chen Wen Ju the previous night, it would have been a tremendous achievement. He had absolutely no reason to hide it.
Except that, unfortunately, he had exactly one.
Third, Fu Xi Yan remembered that Chen Wen Ju’s saber had been left at the scene and that his own blood was on the blade.
Yet his body no longer bore a single external wound.
Combined with the unexplained deaths of the six assassins, that discrepancy would naturally lead investigators to suspect that another person had been present that night.
With those three points muddying the waters, even if everyone remained suspicious, they would have great difficulty imagining the secret Fu Xi Yan was truly hiding.
When Fu Xi Yan emerged from the Capital Prefecture yamen, two groups were waiting outside, one to the left and one to the right, facing each other like opposing armies.
One group represented the Censorate.
A Secretary from the Censorate Registry Office stepped forward and said politely, “Prison Warden Fu, Left Censor-in-Chief Lord Shi is waiting for you at the Censorate.”
A disgruntled voice immediately came from the opposite side.
“Well, his father is waiting for him at home.”
Naturally, the other group belonged to Count Yongfeng’s Estate, whose household had awakened that morning to a bolt from the blue.
Looking at his son’s exhausted appearance, Fu Fu’s long-neglected paternal affection suddenly surged back with tremendous force.
“Lord Shi had an entire night’s sleep, so naturally he’s full of energy! But my son spent the whole night soaking in the Yong’an Canal while chasing a prisoner who escaped from the Censorate’s jail! This is winter water we’re talking about! The sun has already risen—can’t you at least let him go home and lie down for a while?”
A mere Secretary facing a count, a colleague facing a father—whether judged by public rank or private relationship, the Censorate official found himself lacking confidence on every front.
He gave an ingratiating smile. “It will only take a few words. Everyone in the Censorate admires Prison Warden Fu enormously for what he did last night. But the matter concerns an important prisoner, and several of our colleagues died in the line of duty. Prison Warden Fu was directly involved, so we do need to ask him what happened.”
“Didn’t the Capital Prefecture yamen just question him?”
The Registry Secretary smiled and glanced at Fu Xi Yan. “The Capital Prefecture yamen and the Censorate are naturally different.”
Fu Xi Yan was, after all, an employee of the Censorate. Whether he went sooner or later, he would have to make the trip eventually. And if he wanted to avoid his superiors making life difficult for him afterward, then this was overtime he would simply have to work.
“I’ll go with you. Father, you go home first and make me a bowl of old-hen-and-ginseng soup.”
Fu Fu naturally understood the situation too.
He had not come here to start a conflict. His purpose was to stand behind his son and make one thing clear to everyone watching the case:
Anyone thinking of using his son had better open their eyes and look carefully.
His father was still here.
Fu Xi Yan was just about to climb into the Censorate carriage when he suddenly felt a pair of eyes watching him from the roof across the street.
He looked up.
Pei Yuan Jin was sitting on the bare rooftop with one arm propped on his raised knee, his chin resting casually in his hand as he gazed down at Fu Xi Yan.
Fu Xi Yan: “…”
Even on a completely bare roof, the man still had to strike a handsome pose for his entrance.
As expected of Young Palace Master Pei!
Compared with that, Fu Xi Yan had spent the entire night soaking in a canal before being fished out with a pole…
He refused to remember that image.
While Fu Xi Yan was on his way back to the Censorate, several copies of his statement at the Capital Prefecture yamen had already been transcribed and sent in different directions.
One copy lay on the desk of Left Censor-in-Chief Shi Wei Liang.
He asked the Right Censor-in-Chief, “What do you think?”
The Right Censor-in-Chief finished reading and considered it for a moment.
“He lied.”
“Why would he lie?”
“It is entirely possible that Chen Wen Ju offered him some benefit in exchange for letting him escape, and Fu Xi Yan accepted.”
With a single sentence, the Right Censor-in-Chief dragged Fu Xi Yan’s story in an extremely dangerous direction.
This was the blind spot in Fu Xi Yan’s reasoning.
From his perspective, Chen Wen Ju was already dead. Naturally, Fu Xi Yan could not possibly have let him go.
But he had forgotten that Chen Wen Ju’s body had not yet been discovered.
From everyone else’s perspective—
Chen Wen Ju was still alive.
Shi Wei Liang said, “What could Chen Wen Ju possibly offer, on such short notice, that would tempt a concubine-born son of Count Yongfeng?”
The Right Censor-in-Chief replied, “A concubine-born son may have many things with which he can be tempted.”
Shi Wei Liang closed his eyes and thought.
“His Majesty intends to move against the Chen family. Chen Wen Ju absolutely cannot remain alive. At the very least, he should never have been allowed to leave the Censorate alive.”
Having worked with him for many years, the Right Censor-in-Chief immediately understood what he meant.
“If he did leave alive, then we need to give His Majesty a convincing explanation. For instance—someone on the inside worked with him.”
Shi Wei Liang nodded.
That would explain a great many things.
For example, perhaps Chen Wen Ju himself had killed the six assassins so that Fu Xi Yan could distance himself from suspicion.
Perhaps the blood on Chen Wen Ju’s saber belonged not to Fu Xi Yan, but to some other victim who had yet to be discovered.
Perhaps Fu Xi Yan had jumped into the canal precisely to create an opportunity for Chen Wen Ju to escape…
Sitting inside the carriage, Fu Xi Yan had no idea that in the span of a few breaths he had gone from a hero who pursued an escaped prisoner alone to an internal traitor who had colluded with the enemy.
When he climbed down from the carriage, he was still worrying about the others who had been inside the prison during the attack.
He heard that fewer than one in ten had survived.
His heart sank.
“Did any of you see Xiao Zhang afterward? He’s the one who stays beside me—whoa!”
Fu Xi Yan stared at Xiao Zhang, who had appeared behind him without warning. After the initial fright, delight immediately followed.
“When did you get back?”
“When you came out of the Capital Prefecture yamen.”
“Why didn’t you say anything to me?”
Xiao Zhang: “…”
“I was standing right behind the Count.”
Fu Xi Yan: “…”
Fine. Blame my defective eyes.
Seeing an old companion safe and sound finally parted some of the clouds that had weighed over his mood for the past night and day.
He quickly asked, “Then Xiao Sang…”
“He’s back at the estate recovering from his injuries.”
Fu Xi Yan was startled. “How did he get hurt?”
“Needles.”
“…”
“Did he go ask Nanny Rong for reinforcements or something?”
Elio’s Notes: Nanny Rong (容嬷嬷) is a notorious character from the television drama My Fair Princess, remembered especially for torturing young women with needles. Fu Xi Yan immediately makes the association after hearing how Xiao Sang was injured.
Xiao Zhang had no idea who Nanny Rong was and fell silent.
The two continued talking as they walked inside. They had only reached the second courtyard when the Right Censor-in-Chief suddenly shouted:
“Seize Fu Xi Yan!”
Fu Xi Yan froze.
Yamen runners immediately advanced with their staffs.
Xiao Zhang stepped in front of him without hesitation.
Fu Xi Yan’s heartbeat quickened. “What does this mean?”
Did someone see me kill Chen Wen Ju last night?
It was not impossible.
He still had no idea who had killed the six assassins. Whoever had done it might have followed them afterward.
The thought that someone might have discovered his secret sent a chill through Fu Xi Yan’s entire body.
The Right Censor-in-Chief was just about to speak when a yamen runner suddenly rushed inside.
“Reporting to my lords! The Jinwu Guard has recovered Chen Wen Ju’s body from the water!”
…
For one brief instant, the entire scene froze.
The Right Censor-in-Chief’s expression was particularly rigid.
Shi Wei Liang, on the other hand, suddenly gave a genial chuckle.
“Take Prison Warden Fu into custody and send him back to Count Yongfeng’s Estate. Had we known Prison Warden Fu looked this exhausted, we never should have brought him here in the first place. Whatever needs discussing can wait until Prison Warden Fu has had a proper rest.”
Fu Xi Yan: “…”
The performance was excellent.
But Fu Xi Yan could tell perfectly well that the Left Censor-in-Chief had improvised that scene on the spot.
Whatever script the Right Censor-in-Chief had originally been handed—
that was definitely not how it was supposed to end.
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