The days of temporary residence at the Ministry of Justice office were unusually peaceful.
After all, it was an official office, so they couldn't wander around freely. Someone accompanied them whenever they went in or out, and meals were brought to them morning and evening.
Two or three days passed. Zhi was fine, finding many new and interesting things to play with in the small courtyard. The Adoptive Mother was bored out of her mind. Early one morning, she went to buy a basket of steamed buns from the meat bun shop across from the office. As she was about to pay, the man following her stepped in and paid first.
Carrying the meat buns back, the Adoptive Mother grumbled to Ying Xiaoman: "How long are we going to live like this? It's peaceful enough, but having someone watching our every move isn't comfortable. When Seventh Young Master comes, let's ask him about moving out."
Ying Xiaoman reassured her mother: "They haven't caught the escaped assassins yet. Once they're caught, we won't need to stay at the office anymore. Our safety at home is paramount."
This was true, but by the fourth day, while Zhi was still enthusiastically counting ants by the small bamboo grove, Ying Xiaoman herself felt she couldn't continue the cycle of eating, sleeping, and waking up to eat again.
After discussing with her mother, she went out to talk to the owner of the meat bun shop across the street about reserving the lamb shop for the Ying family until next year.
This year, they would return to their hometown to accompany her father. When spring came next year, she still wanted to return to the capital.
The old couple who owned the meat bun shop were kind people. After the Ying family's sudden fire tragedy, the meat shop had been closed for over ten days. The old couple, shocked and worried, voluntarily offered to reduce the rent for the meat shop by one month.
Ying Xiaoman was touched and immediately took out her adoptive father's silver heirloom.
Of course, the silver ingot had been melted and cooled, then painstakingly scraped out of a small pot. It was no longer in its original ingot shape, but now a flat silver cake with slightly concave sides. It still weighed a hefty thirty-two taels.
From August to the beginning of spring next year was seven months. She calculated seven taels of silver, not short a single fen or li, and paid the rent directly until February of next year.
"Barring any unforeseen circumstances, we'll return to the capital in February next year to continue running the meat shop. If something unexpected happens..." Ying Xiaoman pursed her lips. She couldn't say what unexpected events might occur, but the possibility existed.
"If we don't return by February, there's no need to hold the meat shop for us. You can rent it to others for their business."
The chipped silver cake still had twenty-five taels left. She weighed it in her hand, still enough for the family to return home and spend autumn and winter comfortably, plus travel expenses to and from the capital.
It was nearly noon by then. The old couple warmly invited her to stay for lunch, but Ying Xiaoman, though touched, declined, thinking of her mother and Zhi at home.
As she left with a basket of meat buns the old couple had insisted on giving her, she unfortunately ran into the property agent on the street.
The agent rushed over, almost in tears: "Finally found Miss Ying. How did your family disappear without a trace, taking down the tent? No one could tell me where you were living, not even the officials at Shuntian Prefecture! I thought the Ying family had run away."
Ying Xiaoman was confused: "We paid eight strings of cash for four months' rent that day, didn't we? Why are you looking for me?"
It turned out the property owner disagreed. The rent for four months was indeed eight strings of cash, but after the big fire that burned down the house, the owner refused to return the two strings of deposit. The agent was now trying to collect from the Ying family.
They argued on the street for half a day. The agent tried to persuade her, but Ying Xiaoman adamantly refused to pay.
"The house burned down in a fire, it wasn't our family who set it! Why should we pay for the deposit!"
With only twenty-five taels left of her father's heirloom silver cake, she absolutely refused to cut off another piece to compensate the property owner. The two sides started arguing loudly on the busy street.
The imperial guards accompanying Ying Xiaoman today were all dressed in ordinary cloth and had been scattered along the roadside for protection.
As the crowd of onlookers grew larger, the lead imperial guard commander suddenly became alert, noticing something.
He quickly approached, took out two strings of paper money from his pocket, and shoved them directly at the agent. "Take this and leave, keep your mouth shut!"
The agent swiftly tucked the paper money into his clothes, bowed deeply without another word, and left immediately.
Ying Xiaoman, caught mid-argument, was left bewildered as her opponent disappeared. She followed Commander Li a few steps towards the Ministry of Justice, confused:
"Commander Li, why did you give him the money? The property owner was in the wrong."
"There were too many people on the street. In the few moments you were arguing, many had already stopped to watch and eavesdrop. There were also suspicious figures lurking at the far end of the alley. We don't know if they're just curious onlookers or have other motives, so it's better to be cautious."
The man surnamed Li commanded ten men and was the imperial guard commander responsible for protecting the Ying family. "Miss Ying, the two escaped assassins from Yuqing Tower have seen your figure and heard your voice. They're still being hunted throughout the city, their whereabouts unknown. You need to be careful when you go out."
Ying Xiaoman didn't really understand why the assassins employed by the restaurant would target her.
If Yuqing Tower was a den for Northern spies in the capital, shouldn't they be after important military intelligence? Why would they be so fixated on her just for the silver ingot her father left behind? Was Shopkeeper Fang that desperate for money?
"My father might have been a bandit recruited by the government when he was young, but he later became a law-abiding hunter. He had nothing to do with spies," she explained earnestly.
Commander Li also firmly stated that the Ying family had no connection to Northern spies.
However, Shopkeeper Fang had known Zhuang Jiu years ago, which was a lead to investigate. Everyone Shopkeeper Fang knew had to be investigated.
"Vice Minister Yan is intensifying the interrogation. Shopkeeper Fang's network of connections in the capital is astonishingly wide. His identity as a long-term undercover spy is almost certain. We're trying to find ways to make him talk and reveal other spies scattered throughout the capital."
At this point, Commander Li coughed awkwardly: "The silver cake in Miss Ying's possession is actually considered evidence. Vice Minister Yan has instructed that it's fine for Miss Ying to keep it. But the piece you just gave to the old shopkeeper of the meat bun shop... I'll need to retrieve it."
Ying Xiaoman: "..."
Sure enough, an imperial guard hurriedly walked out of the meat bun shop, having retrieved the seven-tael silver piece that had just been cut off, and respectfully handed it back to Ying Xiaoman.
"Don't worry, Miss Ying. We exchanged it for seven strings of cash, as agreed."
Ying Xiaoman did some calculations and exclaimed in surprise: "You've paid nine strings of cash for me in total."
"Don't worry, Miss Ying. It's not coming out of our pockets. It's all Vice Minister Yan's money."
"...Oh."
Ying Xiaoman followed the imperial guards into the office compound, walking about ten steps towards the western courtyard when she suddenly stopped, pointing at herself suspiciously.
"The silver cake in my hand is considered evidence. What about me? Am I considered a witness?"
"Of course, you're a key witness in the case," the imperial guards politely replied. "If you weren't a witness, how could you be allowed to stay in the Ministry of Justice office? Using public resources for private purposes and letting unrelated people stay in official offices could lead to accusations and the involved officials losing their positions."
Ying Xiaoman, who had inexplicably become a witness, was very puzzled: "How am I a witness? I don't know anything."
The imperial guards seemed relieved by this.
"For those involved in the case, the less you know, the better," Commander Li said with a look of approval. "Vice Minister Yan is expediting the recording of testimonies. Once the relevant suspects' testimonies are recorded, he will naturally come to question you with those testimonies. Miss Ying just needs to tell the truth."
"Oh."
That evening, as lanterns were being lit, another sumptuous dinner was delivered, including meat dishes, soup, rice, and freshly cut fruit.
The three members of the Ying family ate their fill. By the end of the first watch, as dusk gathered and Zhi was snoring sweetly on the kang bed with her full belly, Yan Rongshi led two clerks into the room.
In the cool early autumn night breeze, lanterns were hung around the courtyard. A long table was set up in the center with wooden chairs. After greeting the Adoptive Mother and persuading her to retire to the room, Yan Rongshi took Ying Xiaoman's hand and led her to sit in a wooden armchair below the long table.
Ying Xiaoman's palms were sweating.
"Are you going to record my testimony now?" It was her first time being a witness, and she couldn't help feeling nervous.
"Don't be nervous," Yan Rongshi soothed her gently. "I can't record your testimony, just as I can't record Eighth Young Master Yan's testimony. Someone else will be recording the testimony tonight."
Ying Xiaoman: ?
Not only was she confused, but the Adoptive Mother, who was listening intently from inside the room, was also bewildered.
The half-open window was pushed out a bit more, and the Adoptive Mother nervously revealed half her face.
"What do you mean, Seventh Young Master?"
Yan Rongshi then slowly uttered eight words: "Family involved in the case, recusal from judgment."
"Oh." Both inside and outside the room, they let out a sigh of relief. So it was the routine rule of recusal in case judgment.
The window creaked softly as it closed.
Sitting under the lamp in the courtyard, Ying Xiaoman pondered these eight characters:
"When relatives and friends are involved in a case, one must recuse oneself from judging."
At first, it seemed reasonable, but upon closer reflection, something felt off. Eighth Young Master Yan was his kinsman, so the presiding official should naturally recuse himself. As for herself and him... were they relatives or friends?
Yet their hands remained intimately clasped. Seventh Young Master stood beside her, and as they spoke, they unconsciously drew closer. She tilted her head up to speak, while he looked down at her. In the lamplight, their shadows intertwined, their gazes almost fused together.
An early autumn breeze, carrying a hint of restlessness, swept through the courtyard. Seventh Young Master's robes billowed in the wind, the soft fabric brushing against Ying Xiaoman's cheek.
The two clerks they had brought along kept averting their eyes, as if they had committed some misdeed. They didn't dare raise their heads for a long while, busying themselves on the side.
Ying Xiaoman watched helplessly as these two clerks fussed about. They rearranged the writing materials on the long table, which had already been neatly arranged, changing their direction once, then again, and yet again...
While she was still pondering, Yan Rongshi calmly brought up another matter.
"Eighth Young Master turned himself in two days ago."
To say he "turned himself in" was perhaps a bit of a stretch.
The evidence against Eighth Young Master Yan was actually conclusive. Starting from the end of last year, he had instructed one of his trusted subordinates to leak information, regularly revealing the whereabouts of the Yan family's head.
On a certain day in February, as spring began, Yan Rongshi and Zhao Eleventh Young Master made impromptu plans to drink together. When news of the banquet preparations reached the Yan household, Eighth Young Master Yan's trusted subordinate rode out on horseback to secretly report.
That night, Yan Rongshi was ambushed on his way back after getting heavily drunk.
Although Eighth Young Master Yan himself adamantly denied any involvement, his trusted subordinate had already confessed.
It was none other than Yan An, who worked in the Yan family's outer courtyard, managed Eighth Young Master's private treasury keys, and was most trusted by him.
Yan An was a clever man. He had evaded several rounds of purges in the Yan household, until that night when Ying Xiaoman used her flying claws to sneak into the Yan residence to find Yan An...
But Yan An knew nothing about the person who received the secret reports.
His confession stated: "It was just an ordinary quiet house in the west of the city. When I delivered the secret report, someone listened behind a curtain. I didn't even see their face, only a pair of men's feet visible beneath the curtain."
The small courtyard house in the west of the city used for passing information was owned by a long-deceased person, with only a deaf and blind old servant living there to maintain it. When questioned, he knew nothing. The trail went cold there.
"Eighth Young Master refuses to confess, and it's not appropriate to use torture on a family member," Yan Rongshi said casually. "I had planned to wear him down slowly. For each day he refused to confess, I would keep him imprisoned for a day; for each year he refused to confess, I would keep him imprisoned for a year. If he never confessed in his lifetime, well, it wouldn't matter much to feed him for a lifetime. I didn't expect that after just three months, he would come to his senses on his own. This is good."
Ying Xiaoman's attention was completely captivated.
Given Eighth Young Master Yan's gloomy nature, he seemed like someone who would deny everything to the bitter end. It was hard to believe he had suddenly come to his senses.
"Did he confess to everything? Could it be a false confession?" she asked, half-doubting.
"The times and details all match up. It doesn't seem to be false testimony."
Eighth Young Master's confession stated that one night in late winter last year, on his way home, someone suddenly approached him.
"Young Master Yan, at the tender age of twenty-four, you've already been promoted to the fifth rank as a Judge of the Ministry of Justice. You're in the prime of your life with a promising future ahead. Why do you seem so gloomy all the time?"
The person stood by the roadside, wearing a hood in the winter night, their face unclear. But their opening words struck right at his sore spot, causing Eighth Young Master Yan to immediately rein in his horse and stop.
After a brief exchange, the two went to a nearby restaurant to talk in private.
"Eighth Young Master isn't a fool," Yan Rongshi chuckled softly. "In his confession, he naturally tried to distance himself as much as possible. He only said that the person promised to get him promoted within a year."
"Everyone knows that the next step up from Judge of the Ministry of Justice is Vice Minister of Justice. Both Vice Minister positions are currently occupied, so Eighth Young Master can't be promoted unless one becomes vacant. But in his confession, Eighth Young Master played dumb, saying he didn't know what the other party had in mind. In any case, from then on, the two began to conspire together, with Eighth Young Master regularly leaking information about my whereabouts."
Ying Xiaoman listened with a mix of tension and excitement.
"Yan An didn't know who the person receiving the information in the small courtyard in the west of the city was, but Eighth Young Master himself must have known. Did he confess to that?"
"He did. As it turns out, it's someone familiar. It was an assassin trained by Shopkeeper Fang's subordinate from Yuqing Tower."
Shopkeeper Fang's role in the capital was similar to that of an informant. A middleman informant.
Yuqing Tower had stood firm in the capital for over twenty years, not only because of its famous wine "Jade Spring", but also because Shopkeeper Fang had extensive connections. He knew many people in both official circles and the underworld, and all sides gave some face to Yuqing Tower.
Of course, it wasn't Shopkeeper Fang himself who stopped Eighth Young Master Yan on the street to talk. Nor was it the person who truly promised the "promotion". It was more of an "advisor" role, passing on a message.
After conveying the message for his master during their private talk at the restaurant, the advisor gave Eighth Young Master Yan the address of a certain small courtyard in the west of the city, instructing him to send someone there to pass on information.
For Eighth Young Master Yan, why not? Passing on information cost him nothing, and the disappearance of the elder brother weighing on his head would be an unexpected joy.
But Eighth Young Master Yan harbored a secret plan. After one instance of passing information, he ordered Yan An to secretly follow the person from the small courtyard, tracking them to the vicinity of Yuqing Tower in the middle of the night.
They were suddenly confronted by an assassin and taken into the tower, nearly facing a silencing murder.
Yan An begged for his life, quickly sending word to Eighth Young Master Yan. Eighth Young Master Yan personally went to the restaurant to retrieve him, meeting face-to-face with Shopkeeper Fang. He laid out the situation openly, and Shopkeeper Fang acknowledged this middleman business. Only then did Eighth Young Master Yan manage to lead Yan An out of the restaurant alive.
From then on, he also knew that the information he passed on about his elder brother Yan Rongshi was being relayed through Yuqing Tower to the true mastermind behind the scenes.
"As it happens, just as Shopkeeper Fang was arrested and brought to justice, Eighth Young Master confessed. If he had persisted in not confessing for another month, waiting for Shopkeeper Fang to implicate him, I'm afraid the suspicion of collusion with the enemy would have been hard to shake off."
Yan Rongshi's lips curled into a faint smile, his expression unclear whether it was pleasure or regret, as he concluded: "All in all, Eighth Young Master was quite lucky."
Ying Xiaoman: "...Eighth Young Master was quite lucky."
The presiding official for tonight's testimony recording arrived fashionably late.
A dozen or so strapping imperial guards entered in a line, carrying lanterns that illuminated the small courtyard brightly. The presiding official, dressed in a dark purple official robe, stepped through the door. A military official in a vermilion robe with narrow sleeves followed closely behind as an escort.
When Ying Xiaoman saw their faces clearly, the corner of her mouth twitched.
They were all familiar faces.
The one in the purple robe was Zhao Eleventh Young Master, who had received the emperor's order to serve as the chief judge of the Ministry of Justice.
The one beside him in the vermilion robe with narrow sleeves was Wu Xun, the Commander of the Imperial Guard.
On the day when Seventh Young Master had arranged to meet her at the teahouse, he had drawn three portraits in front of her, carefully noting down their names and official positions...
He really hadn't lied to her about a single word!
She instinctively looked up, opened her mouth as if to say something, but then closed it again. The young master beside her also happened to look down, giving her a slight smile.
Ying Xiaoman said nothing, only moving a little closer to him.
Zhao Eleventh Young Master had clearly been exhausted recently, with dark circles under his eyes. He went straight to the long table, lifted his robe to sit down, and then took up the relevant documents on the table under the lamplight. After verifying their accuracy, he raised his gaze—
Upon seeing the scene before him, the corner of his mouth also twitched.
Zhao Eleventh Young Master had been busy day and night at the Ministry of War these past few days. He had only just found some free time tonight and came to drink with his good friend, only to be dragged to the Ministry of Justice to record a testimony...
And they showed him this?!
The lanterns hung high all around, illuminating every detail of this small official courtyard.
Under the bright lights, two figures were intimately leaning against each other.
The faces of the two clerks from the Ministry of Justice were almost buried in the ground, while their superior was still holding the hand of his beloved young lady, whispering instructions to her as if no one else was present, his voice as gentle as a spring breeze in March...
Zhao Eleventh Young Master's expression changed.
He picked up the judge's wooden block and slapped it on the long table with a crisp sound. With a blank face, he said, "Seventh Young Master, your place is not beside the witness."
Ying Xiaoman: "..."
She had to admit, when Zhao Eleventh Young Master spoke, his voice was cold and his eyes were gloomy. He still didn't look like a good person!
The slender fingers that had been intimately intertwined curled slightly and quickly retreated into her sleeve.
Yan Rongshi patted Ying Xiaoman's hand reassuringly before standing up to sit in the wooden chair to the side. Before leaving, he softly reminded her one last time:
"Remember what I said, speak honestly. Whatever he asks, just answer truthfully."