Proud Feather

Chapter 22 Meeting
Gao Mian was silent all the way. When he arrived at the palace gate and looked at the imperial city under the sun, he still felt a sense of unreality.

"Your Majesty really let the princess be the supervisor?" His tone sounded like a dream.

"What do you mean by supervisor?" Zhang Ji corrected, "The princess is following orders to urge us to handle the case."

Lin Wenyu glanced at them separately and said with a smile, "Since the Crown Princess has said so, Your Majesty must express his opinion. After all, the Lu family still has an envoy outside!"

Yes, after all, Your Majesty is trying to appease the Crown Princess.

The Lu family is a prominent family. Even if the Crown Prince dies, the Crown Princess will still be your Majesty's daughter-in-law. Moreover, there is still the young grandson. Who knows whether your Majesty will appoint the grandson as the Crown Prince?

"As for the princess," Lin Wenyu said with a smile, "I think she's a little curious about the case. Didn't she recite half of the "Washing Wrongs" last time?"

Gao Mian cursed inwardly. This Minister Lin was implying that Princess Jiahe was uneducated and could only recite half a sentence of "The Record of Clearing Wrongs". She was just trying to fool people.

The Censorate and the Ministry of Justice were primarily responsible for paperwork, so they could certainly fool people. But the Dali Temple had to conduct an on-site investigation, so how could they fool people? They were simply throwing the blame onto themselves!
Yet, Gao Mian felt a subtle, hidden feeling within him. "Do you really think the princess is so easy to fool?" He kept replaying the events of that day in Huaide Hall, even considering returning to Xiao Shunzi to find out. Unexpectedly, before he could figure it out, the princess arrived.

Just wait and see, he had a premonition that this princess would definitely cause something big.

"Actually, this is a good thing," Zhang Ji said. "We all have our official positions at His Majesty's disposal. With the deadline drawing closer and progress slowing, it's difficult to explain to His Majesty. With the princess personally in charge, she'll see the difficulty of the case and our efforts, and she'll naturally defend us in front of His Majesty."

This was the truth, and the other two nodded.

"I'll go back to the yamen first. See you both later." After saying that, Zhang Ji shook his robe, bowed and left.

Lin Wenyu did not delay and followed him.

Gao Mian stood there for a while, then left with a sigh.
-
Opposite the Dahuai Temple, a man with ordinary clothes and ordinary appearance entered the restaurant.

"Shopkeeper, do you have a quiet private room? I'm afraid of noise."

"Yes, yes, yes." The shopkeeper smiled. "What style would you like?"

"There should be a window, close to the inside, and it would be best if you can see the big locust tree." As the man said this, he shook his arm, and something in his sleeve flashed by.

The shopkeeper understood and said, "Please follow me, sir."

He personally led the group up the stairs, walked all the way to the end, turned the corner, and finally pushed open an unremarkable door. He extended his hand respectfully, "Please."

The man walked in directly, chose a seat in front of the window, and slowly drank tea while looking at the big locust tree.

After a while, he heard the sound of a door opening, but the door he came in through did not move at all.

The man raised his head and watched without surprise as the cabinet in the corner was pushed open and someone walked out.

The man was wearing a gray robe, a black gauze hat on his head, and his shoes were stained with mud - they were the straw sandals that ordinary people usually wore to work.

He took off his straw sandals beside the counter and sat down barefoot.

"I heard that the Imperial City Bureau was dispatched. How come you were able to get out?" the man asked in surprise.

The gray-robed man said calmly, "No matter how powerful the Imperial City Bureau is, they can't really dig three feet into the ground." He then asked bluntly, "What's the matter? I can't stay long."

The man knew, of course, and got straight to the point: "Who ordered Jinghui to poison me? The master is very angry, and this was not his order."

The gray-robed man shook his head. "No one asked him to poison her, and he probably didn't have the chance to do so. The princess only drank water from him, and poisoning her directly would have a strange smell."

"What about the incense?"

"The incense is not poisonous." The gray-robed man said confidently, "I'm sure of that."

The man looked strange: "You mean, the princess wasn't poisoned in the temple?"

"I don't think so." "Isn't that your excuse?"

The gray-robed man said, "What's the point of shirking my responsibility in front of you? How can I shirk my responsibility in front of the Imperial City Office?"

This is true.

"So, Dahuai Temple can be escaped?"

The gray-robed man sneered, "Even if the Imperial City Bureau has intervened and the princess is genuinely poisoned, who would listen even if there's no evidence?"

The man was silent. Yes, imperial power was so unreasonable. If the emperor was furious, even if the root cause wasn't here at the Dahuai Temple, he would still suffer a loss.

"Furthermore, Jinghui isn't innocent," the gray-robed man continued. "He absolutely lured the princess here, and he absolutely harbors ill intentions towards her."

The man nodded slowly and said, "I understand. You just need to clean up the temple. No matter what happens, pretend you don't know anything and blame it all on Jinghui."

"Do I need you to tell me that?" The man in gray robe stood up and put on his straw sandals again.

He pushed open the cabinet, paused, and asked, "Jinghui...will he silence me?"

The man sneered: "He's already in the Imperial City Bureau, how can he be silenced?"

The gray-robed man nodded, closed the cabinet and left.

The man sat for a while before leaving the private room and walking away in a swagger.
-
When Chu Ling stepped into the East Palace, she felt that everything had changed.

Eight years had passed. In her previous life, her sister-in-law and Jin'er had passed away, and the East Palace soon changed its owner. Since then, she had never set foot there again.

Now, the Eastern Palace still retains traces of the eldest brother everywhere, which makes people sad and sigh.

"A Ling." Lu Chan waved for her to come in.

"Sister-in-law." Chu Ling bowed and took a seat.

Lu Chan looked at her with a new look until Chu Ling touched her face and asked, "What's wrong? Is there something on my face?"

Lu Chan shook her head and asked her, "How are you? Can you recover in such a short time?"

Chu Ling also smiled: "Don't worry, sister-in-law, I'm not seriously poisoned."

Their eyes met, and Lu Chan nodded gently, with a hint of emotion: "You have grown up."

He actually dared to take poison himself and even frame others.

Chu Ling didn't explain much and replied seriously: "Sister-in-law, I have to grow up. My brother is gone, and I have to protect the things he cares about for him."

"What he cares about..." Lu Chan murmured, feeling touched. "This is a very difficult responsibility. Are you sure you want to take it on?"

"No matter how difficult it is, we have to do it first." Chu Ling said, "No matter what, I won't sit still and wait for death."

Such a serious word made Lu Chan puzzled for a moment. What could have made her usually naive and ignorant sister-in-law have such a realization? Lu Chan did not ask in detail. Sometimes, matters in the palace could not be asked too clearly. As long as she understood the seriousness of the situation, it was enough.

So she cheered up and said, "The person you asked me to find is here. He's outside."

Chu Ling nodded gently: "Okay, please come in."

Lu Chan gave a wink and the palace maid went out to pass on the message.

Not long after, a middle-aged man with a slightly plump figure, who looked more like a businessman than a scholar, walked in and raised his hand to greet him: "I am Jiang Shijun, your student. I greet the Crown Princess and the Princess."

(End of this chapter)