Marrying a treacherous official

"Cheng Wengong is too kind in his praise."

Yunji lowered her eyes, feeling ashamed and unworthy, and said, "Long before the spring examination, Zhou Hanlin's wife came to Dongzhuang, intending to reveal the essay questions to me."

Unable to conceal the disappointment in his eyes, Cheng Wengong looked at her with a weary expression through the wooden fence and said:

"Should Madam Cui have refused at that time?"

No response.

Yunji did not hide anything and told the truth: "But the next day I went to Lingshan Temple and got the test questions sealed by the divination slips from the abbot."

Cheng Wengong's gaze towards her changed; it became cold and indifferent.

"What brings Madam Cui to see me today?"

"After I got the divination slips, I didn't give them to Gu Jinyu, let alone my husband."

Yunji said meaningfully:

"After learning that the officials of the Ministry of Rites disregarded the law and leaked the exam questions for personal gain, all I could think about was how to protect myself and remove Gu Jinyu from this matter."

She said with great shame, "Cheng Wengong took matters into his own hands and exposed the cheating in the imperial examination. Now he is imprisoned. I have come here specifically to pay my respects to you, sir."

Cheng Wengong immediately understood her implication.

Cui Zemin was able to threaten him because he had the list of abbots, which was enough to wipe out Wei Xianqi and his cronies.

However, he was unwilling to associate with treacherous villains like Cui Zemin. Even if it meant dying to prove his innocence and presenting the emperor with a blood letter pleading for a thorough investigation of Vice Minister Wei's faction, he would not aid and abet evil or frame Prime Minister Ge and imprison him.

Unexpectedly, things took an unexpected turn. Madam Cui actually had the handwriting of the leaked divination slips in her possession. With physical evidence and witness testimony, by following the clues, they could also uproot Vice Minister Wei and his cronies.

Why did Madam Cui do this?

"Does Cheng Wengong know what my greatest regret in this life is?"

Tears welled up in Yunji's watery eyes, making her stand out starkly in the dimly lit prison.

"I have never seen anyone as upright and honest as my father. I only hate that he stood up and spoke out against the law, and was beaten to death in the Hall of Diligent Governance, covered in blood. I hate myself even more for not being able to save him back then."

Cheng Wengong could feel the excruciating pain in her with just one glance.

"I understand the lady's regret."

"If Cheng Wengong could truly understand—"

Yunji wiped away the tears in her eyes and looked at him resolutely, saying, "You should know that just as much as I wanted to save my father back then, I want to save you now."

Cheng Wengong suddenly choked up, swallowing several times before finally managing to suppress the mournful cry that was about to escape his lips.

Even though they only met once.

He still felt an instant connection with Madam Cui, that clear and insightful resonance. From the initial feeling that she was like an old friend, it had now become even stronger than an old friend.

With just a glance, many things are understood without being said.

Yunji pondered for a moment and then asked Cheng Wengong, "Sir, do you have any regrets?"

Cheng Wengong told her in a veiled way.

"If I could see the Emperor again and kowtow to him to apologize, I would die without regret."

Yun Ji nodded to him, curtsied again, and took his leave, saying, "Sir, you are very righteous. Please take good care of yourself."

She walked straight out of the prison without turning back to look at Gu Jinyu.

Li Xiuji mistakenly thought that the lady had taken the wrong path, so he quickly followed her.

"Madam, Young Master Gu is in the other half of the prison cell at the fork."

"Let him stay in his cell peacefully."

Yun Ji strode out of the gate of the Right Prison, and before boarding the carriage, he turned back and instructed Li Xiuji:

"Please ask Vice General Li to tell my husband when Gu Jinyu is released from prison, and when I will return home."

Li Xiuji was caught off guard by the First Madam's series of actions and couldn't understand why she would do such a thing.

Yunji bent down and entered the carriage, instructing Yinxiang through the curtain, "Go to the Gu residence."

Yinxiang jumped onto the carriage, tightened the reins, and replied, "Yes, sir."

After hearing the First Madam's "treasonous" words, Zhou Boren walked with his hands behind his back to Li Xiuji's horse and mocked him:

"How dare she speak to the general like that?"

Li Xiuji mounted his horse and signaled to the guards to follow the lady's carriage.

Zhou Boren continued to speak ill of the First Madam:

"She doesn't even realize that once she returns to the Gu family, it will be difficult for her to return to the Marquis's mansion. With the General's temperament, he will definitely divorce her."

"What if we don't take a break?"

Li Xiuji looked ashen-faced, knowing full well that he would inevitably receive eighty strokes of the military rod, and only hoped that Huo Xi would be lenient when he struck.

"How about we place a bet of two hundred taels of silver that the General will go to the Gu family to bring the First Madam back to the manor?"

"dare!"

Zhou Boren had recently made a fortune, and he rolled up his wide sleeves and shouted at the departing figure on horseback, "Don't try to renege on your promise. Prepare your money; no credit allowed."

After sending the First Madam to the Gu family, Li Xiuji left guards to watch over the mansion and rode back to the Marquis's residence overnight.

He knelt in the empty study and recounted in detail what had happened in prison.

He even memorized the entire dialogue between Yunji and Cheng Wengong.

Cui Zemin crushed the partridge-patterned cup in his hand and cursed him fiercely:

"What's the point of memorizing these conversations? Can you even understand their coded language?"

"Your subordinate deserves to die."

Li Xiuji looked back at those conversations and felt completely numb. He belatedly realized how clever the First Madam's methods were.

"At first, I thought the First Madam was reminiscing with Cheng Wengong. But after repeatedly reflecting on those words, I suddenly realized that the First Madam was using the divination sticks in her hand as evidence to help Cheng Wengong get rid of the general's threat."

Cui Zemin said to him with disdain for his stupidity, "You've made a fatal mistake."

"This subordinate is unaware; please enlighten me, General."

"You should have sent someone to inform me long before she broke into the prison to see Cheng Wengong."

Seeing that he still hadn't come to his senses, Cui Zeming walked up to him and scolded him:

"She was just passing by, so why didn't she go see Gu Jinyu?"

Seeing that she didn't respond for a long time, he pressed her for another question, "After leaving the Right Prison, why did she insist on going to the Gu family instead of returning to the mansion?"

Li Xiuji's mind raced for a moment, and he exclaimed in shock, "The First Madam is carrying that divination stick!"

After he said that, everything made sense.

No wonder the First Madam didn't go to visit Gu Jingyu; she was afraid of wasting time and causing the General to come and search her.

The First Madam knew that the General would search the entire backyard after returning to the mansion in order to find the divination slip, which is why she took a carriage to visit the Gu family.

Such meticulous thinking and intricately linked plans locked him in a trap within a trap, leaving him in awe and willingly accepting his punishment.

"I am willing to go to Judge Wu and receive eighty strokes of the military rod."

"roll."

Cui Zemin yelled at him and sent him out, but he still couldn't quell his anger.