Chapter 134

Chapter 134: No lord at all, just a wretched dog

Wu Shan wanted to explain, but Yu Zhi Yi waved her hand: “It’s fine.”

She could understand Li Feng’s doubts.

A boy from a mountain village, even if he was lucky enough to pass as an examination candidate by studying, still started low because of his birth.

The examination candidate test did not require leaving the county, so unless he had some rare adventure, the highest official he could ever meet would be the magistrate.

Not just him; even she had been hazy about official ranks in her last life. After the age of ten she hardly went around the Capital, and before ten, no matter how smart she was, there was no way she could teach herself all the ranks and titles.

Only after she married Zhang Tian Shun, and as he rose step by step, did she slowly learn the grades and powers of officials, the difference between civil officials and military officers, and how ordinary officials were not the same as the nobility.

She said calmly: “A magistrate is only seventh rank, and I am now fifth rank. Handling this puts no pressure on me at all, so you don’t need to worry.”

What was once a so-called lordly figure was now nothing but a down-and-out dog.

At last Li Feng gritted his teeth and decided to do it.

He had already reached the end of the road.

He did not fear starving or freezing, and he did not even fear those people coming to kill him to erase the last witness. The only thing he feared was failing to avenge his parents and his wife.

Steward Wu Shan let out a breath and hurried over with an agreement.

Li Feng could read. The agreement simply said he entrusted Yiluan Charity with full authority to hunt down and punish the killers; nothing else.

There was no fee written, and nothing he had to do.

He felt it was strange and asked: “What is this agreement even for?”

He knew some highborn people were very particular, and he had heard that merchants liked to write contracts when doing business because both sides would gain.

But this paper only wrote what he would gain and said nothing about what Yiluan Charity would get.

Steward Wu Shan explained: “Young Master Li, don’t worry. This agreement is only proof that you commissioned our Yiluan Charity to help you. It has no other use, and we will not charge you any fee.”

Li Feng half understood.

Steward Wu Shan glanced at Yu Zhi Yi and, seeing she had no further instructions, told Li Feng: “Young Master Li, go back for now, and once we have news, we will notify you.”

Li Feng was uneasy, but he still agreed.

After Li Feng left, Wu Shan asked softly: “Proprietor, do we not need to give him some silver?”

Yu Zhi Yi shook her head: “He can support himself. He does not need extra aid.”

Li Feng was capable. As long as this case was solved, he could live a good life by his own hands.

On the sixth day of the tenth month, after stealing a few extra days of quiet, Yu Zhi Yi finally showed up at the Ministry of Justice.

Because she had nabbed a serial killer who had been on the run for ten years the very first time she took action, most people in the Ministry of Justice now accepted this parachuted-in director. There were no nasty scenes of snobs looking down on her.

The subordinates did not dare play little tricks. The minister and the vice minister knew how much the Emperor valued their female director, and she was also the daughter-in-law of the Chancellor’s Manor. Whatever they truly felt, they kept respectful and friendly faces.

Her seat had been prepared early.

Opposite her sat the Ministry of Justice’s senior clerk.

On the senior clerk’s desk lay The Sheng Code and proposals on criminal law sent up from the Court of Judicial Review and from counties across the realm.

On Yu Zhi Yi’s desk lay the accumulated cold case files from recent years.

[Speechless.]

To be honest, what the Emperor wanted her to do had nothing to do with her formal post.

The Ministry of Justice did manage prisons and punishments, but actual trials were the work of the Court of Judicial Review.

Only because there was no opening over there had Yu Zhi Yi been placed in this seat.

[So this is being in Cao’s camp while my heart is in Han.]

Not long after she settled in, the senior clerk opposite arrived.

He was in his thirties. Seeing her, he froze for a moment, looking a bit embarrassed.

Normally when a colleague started on the first day, they should show some welcome.

But her identity was awkward.

First, she was a woman. Second, she was already married.

If they threw a welcome banquet, a crowd of grown men doing that seemed improper.

If they did not, it would feel like they were isolating her, which was also improper.

How to get along with her had become a puzzle.

After much thinking, the senior clerk still offered a greeting. Yu Zhi Yi gave a slight nod in return, then lowered her head and went on searching through the files.

While she enjoyed a quiet time turning past case pages, public opinion outside had already exploded.

First came the corruption claims about Yu Chun Yue, shouted so loudly that the Imperial Court had to take them seriously.

So the Emperor sent people to investigate.

These days, the Yu clan were cursed like a sieve and did not dare go out.

Naturally they had no mind to come make trouble for Yu Zhi Yi.

After a few days of urgent investigation, they finally confirmed that Yu Chun Yue had not embezzled or taken bribes. The embezzler was someone else.

It was a steward of Yu Manor.

But he had died of illness two years earlier.

Borrowing Minister Yu’s name, he had raked in wealth madly. Over more than ten years, he had taken more than a million taels in bribes.

The Emperor was furious, yet he could not have the man beheaded.

After all, the man was already dead.

So they could only confiscate the stolen silver to the state.

The Yu clan regained a “clean name.”

The Emperor received a million taels. Truly, everyone seemed pleased.

So it became a world where only that steward “got hurt.”

When Yu Zhi Yi turned to the file from Lin Zhang County, she happened to hear the yamen runners’ chatter outside.

She tugged at the corner of her lip but said nothing.

Although Yu Chun Yue had been demoted, there was still Consort Yu in the palace.

Consort Yu had already given birth to a prince, and now she carried another in her belly.

No matter what, they would not topple in a day.

Still, ill-gotten wealth came from a crooked path and would in the end bite back. Even if she never lifted a hand, trouble would keep coming for them.

She ignored these unrelated things and carefully read the file from Lin Zhang County.

There were many cold cases on record, yet the Great Sheng Empire was vast, and a single place might not see even one cold case in several years.

Lin Zhang County, so close to the Capital City, had clean and tidy records. There were no cold cases, only cases already closed.

Yu Zhi Yi requested nearly six years of files from Lin Zhang County and read them one by one.

Before long, she shut the volume.

An overflow of blood seemed to seep from the wrongful cases. All she saw was bright red, stinging her eyes so much she could not bear to look more.

[What a dog of an official.]

The magistrate of Lin Zhang County had served six years. In that time the county had reported 128 cases: 50 thefts; more than 30 assault cases; more than 30 of other kinds; and 8 homicide cases.

Of those 8 homicide cases, 6 were wrongful convictions.

From the birth charts of the people judged as killers in those six cases, it was clear they died with heavy injustice on them. Their fate lines showed they should not have died then.

And Li Feng’s case was not even among them.