Chapter 239

Chapter 239: Madam Zheng Is Thrown in Prison, Yu Chun Yue Gets Twenty Strokes

Under the Truth-Telling Talisman, Yu Chun Yue quickly confessed every detail from back then. No matter how Madam Zheng tried to stop him, it was useless.

In the end, Madam Zheng was jailed for malicious injury and would be sentenced later. One day later, the judgment came out. She had almost caused the death of a pregnant woman and her unborn child seventeen years ago, then took the woman’s daughter away. Her intent was clearly malicious, so she was sentenced to ten years in prison.

Yu Chun Yue hadn’t struck anyone at the time, but later he knew Yu Zhi Yi was the victim’s daughter and still took her away. Even if he had raised her for seventeen years, that could not erase the original wrong. He was punished with three months of detention and twenty strokes of the board.

Madam Zheng burst into tears on the spot. Yu Chun Yue felt his vision go dark. It was over. The Zheng family would not let him go.

Yu Meng Qin still had a sliver of hope. He thought maybe they could work something behind the scenes. They had money. His father had been an official for years and had connections. Even if people liked to flatter the powerful and step on the weak, they would agree if they saw enough silver.

But he was being naive. The moment the palace sent Yu Chun Yue out to testify, Madam Zheng’s fate was set. It could only get heavier, not lighter.

When Yu Zhi Yi heard about it, she wasn’t surprised. That day she had already seen that Madam Zheng would face prison in the future, so she didn’t bother to take revenge. She just hadn’t expected the prison time to come this way.

She soon put the matter out of her mind. How the Yu Clan lived now had nothing to do with her.

She was busy with Yiluan Charity and her case files. She planned to take a month off, so she had to read a month’s worth of files ahead of time. If she could find the culprit, she would handle it right away. If not, she would give leads and let the Court of Judicial Review track them down.

In the past, she could only do three divinations a day. Doing more left her mind exhausted. So she handled one case file a day and saved the other two divinations for daily trouble. After reaching the Foundation Establishment Realm, her spirit sea grew, and four a day was no problem. Now she handled two case files daily and kept two for life’s messes. It was enough. If the Court of Judicial Review hadn’t been short on people, she would have kept only one divination for herself and poured the rest into case files.

Even though she was pacing herself, the flood of clues still made the Court’s people feel their scalps tingle. The constables weren’t idle; the Capital City was huge, and all kinds of things happened every day. Homicides rare in small towns were not strange here. In just a few days, Official Yu handed them over a dozen tasks. Everyone wished they had eight arms and ten brains.

Helpless, the minister of the Court of Judicial Review changed strategy and set up an Old Cases Division so those assigned could consolidate the old files. Even if they couldn’t finish everything fast, at least the materials would be in order, and then they could tackle one case at a time.

One day, after Yu Zhi Yi finished three files and sent the organized folders to the Court, she stretched and got ready to go home. Only then did she notice the opposite desk was empty.

Li Rou said: “Lord Li didn’t come today. I heard his daughter-in-law is having her baby.”

Yu Zhi Yi nodded.

Just then, Assistant Official Li came in with a waiter behind him carrying a basket. Seeing Yu Zhi Yi, he smiled and said: “Official Yu, done for the day? Perfect timing. My daughter-in-law just gave me a big, healthy grandson. These are red eggs. Please have some.”

Giving out red eggs was a custom in the Great Sheng Empire. When a family welcomed a baby, they boiled a pot of red-dyed eggs for neighbors and friends, both to share joy and to let others catch some of their good luck.

Yu Zhi Yi had Li Rou accept them. She was about to thank him when, looking closely at Assistant Official Li’s face, she frowned. Earlier her eyes had gone straight to the basket in the waiter’s hand. Now she noticed the palace of children on his face looked dark, and it was getting darker.

She had taken his eggs, so as a return gift she gave a warning: “You should hurry home and check on your son. It’s best to bring a few servants. If you go late, I fear it will be a gray-haired parent sending off a black-haired child.”

Assistant Official Li froze, his smile stiffening. He sounded annoyed and said: “Official Yu, I came to share our joy. Why are you cursing people?”

Lately, Yu Zhi Yi had shown great skill at solving cases. Any file she touched ended with an arrest within days. Assistant Official Li had seen this and, though doubtful, leaned toward the idea that she solved cases by finding flaws in the files. As for fortune-telling… if she was really that good, how did she fail to predict her own birth and the fact she wasn’t the Yu Clan’s real daughter?

Seeing his displeasure, Yu Zhi Yi didn’t press it. For the sake of the red eggs, she would warn him once. If he didn’t believe her, she wouldn’t force it. She called to Li Rou: “Let’s go.”

After Yu Zhi Yi left, Assistant Official Li felt uneasy. He didn’t believe his kind, honest son would have trouble, but doubt had planted itself. If he didn’t go look, he couldn’t relax. [If my son is fine, I’ll impeach her for this.]

A woman who never took the proper exams was sitting equal to him. He had been unhappy with her for a long time.

He stopped handing out eggs and hurried home with the waiter. On the way, he ran into Constable Song. Wanting a witness, he stopped him, repeated Yu Zhi Yi’s words, and said: “Constable Song, come with me to check. If something really happens, with you constables there, you can act at once.”

When he heard it was Yu Zhi Yi who said so, Constable Song agreed without a second thought: “All right. Please lead the way, Lord Li.”

Ever since that night, Constable Song had revered Yu Zhi Yi as if she were divine. If Official Yu said Lord Li’s son was in danger, then he definitely was. He turned to the constables behind him and said: “Stay sharp. The criminal might be very vicious.”

Assistant Official Li thought: [What is with these constables? Has Official Yu fed all of them some kind of mind-fog?]

They arrived at Li Manor. The place outside was quiet.

Though full of doubt, Assistant Official Li still asked the gatekeeper to be safe: “Did anyone suspicious loiter outside today?”

The gatekeeper shook his head: “No, my lord.”

Assistant Official Li asked: “Did the young master go out?”

The gatekeeper said: “Master, he just stepped out for a bit, but he already returned.”

Assistant Official Li glanced at Constable Song, as if to say: See? Baseless talk.