♂,
After a good while, Ye Hua finished reading and heaved a sigh of relief. He handed the two edicts to me and Zhu Daohe respectively. Zhu Daohe's face was full of emotion, tears glimmering in her eyes as she stood there in a daze, while Ye Hua patted her shoulder and said, "See? Uncle told you your father wouldn't abandon you. I hit the nail on the head, didn't I? It's all right now. You don't have to wander the ends of the earth to evade pursuit anymore."
Zhu Daohe was overwhelmed with emotion and began to sob softly. I, on the other hand, froze, then hurriedly asked, "What happened? This has been like a roller coaster, up and down, and in the end everything's fine?"
Ye Hua rolled his eyes at me and said, "If you're fine, shouldn't our Daohe be fine too?"
My heart jolted. I was fine too? How was that possible? I took a look at the imperial proclamation. The writing on it looked like tadpoles to me—I couldn't understand a word. Bewildered, I glanced at Zhu Daohe.
Zhu Daohe knew I was practically illiterate here, so she immediately sobbed out an explanation. "The matter of me being coerced by bandits into killing my fellow officers has now been investigated and cleared. As for resisting arrest, it doesn't mention that at all. It only orders me to hurry back and report."
"What? Could they be tricking you into coming back so they can arrest you and throw you into the God-Burying Coffin?" I sprang to my feet in shock.
Zhu Daohe paused. Ye Hua looked at me with utter disdain and barked, "An emperor's word carries the weight of a thousand tripods—how could it be issued lightly? It's written right there in the imperial edict.