Dawn had barely broken.
Officials were arriving at court one after another.
The creaking of carriage wheels rose and fell in succession.
Looking outward from the Imperial City, one luxurious carriage after another slowly came into view.
Outside the palace walls.
Everyone's eyes were filled with bewilderment.
The richly dressed officials descending from their carriages all looked in the same direction.
Before the wide-open palace gates.
A frail, slender figure clutched a heavy iron stele in her arms.
The inscription upon the stele shone brightly.
A yellow flower was tucked into that frail figure's hair.
She wore coarse white mourning clothes.
It was nearly August.
Though the morning was not cold, summer was drawing to an end, and the cool wind blew over that frail figure.
Making her body tremble from time to time.
"Whose mourning daughter is kneeling up ahead?"
The officials who had stepped down from their carriages and were preparing to enter the Imperial City all wore puzzled expressions.
Qin Wanyue merely held the iron-bound book, her eyes full of stubborn resolve.
"Qin Wanyue, a fatherless daughter, accuses a court official of bringing vicious men to forcibly break into my residence and seize my family heirloom..."
"Wanyue?!"
A familiar voice rang out.
Qin Wanyue's body trembled.
She looked toward the source of the voice.
Zeng Shilin strode quickly forward and stopped before Qin Wanyue.
"What happened? Why are you kneeling here?"
As he spoke, he urged the servant beside him, "Quick, bring some clothes..."
Qin Wanyue saw the concern in Zeng Shilin's eyes.
The tears she had held back for so long finally could no longer be contained.
"Uncle Zeng... someone wanted to seize my Qin family's 'Confucian Sage's Manuscript'..."
"They claimed they wanted to erect a monument honoring my father's virtue... but they actually came to