"Not yours? Yet this object was found in your residence. How do you explain that?"
Chu Jinghui had originally paid little attention to the matter Yang Qing had reported, but for some reason, today he wanted to get to the bottom of it.
Wei Sizhong stepped forward, about to defend himself, when Suotu spoke again. "Your Majesty, I personally recovered this object from Chancellor Wei's residence. It passed through no other hands on the way here. I beg Your Majesty to judge the matter clearly."
Wei Sizhong looked at Suotu. "Guard Suotu, I have never questioned your abilities, and I do believe that you found this box in my residence."
"However, just because it came from my residence does not necessarily mean it belongs to me."
Suotu was about to speak, but Chu Jinghui silenced him with a wave of his hand. "Whether it does or not, won't opening it make everything clear?"
As he spoke, Yang Qing, who had earlier been taken away to have his wounds treated, was carried back into the Hall of Mental Cultivation on a hardwood board and set down below Chu Jinghui's seat.
Wei Sizhong turned his gaze toward him, only to find Yang Qing's head slightly bowed, as though he had not noticed his scrutiny at all.
When Wei Sizhong looked away, he saw that Eunuch Zhang had already opened the box and presented its contents to Chu Jinghui.
The box contained only a few envelopes and a seal.
Yet that tiny seal made Wei Sizhong's expression change abruptly.
For although the seal was small, its origins were anything but insignificant.
It was a one-of-a-kind birthday seal the emperor had carved with his own hands in the year Wei Sizhong turned fifty.
That year had also been the second year of Chu Jinghui's