At noon, the sky was overcast, with a fine drizzle falling.
Inside the Imperial Study.
Yin sat in a rosewood chair, his bearing utterly respectful.
Emperor Jingde said gently:
"Return to your residence and recuperate."
A maternal relative of the emperor staying too long in the Inner Court would inevitably draw impeachment from the censors.
Yin lowered his head and answered:
"This humble subject obeys."
Looking at his seven remaining fingers, he could not help being overcome with grief.
An imperial uncle reduced to a cripple-how could he continue commanding the Five City Troops Command?
Would the nearly thirty thousand elite troops stationed in the two counties under the Capital's jurisdiction gossip about their commander behind his back?
All the prestige he had accumulated had vanished!
Emperor Jingde saw through his thoughts at a glance and said sternly:
"My imperial word is golden and unbreakable. You remain commander of the Five City Troops Command!"
He could not rest easy entrusting so important a position to anyone else.
His face full of misery, Yin said in anguish:
"Your Majesty, why not execute that shameless, rebellious villain?"
"How many times must this humble subject say it? Jia Beast is the culprit! You are the Nine-Five Supreme. A single Imperial Edict could have him put to death!"
"Though his reputation is ruined, court and country despise him, and he no longer has the power to act with impunity, that price is far too light! The Empress's family has lost all dignity. This is contempt through and through!"
Emperor Jingde knitted his brows tightly and said angrily:
"As soon as evidence is found, I will have him beheaded before the public, uphold the laws of the state, and set Great Qian's moral climate right!"
At those words, Yin turned pale, boundless frustration sweeping through