The Wei Family's Troubles

Once the door was shut and the two of them were alone, Jieyu Wei immediately took out a wooden box she had brought with her.

She set the box on the table and opened it. Inside was a thick stack of silver notes. Di Qingyu glanced over them and saw that each was worth a hundred taels. It was quite a sum.

The next moment, Jieyu Wei rose and knelt on the floor.

"Please, Princess, save my father's life!"

Di Qingyu watched her calmly, but did not agree. "First, tell me what happened."

Jieyu Wei quickly explained. "My father is Wei Ning, vice minister of justice. Seven years ago, he interrogated a man guilty of the most heinous crimes. One night, after getting drunk, the man broke into a commoner's home. When he saw that there was only a woman there, he was seized by wicked intentions. She fought back with all her might, so he smashed her skull open with a brick and slit her throat with a blade, letting her bleed out. Later, the woman's parents-in-law, husband and five-year-old child came home and stumbled upon the scene. The man killed them too!"

Jieyu Wei's eyes filled with hatred as she continued. "The sounds of the struggle woke the neighbors, who joined forces to capture him and report the crime. There were witnesses and physical evidence, so my father had the man thrown into prison and chose a date to personally oversee his execution. But who would have thought that criminal would escape right under the prison's nose! It became a great burden on my father's heart, and it has haunted him all these years."

"But half a month ago, my father saw that man with his own eyes on the street! He followed him and discovered that the man actually entered the Prince of Zhennan's residence. After a careful investigation, he learned that the man was now the current empress dowager's own nephew. Five years ago, he was the governor of Yu Prefecture, and now he has been transferred to the royal capital and newly appointed minister of justice, Du Chengji. Back then, he argued every way he could and refused to admit his guilt. In his anger, my father went too far and tortured him into making his mark on a confession."

"My father knows full well how vicious that man is. Now that he has the empress dowager backing him and holds a higher office than my father, my father feared he would take revenge on the Wei family. That was why he sent me into the palace, hoping I could win His Majesty's favor and spare us from disaster."

As Di Qingyu listened, she recalled that news of the empress dowager's long-lost nephew being found had indeed caused a great stir some time ago.

"You're already in the palace. Why not explain the situation directly to Imperial Father? Your father is a good official who pleaded the people's case. Imperial Father would not stand by and do nothing."

"After that man disappeared from prison, the evidence and case records in my father's possession vanished too. I'm afraid the empress dowager's people were already involved back then." Bitterness showed on Jieyu Wei's face.

"So many years have passed since then. I'm afraid the witnesses from back then would not dare come forward now to identify a member of the imperial family, and His Majesty might not believe our side of the story. Even if he did, without evidence and with the empress dowager there, he could do nothing to them. We can only find a way to avoid disaster."

"We do not ask to expose him, only to protect ourselves."

Di Qingyu raised her eyes and looked at her coolly. "Then what makes you think I would believe you and help you?"

Jieyu Wei was a little stunned. She had thought that after she described a case that would move anyone who heard it, Di Qingyu would soften. Fortunately, she immediately calmed herself.

"The physical evidence is gone, and the only witnesses left are my family. If you don't believe me, Princess, I'll prove it with my life right now." With that, she pulled a hairpin from her hair and pressed its sharp tip to her neck, her eyes wet and red but resolute.

It was easy to feel pity for her. Unfortunately, the person she had come to was Di Qingyu.

Even now, Di Qingyu remained seated, unmoved. She had not stirred once from beginning to end.

"What makes you think I can help you? Who told you?"

"The palace maid who sold me information before was executed by you. I offended you in this matter, and I am willing to atone."

Intimidated by Di Qingyu's piercingly cold gaze, Jieyu Wei found she did not have the courage to drive the hairpin into her throat. She spoke in a trembling voice.

"As for why I came to you, no one told me to. I guessed it myself. Apart from a few powerful ministers and the empress, you were the only one I could think of who could speak before His Majesty and the empress dowager. But they have their own interests and ties, and would not offend the empress dowager and her faction for the sake of a vice minister of justice. My father has always been upright and impartial in carrying out his duties and has offended too many officials, so I dared not gamble on them."

"My father knows nothing of my coming to you. He only wanted me to win His Majesty's favor in the palace and preserve a slender chance of survival. I know you became Grand Tutor Gao's student. Had you not been exceptionally clever, he would not have bowed to His Majesty's pressure and taken on a student. And you have been out of the Cold Palace for only a year. In that year, you went from being unknown to someone everyone in Xiling holds in awe. That shows what you are capable of."

"You had that palace maid executed on the day you returned to the palace, yet you took no action against me. I knew you were waiting for me. This morning, you suddenly came to the empress's palace and reprimanded the consorts to their faces. When I left, you glanced at me, and I guessed you had deliberately shown me your methods so I would be unable to hold back from coming to you."

When she finished, Jieyu Wei knelt there upright, her hands and feet already cold.

"That is all my own speculation. If I have offended you, Princess, I am willing to accept punishment. I ask only that you show my father and my Wei family a way to survive. I, Wei Xin, am willing to repay you with my life!"

Bang!

Her forehead struck the floor hard with a dull thud.

Di Qingyu leaned lazily against her chair, tapping one hand on the tabletop at an unhurried pace.

She remembered that in her previous life, when she was fourteen and still in the Cold Palace, she had indeed heard that the vice minister of justice had been found to have treated human lives like grass, used torture without authorization, and produced a pile of wrongful convictions. As a result, he had been dismissed and imprisoned, his family's property confiscated, the men exiled into slavery and the women made government prostitutes.

Di Qingyu said nothing, and Wei Xin did not rise. She continued waiting for her answer.

Wei Xin did not know how long she had been kneeling. The blood from her broken forehead felt as though it was about to dry, but she dared not move. She could only place her hopes on Di Qingyu.

At last, just as her legs were growing numb and losing feeling-

"You want to buy the lives of so many members of the Wei family with this one box of silver notes? I'm afraid it's not quite enough."

Not enough, not impossible.

Wei Xin heard the implication and was overjoyed. She hurriedly raised her head.

"As long as you are willing to save my family, Princess, from this day forward, every member of the Wei family will follow your lead, with no divided loyalties!"

She had followed her father as he decided cases for years and had picked up quite a lot along the way. She also understood what this princess needed.

Di Qingyu's fingers stopped tapping the table. She finally rose, walked over to Wei Xin and crouched down before her, then reached out and gripped her chin.

"Can you speak for the Wei family? You even came to see me in secret." Her long, beautiful eyes were half-lidded, a cold indifference in them.

"I can!" Wei Xin grew anxious. "As long as you agree to save my family, Princess, I'll write a letter to my father right away!"

With the lives of everyone in the Wei family at stake, her father would surely agree.

Di Qingyu shook her head. Her long, shimmering phoenix eyes curved, and her red lips parted. "No, there's no need to write. Simply have Wei Ning come see me."

Wei Xin had some inkling of what she meant and agreed without a second thought.

"Yes. I can explain everything to my father tonight."

"There's no hurry. We'll talk after my people have checked whether what you said is broadly true." Contrary to Wei Xin's expectations, Di Qingyu, who had seemed ready to agree just now, said, "The Wei family can surely hold out for another night or two."

With that, she rose, stepped back and returned to her seat. "Go back and wait for word from me."

Wei Xin's face paled, but the great stone weighing on her heart eased a little. She was confident that she had not told a single lie; it was only a matter of time.

"Very well. I'll wait for word from you, Princess."

In the end, Wei Xin left the room with a handkerchief pressed to the wound on her forehead.

After she left, Chunzhi and the others came back into the room. When they saw the box of silver notes on the table, their eyes lit up.

"Mistress, this is..."

Di Qingyu remembered something. She took out the piece of jade the empress had pressed on her that morning, tossed it onto the table and gave an order.

Clatter!

"Pawn this jade and send the money, along with this box of silver notes, to the Information Pavilion." Although she had not reached an agreement with the Wei family, why should she return money that had landed in her hands?

Of all the places she was setting up, the Information Pavilion consumed the most silver. The money really did flow like water!

Chunzhi immediately broke into a delighted smile. "Yes, I'll go right away!"

Di Qingyu watched her reach for the money that had only just come into her hands, before she had even warmed it, and her heart ached. She rolled her eyes and chided her.

"They all keep shouting every day that they have no money. Now that they do, tell them to hurry up and get to work. I want to see the Information Pavilion taking shape before the new year, or I'll reward every last one of them with a smashing start to the new year!"

Chunzhi covered her mouth and laughed softly. "Understood. They certainly won't dare slack off."

Chunzhi went to deliver the money, while Di Qingyu assigned Xialin to investigate what Wei Xin had said.