Chapter 395: Chapter 393: These are Gao Zheng and their Ears
As Cui Ji had expected, a few days later, people from the Gao Family indeed came knocking.
The Hanging Flower Hall.
Madam Gao was crying her heart out: "Assistant Minister Cui, you are Zheng’s immediate superior. You should be clearer than anyone about Zheng’s character. He has always been upright and incorruptible in his duties. How could you impeach him?!"
Cui Ji sat elegantly in a pear wood official hat chair, his long legs crossed casually, holding a thin jade teacup in his hand, his head slightly lowered.
The early autumn sunlight filtered through the carved windows, casting flickering shadows on him. The dark green silk robe and his fair skin alternated between light and shadow, the curve of his jaw and neck exuding an icy detachment.
He spoke nonchalantly: "There must be some misunderstanding."
"Yes, yes!" Madam Gao hurriedly wiped her tears, nodding repeatedly, "It must have been provoked by some villain, causing you, my lord, to misunderstand Zheng! Speaking of this, your concubine Shen Yinning was once the lawful wife of my Zheng. In that sense, Zheng and you could be considered family. For Yinning’s sake, my lord, surely you shouldn’t have impeached him, right?"
Cui Ji didn’t reply, merely offering a faint smile.
But Madam Gao and her companions saw a glimmer of hope. Gao Yun and Yin Shanshan exchanged a glance, both looking relieved.
"Since my lord is willing to clear Zheng’s name, then..." Madam Gao probed further, "shall we return home and await your good news?"
"Hold on." Cui Ji set down the teacup. "If I recall correctly, your Aunt Yin has a relative who once worked in the Eastern Palace?"
Yin Shanshan quickly responded, "Yes, that’s my elder brother Yin Yang! Lord Cui, you know my brother? I didn’t realize he was so famous!"
Since Gao Zheng’s fall from grace, she had sought help from Yin Yang.
Her brother, though a favorite in the new emperor’s court, had claimed he was powerless to help, bringing great shame upon her in the Gao Family.
These past days, she had doubted whether Yin Yang’s supposed position as the emperor’s strategist was mere bluster. But hearing Cui Ji mention her brother’s name today, she instantly believed again that her brother was truly the emperor’s strategist.
Feeling smug, she cast a triumphant glance toward Madam Gao and Gao Yun, only to hear Cui Ji say, "He’s a decent stable hand. I heard when the new emperor ascended to the throne, he was promoted from a sedan carrier in the Eastern Palace to a groom."
The Hanging Flower Hall fell silent, the hush profound enough to hear a pin drop.
Gao Yun was the first to cry out: "What, my elder uncle is merely a groom?! Shanshan, didn’t you say he’s a favorite of the new emperor?!"
Yin Shanshan was equally stunned. "This... how could this be? Lord Cui, you must be mistaken!"
But Cui Ji ignored her, instead turning his gaze to Gao Yun. "I heard that Miss Gao has divorced her husband."
Gao Yun lifted her chin slightly. "That’s correct."
She had already caught the attention of Lu Jiazhe, the princely heir of Prince Su’s Mansion.
To her, as a daughter of an official family, her merchant husband was an embarrassment, so she decisively filed for divorce.
The princely heir had told her his parents were currently away and couldn’t weigh in on their marriage, urging her to wait patiently.
When her brother was imprisoned, she had also pleaded with the princely heir for help.
Yet the princely heir, so earnest in their intimate moments, would dodge the matter afterward, claiming it required delicate handling. He asked her to wait a little longer.
Cui Ji lowered his gaze with a faint smile. "Miss Gao must indeed have found a more promising branch to climb."
Gao Yun sniffed lightly, her brows and eyes filled with glee, imagining herself soon marrying into the Imperial Family.
Just as she was reveling in her joy, the steward hurried in: "My lord, the princely heir of Prince Su’s Mansion sent a fresh deer to the Commandery Princess, asking her to roast it for dinner tonight."
As he spoke, Wei Jiu entered with two attendants from Prince Su’s Mansion, carrying a deer into the Hanging Flower Hall.
Wei Jiu, not noticing Gao Yun, bowed respectfully to Cui Ji: "Lord Cui, this is a gift from the princely heir for Princess Zhaoning."
Gao Yun stared blankly at Wei Jiu.
Today, he wasn’t wearing a brocade robe but the attire of a guard from Prince Su’s Mansion.
He wasn’t the princely heir...
He was merely a lowly guard in Prince Su’s Mansion!
Her face turned beet red as she shrieked, "Didn’t you say you were the princely heir?! What are you doing now?! Did you lie to me?!"
Wei Jiu turned to look at Gao Yun, visibly stunned. His complexion shifted from pale to green, filled with discomfort.
Cui Ji’s voice grew cold: "Wei Jiu, do you realize your crime for impersonating your master and swindling in the Capital?"
Wei Jiu broke into a cold sweat, hastily kneeling: "I know my crime! But it was... it was this woman who seduced me first!"
Gao Yun trembled all over, her eyes blazing with fury.
She had believed he was the princely heir.
She had thought she would soon marry into the Imperial Family as a princely consort. She had even spent all her savings hiring an etiquette instructor to teach her the rules and proprieties of palace life.
But now...
The gilded princely heir in her dreams had turned into a destitute guard. Her fantasy of rising to glory had been shattered in an instant, leaving her dreams of wealth and status in tatters.
She had even divorced her husband for this lowly guard!
Unable to accept it, Gao Yun lunged at Wei Jiu, clawing and biting in a frenzy.
Wei Jiu shoved her aside, disdain evident in his voice: "You’re just a vain, useless woman, and you dare dream of becoming my master’s consort?! Do you think the world is that easy?"
"I’ll kill you!"
Her eyes blood-red, Gao Yun screamed and lunged at him again.
The Hanging Flower Hall descended into utter chaos.
Cui Ji waved casually, signaling the household staff to throw them all out.
That night, the events in the Hanging Flower Hall reached Shen Yinning’s ears.
The young woman, dressed in an apricot-pink silk gown, sat by the water, feeding fish.
The new autumn moonlight was translucent, hovering over lush hibiscus and the bamboo’s swaying shadows. Gold and red koi swam in the stone pond, their tails gleaming under the lantern light from the pavilion, casting shimmering reflections on Shen Yinning’s pale cheeks like gilded light and tranquil shadows.
She turned with a radiant smile toward Cui Ji: "What a pity I didn’t get to see Yin Shanshan and Gao Yun’s breakdowns."
Cui Ji stood with his hands clasped behind him, the bamboo’s forlorn shadows casting leaf-shaped patterns on his dark green robes.
Looking at the girl’s almond-shaped eyes, he hesitated before suddenly twisting his face into a contorted grimace. "At the time, the two of them looked just like this."
He quickly reverted to his cold and composed demeanor after making the face.
But there was a trace of embarrassment as he lowered his thin eyelids, avoiding her gaze.
Shen Yinning froze for a moment, then burst out laughing.
Cui Ji’s ears reddened, his palms damp with a fine layer of sweat.
After she finished laughing, Shen Yinning remarked softly, "I want Yin Shanshan."
"What for?"
"A few months ago, I sent someone to Gan State to investigate Yin Shanshan’s background. I should be getting the results soon. I spent a lot of time around her when I was with the Gao Family, and I’ve always felt something peculiar about her. I want to figure out what it is."
"Understood," Cui Ji replied.
When it came to Gao Zheng, Cui Ji had shown no mercy, directly sentencing him to exile at the border.
Along with him, he expelled Madam Gao, Gao Yun, and others from the Capital as well.
The family was escorted out like a band of monks, grumbling all the way.
Yet, just as they crossed the Capital’s borders, assassins appeared out of nowhere.
The assassins were swift, ruthless, and silent. Without saying a word to Gao Zheng and the others, they killed them on the spot, sparing only Yin Shanshan, who was bundled into a burlap sack and sent back to the Capital without a sound.
Cui Mansion’s study.
The candlelight flickered dimly.
The young Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice sat in a black ebony armchair, his icy gaze fixed on the box in front of him, which held several blood-stained ears.
They were Gao Zheng’s ears.