The Ministry of Justice, the water prison.
"Miss Zhong, please watch your step. Walk slowly." The iron gate was opened inch by inch, and the prison guard holding the lamp and candle behind Zhong Li offered a kind reminder.
Zhong Li nodded. Using the light from the lamp and candle, she scanned the situation behind the gate.
She hadn't realized it until she looked. She was stunned. The passage inside the water prison was even narrower and darker than she had imagined, coupled with a foul odor like rotting corpses. A sense of fear, unprecedented, made Zhong Li instinctively want to turn and flee.
Her legs went weak. The arm holding the lamp and candle braced against the iron door, not wanting others to see any weakness.
But the prison guard who had been behind her all along and was now preparing to leave heard the commotion. He turned and walked towards her, intending to investigate. Kuaishuguo.
"Miss Zhong, are you alright?" The prison guard looked at Zhong Li with a curious gaze. Seeing that her face was somewhat pale, he thought she was ill and wanted to offer her some support.
"Let me!" A voice rang out at this moment.
The young prison guard quickly came to his senses. After recognizing the person who had arrived, he immediately said, "Young Master."
Lu Wuxie waved his hand, signaling the young prison guard to leave.
As the footsteps of the young prison guard faded into the distance, Zhong Li felt a man's warm palm touch her forehead. The next moment, she was lifted into his arms and carried straight inside.
Zhong Li had been somewhat dizzy from the structure of the water prison. After Lu Wuxie's series of actions, her attention was completely focused on how he was holding her.
"Young Master, what... what are you doing?" Her lips parted slightly. Her tone should have been stern, but perhaps due to her earlier weakness, her spirit hadn't fully recovered. Her voice, to others, sounded like a coquettish complaint.
Lu Wuxie glanced lightly at the woman in his arms. Because of her struggle, the oil lamp swayed, and the path ahead was illuminated in flickers of light and shadow.
"The water prison is slippery. If you don't want us both to leave in a mess, hold the oil lamp steady," he reminded her, his tone unusually deep and gentle.
Upon hearing this, Zhong Li quickly shifted her gaze to the ground of the passage. The bluestone slabs seemed to be covered in moss. Lu Wuxie's boots, with every step he took, were stained with mud. She could even faintly see black, stringy substances. As these strands broke, waves of even more unpleasant stench washed over her.
Was this the concentrated liquid left behind by decomposing corpses or rotting flesh?
Zhong Li, as a coroner, was all too familiar with this smell.
Lu Wuxie lowered his eyes to look at the woman in his arms, who had quieted down considerably due to his words. However, she still seemed fearful, and her complexion was not as rosy as it had been in the carriage.
"Li'er," Lu Wuxie's resonant voice echoed in the passage.
Upon being called by her name, Zhong Li's gaze, which had been focused on the ground, was drawn back to the man's face.
In that one glance, a face suddenly flashed in her mind. It was the personal portrait of Lu Wuxie displayed in his study, devoid of restlessness or debauchery, showing more composure and maturity.
"You..."
"Tell me, why are you so afraid of confined spaces?" Zhong Li wanted to ask Lu Wuxie what he was doing here, but before she could even voice her question, he had already posed one.
She lowered her eyes, not daring to look ahead.
Lu Wuxie continued to walk forward. Just as he thought she wouldn't say anything, Zhong Li suddenly spoke, "My adoptive father rescued me from a coffin, and ever since then, I've been afraid of small places."
As Zhong Li spoke, she recalled the day she transmigrated, possessing the body of a three-year-old girl. That girl was likely sacrificed to a mountain god. She had been drugged and locked in a coffin and then thrown into the mountains. Coincidentally, Gai Chen passed by and rescued her. It was from that time that she, who had always been mentally healthy, developed a psychological disorder.
Upon hearing this, Lu Wuxie's eyes swept over her delicate face, buried softly in his embrace. The way she seemed to want to rely on him yet maintained a cautious distance, daring not to overstep, stirred ripples in his heart.
"The water prison in Jincheng was specifically built for the major offenders of the Southern Yue Kingdom. The Emperor had it constructed this way hoping to instill psychological fear in these individuals," he said, his tone growing even softer.
Zhong Li nodded. She could understand that.
"Now you are an officially appointed coroner by the Emperor, and with the successful resolution of the Huanxi Tower case, you have been promoted to Secretary of the Dali Temple. You will undoubtedly have to come to this water prison often. What will you do in the future?" Lu Wuxie asked.
Zhong Li pursed her lips and remained silent. She had considered this. The administration of the Ministry of Justice's water prison was a distinct system. Once inmates entered, unless they were executed or died, no one had the right to remove them, and even interrogations had to be conducted within the water prison. If she wanted to continue working at the Dali Temple, overcoming such psychological obstacles was essential.
"There's no need," Lu Wuxie's voice sounded from above her head.
Zhong Li looked up in bewilderment, meeting his focused gaze.
Both of them blushed, quickly turning their faces away. At this moment, as if in unspoken agreement, neither spoke.
After a long while, as they approached the disciplinary room of the water prison, a beam of light illuminated the dark passage. Lu Wuxie set Zhong Li down. As she hurried to open the door to the interrogation room, he finally spoke:
"Li'er like this is very cute. There's no need to force yourself to be strong. Go in. I will wait here for you to come out. Now, and always."
-------------------------------------
Zhong Li walked into the disciplinary room. The prison guards, as she had instructed beforehand, had already brought Wei Fu in.
At this moment, a woman was tied to a cross-shaped rack. The woman was still slender and alluring, but her skin, likely due to being submerged in water, was frighteningly pale.
"Wei Fu." Zhong Li sat down on an official's hat chair in front of the cross-shaped rack.
The person on the rack seemed to hear herself being called and trembled slightly in response.
Zhong Li's gaze meandered from Wei Fu's face to her lower body. When she had first entered, she felt something wriggling there. Now, observing more closely, the wriggling movement was even more apparent.
She stood up, walked to Wei Fu's side, and gently pulled aside her inner robe. When she saw that Wei Fu's legs were covered in leeches, Zhong Li couldn't help but frown.
"So it was you. How is it? Satisfied?" Wei Fu, semi-conscious, felt someone approach. When she opened her eyes and saw the person in front of her, a mocking smile appeared on her lips.
Zhong Li put down the inner robe and stared coldly at Wei Fu, saying, "This is your own doing, isn't it?"
"Hah!" Wei Fu let out a long cry. She seemed to have been tormented into a state of madness these past two days. Her laughter was even more terrifying than before at the Dali Temple.
Zhong Li sat back on the official's hat chair. Only when Wei Fu's laughter began to grow hoarse did she speak, "I have one question for you."
Wei Fu was not one to embarrass herself. Seeing that the woman opposite her was not intimidated by her laughter, she could only roll her eyes in resignation.
"You have many ways to kill people. Why did you target the Young Master?" Zhong Li asked.
"The Young Master? You mean Lu Wuxie?" Wei Fu raised an eyebrow and said, "I'll say it was a coincidence. Do you believe me?"
Certainly not.
Zhong Li sneered inwardly, her gaze like a knife fixed on Wei Fu. "If you think the Young Master is the best person to frame for Shen Hong's death, then what about Yuan Shang? Don't think I don't know that Shen Hong and Yuan Shang found out about your dealings with Liu Wu and used it to threaten you. This is also why you killed them.
But with Yuan Shang's death, with your intelligence, you could have had countless methods. Why was it specifically Lu Wuxie?"