Chapter Twenty: The Upright Official

Luo Yunyao ultimately had no choice but to accept the case investigating the Chancellor for corruption.

She felt incredibly uneasy, yet the thought of Qin Jinghao truly ignoring her was even more painful. In an attempt to soothe her own anxiety, she tried to convince herself that this task was acceptable and didn't necessarily violate his philosophy of the "Golden Mean."

"Brother Qin," she ventured, "this assignment isn't actually as dreadful as it seems, is it? It’s just... a minor offense against the Chancellor. What if he never manages to make a comeback anyway?"

As she said the words "minor offense," she swallowed hard, feeling profoundly guilty.

Qin Jinghao watched her cautious expression—she looked like a small, pitiable animal that had committed a mistake and was hoping for its master’s forgiveness, yet lacked the courage to ask for it. He had no idea she was worrying about such trivialities; he was consumed by the realization that this situation was a disaster of his own making, born from the reputation he had helped build for her among the people of Nanjiang. Heart heavy with concern, he reached out, ruffled her hair, and sighed, "It was my oversight."

Luo Yunyao squinted, letting him tousle her hair. Her heart blossomed with joy; it was clear he had no intention of abandoning her or cutting her off. But just as she was feeling happy, she realized that Qin Jinghao’s proximity to her was, in itself, not very "moderate." For her sake, he was abandoning his own long-held principles.

Excitedly, she took his arm, tugged at his sleeve, and said coaxingly, "Actually, this isn't as bad as we thought. Why be so pessimistic? One should always look on the bright side." She lifted her small face to look at him imploringly. "Besides, investigating the Chancellor’s estate? That means we’ll have a huge sum of money! We can use it to provide disaster relief for the people of Nanjiang—or even all the people in the empire." She gestured grandly, her voice growing brighter. "Once I, Luo... Yao, take the lead, I guarantee I won’t leave the Chancellor with even a single scrap of his ill-gotten gains."

Watching the young man gesticulate with such vivid enthusiasm, Qin Jinghao’s heart softened.

Though he knew full well that being caught in the crossfire of party politics was a dangerous position to be in, he didn't want to dampen her passion. Perhaps he had been too cautious, focused only on self-preservation and protecting her, without considering what she truly needed or wanted to do. After all, she was like a newborn calf that did not fear the tiger; she wanted to carve out her own path, and he shouldn't stifle her.

The future might be uncertain, but he was by her side, and he would protect her for as long as he lived.

Qin Jinghao watched her expressive face and her occasional coy gestures. He thought of how she had once wanted to build a career of her own, yet now she was listening to him so obediently.

Swift, ruthless, and precise.

The entire court was abuzz with tales of the new top scholar’s achievements and capabilities, and everyone was full of admiration.

Luo Yunyao eventually became quite puffed up with pride. She asked Qin Jinghao, "I didn't disappoint you with how I handled this, did I? How does it compare to your own military methods?"

Qin Jinghao indulged her, nodding gently with a soft, "Hmm."

Luo Yunyao showed no mercy in her investigation of the Chancellor. Her hatred for the gluttonous official was as deep as her sympathy for the refugees in Nanjiang. True to her word, she seized everything of value she could find.

After cataloging the massive fortune, she handed it over to Qin Jinghao to provide relief for the disaster victims, with the surplus stored away for future charitable needs.

Publicly, she claimed that all the funds had gone to the victims. Though the Emperor was displeased, he could hardly act against her, as the news of her charitable actions had reached the public before it reached the throne. Since the people were singing her praises, the Emperor could not openly find fault with her.

He could only offer a reluctant word of praise for his "beloved Minister Luo."

Later, Luo Yunyao submitted an account book. Compared to this ledger, the minor deceptions she had committed against the Emperor paled in comparison. It was a record of the Chancellor’s corruption spanning over twenty years, beginning from the time his influence rose alongside Noble Consort Liu. The amount of embezzled wealth was so astronomical that it defied imagination.

The last sliver of sunset faded from the horizon. A crescent moon hung in the sky, casting a faint, pale light upon the world.

After a long, exhausting day, Luo Yunyao sat in her sedan chair, heading home. The road was silent and shrouded in ink-black darkness, with only her chair rocking rhythmically along the path. The carriage driver, eager to return and rest, remained silent. The two square lanterns leading the way cast a weak, pallid light upon the road.

There was a deathly silence, a deathly darkness.

"Ugh...!" A few low, strangled sounds escaped, like the whimpering of someone on the brink of death.

Luo Yunyao, who had been drifting into a deep sleep, was instantly alert. "What happened?" she asked, her voice laced with unease. She reached out to pull back the curtain.

Suddenly, the sedan chair lurched downward, the wood smashing into the ground with a ghostly, muffled thud.

Luo Yunyao immediately realized what was happening. Her first thought was of Qin Jinghao; never had she understood his philosophy of the "Golden Mean" more clearly than in that moment.

Being too prominent and offending too many people would inevitably lead to a death sentence!

Thinking this, she snatched the black silk hat from her head and tossed it out the curtain, then vaulted out through the window of the sedan chair. Small and agile, she landed, rolled, and scrambled toward the pillars of a nearby building.

She didn't even look to see what her attackers looked like; she just ran blindly. Her long, black hair danced in the air, weaving through the darkness.

But the assassin had no interest in the aesthetic of her movement. She heard the whistle of a blade, and a lock of her hair drifted softly to the ground.

Seeing her hair fall and sensing the cold glint of the blade nearby, her legs turned to jelly. She could no longer stand, let alone run. A moment ago, she had been able to analyze her surroundings, looking for escape routes or weapons, but now her mind was a complete blur.

In her terror, she faltered. The assassin’s sword lunged for her chest, but he hesitated when he caught sight of her face. He saw the young man before him, hair cascading over his shoulders, the arc of his silhouette beautiful even in the dark.

It was a captivating sight, but the assassin was a seasoned traveler who had seen countless beauties. Luo Yunyao was not quite so stunning as to be otherworldly in the dark. What stunned the assassin was the realization: *This... is a woman, isn't it?*

The hesitation caused the blade to veer. It sliced through her outer robe, and blood began to bloom across her chest. The torn fabric clearly revealed her true gender.

The pain made Luo Yunyao grit her teeth, and the sharp sensation brought her back to reality. Seeing the assassin distracted, she didn't waste time wondering why. She scrambled toward a nearby merchant’s stall—a butcher's shop, she realized—and spotted a gleaming cleaver partially hidden beneath a cloth.

She rolled forward. As expected, the stall behind her was hacked in two.

She snatched the cleaver, summoning every ounce of her strength to lift it, and hurled the blade at the assassin’s face.

The assassin, his vision obscured by the shattered wooden planks, dodged, but the blade still struck his left hand.

The assassin was truly enraged now. He had perhaps intended to play cat-and-mouse with this cross-dressing scholar, but now, all traces of mercy or amusement were gone.

He thrust his sword, piercing her hip, then pulled it out and struck again with practiced, lethal grace, piercing her uninjured side. With a final twist of his wrist, he shredded her outer robe completely.

Her white undergarments were stained with blood, looking like red plum blossoms painted upon the fabric.

Luo Yunyao felt her consciousness slipping away from the pain. *I should have just let him kill me earlier,* she thought vaguely. *It would have saved me so much agony. What a fool I was.*

Between life and death, she saw the assassin’s chest pierced by a long sword. Behind the falling assassin stood a man. His robes fluttered in the wind, and with a fluid, graceful motion, he retracted his sword into the scabbard at his waist. He was a man as beautiful as jade. The only flaw was that this cold, jade-like gentleman’s face was no longer calm or indifferent. His expression was complex—Luo Yunyao took a moment to study it: heartache, grief, remorse, rage... so many emotions. She found it fascinating; if she had a camera, she would have captured this historic moment. In her delirium, she felt a pang of sadness—she hadn't even finished cataloging all the expressions before her consciousness faded away.

Collapsing into his arms, she muttered intermittently, trying to claim credit, "I... I managed to injure that assassin, too."

Qin Jinghao carefully scooped her up and, using his light-agility technique, dashed toward the nearest residence—the General’s mansion.

Luo Yunyao, still grumpy that he had been ignoring her, complained, "I’m probably dying, and you won't even say a word."