After traveling through time, I became the aunt of the loyal dog emperor

Wan Ning frowned again, shook her head and expressed her opinion in a decisive tone.

"Let alone the presumption of innocence, Wang Ji has no evidence and is only speculating and suspecting. If the court temporarily detains the minister just because of his suspicion, how can it convince the people? Wouldn't it make other ministers fall into a trap of suspicion, and how can people be convinced? Let her start from other places, this way will not work."

Ziheng actually admired her firm attitude. He originally thought that Wan Ning, who wanted to clear Liu Xueyu's grievances, would be willing to do so. Unexpectedly, she was concerned about whether she could convince the ministers. He felt troubled.

"What I said makes sense. Your Majesty, how do you respond?"

Wan Ning stood up and paced back and forth in front of the hall. She thought for a moment, put her hands on her waist, and turned around to see Ziheng's admiring eyes. Compared with the previous emperor who didn't like women interfering in politics, he seemed to like watching Wan Ning talk freely, always watching her every move, and often he didn't realize that he was looking at Wan Ning and made her feel embarrassed.

This worry is not without reason. Ziheng has not yet had real power. Most of the officials in the court were promoted by the emperor, so they are naturally from the emperor's party. The other half are the old subordinates who supported Prince Qi in the past. Although they were suppressed, they still persisted for so many years, which shows how powerful they are. Now that Prince Qi has returned to the political center, his momentum is probably getting stronger day by day. The rest are some insignificant minor officials who are not taken seriously by the other two parties. As for the county magistrate of Yucheng, Guo Ming, he is the core figure of the emperor's party, Mr. Qian. If he acts rashly without solid evidence, he will probably alert the enemy and find nothing.

Ziheng didn't want Wan Ning to get involved in such a power struggle, so he quietly changed the topic to the second purpose of her visit today.

"It's indeed inappropriate. Yanyan came here today to ask for the prize?" Ziheng looked into her eyes, and the candlelight flickered in their eyes.

"Nonsense! I came here to see you first, and secondly to ask for? to take? to get. Yes, I came here to get the prize." Perhaps she was seen through, Wan Ning embarrassedly shook her arm and pushed Ziheng hard. Unexpectedly, the subconscious force was so strong that Ziheng staggered and was a little panicked.

Ziheng pretended to cough to ease the embarrassment and pointed at the curtain: "Ahem, it's already been prepared, let's go in and take a look."

"Hehe, I knew you were well prepared. Last time I randomly picked up a painting from the house outside your palace, but I didn't expect it to be an authentic work of a celebrity! Naturally, the remaining prizes can't be much worse than this one, because this one has been giving me a headache for a few days." Wan Ning happily slipped behind the curtain nimbly, chattering as she walked.

Seeing her silly look, Ziheng followed her, walked to the curtain, leaned against the pillar and watched her happily.

The large desk was already filled with prepared items: a scroll-like object, presumably a painting or calligraphy item, and a small wooden box that emitted a faint reddish-brown luster, which immediately caught her eye. Wan Ning couldn't wait to take the wooden box in her hands and examine it, and was suddenly impressed by its exquisite craftsmanship.

"The box is so beautiful, how beautiful must the things inside be?" She thought to herself and then carefully opened it. However, the things inside were a little disappointing. Compared with the exquisite appearance, the things inside were indeed a little simple, even like an uncarved stone. To her, this was like buying a casket and returning the pearl, so she tilted her head slightly with an expression of not quite understanding and looked at Ziheng.

Before she said a word, Ziheng knew what she meant just by looking at her expression, and he couldn't bear to continue watching her distress. He walked to her side, took the box from her hand, and took out the simple-looking jade from it.

Ziheng turned the jade over, and with the help of the candlelight, Wan Ning saw that there were words engraved on the bottom.

"Master's work?" Although she saw the words, she really did not have the ability to appreciate Chinese art, so she asked hesitantly.

Ziheng nodded: "This is a work from the late years of Han Yi, the most famous master of gold and stone carving in the previous dynasty."

Wan Ning was still skeptical. She didn't understand why a master of gold and stone would leave his own engraving on such a plain stone. So she looked at it carefully for a while, and still felt the same as the first time. She asked in confusion: "Is this really the work of a master?"

Perhaps it was because of this angle that her particularly lovely appearance made Ziheng unable to hold back a smile. He patiently explained to her, "There are not many works of Master Han Yi left in the world. Most of them are made of exquisite and expensive materials, and there are also rare treasures. When he was young, Han Yi was arrogant because of his talent, and he disdained to carve on cheap stones."

"So this is his work in his old age?"

"Yanyan is so smart!" Ziheng was always generous in praising her, and then added: "Indeed, in his later years, Han Yi returned to his hometown to visit his childhood friend. The two walked along the river bank where they played in their childhood, drinking and chatting on the river bank. When he was half drunk, he found this stone in the water, and he was inspired to carve 'return to nature' on it."

After hearing this story and looking at the messy words, it seems that they can indeed be associated with "returning to nature". However, Wan Ning was not moved by this. After years of being immersed in modern TV commercials, he only thought that his works must be very good at telling stories. Taking this as a prize is also worthy of him.

"Yanyan, the painting you took away last time had this seal on the corner. I think it would be appropriate to use it as a prize."

After hearing what Ziheng said, Wan Ning remembered that there was indeed a similar seal on the painting, so she carefully put the seal into the box and packed it away later. She silently said in her heart: "Merchants who receive the prizes must know the goods, and don't spread the rumor that Princess Le Yan is unfaithful and used stones to get rid of the merchants who donated grain."

But she still had to save face, and she put it away carefully - for fear that she would break the box if she used too much force - while she said words of praise for Ziheng, such as "Your Majesty has a good eye!" and "Your Majesty is so generous and magnanimous."

When she opened the scroll next to it, it turned out to be not a painting but a piece of calligraphy. Although she didn't know the meaning of the words, she could still feel the vigor and power of the words and its value. With the experience just now, Wan Ning had fully believed in Ziheng's sincerity. The value of this calligraphy and painting was naturally not low, so she no longer worried about its origin.

Wan Ning was busy packing, and she took a break to smile brightly at Ziheng beside her to express her gratitude. After finishing, she casually threw them on the table, and sat back in the chair like a deflated balloon, looking very distressed.

Seeing her like this, Ziheng walked to the table naturally and put the scroll back into its original box. He placed the two gift boxes neatly together as if he had obsessive-compulsive disorder. When everything was ready, he looked at Wan Ning, who was still in deep thought. So he supported himself on the table with both hands, leaned forward and moved closer to Le Yan in the chair, forming a semicircle that seemed to surround her. In fact, the distance between the two was enough to make her feel at ease and relaxed.

"Why do you have that expression? Is there anything else?"