Peach Blossom.

"Da—Sima—" Chen Ji repeated these three words slowly.

He thought of the days when he was tied up in the mountains, and the words Chen Xi said during their night talk in the mountains: "But I know that there is a person here who is my brother. How can I kill him? We are of the same roots, why are we so eager to harm each other?"

Chen Ji couldn't help but sneer with contempt. He certainly wouldn't believe Chen Xi's nonsense. He should have known that Chen Xi would kill him sooner or later. How could he wait for others to tell him?

Now that things have come to this, he must let everyone in the world know the character of this Grand Marshal.

So he continued to control the jailer and threatened him, "Come with me to see your Lord Zhongcheng and repeat what you just said."

Both jailers had swords at their necks and walked out of the outermost gate of the prison under the control of Chen Ji and Ma Da.

It was very dark outside and there were many patrolling officers and soldiers walking around. When they saw Chen Ji and Mada escorting two jailers out, they all rushed over and faced Chen Ji and his servant with swords in hand.

Chen Ji looked calm and just ordered the officers and soldiers: "Go and call your Lord Zhongcheng. I want to ask him how he will explain to me that my fellow clansman was poisoned to death by prison food for no reason."

When the officers and soldiers heard this, they were all very surprised. They looked at each other for a moment, and then one of them hurried to inform Wang Min.

Wang Min arrived quickly because such a thing had never happened since he took office as Chief Censor. He went to the prison to take a look in person, and seeing the corpses all over the floor made his scalp tingle.

Wang Min walked out of the prison, furious, and immediately questioned the two jailers: "Why did you poison me?"

Chen Ji and Mada threw the two jailers in front of Wang Min and waited for questioning.

The two jailers knelt on the ground and repeated their previous confession: "It was the Grand Marshal who robbed my family and forced us to poison them. He wanted us to release them after the deed was done. That's why I had no choice but to do it."

Wang Min stared at the two men for a while, then told the judge beside him, "Send them to the Court of Justice for trial, and you will report the case."

When the judge received the order, he escorted the two men out.

"Wait a minute." Chen Ji hurried forward to stop him.

Wang Min had no choice but to ask, "Mr. Chen, what advice do you have?"

Chen Ji smiled faintly: "I don't deserve your advice, but the Lord Zhongcheng knows that the current court judge is a relative of Queen Mother Zhou, and the jailer just confessed that the mastermind is the Grand Marshal. If you just send him over, can this case be tried fairly?"

Wang Min disagreed. "Trial of civilian murder cases is the job of the Imperial Court. You are worried that the Imperial Court cannot do a fair trial. But this case happened in the Censorate. Does it mean that it will be fair if the Censorate does it? Why don't you recommend a government office that can do a fair trial?"

Of course Chen Ji could not recommend anyone. He checked all the government offices in the capital, but probably no one dared to question the Grand Marshal, so how could he talk about fairness?

On second thought, it would be better to send it to the Supreme Court. After all, the case was reported by the Censorate itself. If the Zhou family still dares to openly protect the Grand Marshal, wouldn't it be confirmed that Empress Dowager Zhou and the Grand Marshal have a secret affair?

So Chen Ji changed his mind again and said to Wang Min with a smile: "Your Excellency Zhongcheng is right. There is indeed no better place to send him than to the Supreme Court. However, I hope that Your Excellency will record his confession before that, so that the suspect will not be silenced in the Supreme Court, and the murders of my brothers will not be investigated."

Wang Min had no way to refute, so he had to ask his chief clerk to bring paper and pen to write down the confessions of the two jailers and have them sign their names with their fingers.

After that, Wang Min asked Chen Ji again: "So, can I send the suspect to the Supreme Court?"

Chen Ji smiled and nodded: "Please keep this confession carefully. If the Court of Justice is overwhelmed with affairs in the future and this case is misjudged or missed, I will trouble you to remind them a few more times."

Wang Min sneered and couldn't help but sigh: "Mr. Chen really has a lot of requirements."

"My lord, please be considerate. My brothers from the same clan all followed me to work, and that's why they suffered this disaster. I have to give an explanation to their families. The incident happened in the Censorate, and I have to trouble the Minister of Justice to be the plaintiff with me. If you can't understand my difficulties, then I can only think that the two jailers poisoned the prisoner under your orders. Don't you want this case to be solved as soon as possible?" Chen Ji's tone suddenly became sarcastic, and he pretended to be respectful.

Wang Min was speechless and could only agree: "Okay, I am the plaintiff with you, Mr. Chen, do you have any other demands?"

"Otherwise..." Chen Ji thought for a moment, looked back at the prison behind him, and smiled politely at Wang Min: "This cell is no longer safe for me to live in. If you want to continue to detain me, do you have to find a new place for me to live?"

Wang Min didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but still ordered the attendant who served him closely: "Take Master Chen to my inner house and immediately prepare a guest room for him to stay in."

Several servants followed the order, but couldn't help but murmured: "I've never heard of the suspect staying in the guest room of the inner house...

Chen Ji smiled happily and bowed to thank Wang Min.

Wang Min ignored Chen Ji, ordered the judge to send the two jailers to the Supreme Court, and then turned and left.

Chen Ji and Ma Da were taken by servants to a guest room with two beds and a table. Although it was not luxurious, it was well furnished and was a far cry from the prison cell.

After sitting in prison for a day and a night, Chen Ji lay on the soft bed with his head raised, and suddenly felt much more relaxed.

Ma Da stood to one side, but he was worried about Chen Ji: "What the young master said just now, will it offend the Chief Censor and be disadvantageous to us?"

"If Wang Min could take revenge, Emperor Xiaozong would not have appointed him to be in charge of the Censorate and supervise all officials." Chen Ji seemed unconcerned and smiled casually: "Although Emperor Xiaozong is a bit cowardly, he still has a good eye for people. Don't worry about it. Go and have a good sleep."

Ma Da bowed to Chen Ji before going to the bed opposite to rest.

When Chen Ji woke up at dawn, he felt limp all over and hungry. It might be because he slept too comfortably that night. The taut string suddenly relaxed, and the feeling of hunger doubled, making him a little dizzy.

Chen Ji sat up slowly and saw Mada standing at the window looking out.

"There are soldiers patrolling the yard from time to time, probably to prevent us from escaping." Ma Da reported to Chen Ji while looking out the window.

Chen Ji didn't say anything, but just rubbed his stomach. After sitting up, he felt even hungrier. He had never gone a day without eating or drinking before, so he didn't know that hunger felt so uncomfortable.

Not long after, a servant brought them food. Mada took it and put it on the table inside the house.

"Sir, are you coming to eat?"

Chen Ji looked at the delicious meal on the table and shook his head.

Ma Da was puzzled: "Young Master, do you think there might be something wrong with this meal? Don't you trust the character of the Minister of the Central Chancellery?"

"Wang Min is an upright man, but that only means he won't harm us, but he also won't protect us. Otherwise, those tribesmen wouldn't have died yesterday." Chen Ji sat blankly on the edge of the bed, weak and powerless, not as energetic as last night.

Mada thought it made sense, so the two of them didn't eat.

At that time, Wang Min came to visit Chen Ji. To be precise, it cannot be called a visit, he came to inquire about the case, he just changed the location.

Wang Min asked through the door: "Mr. Chen, can't you tell me where the imperial physician is?"

Chen Ji chuckled and asked, "Master Zhongcheng, do we still have to wait seven days before reporting to the emperor and requesting a royal trial?"

"Mr. Chen seems to be looking forward to the imperial trial?" Wang Min was a little confused.

Chen Ji smiled and did not give any confirmation or denial.

Wang Min was too lazy to ask in detail, and only gave a brief reminder: "I think Mr. Chen may have some misunderstandings. With your current official position, you are not qualified to conduct an imperial trial. The imperial trial I mentioned is a promise to the family of the imperial physician, not to you."

Chen Ji asked again with a smile: "The Imperial Physician is in charge of the Medical Department, which is of vital importance. The nobles in the palace cannot leave easily for a day. Why must the Minister of the Central Chancellery wait for seven days?"

Wang Min replied seriously: "The Censorate has its own rules. Since I said it would take seven days, it must be one day no more, no less."

After saying that, Wang Min turned away, and the soldiers locked the door of the guest room where Chen Ji was staying.

"What a stubborn guy." Ma Da looked at Wang Min's back through the window, full of resentment.

Chen Ji sighed helplessly, smiling, "When the Censorate was first established, it only had the power to monitor all officials and impeach them in front of the emperor, but it had no power to detain or try cases. But the current emperor is young and doesn't care much about these things, and the two Empress Dowagers are women, so the Censorate has become more and more self-willed. I thought that the suspect in prison being killed for no reason would prompt him to change his mind and close the case earlier, but I didn't expect it to be the case."

"But how can you wait for seven days if you don't eat or drink?" Mada looked at Chen Ji worriedly.

Chen Ji looked at the cold food on the table and hesitated. He had witnessed his people being poisoned to death. How could he dare to eat the food here? He probably didn't even dare to drink a sip of water.

"Why don't you let me try it first? Maybe it's okay and you can eat it." Ma Da said, and went to get the food on the table.

Chen Ji stepped forward and held Mada's hand: "No. You and I are the same. We have never had parents to love us since we were young. We have never married or had children. It would be a shame for people like us to die at any time."

"It's better to take a risk than to starve to death, right?"

Chen Ji shook his head: "No... I have another way, you don't have to take such a big risk..."

Fearing that someone might have ears, Chen Ji did not make his words too clear.

He subconsciously touched his waist and found a pocket sewn inside his inner garment, which contained the small mirror that Tao Ye had begged for in Guishan that year.

He had not used that small mirror for many years because the person holding the other small mirror was Zhang Xiaowan, and he did not want to contact Zhang Xiaowan unless it was absolutely necessary.

But he never left such an important thing behind, and he thought that Zhang Xiaowan must have kept it well.

Another day of starvation lasted until late at night. Chen Ji and Ma Da checked through the door cracks and windows. They could not see anyone eavesdropping or peeping within their field of vision. Then Chen Ji took out a mirror from his inner pocket.

He guessed that Zhang Xiaowan must be asleep at this time and there would be no one else around her, so he tapped the mirror gently.

After knocking more than ten times, a hoarse voice finally came from the other side of the mirror, as if someone had just cried: "Do you still remember that there is me in this world?"