Being an emperor is not something he can do, so he can only rely on his connections.

Gaoyang County Government Office.

In the interrogation room

The chilling air seemed to take on substance, stagnating and swirling within the cramped interrogation room. Shi Jincheng huddled in a corner like a plucked quail, his brocade robe soaked through, clinging to his skin, a sticky sheen reflected in the dim, flickering light of the oil lamp. He trembled like a sieve, the clacking of his teeth eerily clear in the dead silence. Across from him, a constable slowly and methodically ground ink, the ingot making a monotonous, torturous "sha-sha-sha" sound on the inkstone.

"Give... give me a blanket..." Shi Jincheng's voice was weak and he was completely different from the arrogant eldest son of the Shi family in the court.

The constable didn't even bother to raise his eyelids. "Mr. Shi, I have every intention but no strength to help you. You're so tight-lipped and won't utter a single word. It's not a long-term solution for us brothers to just sit there and waste time."

Shi Jincheng suddenly raised his head, staring at the constable with bloodshot eyes like a dying beast. "You...you are from Yunzhou?"

The constable finally put down the ink stick, and a cold smile appeared on his lips: "Mr. Shi, you have a good eye."

"Ha... the officers from Gaoyang..." Shi Jincheng panted, trying to squeeze out his usual arrogance, but his voice was trembling. "They are... they are all dogs raised by my Shi family! How dare they bark at me?!"

The constable stood up, walked over to Shi Jincheng and squatted down, his shadow looming over him. "You should have heard of my master's name."

"Zhang Jingwei..." Shi Jincheng's pupils suddenly constricted, and then he hissed as if he was burned, "...or Yang Zhao?!"

"My lords," the constable took out a blue-white porcelain bottle from his bosom and turned it deftly between his fingers, "one is for the palm technique, and the other... is for hitting the hard bones." The bottle was tapped lightly, making a crisp "ding" sound.

Shi Jincheng's eyes were instantly glued to the porcelain vase, his Adam's apple rolling up and down violently. "Yun... Yunzhou is so big! Stoneworms are crawling everywhere! Why... why are you holding on to me?!" He grabbed the constable's trouser legs and cried, "Tell him! Want gold? Want silver? Want the land deed?! As long as he nods, my Shi family will go bankrupt..."

The constable pried open his cold, trembling fingers one by one, leaned over and whispered in his ear, his breath icy, "Master Shi, you haven't come to your senses yet." His voice dropped even lower, like a venomous snake spitting out its tongue, "Right now... it's not him who has to nod, it's you who has to speak."

"I... I have nothing to say!" Shi Jincheng shrank back suddenly as if he had been burned by a branding iron, and his back hit the wall heavily. "I didn't eat it! I just didn't eat it!"

The constable stood up slowly, uncorked the bottle, and poured a handful of powder, as crystalline as snow but emitting a strangely sweet fragrance, into his palm. "Look at you shaking... pathetically." He shook his palm. "Sign it, warm yourself up, and this cup... is yours."

Shi Jincheng's eyes erupted with flames of greed and fear. His lips moved, but eventually a hoarse, strange laugh emerged: "Haha...haha...wait for my father...wait for my father to destroy this shabby county government office! I want you...to have no trace of your corpse left!!"

**Dark room**

Zhang Jingwei peered through a specially designed copper peephole in the wall, taking in everything in the interrogation room. His brows knitted into a frown: "Why is he shaking like this?" The violent convulsions weren't just caused by the cold.

Yang Zhao sipped his hot tea, mist covering half his face. His voice was calm and even, "The stone poison has penetrated my bones, and the chill is like falling into an icy cave." He raised his hand and pointed to the north window at the edge of the peephole, which had been deliberately left a crack. "Open a hole, let's get some fresh air."

A biting cold wind seeped in through the cracks, causing the feeble charcoal fire in the interrogation room's brazier to flicker and flicker, adding to the eerie atmosphere. Zhang Jingwei subconsciously wrapped his outer robe tighter around him, "Isn't...someone going to freeze to death?"

"He won't die." Yang Zhao put down his teacup, his eyes as cold as a knife. "If he makes it to the latter half of the night, he'll be gnawing on the wall." He turned to Zhang Jingwei and said firmly, "Tomorrow morning, I'll hang him with this 'snow powder'. I'm not afraid he won't sign."

Zhang Jingwei pondered, "What if he... persists to the end?"

"It's just a night of stagnation." Yang Zhao tapped the tabletop with his fingertips, making a rhythmic sound as if he was counting the time. "No one addicted to stone can last more than two days." He paused, glancing through the peephole. "For someone as addicted as Shi Jincheng... one day? I'm afraid it's too much."

As soon as the words fell, an inhuman howl erupted from the interrogation room! Then there was the dull thud of a heavy body crashing onto the tiled floor. Zhang Jingwei leaned in through the peephole and saw Shi Jincheng twisting and tumbling wildly on the ground like a fish out of water. His nails scratched furiously on the hard blue bricks, leaving bloody white scratches. He made a hoarse sound and drooled uncontrollably.

"Inspector Yang...good trick." Zhang Jingwei's voice was low, with a hint of subtle complexity.

Yang Zhao had already stood up and walked to the door, but he stopped short at the words. Without turning back, he spoke a single, iron-cold sentence, resoundingly: "My Lord, wait and see. Tomorrow at this time, I want him to kneel and beg me to accept his confession!"

Zhang Jingwei's body shook unconsciously.

……

When he returned to his residence and asked Zhang Liu, he learned that no one had come to visit him.

Logically speaking, whether it is the Shi family or the Zhou family, they should try every possible means to rescue the talent, which made him a little confused for a while.

After arriving at the study, Zhang Jingwei unconsciously rubbed the dried ink on Sun Yaolang's prescription with his fingertips. His eyes were fixed on the word "Ziying" for a long time, his brows furrowed, as if he wanted to squeeze out some secret from it.

"Aren't you going to sleep yet?" A gentle voice, accompanied by the faint aroma of medicine, came. Huangfu Ling was draped in a moon-white fur robe. Well, Li Yi was wearing a brocade nightgown. Leaning against the door, his untied black hair cascading over his shoulders, his face still pale in the candlelight, yet filled with gentle anger: "Don't let me, while I'm still not well, wear you out first."

Zhang Jingwei looked up at the sound, the cold, thoughtful look in his eyes instantly melting with warmth. He put down the prescription, stood up, and quickly walked to the door. He naturally put his arm around her shoulders and led her to sit on the warm couch. "You should pay more attention to rest." He paused, his voice softer. "I'll rest in the study from now on. We'll talk when you're better."

Huangfu Ling's ears turned red, and she gently pushed him: "When Aunt Sun said 'different rooms', she didn't mean that you can't even sleep next to the bed..." Her voice gradually became lower, with a girl's shyness.

"I know." Zhang Jingwei held her slightly cool hand, his thumb gently rubbing circles on the back of her delicate hand, a mischievous smile in his eyes. "But who made my Ling'er so lovely?" He leaned close to her ear, his warm breath caressing her sensitive skin as he whispered, "Lying beside you... I can't help but want to do something 'bad'."

"You're so talkative!" Huangfu Ling pulled his hand back in feigned anger and turned his face away, but the corners of his lips couldn't help but rise slightly.