Shi Muyuan didn't have any suitable people at her disposal. She also intended to keep things hidden from Shi An. After all, last time her elder brother had flatly refused her, making her feel that he definitely wouldn't allow her to get deeply involved in the case.
This left her feeling powerless while staying in the palace.
She could only wait for Huo Qizhou to bring her news. The discovered mansion was still out of bounds for now.
Shi Muyuan lay on her stomach by the window, propping her head on one hand while stretching the other out of the window, feeling the cold winter wind and the warm sunlight.
Xiao Xiao was practicing swordsmanship on an open space behind the palace. Twelve's dark figure was hidden in a tree trunk, occasionally giving instructions. Yao Kun was also watching from the side.
This was the second deal she had negotiated with Huo Qizhou yesterday. Among the people around her, the ones she could trust were only Xiao Xiao and Ze Ze. That little girl Zihuan was also quite good.
Yao Kun was, after all, the daughter of General Yao. Her mother was already a bit reluctant to let her stay by Shi Muyuan's side. Shi Muyuan had felt this deeply when the Yao family came to the palace after Yao Kun got injured last time.
Twelve was only lent to her temporarily by Huo Qizhou. She thought that she needed to arm herself first in order to stay alive.
But Twelve was too strict. Waking people up early in the cold winter was really annoying!
So this morning she didn't wake up. Twelve didn't try to wake her up either. Xiao Xiao was used to getting up early on weekdays and had already been practicing for a while.
Her arm went numb from lying on it for so long. Shi Muyuan simply sat up, turned around, walked to the warming stove, and picked up the warm hand warmer that had been roasting on the side. The fur inside was nice and toasty. Then she moved a stool to the window and climbed out.
If she went out through the main door, she would have to make a detour to get to where Xiao Xiao and the others were. She didn't want to take that extra trip.
Twelve, sitting in the tree, immediately noticed Shi Muyuan's movements. She was struggling to pull out the wide skirt that was still caught inside the room.
The noise finally caught Xiao Xiao's attention. She quickly hid the wooden sword behind her back and rushed over to help. But unexpectedly, Yao Kun got there first.
"Your Majesty the Empress Dowager, why did you come out?"
"I'm bored staying in the room. You go on practicing. I'll just play around here."
Shi Muyuan steadied herself and pushed the girl away. Then she walked around leisurely with the warm hand warmer in her arms, sometimes squatting down to touch the snow.
It felt like a long time had passed. It was still snowing in the capital city. At first, she was really excited to see the snow, but now she wasn't as excited anymore.
It seemed that she had adapted to life here and was used to the snowscape.
She squatted down and used her finger to scribble on the snow. Counting the days on her fingers, she realized that she had been here for almost half a year.
She had faced life - threatening situations several times in these past few months. She really had a lucky life.
Before she knew it, so much time had passed.
Her fingers were a bit stiff from the cold. When she took them out of the snow, they were bright red. Since she came out, Yao Kun had been following her. Seeing her red - frozen hands, she wanted to cover them with her own to warm her up.
Shi Muyuan pulled her hand back, stroked Yao Kun's head, and quickly stuffed it into the warm hand warmer in her arms to warm up.
Suddenly, a small bird of an unknown breed landed on Twelve's shoulder. Twelve caught the bird in his hand and took a note from its leg.
Xiao Xiao also stopped her movements and looked at him.
Twelve jumped down from the dead tree and walked towards Shi Muyuan.
"Your Majesty the Empress Dowager, the master has sent a message."
Shi Muyuan immediately perked up. For the calm and comfortable life of a rich woman she wanted later, she had to quickly deal with all these troublesome matters and then live a leisurely life.
"What did he say?"
"Lv Su from the Wanhua Tower has revealed a piece of information."
Shi Muyuan looked at him curiously. "Wasn't she supposed to know nothing?"
After Lv Su was arrested, she had insisted that she knew nothing. So how did she know something now?
"She's in the Ministry of Justice. Naturally, she has to talk."
Shi Muyuan didn't understand what he meant, but Xiao Xiao was startled and rubbed her arms nervously.
"What's so special about the Ministry of Justice?"
"The punishments in the Ministry of Justice are extremely cruel. People in the Great Liang Dynasty are terrified of it. Before the official interrogation, the prisoners have to have an 'appetizer' first." When Xiao Xiao said the word "appetizer", she made a very fierce whipping gesture.
Whether they were guilty or not, they had to be beaten first.
Who wouldn't be afraid of that!
Shi Muyuan couldn't believe it. She seemed to remember that Yan Mo was the vice - minister of the Ministry of Justice. He didn't seem like a cruel person!
"What about Yan Mo?" Shi Muyuan asked in disbelief.
"Ah? Your Majesty the Empress Dowager, do you know the newly - appointed Lord Yan? You should haven't met him yet, right?" Xiao Xiao hadn't accompanied Shi Muyuan out of the palace several times before, so she didn't know that Shi Muyuan had already met Yan Mo.
No wonder Yan Mo didn't recognize her at that time. He only had some information about her and had seen her a few times, but they hadn't formally met.
Shi Muyuan's mouth twitched. She felt a chill in her heart and carefully recalled if she had offended Yan Mo.
She should haven't!
Shi Muyuan shook her head and said seriously, "Then let's go out of the palace and hear what Lv Su has to say."
Xiao Xiao was shocked. "Your Majesty the Empress Dowager, you're going to the Ministry of Justice? Just let Twelve tell you the information!"
Shi Muyuan shook her head. "Xiao Xiao, come with me this time."
They all needed to grow up.
No one ever visited the Shoukang Palace. But Shi Muyuan still pretended to be sleepy and called Zihuan and Ze Ze to guard the door of her bedroom, not allowing anyone to enter.
At first, Shi Muyuan didn't plan to take Yao Kun with her, but she couldn't resist the little girl, so she had to let her come along.
They walked through the secret passage with ease. The four of them appeared in that mansion.
They couldn't go out through the main door, so they had to climb over the wall. Except for Shi Muyuan, who had a bit of trouble, the other three did it easily.
Before setting off, Shi Muyuan specifically changed into men's Hu - style clothing. The dark blue robe made her look like a pretty boy from a pleasure house. She tied her hair with a jade belt.
Led by Twelve, they went straight to the Ministry of Justice.
The Ministry of Justice was located in the middle of a main street in the capital city. There were bustling markets at both ends of the street, but the area around the Ministry of Justice was deathly quiet. There were two huge and majestic mythical beasts, xiezhi, in front of the door. The iron - armored soldiers guarding the door had terrifyingly dark faces, but they were no match for the national teacher beside Shi Muyuan.
Yesterday, she had a discussion with Huo Qizhou about the "deal".
She wanted to get strong support from Huo Qizhou. After all, at present, besides the Shi family, the most authoritative person among the court officials was the national teacher.
Although Huo Qizhou disliked her just like the others, from the previous encounters, she knew that he wouldn't harm her.
She just didn't expect that Huo Qizhou would also want something that he could only get from her. But when she asked him what it was, he refused to say, only saying that the time wasn't right yet and that he would take it from her when the time came. For now, he needed her to find some clues in the Shi family.