Song Wei’s pressure was neither too light nor too heavy. Although it couldn’t completely stop the pain, it sowhat alleviated it. Wen Wan felt very comfortable and fell asleep shortly after.
When she woke again, it was already completely dark outside.
The room was lit by candlelight, and the light was sowhat dim, with a faint sll of ink in the air.
Wen Wan got up and saw Song Wei sitting by the desk, writing sothing.
Hearing movent, Song Wei looked up, "You’re awake? Are you feeling better?"
Wen Wan nodded, "It doesn’t hurt anymore."
"Are you hungry?"
Wen Wan touched her stomach, indeed feeling a bit hungry.
Song Wei put down his pen, got up, and went outside. Soon, several n dressed as shop servants ca in one by one carrying food boxes, quickly filling the round table in the outer room.
When Wen Wan ca out, fully dressed, she noticed the dishes were all very light, and there was also a bowl of jujube, brown sugar, and ginger water.
After those n left, Song Wei pulled Wen Wan over to sit down, explaining, "I ordered a late-night snack from an outside restaurant while you were asleep, and also ordered a soup that would help you."
Actually, the food at the post house was quite good too, but going out of the way to buy was mainly for that bowl of jujube, brown sugar, and ginger water, wasn’t it? Ordering other things was just to avoid suspicion.
Understanding his intention, a warmth surged in Wen Wan’s heart.
Taking the spoon handed by Song Wei, she sipped the soup and asked him, "Did you ask the restaurant people if there’s any soup suitable for a daughter to drink these days?"
When she was at ho, because she didn’t experience pain, she mostly just avoided spicy and stimulating foods and rarely drank this, so it was normal for her husband not to know.
Song Wei didn’t answer directly, he just looked at her, "You don’t like it?"
Wen Wan lowered her head, using the soup as an excuse, and muttered, "As long as it’s bought by my husband, I like it."
As soon as she said this, she felt the man’s gaze linger on her for a long ti, as if he were weighing the sincerity of her words.
Wen Wan didn’t dare to lift her head, her movents drinking the soup becoming awkward.
Song Wei didn’t say anything, shifted his gaze, and seeing her only drinking soup without eating, he picked up his chopsticks and placed food into her bowl, saying softly, "These are all the dishes you love to eat."
Wen Wan nodded but still didn’t dare look at him. After finishing the al, she washed briefly behind the screen, and when she ca out, she saw that Song Wei had put away the ink and brush, and she asked him, "Finished with your work?"
Song Wei glanced outside and replied, "It’s late, we should rest."
Wen Wan, having slept earlier, wasn’t feeling sleepy and jokingly said, "Then you sleep, and I’ll keep watch for you."
Keeping watch was indeed the duty of her as the "little book boy."
Song Wei poured himself a cup of tea, and just as he was about to take a sip, he paused at her words, his eyes filling with amusent, "What if you sleepwalk again?"
Wen Wan was suddenly so embarrassed she wanted to disappear.
It was her first ti disguising as a man, acting as the little book boy for her husband. Since leaving the Capital, she found it very novel, and when she insisted on keeping watch for Song Wei at the post station the first night, she couldn’t resist crawling into bed.
Caught by soone pretending to be asleep, she blushed and claid it was sleepwalking.
It wasn’t entirely her fault; who made her husband so good-looking? She wasn’t made of wood, and guarding such a handso man while he slept, how could she really remain indifferent?
Hearing him bring it up again, Wen Wan directly covered her face with her hands, "I-I’m sick these days, I won’t sleepwalk."
After speaking, she quietly opened her eyes, peeking through her fingers to see the man smiling softly.
Then she heard him say, "Since you’re sick, rest well, you can’t stay up late."
In the end, Wen Wan was carried back to bed and obediently lay down to sleep.
----
The coal mine case investigation began the next morning.
Song Wei didn’t go to the county governnt; he directly arranged for Wei Baihu to take n to Da Huan Mountain and dig up the remains of the unfortunate miners.
After the mine accident years ago, few people remained in the nearby villages. Four years had passed, and Da Huan Mountain had beco a desolate mountain. With so many lives buried, even without rumors of ghosts appearing at night, no one would dare co.
More than twenty Jinyi Guards dug from morning till evening, barely uncovering a corner, and by nightti, they unearthed two skulls.
Song Wei had them return to rest, and the next day, they took the two skulls and the Jinyi Guards to the county governnt.
County Magistrate Lu was unaware of Song Wei’s purpose on this trip, still imrsed in dreams of promotion and wealth. Seeing Song Wei personally co to the county governnt, he hurriedly bent over to welco him inside, then noticed the two Jinyi Guards behind Song Wei carrying a box, thinking it might contain sothing good, and couldn’t help but be curious, "Lord Imperial Envoy, this is...?"
"I have sothing to ask County Magistrate Lu."
Song Wei walked toward the public hall and directly took the main judge’s seat, then glanced at the two Jinyi Guards carrying the box, "Open it and show County Magistrate Lu."
The lid was quickly opened, revealing the two skulls inside, a chilling sight of bones.
County Magistrate Lu was so startled by the sight, his face changed completely, and he imdiately looked at Song Wei, "Why does Lord Imperial Envoy have a dead man’s head in his hand?"
Song Wei said, "I brought a forensic doctor who has already examined the corpse. These two people have been dead for nearly four years, and the skull was unearthed from Da Huan Mountain. County Magistrate Lu, do you have any recollection of this?"
Upon hearing this, County Magistrate Lu was completely dumbfounded, his teeth chattering, "Da, Da Huan Mountain?"
"If you’ve forgotten, I can certainly refresh your mory." Song Wei said with a subtly imposing deanor, "Four years ago, County Magistrate Lu had people post a notice that the Da Huan Mountain Coal Mine was hiring, offering fifty coins a day, and over a hundred workers were recruited to mine coal. Later, a mine disaster occurred, and eighty percent of the miners were unable to escape in ti and were buried alive inside.
The next day, I was the one who ca to strike the Injustice Bell, and I still rember County Magistrate Lu saying that the Da Huan Mountain Coal Mine was an officially approved court operation. In that case, please present the docunts from the court’s approval back then."
Not giving County Magistrate Lu a chance to speak, Song Wei continued, "If you think I lack evidence and am deliberately framing you, I also have witnesses. Among those hundred-plus miners back then, two were close relatives of mine, one being my biological father and the other my father-in-law.
Furthermore, the entire populace of Pingjiang County can testify that the county governnt indeed had people post hiring notices back then. County Magistrate Lu, you can’t deny this.
As for the official operation you ntioned, if it is true, then after such a trendous disaster, why is there no record of this case in the Three Judicial Departnts of the Capital? Did County Magistrate Lu carelessly forget to report it upwards, or did you report it, but soone above handled it improperly, lost the case midway, and it never reached the Capital?"
County Magistrate Lu never expected Song Wei to revisit the mine disaster from four years ago. He was already so frightened he went limp, collapsing directly to his knees, continuously banging his forehead on the ground, his voice trembling, "I beg for Lord Imperial Envoy’s discernnt, I was coerced, otherwise... if no one had put a knife to my throat, even if you gave a hundred guts, I wouldn’t dare commit such a heinous cri!"
Song Wei asked, "Who coerced you?"
"This..." County Magistrate Lu imdiately found himself in a dilemma.
He didn’t know if he should reveal the nas of those involved.
Song Wei’s voice sounded again, "If you have no evidence to prove you were coerced, then in the case of the mine disaster from four years ago, you are the main culprit. I am obliged to escort you back to the Capital for a trial by the Three Judicial Departnts."
"I beg for Lord Imperial Envoy’s rcy, I was truly coerced," County Magistrate Lu was already trembling beyond coherent speech.
The loss of more than eighty lives, once adjudicated by the Three Judicial Departnts, would undeniably result in a death sentence, and might even implicate his entire family.
But he was clearly a victim in this case!
"Where is your evidence of being coerced?" Song Wei pressed further.
County Magistrate Lu thought carefully and then realized that those few people had dumped the ss on him and left without a trace. Everything was handled solely by him, and those people rely collected money without lifting a finger."
Realizing he had been frad, County Magistrate Lu felt darkness before his eyes, nearly fainting.
The Jinyi Guard, quick and nimble, revived him just in ti.
County Magistrate Lu, still kneeling on the ground, sobbed uncontrollably, "Lord Imperial Envoy, if I have spoken any falsehood, I am willing to suffer the wrath of the heavens."
Song Wei shifted his gaze from him, "All those beheaded criminals said the sa thing before their execution."
County Magistrate Lu: "..."
After a while, he wailed again, "Lord Imperial Envoy wants evidence, I will investigate imdiately. There must be transaction records for the coal they mined, and I will surely find clues."
"Three days," Song Wei said.
"Three days is too... too short," County Magistrate Lu wiped his sweat as he pleaded, "Seven days, at least seven days."
Song Wei did not argue further, "Seven days from now, if you cannot find the evidence, then I will have no choice but to follow official protocol."
"Thank you for your leniency, Lord Imperial Envoy..."
——
Upon exiting the county governnt office, Wei Baihu asked Song Wei, "If Lu Zhao cannot produce the evidence, what does Mr. Song intend to do?"
Song Wei paused slightly in his steps and gazed in the direction of Da Huan Mountain, "I have always wondered, how did those three children convince County Magistrate Lu to help them recruit workers four years ago?"
Wei Baihu imdiately understood, "I will have soone investigate right away."
Song Wei reminded, "Focus on investigating who else from the Su Family might have been involved."
——
With the Jinyi Guard’s tasks dispatched accordingly, Song Wei also mobilized over a hundred people from the county governnt to go to Da Huan Mountain and exhu all the buried corpses.
After four years, identifying the bodies was impossible, so they could only use public funds to prepare a coffin for each miner and erect a grave on site.
In just a few days, more than eighty new graves appeared on Da Huan Mountain. Song Wei had paper money prepared and, together with Wen Wan, paid respects to each grave.
The good deeds and actions of such an excellent official moved the populace to tears and t with unanimous approval.
Amidst the praise from the people inside and outside the city, Song Wei felt no honor or pride; his heart was heavy and in pain.
Those more than eighty miners’ bones, he had watched them being exhud one by one from the depths of the earth, with over twenty bones impossible to piece back together.
And these people once had their own family, their own life, and decades of life ahead of them.
All of it destroyed in an instant because of the impulsive folly of three children.
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