Chapter 44 Subduing Master Cai

Cai Xin did not dare to dwell on the thought. If the true culprit remained at large, how innocent were those who had perished?

"Chief Clerk Cai." Shen Jifeng withdrew a small booklet from her tunic. "This contains the details of every artisan at the mine, down to the most minute particulars. I would never employ anyone of questionable background."

Cai Xin hesitatingly took the booklet and scanned the contents ten lines at a time.

"Your Highness, while your people have indeed investigated with great thoroughness, if someone is determined to conceal their identity, fabricating a background and forging past experiences is hardly a difficult task."

His implication was clear: this booklet alone was insufficient to prove the artisans' innocence.

Knowing he would not be easily convinced, Shen Jifeng remained unperturbed. She still had other evidence.

"The estate discovered behind the Temple of the Sleeping Buddha served as their base of operations. According to your Ministry of Justice's investigation, they have frequented the place for over a year. The artisans at our silver mine spent a mere dozen days at the Chaoxian iron mine. With the iron mine heavily guarded, smuggling out iron ore by individual effort alone is utterly impossible; it requires collusion from both inside and outside. I would like to ask Chief Clerk Cai, how could a few greenhorn artisans, who hadn't even learned the faces of the mine overseers, possibly have managed that?"

Cai Xin was momentarily at a loss for words, yet he was unwilling to concede defeat.

"Your Highness is mistaken. No one is saying the artisans are guilty, and the Ministry of Justice is currently conducting investigations. Since Your Highness has evidence and firmly believes in their innocence, you should all the more hand them over to the Ministry of Justice for verification at the earliest to clear their names, rather than leaving them under this murky suspicion of treason."

"Is that so?" Shen Jifeng's piercing gaze locked onto Cai Xin, making him involuntarily shrink his neck.

"Once they enter the dungeons of your Ministry of Justice, will they still be allowed to cry out their grievances? Leaving aside whether torture will be used during interrogations and whether false confessions will be extracted under duress, I ask you this: if I were to let you take them back today, how long would it take to finish the interrogation and release them?"

The silver-tongued Cai Xin found himself uncharacteristically silenced; he had no way to answer Shen Jifeng's question. Cases of this magnitude were investigated on a grand scale, adhering to the principle that it was better to mistakenly execute an innocent than to let a culprit slip through. Over two hundred people from the Chaoxian iron mine were currently under detention; even if cleared of wrongdoing, they would have to wait until the final conclusion of the case before being released.

"I do not wish for them to go to the Ministry of Justice for two reasons. First is my own selfishness—as you ought to know regarding the life-and-death pledges, the artisans are crucial to whether the silver mine can smelt silver on schedule. Second, since I know they are innocent, why should I subject them to suffering?"

Shen Jifeng's gaze burned brightly. "Artisans are human beings too, wouldn't you say, Chief Clerk Cai?"

Cai Xin felt his face burn as if he had been stripped naked in public, exposing his own base and petty thoughts. Having spent these years in the Ministry of Justice, he had seen scores of cases, and the use of torture in the dungeons was a common sight to which he had long been desensitized. In his eyes, these artisans were mere ants; what did the sacrifice of a few matter if it meant an important case could be closed sooner?

Yet Shen Jifeng's words—"artisans are human beings too"—pierced his heart like a needle. Cai Xin opened his mouth, wanting to retort that "the law knows no mercy," but he was blinded by the unyielding candor in the Princess's eyes.

Was it the law that was merciless, or was it people who were merciless? Cai Xin began to waver.

"Lord Cai, it was wrong of me to detain you yesterday. I offer you my sincere apologies once more, and I hope that in your magnanimity, you will let this matter rest."

A mere quarter of an hour ago, Cai Xin's blood had been boiling with the resolve to vehemently impeach Princess Zhaoyang upon his return to the capital, exposing her tyrannical act of detaining an imperial official to the world.

At this moment, however, he changed his mind. Since His Majesty had already agreed to try the case in Xijing, it indicated tacit approval of the Princess's approach. To impeach her at this juncture would be tantamount to going against the Emperor's will.

Furthermore, Shen Jifeng's reasoning had won him over. Those five short words—"artisans are human beings too"—outweighed ten years of studying by the frosty window.

"Your Highness, I too was at fault yesterday for being overly hasty."

Shen Jifeng smiled brighter than a blooming flower. "Well, as they say, friends are often made through clashes! From now on, we are friends. Look, your meal has gone cold; I'll have the head chef whip up a couple of fresh dishes for you."

With a flurry of motion, she departed the room.

Watching Shen Jifeng's retreating figure, Cai Xin realized she bore little resemblance to the rumors circulating in the imperial court.

As evening approached, the rain had still not ceased, showing a tendency to grow heavier. Qu Yifang and Luo Xian'er met with a minor accident.

While securing a drainage tunnel, Luo Xian'er discovered they were short of a suitable timber pillar. Such heavy labor was traditionally handled by miners, and Qu Yifang, having spent a prolonged period underground, wanted to get some fresh air. He volunteered to cut the wood himself, and Luo Xian'er insisted on tagging along.

At the edge of the mining site, the pair set their sights on an elm tree roughly the girth of a washbasin. As they finally felled it, slippery conditions from the rain caused the trunk to slide down prematurely. Qu Yifang failed to dodge in time and was struck in the leg; Luo Xian'er reached out to save him, only to have her arm caught directly beneath the falling timber.

One suffered a fracture in the lower left leg, while the other broke her right arm.

With injuries to bones and tendons taking a hundred days to heal, Shen Jifeng was dumbfounded; neither of these two specialists could be replaced by anyone else at the mine.

Grimacing in pain, Qu Yifang still managed to comfort Shen Jifeng, "Your Highness, the drainage tunnels have already been more than half dug; the rest can just follow the blueprint. Once old man here rests my leg for a few days, I can head back down into the mine. Rest assured, it won't delay anything."

"Indeed, indeed," Luo Xian'er chimed in, taking a swig of liquor. "I'm in better shape than him—it's just my arm that's out of commission, it won't stop me from going down the mine."

Shen Jifeng's eyes grew warm. These artisans truly regarded the silver mine as their own family enterprise.

Realizing the mine was no place for recuperation, she summoned Golden Hairpin, and together they hoisted the two injured workers into a carriage, dispatching them to her residence near the silver mine.

No sooner had the carriage departed than Senior Clerk Sun of the Xijing municipal office arrived, holding an official directive from the Ministry of Justice to take charge of the artisans hailing from Chaoxian.

Cai Xin had not expected the directive to bypass him entirely and go straight to the Xijing office. Any deviation from conventional procedures spelled hidden complications, reinforcing his conviction that Shen Jifeng's caution had been entirely justified.

Autumn Wind, dressed in rough artisan garb, blended in among the workers alongside Old Zhang Laohan. Another guard accompanied them; these two were the protective buffer Shen Jifeng had assigned to safeguard the artisans.

"Senior Clerk Sun, His Imperial Grandfather has given me his word: even with the interrogations, the progress of the silver mine must not be delayed."

Sun Clerk smiled ingratiatingly. "Quite so, quite so. We would never dare delay Your Highness's progress. The Ministry of Justice will dispatch other officials to conduct the trials, arriving at the latest by the day after tomorrow, or perhaps even tomorrow if all goes swiftly. I shall escort these artisans to the Xijing office today to register them into the roster. Once the Ministry officials arrive at the yamen, whenever Your Highness wishes to employ the artisans, you need only issue a requisition order."

*A completely redundant waste of effort,* Shen Jifeng cursed inwardly.

Old Zhang Laohan raised his head to survey the sky, where the fine drizzle continued unabated. "Your Highness, I've already given all instructions to Skinny Monkey and Old Qin; they know how to proceed with the digging."

Hesitating for a moment, he lowered his voice. "Your Highness, do you feel as though things haven't been going smoothly lately? Perhaps we ought to have that Daoist priest perform another ritual to beseech the mountain deity for protection."