Impossible, the Emperor cannot discover him.
Zhao Yunlei, the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Justice, was frozen stiff, not knowing how he had followed Lord Zhang, the Minister of the Ministry of Justice, back to the Ministry of Justice.
Unprecedented, important officials from the Ministry of Justice, from top to bottom, had all been summoned to the Ministry of Justice.
The Imperial Guards and officials from the Ministry of War had also been present, filling up all the prison cells at the Ministry of Justice.
"What's going on? Why have we all been summoned so suddenly?"
"So what exactly are those two arrested old men?"
Xiao Yunzhou, dressed in casual attire, entered the prison cells of the Ministry of Justice and cut straight to the chase, "Where are those two elders being held? Take me there."
Lord Zhang, the Minister, frowned.
He had stayed up all night in the imperial study explaining to the Emperor the drawbacks of making arbitrary arrests.
Not only did the Emperor refuse to listen, he escalated the situation even further, demanding to interrogate them personally and mobilizing all the important officials from the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Justice to come.
This was solely to ensure that everyone knew the Emperor had arrested two people overnight!
Lord Zhang, the Minister, finally sensed a gravitas in the situation.
The Emperor must be hiding something from him!
What could those two elders have been involved in, that the Emperor did not disclose even in the imperial study, yet was of such great importance?
At this point, Zhang Wei took a deep breath and personally led the way, guiding the Emperor into the deepest cells of the Ministry of Justice's prison.
"Your Majesty, since we have no evidence, the Ministry of Justice did not dare mistreat them."
Zhang Wei soon brought Xiao Yunzhou to the location.
When Xiao Yunzhou saw it, he almost fainted.
The Ministry of Justice had actually arranged tables, chairs, and books for these two Elders of the Earth and Moon Sect, and had even placed sumptuous meat dishes in front of them.
These were the masterminds behind the assassination attempt on the Emperor, and yet they were being treated so well!
Zhang Wei cleared his throat lightly and said with a stern expression, "Your Majesty, if we had arrested the wrong people, at least we could explain ourselves to others like this."
Xiao Yunzhou's face turned dark.
The two elders in the prison cell also had drastic changes in their expressions.
When they saw Xiao Yunzhou, heard Zhang Wei address him as the Emperor, and saw that he was unharmed without a single scratch, they were almost dumbfounded.
"How can this be? Have we failed?"
Xiao Yunzhou squinted his eyes and scoffed, looking at the two elders, "Is that what you're thinking in your hearts?"
"!"
"!?"
How could the Emperor know what they were thinking?!
The two elders were utterly shaken.
Impossible.
Jiu Xiao would never betray them.
Even if the mission failed, Jiu Xiao had always only followed orders and would never do anything beyond those orders.
More importantly—Jiu Xiao did not know that they would be waiting for news at that teahouse!
The two Elders of the Earth and Moon Sect were astonished, their eyes filled with shock, but they soon lowered their eyelids, replaced by dread.
"You... You are... Your Majesty?"
"Long live Your Majesty! What crime has this old man committed? This old man was merely drinking tea at a teahouse, a teacher by day, taking a rare half-day off during the Lantern Festival."
"This old man is wronged. Why must I be imprisoned?"
The Emperor could not possibly know about the teahouse, nor could he know their identities!
The two Elders of the Earth and Moon Sect were certain of this.
Today, when they met to await news, even other members of the sect did not know about it.
"Is there still law and order under Heaven?" The two Elders bit back, claiming to be ordinary citizens. "How can the Ministry of Justice arbitrarily arrest people? When my wife and children do not see me return by morning, they will surely report to the officials!"
"My students will definitely come looking for me..."
"Your Majesty." Lord Zhang, the Minister, frowned.
The very thing they feared had come.
These two elders now claimed to be teachers, and if they were wronged, it would stir up trouble with the entire community of scholars—a problem that would be incessant.
"Then perhaps we should release—" The Minister of Justice was also afraid of scholars causing unrest, as they had already created a scene at the Zhengyang Gate before.
But before he could finish speaking, the two elders in the cell, who had still maintained an air of righteousness, had their hopeful expressions dashed when Xiao Yunzhou waved his hand.
"Guards, strip these two old men of their clothes."
"!"
"!?"
"???"
The entire prison cell fell into a deathly silence, everyone staring at Xiao Yunzhou in disbelief.
Xiao Yunzhou couldn't be bothered to waste words with these people. He gestured to his attending guards, "Hurry up!"
The two elders, dropping their earlier calm and composure, their faces drained of color, immediately retreated into a corner!
"A scholar can be killed but not disgraced!"
"How can you strip us in front of everyone!"
The elders cried, even turning to try to bash their heads against the wall!
"This... Your Majesty, they are still scholars after all!" Even the Minister of Justice exclaimed.
Scholars, my ass.
Xiao Yunzhou was fuming. "Don't rush, you'll all get your turn."
"?"
"??"
"All of you, remove your upper garments too! There are no women here, so don't make a fuss. Scholars, strip! Ministers, you strip too!"
"???"
The Emperor must have gone mad.
The Minister of Justice and Lord Zhang, the Minister, were trembling.
The Emperor had not been so overbearing even during the early morning court sessions before the new year.
Little did they expect that the Emperor had been bottling up his anger, and had completely lost his mind today.
"A scholar can be killed but not disgraced..." This time, it was not the two elders in the cell who spoke, but the Minister of Justice, his face turning black with rage.
Xiao Yunzhou took a deep breath. "Disgraced?"
"Fine, I'll strip too."
"!"
"..."
"Wait... Your Majesty..."
The Imperial Attendants followed the Emperor's orders unconditionally.
The Imperial Guards were even more obedient, only following the Emperor's commands. Although this order was bizarre, they had to obey!
In an instant, whether from the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Justice, or the prison cells, everyone was seized by the Imperial Guards and Imperial Attendants.
"I'll do it myself!"
The Lord Zhang, the Minister, and the Minister of Justice were almost enraged to death.
But when they turned around and saw Xiao Yunzhou beginning to untie his own robes, they fell silent.
What else could they do?
The Emperor seemed to have taken some kind of raving medication, as if he had gone mad. Any words they had could only be submitted in a memorial the next day, to reprimand the Emperor!
"Your Majesty, you... will definitely regret this!" Lord Zhang, the Minister, said bitterly.
But as soon as he finished speaking, Zhang Wei was struck dumb.
Xiao Yunzhou had already readjusted his robes, but the two elders in the cell had been pinned to the ground!
Their backs revealed a conspicuous tattoo of the character "rebel"!
"!"
"???"
"...!"
Lord Zhang, the Minister, and Minister of Justice Yin Moqiao's eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
"Rebel"!?
These two elders truly had issues... It was like a bucket of ice-cold water had been poured over them on this winter Lantern Festival night.
"This old man simply likes this character, is that not allowed?"
"This old man was foolish in his youth and got this tattoo!"
The two elders were still trying to make excuses.
This time, no one paid any attention to them, not even Zhang Wei and Yin Moqiao could speak on their behalf.
It was a joke – who would brand themselves as traitors without reason?
You could brand yourself as 'loyal to the nation', but instead you branded yourself as 'anti'?
What are you against? Who are you against?
And you still dare to say you have no problem?
The Minister of Justice Zhang Wei, and the Minister of Justice Yin Moqiao, twitched their mouths, unable to listen to these clumsy excuses any longer.
And when they turned their heads, they were even more terrified to see their subordinates, the young officials they had favored, one Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Justice and one official of the Ministry of Justice, had the same frightening 'anti' character branded on their backs!
"Heh heh."
Xiao Yunzhou's low laughter echoed in the prison cell.
"Oh, you all seem to like that character."
"How coincidental, you four strangers share the same preference."
"How is it that they are all branded in the same place?"
"Minister of Justice, Minister of Justice, what do you make of this coincidence?"
Thud—
The official robes of the Ministers of Justice dropped to the ground!
