Lord Li led a team from the Capture and Arrest Division on the way to the Prefecture of Jingzhao in a mighty parade.
The pedestrians on the road, upholding curiosity, many people followed behind to watch the excitement.
When Lord Li arrived at the Prefecture of Jingzhao, he saw Vice Prefect Ouyang coming to greet him at the door.
"Your humble officer pays respect to My Lord." Ouyang greeted Lord Li with a bow.
"Humph. At least you still know I'm Lord Li. I thought your eyes have gone up to the sky that you fail to see any lord," Lord Li berated.
Vice Prefect Ouyang wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve while quickly explaining, "In response My Lord, Lord He is not here today...."
That old dog He deliberately hid from him today. He must feel guilty, Lord Li thought.
Lord Li sat at the chief seat after he entered the main hall of the Prefecture of Jingzhao.
"Not here. Perfect. In that case, you handled this matter all by yourself today?"
"What matter might My Lord be referring to?"
"Scum. Still pretending to be confused here."
"Let me ask you. My department's Gong Xiaohua was detained by you. Why didn't you report it to the Ministry of Justice and instead deliberately blocked the news?" Vice Prefect Ouyang scolded himself in his heart for being assigned this hot potato by his superiors.
"My Lord, you have misunderstood. It is not deliberate concealment. We did it to protect the Gong family's reputation, so we blocked the news."
"If I spread the news, some ill-intent people might exploit it. I did it for the Gong family," he explained.
Deputy Minister Lin was furious after hearing Ouyang's glib tongue. "Even if you block the news, why not report it to the Ministry of Justice?"
"Deputy Minister Lin, I cannot agree with you. The informant reported this to our prefecture. Naturally, we shall handle it following procedures until the case is clarified," Ouyang refuted calmly.
"Good point. I have heard that Lord He has a very capable assistant. That must be you. True to reputation," Lord Li commented.
"Has this Vice Prefect clarified this case yet?" Lord Li asked.
Seeing the gritting teeth of the Ministry of Justice members, he knew he had thoroughly offended them today.
"Replying to My Lord, I have clarified it before you came." Ouyang wiped the sweat from his forehead again.
"Oh? Clarified? May I ask if they have violated the law?" Lord Li continued.
"They...they have not. Their relatives run businesses, and they were just helping. I was about to let them go when you arrived, My Lord," Ouyang explained.
He then ordered the guards outside, "Bring the Gong family here to the main hall."
"Yes, My Lord."
Soon, Gong Xiaohua and her family were brought to the main hall, along with all the confiscated items returned, placed outside the door.
When Gong Xiaohua came to the main hall and saw the top leaders of her department with a group of her colleagues from the Capture and Arrest Division, the family greeted the superiors and said, "Your subordinates/commoners pay respect to Lord Li and Deputy Minister Lin."
Seeing the outstanding talent being schemed against by the callous people, Lord Li at the main seat felt extremely indignant.
"Let's go," he said.
"Yes, My Lord."
The group left the Prefecture of Jingzhao behind Lord Li, rage emanating from them.
Vice Prefect Ouyang also had inexplicable anger seeing them leave. He could not do anything to the lord but he surely could punish the culprit behind the Gong family arrest.
"Summon Captian Wang here!" he ordered.
Soon Captian Wang was brought, yelling justice along the way.
Vice Prefect Ouyang was furious seeing this. He strode forward and slapped Captian Wang hard in the face.
"Fool. Do you think I don't know you privately took money from the Lin Family or something? How dare you cry justice before me?"
Captian Wang was shocked awake by the sudden slap. How could he forget what kind of person Vice Prefect Ouyang was? The most capable assistant of the prefecture and smartest in Jingzhao. Nothing could be hidden from his sharp eyes.
He swiftly knelt before Vice Prefect Ouyang, begging for mercy.
"My Lord, your subordinate will never dare again. Please spare me this once!"
Vice Prefect Ouyang looked at the kneeling subordinate, whose greed exceeded his ability like a snake swallowing an elephant.
Although this indirectly removed a competior for the prefecture, but given Wang's temperament, bigger troubles might be invited in the future if he kept the position of captain. He was simply unqualified.
Moreover, someone must take responsibility to the Ministry of Justice side and give them an account.
"From today on, you are removed of the captain position. Go find Prison Head Wu at the prison," he declared.
Captian Wang's expression changed drastically upon hearing this. He wanted to refute but Vice Prefect Ouyang had turned away, ordering the guards to take Captian Wang away. He also announced the former deputy captain shall take over as the new captain and the temporary officer involved in the Gong family case was formally instated.
After leaving the Prefecture of Jingzhao, Gong Xiaohua followed the Ministry of Justice group back while her father and three others first returned home with their belongings.
At the Ministry of Justice, Lord Li, Deputy Minister Lin, the heads of five departments, and the parties involved Gong Xiaohua stayed at the ministry's case investigation hall.
The ministry leaders looked at Gong Xiaohua standing in the center of the hall.
It was not bad. Although Gong Xiaohua winning prizes in the final tournament would contribute to their political achievement, but if an exceptional talent like her left the Ministry of Justice, it would be a tremendous loss.
Since she was kept in the ministry today luckily, she certainly could no longer return to the prison as a warden. That would be a waste of talent.
"Xiaohua, you will temporarily serve under Leader Yang as deputy," Lord Li said to Gong Xiaohua.
"Also, starting today, you will be responsible for training Leader Yang and Staff Officer Li to strive for good rankings for them in the final tournament."
"Yes My Lord. Your subordinate shall not fail the mission," Gong Xiaohua replied.
Manager Wu on the side asked Gong Xiaohua, "Xiaohua, how did you offend the Lin Family of the Minister of War? Why did they report you?"
"The Lin Family? Other than recognizing Deputy Minister Lin, I have only encountered a young lady from the Lin Family once. She could not possibly harm me for no reason," Gong Xiaohua said, looking towards Deputy Minister Lin seated under Lord Li's left hand.
"Don't look at me. The Lin Family I'm from separated from our main family generations ago. We don't interact anymore," Deputy Minister Lin quickly clarified next to her.
"How strange."
"Alright. Be careful of the Lin Family members in the future. You all may leave now," Lord Li at the main seat said.
"Yes, we shall now take our leave."
At the Supreme Protectorate...
"Young Master, Ms Gong is now safely reinstated in the Ministry of Justice." An unseen guard reported.
Qin Chuyuan stopped his writing motions. "Mm," he responded.
