Denghuangtai

Feng Lingsu's voice arrived before she did.

Immediately afterward, a whooshing sound rang out. Before anyone could react, a white-feathered arrow had already grazed Yun Zheng's foot and embedded itself in the blue brick in front of him, the arrow's fletching trembling slightly.

"My lord!"

Feng Xing was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat. The guards quickly surrounded Yun Zheng and protected him in the middle.

Feng Lingsu walked to the door, holding a crossbow in her hand. "Grand Minister of Works, you broke into my residence at night and killed my servants, which is already going too far. Now you even want to imprison my husband. Do you really think my husband and I are clay sculptures that you can torment at will?"

As she spoke, she raised her arm, the arrow tip pointing at Yun Zheng's heart, looking down at the crowd below the steps, "Admittedly, my husband and I enjoy traveling and have no desire to get involved in court disputes. But if anyone comes knocking, we are not to be trifled with."

At the bottom of the steps, Yun Zheng, with arrows pointed at him, remained calm and composed. "You think you're someone to be trifled with? Coincidentally, I'm the kind of person who likes to face challenges head-on. Men, take that couple away with you."

As soon as he finished speaking, the guards beside Yun Zheng immediately walked towards Ban Qing and his wife. Seeing this, Ban Qing hurriedly stepped forward and shielded Feng Lingsu behind him.

"Yun Zheng!" Ban Qing stared at Yun Zheng. "Are you really going to insist on doing things your own way?"

"It is you who are acting willfully." Yun Zheng, dressed in a thin robe, had snowflakes falling on his shoulders and hair. "Today, an assassin attacked Weiyang Palace and nearly injured His Majesty. I was ordered to investigate thoroughly, and the assassin confessed that this was instigated by the General of the Five Offices, which is why I came to his door late at night..."

"I sent him to the Imperial Prison." Upon hearing Yun Zheng mention Weiyang Palace, Ban Qing became anxious and hurriedly defended himself before Yun Zheng could finish speaking.

"Oh?"

Yun Zheng raised an eyebrow, looking at Ban Qing with a half-smile, who had inadvertently confessed. Ban Qing belatedly realized what had happened, covered her mouth, and turned to look at Feng Lingsu, her eyes full of guilt.

Feng Lingsu had no time to reprimand her outspoken husband. She stepped out from behind Ban Qing, lowered her crossbow, and said, "Grand Minister of Works."

Unlike her tense demeanor just moments before, Feng Lingsu's voice was now gentle, and her eyes were smiling.

"To be honest, the Pei family ancestors were kind to my Feng family. Now that the Pei family is in trouble, I can't bear to see the descendants of my benefactor suffer in prison. I'm also afraid that the Pei family's affairs will implicate my husband and me. That's why I came up with this crooked idea and had my husband send someone to secretly sneak into the prison to take care of them."

"Your so-called care is sending people on their way?" Yun Zheng said sarcastically. "If that's the case, then in the future, if anyone lends a helping hand to you two, I will definitely tell them first how you two will repay the favor."

"Grand Minister, the assassination was truly not our intention. Marquis Yin'an and I have no past grievances or present enemies, so why should we risk killing her?"

"Is that so?" Yun Zheng sneered. "Even now, you two are still playing games with me. Do you really think I'm a three-year-old child?"

"We're not teasing you. My wife is telling the truth."

Ban Qing, who had been speechless, saw that Feng Lingsu had found an excuse for him and immediately regained his confidence, speaking with great conviction.

"You really won't shed a tear until you see the coffin," Yun Zheng mocked.

He looked at Ban Qing with the eyes of someone looking at a fool, and slowly walked up the steps, step by step, to Ban Qing and his wife.

"What do you want to do?"

As Ban Qing watched Yun Zheng approach step by step, a sense of foreboding arose in his heart. He shielded Feng Lingsu behind him and went to meet Yun Zheng alone.

Yun Zheng ignored him, walked past the couple, entered the house, and sat at the head of the main room.

"Yun Zheng, what are you doing?"

"It's a cold snowy night, and you two are unwilling to cooperate properly. Why should I, Yun, stand in the snow and freeze?" Yun Zheng got up, dragged a chair to the stove in the center of the main room, sat down, and warmed his hands in front of the stove.

"If you're trying to stall for time, I need to find a warm place."

"Grand Minister, my wife and I have already made it very clear that the assassination was absolutely a misunderstanding." Feng Lingsu thought for a moment and then said, "Perhaps the assassin was bribed by someone else to assassinate Marquis Yin'an, and then pinned the blame on my wife and me afterwards."

"Yes," Ban Qing agreed, "My wife and I were set up by others."

"That's right. In the entire city of Chang'an, my wife and I had the least contact with Marquis Yin'an, and we had absolutely no motive to kill him."

The two of them, working in unison, thought they had easily gotten rid of all the problems.

Before the stove, Yun Zheng continued to warm himself by the fire. His fingers, which had been frozen stiff, gradually regained feeling. He straightened up, leaned back in his chair, raised his chin at the old woman standing on the veranda, and said, taking the initiative, "Go and make me a pot of tea."

The old woman paused for a moment, then turned to look at Feng Lingsu.

Feng Lingsu was also completely confused. Even now, she didn't understand what Yun Zheng was going to do tonight.

They claimed they were there to interrogate the couple, but instead they were warming themselves by the fire and asking for tea. They didn't seem like the ruthless "King of Hell" from the rumors.

But if it weren't for confronting someone, why would anyone come knocking on your door in the middle of the night?

"What's going on? Is the General's residence so poor that they're even stingy with tea?"

Seeing that the old woman remained motionless for a long time, Yun Zheng narrowed his cold eyes, and a sinister and ruthless aura pressed down like falling snow.

"Go and serve the Grand Marshal the best tea," Feng Lingsu instructed. Since she couldn't figure out Yun Zheng's tactics, she could only deal with whatever came her way.

The old woman responded and left. A moment later, she came up with a teapot and poured Yun Zheng a cup of tea.

Yun Zheng took it, didn't even smell it, and poured it directly on the ground, saying, "The first brew is too astringent."

The old woman turned to look at Feng Lingsu helplessly. Feng Lingsu gritted her teeth and uttered a single word, "Change."

The old woman took the teapot downstairs, and a little while later she came back upstairs with a teacup, pouring another cup for Yun Zheng.

Yun Zheng didn't even lift his eyelids. "No fragrance."

After saying that, he didn't forget to mock Ban Qing and his wife, "Your servants need some training. If you're not good at this, you can send them to me; I'd be happy to help."

Yun Zheng's name was powerful enough to stop a child from crying in Chang'an. Upon hearing this, the old woman's knees buckled, and she knelt on the ground, repeatedly kowtowing and begging for mercy.

"Grand Commander, what is the meaning of this?"

Feng Lingsu finally couldn't hold back any longer and stepped forward to question him.

"I'll keep you company while you stall for time," Yun Zheng said frankly, his gaze sweeping over the two of them. "Since you're spouting nonsense here, and I have nothing better to do than torment your servants. This can be considered..."

Yun Zheng paused, then smiled and said, "The servant repays the debt owed by the master."

Upon hearing this, Ban Qing and Feng Lingsu were immediately overwhelmed with worry, realizing that the master's debt was now being repaid by the servant.

"The Grand Minister is extremely busy with official duties. How could my wife and I dare to delay you or interfere with your work? This matter is truly none of our concern..."

Seeing that Feng Lingsu was using the same old excuse to fool people again, Yun Zheng finally ran out of patience. He grabbed the teacup in front of him and threw it at Feng Lingsu.

Unlike Yun Zheng, Feng Lingsu was not calm in the face of a collapsing mountain. When faced with the teacup that suddenly appeared, Feng Lingsu was shocked and retreated repeatedly.

The teacup shattered on the ground, leaving shards of porcelain scattered everywhere.

"I'm too lazy to beat around the bush with you." Yun Zheng stood up, his icy gaze fixed on Ban Qing. "You keep saying you have no motive, but Pei Qingyan was brought to the capital no sooner, and the troops of the Feng and Ban clans immediately advanced dozens of miles towards Shuofang. Do you really think no one can see through your schemes and methods?"