Chapter 9 — The day I stopped taking care of the books, the Marquis Palace collapsed

Bui Huyen Do looked straight at him.

“This is between me and Linh Nghi.”

Ninh Van Tieu tilted his eyes slightly.

“She doesn't want to hear it right now.”

“Then this matter no longer has anything to do with her.”

At that moment, I suddenly wanted to laugh. In the past, at the Marquis Palace, it was always me who came to the rescue of others. Now there is someone standing in front of us to shield us. This feeling is very strange. But it doesn't make people hate it either. Bui Huyen Do looked at me.

“Linh Nghi, do you really want him to speak for you?”

I looked straight into his eyes.

“I wish.”

Bui Huyen Do's whole body immediately stiffened. After a long time, he chuckled softly and bitterly. Then he turned and left. His back was desolate and lonely, as if he had aged a lot overnight. After the door closed, Ninh Van Tieu turned to look at me.

"The king's words just now... don't think too much about them."

“Which sentence?”

He paused a bit.

“She is the king's person.”

I look at him.

“Are you afraid that the goddess will misunderstand you?”

Ninh Van Tieu was silent for a moment. Yet he avoided my eyes.

“This king is afraid…”

“She didn't misunderstand.”

As soon as those words were spoken, the candlelight in the room swayed slightly. My chest also followed suit and trembled a beat. But before I could open my mouth, there was an emergency alarm coming from outside.

“King!”

“Before biting his tongue and committing suicide, the assassin confessed…”

“Lam Kieu Kieu escaped from the escort team!”

My face immediately changed. All the heat in Ninh Van Tieu's eyes instantly drained away.

“Blockade of the entire city.”

But it's too late. That night, when I returned to the Thoi family's house, a bloody dagger was placed on the pillow next to my bed. There was a piece of paper underneath. Cui Linh Nghi, tomorrow Thanh Truong Ty's grand ceremony... I will give you a grand gift. Thanh Truong Ty's great ceremony was organized by the Queen Mother herself. The purpose was to inform the world that the court wanted to thoroughly rectify three types of records: relief, military supplies, and subsidies for soldiers' families. And I, as a female mandarin in charge, will have to stand before the civil and military mandarin to publicly read the charter of the Thanh Truong Department. Lam Kieu Kieu chose this day to make his move. The mind is truly too toxic. She wants me to fall at the most glorious moment. After learning of the threatening letter, Ninh Van Tieu immediately ordered the military to seal off the entire Thanh Truong Department, not even a drop of water could get through. Mother won't let me go. Even his father rarely had such a gloomy face.

“Linh Nghi, not missing this day.”

I looked at the official uniform placed on the table. Dark blue. The cuffs of the shirt are embroidered with an abacus pattern in silver thread. This is the first time in my life that I am wearing an official uniform that truly belongs to me. I said softly:

“Father, I want to go.”

The mother's eye sockets immediately turned red.

“What if something happens?”

I held her hand.

“If you run away today…”

"Then everyone will say in the future that women really can't handle big things."

Father was silent for a long time. Finally, he took out a piece of protective jade and put it in my hand.

“We must return alive.”

The day the great ceremony took place, the sky was gloomy and heavy. Literature and martial arts officials stood in front of Thanh Truong's temple Ty. Bui Huyen Do also came. He wore a military general's uniform, stood in a row of officials, his eyes from beginning to end were always on him. I don't look at him. Ninh Van Tieu sat in the highest position. The wound on his shoulder had not yet healed, and his face was a little paler than usual. But as soon as he appeared, the whole situation immediately stabilized. I stood on the steps, opened the scroll in my hand.

“Thanh Truong Department was established, specializing in investigating relief money, military supplies money and subsidy money.”

“Anyone who embezzles, conceals or makes false statements will be prosecuted according to the law.”

When the voice lowered, all around was completely quiet. I read the entire charter word by word. Just as he was about to close the scroll, a woman suddenly rushed out from the crowd.

“Cui Linh Nghi treats human lives like trash!”

She pulled down the outer robe on her body, revealing the tablet she held in her arms.

"My son is freezing because she delayed giving him winter clothes!"

All around immediately there was a commotion. I looked at her. That was the mother of one of the orphans of Bac Joint. But the tablet in her heart... is fake. I met that kid the other day. He wore a newly patched thick cotton shirt and stood outside the Thanh Truong Office to bow to me. The woman rushed towards me, crying until her heart was broken.

"In order to compete for power, she deliberately kept the winter shirt, then blamed all the blame on Miss Lam!"