Ziji City, Taiji Hall.
Early morning.
The empress listened to the report of a court official below with some absent-mindedness, but her eyes were vaguely focused on Lu Chen, who was standing at the back of the civil service team.
When she first came to court, she noticed that Lu Chen's face was a little sluggish and he looked like he hadn't had a good rest.
He even couldn't help but yawn several times.
Seeing his haggard face and the way he kept rubbing his eyes in order to cheer up, the empress felt a surge of anger rising from the bottom of her heart.
She didn't send anyone to monitor Lu Chen, so she took it for granted that Lu Chen must be too concerned about Xia Yan's case. Even after he ordered to go home, he was still reading files desperately, which was why he was so tired.
As for the chief judge of the Three Laws Division who was presiding over the case, except for Fang Ping who really tried his best, the other two judicial chiefs simply didn't take this matter to heart.
Not to mention someone like Lu Chen, who was from the seventh rank, working tirelessly to review the files. As judicial officers, they probably didn't even read the files carefully, let alone carefully check whether there were any doubts in them.
Otherwise, how could they be as energetic as they are now?
Didn’t you see that Lu Chen was so tired that he almost fell asleep standing up?
Although Fang Ping seemed to be in good spirits, some fatigue could still be clearly seen on his old face, which was obviously caused by overworking yesterday.
An old minister who is over sixty years old is so dedicated to his duties. On the other hand, Qian Yiqian, the minister of the Ministry of punishment, and Zhao Bingliang, the minister of Dali Temple, two "important ministers" who are only in their destiny years, are simply not even competent compared to Fang Ping, let alone compared with Fang Ping. Lu Chen compared.
At this moment, the sensory impression in her heart of Qian Yiqian and Zhao Bingliang, two so-called famous ministers who were transferred back from exile or relegation to important positions by her personal orders, plummeted.
I even regretted believing in their reputation too much before.
She wanted to let Lu Chen go back to rest, but the empress gave up the idea of letting him go back when she thought that Lu Chen had put in so much effort just to clear Xia Yan's name, and today was the day of the trial of the three divisions. He would definitely not be absent. .
After going to court, Lu Chen wandered to the public room in Liu Ke Gallery, walked to his seat and sat down, preparing to handle official duties.
Generally speaking, every court official's office will have a dedicated clerk who collects the latest official documents that need to be processed and puts them on the corresponding desk before going to court, so that the court official can start processing them as soon as possible.
Due to their low status and heavy weight, the Six Sections are a relatively busy department with heavy official duties. Therefore, each Section has to handle a lot of official duties every day.
Even if everything goes well, you still have to spend at least half an hour every day immersed in your desk.
Lu Chen was naturally no exception.
However, when he reached for the official document out of habit, he found nothing.
"Um?"
Looking up, I saw that the pile of official documents that was always piled high in the past was now only a few scattered official documents, which was extremely shabby.
"What's going on? Where is today's official document?"
Hearing his question, a man next to him who was older than Lu Chen smiled and replied: "I have asked the official who delivered the documents. He said that the Ministry of Works has nothing important to do these two days and there are no official documents. It needs to be delivered to us, so there shouldn’t be much official business to deal with today.”
Hearing this, Lu Chen felt a little strange, but he didn't think much about it.
Since you can fish in an open and honest manner, why bother so much?
There are still more than two hours before the trial of the three divisions begins. If there is no official business to deal with, it is just a good time to catch up on some sleep and make the eyelids who are fighting at this time a little more peaceful.
Before I knew it, the whole morning had passed.
After having a hasty lunch, Lu Chen couldn't wait to go outside Xuanji Gate.
As usual, the joint trial of the three divisions is usually held outside Xuanji Gate. After the chief officer in charge of the case has finished the trial, he will order the eunuch to send the results of the trial to the emperor, who will personally make a ruling and pronounce the verdict.
When Lu Chen came outside Xuanji Gate, he only saw some palace maids and eunuchs setting up the trial scene, but no one else came.
It wasn't that the others came later, but that he came too early.
Some eunuchs and maids with keen eyes immediately noticed Lu Chen's presence and hurriedly came over to bow to him.
"Master Lu."
Lu Chen waved his hand.
"You are busy with your business, don't worry about me."
After saying that, he walked to a cool place and took a short nap.
I don't know how long it took, but Lu Chen suddenly felt someone push him gently.
"Lu is doing things, Lu is doing things..."
Lu Chen slowly opened his eyes, and then saw Fang Ping looking at him kindly.
"Master Fang!"
He stood up calmly and bowed slightly to Fang Ping.
Fang Ping noticed the dark circles under his eyes that had not gone away, and immediately said with concern: "Lu Geishi, your face doesn't look good. You didn't get any rest last night, okay?"
Lu Chen shook his head and told Xiao Yu again.
As he said that, he looked around again and found that the Ministry of Punishment, Dali Temple and the Censor were coming one after another.
Obviously, the joint trial of the three divisions is about to begin.
Seeing this, Lu Chen suddenly became energetic, and the excitement that had kept him awake yesterday surged out again.
As for the excuses he made at random, Fang Ping was an old man and had eaten more salt than Lu Chen had eaten rice. How could he be as easy to fool as Luo Xiaoyu?
"Lu Geishi doesn't need to frame me like this. Although I'm old, I'm not that old and confused yet."
As he said that, Fang Ping sighed inexplicably.
"Presumably Lu Gai was so tired because he was looking through the files at home all night last night because of Xia Yan's case."
Hearing this, Lu Chen couldn't help but twitch the corners of his eyes slightly.
This old man is pretty good at figuring things out.
Never mind, whatever you think.
Shaking his head, Lu Chen didn't bother to explain, looking noncommittal.
At this time, Fang Ping said again: "But don't worry about Lu Gui. I already have a clue about Xia Yan's case. I will interrogate it carefully later. Maybe there will be unexpected results. There may be another hidden story in this case." .”
Um? etc!
Lu Chen was startled when he heard Fang Ping's somewhat strange words.
What the hell?
An unexpected gain? Any other secrets?
Do you still want me to feel at ease?
What do you mean?
An ominous premonition rose from the bottom of his heart. Lu Chen's eyes suddenly widened and he looked at Fang Ping.
However, just as he was about to ask, a gong sound of "dang" suddenly sounded not far away from him.
The three-division trial is about to begin.
Fang Ping also heard the sound of the gong, but he did not go to the presiding seat immediately. Seeing Lu Chen's "surprised" look after hearing his words, he couldn't help but smile.
"Speaking of which, I would like to thank Lu Guishan."
Lu Chen asked subconsciously: "Thank me? Why?"
Fang Ping nodded, without any further pretense, and said bluntly: "Thanks to your unwavering persistence, Lu Gashi, I checked the file a few more times and found an unusual suspicious point in the case at the last moment. "
After a pause, he suddenly felt a little emotional.
"This also made me understand a truth. Some things may seem obvious on the surface, but in fact they may have hidden meanings. You cannot look at things superficially, otherwise you may be blinded by the obvious and ignore the real importance. Something. Mr. Lu has taught me a lesson."
Hearing this, Lu Chen suddenly felt a chill in his heart for no reason.
Then, before he could speak, Fang Ping suddenly laughed and said, "Relax, Lu, it depends on what I do!" before he took steps and walked towards the presiding chair.
Looking at his back that looked ten years younger, Lu Chen felt an inexplicable pain in his heart.
