Inlaid With Jade - Chapter 26

Chapter 26 
Hmph 
  
After Qin Mei’an told Lin Yu about Yang Jinming, Lin Yu wrote a letter that night and asked someone to deliver it to Li Mansion the following day when the fog was still thick.
  
It would have been better for Lin Yu to tell him in person, but Lin Jing locked her up in the house and did not allow her to leave, so she had to pass the message on by letter. 
  
After sending the letter, Lin Yu kept waiting for a reply. Unsure whether Li Heming deliberately delayed replying, the letter was sent in the morning, but Lin Yu waited until dusk to get an answer. 
  
A child still delivered the reply letter, with only one word written in red ink on the letter paper: Hmph. 
  
She wondered whether he was agreed or not. 
  
Whether Lin Yu asked Li Heming out of affection for Yang Jinming or some other reason, it made no difference to Li Heming. Anyway, it was for the boy surnamed Yang. 
  
He San didn’t know what happened between Li Heming and Lin Yu, but he felt that today’s leader was more difficult to get along with than in the past. He didn’t smile all day. 
  
After the meeting, most of the Imperial Guards left the prison, and Li Heming came to the cell where Yang Jinming was.
  
If no one tried before nightfall, there would be a rare “free” time in the prison. The criminals seemed to have given up the hope of pardon and stayed in the narrow cells silently, and even the sound of breathing was hard to hear. 
  
In the cell, Yang Jinming sat on a thin, narrow bed covered with a yellow-brown old straw mat, leaning against the wall with his eyes closed as if resting. 
  
Li Heming knew he was awake and said through the iron gate in a voice that was neither loud nor soft: “Do you want to live?” 
  
Yang Jinming did not look up or answer this question but asked hoarsely: “Is my mother okay?” 
  
Li Heming did not respond and asked again, “Do you want to live?” 
  
Yang Jinming opened his eyes and looked at Li Heming standing outside the door with a sword. Except for Minister Yang, most of the other people in the Yang family were not tortured but were locked up in this ghost place for a few days. However, even if they were not, their faces were not good. The young man who was full of vigor and vitality in the past now grew up overnight, and his steady look was a bit like the past Li Heming.
  
Young people’s experiences growing up were always similar. When Li Heming’s father died in the war, he, too, suddenly fell into a dilemma.
  
Yang Jinming looked at Li Heming for a long time but could not tell anything from his flat face, so he asked, “Do you want to save me?” 
  
Li Heming did not play tricks, but he also did not tell him that Lin Yu spoke for him: “Someone wants to save you.” 
 
Now that everyone in the Yang family was avoiding them, so who could ask Li Heming for help? Yang Jinming laughed mockingly: “Who dares to stir up this muddy mess of my Yang family now…” 
  
As he spoke, a kind and elderly figure suddenly appeared in his mind. Yang Jinming stopped talking and looked at Li Heming defensively as if Li Heming was trying to trap him and implicate more innocent people in this cold and ruthless imperial prison. 
  
Li Heming said nothing but handed a roll of paper, a stick of ink, and a pen into the cell: “I will give you one night to write a letter, and I will bring it to the Emperor for you tomorrow. How many people in your Yang family can survive depends on how much your letter could interpret his intentions.” 
  
The candlelight on the wall flickered and was about to extinguish at any moment as if the Yang family’s current erratic way out was uncertain. Yang Jinming looked at Li Heming for a long time before finally getting out of bed and taking these things. 
  
Emperor Chong’an’s biological mother was unfavored by the previous Emperor in her later years and died in the cold palace. At that time, Emperor Chong’an was busy fighting the Yuan people in the north and did not even see his mother for the last time. If one wanted to rouse the Emperor’s pity, there was nothing else but family affection. 
  
On the second day, Li Heming sent the details of Wang Changzhong’s case and Yang Jinming’s letter to the palace. A few days later, Yang Jinming, his mother, and a group of female relatives were released. Wang Changzhong’s corruption case was finally closed, with more than 20 heads of the Wang and Yang families rolled into the ground, and this major case that lasted several months ended with infinite grievances and secrets before the festive New Year. 
  
When the Lin family learned that Yang Jinming had been released from prison, they were puzzled about who had persuaded the Northern Leader. Only Lin Jing immediately guessed that Lin Yu spoke to Li Heming. 
  
Except for Lin Jing, no one in the Lin family knew about Lin Yu’s relationship with Li Heming; even Qin Mei’an was unaware of it. She asked Lin Jing, and Lin Jing told her that Lin Yu had gone to see Li Heming. 
  
Qin Mei’an raised her hand and gently hit him: “Why are you talking nonsense? What secret meeting? Did the Northern Leader force younger sister in some way?” 
  
Lin Jing turned furious when he talked about this: “I looked carefully, her clothes were neat, her hair was not messy, and here–” 
  
Lin Jing pointed at Qin Mei’an’s lips: “Someone bit her! Do you think that surnamed Li is a kind person? How could he only do this if he had bad intentions and coerced Qiqi?” 
  
That’s true. When Lin Jing climbed over the wall of Qin Mansion, he never left her house with neat clothes. 
  
Lin Yu persuaded Li Heming and relieved her grandfather’s worries, so Qin Mei’an was grateful and naturally spoke for Lin Yu: “Even so, you should also side with younger sister. What if she is wronged?” 
  
Lin Jing saw that she was not worried at all. He shook his head: “A daughter raised by the Lin family will not be easily coerced. I know her. Qiqi looks gentle and docile but stubborn and unwilling to bend easily. My older sister is a concubine in the palace, and my father is in a high position. If she is unwilling, Li Heming can’t force her.” 
  
Lin Jing was silent momentarily, then gritted his teeth and said: “But when has that surnamed Li ever done good deeds? So easily willing to help, I am afraid he has bad ideas in his stomach.” 
  
As a man, Lin Jing correctly guessed the thoughts of Li Heming, who was also a man. In the Wuying Palace, Li Heming, who was harboring evil ideas, had just received a rare reward from Emperor Chong’an for his effective handling of the Wang Changzhong case.