Those lips, glistening with ginger soup, took on a moist, vivid hue under the warm yellow lamplight.
Nie Jin’s Adam’s apple bobbed. An intense darkness swirled in his eyes as he suddenly jerked his head to the side.
“Do you find me loathsome?”
Gu Huaiyu hadn’t expected the Chief Justice’s disgust to reach such a level—that the man wouldn’t even share a spoon he had used. He let out a sneer and, with deliberate slowness, spat into the ginger soup.
A single, crystalline drop fell into the liquid, sending out a tiny ripple.
Nie Jin’s pupils dilated instantly. An unnatural flush crept onto his normally cold, stern face. Gu Huaiyu assumed it was out of pure rage. He grabbed Nie Jin’s chin, his fingers digging in as he forced the man to look up.
“What I bestow upon you, you shall not leave a single drop of.”
With that, he tipped the bowl and pressed it against Nie Jin’s teeth, mercilessly pouring the liquid through his forced-open lips.
Nie Jin’s throat worked frantically. The scent of agarwood from Gu Huaiyu’s fingertips mixed with the spiciness of the ginger, turning into a hot current that rushed straight to his lower abdomen.
He suddenly strained the muscles in his thighs with all his might. The physiological reaction occurring beneath his official robes made him struggle violently. It wasn’t that he was resisting the soup; he simply could not allow himself to expose such a shameful reaction in front of everyone.
The Iron Eagle Guards immediately increased their pressure, pinning him down even harder.
Gu Huaiyu tossed the empty bowl aside, looking satisfied at the man’s “humiliated” state. He took out a silk handkerchief and leisurely wiped the moisture from Nie Jin’s chin. “Now, Master Nie has my saliva in his stomach…”
“Do you want to cut your belly open to dig it out? Hmm?”
The moment the Iron Eagle Guards released him, Nie Jin collapsed forward, bracing himself with his hands on the floor. The sharp lines of his shoulder blades strained against the back of his robe. His ears were red enough to bleed, and his heavy breathing was jarringly loud in the silent room.
Seeing him “humiliated and indignant,” Gu Huaiyu couldn’t help but chuckle. “When I said Master Nie was kneeling in my room, I wasn’t lying at all.”
Nie Jin gripped the hem of his robe tightly, his voice sounding raspy and broken. “The Chancellor… abuses his power…”
Each word felt as if it were squeezed through his teeth. It was unclear if he was accusing Gu Huaiyu or cursing his own treacherous body.
Gu Huaiyu sat back down, carelessly wiping the ginger soup from his fingertips, ignoring the accusation entirely. Instead, he asked, “Master Nie came here today to confess. May I ask what crime you have committed?”
Nie Jin forced himself to look up, his eyes still swirling with a thick, suppressed heat. He spoke one word at a time. “According to the Laws of Great Chen, Volume Seven, Article Twelve: an official who neglects his duty shall be dismissed and never employed again.”
Gu Huaiyu nodded slightly and turned to a nearby eunuch. “Go and summon Zheng Huai and Zhao You. Tell them to arrive at the estate for a meeting within half an hour.”
These two were the Minister of Personnel and the Minister of Justice—high-ranking officials of the first rank, both elderly men. Nie Jin naturally knew who they were.
Nie Jin lay on the floor, feeling the heat in his body gradually subside. He maintained his initial kneeling posture, not allowing a single wrinkle in his robes to shift.
In less than fifteen minutes, the sound of hurried footsteps came from outside.
Zheng Huai, the Minister of Personnel who was over sixty, ran in while holding up the hem of his robes, nearly tripping over the threshold. Zhao You, the Minister of Justice, arrived with his official cap askew. Both fell to their knees at the base of the steps.
“Subordinates pay their respects to the Lord Chancellor!”
Their foreheads hit the floor. The “wings” on their official caps shook like sieves. From beginning to end, they didn’t dare glance in Nie Jin’s direction.
Gu Huaiyu gave a lazy grunt of acknowledgement. Only then did they scramble into the room as if they had been granted a divine pardon. Yet they still didn’t dare stand, shuffling forward on their knees to the desk.
Watching two first-rank officials crawl like dogs made a wave of nausea rise in Nie Jin’s stomach. Although he had long known that officials bowed and scraped before Gu Huaiyu, seeing the heads of the Six Ministries act this way with his own eyes made his throat tighten.
“Master Nie.” Gu Huaiyu tapped the desk. “Tell them again. What crime did you commit?”
Nie Jin gritted his teeth. “This subordinate unauthorizedly changed the disaster relief protocols, resulting in the deaths of refugees from the cold. It is a crime of dereliction of duty. According to the law, I should be dismissed.”
Gu Huaiyu gave a light smile and turned to the kneeling ministers. “Master Nie wants me to fire him, but I cherish talent. Tell me—what should I do?”
Zheng Huai and Zhao You didn’t hesitate for a second. They practically competed to shout, “The Lord Chancellor is wise! This matter surely has its reasons! Disaster relief is complex and multifaceted; Master Nie’s actions are excusable!”
