NOVPUBLi Anning shook her head and said, "These are all the imprisonment case files accumulated over the past few days. Apart from these, there are only cases involving exile and death penalties, but those types of files are even fewer. Once each one is delivered, the Assistant Minister and Chief of Staff stamp them and then they are immediately sent to the Ministry of Justice for your father’s final review..."
If one could extend their lifespan by simply stamping the cases involving imprisonment,
then exile and death penalty cases could also do so, theoretically even adding more.
When she saw a figure hurrying past the outside of the government office and entering another room, Li Anning left the room. Moments later, she returned, holding a file and the official seal and handed them to Li Nuo, saying, "This is a death penalty case file urgently sent from Capital Prefecture, Liyang County. The Assistant Minister and Chief of Staff have reviewed it, and you just have to stamp it."
In fact, using the official seal on a death penalty case could also have an effect for her, who was in the Fourth Realm.
But it had an even greater effect on Li Nuo.
She didn’t lack that slight bit of cultivation. Right now, the most important thing was to keep him from losing faith in Legalism.
Li Nuo really liked working at the Ministry of Justice. The workload was small, it was relaxing, and it added more to his lifespan.
While at Chang’an County Government, he had to judge and mediate for an entire day just to add one day to his lifespan, but at the Ministry of Justice, it was added in less than fifteen minutes.
He carefully stamped the Ministry of Justice Assistant Minister and Chief of Staff’s seals and then eagerly looked at the Law Code.
"Lifespan: one hundred thirty-four."
Li Nuo froze.
No—how could it decrease?
Li Nuo stared at the numbers on the Law Code, somewhat dumbfounded.
Having stamped two seals, not only had his lifespan not increased, it had decreased by ten days.
His first thought was to look at this case file.
There was definitely something wrong.
The numbers on the Law Code couldn’t possibly decrease mysteriously—he hadn’t exchanged anything.
This situation could only mean one possibility.
He had judged the case incorrectly.
The criminal in the case file definitely should not have been sentenced to death.
Judging one death penalty correctly should add ten days to his lifespan, and erroneously deducting ten days was also reasonable.
Apart from breakthroughs, changes in cultivation under Legalism have a delay.
If someone was wrongfully killed, a Legalism official who misjudged the case wouldn’t be aware of it in a short time.
Yet Li Nuo could receive timely feedback from the Law Code.
To be honest, he felt somewhat wronged.
It wasn’t him who judged the case; he simply stamped it and his lifespan was directly deducted—the Law Code was still as unreasonable as ever.
However, it wasn’t entirely unjustified.
If the Ministry of Justice didn’t stamp it, this death penalty review wouldn’t be passed either.
Li Anning noticed his distress and asked, "What’s wrong?"
Li Nuo could only look at her and say, "I think there’s something wrong with this case…"
Li Anning picked up the case file to look it over. It was just a very normal murder case. The killer had already confessed, and there was his testimony and fingerprints on the file, with a complete chain of evidence.
Cases with no doubt whatsoever were usually directly passed by the Ministry of Justice and then forwarded to the Ministry of Justice.
With so many prefectures in Daxia, reporting hundreds to thousands of homicide cases annually, the Ministry of Justice certainly couldn’t investigate and review every single case on-site.
After turning the case file over several times, she still couldn’t see what the problem was and finally couldn’t help but ask, "What exactly is the problem?"
Li Nuo couldn’t specifically pinpoint any issue, but losing ten days of his lifespan was enough to highlight a problem.
He very straightforwardly said, "Intuition…, I suggest the Ministry of Justice thoroughly investigate this case. I still feel there’s a problem, and it shouldn’t be closed so hastily."
Li Anning’s lips twitched, but ultimately, she couldn’t say anything.
If it were someone else saying this, she wouldn’t even bother with it.
But if it was Li Nuo speaking...
It goes unsaid, but his intuition was really accurate.
She thought about it and said, "Liyang isn’t far from Chang’an. I will have someone check it out... no, there’s still time today. I’ll go there myself."
Hearing that the Princess was willing to take action, Li Nuo felt reassured.
Li Nuo pointed to the case file and asked, "What about this case file?"
The file had already been stamped by the Ministry of Justice, halfway to legal effectiveness. He didn’t know whether tearing it up or burning it would restore the days deducted from his lifespan.
Li Anning said, "Just leave it here for now. If there really is a problem with this case, after rebuilding the case file, this one will naturally be invalidated. I’m going to leave for Liyang immediately. Do you want to come with me?"
Li Nuo repeatedly waved his hands, saying, "No, no…"
Although Liyang is adjacent to Chang’an, to him, even inside Chang’an City wasn’t absolutely safe, let alone leaving the city.
After Li Anning hurriedly left, Li Nuo also departed from the Ministry of Justice, filled with gloom.
He came to find cases to extend his lifespan.
After all the fuss, he had only gained two days, only to have ten days deducted.
Life is truly difficult...
When he walked out of the Ministry of Justice, planning to return to the Song Residence, Li Nuo took a long look at the fortune-telling stall across the street.
The elderly fortune-teller, for some unknown reason, suddenly lost his temper, flipped over his fortune-telling table, and sent passersby scattering.
After returning to the Song Residence, Li Nuo had no interest in going out and instead diligently read books at home.
The Horse Riding would be left to Zhou Yu to work hard on. Li Nuo had not yet found a suitable candidate for the Shooting, and he had even thought about how he could send his father there for a couple of days...
He wondered whether his father had neglected the Six Arts over these twenty years.
Of course, it was just an occasional fantasy.
Even if he was formidable back then, that was twenty years ago. Now, participating in the Imperial Examination, he might struggle to make it onto the list.
Moreover, no one could send the Minister of Justice there.
After reading books all day, only when the evening completely darkened did Li Nuo close the book, planning to practice the Health Care Skill a few more times before going to bed to rest.
