Duke Wu's mansion
Some minutes earlier, at Lu Yingjie's study.
Lu Yingjie read through the reports sent down two days ago by the clerk at the ministry of justice. He had a lot of pending work in his hands, which had piled up during his short stint in the ice prisons. One would think that considering what his entire family, himself included had been put through these past few days. The Emperor would give him a few more days break, even if it was only just three days but that wasn't the case.
Prime Minister Shi's demotion affected every single department not just his main office. It had created a massive backlog caused by the frequent arrest of officials. Emperor Zhong wished to root out the remnants of former prime minister Shi's men. Everyone was invited to work overtime to make up for the absence of a prime minister.