Five Years After My Death, the Mad Emperor Still Summons My Spirit

When Ming Lingyi talked with her brother about her time in Shangjing City, she had, of course, mentioned Jiang Yuchuan.

Ming Chengyu glanced at the man’s official robe. "So that’s the youngest Junior Minister of the Ministry of Justice you were talking about?"

Ming Lingyi nodded.

"He looks, hmm, a bit more refined than a certain someone."

That "certain someone" was, of course, Li Yun.

Ming Lingyi was exasperated. She had no idea why her brother had it in for Li Yun, but it was clear he wouldn’t be backing down anytime soon.

"If you decide to leave the Capital City, are you going to tell this Lord Jiang?" Ming Chengyu asked.

Ming Lingyi shook her head. "My connection with Lord Jiang was probably just a brief, fateful encounter when I first arrived in the capital. Beyond that, it’s best we don’t disturb each other’s lives."

She later realized, of course, that Jiang Yuchuan had developed feelings for her back at Qinglong Temple. ’But what rule says a woman has to reciprocate the feelings of every man who’s attracted to her?’

She had already tactfully hinted at the secrets she couldn’t speak of. The final choice was still in his hands.

Ming Lingyi had never interfered with his choice.

As for her personal life, she didn’t need to explain herself to anyone.

She had already died once. The strictures of reputation and feminine virtue could no longer bind her, become a source of internal turmoil, and turn her into her own enemy.

Still, Jiang Yuchuan’s sudden appearance took Ming Lingyi by surprise.

’Given Jiang Yuchuan’s personality,’ she thought, ’he probably wouldn’t want to see me again after what happened that day.’

"Well, aren’t you going to go see him?" Ming Chengyu knew his sister might have felt a fleeting attraction to the Junior Minister.

’But so what?’

A person experiences many fleeting attractions in their lifetime.

You can be drawn to a person, moved by a magnificent landscape, or even captivated by a piece of pastry. Whether it’s for a person or an object, that fleeting feeling is essentially the same.

It’s because those people, objects, or sights all have some quality that one yearns for, or even wishes to possess.

But sustaining that attraction is the crucial part.

Liking someone for a short time is nothing more than a ripple of emotion.

Wanting to build a future with someone, however, means choosing to hold on to that feeling, letting it become an inseparable bond.

So, in Ming Chengyu’s eyes, even if Jiang Yuchuan was the youngest Junior Minister of the Ministry of Justice in the entire Dayan Dynasty, it didn’t mean much. A man who couldn’t hold his own sister’s affection was nothing special.

Ming Lingyi thought for a moment. "Forget it. If he’s here to see me, he’ll come inside. If he isn’t, wouldn’t I just be bothering him by going out there now?"

Just as Ming Lingyi finished speaking and was about to look away, her gaze abruptly met Jiang Yuchuan’s.

Ming Lingyi: "..."

’I really didn’t do that on purpose!’

After a moment’s hesitation, Jiang Yuchuan walked over to Ming Lingyi.

Seeing this, Ming Chengyu said, "Looks like he’s here for you. It wouldn’t be right for me to stay."

With that, Ming Chengyu quickly left the main dining hall.

He was tired today and planned to rest early. Tomorrow, he still had to go check on their shops in the Capital City.

When Jiang Yuchuan saw Ming Lingyi, he had also seen Ming Chengyu standing beside her.

Even though Jiang Yuchuan had deliberately avoided learning about what was happening at Ming’s Restaurant, the place was no longer the obscure little eatery it once was in Huaided Fang. Many locals in Huaided Fang now grumbled in private that there were far too many outside patrons, forcing them to queue up just to get a meal on a regular day. Worse, if you went too late, there was often no hot food left at all.

Back at the Ministry of Justice, everyone knew that their Lord Shaoqing was quite fond of the food from Ming’s Restaurant. Now, an estimated half of the officials from the Ministry of Justice loved to go to Ming’s Restaurant for their meals.

Whether they simply loved the taste of the food or harbored other intentions—like hoping to run into the Emperor by visiting more often—they would always discuss a thing or two about Ming’s Restaurant upon returning to the Ministry of Justice.

Jiang Yuchuan knew that recently, an entire outer wall of Ming’s Restaurant had been covered in poetry. The calligraphy was so exquisite it attracted numerous scholars who came just to admire it.

He had also heard that a remarkably handsome young gentleman had started showing up at Ming’s Restaurant. Some people had seen the man writing calligraphy outside the restaurant and said he was the new reviewing teacher they had hired.

There were also rumors that this man was the only son of the retired Grand Tutor Ming.

These discussions constantly reached Jiang Yuchuan’s ears. Noticing he hadn’t been to Ming’s Restaurant for some time, his colleagues would ask why he was always at the government office and never went to sit down for a meal there anymore.

In everyone’s eyes, the fact that he had served as a reviewing teacher for Ming’s Restaurant clearly meant he was on good terms with Ming Lingyi. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Jiang Yuchuan deftly deflected all these curious questions.

"I’ve been too busy. I’ll go again when I have time."

Those who heard his reply didn’t think he was just fobbing them off; instead, they shot him pitying glances.

A woman had come looking for Jiang Yuchuan in the past couple of days.

She had come right to the entrance of the Ministry of Justice, and quite a few of his colleagues had seen her.

Jiang Yuchuan didn’t offer much of an explanation, but gossip started to spread nonetheless.

The gossip said the woman was his fiancée from an engagement his family had arranged for him back in his hometown when he was a child.

The woman’s family wasn’t particularly wealthy or noble; at best, they were a well-off local household. With almost no one in her family holding an official rank, she was considered a complete mismatch for Jiang Yuchuan.

Jiang Yuchuan didn’t tell anyone that their engagement had already been broken off before he even came to Shangjing.

After all, in this world, a woman’s reputation is far more important than a man’s.

If people found out that she had insisted on coming to Shangjing to find him even after their engagement was broken, what would become of her future marriage prospects?

"That was Mr. Ming just now, wasn’t it?" Jiang Yuchuan asked as he sat down in the restaurant. There were still a surprising number of people dining at this hour, a testament to just how bustling Ming’s Restaurant became during mealtimes.

’Wangxian Building, on the other hand, had lost completely.’

Jiang Yuchuan thought that his eldest maternal uncle had likely never expected that between Wangxian Building, backed by the Xie family, and Ming’s Restaurant, backed by no one, it would be Ming’s Restaurant that would ultimately prevail.

Ming Lingyi replied, "Oh, so Lord Jiang has already heard of him?"

"I’ve heard a little," Jiang Yuchuan replied, his eyes on her. Ming Lingyi looked well; her face was rosy in the warm yellow light of the oil lamp. Her gaze was candid, and she treated him like an old friend she had known for ages, without the slightest bit of awkwardness or restraint.

This, in turn, made Jiang Yuchuan feel a little uncomfortable.

’Compared to her,’ he thought, ’I’m not being nearly as composed.’

"Lord Jiang, has something happened? You look like you have something on your mind." Ming Lingyi hadn’t meant to pry, but Jiang Yuchuan’s demeanor was a stark departure from his usual self. Since she had already said they would be friends, how could she not ask with concern?