Chapter 1181: The Ministry of Justice's Dog Catching Mice

"Not taking them! Go back to wherever you came from. Not a single one of these Imperial Prison guards will be accepted!"

Chen Chen Guanlou decided to refuse them.

No advance notice, no gifts, nothing at all—just dumping these Imperial Prison guards on him. As if he'd be some bullied little wife, silently swallowing his grievances and cleaning up his superior's mess.

In your dreams!

He's no fool!

In workplace matters, fight for every inch!

It concerns benefits, workload, income—how could he swallow this in silence.

He must say no, loud and clear!

"Prison Vice-Administrator Chen, this won't do! By regulation, any prisoner delivered by the Six Doors must be accepted by the Heaven Prison. How can you refuse? There's never been any such thing as refusing."

"Starting today, starting with me, the Heaven Prison has a rule about refusing. If you're not happy with that, go find the Ministry of Justice and let them sort it out. In short—the Heaven Prison refuses!"

"How can this be?"

"How can it not be." Chen Chen Guanlou scoffed. "You Six Doors people didn't do your job properly—what gives you the right to make my Heaven Prison wipe your behind for you? You really do treat the Heaven Prison like a cesspit, tossing in anything stinky or fragrant. This official won't serve you anymore—take these people away at once. The Heaven Prison's territory is limited; it can't house these honored lords."

His attitude was firm. Seeing their boss so angry, the Heaven Prison guards figured if they didn't do something, they'd look useless.

So the Heaven Prison guards promptly grabbed their water-and-fire staves. "Get lost, get lost, get lost—the Heaven Prison doesn't welcome you lot."

"Roll as far away as you can!"

"Didn't you hear what our lord said? We don't accept these prisoners. Crawl back to wherever you came from."

"Don't think we're afraid of you! I'll tell you—we're not afraid of you!"

"This is Heaven Prison territory. Get out, now."

The Six Doors were not about to be outdone.

What began as a war of words between the two sides gradually escalated to shoving, spitting, and hurling stinky shoes and stinky socks. When it came to stench, the Heaven Prison guards had the edge. For a time, the Heaven Prison courtyard was a scene of overwhelming foulness, with stinky socks and shoes flying everywhere.

What a fragrant sight!

Chen Chen Guanlou was gagged by the stench.

He knew the Heaven Prison guards were filthy and smelly, but he hadn't expected that despite all his repeated orders about hygiene, after so many years they were still this foul.

He retreated into his office and sealed off his five senses before feeling a little better.

"Tell Xu Xu Fugui to bring men and drive them out."

"Why Xu Xu Fugui?" Mu Qingshan was stunned, quite taken aback.

"Xu Xu Fugui is an old hand. We can't really fall out with the Six Doors, so having him step in to smooth things over lets both sides save a bit of face. Chen Quan is capable, but he's only been dealing with the Six Doors for a few years—his network isn't as wide as Xu Xu Fugui's, and he doesn't carry the same weight."

Mu Qingshan understood, accepted the order, and went to handle it.

Chen Chen Guanlou pounded his desk. Sun Sun Daoning, you useless wretch. I've told you countless times—be tougher in how you handle people and matters, don't let others bully you right on your head—but you just won't listen.

It was clearly the Brocaded Guard's mess, yet with just a little trick, the disaster was redirected onto the Ministry of Justice.

The fate of over a hundred prison guards was more than the Ministry of Justice could bear.

Xiao Xiao Jincheng had to handle it himself.

Even if they had to be killed, the one surnamed Xiao had to do the killing personally.

As long as the one surnamed Xiao isn't dead!

If the Ministry of Justice really took on this job, from then on it would become the mortal enemy of every prison in Jingcheng—work would become impossible to carry out.

Since ancient times, there has been an unwritten rule: handle your own family's affairs yourselves. Whatever happens to people from your own house, dead or alive, your own people deal with it. Don't try to push it off on outsiders. This kind of thankless task—why push it onto a brother department?

Back then, those dozens of guards in the Number Two Prison were personally dealt with by him, Chen Chen Guanlou, without troubling a single other government office.

There's no reason the Brocaded Guard should be an exception.

His position was that there was absolutely no room for compromise on this matter.

The Heaven Prison and the Six Doors had a brawl, and the Heaven Prison refused to accept the Imperial Prison guards. The Six Doors ran straight to the Ministry of Justice to file a complaint.

Sun Sun Daoning heard the news and immediately felt a headache coming on.

Sure as fate, that little thief surnamed Chen was about to appear, and he was certain to be driven to death by the man.

His first instinct was to slip out and hide, but just as he reached the door, the little thief surnamed Chen came barging in.

"My lord, you're far too polite. We're this close already—no need to come to the door in person to greet me. I'm not the petty sort who picks at people's manners."

Chen Chen Guanlou wore a broad, smiling face.

Sun Sun Daoning felt an instant pain in his chest, his expression stiff and twisted, and he blurted out something stupid: "How did you get here?"

"Something this big happened—Old Sun, you tell me, could I not come?"

Chen Chen Guanlou all but shoved Sun Sun Daoning into the office. Bang! The door slammed shut, blocking out prying eyes.

"Old Sun, Old Sun—what am I going to say about you. Haven't I warned you to be tough, to show the Ministry of Justice's martial dignity? You're one of the Six Ministries, after all. You can't really treat yourself like some washbasin wench. Look at how you've handled this! Good things never come the Ministry of Justice's way, but the nasty jobs come one after another. You haven't even finished dealing with the Emperor's brother-in-law, and now you've taken on over a hundred Imperial Prison guards. Are you so tired of peace at the Heaven Prison that you won't be happy until you cause a bloodbath?"

"It's not as serious as you make it sound!"

"It's only more serious than what I'm saying. The Heaven Prison and the Imperial Prison are separated by a single wall. What sort of people those Imperial Prison guards are—could I possibly not know? I know all too well. Right now they don't know they're about to be beheaded, so they're still cooperating. Once they find out they're going to lose their heads—hah—you'll see just how brazen these Imperial Prison guards can be. They really could poke a hole right through the sky! And you dare take on this hot potato of a structure—Old Sun, should I call you foolhardy, or just plain dim-witted?"

Is there any difference?

Sun Sun Daoning's face was stony. What's the difference between foolhardy and dim-witted? Aren't they both just insults aimed at him!

He slammed the table and roared, "Watch your words. I am, after all, the Minister of Justice."

"So you do know you're the Minister!" Chen Chen Guanlou clicked his tongue twice, utterly contemptuous. "Look at the things you've done. Anyone in the Ministry of Justice with even a slightly weaker fate would go hungry three days out of nine just by following you!"

Chen Chen Guanlou held nothing back, unleashing his full firepower, transforming into a human cannon, leaving not a shred of face. He was truly furious!

He would rather deal with individual troublemakers than a whole group of them.

"Nonsense!" Sun Sun Daoning absolutely refused to accept the accusation—it was clearly slander, rumor-mongering, defamation!

Once things had been said to this point, Chen Chen Guanlou certainly wasn't going to be polite with him.

He retorted without the slightest courtesy: "Whether I'm talking nonsense, you know perfectly well in your heart. The Brocaded Guard's business—what does it have to do with the Ministry of Justice? Is it any of your concern as Minister of Justice? If you have that much spare energy, why not spare a thought for the Heaven Prison guards who can't get enough to eat?

"Provisions and fodder have been in arrears for so long, and yet I never saw you go to the Ministry of Revenue to demand money or grain. If it weren't for the fact that the Heaven Prison has ways of collecting money, every single person in the Heaven Prison, top to bottom, would have starved to death long ago!"

"The more you talk, the more exaggerated it gets! Under your management these past few years, the Heaven Prison guards have grown fat as butterballs one by one — when have I ever heard of anyone going hungry?"

"That's because I manage things well and have a knack for making money. If we relied on you, it wouldn't be three days starving and nine meals a day — we'd have starved to death long ago."

Sun Sun Daoning flew into a rage. "Stop sullying this official's reputation!"

"What reputation do you even have left to speak of!"