Chapter 433: Shameless yet wanting face

A stench has begun to drift over the Heavenly Prison.

Even in winter, one cannot block what is bound to happen, such as the decomposition of corpses.

Various methods are merely delaying the inevitable.

To resolve this fundamentally, the only way is to hurry up and haul the corpses out to be buried.

Chen Guanlou simply cast aside his pride and went to find Sun Daojing.

Sun Daojing spread his hands, indicating he was powerless to help.

"The Ministry of Justice has already notified the Princess's Mansion. There has been no news for a long time, and I am helpless. I have no friendship or dealings with the Princess's Mansion; even if I had the heart to help, I have no way to intervene."

"Can you, my lord, issue a permit to first haul the corpses out and store them in the righteous cemetery? There are so many people in the Heavenly Prison; I fear an epidemic might break out. This matter must be guarded against."

Chen Guanlou considered his request quite reasonable.

Yet Sun Daojing said, "This is not according to the rules."

"How is this not according to the rules? The cause of death and identities have already been confirmed. According to the rules, they should either be buried or hauled away. Just because of the Princess's Mansion, the Ministry of Justice won't sign off, and the corpses have been kept in the Heavenly Prison. It is clearly the Ministry of Justice's incompetence that is implicating us in the Heavenly Prison."

Sun Daojing let out a cold snort, his expression dropping. "Prison Clerk Chen, I will assume you are young, impetuous, and ignorant of the rules, so I will not hold your disrespect toward a superior against you. It is only because you met me that I am so magnanimous. If it were any other official, you would have been thrown out long ago."

Chen Guanlou rolled his eyes immediately.

These officials, truly, not one of them is a good thing. They flip their faces as quickly as flipping a book.

He gritted his teeth. "The Great Ming Prince is very peaceful now. I am sharing your burdens, my lord. As a dignified Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, can you not handle such a small matter?"

Sun Daojing picked up the case file in his hand. "Within the Ministry of Justice, no one is willing to offend the Princess's Mansion, and neither am I. Princess Qingyang's reputation precedes her; she is, um, a person of rather straightforward temperament."

It was clearly meant to say Princess Qingyang is a madwoman whom no one dares to provoke. Otherwise, why would the entire Ministry of Justice be so timid, not even daring to sign off on a single corpse?

In any case, the corpses aren't stored at the Ministry of Justice, so it's not worth provoking that madwoman over such a trivial matter.

"Fine, we won't go to the Princess's Mansion. Can you, my lord, coordinate with that Guest Official Su? Presumably, if Guest Official Su nods, Her Highness the Princess will also nod."

Sun Daojing shook his head, his expression somewhat troubled as he said, "This matter is not easy to handle. I am not a fellow examinee, fellow townsman, or former classmate of that Su fellow, nor have we served together; we have no friendship or dealings. He is now a Guest Official of the Princess's Mansion, and the court is currently unstable. Princess Qingyang has a clear and public stance, so it is inappropriate for me to associate with a Guest Official of the Princess's Mansion to avoid unnecessary suspicion. However, I do know someone who might be able to speak with that Su fellow. You know this person too."

"Who?"

"Xie Changling."

"Him?"

Chen Guanlou was somewhat surprised.

"That Su fellow and Xie Changling were once colleagues; they both served in the Hanlin Academy and were once both Readers-in-Waiting to the Son of Heaven. I heard that when they were colleagues, they got along quite well. I have said all I can; the rest depends on your own efforts."

"Your behavior, my lord, makes one feel very troubled. It is clearly the Ministry of Justice's business, yet you push it onto us in the Heavenly Prison. As a dignified Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, not only do you not correct it, but you even fan the flames and encourage this kind of atmosphere." Chen Guanlou couldn't control his mouth and lectured the other party a few times.

He was truly unhappy!

"Presumptuous!"

Sun Daojing is a man who wants face.

Precisely because he wants face, he was exceptionally angry.

"Chen Guanlou, did I give you face? To make you so presumptuous! My politeness toward you has become the basis for your mockery of me. Do you really think I won't deal with you?"

"Then deal with me quickly, my lord. I happen to want to resign from this damn job. If an epidemic breaks out in the Heavenly Prison, it has nothing to do with me; you can find someone else to handle it." Chen Guanlou took the opportunity to shirk his duties.

Everyone else is afraid of that madwoman Princess Qingyang; is he not afraid?

He doesn't want to deal with a madwoman either.

Sun Daojing was extremely annoyed; if not for his many years of self-cultivation, he would have truly lost his composure on the spot.

"You... you are so presumptuous before me; is it not appropriate for me to reprimand you a few times? I am a dignified third-rank court official, a high-ranking minister; I reprimand you, and you should just listen. Yet you lose your temper and even want to shirk your duties. What kind of decorum is this?"

This show of weakness was a bit awkward and unnatural.

Chen Guanlou looked slightly surprised.

He never expected that Vice Minister Sun could also bend and stretch, actually showing weakness to a mere prison clerk like him. Rare indeed!

Forget it, forget it!

When one can forgive, one should forgive.

"First, sign a permit for me."

"I cannot sign it. I am in charge of criminal cases; for logistical matters like this, you must find Lord Wu. He is the Right Vice Minister, and these things all fall under his management. I cannot intervene in his affairs; this is the rule."

Chen Guanlou:...

He not only has no friendship with Lord Wu, but he hasn't even met him or spoken to him. What kind of figure is he to have the ability to get Lord Wu to sign a permit?

"I don't know Lord Wu. I beg you, Lord Sun, to help me; can you ask Lord Wu to sign a permit?"

"It really won't work. Lord Wu's temper... in any case, he certainly won't risk offending the Princess's Mansion to sign a permit for you. Even if I were to step in, it would be useless. Everyone in the Ministry of Justice knows this point clearly; if you don't believe me, find an acquaintance and ask around, and you will know the truth."

"The implication is that this path through the Ministry of Justice is a dead end."

"It really is a dead end. You had better find a way yourself. As long as the Princess's Mansion nods, the Ministry of Justice will sign off immediately. Since the smell has already emerged, you should hurry even more. I heard from the people at the Imperial Observatory that the temperature might rise in a few days."

A temperature rise!

That's fatal!

"You people at the Ministry of Justice are truly not afraid of an epidemic in the Heavenly Prison!"

"An epidemic in the middle of winter, I imagine it can be controlled. So everyone is not afraid."

The implication is that if an epidemic really breaks out, they will simply lock the gates of the Heavenly Prison, forbid anyone from entering or leaving, and let everyone inside the Heavenly Prison fend for themselves.

Vicious enough.

Chen Guanlou returned empty-handed, went straight down to the prison, found Xie Changling, and explained his intent.

"You mean Su Zishi?"

Guest Official Su's full name is Su Zishi.

"It is this person. Jiang Fangxiu had a grudge against him, and now that the Jiang fellow is dead, the Princess's Mansion has been slow to speak, the Ministry of Justice dares not sign off, and the corpse can only stay in the Heavenly Prison morgue. You have smelled the stench, haven't you? If this continues, an epidemic will break out sooner or later. By then, the Heavenly Prison will be locked from the outside, and everyone will die."

Xie Changling laughed upon hearing this. "That is truly the consistent style of the Ministry of Justice; if they can't solve a problem, they just let everyone die. I was indeed a colleague of Su Zishi in the past. I admire his scholarship. To be able to learn with such a family background and in such an environment, his intelligence is extraordinary. It is a pity his luck was poor; he suffered a great disaster in his youth and another one after reaching adulthood."

"Then can you contact Su Zishi? Can you let him make an exception? No matter what the grievances are, Jiang Fangxiu is already dead."

"Contacting him is no problem, but whether he is willing to give me face is hard to say. Back then, when he suffered the great disaster, I did not reach out to help. If he holds a grudge, that would be helping in the wrong way." ===== CHAPTER 434 =====