Chapter 963: A case that costs heads

Chen Guanlou pondered all the way back to the office.

Sun Daoning's anger had dissipated by more than half, and he was drinking tea.

A name that could make the old man change color and be scared to death was actually easy to narrow down; except for that family in the imperial household, there was no one else to think of. As for which one specifically, there was no need to know.

In other words, someone from that family was involved in this imperial examination fraud case.

Wow, this case was truly extraordinary!

Thinking deeper, it probably involved the struggle for the succession, the matter of establishing the Crown Prince that had been making such a fuss recently.

The waters of the imperial family were indeed very deep.

If one really wanted to extend the case in this direction, the number of people implicated wouldn't be just tens or hundreds. The number of people who died wouldn't be just tens or hundreds, but thousands or tens of thousands.

That was no exaggeration!

A few years ago, during the deposition of the Crown Prince, thousands of people died back and forth.

In the Prince of Yan case, the Prince of Jin case, tens of thousands died...

Human life was worthless!

Especially when it involved the imperial struggle for succession, the number of people who died would only be more, not less.

He finally understood why Sun Daoning wished he could kill Zhang Yulang; he was simply a disaster. Forcing everyone's head down, closer to the executioner's blade by a few centimeters—could he not hate him?

If it were him, perhaps in a fit of rage, he would have slaughtered Zhang Yulang.

Sun Daoning could control his inner desire to kill; he was worthy of being the Minister of Justice, his self-control was terrifyingly strong.

"My lord, the person has been escorted back to the cell and locked up. I have also arranged for reliable people to guard the cell door, watching him twelve hours a day."

"Can you ensure nothing goes wrong?" Sun Daoning asked.

"My lord, you joke. Where in the world is there anything that can ensure nothing goes wrong? I only seek to do my best!" Chen Guanlou said.

Hearing this, Sun Daoning sighed and waved his hand, signaling to close the door. He had a few heartfelt words to entrust.

"You don't need to inquire about the specific details, and I won't say. If the Zhang fellow is smart enough and wants to save his life, he shouldn't babble and tell you the inside story. As for you, don't think of ways to inquire; saving your life is paramount. Zhang Yulang is now a hot potato; I won't hide it from you, I really want to get rid of him, but I can't do that. I still have to find a way to keep him alive."

After finishing, he sighed repeatedly again.

One is not the master of one's own fate!

Killing Zhang Yulang is simple; the difficulty is how to clean up the aftermath.

Now is not the time to create complications.

It is better to do nothing, to have no progress, than to move around randomly.

Killing Zhang Yulang is a bad move, equivalent to moving around randomly, easily causing a series of uncontrollable reactions. A massive amount of trouble!

"Is the lord worried that someone will come to kill him?"

"I wasn't worried before, but after today, I'm afraid... in short, you must put more effort into it."

"When the lord was talking with Zhang Yulang, was anyone eavesdropping?"

Sun Daoning shook his head slowly. "You don't understand! Whether anyone was eavesdropping is unimportant. What matters is the human heart, how others will suspect and ponder. Once the human heart has doubts, killing becomes imperative. Killing, in many cases, doesn't require solid evidence at all, understand?"

Chen Guanlou nodded; he naturally understood.

Where does killing require a reason?

Sometimes, stepping into a room with your left foot first is enough to be killed. Who are you going to reason with?

"I can only guarantee that with me here, Zhang Yulang's life will be worry-free. However, when I am not in the Heavenly Prison, I cannot guarantee that accidents won't happen."

Sun Daoning was dissatisfied. "Can't you just not leave the Heavenly Prison, guarding it twelve hours a day?"

Chen Guanlou felt aggrieved. "My lord, I didn't sell my life to the Heavenly Prison; I have my own life, I also need to eat, drink, shit, and sleep. You asking me to guard the Heavenly Prison twelve hours a day is going too far!"

"Where is it going too far? Now is an extraordinary period; I order you to keep Zhang Yulang alive, and you're still setting conditions."

Chen Guanlou snorted twice, too lazy to argue, and directly offered an idea. "My lord, actually, to keep Zhang Yulang alive, there is a very simple way. Release him and let the Zhang family take him back for confinement.

The Heavenly Prison is a sieve, and killing is very easy. Besides, even tigers have times when they doze off. You can just treat me as a tiger that will doze off.

But the Zhang family is not a sieve; the Zhang family will do everything to keep his life. They might even kill back! Keeping him in the Heavenly Prison is the worst strategy."

Sun Daoning couldn't help but ponder.

"In the fraud case, arresting Zhang Yulang was because he was implicated. If I want to release him, what reason should I use?"

Chen Guanlou waved his hand; he wouldn't participate in this. "I don't understand this! The lord has been a specialist in criminal law for decades; you are the expert in this area, you definitely have a way to release him openly and aboveboard."

Sun Daoning pondered for a while; he indeed had many ways. Opening the Great Gan Code, he could easily find several laws to release Zhang Yulang legitimately.

But he was unwilling to do so.

In an extraordinary period, if he dared to flip through the Great Gan Code to release someone, he would leave behind a handle, becoming a target for political enemies to attack.

Emperor Jian Shi was almost going crazy with anger now; once impeached, he would likely become the Emperor's punching bag.

Emperor Jian Shi's temper was becoming increasingly unpredictable, and only the ghosts knew what crazy actions he would take. After all, the warning of the Duke Prefecture's grandmother was not far off, and Marquis Pingjiang being assassinated and unable to get out of bed had happened right before their eyes.

Privately, the court officials were convinced that the assassination of Marquis Pingjiang was done by people sent by Emperor Jian Shi.

Even if Emperor Jian Shi talked until his lips were dry, no one would believe he was innocent.

Why would the Emperor send people to assassinate?

Only the ghosts knew!

A crazy emperor doing crazy things—that's very reasonable, isn't it?

"Come here!"

Sun Daoning beckoned, letting Chen Guanlou get closer.

Chen Guanlou approached three steps and stopped. "My lord, please instruct me if you have any matters."

"Hmm... the prisoner is seriously ill and dying, and he comes from a great family. If the family is willing to pay a sum of money, they can go home to wait for death. Understand?"

Chen Guanlou raised his eyebrows slightly. "Why doesn't the lord just say it directly, have someone poison Zhang Yulang..."

"Nonsense, utter nonsense." Sun Daoning interrupted him urgently. "Did I say anything about poisoning? Stop talking nonsense! The Heavenly Prison environment is poor, the weather is getting hot, and mosquitoes and insects are breeding. It's perfectly normal for a pampered young master to get sick."

"The lord is right!" Chen Guanlou smiled. "Seriously ill, dying, family redeems him, perfect!"

Sun Daoning smiled with satisfaction, then reminded him, "Must find a way to remind the Zhang family to be vigilant; someone wants to kill Zhang Yulang, let them be prepared."

"No need for the lord to worry. Zhang Yulang values his life the most; just explain the severity of the situation to him, and he will naturally know what to do."

Now Sun Daoning was even more satisfied.

Throwing this hot potato out, even if the case breaks later, it will have nothing to do with the Heavenly Prison or the Ministry of Justice. The Ministry of Justice will escape safely, Amitabha!

He was even unusually generous, waving his hand: "I will approve five hundred taels of silver for you; you must handle the matter perfectly, don't leave any loopholes for people to investigate. You should know the stakes involved; this concerns heads, so don't be careless." ===== CHAPTER 964 =====