Chapter 459: Reinvestigating the Wrongful Case

Just then a jailer came carrying a food bucket to distribute the morning meal; hearing the question, he answered offhandedly, "A little Daoist Priest."

Then he lowered his voice and said, "Wang Zhangyin has also been thrown into the Imperial Prison."

"Wang Zhen?"

The young jailer said no more, but the meaning was already clear. The one locked up burst out laughing, slapped his thigh, and said cheerfully, "Good, good! If I can die in the Imperial Prison alongside Wang Zhen, this life in the world will not have been lived in vain."

Pan Yun also gripped the railings with both hands, her little face squeezed between them, her eyes bright as she stared fixedly at Wang Zhen. "Wang Zhen, has the Emperor finally agreed to retry my father's case?"

Wang Zhen sat on the bed, his gaze darkly fixed on Pan Yun's face, and said coldly, "Don't celebrate too early. Even if it's retried, you won't get the outcome you want."

Pan Yun clicked her tongue and said, "You really are confident."

Wang Zhen sneered, "I'm not confident in myself—I'm confident in human nature."

"You think that because I've made a mistake, I'll die? You think that once I'm dead, the state of the court will improve? That politics will be clean? Naive, you are far too naive." Wang Zhen looked straight into her eyes and said sharply, "Let me tell you, the worm is not me—it is every civil and military official in this court, the countless gentry of Jiangnan, the powerful landlords hidden across the land!"

"Do you truly believe your father and Xue Xuan were convicted because of me? Go ask your father… oh, that fool of a father of yours probably doesn't know. Then let Xue Shao go ask his dear uncle—Xue Xuan should know perfectly well how he ended up where he is!"

Pan Yun still wore an expression as if watching a show, completely unmoved by his words. She clicked her tongue twice and said, "I really want to hold up a mirror for you, so you can see the hideous face you're making right now. If you're not afraid, what's the rush?"

Wang Zhen's hideous expression gradually smoothed over. He stared coldly at Pan Yun and said, "You can't kill me because His Majesty needs me! And why does His Majesty need me? Pan Yun, think deeper—even if you kill me, this realm will not improve one bit!"

Pan Yun beckoned with her hand, and the meditation cushion on the bed flew over. She stuffed it under her bottom, sat cross-legged, and struck a pose as if ready for a long talk with Wang Zhen. "Wang Zhen, it's not that we think too highly of you—it's that you think too highly of yourself. We never imagined that once you were removed, the world would suddenly get better. It's just that, when you fish one piece of rat dung out of a pot of rat dung, at least there's one piece less."

"You—!"

"But none of that matters anymore," Pan Yun cut him off, leaned in close to the railings, and asked curiously, "I just want to know—if you really die because of this case, do you regret your decision back then to enter the palace?"

Wang Zhen said, word by word, "I do not regret! I only regret that, in a moment's whim back then, I failed to execute Xue Xuan and Pan Hong."

Pan Yun clicked her tongue and said, "Lucky for you you didn't kill them—otherwise you wouldn't even have had these three peaceful years."

Wang Zhen seemed to think of something, the corner of his mouth curling up. "Pan Yun, dare you make a wager? This time I won't die, and you won't have it easy. The ones who truly come out on top will be those civil and military officials who oppose His Majesty."

Pan Yun: "I'll bet you're right. What's the stake? Our two lives? If you're right, I win and you die; if you're wrong, I lose and I die!"

Wang Zhen: …

He let out a furious snort through his nose, pointed at her, and said, "Get lost!"

Pan Yun merely snorted, grabbed the cushion and stood up. "It's you who didn't dare to take the bet."

Pan Yun tossed the cushion back onto the bed, then lay down on it, kicked up her legs, and rocked them back and forth as she thought. Counting on her fingers, today should be the day the results of the Palace Examination were posted.

Sigh—it must have been Xue Shao who made his move.

Originally the plan had been to sacrifice one of them and hold out until the Emperor made his decision; she hadn't expected both of them to end up inside.

But the one who came in was Wang Zhen, not Xue Shao—looks like he's got some tricks up his sleeve.

Pan Yun didn't know that she herself was responsible for the greater part of it. If not for that sound-recording talisman, the one keeping her company in the Imperial Prison today might not have been Wang Zhen. When the Palace Examination ended and the officials went to court, Xue Shao's examination paper was taken out on its own—and finally turned into a petition of grievance.

Zhu Qizhen asked, "Is there truly a wrongful grievance in Xue Xuan's case?"

Xue Shao knelt in the center of the great hall. It was not yet his turn to speak. The fathers of several Young Masters he had visited the day before stepped out one after another, and said righteously, "To know whether Xue Xuan and Pan Hong were wronged, we need only determine whether the cases of the Yue family's murder of her husband and the He family's murder of their husbands contain wrongful grievances."

"If those two cases contain no wrongful grievance, then we can investigate why Xue Xuan and Pan Hong reopened them; if those two cases do contain wrongful grievance, then the wrongful grievance of Xue Xuan and Pan Hong becomes evident."

Ma Shun was unconvinced. He stepped out and said, "Your Majesty, back then this case was jointly supervised by the Censorate, the Southern Garrison, and the Eastern Depot. The evidence was conclusive, and it was Your Majesty yourself who ordered Xue Xuan's execution. You already showed mercy by sparing his life out of regard for past affection, yet Xue Xuan not only failed to show gratitude—he even wildly claimed Your Majesty's handling had been improper…"

Xue Shao cut him off. "Lord Ma, my uncle never entertained such a thought. Your Majesty, I came to Jingcheng to appeal a grievance not for my uncle."

Zhu Qizhen: "Not for him, then for whom?"

"For the parties involved in the cases of the Yue family and the He family," Xue Shao said. "My uncle has no ties, no burdens; he lives freely and at ease. Even without an official post he would do very well, and he is not weighed down by his reputation.

But the families involved in those two cases are different—they are ordinary people. They suffered wrongful grievance, with nowhere to appeal and no power to lean on. When you think about it carefully, is that not painful, is that not a pity?"

Xue Shao raised his head to look at the Emperor and said respectfully, "Your Majesty, a human life is but a few short decades, and already filled with much suffering. How can we, knowing full well it is wrong, still impose such suffering upon common folk and turn a blind eye to their pain?"

The hall fell silent—but only for a moment. Soon the great hall grew noisy again, with officials discussing among themselves. Whatever each man thought in his heart, every one of them had his own interests at stake. Agreeing in their hearts did not mean they would side with Xue Shao.

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Wang Zhen had cultivated his position in court for many years; he had a large faction of supporters. Whether they wished it or not, these men were bound together—sharing in honor and sharing in ruin.

Do you really think this is just about overturning two ordinary cases of wives murdering their husbands?

If Wang Zhen truly fell, not one of them would escape unscathed.

So even for their own sake, they had to protect Wang Zhen.

But the civil officials who had long wanted to drag Wang Zhen down also saw their chance. Even though their numbers were few and their strength thin, they quickly twisted themselves into a single rope, arguing the importance of a retrial from every angle.

As the debate went on, one civil official suddenly shouted, "Your Majesty, it is precisely because there are treacherous villains like Wang Zhen in the court that demonic omens appear in the Imperial Prison! Your Majesty, if Wang Zhen is not removed, the demonic omens will not be removed, and the nation will know no peace!"

This was no small matter. Whatever Zhu Qizhen was thinking, the moment this official finished shouting, he immediately formed an investigation team to re-examine the cases of the Yue family's murder of her husband and the He family's murder of their husbands.

Xue Shao had the fortune to be allowed to take part; he was not excluded on account of being Xue Xuan's relative.

The moment the grand court assembly ended, Embroidered Uniform Guard guards immediately rushed into the Directorate of Astronomy to make an arrest. "Yin Song—is the talk of a demonic cat in the Imperial Prison truly the work of evil spirits? You will come with us to the Northern Garrison and the Censorate at once to explain!"

Yin Song: …

How helpless he felt. He felt like a single leaf in the Yellow River—having carelessly fallen into the water, he was now being swept along by the rushing current.

But the direction he was being carried was something he had long foreseen. Yin Song had anticipated this outcome; he rose calmly and went with them to the Northern Garrison.

Good night

(End of this chapter)