pjbooks Chapter 425
Chapter 425
A playful smile curled at the corner of her lips. “I would also like to ask all of you—which uncle is this Sun Jizu who supposedly holds a high position in the prefectural city?”She ignored the others and fixed her gaze on Huang Xie. “Lord Huang, think carefully before you speak. I have a bad temper and limited patience. Since the emperor has granted me the authority to act as I see fit, I imagine he wouldn’t object if I were to behead one or two officials to set an example.”
The fleeting murderous intent made the backs of everyone present break out in a cold sweat. No one dared utter another word.
Her chill grew more pronounced. “Lord Huang, I assume I don’t need to elaborate on your crime of negligence, do I?”
With that, she turned away from Huang Xie and addressed Cao Xiwang. “Cao Xiwang, continue.”
Seeing that the young palace tutor was questioning him and recalling how those lofty officials—whom he and his son had begged on their knees to meet—were now trembling in fear, Cao Xiwang’s long-hanging heart finally eased. He silently prayed that his son’s life might yet be saved.
“Later, my son went alone again. He finally met with Magistrate Hao, but Hao said the evidence was insufficient and refused to take the case.
My son wouldn’t accept it and went back several more times. The last time was on the twentieth of the first month. He went to the county office and never returned.”
Cao Xiwang knelt once more. “I went with my two sons to the county office to look for him, but the clerks not only claimed they’d never seen him, they also accused us of offending our superiors and beat us. If my second son hadn’t taken a blow for me,
I would have died at their hands that day. My second son’s leg was injured in the beating, and he still lies in bed, unable to move.
Since then, the land we rented was suddenly taken back, and people kept coming to our home to cause trouble. My wife fell ill and has been bedridden ever since.
To pay for my second son’s leg treatment, we’ve been stripped of everything. Even the grain we harvested last autumn was mostly stolen by thieves who sneaked in during the night.
Young tutor, someone is trying to drive my family to death!”
“Are you certain that Cao Dajun entered the county office and never came out?”
“I am certain. My son Cao Dajun is now locked up in the death row of the county jail!” If not for a kind-hearted person who told him of his son’s situation and pointed him toward this path of justice, he, an uneducated commoner, would never have thought to come here.
His son was in death row—if he wasn’t rescued before autumn, he would be executed.
“Death row?” Yue Fuguang turned back to Huang Xie. “Lord Huang, how is this justified? In your Yingzhou Prefecture’s jail, can death row be used to imprison innocent civilians who have broken no law?”
She had initially assumed this was just a simple tale of a tyrant landowner bullying the weak, protected by corrupt local officials.
But Cao Dajun’s ordeal hinted at something far more sinister.
Normally, prisoners executed after autumn had their cases reviewed and approved by the Ministry of Justice before they were taken out for beheading.
If Cao Dajun had been placed in death row, that meant they were preparing a substitute for a condemned man…
Clearly, Huang Xie, a veteran official who had seen all sorts of intrigue, thought the same. Not only was his face covered in cold sweat, but his puffy cheeks were now turning deathly pale.
If a death row prisoner had been replaced under his jurisdiction, it would be a grave scandal in officialdom. The people and events behind it couldn’t be dismissed with a simple charge of negligence.
If that happened, his mentor and the crown prince might also be implicated.
“Young tutor, I am hearing about this matter for the first time. I will immediately send men to investigate! I will give you and Old Cao an answer.” A flash of ruthlessness crossed his eyes. Since someone was trying to harm him, he would not sit idly by.
Yue Fuguang shot Feng Tang a knowing glance. Out here, it wasn’t like the capital, where one look from her would send Wei Ping and Cai Xuan into action.
Now, she had to rely on her own people to keep watch and prevent any clever scheme from unfolding.
“In that case, Lord Huang, why don’t you tell me—who is this supposed uncle of Sun Jizu?”
Huang Xie paused briefly. From the corner of his eye, he caught sight of someone whose complexion was even paler than his own, then bowed. “In response to the young tutor, if I recall correctly, Prefect Sun’s brother does indeed have a nephew named Sun Jizu.”
The reason he remembered so well was that Prefect Sun and he were somewhat kindred spirits in suffering. Though his own kidney condition was poor, he still had two sons and three daughters.
Prefect Sun was worse off. With one wife, six concubines, and countless chambermaids, he had only managed a single son and a daughter. The son had been frail since birth and died at three years old.
The Sun family had three brothers, but Sun Jizu was the only male heir among their offspring. The whole family doted on him excessively, fostering a domineering personality.
Prefect Sun treated this nephew like his own son. More than once, he had seen Prefect Sun bring the boy to stay with him for extended periods.
But he never imagined Sun Jizu would become so lawless back home. As the prefect, he was indeed guilty of negligence.
“Prefect Sun?” Yue Fuguang swept her gaze across the officials and quickly identified Sun Min, the vice prefect whose rank was just below Huang Xie’s.
“Sun Min, is what Lord Huang said true? Did this matter in Pinglang County involve your nephew? How much do you know?”
Her gaze was icy. “I will give you only one chance to tell the truth. If you fail to treasure it, I will not hesitate to have your entire family escorted to the capital for the emperor himself to question.”
At the mention of his family being taken to Beijing, Sun Min’s face turned ashen. Trembling, he fell to his knees. “Young tutor, please hear me! My nephew is still young and ignorant. Everything was done by servants on his behalf to curry favor.”
He pressed his forehead hard into the dirt, his voice choked with tears. “Please, for the sake of his youth and foolishness, grant him another chance.
From now on, I will discipline him strictly. The Sun family will compensate all the losses Old Cao has suffered!”
His head remained bowed as if he would never rise. Yue Fuguang shot him a cold glance, feeling not a trace of pity for such a man.
“Young and ignorant? Are you saying Sun Jizu, a twenty-three-year-old giant baby, is young and ignorant?” She slammed her teacup heavily onto the table, the sharp clang echoing through the hall.
“Sun Min, do you know that Cao Dajun’s wife, Li Yoniang, has already hanged herself from the disgrace she suffered? How do you plan to compensate for a human life?
With silver? How much of your Sun family’s wealth was extorted from the common people?”
The Sun family had once been wealthy, but had later declined. By Sun Min’s father’s generation, they were mere small landowners. It was Sun Min’s success in the imperial exams and marriage to a daughter from a side branch of a prestigious clan that had earned them their current status.
Now she recalled that Sun Min’s wife seemed to be an aunt-by-marriage of Princess Bai, Bai Nianzhu, wife of the third prince. When Emperor Mingxi had executed the entire Bai clan and had their property confiscated, it only targeted the Bai family itself.
Married daughters, including Bai Nianzhu, were left untouched.
“Young tutor, you must see clearly. My Sun family has always followed the law. Our property was earned through the honest toil of my two brothers through legitimate means.
Li Yoniang’s death was an accident. I and my family will fully compensate both the Cao and Li families.” Yue Fuguang took a measure of satisfaction from Sun Min’s stubborn denials—men like that were far easier to execute without a guilty conscience.