Chapter 108 Sorry, my people can't be taken away...

Chapter 108

When He Hansheng arrived at the Hall of Mental Cultivation, there was a huge commotion inside.

He stood outside for a moment, and hearing the arguing inside, he roughly guessed what had happened.

It's about the Xu family.

Xu Yong was detained and imprisoned by the Dali Temple in the early hours of today. The reason is that he is suspected of accepting bribes and leaking exam questions for the upcoming spring imperial examination. In addition, he is also accused of corruption and abuse of power by someone who has been making headlines at the Imperial College recently. He was immediately put in prison.

This incident happened suddenly and suspiciously. Regardless of whether Xu Yong was truly involved in these crimes, the fact that he was immediately imprisoned in the Dali Temple prison before any investigation even began, along with the entire Xu family, clearly indicates that they had no intention of giving Xu Yong or the Xu family a chance to prove their innocence. In other words—

The Xu family has been set up. And it's most likely a trap that will lead to their certain death.

He Hansheng entered the Hall of Mental Cultivation. There was a moment of silence in the hall. He saw the smug Ouyang Lan and Lin Ling, the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, arguing vehemently until his face turned red. He instantly understood.

The Crown Prince and Prince Zhao stood silently to the side, and Prime Minister Lin also seemed unwilling to say anything more. It seemed that they had already gone through several rounds of debate before He Hansheng arrived, and now only Lin Ling was still putting up a stubborn resistance.

Lin Ling's temperament is like his father's; he is always upright, but unlike Prime Minister Lin, he doesn't have a violent temper. Although he holds the position of Junior Minister, it is clear that the Xu family's case was not handled by him.

He was such a smart man, couldn't he see that someone wanted Xu Yong dead? Couldn't he guess that things were developing so quickly and suddenly, how could he not know that it wasn't at the behest of the emperor or the empress dowager?

But Lin Ling was fearless; he was determined to fight for justice. He said that in any dynasty, there had never been a precedent of the court deciding the life or death of an official based on mere words. He could accept being imprisoned without his knowledge, but he could not tolerate someone being convicted and sentenced to death before the case even began to be investigated. If His Majesty insisted on this, Lin Ling was willing to resign his post and leave this corrupt and incompetent Dali Temple.

Lin Ling's words were harsh, even threatening to resign, but Ouyang Lan didn't take it seriously, saying that he was arrogant and disregarded the emperor. Besides, the Lin family's achievements did not lie with Lin Ling, but with his father, Lin Qingrong.

They argued back and forth like this until He Hansheng entered the hall.

Li Bo finally had a reason to end the argument. After sending everyone else away, he left only He Hansheng, the Crown Prince, and Prince Zhao.

Only then did the Crown Prince finally speak: "Father...do you really intend to execute Xu Yong?"

Upon hearing this, Li Bo immediately felt a lump in his throat, unable to breathe properly.

Everyone says that the king's thoughts are hard to fathom, but as the crown prince, the crown prince's every thought is written all over his face. What is the relationship between Xu Yong and the crown prince? He shares the same surname as the empress dowager, and even if he doesn't openly take sides, he is closer to Prince Zhao. If something happens to him, the crown prince should not, both morally and logically, stand on his side to defend him.

However, the Crown Prince still pleaded for Xu Yong. Even knowing that Ouyang Lan was the one who wanted to punish Xu Yong, there was only one reason: the Crown Prince favored Xu Yong's daughter, the girl named Xu Zhen. This was also why Ouyang Lan absolutely could not tolerate the Xu family, nor Xu Yong. The more the Crown Prince defended Xu Yong, the more determined Ouyang Lan became to immediately destroy the Xu family. Yet, the Crown Prince seemed completely blinded by greed and unable to see this.

Li Bo was so exhausted that he felt quite angry when he saw the Crown Prince's face. He turned his gaze and saw the Prince Zhao's face, which was restraining his emotions.

In fact, for Li Bo, whether it was the Crown Prince, Prince Zhao, or any other prince, it was all the same to him. The reason why he had a prejudice against Prince Zhao all these years was simply because he was raised by the Empress Dowager, and there just happened to be too much discord between Li Bo and the Empress Dowager.

Therefore, Li Bo naturally placed this child on the opposite side of himself. However, if these prejudices were put aside, Prince Zhao was actually much, much better than the Crown Prince. Li Bo had heard many people say this before.

"Shaoyu, what do you think?" Li Bo asked.

"Shaoyu" was the nickname of King Zhao. Li Bo rarely called him that. Upon hearing this, both the Crown Prince and King Zhao were somewhat moved.

But Prince Zhao quickly calmed down. He lowered his eyes and said softly, "If Father Emperor grants permission, I am willing to share this burden. However, Father Emperor heard Ouyang Lan's statement just now. If someone wants to condemn someone, they will always find a pretext. If Xu Yong is truly guilty of an unforgivable crime, the Dali Temple should follow the proper procedures, rather than simply having Ouyang Lan unilaterally decide to behead Xu Yong."

The Crown Prince immediately chimed in, "Yes, yes! That's what I think too. Even if Xu Yong is truly guilty, we should wait until the matter is thoroughly investigated before making a decision."

Li Bo looked at the Crown Prince, thinking to himself, "You're right! If you were truly smart, you should have extricated yourself from this matter by now, so that your father-in-law wouldn't pressure me. In that case, Xu Yong would die whether he was guilty or innocent."

But Li Bo did not say it explicitly. He only told the Crown Prince, "Go and ask Grand Tutor Xue. Tell him exactly what happened in the Hall of Mental Cultivation today, and let him teach you."

The Crown Prince felt a chill in his heart and subconsciously wanted to ask Li Bo if he thought Li Bo was stupid again, but he immediately heard Li Bo say, "Shaoyu and Yunchu stay behind."

At that moment, the Crown Prince felt more resentment than defending Xu Yong, but he still left in silence.

What can be done? Talent is something you can't force.

...

Xu Lan's pregnancy only added fuel to the fire of an already chaotic situation.

Shen Suining was almost certain that the child was Prince Zhao's, especially since Xu Lanji was not yet married and such a huge event had happened in her family. Su Xiyao said that people in the early stages of pregnancy are not as stable as others, and Xu Lanji's pregnancy was not going well. She was afraid that if Xu Lanji found out that Madam Xu had committed suicide, she would be emotionally agitated and both she and her unborn child would die.

The only thing Shen Suining can do now is to save Xu Lanji's life.

After spending the afternoon at the Linjiang Villa, Shen Suining returned to the Yong'an Marquis's residence in the evening. The western sky was overcast, with thick clouds that looked as if they were about to fall. It had only been a few days since the end of the year when the weather in Huadu was about to change again.

Shen Suining originally intended to stay at Linjiang Villa tonight and wait for Xu Lan to wake up, but Su Xiyao and Ling Rui both advised her to come back first. After all, no one knows what the Xu family did wrong. Ling Rui and the others sent people to investigate and found out that it was probably related to Chen Zui's ghostwriting.

He Hansheng must know more about matters of the court, especially since he told her to wait for him to return before he left today.

So Shen Suining listened to the advice and returned to the Marquis's residence. He Hansheng arrived home just before her and, seeing her return, turned around and walked straight towards her.

He said that Lin Ling of the Dali Temple had been ordered to thoroughly investigate the Xu family matter, but he did not see Xu Lanji at the Xu residence, and asked Shen Suining if he knew about this matter.

Shen Suining smiled and asked her how she knew? That was a matter for the Xu family.

He Hansheng stared at her for a while, then gently touched her cheek with the back of his hand, as if relieved, and said, "That's good."

That's good? What do you mean by "that's good"? Is taking Xu Lanji away really that bad for him?

Suppressing her doubts, Shen Suining followed He Hansheng into the house, but he didn't seem to intend to stay at home for long. He only glanced at the Princess before heading out again.

Shen Suining asked him where he was going, and He Hansheng said, "Lin Ling is investigating Xu Yong's disciples and doesn't have time to go to the Xu residence. She asked me to go and take a look to see if there are any clues."

When He Hansheng casually mentioned Madam Xu, Shen Suining was still wondering if Lin Ling was unaware of the situation when Madam Xu was still alive. When He Hansheng said, "I heard that your people are now cleaning up after Madam Xu," she subconsciously exclaimed "Huh?" and then looked confused.

Her first reaction was even to ask He Hansheng how he knew it was her people. Ling Rui wouldn't be foolish enough to send people from Shuyu Manor to the Xu residence, so where did He Hansheng find out? And how did he find out so quickly?

He Hansheng's gaze was piercing, a look she rarely showed, as if he wanted to see right through her. Shen Suining had seen He Hansheng like this four years ago.

She twitched the corner of her mouth, said "Oh," and deftly deflected the question, saying, "Respect for the dead is paramount; it's just something I can do."

So why would she deliberately hide it from him? They both clearly know the truth, so why is she always the one being interrogated?

This dissatisfaction lasted for three days. During these three days, Shen Suining spent most of her time at the Linjiang Villa, while He Hansheng spent very little time at the Yong'an Marquis's residence.

On the fourth night, He Hansheng suddenly visited Linjiang Villa and ran into Shen Suining, who was preparing to return home.

He came alone, without even bringing Jiang Yuchu. He just stood there at the dark doorway, seemingly waiting for her to come out. But the more composed he was, the more Shen Suining felt that he had come prepared.

In other words, He Hansheng came for Xu Lanji. He already knew that Xu Lanji was with her when he asked a few days ago.

Shen Suining felt a bit annoyed, but she restrained herself. She thought that perhaps He Hansheng had rushed out that day because of the Xu family's case, and perhaps he also had his own unavoidable difficulties.

But He Hansheng didn't say a word to her, not even a single explanation. He only told her, "Ningning, have your people withdraw. Leave this to me, okay?"

On the surface, he was asking for her opinion, but his tone clearly wasn't one of discussion or compromise. Shen Suining's anger, which she had just suppressed, suddenly flared up again.

What is the reason?

He Hansheng was silent for a moment before replying, "You cannot get involved in this matter."

The reason was completely non-existent, and Shen Suining laughed in anger. She didn't understand why He Hansheng was always like this, liking to use his own methods to make decisions for her.

In fact, Shen Suining hadn't been idle these past few days. The Xu family case was escalating rapidly. After the Dali Temple officially intervened in the investigation, she immediately ordered people to find out the cause of the matter—

It was simply because on New Year's Eve, the emperor dealt a harsh blow to the Empress Dowager, who, unable to contain her anger, began to retaliate.

Shen Suining had met the Empress Dowager a few times, and even though they hadn't talked much, she could tell that the Empress Dowager was definitely not someone who would sit idly by and wait for her doom. Otherwise, a woman in the deep palace wouldn't have been able to contend with the Emperor for so many years.

Although Shen Suining couldn't understand why the Empress Dowager would target the Xu family, which was related to her maternal clan, Xu Yong was now caught in the middle of the two camps as a discarded pawn, a situation he was destined to die in. The Emperor wouldn't want to go to great lengths to protect such a minor figure, while the Empress Dowager was eager for him to die.

In other words, no matter who He Hansheng is representing tonight, or which side he's on, Xu Lanji's fate won't be any better.

She didn't want to make things difficult for He Hansheng, but she also had her own stance, so Shen Suining refused He Hansheng without hesitation: "I'm sorry. Linjiang Villa is a private residence left to me by my elder brother. My people cannot be removed."