Chapter 41 Resurrection from the Dead

Li Jiying paused, as if recalling something, a hint of coldness flashed in his eyes.

But in a split second, she regained her composure and continued, "...I didn't kill him. Murder is against the law, and I didn't want to die yet. He was drunk and unfortunately drowned in the urinal. I just watched and did nothing."

"Even so, they still thought I had killed him and wanted me to pay for his life. When I refused, they threw me into the prison and sentenced me to death by slicing."

Everyone was indignant. "These officials are so unreasonable. They only know how to bully us women!"

"That's right. When men abuse us, they don't care. But when we resist, they start yelling at us for our unforgivable sins!"

Xue Qi stopped writing and glanced at the angry faces of the crowd, but he didn't say anything more. He still lowered his head and said, "Next."

“…”

Xue Qi wrote down all the cases, then raised his head and looked at them. He said, "Now that the Queen Mother is in power, perhaps we can all be pardoned if we submit this petition. But even if we escape the punishment of murdering our husbands today, you will still be forced to work for your families when you return home tomorrow. You will be sold as wives, used as instruments for men's sexual pleasure, tools for their children, housekeepers without wages, and playthings for them to abuse and tease at will. How will you cope with that?"[Note 1]

Everyone looked at her blankly, some shedding tears silently, and some filled with resentment.

The atmosphere in the lobby was already gloomy, and it became even more solemn and depressing at this moment.

Li Mengnu stood up suddenly and shouted, "According to Sister Xue, although we have escaped from prison, we are still in prison. In this case, the worst that can happen is that we escape again and smash and burn this prison together!"

Xue Qi looked at Li Mengnu, his eyes slightly bright, and nodded with a smile: "You have such courage, so you can escape from this prison naturally."

Then, he glanced at the petition paper, the ink of which had dried on it, folded it, and stood up. "Before that, we still need to obtain an amnesty. I need someone to take this petition and go to the imperial court to knock on the drum and file a complaint. Who dares to go?"

His eyes swept across the crowd and landed on Li Jiying's face. The other party showed no surprise and did not retreat.

"Let me go."

So, a quarter of an hour later, a pair of rough and dirty hands picked up the drumstick next to the Dengwen Drum and hit the drum head hard.

"Dong-dong-dong-dong"

"I, Li Jiying, want to speak out for the injustice of my mother who was murdered by my father, and for all the women in the world who have been bullied and abused by their husbands' families!"

The sun was rising in the sky, and the sunlight fell on the thin woman, making her look particularly dazzling.

No one expected that it was Li Jiying's blow that would dethrone Prime Minister Li Mian, who had been in office for more than 20 years.

The Daiei Law, which had defined discord as an unforgivable crime for a hundred years, was also amended accordingly.

————

Chi Qi summoned everyone to come to the court for an audience.

In a short while, a dozen Jinwu Guards led by Shi Ying walked into the Tianji Palace with swords drawn, and the prisoners followed behind them.

The ministers looked at the swords at their waists, and there was inevitably a hint of fear in their eyes.

Chi Qi looked at the petition presented to her and immediately recognized that it was written by Xue Qi.

Chi Qi glanced at Xue Qi. It seemed that what she did was better than she expected.

Turning back, he spoke slowly, "Please take a look at this petition."

Danying, who was standing beside her, immediately bent down, took the petition, and handed it to the ministers for review.

She first walked to the desk of the Sujisi and handed the complaint to Jin Suwei.

After reading it, Jin Suwei's expression became complicated, with a mixture of pity and resentment. "Every word on this petition is heartbreaking! If pitiful people like them can't be pardoned, then I don't think any criminals in the world need to be pardoned either!"

As he said this, he clapped his hands and slapped the petition on the desk of the Yiluansi.

He picked up the photo and handed it to the literate guard behind him, "What's written on it? Read it to us."

After reading it, Yuzhao's usually calm face also showed a trace of indignation. She said in a cold voice: "I think they killed all the vicious and unjust criminals. They were just doing righteous deeds to eliminate evil for the people. Not only should they be pardoned, but they should also be rewarded generously!"

The male officials across from them were furious when they heard this. "Nonsense! Are you saying the Ministry of Justice made the wrong decision? According to the Great Honor Code, they should have died!"

Yuzhao was speechless. This law was established by Rong Taizu. Although she wanted to refute it, she was afraid of being accused of disrespecting Rong Taizu if she said something inappropriate, so she did not speak for a while.

At this moment, a gentle voice sounded in my ears, "The Great Rong Law is a hundred years old. Now that the world has changed, the law should also be revised."

Turning around, she saw that it was Xue Siji from the Shangyi Bureau. She had some dealings with this man when she worked in the Queen's Palace before, so she knew him.

The male official opposite did not understand these eunuchs, and immediately started arguing with Xue Qi. However, every time he said something, Xue Qi refuted it until he was speechless.

By this time, the petition had been circulated among all the ministers, and even Zhen Ruicai had seen it. However, as soon as he received the petition, his hands kept shaking, and it was not known whether he was angry or for some other reason.

Chi Qi was getting a headache from listening to their quarreling. She tapped the table impatiently with her fingers, and everyone immediately quieted down.

Only then was she satisfied. She glanced at the ministers and said slowly, "This concerns the princess. To prevent you from accusing me of selfishness, I will not speak on this case. Should they be pardoned? And how should the princess be punished for the nighttime robbery? You five judges, please vote."

In fact, Chi Li knew what the result would be without them voting.

The Sujisi and Yiluansi were her mouthpieces, and the six ministries had all the leverage over the officials in her hands, so naturally they could only obey her.

Li Xiang's party has lost power, and the poor party is not yet a force to be reckoned with, so we can ignore them for now.

Finally, there is Zhen Ruicai, who is in charge of military and political affairs. Even if he objects, he has no place to speak here.

As Xue Qi said, those with great power can allow the sinners to live and the innocent to die.

Li Mian, who had no intention of rebelling, must die as long as she wanted; and Zhao Mingyue, who committed the crime of prison break, could remain unharmed as long as she didn't want to.

Even if these people were unwilling to accept it, they had no choice but to follow her ideas.

And now is the time for her to exercise her power.

As for whether it is reasonable to do so and whether it will leave hidden dangers in the future, that is not something she should consider.

After all, she was a person who was determined to be a tyrant. Even if the dynasty perished because of her, so what?

Rather, her goal was to destroy this dynasty with her own hands.

Chi Qi curled up the corners of her mouth and looked at the ministers who were voting with a happy look. The Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Ceremonies, the Ministry of Justice, the Dali Temple, and the Censorate all voted to pass.

Forgive the female prisoner who caused the world's discord!

"Since you all think they should be pardoned, then let it be your decision. Secretary Jin, draft a general pardon order and submit it to the Ministry of Justice for execution."

Jin Suwei stood up and said, "Yes."

Chi Qi pondered and said, "From this perspective, the law really needs to be changed..."

He looked up and saw everyone's surprised eyes. He smiled slightly and said, "Well, let's disperse. It's getting late. Let's go back to our respective departments."

"Your Majesty, I respectfully bid you farewell." All the ministers immediately stood up and knelt in greeting.

After Empress Dowager Chi disappeared from view, everyone slowly stood up.

The prisoners in the hall finally came to their senses and realized that they had been pardoned and were innocent. They were overjoyed and held each other's hands, hugged each other tightly, and burst into tears.

Then, he went to thank Zhao Mingyue, Xue Qi and others.

Zhen Ruicai saw their excitement and snorted coldly, "This world is going downhill and morally corrupt! Just wait, your hard times are still ahead!"

He flicked his long sleeves, turned around and walked out of the hall.

As soon as he returned to the duty room, an officer hurried in and said, "Sir, there's an incident at Princess Zhaoqing's residence. Princess Zhaoqing is trying to force her way out!"

Zhen Rui was startled, "What? Didn't I ask you to keep an eye on him?"

The officer continued, "The princess was unable to leave. The captain of the Right Guard led his men to stop her."

Zhen Ruicai's breath was stuck in his throat and he almost couldn't swallow it. Why was he gasping for breath while speaking?

The last time he delivered the obituary to Zhao Yuzhang, he thought that this woman would be devastated and unable to recover. He didn't expect that after just a few days, she would think of disobeying the order and leaving the house?

Could it be that this crazy woman couldn't control herself anymore after hearing about the death of the late emperor?

Zhen Ruicai's face darkened. Now that Empress Dowager Chi was in power, if Zhao Yuzhang sent someone to plead with her, maybe she would really release her.

No, she must be stopped.

He turned around and ordered the officer, "Send more men. From today on, no one from the Princess's Mansion can be released!"

"Yes!" The officer took the order and left.

————

On the other side, Chi Luo returned to the back hall, half-leaned on the couch, and ordered someone to summon Li Jiying in.

After a while, Li Jiying came in, followed by Zhao Mingyue and Xue Qi.

As soon as she saw her, Li Jiying knelt down and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for saving my life!"

Chi Qi was too lazy to even raise her hands, "Get up." She was tired after tossing and turning in the hall for so long in the morning.

Li Jiying stood up, but still kept her head down and her lips tightly pursed, with little joy on her face.

Chi Qi smiled. "You don't need to thank me. You have done a great deed in bringing down the Li father and son. Li Jiying, what reward do you want?"

Li Jiying was a little surprised, as if she hadn't expected Chi Luo to think of rewarding her. She quickly said, "All this is thanks to Princess Mingyue and Sister Xue. If it weren't for them, I would still be trapped in prison."

Chi Li continued to smile. "I will naturally reward them with something else for their contributions. As for you, I will just borrow flowers to offer to Buddha. I will simply give you something from your grandfather as a reward."

Li Jiying still lowered his head, frowned, and tried hard to think about what Chi Qi meant.

Chi Li pondered and said, "Your grandfather has been the prime minister for so many years, he must have saved a lot of money, houses, land, servants... What do you want? You will live with your mother in the future, so you need some money to support yourself."

"W-what?" Li Jiying was stunned for a moment. Wasn't her mother killed by Li Xiaoci?

At this time, a vicissitudes of life voice sounded, "Ying'er!"

Li Jiying slowly turned her head and saw the Taoist priest from Baiyun Temple helping her mother out.

Her pupils suddenly changed, tears rolled down her cheeks unconsciously, and her lips trembled, "Mom?"

Is she dreaming?

Li Jiying couldn't believe it, her feet nailed to the ground, not daring to go forward to confirm whether it was true or not.