Shen Jing was shot while lying down.
As the two were talking, Xie Jingyan took advantage of Shen Wan's inattention to move a few chess pieces for her. He had no choice; if he didn't move them, he would really have to sleep in the study.
Shen Wan held the chess piece, unsure where to place it, and then belatedly realized, "Huh, did I play here before?"
Shen Wan asked about the silver frost and the crabapple.
The two maids were already suffering from internal injuries from holding it in.
Fortunately, at that moment, there was a knock at the window, and Chen Feng jumped in and reported, "Sir, the Minister of Justice's study is on fire."
Xie Jingyan frowned.
Chen Feng continued, "An assassin broke into the Minister of Justice's study, seemingly searching for something. The Minister's bodyguards discovered this and fought with the assassin. Seeing that they had no chance to search, the assassin kicked over the candles and burned the study down..."
Shen Wan looked at Xie Jingyan, "You wouldn't be looking for...?"
Xie Jingyan said, "It's probably true."
Anyone who saw that imperial edict would have been suspicious.
If the Minister of Justice hadn't gotten involved in the struggle for the crown prince, the Empress Dowager wouldn't have been worried. But now that the Minister of Justice has openly supported him, the Empress Dowager has no choice but to be wary.
He brought the imperial edict back because he was afraid that the Empress Dowager would withdraw it.
Sure enough, his worries were not unfounded.
The Ministry of Justice's residence caught fire, and the fire burned all night, only being extinguished the next morning.
During the morning court session, the Emperor inquired about this matter, and the Minister of Justice replied, "An assassin broke into the mansion last night, and the incident was caused by kicking over a candlestick during the fight."
Yanping Wang said, "In the past six months, how many fire-related cases have occurred in the capital? They were all set by assassins. These assassins are truly rampant."
The Prince of Jin's residence, the Prince of Qin's residence, and the Prince of Ling's residence were all burned down by assassins, and now even the Minister of Justice's residence has been burned down.
The Minister of Justice is in charge of cases involving murderers and arsonists in the Great Chu. Burning down the Minister of Justice's residence is practically a provocation.
The Minister of Justice assured the Emperor that the assassin would be found, and the Emperor said nothing more.
Today is the day the top scholar is to be selected. During the break between the end of court and the students entering the palace, the Minister of Justice sent a message through a palace servant, requesting to see the Empress Dowager.
The Empress Dowager had naturally heard about the burning of the study in the Ministry of Justice's residence.
She simply asked the Duke of Maoguo to send someone to retrieve the imperial edict, but the person sent ended up burning down the study of the Minister of Justice.
The Empress Dowager found the matter too sloppy to handle.
When the Minister of Justice requested an audience, the Empress Dowager granted it.
The Minister of Justice strode into the hall, and the Empress Dowager said, "Why has the Minister of Justice come to see me?"
The Minister of Justice hesitated, as if he wanted to speak.
The Empress Dowager glanced at Zhao Mama.
Granny Zhao then dismissed all the palace servants who were attending to her in the bedroom.
Once he was sure no one was around, the Minister of Justice asked, "Has the Empress Dowager heard about the assassins who broke into my residence and burned down my study last night?"
The Empress Dowager said, "I just heard about this matter. Is the Minister of Justice here to see me about this?"
The Minister of Justice said, "My study has been completely burned down, and the imperial edict given to me by the Empress Dowager has also been burned. May I ask the Empress Dowager to..."
The Empress Dowager frowned and rebuked, "As the Minister of Justice, you failed to protect the imperial edict, and I have not punished you. How dare you ask for another one?!"
The Minister of Justice knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, I am filled with trepidation."
"Step down."
The Empress Dowager did not want to say more and simply sent the person away.
Although the imperial edict was not retrieved, it was burned, which put the Empress Dowager at ease.
Prince Ling is too clever; you can't leave him even the slightest clue. The Empress Dowager isn't afraid of Xie Jingyan; she's afraid of the Emperor. She's afraid the Emperor will come and question her with an imperial edict, and if she can't explain herself, the Emperor will definitely become estranged from her and her son.
With the imperial edict gone, the emperor could no longer question her.
The Empress Dowager was relieved, and so was the Minister of Justice.
They didn't want the Empress Dowager to know that the imperial edict was missing, otherwise she might send people to investigate. If it was just arson, that would be fine, but they were afraid of assassins killing people.
Fortunately, Prince Ling took the imperial edict away, otherwise it would have been burned.
It must be said that Prince Ling understood the Empress Dowager better.
The Minister of Justice had already suspected that the Empress Dowager's act of saving people back then was unusual, and now that the Empress Dowager had sent someone to steal the imperial edict back, it further confirmed his suspicions.
There must be a miscarriage of justice in the case of Consort Chen.
Even if the Empress Dowager wasn't involved, she must have known the inside story.
The weather was fine, and Shen Wan was swinging on the swing in the courtyard. She looked up at the sky and realized that the emperor had already selected the top scholar in the imperial examination. She wondered who would be the champion this autumn.
The imperial examinations are held every three years, and Kyoto will be very lively for the next two weeks.
Not to mention the procession on horseback, there were also various banquets such as the Qionglin Banquet, which were incredibly lively. There was also the "Catching a Son-in-Law After the Announcement of the Imperial Examination" event, where if the top scholar was not married or engaged, a bunch of ministers would vie to take him as their son-in-law.
As Shen Wan was thinking, a maid ran over and said, "Your Highness, the top scholar for this year's imperial examination has been decided. It is the eldest son of the Zhou family in Meizhou, named Zhou Yuanzhi."
I don't know him.
I've never even heard of it.
When Shen Wan died in her previous life, she had also gone through two imperial examinations, and this person was not among those who passed the highest level.
However, cheating in the imperial examinations was common. If it weren't for the crackdown on cheating, there wouldn't have been this autumn examination. Shen Wan didn't think much of it and completely overlooked the important information that Zhou Yuanzhi was from Meizhou.
Shen Wan continued swinging on the swing when another maid ran in from outside the courtyard and reported, "Your Highness, the Prince of Yanping, the eldest son of the Duke of Tan, the Prince of Xuanping, and the Prince of Du have all been promoted one rank by the Emperor for their merits in the autumn examinations."
Shen Wan, “…???”
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