Upon hearing this, Xue Shen showed a satisfied expression: "In that case, let's wait for the Dali Temple to conduct a thorough investigation."
Qi Zhong breathed a slight sigh of relief upon seeing that he agreed, and then said, "I will go to the Dali Temple to deliver the imperial decree. Please be patient, Your Highness."
Xue Shen stepped aside, watching him hurriedly head towards Dali City to deliver the imperial decree, and a contemptuous smirk curled at the corner of his mouth.
He ordered his men to take the palace maid away, and then rode back to the Prince of Qin's residence.
Shen Youying had been waiting for news of him at the mansion. When she saw him return, she quickly asked, "How did it go?"
Xue Shen sat down next to him, slowly poured himself a cup of tea, took a sip, and then said, "In order to quell the rumors outside, Emperor Cheng'an did indeed choose to have Dali City thoroughly investigate this matter."
Xue Shen put down his teacup and tapped his fingers on the table: "I guess his next move will be to summon the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review to the palace."
As Xue Shen had guessed, after Qi Zhong announced the decree, he whispered to the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, "Tonight, I request that the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review come to the palace."
The Minister of the Court of Judicial Review glanced at him in surprise. Qi Zhong gave him a knowing smile, placed the imperial edict in his hand, and then turned to return to the palace to carry out his mission.
That night, the emperor's palace was brightly lit.
Having received the imperial decree to be summoned, the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review was led by a young eunuch to the front of the emperor's bedroom.
The young eunuch went in to announce his arrival, and soon Qi Zhong came out to greet him. He saw the Minister of Justice waiting at the gate, smiled politely at him, opened the palace door, and made an inviting gesture: "His Majesty is waiting for you in the palace. Please come in."
The Minister of the Court of Judicial Review looked uneasy. He secretly handed a packet of silver to Qi Zhong through his sleeve and asked in a low voice, "Please enlighten me, sir, what is the purpose of His Majesty's summons?"
Qi Zhong refused to accept his money, smiled meaningfully, and gave him a push from behind: "You'll know once you go in, sir."
The Minister of the Court of Judicial Review staggered into the hall, and then the door behind him was tightly closed.
He glanced back and could only walk nervously into the hall.
The vast hall was devoid of palace servants. Only the flickering candlelight scattered throughout the hall illuminated the scene.
The Minister of the Court of Judicial Review walked to the inner hall and found that the door was not closed. He carefully pushed the door open and saw Emperor Cheng'an with his back to him, copying scriptures.
He stepped forward quietly, bowed, and greeted the emperor: "Your Majesty."
Emperor Cheng'an paused with his brush, and the ink from the tip dripped onto the paper, instantly ruining the half-copied scripture.
Emperor Cheng'an frowned, pointed to the destroyed scripture, and said to the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, "This ink stain has ruined a perfectly good scripture. Do you want it or not?"
The Minister of the Court of Judicial Review looked puzzled: "This... Your Majesty does not understand. Please enlighten me."
Emperor Cheng'an pointed to a tall stack of scriptures that had already been copied many times, then picked up the stained page and placed it on top, saying, "This is a whole scroll of scriptures, and I am copying the last page. Do you think I should discard the entire scroll and start copying it from scratch, or should I throw away this stained page and rewrite it on a new one?"
The Minister of the Court of Judicial Review hesitated before speaking: "Since the entire scroll is almost finished being copied, why waste the whole scroll for this one page? Why not just copy a new page to replace it?"
Emperor Cheng'an nodded in satisfaction: "That's what I think too."
He took out another sheet of white paper and continued copying the scriptures. Only after he had finished copying the entire sheet did he put down his brush, place the still-wet scripture on top, and look up at the uneasy-looking Minister of Justice.
"This is the same as being a good person."
“A person may work diligently their entire life without ever making a mistake, but if they accidentally do one wrong thing, it's like this ink stain that has stained a page of scripture. It's wrong of ruining the entire scroll by doing the wrong thing on this one page, my dear minister.”
Emperor Cheng'an tapped the scripture that had been tossed aside, gazing at the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review with a highly suggestive look.
The Minister of the Court of Judicial Review finally seemed to understand why the emperor had summoned him late at night, and fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.
He wiped the sweat from his brow with his sleeve and stammered, "Your Majesty is right."
Emperor Cheng'an nodded in satisfaction and bestowed the entire scroll of scriptures upon him: "Take this back and have a look, my dear minister. Don't forget what we discussed tonight."
The Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, his hands trembling, received the scroll of scriptures, which were not heavy, yet felt as heavy as a thousand pounds in his hands. He thanked the Minister profusely, his face covered in sweat, and then bowed and retreated.
Qi Zhong was guarding outside the door when he saw him come out carrying the scriptures, his forehead covered in sweat. He said, "His Majesty was worried that it would be inconvenient for you to travel at night, so he specially ordered me to send someone to escort you back."
The Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, whether still in a daze or something else, lowered his head and responded with a pale face.
Qi Zhong smiled and ordered the eunuchs below him to prepare a carriage and horses to send the person back.
The carriage stopped in front of the Dali Temple Minister's residence. He got out of the carriage carrying the scriptures, thanked the minister repeatedly, and then turned and went inside.
But as soon as the door closed, his timid expression changed. He casually tossed the scriptures on the table, blew a bamboo whistle to summon his attendant, and said with a smile, "Report to Your Highness that the fish has taken the bait."
*
Xue Shen quickly received the news. He chuckled and looked at Shen Youying opposite him: "See, I guessed right, didn't I?"
Shen Youying smiled and took a black piece from the chess basket, placing it on the chessboard: "Did you arrange for the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review to be here?"
Xue Shen placed a white piece: "Not bad."
"If they weren't my people, why would I have stormed the palace and forced the emperor to thoroughly investigate this matter?"
Shen Youying said, "But the Emperor did not think of this."
Xue Shen smiled sarcastically: "The Minister of the Court of Judicial Review comes from a humble background and was promoted by him. He is not an old official left over from my father's reign. He naturally assumes that the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review is his man."
"But in reality, the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review was a hidden pawn I planted from the very beginning."
Xue Shen placed his last piece, sealing off Shen Youying's escape route, and laughed, "Once a move is made, there's no going back. By the time he realizes what's happening, it will be too late."
*
The case of the late empress's murder was quickly handed over to the Dali Temple for a thorough investigation.
The palace maid who struck the Dengwen Drum was naturally handed over to the Dali Temple. When the Dali Temple sent people to the Prince of Qin's residence to demand her return, the Prince of Qin was uncooperative, and it took the Dali Temple Minister a great deal of effort to finally take her away.
When Emperor Cheng'an learned of the news, he was fairly satisfied with the performance of the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review.
He looked at the stack of scriptures beside him and said, "Go and tell the Empress to invite the wife of the Minister of Justice to the palace. Remember to give her plenty of face and a reward."
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