Chapter 318 Suicide Out of Guilt
Those officials who were investigated could not withstand severe punishment and confessed to helping them commit fraud.
Among these ministers were not only the Minister of Rites and the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy, but also several other ministers.
Ning Sihan followed the clues and traced them back to the sixth prince of the current dynasty, but she couldn't find any trace of Princess Pingyuan.
Just as Ning Sihan was preparing to retry the case of the five officials, including the Vice Minister of Rites, with the evidence, she received news that the five had committed suicide on the same day out of fear of punishment.
Ning Sihan's expression was not good. She looked at her trembling subordinates and asked coldly, "I ordered you to keep a close watch on these five people. Is this how you've been guarding them?"
Knowing he could not escape punishment, the subordinate knelt down and admitted his mistake: "It was my fault for failing in my duties. I beg you to punish me, sir."
Ning Sihan closed her eyes, concealing the resentment in them.
After a long silence, he waved his hand and said, "Go down."
The subordinate wanted to say something, but dared not utter a word at this moment. He could only leave with a heavy heart, preparing to be dismissed from office and sent back to his hometown.
Ning Sihan stayed alone for a long time, then said in a deep voice to the person outside the door, "Go to the Jingzhao Prefecture prison and bring the criminal Xu Huaining here."
"Yes, sir."
Emperor Jinghe received the news immediately that five major embezzlers had committed suicide on the same day. He severely reprimanded the sixth prince and confined him to his residence to await further punishment.
Xu Jinnian had already left the Ministry of Rites and returned to the Hanlin Academy the day before, where he learned of the news from his colleagues.
This result was within Xu Jinnian's expectations.
If Princess Pingyuan hadn't had any tricks up her sleeve, Emperor Jinghe wouldn't have been so wary, and wouldn't have been able to find an opportunity to attack the princess's residence in the past twenty years.
Xu Jinnian did not participate in the discussion, but when Song Zhihang came over, he chatted with him briefly.
When he returned home in the evening, his whole family was waiting for him in the dining room to have dinner together.
Looking at the smiling faces under the candlelight, Xu Jinnian's gloomy mood eased slightly, and a smile appeared on her lips as she walked in.
"Jin Nian, come quick! My precious granddaughter can call me Grandpa now!"
Xu Chenglin picked up Zhuozhuo, showing off his teeth to his son, his face beaming like an old chrysanthemum: "My granddaughter is so smart, she can call me grandpa in less than five months!"
Xu Jinnian looked surprised and asked his wife, who was smiling helplessly.
Sheng An couldn't bear to hurt her father-in-law's feelings, so she explained tactfully:
“Every time Zhuozhuo wakes up, she keeps babbling. Just now, her father taught her to call him Grandpa, and the tone she made sounded a bit like it.”
Such a young child's vocal cords are not fully developed, so he can only produce some meaningless syllables.
The father-in-law doted on his granddaughter Zhuozhuo so much that he completely ignored the objective fact and firmly believed that Zhuozhuo was naturally intelligent and could greet people.
Xu Jinnian understood. Seeing his father so happy, he was happy to coax him, saying, "It seems my daughter has surpassed her father and is even smarter than me."
Xu Chenglin puffed out his chest, his expression one of immense pride: "Of course!"
After saying that, he happily coaxed the little one in his arms: "Zhuozhuo, be good, call me Grandpa again, so your dad can hear it properly."
Zhuozhuo blew a bubble and kept babbling, unable to fulfill her grandfather's request.
Xu Chenglin was not disappointed and chuckled as he made an excuse for his granddaughter: "We've been talking for so long, Zhuozhuo must be tired."
The family sat down for a lively dinner. Zhuozhuo was placed in the cradle next to them and became the center of everyone's conversation. They would glance at her from time to time to see if she was asleep.
Zhuozhuo is a child with a stable personality. She can play by herself without being held, and she will fall asleep as soon as she gets tired.
She wouldn't suddenly wake up from her sleep unless there were any loud noises around her.
In short, she is an easy child to take care of, which makes Sheng'an, who spends the most time with her every day, grow to love her more and more each day.
After dinner, the family chatted for a while before washing up and going to their rooms to rest.
Xu Jinnian carried the sleeping Zhuozhuo in one arm and led Sheng An back to the main room with the other.
Sheng An's gaze fell on the man's face, and she shook his hand with concern, saying, "Did something unpleasant happen today? You seem to be in a bad mood."
Xu Jinnian concealed it well, appearing no different from usual, but Sheng An still keenly sensed the abnormality.
"Several key figures identified in the cheating scandal committed suicide today out of fear of punishment."
Xu Jinnian's hands tightened slightly, silently revealing the unease in his heart: "Although this cheating case cannot completely bring that person down, it is still somewhat disappointing that she managed to get away with it so easily."
Sheng An was also disappointed, but he smiled and comforted her, "Not being able to find the real mastermind is not necessarily a bad thing. This cheating case can be seen as a warning to others. Maybe that person will reveal more clues in their haste."
Xu Jinnian had a sudden thought, recalling the private army of at least 20,000 men that Princess Pingyuan had hidden away.
Maybe we can give it a try.
Finding this private army would prove that Princess Pingyuan harbored treasonous intentions.
Even if she possessed the late emperor's decree to depose him, it could be said that she forged it while the late emperor was seriously ill, thus making her crime even more serious.
Treason and forgery of imperial edicts are both heinous crimes punishable by the extermination of nine generations of one's family. Even if she is a royal princess, His Majesty cannot exterminate her entire family, but she and her mother will certainly die.
However, this matter needs to be carefully planned, otherwise if Princess Pingyuan discovers it and, in a desperate move, starts a war, countless ordinary people will suffer.
Due to the deaths of the Minister of Rites and others, the scandal of cheating in the imperial examinations, which shocked the court and the public, could only be hastily concluded.
What was unexpected was that Princess Shanmin was involved and made things easy for a scholar surnamed Xu.
This move allowed someone who should have failed the provincial examination to obtain a good ranking through cheating, qualify for the palace examination, become a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examination), and be assigned to work in the Ministry of Revenue.
This person was Xu Huaining, who had been imprisoned in the Jingzhao Prefecture jail for more than a month.
Having been imprisoned for so long, he knew nothing of the major events happening outside and racked his brains every day to see Princess Shanmin.
Unfortunately, no matter what methods Xu Huaining used, he was unable to successfully deliver the message to the princess's residence. All his schemes vanished in the dark and hopeless prison.
Until two days ago, he was taken to Dali Temple by Ning Sihan's people.
Under Ning Sihan's ruthless methods, Xu Huaining had no choice but to confess to cheating in the imperial examinations and, incidentally, implicate Princess Shanmin.
Even during his confession, he tried his best to absolve himself of responsibility, saying that he was forced by Princess Shanmin, otherwise the entire Xu family would have been wiped out.
As for the reason why Princess Shanmin forced him, Xu Huaining shamelessly implicated Xu Jinnian.
He said that Princess Shanmin had been unable to win Xu Jinnian's heart, and seeing that his face resembled Xu Jinnian's by seven or eight points, she made him Xu Jinnian's stand-in, so that he would have to pass the imperial examination and become an official like Xu Jinnian.
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