Chapter 402 Revenge
Meng Xingyuan had a deep impression of Meng Xixian.
This person was originally quite clever, but he was too serious and had a very strong desire for revenge.
Previously, when he was at the academy, he felt humiliated because someone publicly said that his poems were not worthy of serious consideration. So for several days, he searched for faults in the other person's poems, even nitpicking, fabricating accusations, and slandering the other person's poems as having treasonous intent, and even took the matter to the government.
The officials carefully examined the poems he had reported. Although they disagreed with his interpretation, they believed it was better to wrongly arrest someone than let them go unpunished. Ultimately, the innocent scholar was detained, and Meng Xixian was expelled from the academy for this incident, earning a reputation for being overly meticulous and vengeful.
Meng Xingyuan felt that his nephew was malicious and never gave him a kind look.
I heard a while ago that Meng Xixian had also developed a gambling addiction and had come to him twice to borrow money. Meng Xingyuan was quite generous to his poor relatives; as long as they came to him with their requests, he would grant them unless they were too unreasonable.
He has an extreme aversion to people who borrow money to gamble.
So not only did he not lend money to Meng Xixian, he also ordered his servants to kick him out.
Meng Xingyuan believed he had no major weaknesses to hide, and his family's power was far beyond what Meng Xixian could afford to offend. Even if Meng Xixian was dissatisfied with him, he couldn't retaliate against him.
When Meng Xiyao got married, he didn't want to see his nephew, who had a bad reputation, come to the house. Among all the relatives and friends, he didn't invite him at all.
Therefore, he remembers it very clearly.
When Meng Xixian was pressed by Meng Xingyuan for answers, he was caught red-handed as a thief and kept silent.
After asking the questions, Meng Xingyuan already had a guess in his mind and looked at the other suspect who was slumped to the side.
"Meng Xicheng, did you bring him in? When I sent word, I made it very clear that I didn't want this gambler to come, as long as you and Meng Xizhong came. What were your intentions?"
His cousin had three sons: Meng Xicheng, Meng Xixian, and Meng Xizhong.
Apart from his second son, Meng Xixian, who was notorious, his other two sons were relatively honest and dutiful, and Meng Xingyuan took good care of these two nephews.
Meng Xicheng's worst fears came true, and he turned pale upon hearing this.
“Third Uncle, my second brother hasn’t gambled for a month or two, but he’s been doing nothing at home all day, which is giving my father a lot of headaches. Just yesterday morning, my third brother broke his leg, and my second brother is willing to come and celebrate in his place. I don’t want to cause you any trouble over such a small matter, and I also want my second brother to make some decent friends through this, so I agreed.”
On the day of Meng Xiyao's wedding, all those who came to the Meng family mansion for the banquet were wealthy and powerful figures from the capital.
Their father wasn't very capable; if it weren't for Meng Xingyuan, the brothers would never have been qualified to attend a banquet of this caliber in their entire lives.
Meng Xingyuan was the only benefactor their family could obtain.
But there are limits to how much help this benefactor can give them; you can't just keep taking advantage of one person.
The best approach is to use this benefactor to meet more benefactors, and while you're taking advantage of this one, keep an eye on other potential benefactors.
Therefore, given this great opportunity, Meng Xicheng naturally felt that the two brothers going together would increase their chances of meeting influential people.
At first, everything went as smoothly as Meng Xicheng had imagined. There were too many guests at the Meng residence that day, so he had Meng Xixian impersonate his third brother, Meng Xizhong, and go to the Meng residence to have pleasant conversations with the distinguished guests.
But he never expected that his brief visit to the backyard to celebrate the wedding would lead to such a huge disaster.
After the incident, he became increasingly frightened, feeling that it was something Meng Xixian was capable of doing. However, since he had brought Meng Xixian to the Meng residence, he would also be implicated if Meng Xixian was found out.
Not only did he dare not voice his suspicions, but he also had to find a way to clear Meng Xixian of any impropriety.
Meng Xicheng knelt on the ground, tears streaming down his face.
“Third Uncle, I know you look down on my second brother, but he has reformed. It was wrong of me to bring him to the banquet without your permission, but he would never do anything to harm the Empress. There were many people and we were walking fast when we came to a narrow gate. It was an accident that we fell and trampled each other because we were all crowded together.”
"These two are afraid of being tortured, so they made up a real culprit. It just so happens that my second brother had a bad reputation, so they chose him. Uncle, you know I never lie. I beg you to do justice for us brothers and clear my second brother's name."
Just as Meng Xingyuan was about to confront Meng Xicheng, Meng Xicheng preemptively asked him to take charge.
Meng Xingyuan believed that Meng Xixian had a motive for the crime, possibly because he had refused to lend him money and was therefore seeking revenge. However, Meng Xicheng spoke with such certainty that he was unsure who to believe.
Meng Xingyuan took a step back and respectfully addressed Wen Zhiming.
“Your Majesty, Meng Xixian does indeed have a bad reputation. Some time ago, he incurred gambling debts and twice sought my help. I had him driven away. He is indeed suspected of retaliating against me. However, whether he was responsible for the murder of the Empress, I believe it still needs to be verified.”
Wen Zhiming picked up a teacup and walked in front of the suspects.
“The Meng brothers said they were framed, and these two witnesses said that Meng Xixian deliberately fell down, but there were so many other suspects at the scene besides the four of them.”
Upon hearing this, the other suspects, fearing they might miss this opportunity to escape punishment, rushed to speak up.
"I was at the very back and didn't see anything."
“Your Majesty, I was in front of Meng Xixian. When the incident occurred, he did urge me on and even pushed me.”
"Yes, yes, I was walking next to Meng Xixian when I saw him collapse for no reason. I tried to help him up, but I couldn't."
“While we were waiting in the backyard, Meng Xixian seemed preoccupied. After the wedding celebrations, he stayed close to the Empress.”
These people had previously hesitated to offend Meng Xixian due to his vengeful nature. Now that someone had taken the lead, they were all ready to go all out.
Moreover, the Emperor is prepared to subject them to severe torture. If they don't behave themselves now, they won't even have time to wait for retaliation before they lose their lives in this interrogation room.
The more Meng Xicheng and Meng Xixian listened, the more nervous they became, but they had no suitable excuse to defend themselves, so they could only keep crying out that they were innocent.
Wen Zhiming gave them a cold look.
"So you two mean that all these people are slandering you together?"
The names of these Meng brothers are truly mismatched.
Meng Xicheng is dishonest, and Meng Xixian is not virtuous.
Meng Xixian nodded, then suddenly pointed to the two people who had initially accused him.
“I remember now, they were indeed behind me, and they were the ones who pushed me down. These people, these people are afraid of being tortured, so they believed their lies and fabricated slander against me…”
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