After Feng Yu learned that A'ruan came to Beijing to look for his wife who was taking the provincial examination, he turned his head and silently asked Jiang Wuque.
Jiang Wuque smiled and looked back, "I'll listen to you."
Feng Yu nodded and said to A Ruan, "My wife and I are also going back to Beijing, so we can give you a ride on the way."
Ah Ruan hurriedly raised his hand to express his gratitude, his eyes slightly red with excitement.
Jiang Wuque's body didn't seem to be as healthy as that of an ordinary person. She always had a faint smell of medicine on her body, and even Feng Yu beside her had a very light and cool medicinal fragrance on his body.
A'ruan and Feng Yu were riding the same horse. When A'ruan sat in front of Feng Yu with his arms around his waist, the cool medicinal scent from Feng Yu just surrounded him.
The attendants accompanying Jiang Wuque were all soldiers in armor, and they all rode on horses to protect the carriage in which she was sitting.
Although Feng Yu was a man, he was wearing silver armor and riding a white horse, walking in front of everyone with his head held high. He had no intention of getting into the car.
A Ruan was the second man in the entourage. When he smelled the faint medicinal fragrance on Feng Yu, he knew that he and his wife must have a very good relationship.
Later, when he heard Feng Yu offer to take him on horseback, it further confirmed A Ruan's guess.
Feng Yu found a good excuse for his behavior, "They are all women, I'm afraid you will feel uncomfortable."
A Ruan smiled and raised his hand to express his gratitude.
In fact, he was somewhat envious of Feng Yu, a man who seemed to be very opinionated and powerful, because he could stop all the men around his wife without any hesitation and separate them from her.
A Ruan thought that if it were him, he might not be able to be as confident as Feng Yu.
Thinking of his wife, A Ruan's heart ached. He pursed his lips, his eyelids trembled and drooped, and he clenched the purse with the words "Wei Min" embroidered on it in his hand.
No matter what the future holds...he hopes that his wife will be safe and sound, that would be all.
Everyone was on their way non-stop, but they always had to stop and rest.
When they arrived at the official post station near dusk, the soldier showed the token in his hand and the postmaster came out to greet him personally.
Feng Yu tied the reins with his fingers, jumped off the horse gracefully, then stood below, slightly raised his head and stretched out his hand to A'ruan on the horse's back.
Jiang Wuque was indeed not in good health. The constant shaking throughout the day made her look even more haggard and uglier than at noon.
When Jiang Wuque was helped down from the carriage by his men, and stood aside and saw with his own eyes his husband skillfully and smoothly put his arms around a man's waist and half-carried him off the horse, his face suddenly became even uglier.
"Ayu." Jiang Wuque pursed her lips unhappily, looking resentfully at the man who only had eyes for the man but didn't pay any attention to her at all.
Feng Yu turned around and caught a glimpse of Jiang Wuque's eyes. He moved his toes hesitantly and walked towards her. "What's wrong?"
Jiang Wuque just looked at him without saying anything.
The two have been married for almost two years. Although they are rarely together, their relationship is still pretty good. But to this day, Feng Yu still doesn't know how to coax Jiang Wuque.
Feng Yu unconsciously touched the silver whip at his waist, raised his eyelids to look at Jiang Wuque's pale face, then looked at the night gradually covering the sky, and asked her tentatively, "Are you hungry?"
Jiang Wuque shook his head.
Feng Yu said "oh", then turned to A Ruan and said, "She may have an upset stomach, let's go eat first."
“…”
Jiang Wuque immediately closed his eyes and sat in the wheelchair without saying a word, while A'ruan smiled awkwardly, not knowing what to say.
A Ruan knew that the couple were of noble status, so he tried to reduce his presence as much as possible when he was with them. Although they were nice people, he was just an ordinary citizen, and he was afraid that if he was not careful, he would offend the noble.
A Ruan had no intention of currying favor with or trying to please the nobleman. He just wanted to go to the capital to see his wife.
Feng Yu grew up in the frontier. She is easy-going and humble. It was only in the past two years, since she married Jiang Wuque, that she has frequently returned to the capital.
He had dinner with A'ruan at the same table. After the meal, he asked A'ruan to wash up well and said that it was very safe to be with them and there was no need to disguise herself.
Although Feng Yu was not good at coaxing people, he still brought the light millet porridge to Jiang Wuque after the meal. He stood beside her, lowered his eyes to look at her thin face under the candlelight, and unconsciously lowered his voice and advised: "Eat a little."
Jiang Wuque was reading the letter he had just received in his hand, his brows slightly furrowed, and he only relaxed when he saw Feng Yu coming over.
Jiang Wuque casually placed the top-secret letter on the table, without any hesitation towards Feng Yu, raised his hand to take the millet porridge from him, and said, "A letter from Elder Jin."
After she said that, Feng Yu guessed that the letter might be about the provincial examination.
The provincial examination on February 9th was about to begin. Jiang Wuque and others had planned to arrive in the capital on February 18th, the day the third provincial examination ended.
But man proposes, God disposes. The weather changed suddenly on the way, and the group was delayed three or four days longer than expected before arriving in Beijing.
Jiang Wuque and Feng Yu had to go to the palace for urgent matters, so they left A'ruan behind before leaving and asked a guard to take him to the Imperial Examination Hall to find his wife.
A'ruan had not had a good sleep since February 20th, and now his face and eyes were full of fatigue and haggardness, but he did not care about himself. After getting off the carriage, he immediately followed the guards to the Examination Hall.
On the way, Jiang Wuque received a letter from the capital, saying that the emperor had ordered a thorough investigation into the cheating in the provincial examination, but the princess was so bold as to lock up the candidate in the Ministry of Justice and even tortured him.
Jin Lao did not receive the news until the next day. He led his men directly to the prison of the Ministry of Justice and brought all the candidates back to the Imperial Examination Hall to wait for the results of the provincial examination to come out.
There were too many people and things involved, so Feng Yu didn't tell A'ruan in detail. He just said that all the candidates were still in the Imperial Examination Hall, and A'ruan would definitely find his wife there.
For Aruan, as long as he could see his wife, he didn't need to know anything else.
No one knew who leaked the news in advance that day, but when Mr. Jin led people to the Ministry of Justice, the scholars and students all gathered at the gate of the Ministry of Justice and waited, and they were unwilling to leave no matter how they were driven away.
When Mr. Jin came out, all the scholars and students waiting at the door were extremely angry when they saw several candidates being carried out covered in blood.
An ordinary scholar does not have to kneel and salute when meeting a county magistrate, and is not allowed to torture people privately, let alone a juren!
Now that it has not yet been determined who committed the fraud, the Ministry of Justice has already tortured the candidate. Is this to force this weak scholar to confess under duress?
Didn’t the court ever say that it would favor scholars and students? !
Since this was a matter concerning the rights of the literati themselves, on February 20th, almost all the literati in the capital gathered at the gate of the imperial palace, begging the emperor to uphold justice and severely punish those who had carried out the punishment.
The crowd was reluctant to disperse until late at night.
It was wrong for the Ministry of Justice to use torture rashly. The emperor could not ask the Imperial Guards to drive away the literati gathered at the palace gate on the pretext that they were a mob.
The emperor had no way to deal with this group of literati, and could only promise at the morning court the next day that he would thoroughly investigate the matter, severely punish those who had tortured them, clear the name of the innocent candidates, and compensate those who had been tortured, in order to appease the hearts of literati and students all over the world.
In this way, the scholars gathered at the palace gate were willing to disperse.
The princess' plan to find someone to take the blame was interrupted by Old Jin before it could succeed. She decided to abandon the Minister of Justice and insisted through gritted teeth that she had not ordered the torture and that it was all the Minister of Justice's own idea.
At this time, the emperor urgently needs to find someone to appease the anger of the literati all over the world. The Minister of Justice is not stupid. If she admits this, she will definitely not survive the autumn.
The Minister of Justice pretended to be calm and insisted that the person who tortured them was a new jailer in the Ministry of Justice. He had just entered the Ministry and was eager to show his ability. When he saw people being locked up, he thought those candidates were ordinary prisoners, so he tortured them.
The Minister of Justice looked remorseful and said, "I went to the prison as soon as I received the news. I had just sent someone to arrest the jailer who tortured me when Master Jin arrived. I am responsible for this matter and it was my negligence. I beg Your Majesty to punish me."
Old Jin was standing next to the Minister of Justice at the time. When he heard the words, his brows twitched, and he raised his hand and threw the jade silk in his hand into the Minister of Justice's face in front of the emperor and all the court officials.
The Minister of Justice was stunned by the blow and quickly raised his hands to cover his face. After he reacted, he swung his sleeves and looked at Elder Jin with a slightly angry look, "What do you mean by this? I respect you as an elder, but you can't bully me like this!"
Old Jin smiled and bent over to pick up the jade and silk on the ground as if nothing had happened. "I just want to see how thick your face is and whether it can compare to the jade and silk in my hand."
The ministers did not expect that Mr. Jin, who was over 60 years old, would be so humorous and sarcastic. They were immediately amused and laughed uncontrollably. Even the emperor smiled and shook his head with a slightly helpless look.
The Minister of Justice was actually so angry that his lungs were about to explode, but he had to force a smile on the surface, gritted his teeth and said, "Mr. Jin, you are joking."
The joking old man Jin ignored the fake smile of the Minister of Justice, and analyzed her words one by one: "Even if it is a newly imprisoned prisoner, she should be interrogated to find out what crime she committed before being tortured, but the newly recruited jailer in your Ministry of Justice beat her up first and then questioned her.
So what is the difference between this and forced confession?
It seems that the jailer is indeed guilty, but as the Minister of Justice, you are not doing your job well. Why do you recruit all kinds of people into the Ministry of Justice?
Of course, you are the Shangshu and are too busy with other things to care about these small matters, but what about Your Majesty? Your Majesty is the ruler of the world. Can you handle as many affairs as Your Majesty does? ”
The Minister of Justice saw the emperor looking at her and shuddered with fear. He raised his hand and saluted respectfully, saying, "How dare I compare with Your Majesty."
Jin Laodao said: "That's it. His Majesty has personally inquired about the cheating in the provincial examination, but you, the Minister of Justice, put the candidate in jail and did nothing about it, allowing a new jailer to torture the candidate.
Then can this old minister assume that the Minister is too busy and doesn't even care about the matters that Your Majesty cares about? Are you so busy that you have no idea what is happening in the Ministry of Justice prison?
My Lord Shangshu, do I regard your behavior as a sign that you have lost control over the Ministry of Justice? With your dereliction of duty, are you worthy of His Majesty entrusting the Ministry of Justice to you and the trust His Majesty has in you? ”
The words of the old man Jin made the Minister of Justice sweat profusely. He could not think of any excuse, so he knelt on the ground with a plop, resting his forehead on the gold brick, and cried, "Your Majesty, I am sorry for your trust. I was careless. I beg Your Majesty to punish me!"
Until now, the Minister of Justice still insisted that it was his own negligence and not her who ordered the punishment.
Seeing that Mr. Jin wanted to say something else, the emperor suddenly picked up the memorial on the dragon table and smashed it at the Minister of Justice, interrupting what Mr. Jin was about to say next.
"After what happened today, how do you want me to explain to all the scholars and students? Because of your negligence, you have almost chilled the hearts of all the scholars in the world! Tell me, how can you still have the face to serve as the Minister of Justice!"
Emperor Jiang Winjun was gasping for breath, and several memorials were thrown down in succession, all hitting the Minister of Justice.
Seeing the emperor's wrath, the ministers knelt down and shouted, "Your Majesty, please take care of yourself!"
Jiang Kunjun was relieved when he saw that almost all the court officials had knelt down. He said, "We cannot let this matter go easily. The jailer who tortured the student privately should be sentenced to death. After his death, his body should be hung on the city gate for three days to be exposed to the sun. Passersby can spit on him and curse him to appease the anger in the students' hearts."
"And you," Jiang Kunjun slapped the dragon table in front of him, pointed at the Minister of Justice who was almost lying on the ground, and said, "You disappoint me so much."
"Because the Minister of Justice failed to do his job, the jailer in the prison tortured the candidate privately. This has a serious impact and is too abominable. From today on, he will be demoted to the third rank of Minister and his salary will be deducted for one year!"
The Minister of Justice was overjoyed and immediately kowtowed and knelt to thank him, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for the punishment!"
Jiang Kunjun waved his hands impatiently, "Get out."
From the corner of his eye, he saw that Mr. Jin was standing aside and not saying anything. Instead, he lowered his head to adjust the hem of his clothes and cuffs. Jiang Kunjun couldn't help but cough lightly, looked at the princess standing at the head of all the ministers, and said, "You are also responsible for this matter. How could a scholar be locked up in the Ministry of Justice? I think you have only grown older over the years, but not smarter!"
"The princess is confined to the East Palace for three days to reflect on herself," Jiang Kunjun said without any anger, as if he was joking with someone, and then he said, "You are still too young and you are not thorough in your work. In the future, you should be more open-minded and learn from Master Jin. Do you understand?"
Jiang Wuyong quickly said, "I know, I will always ask Master Jin for advice in the future."
Jiang Kunjun pretended to be angry and snorted, "You're quick to admit your mistakes."
From the time the memorial was submitted to the time when the court was dismissed, the Emperor had merely executed an innocent jailer and lightly passed over the matter of the scholar being tortured.
Old Jin felt a chill in his heart, but he lowered his eyes and said nothing more.
His Majesty, under pressure from public opinion among the literati, said he would give them an explanation, but in his heart he was angry at the literati for their disobedience and for disregarding the royal authority and face by making a scene at the palace gate. So when he punished them, he kept his anger in his heart and did not address the root of the problem, but just fooled the literati and students who were unaware of the inside story.
Old Jin sighed. After retiring from the court, he happened to meet Jiang Wuque, who had just returned to Beijing to meet the emperor, before leaving the palace. However, he could only shake his head helplessly, "It's over. The one who wanted to poison the food was a cook, and the one who did it was the cook. After a long investigation, the one who was punished in the end was a piece of firewood at the bottom of the pot... Isn't it interesting?"
Jiang Wuque knew the result of the matter instantly, and his brows couldn't help but frown. After a while, he exhaled a breath of foul air and said, "The results of the provincial examination review are about to come out..."
If we still can't touch the princess this time, we can only start somewhere else. After all these years, the Empress Mother still favors the nobles...
The author has something to say: Small theater
The Cook’s Daughter: Come on, come on, do you want to eat? The kind that kills you in one bite
Cook Shangshu: No loss, no deception, effective in one bite
————
Wei Min: ...Have you forgotten something?
Eighth Princess: Hmm? With Ayu by my side, I have not forgotten anything.
Wei Min: I mean why didn’t I appear! I am the protagonist! (╯‵□′)╯︵┴─┴
Ah Ruan: (comforting) Don’t be angry, don’t be angry, you are still injured.
Wei Min: (coming to his senses and looking weak) Yes, I am injured. I need my husband to kiss and hug me to get better.⊙v⊙
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