Chapter 249 A Commoner's Wrongful Conviction
The two children secretly glanced at Xiao Qing, who was surrounded by the crowd.
Xiao Qing has never liked clothes with elaborate embroidery, so even as the young emperor, he would never wear a dress with dragon and flying patterns unless it was a grand occasion.
However, being the young emperor, it was customary for his clothes to be embroidered with dragons. Therefore, to cater to the young emperor, the dragon embroidery on Xiao Qing's clothes was exquisitely crafted.
The black riding outfit she was wearing now featured a dark pattern of dragons. This pattern only became apparent when the light and the angle of view changed; it was not exaggerated, but extremely exquisite.
So the two frightened children didn't realize Xiao Qing's identity, but seeing the group of adults in official robes around her, they assumed they were all very important people.
While they were filled with anxiety, Fu Mingyi gave a slight smile.
"I have never met these two children before, and their presence here is yet to be verified. Since we are verifying it, why not listen to what they have to say? Since Lord Sun also has this question, why don't we listen together?"
He remained composed throughout his speech.
Xiao Qing was impatient with their bickering, so she waved her hand and said, "You continue."
Lord Sun wanted to say something more, but Wang Xiang glanced at him, and he swallowed the rest of his words.
Since we've come this far, we have to finish what we've said.
"With this calamity befalling our family, there's no one to take charge, the servants are scattered, and my brother and I have nowhere to go. So... so we've returned to this old house, just... hoping to find something to eat..."
The child spoke simply, but the emotions in his heart were not so easy to dispel. Thinking about the drastic changes that had taken place in his family in just a few days, and how his life had been turned upside down, he and his brother, who had originally been well-fed and clothed and lived a life of abundance, were now risking their lives to come here just to fill their stomachs...
All they wanted was to go home...
My younger brother has already started to sob.
The older brother held his younger brother in his not-so-broad arms, his teeth clenched, tears streaming down his face.
Zhao Youchen frowned. "What are your names? Where is your house located? Who requisitioned it? Why was it requisitioned? And who put your parents in jail? Which jail?"
Wang Xiang now understood what was going on.
He glanced at Fu Mingyi, whose expression was calm and even somewhat indifferent, and his mind was already racing.
Xiao Qing then thought of some things that Fu Mingyi had said before.
She had a keen sense that something was likely about to happen. But what happened might not be what she was waiting for.
The two children looked at each other but did not answer the questions.
Wang Xiang whispered, "Your Majesty, such matters should be handled by the Court of Judicial Review. Besides, these two children only have one side of the story, and they don't seem to know the whole story. It would be better to order the Minister of Judicial Review to take them back, find out the truth, and then report back to Your Majesty."
He spoke very sincerely, and then added, "Perhaps there is some misunderstanding. The children don't know the truth and can't explain it clearly. If the two children are really in trouble, the Dali Temple will investigate the case, punish those who should be punished, and help those who should be helped. There will always be a result. Your Majesty is hunting today, and there are still many things in this villa waiting for Your Majesty's decision and instructions. Please don't worry about such uncertain matters. It would be our fault."
Xiao Yan glanced at Fu Mingyi, somewhat curious about what he would do.
Xiao Qing also glanced at Fu Mingyi.
"What does the Grand Tutor think?"
It was quite a coincidence. Before the Grand Tutor could express his opinion, footsteps could be heard approaching from the woods.
It seems there are quite a few people.
"Your Majesty, we pay our respects! Long live Your Majesty!"
Xiao Qing was now completely unmoved by this kind of blatant lying, but she still turned around seriously, palms up, and said in a calm voice, "Rise."
A group of about ten people walked over leading horses. Some horses had game tied to their backs, while others were just carrying bows, seemingly not yet hunting.
Hmm, there's Xiao Chongle, the Earl of Dinghai; Zheng Fangxiu, the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review; Feng Zhengmin, the Prefect of Yingzhou; and Yu Zaiting, the Military Governor of Jiangzhou…
These people were not entirely acquainted with each other, and it was unclear how they had come together from various places.
Yes, it is indeed a coincidence that the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review is among them.
Even the most oblivious children would understand who these people were by now.
They knelt on the ground and kowtowed, "This humble subject...this humble subject pays respects to Your Majesty, long live Your Majesty...long live Your Majesty!"
The older children are already very sensible; their minds work very quickly.
They had clearly seen that the people who came to their house to arrest people were wearing official robes, only the robes were different from those of the people in front of them.
Their parents had always been honest and hardworking, and had some property in Nanhua. However, they had struggled to make ends meet over the years, and their fortunes had declined year by year. This house outside the city was their ancestral property, and their father would never sell it, not even in the most difficult times. Even if he were to sell it, he would never allow himself to be imprisoned.
It must have been those bad people who framed his father, all for their ancestral home!
If he were dealing with an ordinary high-ranking official, who might be in cahoots with the official who arrested his father, he wouldn't dare say too much. But if the person before him was the emperor…
He didn't have time to think about how lucky he was to have met the emperor, whom most ordinary people would never see in their entire lives. He only thought that the emperor was in charge of all the officials, and that all the high-ranking officials here had to listen to the emperor.
If he truthfully accuses those heartless villains, the emperor will surely punish them severely and return their fathers to them!
With this belief, he kowtowed three more times, saying, "Your Majesty, this humble subject, Hu Wenying, has been wronged!"
Upon hearing this, Zheng Fangxiu's professional instincts kicked in.
Although Nanhua City was peaceful on ordinary days, the Dali Temple could not be too idle. So when Zheng Fangxiu was extremely bored, he liked to take a few of his men and swagger around the city.
In earlier years, there were some incredibly bold and pitiful people who particularly liked to stop his sedan chair, and the first thing they would say was that they had been wronged.
He was already very adept at handling this situation, so he immediately said, "Tell me your grievances quickly."
He's good at this!
The love, hate, and grudges among ordinary people are nothing more than a few scripts.
Either people die for money or birds die for food.
Or perhaps it's a romantic death beneath the peony blossoms.
Or it could be...
etc.
Zheng Fangxiu blurted out a sentence and immediately felt a headache coming on.
This isn't his own Dali Temple; the young emperor is still standing in front of him!
He had recently taken over the investigation from the young emperor into Zhao Ziyuan of Jiangzhou for embezzling state taxes, as well as the dereliction of duty by the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue. The case was thorny, and he was having a very difficult time handling it.
Logically, he should have kept a low profile and kept a low profile at this point!
Why did I act so impulsively and run into the line of fire?
Zheng Fangxiu felt a pang of regret for her not-so-bright mind.
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