Chapter 53 The Prince Who Failed to Revolt
When Zhang Yuncheng heard that Zhang Xiaojia was vomiting blood and unconscious, he hurried back.
Instead, I watched her writing the documents one by one.
Zhang Xiaojia looked up at his brother, his eyes filled with inquiry: "Brother, are the government officials unwilling to send anyone here?"
Zhang Yuncheng shook his head helplessly and said, "They are waiting and watching, seemingly still weighing the pros and cons. I wanted to try again tomorrow..."
Zhang Xiaojia interrupted him, his tone firm: "Brother, there's no need to trouble my second sister with this matter. If the yamen still doesn't accept the case before the end of my shift tomorrow, I will go there myself. I've already thought of the reason, but I need you to help me prepare the relevant legal text. For now, let me keep this matter secret."
He Anping and others waited until Zhang Xiaojia woke up and left, but sent a team of people to protect them.
Aunt Qiao's experienced nurse also arrived. She quickly took over the funeral. With her help, Zhang Xiaojia felt a sense of relief. She dozed off for a moment, and when she opened her eyes again, the sky was already turning pale.
The next morning was the day for the imperial court. According to custom, all invitations were delivered to the palace before the court session.
Zhang Xiaojia secretly wondered how many people would come to the funeral today.
Not a single woman from the backyard came all morning.
They sent more gifts and not even a housekeeper, so Zhang Xiaojia directly returned them.
A county lady and a future queen fought each other, and the outcome was immediately clear.
At noon, a notification finally came from the sign-in area:
"Mrs. Liu, here!"
Zhang Xiaojia looked up and saw the wife of Prime Minister Zuo slowly walking into the mourning hall.
She quickly stood up and saluted: "Thank you, Madam Liu, for coming to pay your respects to Sister Yue."
After Madam Liu finished burning incense, she walked over to Zhang Xiaojia and said softly, "Today I can only come here as Madam Liu."
Zhang Xiaojia immediately understood that she could not represent the Left Prime Minister's Mansion.
Zhang Xiaojia bowed again and said, "Thank you, Madam Liu, for coming to see Sister Yue off for the last time."
After saying this, she personally escorted Madam Liu out of the house.
"The wife of the Dali Temple official has arrived!"
The announcements of "The wife of the Duke of Wei's prince has arrived!" came one after another.
Zhang Xiaojia knew that from now on, more and more people would come.
Zhang Xiaojia ordered: "Baizhu, prepare the incense. From now on, more people will come."
Just as Zhang Xiaojia had predicted, the tide turned after the court session. After the emperor's two trusted wives arrived, guests began arriving one after another.
Zhang Xiaojia wrote a petition and handed it to Zhang Yuncheng, "Brother, I don't know the format of the petition. Please copy it according to the content."
When Zhang Yuncheng saw this content, his hands were shaking. Jiaer was planning to make a big fuss!
The petition read: "The Princess of Lin'an deliberately used poison to harm the Princess of Anguo, resulting in her unfortunate death. This act is of a heinous nature and has extremely negative consequences, severely damaging the dignity of the court and the royal family."
All the censors of the Censorate were eyewitnesses to this case, personally witnessing the entire process of Zhang Xiaojia's poisoning. As the imperial supervisory body, the testimony of its censors is highly authoritative and credible, sufficient to provide conclusive evidence in this case.
Zhang Xiaojia snorted coldly, "Since you can't sue the Prince of Hengguo and get the autopsy report, then this county lady will sue this county lady. I fed a Fanzhao pill to Princess Anguo, which extended her life by half an hour. All the censors in the Imperial Censorate saw me personally feeding it to Princess Anguo. Get the autopsy report first."
Zhang Yuncheng frowned upon hearing Zhang Xiaojia's insistence, his worry evident in his words. He knew his sister's strong temper, but this matter was of grave importance, and if handled improperly, the consequences would be disastrous.
"Jia'er, do you understand the risks of this?" Zhang Yuncheng said earnestly. "Now that the Censorate has gotten involved, this matter is no longer simple. If you accuse yourself of poisoning, what if Duke Heng takes this opportunity to retaliate and accuse you of doing it on purpose? What will we do then?"
Zhang Xiaojia's eyes were firm, and his tone was filled with unquestionable determination: "Brother, I have made up my mind. Then I can only fight for it in my own way. I can't let Sister Yue die in vain, and I can't let the real murderer go unpunished."
Zhang Yuncheng hadn't thought of this before, and thought it would be better to change his thinking. He said, "Take a look at the petition I wrote and see if it's better."
Seeing this, Zhang Yuncheng immediately picked up his pen and began to write another petition. He carefully considered each word and sentence, and soon completed a more clever and logically rigorous petition, which he quickly handed to Zhang Xiaojia.
The petition read: "I, Zhang Xiaojia, Princess of Lin'an County, am filing a lawsuit with the government regarding the recent groundless accusation of intentionally harming Princess Anguo. Princess Anguo has unfortunately passed away, yet some are falsely accusing me of the murderer and claiming the entire Imperial Censorate as witnesses. Such claims are pure nonsense and have severely damaged my reputation and rights."
Accusation: There are rumors that I used poison to harm Princess Anguo.
Rebuttal: I have never used any poison, nor have I committed any harm to Princess Anguo. These accusations are pure fabrication, without any factual basis, and the Military Virtue Commissioner can testify.
Evidence of accusation: All censors of the Censorate served as eyewitnesses.
Rebuttal: Although the Censorate was present, he did not personally witness the alleged "poisoning." Furthermore, as the imperial supervisory body, the Censorate's testimony should be based on facts, not groundless speculation or rumors.
In view of the above situation, I hereby make the following request to the government:
1. Immediately initiate an investigation to find out the truth and clear the person’s name.
2. Request the Censorate to provide conclusive evidence to prove that I committed the so-called "poisoning" and that it was not me, and find out the real culprit.
3. Request the government to issue a detailed autopsy report to find out the real cause of death of Princess Anguo.
4. Those who spread rumors and fabricate facts will be severely punished to safeguard the dignity of the court and the royal family.]
The most ruthless one was Zhang Yuncheng in front of him. The accusations were totally fabricated, but he actually wrote them. This petition had the whole censors in the Censorate in trouble.
The Censorate should not try to keep itself out of trouble. If it does not issue an autopsy report, it will be accusing Zhang Xiaojia of poisoning Princess Anguo. If it issues an autopsy report, it will be known that Princess Anguo was given a long-term chronic poison and was violently beaten all over her body.
With the autopsy report of Princess Anguo, her husband, the Prince of Hengguo, must come out and explain what happened to Princess Anguo.
Zhang Xiaojia looked at the petition and said, "Of course your petition is good, but no one accepted it."
Zhang Yuncheng said, "At first, I didn't include you in the complaint. I only filed the complaint against the Prince of Hengguo who poisoned Princess Anguo. Now, I've left Prince of Hengguo out of the case. The complaint now includes you, the Censorate, the Military and Virtue Department, and Princess Anguo. The government won't dare to refuse."
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