Chapter 180: Punishment of Wu An
Wu An uttered two snorts of laughter from his nose and continued:
"Let's not talk about the fact that it's just a piece of paper that I don't know where it came from. Your mother-in-law is a fugitive from the imperial court. How can she be a witness? Judgment requires solid evidence."
"Now that the Qin family has died out, you just pick up a piece of paper and come to His Majesty to complain. Aren't you too naive? Do you think His Majesty is at your mercy?"
Wu An's remarks, which were openly persuasive but secretly derogatory, did not cause any waves except for the person concerned to look at her indifferently.
But Meng's mother, who hated Wu An to the core, could no longer kneel when she saw her daughter-in-law belittling her own son and wife in such a way. She was so angry that she forgot where she was.
Mother Meng knelt forward a few inches with a slurp, and pointed at Wu An who was kneeling on the left side through Su Yuan. Her face was red with anger, and even the corners of her mouth were twitching slightly:
"You, you traitor..."
Unexpectedly, she only said half of her words.
Su Yuan suddenly covered his mouth and slammed his head heavily on the marble floor in one go. Then Su Yuan kowtowed and apologized:
"Your Majesty, Meng is a mother and a wife. She could not bear the separation of flesh and blood, and the separation of husband and wife, so she lost her manners in front of the palace. I, your humble servant, dare to ask Your Majesty to show sympathy and give you a lighter punishment."
Mother Meng covered her buzzing crown with her hand and looked around blankly, especially when she saw her daughter-in-law kowtowing. The voice of Su Yuan begging for mercy kept floating in her ears.
She suddenly reacted, gasped, and didn't care whether her forehead hurt or not. She kowtowed and begged for mercy with her body rising and falling:
"I am guilty. It's because I don't know the etiquette. Your Majesty, please don't blame Su Xiuzhuan. If you want to punish someone, punish me."
Emperor Fengwu glanced at the two people indifferently, his slightly furrowed brows revealed a hint of helplessness, and his voice was gentle but with a sense of deterrence:
"Alright, we are not plants or trees and we are not heartless. I will spare you the punishment."
After she finished speaking, she raised her eyebrows, her tone casual but meaningful:
"Su Xiuzhuan, besides the physical evidence you presented and Meng, do you have any other evidence to identify Wu Xueshi?"
Su Yuan lowered his eyelids, looking calmly at the halo of light reflected by the warm sun on the jade steps, his voice was low and pleasant:
"No."
Upon hearing this, Emperor Fengwu's eyes showed disappointment. He placed his fingers on the dragon head handle and tapped it rhythmically a few times. A palace servant beside him then bowed his head and presented him with a teacup.
Wu An raised his eyelids slightly, stole a glance at the expressionless face of Emperor Feng Wu, turned his head slightly, squinted at the two people on the ground beside him with disdain, and spoke in a long and slow tone:
"Your Majesty has specially granted King Nanyou three months to investigate the case of the Meng and Qin clans, but now there is still more than a month left and Su Xiuzhuan can't wait to file a complaint."
"Hehe... Logically speaking, Lord Su, as an official, although he has been in office for a short time, he should not be so confused. Could it be that King Nanyou couldn't find anything strange and sent Su Xiuzhuan to test the waters in front of Your Majesty?"
After she finished speaking, she bowed solemnly to Emperor Fengwu and said in a low voice:
"Your Majesty, if the King of Nanyou is unreasonable, I would like to make a bold suggestion. It would be better to transfer this case and the Meng family to the Dali Temple for trial. Anyway, I am upright and I am not afraid of a retrial."
Emperor Fengwu casually handed the teacup to the palace attendant, and his eyes fell indifferently on Wu An. There was an indistinct meaning in his deep eyes, and he chuckled as if he saw through her thoughts:
"Dali Temple?"
If I remember correctly, Tao Bojian, the Shaoqing of Dali Temple, is the wife of the eldest son of Duke Qi. Did these people really treat her like a fool?
However, Su Yuan was indeed reckless and impulsive in his actions today. After all, he was too young to be of great use. Thinking of this, Emperor Fengwu's eyes sank slightly, and he spoke word by word, his voice as clear as ice water:
"Since it has been handed over to King Nanyou, it cannot be changed. However, Su Xiuzhuan made a mistake in his work due to insufficient evidence. He shall be punished..."
Before she finished her words of punishment, a royal attendant rushed to the outside of the hall and whispered:
"Your Majesty, King Nanyou has an important matter to present to you."
Emperor Fengwu frowned slightly, lowered his eyes and thought for a moment, then immediately stood up and left Wuying Palace with the palace servants without saying a word.
Only three women, some looking pale and some looking smug, were left kneeling in the hall.
…
"The Emperor, in compliance with the Will of Heaven, proclaims that Wu An, a scholar at the Imperial Academy, has abused his power for personal gain and embezzled and accepted bribes amounting to hundreds of thousands of taels of silver. He has deeply betrayed my grace and is sentenced to death. His entire clan will be implicated. I decree this—"
As the palace attendant's shrill, drawn-out voice announced the decree, Wu An's face suddenly turned as pale as window paper, his eyes filled with confusion and anger.
She stood up with a thud, tightly grasped the palace servant's green sleeve with one hand, turned her head and pointed at Su Yuan and Meng Mu beside her, and said hysterically in an unbelievable tone:
"They, it's them!"
"Is your Majesty's decree written incorrectly? It is clearly these two who are to be punished. You, you go and ask for me. I, I..."
She suddenly stopped talking, and the fear that had been buried deep in her heart burst out, and all kinds of horrible guesses emerged in her mind.
Wu An's bloodshot eyes bulged out, and he let go of the palace servant like a madman and ran to the palace gate, muttering:
"Silver, hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, mine, all mine—"
Seeing that the person had already walked back to the two of them, Su Yuan glanced at her calmly and pulled Meng Mu back to the wall:
"Mother-in-law, please step back so she doesn't go crazy and hurt you."
The palace attendant who announced the decree glanced at the two people who were hiding far away in the corner. As someone who was accustomed to big scenes, he couldn't help but shake his head and smile.
Then he looked up, raised his chin to the Royal Guards standing at the door who were specializing in catching criminals, and ordered:
"Arrest the man and put him in jail."
After he finished speaking, a smile appeared on his gloomy face. He walked slowly to Su Yuan and bowed, saying:
"Sir Su, His Majesty has explained that the Meng family incident has been investigated. The Meng and Qin families in Tongzhou were murdered by Wu An. All the stolen property will be verified and sent back to the palace by Jingzhao Yin."
Su Yuan nodded without a trace of surprise and asked with a smile:
"Your Majesty, did you tell me that I and my mother-in-law left?"
After hearing this, the palace attendant turned sideways and made a gesture of invitation:
"You can leave, please."
…
Outside the Wu Mansion, in the carriage.
Mother Meng lifted the curtain of the carriage and glanced outside at the imperial guards coming in and out. She looked at Su Yuan with a puzzled look and asked:
"Yuanyuan, my mother-in-law asked you why His Majesty spared us and suddenly punished that bastard Wu An. Not only did you keep silent, but you also brought me here."
Su Yuan had an unfathomable look on his face. He glanced at Meng's mother and father, the second husband, and his good friend, and kept it a secret:
"The answer is in the Wu Mansion. You will know it if you look carefully."
Upon hearing this, the four people from the Meng family lifted the curtain of the car to take a closer look, all with a look of confusion in their eyes.
The haze between Meng Mu's eyebrows and eyes gradually dissipated as Wu An fell. Now she was in the mood to make a joke. She clapped her hands and said with a smile:
"I get it, but you want me to see the miserable state of Wu An after his family was confiscated and exterminated, in order to please my mother-in-law under the guise of this?"
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