Chapter 26: Smooth Things Over
After hearing the official’s report, the Zhou Emperor narrowed his eyes and said, “Hand over the memorial!”
Immediately, a eunuch went down to retrieve the memorial.
Wen Jinming had put in a lot of effort into this memorandum. He wrote down the details of the matter in detail without any bias. He only displayed the details from the perspective of a bystander.
But that was enough.
From the looks of it, Yan Luoying’s behavior was clearly inappropriate.
After pondering for a while, the Emperor spoke, “Summon Yan Luoying and Wen Jinming to the palace!”
“Your subject obeys!”
Soon, Yan Luoying and Wen Jinming arrived at the palace.
Both of them looked solemn.
Emperor Zhou asked someone to pa.s.s the memorial to Yan Luoying. He asked expressionlessly, “Yan Luoying, is this memorial true?”
Yan Luoying opened the memorial and read through it once. She then spoke out, “It’s true!”
“Most of the patrolling guards have pet.i.tioned for you to be transferred. What do you think?”
Yan Luoying said, “I think it’s too little. It’s normal for it to be 90% or 100%. It seems that some people in the guards garrison have some conscience.”
Hearing this, the Zhou Emperor was furious. He shouted, “Yan Luoying, you just went to the patrolling office and already lost the loyalty of the people present. How can you still say that?”
Yan Luoying bowed and said, “Your Majesty, this was because I cut off the extra benefits that the patrolling guards would normally obtain!”
With that, she told him about her refusal to accept any benefits.
As soon as he finished speaking, Wen Jinming fell to his knees and kowtowed, shouting, “Your Majesty, this Yan Luoying is framing this subordinate. When has anyone in the guards ever received benefits from others? This is complete nonsense. This subordinate has never given Yan Luoying any money. She’s framing me.”
The emperor turned back to look at Yan Luoying and smiled. “This is all just empty talk. Do you have evidence?”
Yan Luoying said, “Su Wen, the deputy garrison commander has also agreed with me not to receive any benefits. Please summon him, Your Majesty, and you can hear it from him.”
“Summon Su Wen to the palace!”
Someone immediately went to fetch Su Wen.
Unexpectedly, compared to Yan Luoying and Wen Jinming, the person who summoned Su Wen did not return even after a while.
Finally, the palace servant and Su Wen arrived.
The Emperor frowned as he asked, “Why did it take so long to summon Su Wen?”
The man in question looked at Su Wen and hesitated.
That’s right. Yan Luoying and Wen Jinming were summoned from the patrolling office, but when he went over to summon Su Wen, he was told that Su Wen was not there.
He could only turn to the Prime Minister’s mansion. At this time, Young Master Su was still sleeping in. He had to wash up and change his clothes, which took up a lot of time.
If it was anyone else, he would have just reported it straightaway. However, Su Wen was Su Changqing’s son after all, so how could he dare to say it?
Fortunately, Su Wen cupped his hands and said, “Your Majesty, I was not feeling well today and was resting at home, so he did not manage to find me in the office, hence the tardiness.”
The Zhou Emperor sized him up before coldly laughing. “You rascal, I’ve long heard that your health isn’t good. Since that’s the case, you should take good care of yourself and avoid going to those pleasure places!”
After saying that, the Zhou Emperor did not wish to continue on this topic. He went straight to the point, “On the day you took up your post at the Patrol Guard Office, did Wen Jinming give you any benefits?”
Su Wen said matter-of-factly, “Yes, he did. There was a total of 2,500 taels but I thought it was too little and didn’t accept it.”
The court officials were dumbfounded. What kind of words were this?
You didn’t accept it because it was too little? Then if it’s a lot, would you have taken it?
However, the Emperor couldn’t be bothered with Su Wen. He flew into a rage and stood up angrily. He looked at Wen Jinming and berated, “What else do you have to say?”
Wen Jinming was extremely nervous. He kowtowed frantically and shouted, “I’m innocent, Your Majesty. Since Su Wen and Yan Luoying are engaged to each other, how can Su Wen’s testimony be valid!”
Unexpectedly, Emperor Zhou sat back down and said calmly, “That makes sense. The two of them cannot testify between themselves!”
Then, she turned to Yan Luoying and asked, “Are there any other witnesses?”
“No others!” Yan Luoying could only tell the truth.
The Zhou Emperor nodded, “Then we’ll leave this matter for now and let the Royal Censor investigate it strictly. Now, we’ll talk about how you oppressed your subordinates. Do you have an explanation?”
Yan Luoying said, “I’m not trying to oppress them. The guards indeed did not perform their responsibilities properly. In addition, I also gave Tian Kai a time limit to urge him to hunt down the murderer as soon as possible.”
The Emperor smiled. “Alright. What about Du Ping?”
“Interrogating with torture is something that has happened since ancient times.”
“I guess that makes sense.” Emperor Zhou swept his gaze over Yan Luoying and Wen Jinming and concluded, “Since that’s the case, let’s do it like this for now. Yan Luoying will continue to serve as the garrison commander of the East District! You guys can leave now!”
To everyone’s surprise, the Zhou Emperor neither dealt with Wen Jinming nor transferred Yan Luoying.
There was a sense of trying to smooth things over.
Everyone in the royal court began to calculate, as they did not know what the Emperor was thinking.
On the other hand, the atmosphere in the Profound Language Pavilion was rather tense.
Today was the time for the annual tour of the Profound Language Pavilion officials. Everyone hoped to find a good place.
The scholars in the Profound Language Pavilion couldn’t digest any of the books they were reading, so they walked around and chatted. After all, they might be transferred to the ends of the world. It was unknown when they would meet again.
Only Su Yu was not affected and continued reading quietly.
“Look at him, such poise!”
“Haha, if I had a father who was the prime minister, I would have great poise at this moment too.”
“He probably already knew the outcome, right?”
“He had already his path laid out the moment he was born. It doesn’t matter whether he studied or not, unlike us. We have been living in poverty for 10 years, risking our lives to achieve something, and we still have to rely on our qualifications. If he wanted to become an official, he would have done so a long time ago. Didn’t you hear of that foppish son of a b*tch, Su Wen, getting bestowed with a marriage out of nowhere? He even entered the Patrol Guard Office and became a 5th ranked official. Just like that, he’s already so much better than us.”
Su Yu tightened his grip on the book when he heard the whispers.
“But do you know that poem by Minister Su?”
“Haha, who doesn’t know? The news has already spread throughout the capital.”
“If time could stop at the moment we first met, then there would not be abandonment and neglect… right now, stories are rife in the teahouses as well as the taverns.”
“What story?”
“They all talk about Minister Su’s love life with a lady from a n.o.ble family. Because Minister Su’s family was in poverty, he could only bury his head in the books and study hard.. In the end, he became the top scorer, but the young lady had already married someone else. Minister Su was extremely sad, and that’s why he wrote such a heartbreaking poem.”
The gossip in the capital spread very quickly, and there was even a vivid description being painted as though it was true. It was unknown what Su Changqing would think if he were to hear it.
Standing to the side, He Sui had a look of disdain. In his view, this poem was naturally excellent, but it was only half a poem in the end. Although he had to admit Su Changqing’s talent, he also looked down on him for not being able to write a complete poem.
It was at this time that a eunuch entered the Profound Language Pavilion and presented the Emperor’s Honor Roll!
This Honor Roll was hung at the entrance of the Profound Language Pavilion. All of the people who were taking up official tours this year were on it.
He Sui wasn’t in a hurry. He had already received the news that the Crown Prince had already arranged for him an official post to take up this year. Furthermore, it was a prosperous place in Jiangnan Prefecture. As long as he could maintain the few years in a stable manner, he would be promoted.
This was the benefit of joining the Crown Prince’s faction!