Minister Lu fainted and finally received the long-awaited Imperial Physician.
He was covered in blood.
It seemed that even if he could survive, he wouldn''t be able to keep his position.
A group of officials who had built theirwork under Minister Lu were already thinking about alternative paths.
If Minister Lu was no longer around,
Then the n to target Vice Minister Jiang naturally couldn''t proceed.
After all, Vice Minister Jiang was Princess Huiyun''s own son, the Emperor''s nephew.
The Emperor had been so fond of Heir Apparent Han before that everyone suspected Han might be the Emperor''s own child. Heir Apparent Han lived much morefortably than the princes.
Now, was it a case of true or false Heir Apparent Han?
The Emperor loudly reprimanded Princess Huiyun in front of the court officials.
A quick-witted official immediately used the contents of official rules and regtions to plead for Princess Huiyun.
"The rules don''t explicitly state that a princess can''t strike the Prime Minister..."
Other officials turned their faces away.
How embarrassing, truly embarrassing.
Today you defend the princess.
Tomorrow when the princess''s sword pierces your body, no one will defend you.
The Emperor eventually fined Princess Huiyun ten years'' worth of her allowance.
He thought to himself that after court, he''d let his royal sister choose gifts from the treasury topensate her.
As for Vice Minister Jiang''s case,
Minister Lu had been carried away.
Who was next in line after Minister Lu?
The Emperor scratched his head.
He felt that Minister Lu had been quite efficient in his work.
With him suddenly being carried away, he didn''t know who to turn to for the job.
He nced at Inspector He, then quickly looked away.
Never mind, he worried that if he really called on Inspector He to investigate, He might actually find crimes worthy of executing Vice Minister Jiang''s entire n, which would include himself.
Unexpectedly, Inspector He voluntarily stepped forward.
The Emperor closed his eyes briefly, thinking, "Did you have to be so sensitive? It was just a nce."
This was why during morning court, the Emperor usually stared nkly ahead.
He feared that sudden eye contact might give some official strange ideas.
"This humble servant is willing to thoroughly investigate this matter. I have been upright all my life, yet I''ve been ndered with baseless rumors of an improper rtionship with Vice Minister Jiang. Although I am the tutor of Vice Minister Jiang''s young daughter, I am willing to disregard any suspicion and investigate who is behind these false usations. Vice Minister Jiang worked diligently in Jingzhou. When he left Jingzhou, the people saw him off with great reluctance, following him for a thousand miles. How could such a good official be in the Capital City for just a few days and be falsely used of so many crimes? This must be an organized and premeditated scheme..."
Princess Huiyun turned to look at Inspector He.
She seemed to recall this person, a former top schr. She had seen him parading through the streets after the imperial exams. He had aged quickly; back then he had a square face, but now it had be more angr.
He was quite eloquent; the more he spoke, the better.
The other officials: ...
So this old Inspector He was actually the little princess''s teacher??
This connection seemed too advanced.
Minister Dong looked up at the ceiling of the court, thinking the crossbeams looked quite nice.
His fingers fidgeted inside hisrge sleeves.
He had initially just wanted to find a suitable husband for his daughter.
To avoid rumors and gossip.
To stop the Liu family from asionally making snide remarks, as if his daughter couldn''t get married if she didn''t marry their son.
He was clearly at a disadvantage, but couldn''t move against Vice Minister Liu, always worried it might affect his daughter''s reputation.
He could only endure it.
He never expected that just as he found a satisfactory match,
As soon as he came to court, his inw was used.
One of the usations even involved him, iming they were in cahoots. This was utterly ridiculous - who in the Capital City wasn''t rted by marriage to someone else?
No wonder the Liu fellow had been so brazen yesterday.
Minister Dong was quite nervous.
In a ce like the imperial court, there was no such thing as the innocent being automatically cleared.
It was all about power struggles.
If you were weaker, you deserved to die.
As an inw, Minister Dong hadn''t thought about recusing himself immediately.
Firstly, he was a seasoned politician, and knew recusing himself at this point would be useless - if they wanted to implicate you, they would.
Secondly, he was also a schr with integrity, and disdained the idea of recusing himself now.
Even in the most corrupt court, there were still some people with principles and beliefs.
But before he could think of a strategy,
The situation took a turn.
Several twists, in fact.
Initially, the Jiang Feng they found was amoner.
When he came to propose, he had be a sixth-rank armed guard.
Just a dayter, he turned out to be Princess Huiyun''s grandson, a true member of the royal family.
So that exined the extravagant betrothal gifts that exceeded the norm.
It also showed that the Jiang family knew their own status but hadn''t backed out. Instead, they sincerely sought the marriage. Those treasures weren''t something even normal royal n members would have.
The royal n didn''t have a good reputation in the Capital City. Represented by Heir Apparent Han, most of them were like that.
This circle seemed to repel knowledge, full of absurdities.
But the Jiang family was different. They had the noble status of the royal n, but were outsiders, newly recognized, so they didn''t have the messy habits of the royal n.
His son-inw was also very knowledgeable.
Minister Dong could only look up at the ceiling beams. He worried that if he didn''t look at the beams, he might burst outughing.