Chapter 232 – Too Many Changes to Predict

Yanfu Temple in the eastern part of the city is an ancient temple with a long history and a flourishing incense burner, and its reputation is growing because of the exhibition of the Blood Sutra.

This day Yanfu Temple early morning closed the door, sweeping the mountain road, do not receive ordinary incense and tourists, focusing on welcoming the Queen Consort’s phoenix drive.

At the end of the hour, the phoenix driving front and back through the gate, Wei Guifei changed to take six people to carry the shoulder marsupial, pick up the steps into the temple in front of the main hall, only in the court ladies in the support of the ground.

The presiding officer of Yanfu Temple brought the monks to welcome her in person. After Wei Guifei offered incense and prayers in the Great Hall of Great Heroes, a group of monks sat together in the hall and chanted sutras and prayed for her mother’s well-being.

Chanting time is quite long, naturally can not let the noble consort dry waiting, the presiding officer will invite her into a beautifully decorated quiet room to rest a little, such as the chanting of the scriptures to hold the ceremony of praying for purification, and then invite her to the front hall.

After the monks left, Noble Consort Wei gave a wink towards the accompanying Ruan Hongjiao.

Ruan Hongjiao understood and sent the guards and palace maids to block the passageways in all directions, forbidding anyone from approaching, while she herself and her personal maidservant guarded the entrance to the quiet room without moving an inch.

Wei Guifei nodded in satisfaction and pushed the door in, backhanding down the bolt.

She stroked her temples and examined her dress and train, and a sense of apprehension arose in the bottom of her heart, just like the day she first entered the palace to meet the emperor.

Turning through the screen, through the beaded curtain, she saw the man in white who was meditating on the banquet table. The man in front of the qin, the side of the burning incense, behind the window paper painted misty clouds of the spiritual mountain waterfall, set off his seemingly unlike a mortal.

Wei Guifei watched in fascination for a while before returning to her senses, biting her lip and calling out, “Sir.”

Mr. Crane opened his eyes and smiled faintly at her, “Your Highness is well.”

–

Guarding outside the door Ruan Hong Banana pondered for a moment, beckoned the maidservant to come over, and said with an ear, “You go and pass a message for me to Su Daren’s family’s young man, and say that …… the ‘Phoenix Crane Society East Temple’. When you go out naturally, don’t attract people’s ears.”

The maidservant nodded, and after silently memorizing it, she uneasily urged, “Miss be careful alone, the maidservant will go and return.” Then she turned around and left.

Ruan Hongxiao didn’t feel any better, but after being so concerned by the maidservant, she became a bit nervous instead. She secretly thought: having done it all, why don’t we just do it to the end and find a chance to hear what they said.

She walked around the periphery of the quiet room, saw that the portal was tightly closed and impeccable, and pressed outside the windowpane to listen, but could not hear the movement inside, so she had to frown and look for another good plan.

–

At the court meeting at Fengtian Gate, Su Yan finished the last two points of his impeachment, and it really only took two quarters of an hour.

“…… I hope that His Majesty will listen to the words of the minister, to detect the treachery of the Wei family, to get rid of the thieves for the world. Wei’s family of moth-eaten country has been a long time, its forces are intertwined with a wide range, I please set up a task force to investigate, the main culprits placed in the power of the felony in order to correct the national law, from the offender oracle to send to the national body of the book cut. The thieves have gone, then the government can be clear!” Su Yan voluntarily bowed to the imperial throne.

Su Yan knelt down, and the divine beast Xiezhi embroidered on his green court dress opened his eyes angrily. Emperor Jinglong gazed at his back in silence.

The arena was silent for a while, the officials seemed to be watching and waiting, and it seemed that a storm was brewing that would sweep the court.

“Your Majesty, I have something to say.” Zuo Guangbi, the Minister of Justice, stood out, “The source of the Wei family’s crimes impeached by Young Minister Su is not reliable!”

The crowd sniffed and looked at him in surprise.

Zuo Guangbi continued, “Everyone should be aware of the public trial held by Su Shaoqing before, one of the most important witnesses was Wan Xin, the inner brother of Marquis Feng’an. This person not only uncovered the Vacuum Cult conspiracy, but also denounced the Wei family and provided a great deal of testimony and information to Su Shaoqing.

“–Sama Su, am I right?”

Su Yan stood up and said calmly, “Not bad.”

Zuo Guangbi sneered slightly and raised his voice: “Do you gentlemen know that that Wan Xin has gone mad!”

“Crazy?”

“Seriously, how is that crazy?”

Imperial historian Chu Qiu immediately stepped forward: “On the day of the public trial assembly, you and I were on the field together, that Wan Xin was sane and clear in his speech, and was not a madman. Why did Lord Zuo make such a statement!”

Zuo Guangbi looked at his former friend. Roads are different, from now on, they are political enemies – he sighed regretfully in his heart.

“Wan Xin since the North Township Division secretly arrested, has been detained in the Imperial Prison. This official took the Ministry of Justice documents to go to mention people, but the North Zhenfu Si has many excuses, only refused to release people, this is who’s authorization, should not need this official to say more?”

Zuo Guangbi turned to look at Su Yan: “This Wan Xin let you pinch flat and rub round, naturally, what you want to confession, there is what confession. The North Township Division has a lot of negative tricks to fix the prisoners, he could not survive being driven crazy, it makes sense.

“Lord Su, if this official is lying, please release Wan Xin, so that the public can see with their own eyes whether they are crazy or not!”

Su Yan’s face sank like water.

Wan Xin had indeed gone mad, but mad after submitting his testimony, mad in the setup between the Wei family and Mr. Crane. Ever since choosing the latter between the information delivered by Ruan Hongjiao and her life, he knew that this moment was bound to come.

Zuo Guangbi pressed, “Why does Lord Su not answer, is it a tacit acceptance that what this official says is true?”

“…… I am ashamed of Wan Xin.” Su Yan said in a deep voice.

The group of ministers immediately boinged and buzzed, and Su Yan raised his voice: ”I promised Wan Xin that I would guarantee his personal safety, and also said that the Imperial Prison is the safest place for him nowadays. In order for him to be able to come out alive to testify, I didn’t let the Ministry of Justice lift the person, worrying that he would encounter backstabbing halfway through the transfer. However, there is always a mistake in a hundred secrets, and the other party did not choose to kill and silence him, but used another more insidious trick.

“Wan Xin was drugged out of his mind after providing a confession, this was a mistake in the work of the task force, and as the head of the group I am rightly responsible for it.

“But the evidence he provided is valid because it is not isolated, and there are many other exhibits and victims that can be verified and supplemented. This is called the ‘chain of evidence’, and it is like a chain of iron links, and just because one of the links is flawed, it does not negate all the others.

“In addition, the person who made Wan Xin crazy was instructed by whom and how to sneak into the imperial prison, and whether or not there is an insider in the Northern Zhenfu Division, I will continue to track it down to the end, and return justice to Wan Xin!”

Chain of evidence? The criminal judges present pondered over this fresh word and found it quite interesting, and they couldn’t help but nod slightly.

Indeed, solitary evidence does not stand. Wan Xin’s confession is an important piece of evidence, but not the only one.

However, Zuo Guangbi still bites on this point: “The source of evidence is unknown, and the most important witness is also delirious. In my opinion, Su Shaoqing’s impeachment of the two marquis of the Wei family has the suspicion of using the case to climb up the ladder, and his words are not enough to gain credibility, and I hope that Your Majesty will be clear about this!”

“Honored and important officials should not be allowed to be lightly insulted and falsely accused, I hope that Your Majesty will be clear about this!” Many officials knelt down in solidarity with the Wei family.

“Your Majesty, Wei’s evil deeds are obvious to all, please execute the traitors of the country to set the program straight!” Some other officials also kowtowed and petitioned.

Jinglong Emperor slowly opened his mouth, “What do the …… cabinet ministers think about this matter?”

The first minister Li Xifeng just wanted to speak, his throat was sore and itchy, and he covered his hand towel and coughed.

Second Counselor Jiao Yang jumped the gun and said, “This is a big matter and should not be decided hastily, Your Majesty might as well send someone else to investigate.”

Emperor Jinglong said, “What Jiao Ziuxu means is, also set up a special case for special investigation?”

When Jiao Yang heard, he was worried about letting Su XII be the leader of the group again, and was busy adding, “Su Shaoqing has a personal grudge against Marquis Wei, so I’m afraid that he can’t hold his heart in a fair manner, and he should avoid suspicion.”

Emperor Jinglong pondered for a moment, just about to open his mouth, Lanxi side got the message from the little chamberlain, small broken steps moved to the side of the imperial seat, whispered, “Your Majesty, the empress dowager’s side has a please.”

“You have someone reply that I will go to Ci Ning Palace after the next court.” The emperor returned.

Lan Xi said with difficulty, “The empress dowager had an acute attack, please the imperial master …… shall not delay for a moment, and immediately go over.”

Emperor Jinglong stopped talking. Lan Xi bowed and lowered his head, not daring to look at the face of the Son of Heaven, only from the deepened and aggravated breathing could he hear that the holy heart was not hesitant.

After a short silence, the Emperor rose and said, “–Dismiss the court!”

–

This span of two days, involving a large number of people, the momentum of the impeachment, both sides of the word, each attacking each other, and finally the emperor did not have any position on the announcement of the withdrawal of the dynasty, there are some tiger’s head, snake’s tail meaning.

Su Yan mixed in the stream of people leaving the court through the Jinshui Bridge, walking and speculating: what exactly did Lan Xi report to the emperor to make today’s meeting end in a hasty manner?

Yu Wang from the rear stride to catch up, to his ear said: “mother urgent call, I also want to go to Ci Ning Palace to visit. When you get on the carriage later, go straight home and don’t turn anywhere, there are guards left by me in your residence, and there are also brocade guards secretly sent by your royal brother nearby, so it’s safer.”

Su Yan nodded his head and sincerely thanked him.

King Yu was uneasy and urged again, “After today, you must be extra careful. Beasts are most ferocious when they rebound from danger.”

Su Yan nodded again and smiled, “Don’t worry, Your Highness, the subordinate officer is very careful with his life, and will definitely act cautiously.”

King Yu couldn’t help but raise his hand, wanting to touch his cheek, but he held back and retracted midway.

“I’m leaving-” King Yu finished, turning against the flow of people, amidst the sidelong avoidance of the courtiers, and walking toward the lofty and hallowed hall of the deep palace.

His back is majestic and proud, but also appears to be lonely, like a disarmed soldier, a lonely traveler. Su Yan stared blankly for a moment, startled out of focus, busy retracting the line of sight, carrying a heart of mixed feelings, back to their own carriage.

Today driving to send him to the court is Su Xiaojing, than Su Xiaobei lively and childish, see the situation to flirt: “How the adult soul is restless, is it a war of words to lose?”

Su Yan sighed softly, “There are too many variables, and it’s hard to win or lose.”

Su Xiaojing raised his whip and urged his horse, saying briskly, “Your Excellency has the ability and the luck to turn danger into success every time, and this time is no exception.”

“You trust me so much, my lord?”

“Of course. Instead of worrying about the adults losing the fight, why don’t you think more about what to eat tonight, Little Brother Bei has been steaming buns lately, and it’s almost turning me into a bun as well. Why don’t we eat grilled lamb chops tonight ……,” the youngster’s bright and cheerful voice went away with the sound of the horse’s hooves and wheels.

–

Just as he pushed open the door of his home, Su Xiaobei sniffed and greeted him from the gatehouse, saying, “My lord, there is a matter, and it looks quite urgent.”

“What is it?”

“The buns are steamed?”

Su Yan and Su Xiaojing asked at the same time.

“Go go go, go to the kitchen to get your own buns to eat, don’t get in the way of me talking business with adults.” Su Xiao Bei shooed Su Xiao Jing away.

He first closed the door tightly and pulled Su Yan into the hall before saying, “Ruan Xingshou’s personal servant girl, the one who insisted on exchanging soybean sauce with me before, came to deliver the message again this morning. Because His Excellency was not here, I unauthorizedly received the note and waited for His Excellency to return.”

Su Yan said, “I told Sister Ruan last time to pay attention to her safety and not to sneak any more messages, why didn’t she listen.”

Su Xiaobei handed him the note: “Ruan Xingshou has Ruan Xingshou’s own thoughts, even adults cannot sway them.”

Su Yan took the note and unfolded it to see that there were only five words on it: phoenix crane will east temple.

After a moment’s thought, he frowned and said, “Noble Consort Wei is so bold! To do such a ridiculous thing, is she blinded by lard?”

Su Xiaobei asked, “Wei has done something stupid and absurd, isn’t your honor happy to see it? Isn’t it a good opportunity for us when the enemy makes a foolish move?”

Su Yan sighed, “If it doesn’t involve the Emperor’s face, I’m naturally happy to see it.”

Su Xiaobei didn’t quite understand and asked again, “Then should we seize this opportunity?”

“The opportunity naturally cannot be missed, but a more suitable entry point has to be found, allow me to think about it ……”

<