Volume One, Chapter Nine: Seeking Justice, Stirring Up a Commotion

"Excellent, excellent, truly excellent! A marvelous petition for justice!" The Emperor watched the young girl kneeling before him, finding her truly amusing from the bottom of his heart. When palace servants reported last night that the Heir of the Marquis of Cheng'en had carried Xie Shu back home, he had suspected the two families were colluding.

He had not expected that, instead, there was deep-seated enmity between them.

It was truly interesting.

Those three "excellents" left Ning Rongsheng, kneeling at the foot of the dais, trembling with fear. He could not fathom the Emperor's thoughts. Logically, the Emperor had always viewed the General's Mansion of Zhenyuan as a thorn in his side; after all, no ruler likes a subject whose merits overshadow his own.

If he could use this opportunity to weaken the General's power, the Emperor should be the happiest person in the room.

But given the current atmosphere, Ning Rongsheng was hesitant. He feared the Emperor had other schemes, and if so, they were doomed.

"This humble subject has the audacity to beg Your Majesty to grant me justice." Every word Xie Shu spoke demanded nothing more than justice—a request that was not unreasonable.

Knowing when to stop, she was a person who understood boundaries. Waving a sleeve embroidered with dragon patterns, the Emperor raised his arm, stroked his beard, and asked slowly, "Do you have any rebuttal?"

Lady Li had previously been gagged, but fearing the Emperor would believe Xie Shu, she endured her pain to tug at Ning Rongsheng’s arm.

Ning Rongsheng guessed his mother’s intent. He was afraid she would offend the Emperor again, but then he feared that Xie Shu’s words would ruin his reputation before the throne. Not daring to speak, he loosened his grip, giving Lady Li the chance to cry out.

"Your Majesty! It was Xie Shu who was base and shameless, deliberately seducing my son! My Sheng’er is innocent! I beg Your Majesty to see the truth, to see the truth!" Finding an opening, Lady Li crawled toward the Emperor, wailing.

Though her voice was loud, her face was swollen, and her speech was garbled and slurred, making her hard to understand.

As the Emperor frowned slightly, Ning Rongsheng hurriedly prostrated himself and explained respectfully, "Your Majesty, although my mother’s words were biased, they were born of a mother’s love for her son, leading her to speak too harshly."

"Last night, I merely acted out of old ties, returning the fainted Third Miss Xie to the General's Mansion. If I had truly done such a base thing, may I be struck by lightning and suffer a wretched death." Xie Shu had sworn by heaven; Ning Rongsheng figured he could do the same. After all, he hadn't actually done anything to her, so why fear an oath?

"Then how does the Heir of Ning explain the wounds on his person?" Zhou Xunli’s gaze fell upon Ning Rongsheng’s collar. Between the bumpy carriage ride and kneeling in the hall for the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, the fresh bandages had given way, and the wounds had reopened.

A faint red seeped through, standing out starkly against his white robe.

Ning Rongsheng looked down, his mind racing. A flash of inspiration struck, and he lowered his head, replying with feigned indignation, "This wound... this wound was caused by the Third Miss Xie! When her seduction failed, she was overcome with shame and rage, and in a fit of anger, she stabbed me! I... I did not wish to mention it."

Heh, the same technique of false accusation as before. Xie Shu was neither ashamed nor angry; she listened quietly to Ning Rongsheng’s theatrics.

"Oh?" the Emperor remarked. "Since you each have your own version of the story, do you have evidence?"

"Before entering the palace, I sent men to investigate the General's Mansion," Zhou Xunli replied immediately. As the Governor of the Capital, he had received a report and had to investigate thoroughly; naturally, he would not miss the crime scene.

As he finished speaking, a young eunuch walked in with quick, quiet steps, knelt within ten paces of the dais, and reported, "Lin Sheng, the Lieutenant of the Capital Prefecture, requests an audience."

"Let him enter." Receiving a gesture from the Emperor, the head eunuch, Master An, flicked his whisk and summoned Lin Sheng into the hall.

Lin Sheng was a man promoted by Ning Rongsheng himself. He was efficient, skilled at finding clues in the smallest details, and had once solved a locked-room mystery involving a wealthy salt merchant’s sudden death in just three days.

"Lieutenant Lin, what have you found?" Zhou Xunli asked.

Lin Sheng stepped forward, took a small wooden box from his waist, presented it, and replied, "In the Third Miss's boudoir, I found fragments of a shattered medicine bowl. Upon testing by the Imperial Hospital, we discovered that the tonic had been laced with a sterility-inducing drug."

"What?" Ning Rongsheng looked confused. A sterility drug?

A tear slid from the corner of Xie Shu’s eye. She clutched her lower abdomen, bit her lip, and accused, "This medicine was sent by Ning Rongsheng. The maids in my courtyard saw him enter my room with their own eyes."

"Last night, Ning Rongsheng forced himself upon me, ruining my purity. The next day, he brought this bowl of medicine into my room and forced me to drink it. Your Majesty, as a woman, why would I ever induce my own sterility?" Xie Shu weighed every word. She had indeed planted the drug herself; her eldest sister had practiced martial arts since childhood and often returned with injuries, so she had studied pharmacology out of concern for her.

Brewing a dose of sterility medicine was effortless for her.

"Xie Shu, you, you, you! You are slandering me out of thin air!" Ning Rongsheng was so angry he could barely speak. He pointed at her and cursed, "You shrew, as if I would ever fancy you!"

Indeed, you did not fancy me; you fancied my sister. A mere clown, yet daring to harbor designs on my eldest sister! Xie Shu glared at him. What did it matter if she framed him?

*Smack!*

On the high seat, the Emperor grabbed a memorial from his table and hurled it at Ning Rongsheng’s face. "Silence!"

"How dare you be so rowdy in the presence of His Majesty!" Master An immediately stepped forward and slapped Ning Rongsheng across the face twice. The Marquis of Cheng'en’s family truly knew no manners! They had even annoyed the Emperor!

Stunned by the blows, Ning Rongsheng retreated, trembling, not daring to speak another word.

"Your Majesty, I have interrogated the servants of the General's Mansion one by one. Last night, the Heir of Ning, citing concern for the Third Miss's safety, ignored the steward's advice and insisted on staying in the side courtyard of her boudoir. As for the medicine sent today, it was brewed by the Heir himself. According to the kitchen maid, he even burned his hand while boiling it," Lin Sheng continued, stating only the facts without embellishment.

By now, the Emperor had reached his own conclusion. He did not care whether Xie Shu had truly lost her purity, but with human and material evidence, the facts were laid bare.

Even if Ning Rongsheng hadn't done it, it was his own fault for being outplayed.

The Buddhist prayer beads in his hand began to turn again. The Emperor looked at the weeping woman below and asked with a playful tone, "Xie Shu, tell me, what kind of justice do you want?"

"Today, the entire capital knows I have lost my purity. I can no longer remain in the General's Mansion. I only wish to marry into the Marquis of Cheng'en's house immediately to preserve my dignity. I beg Your Majesty to grant us a marriage!" Xie Shu wiped away her tears, her words sincere, yet every word left Ning Rongsheng in terror.

A marriage grant now? Wouldn't that tie the Marquis's house to the General's Mansion forever?

And just a moment ago, hadn't Xie Shu sworn upon her entire clan?

Zhou Xunli was also in disbelief. She was actually using such a "scorched earth" strategy—hurting the enemy by a thousand while suffering eight hundred herself—just to drag the Marquis of Cheng'en’s house down with her?

However, the moment she spoke, the Emperor burst into laughter. "Hahaha! So that is the justice you seek."

"I grant it. Someone, draft the decree!"

A game of dogs biting dogs—the Emperor loved it most of all.

The capital, he thought, ought to be just this lively.