Echoes of My Heart Throughout the Court

The old emperor glanced at this group of “unlucky fools” and, in an act of rare mercy, said, “Rise.”

The capital officials and retired ministers, who had been kneeling for an extended period, quickly stood up to express their gratitude. Their stiff bodies eased into their seats, sharp coldness seeping through their knees. Some discreetly stretched and flexed their legs to prevent joint stiffness.

However, those with titles ending in “Commissioner” had no time for such concerns.

Who cared if their legs were numb or if their knees hurt? The real question was—did they have troublesome grandsons at home? Could it be that their grandsons were the “unlucky fools” mentioned in Xu Yanmiao’s thoughts?

The commissioners started sweating.

“Damn! It can’t be my grandson, right?”

“My good-for-nothing grandson wouldn’t have gone out bullying men and women, would he?”

“My grandson is intelligent, but could he have used his wits in the wrong place?”

“My troublemaker did get into a fight once—split someone’s head open and broke two fingers. But I didn’t cover it up! I paid ten taels of silver for medical expenses and locked him up for three days. Surely, it’s not about us, right?!”

At that moment, one of the Imperial Censors stiffened from the base of his skull down to his tailbone, turning into a frozen sculpture.

“No way… Please don’t let it be me! I worked so hard to climb to a Rank 3 official position!”

Meanwhile, those who had previously been temporarily assigned as Deputy Military Commissioners found their chests tightening.

One by one, they started praying desperately.

“This has nothing to do with us, right? Deputy Commissioners are just ‘deputies’! What qualifies us to be called ‘Commissioners’?”

—Although, to be fair, their subordinates never really addressed them as Deputy anyway.

Xu Yanmiao let out a sharp mental “Hiss!”

Officials who could hear his thoughts also drew in a cold breath.

[A great-granddaughter-in-law seducing her father-in-law, only to be forcibly married off to an old fool by the head of the family?]

[Just like how it’s always the “seductive maid” who shamelessly tempts the pure-hearted young master, this time, it’s the great-granddaughter-in-law taking advantage of her father-in-law’s “old age and frailty,” forcing herself onto him, huh?]

[Such impressive authority from the Imperial Censor, crushing his great-granddaughter-in-law and her family until they had no choice but to accept this disgraceful arrangement.]

—There was only one Imperial Censor present. So…

The capital officials swiftly glanced at a particular Imperial Censor in the room before just as swiftly looking away, acting as if they were being completely proper and respectful.

Of course, if only they hadn’t whispered, “Frail? The Censor’s grandson’s father—aka the great-granddaughter-in-law’s father-in-law—is only thirty, isn’t he? Coveting his own son’s wife… how shameless.”

Then, maybe, just maybe, the Imperial Censor wouldn’t have been so mortified.

His face flushed red with embarrassment, burning with shame.

As if it wasn’t bad enough that his grandson forcibly took his great-granddaughter-in-law, tainting the family reputation, he had even tried to cover it up by marrying her off to an old fool.

If only the matter had remained hidden, perhaps it wouldn’t have been so bad. But now, that damn little Bai Ze had exposed everything…

Liang Rui took a closer look at the Censor, whose face was full of regret. A smirk curled at his lips, eyes gleaming with mockery.

Oh? Still regretting that you didn’t cover it up better? That you didn’t clean up the mess as soon as you realized little Bai Ze was around?

Instead of wasting time lamenting getting caught, why don’t you think about the Summer Law?

“If a father-in-law forces himself upon his daughter-in-law, the perpetrator shall be executed, and the daughter-in-law shall return to her maiden family.”

The Summer Law was thick, and the Imperial Censor wasn’t one to casually flip through it in his spare time. So he had completely forgotten such a statute existed.

Instead, he was merely relieved that, as disgusting as this situation was, at least it wasn’t as bad as those former colleagues who had lost their entire families over past scandals.

And just at that moment, he heard Xu Yanmiao’s delighted thoughts—

[But heaven has eyes! Imperial Censor, you never expected this, did you? Among the scholars who passed this year’s imperial examination, there’s one who was a student of Fan Dao—here to avenge his teacher!]

The Imperial Censor’s face visibly paled.

He never expected to hear that name again!

Fan Dao… wasn’t he…?

[Hiss—]

[The court is terrifying! Maybe I should start planning my early retirement…]

Xu Lang’s eyes widened.

The moment that thought surfaced, several officials nearly lost their balance.

Sure, they had all been terrified of getting implicated before.

But—high risk, high reward!

Hadn’t they just seen Gao He, a low-ranking official who barely passed the imperial exam, gain the emperor’s favor overnight just because Xu Yanmiao pointed out his ability to save money for the treasury?

If Xu Yanmiao left, where would they go to fight for their own fortunes?!

What had he seen?

What had Xu Yanmiao realized that made him suddenly want to run away?!

The capital officials breathed so heavily that small hollows appeared on the sides of their noses, as if their anger and urgency were about to erupt from those indentations.

Meanwhile, some people were staring red-eyed at the Imperial Censor, looking like they were about to charge at him like enraged bulls.

—Who cared if he was a high-ranking Rank 3 official?

Stealing someone’s fortune was worse than killing their parents.

Destroying someone’s career path was even more unforgivable than murdering their entire family.

[Commissioner is really vengeful… Fan Dao was his political rival, and even after bringing him down and exiling him to the remote and desolate island of Qiongya, it still wasn’t enough. He even sent people to hint at Fan Dao to take his own life. When Fan Dao refused, he sent someone to do the job and made it look like a suicide.]

[Fortunately, Fan Dao had a student who, upon becoming an official, made it his first priority to secretly gather evidence of Commissioner’s crimes. In a little while, he’ll probably be able to expose him for murdering exiled officials.]

The censors: “!!!”

What a windfall!

Another chance to boost their achievements!

Murdering exiled officials in secret—who else but them, the censors, should step up to impeach him?

See? Just stick close to little Bai Ze, and opportunities will come your way! Pile up enough merits, and promotions will follow!

White Commissioner suddenly felt a cold chill brush past him, his teeth clattering uncontrollably.

[Huh?] Xu Yanmiao cautiously poked his head around. [Is there a rat?]

—Yes, White Commissioner happened to be seated at the same table as him.

Lian Hang cast a sympathetic glance at White Commissioner’s choked expression and his abruptly halted shivering. He poured a cup of water for his obviously parched good friend, receiving a grateful smile in return.

Lian Hang smiled back and whispered, “Don’t drink too much, or it’ll be troublesome if you need to visit the latrine later.”

Deep down, he felt he was truly a kind person—helping White Commissioner shift Xu Yanmiao’s attention so he wouldn’t choke to death before even having to pay for Fan Dao’s life.

—After all, the dead are to be respected (…).

Xu Yanmiao took a tiny sip of water before shifting his focus back to the retired officials.

The capital officials: Waaahhhh—

The retired officials who noticed the commotion: “…”

We’re the ones about to lose our heads. Why are you all laughing? And fake-crying?

A little inappropriate, don’t you think?

“Your Majesty!!!” someone suddenly wailed. “The reason I dared to embezzle public land is that someone in court made it exceedingly easy for me to do so!”

The capital officials’ legs went weak—they nearly collapsed to their knees again.

Who?!

Who was trying to ruin them?!

Even little Bai Ze had let them go, so who was this bastard plotting against the court officials?!

Looking closely, they realized the one who spoke was a retired official—the same one little Bai Ze had mocked for dressing more flamboyantly than a golden pheasant.

Looking again, the other party was glaring at them furiously, clearly thinking: Since you’re all gloating at my misfortune, don’t blame me for dragging everyone down with me.

The capital officials were speechless, wanting to hold up a sign with one big word: Unjust!

The old emperor, looking delighted, said, “Then tell me, who?”

The golden pheasant man immediately blurted out: “Su Qing He was once the Assistant Military Commissioner of Shaanxi, and now he serves as the Assistant Military Commissioner of the Right Army.”

[Wrong, wrong! Just a year ago, he was promoted to Assistant Commander of the Rear Army because he followed Marquis Yongchang in the campaign against the Wokou. He’s now a first-rank official!]

The old emperor glanced at the golden pheasant man. “Incorrect.”

The golden pheasant man was stunned. “What?”

The old emperor patiently corrected him, “Su Qing is now an Assistant Commander. He was promoted a year ago.”

Without missing a beat, the golden pheasant man said, “Forgive me, Your Majesty. To avoid drawing attention to the fact that when Su Tongzhi was the Assistant Military Commissioner of Shaanxi, he turned a blind eye to my illegal acquisition of public farmland there, I deliberately refrained from keeping up with his news for a long time. That’s why I made such a mistake. But it is absolutely true that Su Tongzhi covered for me…”

[Huh? That never happened.] Xu Yanmiao pondered for a moment before suddenly realizing: [Oh, I get it! He’s just randomly dragging people down with him, huh?]

The old emperor remained calm, even showing a hint of appreciation for the golden pheasant man’s reaction.

—Of course, that didn’t stop him from sharpening his knife.

Although this man didn’t know who in court was truly clean or corrupt, by framing others and muddying the waters, he might be hoping that implicating multiple people would make the emperor hesitate.

It was indeed a quick-witted move.

Too bad he wasn’t aware of Xu Yanmiao’s existence.

Su Tongzhi cast a grateful glance at Xu Yanmiao.

Although he hadn’t done such a thing, history wasn’t devoid of wrongful convictions. If the emperor got caught up in a killing frenzy or simply wanted to use this case to scare others, he might not bother verifying whether Su was actually guilty.

Thankfully, thankfully—thankfully, there was little Bai Ze!

[But baseless accusations like this shouldn’t work, right? The old emperor seems determined to clean up the bureaucracy. He’ll probably investigate everything thoroughly, won’t he?]

[Instead of making random accusations, wouldn’t it be more effective to attack Su Tongzhi’s extravagant lifestyle—like how he even plundered his own family tomb whenever he needed money? Nine ancestral graves spanning four generations, and every time he was short on cash, he’d dig one up. So much gold!]

“…”

Su Tongzhi looked at Xu Yanmiao with a mournful expression.

Xu Lang, could you let people enjoy their relief for just a little longer?

His colleagues stared at Su Tongzhi in shock.

Had he really buried that much gold with his ancestors? Were his forebears that wealthy?

[Wow!]

[Back in his grandfather’s generation, they were quite well-off, and his grandfather loved gold. So he had the family graves refurbished, even digging up the corpses. Whenever he found any decayed or missing parts, he replaced them with gold prosthetics. He gave his father two golden eyes and a golden arm, and even fitted a golden tooth into the gap left by his six-year-old daughter’s lost baby tooth before she passed away.]

[So while others pray to their ancestors for wealth, he just… melts down a random ancestor?]

[Well, you know what they say—if you want something done right, do it yourself…?]

The colleagues: 😮

People actually do that?!

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