Cao Dejiang’s questioning struck like thunder, each word tightening Emperor An’s expression.
The courtiers in the hall, watching the tense confrontation between emperor and vassal, held their breath. At that moment, a physician from the Imperial Medical Bureau stepped forward, knelt with a thud before the hall, and spoke.
“Your Majesty, my father was one of the physicians who died in the southern riots. If he truly died at the hands of rioters, serving the country loyally, I would have no complaints. But if he was killed due to someone’s selfish schemes, burned alive in Rongjiang, I cannot ignore it.”
“My father devoted himself to the court, bravely facing the southern plague despite its dangers. He shouldn’t have died so unjustly.”
“I beg Your Majesty to thoroughly investigate and give my father justice!”
The physician, not old, had a pale face filled with righteous indignation.
When his father died, everyone said it was the He family’s fault, that Lord He’s greed sparked public outrage, and Prince Li’s failed relief efforts implicated his father. He had despised Prince Li and the He family, but now he was told his father died unjustly, and He Wenzhuo wasn’t the mastermind. How could he let this go?
Marquis Wenxin also said gravely, “This matter is grave. If someone truly burned Rongjiang and massacred the city, it’s utterly inhumane and cannot be lightly forgiven!”
“Marquis Wenxin is right. The court’s relief efforts are meant to protect the people, and soldiers were sent south to suppress bandits. Who led those troops, daring to let their men slaughter a city and burn its people? It’s despicable!”
“Your Majesty, though twenty years have passed, rumors don’t arise from nothing. There must be a reason.”
“I second this. This matter is too heinous. Whether for the unjustly killed civilians or the officials and physicians who perished in the south, they deserve justice!”
The Zichen Hall erupted. Though the courtiers had their own agendas, not all were utterly corrupt. The reformist faction was filled with righteous anger, and the martial officials spoke out, visibly incensed.
Emperor An, facing the courtiers’ gazes and their rising calls to investigate the southern case, felt his head splitting with pain as he panted heavily.
“Your Majesty!”
Eunuch Feng called softly, “Your Majesty, are you alright?”
As he hurriedly supported Emperor An, Feng discreetly pinched his arm.
Meeting Feng’s anxious gaze, Emperor An considered feigning a headache to collapse and delay the matter. But before he could, Xiao Yan spoke up, “Physician Ling, His Majesty seems unwell. Why not examine him?”
Physician Ling, the young doctor who had spoken passionately, felt his heart skip at seeing Emperor An slump. Hearing Xiao Yan, he stepped forward without hesitation.
Emperor An, about to feign fainting, froze. He gripped Eunuch Feng’s hand so tightly it was as if he were strangling Xiao Yan, his nails digging into flesh.
“Your Majesty…” Feng winced in pain.
Emperor An, teeth clenched, sat upright. He realized tonight’s events went beyond Cui Lin and Duke Zeng—Xiao Yan must have known all along. He likely resented the Emperor’s repeated suspicions and earlier intent to kill him. Otherwise, with his usual cunning, how could he not see through the Emperor’s ploy and keep undermining him?
Raising a wolf cub that now restrained him at every turn, Emperor An cursed his own blindness. Steadying himself, he suppressed his anger before Physician Ling could approach. “No need. It’s just a headache, an old ailment.”
Physician Ling paused on the steps, glancing instinctively at Xiao Yan.
Xiao Yan’s lips curved slightly, seemingly respectful. “Better let the physician check. Headaches can be serious.”
“I said no need!”
Emperor An’s voice grew colder, his gaze dripping with killing intent as he looked at Xiao Yan. “What, are you making decisions for me?”
“I wouldn’t dare,” Xiao Yan said, bowing slightly. “I’m only concerned for Your Majesty’s health. But since Your Majesty refuses the physician, Physician Ling, please step back. After all, no one knows His Majesty’s condition better than himself. I overstepped in my urgency.”
“Your Majesty, please forgive me.”
His words were humble and respectful, flawless in demeanor, but the mockery was practically written on his face.
Physician Ling, initially worried for the Emperor and eager to diagnose him, now understood. His eyes flashed with resentment and confusion.
Emperor An was fine—he was clearly trying to fake a collapse to delay investigating the southern case.
The sharper courtiers in the hall noticed too, their gazes toward Emperor An growing complex and hard to articulate.
It was clear the events of twenty years ago were problematic. Even if the Shezhou officials’ deaths weren’t due to vengeful ghosts but human schemes, they were undeniably tied to that old case.
As emperor, with such a major issue causing public unrest and widespread rumors, Emperor An should order a thorough investigation. Yet he deflected, unwilling to probe, even resorting to faking illness before so many.
This was simply…
Tang Ning nearly laughed at Emperor An’s antics. Was his brain waterlogged? Did he think no one would notice his guilt?
Physician Ling knelt back down, his face stern and unyielding. “Since Your Majesty is fine, I urge you to thoroughly investigate the case from twenty years ago!”
Marquis Wenxin and others, disapproving of Emperor An’s behavior and seeing it as treating court affairs like a game, spoke gravely. One martial official addressed Duke Zeng, bypassing the Emperor, “You said you sent people to investigate the south. Beyond these rumors, is there other evidence?”
Duke Zeng replied, “Yes.”
Composing himself, he addressed the crowd, “Given the gravity of the matter, I had the coroner’s wife and son, as well as surviving relatives of the deceased officials, brought to the capital, along with evidence gathered in Shezhou. I intended to present it all to Father, but I didn’t expect…”
He glanced at Emperor An, his eyes filled with complex disappointment, before continuing, “Besides this, I discovered something else. It was because of this that, when Minister Cui and others tried to convict Xiao Yan, I couldn’t help but mention the Shezhou matter in court.”
Cao Dejiang frowned. “What?”
Duke Zeng said solemnly, “While investigating the old case in the south, my people found that the Cui and Liang families also sent men to Jiangnan. Another group, of unknown identity, was lingering in He’an, secretly contacting the Yue family and trying to approach Lady Zhao, who divorced Zhao Yuanlang. Oddly, the Cui and Liang families were investigating the Xiao family, whom Lord Xiao had exterminated in retaliation years ago.”
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