Chapter 103: Punishment and Dreaming Back

Su Hong sighed inwardly as he reflected on all that Magistrate Di had done since arriving in the Great Capital.

Magistrate Di, oh Magistrate Di, was all of this really worth it just for the sake of one Xue Huaiyi?

Under Su Hong’s silent soothing, the old Emperor clutched her chest, took several deep, ragged breaths, and finally calmed down. A flash of ferocity crossed her eyes.

Just then, wails of agony echoed from outside the hall. Moments later, the old Emperor saw Lai Wangcai—his features nearly flattened, blood gushing, and completely unrecognizable—and Wang Hongbin, whose jaw had been shattered, leaving him unable to speak.

Upon learning with great difficulty that the Investigative Court had been slaughtered, the old Emperor was about to order Magistrate Di’s arrest and imprisonment in the death row cells.

Su Hong spoke up. "Your Majesty, one must be tried before being judged guilty."

The old Emperor’s raised hand froze in mid-air. After a long, heavy sigh, she changed her order: "Summon Di Ying."

Di Ying, who had been waiting outside the palace gates, soon entered the hall. As Su Hong watched him walk in, he felt, for some inexplicable reason, that the man’s figure carried an immense, crushing weight.

"Your humble servant..."

Inside the hall, Di Ying bowed and began to speak, but the old Emperor waved a hand to cut him off.

"Enough. I have no interest in your empty words. I will grant you one chance: explain your reasons for slaughtering the Investigative Court."

Di Ying looked down at the floor. He asked a question that seemed completely unrelated.

"The war is mired in a stalemate, a tug-of-war. Does Your Majesty know the reason?"

The old Emperor’s expression darkened instantly. She slammed her hand on the table, stood up, and pointed an angry finger at Di Ying. "What are you trying to deflect to now?!"

After shouting this, she paced back and forth. "Di Ying, you’ve grown bold. In the past, you only criticized me through veiled hints; now you intend to point your finger directly at me? Do you really think your head can remain on your shoulders much longer?"

Di Ying pressed his lips into a tight line, his gaze fixed on the floor. An air of stubbornness and unyielding resolve surrounded him.

Watching him, the old Emperor suddenly felt a sense of defeat. There were some people whose bones were forged in such a way that no matter if she were the Empress, no matter if she held the world in her grasp, they would hold onto their own principles, preferring to lose their lives rather than bow to her.

At this moment, Lai Wangcai, kneeling there with a mangled mouth and clutching his bloody nose, began to berate Di Ying.

"Magistrate... Di, you have mobilized troops without authorization, committed mass murder, killed officials in defiance of the law, and severely injured this official. Now that you are before Her Majesty for questioning, you dare to be insolent and point fingers at her? Who gave you the audacity of a dog? Just wait. Once I take you back, I will make you taste every one of the one hundred and eight newly devised torture instruments of the Investigative Court, and let you truly understand what it means to commit treason against your superiors!"

Di Ying did not even deign to glance at him.

The old Emperor, hearing this, looked at Di Ying, then at Lai Wangcai. She kicked Lai Wangcai in the face and scolded, "I am still here! Is it your place, a lowly servant, to make decisions? Get out and tend to your wounds!"

Di Ying: "..."

Hearing the young eunuchs drag Lai Wangcai and Wang Hongbin away, Di Ying suddenly flared with righteous indignation. He puffed out his chest, stared directly into the Emperor’s eyes, and spoke with rapid intensity:

"How many meritorious officials and renowned generals from the Li Tang dynasty remained? They were the pillars of this nation. Yet, because of your own inner demons and your fear that they might rebel, you covertly established the Investigative Court and had them and their entire families executed one by one. This has left the army without capable commanders. You recklessly appoint your own Wu clan members to lead troops, resulting in repeated defeats on the border. Then, you scour the country for new talent to fill the gaps. When they fight back and win, you grow jealous, fearful, and kill them too.

"This cycle repeats, crushing the spirits of the talented, turning the border into a meat grinder, and burying countless lives. You have burdened the nation and made the livelihoods of the people miserable. Are you certain this protects the borders? That it doesn't make the people question your competence? Do you truly understand the difference between blocking and guiding? Don't you realize that winning hearts is better than killing, and kindness is better than coercion? Do you not know that as long as you act with integrity and bring prosperity to the people, no one would care about your gender, and no one would ever be able to shake your position in the slightest? That is what you should truly be doing to consolidate your imperial foundation!"

The old Emperor: "..."

The veins on her forehead throbbed. She roared, "Drag him out! Take this babbling fool out and throw him into the Investigative Court!"

Di Ying shook off the Imperial Guards who had come to seize him. He shouted loudly, "The wealthy and the powerful feast on meat and hunt at will! The people at White Horse Temple and the Investigative Court are the worst offenders! For this reason alone: I am innocent for killing them!"

The old Emperor: "..."

Hopping with rage, she shouted, "The 'Meat Prohibition' is abolished!"

"Your Majesty is benevolent!" Di Ying immediately cried out.

He turned his head and gave the old Emperor a smile—an exceptionally brilliant smile.

The old Emperor: "..."

She was so furious she overturned a flower stand, her entire body trembling.

However, the very next morning, she finally issued a broad decree: officially announcing the permanent abolition of the "Meat Prohibition" and the "Ban on Fishing and Hunting."

Everyone—everyone from the highest ranks of the court to the lowest, whether clad in gold and silver or rags and tatters, even the beggars and refugees—rejoiced. The sound of their cheering was so loud that it reached the palace and into the ears of the old Emperor.

She sat in a daze for a long, long time.

...

The heavy rain finally poured down, as if the heavens had overturned a river.

In the dungeon of the Investigative Court, inside the torture chamber, Di Ying was spread-eagled and tied to a vertical wooden frame. He endured wave after wave of the brutal tortures inflicted by Lai Wangcai.

Was it painful? It was painful enough to make his soul convulse.

Did he regret it? Perhaps, a little. He regretted being too young and failing to suppress his temper, acting too rashly. If he had had just a little more time, if he had thought things through more carefully, been more cautious, and taken a few more roundabout paths, perhaps he could have made everything perfect.

But circumstances were always beyond one’s control...

A long, barbed whip lashed out. Once, twice, again and again...

Amidst the flying flesh and blood, Di Ying finally could not hold on any longer and fainted from the pain.

...

"Fatty, come home for dinner."

Grandma Di leaned against the courtyard gate, calling out to a five-year-old boy across the way.

"Coming, coming!"

The chubby little boy, with round cheeks and limbs like lotus roots, scrambled up from the ground. Swinging his short legs, he rolled toward Grandma Di like a little meatball.

"Run slowly, don't fall again."

The frail Grandma Di smiled warmly as she fussed over her chubby grandson. Seeing his adorable appearance, the wrinkles on her face deepened with her smile.

Little Fatty reached his grandmother, braked to a stop, and reached out his short, pudgy hands to hold hers before walking inside. He asked, "Grandma, is there anything good to eat today?"

"Hehehe, yes, there is plenty. Your older brother brought back some eels from the fields, and your father traded his shears for some old tofu. We’ve stewed a whole pot of it."

Grandma Di was led by her second grandson, happily counting off the household news for him.

"Wow, we get to eat eel!"

Little Fatty jumped with joy. He wanted to clap his hands, but remembering he was holding his grandmother’s, he used his free hand to pat his round belly instead.

He patted it with great enthusiasm.