Chapter Seventy-Four: Judgement in the Golden Hall

“What?!”

Everyone in the court was taken aback.

Wu Desen’s mind went blank.

Lai Wangcai, furious, pointed at Song Wen, “You impersonated an investigator from my office and secretly arrested people?!”

Song Wen shrank back under the accusation, shook his head repeatedly, and muttered in a small voice, “I didn’t impersonate anyone, it wasn’t worth it. I just sent two constables and had them arrest him directly at the Zhang residence.”

That very reasonable “it wasn’t worth it” left Lai Wangcai’s mind blank as well.

Even the old emperor was momentarily unable to react.

But rather than argue over who was telling the truth, it would be better to let the person involved speak for himself.

So, the emperor decisively struck the table and ordered, “Go, bring Zhang Maoqing here and have him testify before the court.”

Soon after, Zhang Maoqing, who had been personally escorted to court by Song Wen, opened his mouth and ended up implicating a great many people.

“Your Majesty, last night at half past nine, the ‘Ke Xin Slave Market’ held an auction event. The items up for bid were eighty-eight high-quality boys and girls aged five to fourteen.

Among the officials invited and who participated were…”

He was interrupted.

An official leaped forward to stop him, warning him not to speak nonsense.

Another official pointed at him and cursed, calling him malicious and accusing him of framing others.

Several others hurried to explain to His Majesty, “Your Majesty, I only attended because I couldn’t refuse, and I had hoped to purchase a companion for my young daughter. I heard the children had been well-trained, so I went.”

As soon as these words were spoken, all those who had been shouting and cursing quickly chimed in, saying they had only wanted to acquire some household staff, nothing more. After all, well-trained servants are always in high demand.

The old emperor looked down at the noisy throng, fully understanding the reality.

Yet the buying and selling of servants, and the increase or decrease of household staff, was reasonable enough among the nobility.

She did not pursue the matter, nor did she wish to. She simply tapped the imperial desk to halt the uproar, gestured for Zhang Maoqing to continue.

Zhang Maoqing, seeing he had drawn the court’s ire, was unafraid.

He had been asked to speak, so he spoke.

“Your Majesty, you haven’t seen with your own eyes how pitiful and wretched those children look after their training. Is this truly just hiring more staff for the household?

It is not. This is clearly prepared for certain individuals with special proclivities! The real mastermind behind the ‘Ke Xin Slave Market’ is trying to use this to win over ministers in your court. Their intentions are sinister and deserve punishment!”

“And that justifies arson?”

The emperor interrupted Zhang Maoqing, displeased, demanding he speak to the point.

Zhang Maoqing, upon being questioned, cried out his innocence.

“Your Majesty, I am wronged! How could I set fire to people? How would I dare?! I am a minister of the court, not someone who acts as recklessly as Lai Wangcai!

I went to the slave market alone and stayed in the main hall until the fire broke out, at which point I barely escaped with my life.

Your Majesty, I did not start the fire.

But Lord Song refused to listen to my explanation; his constables stormed into my study, knocked me unconscious, and dragged me away.

Your Majesty, if the Capital Magistrate’s Office acts with such disregard for the law, I beg you to uphold justice for me!”

The old emperor fell silent.

She could not help but ask herself—only a handful of people knew of her dislike for Zhang Maoqing, so what was Wu Desen doing? Was he trying to help her? Was he being a little too clever for his own good? Did he really think he could guess the imperial mind at will?

With this realization, the emperor’s expression darkened.

She turned to Wu Desen.

“Explain yourself. This is clearly your office’s case, and your people made the arrest. Why are you blaming the Investigations Bureau? And you claim it was Lord Zhang who started the fire—where is your evidence? Present it to me!”

Wu Desen detected the displeasure in the emperor’s tone, and his heart grew ever more uneasy.

He still couldn’t make sense of what was happening. He wasn’t even sure—had his grandson Wu Junbing lied to him, or was Song Wen making things up?

Would Song Wen dare to lie?

Whether he would or not, Wu Desen could only shift the blame onto Song Wen now.

So he reported to the emperor, “It was Deputy Magistrate Song who was at the scene and made the arrest. He also said it was the Investigations Bureau making the arrest. Moreover, it was Deputy Magistrate Song who accused Lord Zhang of arson. I—I merely relayed the report to Your Majesty.”

Song Wen looked aggrievedly at Wu Desen and then at the emperor, lowering his head.

When Zhang Maoqing heard that Song Wen had falsely accused him of arson, he was furious, seizing Song Wen and demanding he clarify himself.

Song Wen shook him off and blurted out, “It wasn’t me who said it!”

“Then why did you arrest me?!” Zhang Maoqing was even angrier.

Song Wen glanced at Wu Desen, shrank his neck, and clamped his mouth shut.

The emperor, observing this, guessed at once: Wu Desen was once again shifting blame onto Song Wen.

Wu Desen was, in truth, incompetent. The emperor had appointed him as Capital Magistrate only in order to take care of the Wu family, and had specially assigned the honest, capable Song Wen as his assistant.

But she had not expected Wu Desen to not only take credit for Song Wen’s achievements but, whenever trouble arose, to push the blame onto Song Wen while keeping himself entirely uninvolved.

How was the emperor supposed to deal with this? Punish Song Wen? If she dismissed him, who would continue to work diligently on Wu Desen’s behalf?

If Wu Desen lost his support, wouldn’t some censor jump up to accuse her of nepotism?

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. Her patience with Wu Desen wore even thinner.

Turning to Song Wen, she said, “Lord Song, don’t just shrink away in silence. With me here, you may speak openly—explain exactly what happened.”

Song Wen obeyed, stretching out his neck, but after a glance at Wu Desen, he shrank back again.

In a quiet voice, he replied, “The fire at the slave market falls under my jurisdiction. I did go and examine the charred remains.

I searched everywhere for clues. After much inquiry, I determined that among the high officials present at the market, only Lord Zhang had gone there with the intention of causing trouble.

Moreover, two of the bodies found at the scene seemed to be connected to Lord Zhang. Their locations were reported to be not far from where he was sitting.

I did become suspicious of him, but I found no evidence to support my suspicions. After reporting the matter, I simply detained him for questioning.

But before I could begin, the matter was brought to the morning court…”

Song Wen’s hesitant explanation was heard clearly by all the civil and military officials, who now turned as one to look at Wu Desen.

The emperor looked over as well.

Wu Desen was furious and rebuked Song Wen harshly, “How dare you spout nonsense in open court! And you claim you can conduct autopsies? You’ve been my subordinate for four years and I’ve never once seen you perform one!”

After this outburst, he even tried to slap Song Wen.

But suddenly, Song Wen’s demeanor changed dramatically.