525 Grand Tutor Zhao Falls (1)
The Songshan County case was another wake-up call for the emperor, although all the evidence pointed to County Magistrate Yang.
However, the emperor was not stupid. On the contrary, he was more suspicious than any emperor.
Therefore, the more conclusive the evidence was, the more the emperor suspected that there was something fishy going on.
He even thought that the mastermind behind the abduction case was the same person behind Yang Kaiming.
Unfortunately, all clues were cut off with Yang Kaiming’s death.
It was also because of this that he began to summon Song Jingchen frequently to ask about the progress of the girl abduction case.
“I know you’ve always felt that your Song family is innocent, but the evidence back then was conclusive. I’m an emperor. If I don’t punish you severely, won’t others imitate you?” The emperor looked down at Song Jingchen.
Song Jingchen lowered his eyes. “The lightning and rain are all thanks to the emperor. I’ll definitely find out who’s behind the case as soon as possible and share His Majesty’s burden.”
The emperor narrowed his eyes and his gaze lingered on Song Jingchen’s face, as if he wanted to see how sincere he was.
After a long time, he laughed at himself. He was confused. He had actually started to count on loyalty.
In front of power and high-ranking officials, loyalty was worthless. There was only an equivalent exchange.
He pondered for a moment and seemed to have made a decision. He said in a low voice, “As long as you find out who’s behind the girl’s case, I can consider reopening the case back then, provided that you have conclusive evidence to prove that your Song family was wronged.”
Song Jingchen looked up. Wasn’t this a tacit understanding from the moment he was summoned back?
Their eyes met. The emperor clenched his fists. His eyes darkened, and he felt inexplicably unhappy.
He was clearly sitting on a high seat and looking down at Song Jingchen, but he felt oppressed.
He was the emperor, the emperor of Great Xia. The other party was just a subject.
The emperor almost blurted out the bold words, but in the next moment, Song Jingchen had already lowered his head again and stood with his head lowered respectfully, as if everything that had happened just now was just his imagination.
The emperor exhaled and waved his hand. “Go investigate the case.”
Song Jingchen cupped his hands. “I’ll take my leave.”
After he left, the emperor seemed to have instantly aged ten years. He leaned against the dragon throne tiredly. Seeing this, Eunuch Li quickly went forward to help massage his back. “Your Majesty, you must be tired.”
The emperor rubbed his temples. “Go and get the pills.”
Eunuch Li paused and reminded him after some deliberation, “Princess Yong’an said that you can’t overdo it with this pill. Your Majesty, how about…”
Ji Yunxi said that he could take three pills a day, but the emperor had long changed from one pill to two pills at a time. Over the past few days, because of the incident in Songshan County, he had treated the pills as candy.
In just a few days, they had almost finished a month’s worth of it.
Before he could finish, the emperor suddenly raised his head. His scarlet eyes were filled with ruthlessness as he said coldly, “Am I the emperor or is she? My words don’t work anymore, right?”
Eunuch Li was terrified and quickly knelt down to beg for forgiveness. “Your Majesty, calm down.”
The emperor kicked him impatiently and walked to the Multi-Treasure Pavilion.
“Where’s the medicine? Where did you put my medicine?” As he roared, the sound of things falling to the ground kept coming from the hall.
A young eunuch guarding outside the hall rolled his eyes and quietly left the imperial study after informing the person beside him.
The emperor gave Grand Tutor Zhao three days to set off. Unexpectedly, a day before the departure, on the fifth day of August, a man in ragged clothes who looked like a beggar suddenly sounded the drum in front of the Imperial Capital.
The last time this drum was beaten was because of the Shen family. When the commoners heard the sound, they saw that there was a chance to watch again and surrounded it.
Lord Cai sat in the high hall with a dark expression. Looking at the old beggar who had been brought in by the bailiffs, he slapped the shocking wooden stick impatiently. “Who are you? What injustice do you have?”
The old beggar knelt down shakily, as if he was worried about something. He looked at the surrounding commoners a few times.
It was not until Lord Cai banged on the wood again that he woke up and kowtowed to the person in the high hall a few times.
However, as soon as he spoke, Lord Cai broke out in a cold sweat.
He said, “I’m Yang Kaiming.”
Yang Kaiming was dead. Everyone in the court knew that he died in that fire. Because of him, the emperor had to audit the officials everywhere, making all the ministers tense up, afraid that they would be found out.
Then who was this person in front of him who called himself Yang Kaiming?