I am a prince in Zhutian Films

Chapter 34: Apology
Within half a day, the news that Prince Ding's Mansion had massacred the eighteen members of the Dali Temple Shaoqing's family had spread to most of Kyoto.

Some people believed it, while others did not, especially those noble young men in Kyoto who did not witness the entire process. After hearing the news, they all came to Feng's Mansion in Hanmo Lane and happened to see the Kyoto government servants cleaning the blood on the street.

With the testimony of a large number of powerful and wealthy young men, and the bloodbath on the streets along the Liujing River, the Third Prince Li Chengzong became the most famous figure in Kyoto within half a day.

Most common people applauded what happened to the Feng Mansion, but as for the Third Prince, they could only say that the prince was too far away from them, so after chatting, they went about their business.

As for the powerful officials in Kyoto, the Third Prince will be the focus of attention.

Many powerful people felt chilled by what Li Chengzong had done early in the morning. He completely ignored the laws of Qing Kingdom and killed the family of the Shaoqing of Dali Temple at will. Even if there was a reason for it, it made these powerful people who were used to being high and mighty feel fear in their hearts.

The key is Emperor Qing’s attitude.

He was a little too doting on Li Chengzong.

As soon as the news reached the court, Left Censor-in-Chief Lai Mingchengcai stood up. Before he had time to report to the Third Prince, Emperor Qing threw out the evidence of the crimes of the Dali Temple Shaoqing's family, clearly supporting his son.

In order to establish his son's authority, he even used the Chief Justice of the Dali Temple and the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice as chickens to scare the monkeys.

Whether it was the Spring Examination three years ago or the Feng family case today, if the Crown Prince and the Second Prince were to try, it would be strange that Emperor Qing would care about them. Of course, these two princes would not cause trouble like Li Chengzong.

Speaking of which, this Third Prince either doesn't cause trouble, or once he does, it's a big deal.

Wuyi Lane, Weiyuan Marquis Mansion.

It was already noon when Zhou Xingzu came back from court. When he entered the house, he saw his eldest son sitting at the table eating lunch. He went up to him and kicked him to the ground, roaring, "You bastard, how did I teach you on weekdays? How dare you provoke the Third Prince? If you want to die, don't drag down our Zhou family!"

"Dad, I didn't provoke the Third Prince." Zhou Dewang fell to the ground, holding his injured leg and crying.

"fart!"

Zhou Xingzu was furious: "If you didn't provoke the Third Prince, would the Third Prince be the first to attack you?"

"I……"

Zhou Dewang was slightly choked, feeling bitter but unable to express himself.

Although he didn't cause any trouble, he did spread some rumors.

You could say he provoked someone, right? Which young man in Kyoto hasn't spread rumors? They usually just laughed it off. Who the hell could have thought that Li Chengzong would make a fuss about nothing.

"Master, don't be angry!"

Madam Zhou stepped forward and said angrily, "Isn't it just a few words that the Third Prince is as stupid and fat as a pig? He has already beaten him. What else does he want? To be honest, my son's leg was broken by him. Master, you must stand up for Wang'er and report him severely..."

"Snapped!"

Before Mrs. Zhou could finish her words, Zhou Xingzu slapped her hard in the face.

"Zhou Xingzu, you dare to hit me?!" Madam Zhou was furious. She had been pampered by Duke Xu since she was a child, and had never suffered such an injustice.

Zhou Xingzu glared at his wife and roared, "What's wrong with hitting you? Go home and ask your father-in-law whether I should hit you. You spoiled this loser and even complained to His Highness the Third Prince. Do you want my Zhou family to be like the Feng family, and die miserably?"

At this time, Zhou Deyao, who had been watching the show, helped his brother up and bowed politely, saying, "Mother, I just received news that the two families of the Dali Temple Minister and the Ministry of Justice Assistant Minister were imprisoned by His Majesty. Not long ago, the sons of these two families had their legs broken by His Majesty. It can be seen that His Majesty is extremely kind to His Majesty. And if we really want to investigate, spreading rumors about the prince is a crime of disrespect."

"what?!"

Madam Zhou's face changed drastically, and she even forgot the pain on her face. She said anxiously, "What should we do now? Will His Majesty do anything to us? Will he punish Wang'er?"

"What should I do? Apart from apologizing, what else can I do?"

Zhou Xingzu glared at his eldest son angrily, slapped him, and said angrily: "Hurry up and prepare a generous gift, and come with me to Dingwang Mansion to apologize to the Third Prince."

Zhou Dewang covered his injured face and limped to the warehouse.

"Yao'er, you are on good terms with the Third Prince, so you can go with us then."

"Yes, Dad."

Soon, the Zhou family, father and son, hurried to Prince Ding's mansion with generous gifts.

A similar scene to that in the Zhou family was also happening in the Sun, Qian, Huang, and Wang families.

So, when Li Chengzong returned home after dinner in the painted boat, he saw the five young masters kneeling in an orderly manner in the hall of the palace. The fathers of each family were drinking tea, chatting and laughing, and teaching each other their experiences in beating their children.

In addition to these five officials, there was also the governor of Kyoto Prefecture, Ume Zhili, and an unknown official.

Seeing Li Chengzong coming in, everyone stood up except the five young masters who were kneeling on the ground.

"Meet the Third Prince."

Among them, Zhou Xingzu and Li Chengzong were the most familiar with each other, so after paying respects, he bowed and said, "Your Highness, I failed to educate my son properly, causing him to offend Your Highness. I have specially brought my son and prepared a small gift to apologize to Your Highness. I hope Your Highness will be magnanimous and forgive my son."

As he spoke, Zhou Xingzu winked at his two sons behind him.

Zhou Deyao quickly opened the gift box he had prepared and handed it over with both hands. "Your Highness, this is just a small gift. I hope Your Highness will forgive my brother."

The wooden box contains a set of wine utensils.

It is carefully crafted from the finest mutton-fat white jade.

It looks good and is probably worth several thousand taels of silver.

However, Li Chengzong was not short of money and did not care about these things. He motioned Zhou Deyao to put them aside and said to Zhou Xingzu with a smile: "Brother Zhou, the child is ignorant, just give him a beating. After all, I am his elder and I will not argue with a child. Brother Zhou, you are overthinking it."

"Your Highness is very generous. I admire you."

Hearing Li Chengzong calling him "Brother Zhou", Zhou Xingzu finally put down his worries and said with a smile: "Don't worry, Your Highness, I will definitely discipline this bastard in the future."

Li Chengzong smiled indifferently and turned to look at the four officials Qian, Huang, Sun and Wang.

"I think your purpose is the same as that of Weiyuan Hou. Since I have beaten them, I will not care about it anymore. Go back. If you haven't eaten yet, you can stay and have a meal. After all, the gifts have been delivered, and it would seem a bit inconsiderate if I don't treat you to a meal."

It was already past noon, so even if they hadn't eaten, they couldn't say they hadn't.

In addition, the governor of Kyoto and the new chief justice of the Supreme Court were also there, and they obviously had something to discuss with Li Chengzong, so it was even more difficult for them to stay.

After some pleasantries, each of them left the gifts they had prepared and hurriedly said goodbye.

Li Chengzong did not go to see him off, but instead looked at Mei Zhili.

"Mr. Mei, what do you want from me?"

"Third Prince, the Feng family's servants have been examined, and this is the result of their punishment." Mei Zhili took out a few pieces of rice paper from his arms and handed them to Li Chengzong respectfully.

There are a total of 143 slaves in the Feng family, including 56 evil slaves. All of them have been thrown into prison and are waiting to be brought to the imperial court and executed by Emperor Qing's red pen in the autumn of this year.

The results of these people are similar to those obtained by the palace's investigation, and there are about ten more people. It can be seen that Mei Zhili still put his heart into it.

Li Chengzong nodded with satisfaction and asked, "Prefect Mei, how did Kyoto Prefecture deal with the remaining people?"

"Return his indenture and let him go home."

Li Chengzong nodded with increasing satisfaction, and said with a smile: "Prefect Mei, I have something to say but I don't know whether I should say it or not."

"Your Highness, please speak. I am all ears."

"It is said that if an official does not serve the people, he might as well go home and sell sweet potatoes. This king agrees with this. You are the governor of Kyoto, the parent official of the people of Kyoto. Don't always look up, but look down at the people under your rule."

"Your Highness's words, I will keep in mind."

"I know it's not easy to be a parent official in Kyoto Prefecture. After all, there are many powerful people in Kyoto. A brick falling down may hit the young master of the six ministries and nine ministers. It's easy to offend people if you handle things impartially, but playing both sides often doesn't have a good result."

Seeing that Mei Zhili had done a good job today, Li Chengzong kindly gave him a reminder and waved his hand, saying, "Okay, you can go down. I won't keep you here any longer."

"Yes, I am resigning."

As a grandmaster with extraordinary perception, he could naturally sense Mei Zhili's indifference.

As expected, it is difficult to persuade a damned ghost with kind words.

Li Chengzong sighed inwardly, turned to look at the last official, and asked in confusion: "Who is this gentleman?"

"Your humble servant Shang Lian, the Minister of the Dali Temple, greets His Majesty the Third Prince."

"Prince of Dali Temple?"

Li Chengzong was a little confused, "I remember the Dali Temple Minister's surname seemed to be Zhao, right?"

Shang Lian nodded and explained, "I was originally one of the Junior Officials of the Dali Temple, but today, Lord Zhao and Minister Zheng of the Ministry of Justice were questioned by Your Majesty and will be executed along with Junior Official Feng, so I took over the position of Junior Official of the Dali Temple."

Hearing this, Li Chengzong immediately understood the reason why the Grand Justice came here. He came to give him a gift. After all, if it weren't for him, the Grand Justice of the Grand Justice would not have been Shang Lianshang.

"There is no need to send gifts. Just do more for the people, and that will be the best thank you gift to this king."

Shang Lian was stunned, and a feeling of admiration for the Third Prince suddenly rose in his heart, but he still shook his head and said seriously: "Your Highness has misunderstood, I want to invite the Third Prince to come to the court."

"What do you mean?"

"Your Highness has set up a private execution hall today, and the crime is against the law of Daqing. I am here to ask Your Highness to come to the court."

"Are you here to arrest me and interrogate me?"

Li Chengzong never imagined that the newly appointed Dali Temple Minister was here to arrest him.

Shang Lian nodded: "I hope Your Highness will forgive me for any offense I have caused, Your Highness, please!"

(End of this chapter)