Four Harmonies and Good Fortune

Chapter 414 No Way Out
Shen Zhongzhen's words made Xia Mengxian clench his hands immediately, but on the surface he still tried to remain calm, even showing a somewhat bewildered expression.

Under Shen Chongzhen's gaze, Xia Mengxian asked, "What do you mean by that, Scholar Shen?"

Shen Chongzhen had a remarkable political career when he was the prefect of Jiangning. After his evaluation, the court would have transferred him to Kaifeng Prefecture and then appointed him to the Hanlin Academy. However, after his daughter, Shen Si Niangzi, went missing on the Lantern Festival, his eldest son, Shen Dalang, who had taken his sister out, fell ill from guilt and died of depression. Shen Chongzhen lost his spirit and devoted himself to finding his daughter, which delayed his career.

Although he has now been promoted to Grand Secretary of the Zizheng Hall, due to the honor bestowed upon him, he rarely attends to official duties. He spends most of his time at home recuperating from illness and serving his elders. Every year, he travels for several months to gather information, and he personally verifies any matter related to his daughter. Now that the matter has finally come to a conclusion, it is the last thing Shen Chongzhen wanted to see.

Shen Chongzhen initially refused to believe that his living daughter had become a skeleton. It wasn't until the coroner examined the remains, estimated her age, and found a gold bean engraved with the character "Shen" among the bones that he had to accept the fact. After calming himself down, he transformed his grief and pain into hatred, determined to find out the cause and effect and bring the murderer to prison.

When he began to inquire about the whole story, he couldn't help but gasp. If it weren't for the master of ceremonies from the Empress Dowager's side who happened to come to Yunqi Temple and saw the mad nun Jingxuan, the truth would have been covered up by the Ministry of Justice, and it would have been unknown when Fourth Sister's injustice would have been revealed.

Thinking of this, Shen Chongzhen could no longer suppress his hatred. He lost his usual composure and stared at Xia Mengxian: "Without Minister Xia's authorization, how could his subordinates possibly exonerate this nun? Even now, Minister Xia still pretends to know nothing? When Xu Huaiyi brought the person back to the Ministry of Justice, Minister Xia was in charge of the overall situation in the yamen."

Xia Mengxian thought carefully, and it seemed that he finally understood which incident Shen Zhongzhen was referring to: "Xu Huaiyi arrested several nuns, could this person be one of them?"

"Wait, those people are in the Ministry of Justice prison, how could they be in the palace?"

As Xia Mengxian spoke, he looked at the Emperor on the throne.

“Your Majesty,” Xia Mengxian said, “I am in charge of the Ministry of Justice, but I am not aware of every case, let alone cases that have just arrived at the Ministry of Justice… I truly do not know the answer to Scholar Shen’s question.”

“You might not immediately get involved in other cases,” Shen Zhongzhen said, “but you definitely will in this one, because your fifth son was also arrested.”

No sooner had Shen Chongzhen finished speaking than a man walked in from outside and went straight to the Emperor's side.

Xia Mengxian looked up and saw a young man wearing a scarlet official robe. He was not old, but his face had long since lost its immaturity, replaced by composure and calmness.

That was Wang Yan, the son of Prime Minister Wang.

Xia Mengxian frowned. He had no connection with Prime Minister Wang, and had even tried to stop him when he requested the establishment of the "Mingfa Ke" (a department for legal affairs).

Officials who entered officialdom through the "Mingfa Ke" (a special examination for legal matters) inevitably felt more grateful to Minister Wang and naturally became his protégés. This was an open way of placing people in the Ministry of Justice and the Court of Judicial Review. Most importantly, with manpower to help them, the Ministry of Justice and the Court of Judicial Review could ensure the smooth implementation of the new laws.

This is what they don't want to see.

So, although the court had been calling for the establishment of the "Mingfa Ke" (a law department) for a long time, it had been slow to act until Prime Minister Wang became prime minister, at which point it was finally implemented.

Xu Huaiyi entered officialdom through the "Mingfa Ke" examination, which is why he was targeted and suppressed at every turn.

Xia Mengxian had not yet figured out how to respond to the emperor.

The emperor turned to Wang Yan and ordered, "Speak!"

Wang Yan said, "After Xu Huaiyi, the official in charge of detailed investigations at the Ministry of Justice, arrested the suspect and imprisoned him in the Ministry of Justice's jail, Minister Xia ordered Weng Yi, an assistant director of the Ministry of Justice, to take over the case."

"Your Majesty, I have examined the documentary evidence obtained by Weng Yi, and it contradicts the facts of the case as known to Xu Huaiyi. When Xu Huaiyi arrested Mingzhen and others, he heard them shouting 'The law is equal, there is no high or low,' and he also imprisoned women to spread Manichaeism, thus suspecting them to be heretics." "However, after the case was handed over to the Ministry of Justice, the officials there, citing that Xu Huaiyi had arrested the suspects without informing them in advance, forced him to write up the documents."

"The case took a turn for the better in less than half an hour after it came to Weng Yi’s hands. Xu Huaiyi brought back suspects from the Ministry of Justice to testify against Xu Huaiyi for fabricating charges, thus wrongfully imprisoning the innocent."

The Emperor did not look at Xia Mengxian, but continued to ask Wang Yan: "Minister Wang, which of these two arguments do you think is true?"

Wang Yan said, "Weng Yi did not send anyone to the manor where the crime occurred to investigate, so he could not verify whether the suspect's confession was true or false. Instead, he tortured Guo Xiong to extract a confession, which is illogical. Therefore, Weng Yi's written evidence, which seems to corroborate each other, cannot withstand scrutiny."

Xia Mengxian frowned immediately. Wang Yan was talking about the case, but he was actually stabbing him in the back. He had instructed Weng Yi to handle the matter properly, but he hadn't expected that Weng Yi, in his haste to turn the case around, had left too many loopholes. If given time, he could naturally fill in all the gaps.

Unfortunately, the case ended up with the authorities, and not only was it exposed early on, but someone also obtained the evidence.

Now that Wang Yan has the opportunity, he will definitely try to implicate him.

Sure enough, Xia Mengxian heard Wang Yan continue, "However, fabricating a case is not easy, because after the case is concluded, it needs to be reviewed and verified at each level..."

At this point in Wang Yan's speech, Shen Zhongzhen could no longer sit still. He glared at Xia Mengxian and said, "This means that unless the person reviewing the case has explicitly instructed him, Weng Yi would not dare to fabricate evidence so openly."

Who would risk doing something like this if there was no safety net?
With just a few simple words, Wang Yan left Xia Mengxian with no way out.

Instead of reprimanding Shen Chongzhen for his improper conduct, the Emperor turned to Xia Mengxian and asked, "What does Minister Xia think?"

Xia Mengxian took a deep breath; the emperor was practically ready to interrogate him directly.

Xia Mengxian's palms were sweating. He hadn't received any advance warning and was unable to stop Weng Yi, which left no room for maneuver. Thinking of this, he lowered his head and said, "Your Majesty, I did not instruct Weng Yi to do such a thing, but I have indeed failed in my duty of oversight."

He naturally couldn't admit that Weng Yi was acting on his orders, but now the emperor was clearly suspicious.

"Just an oversight?" Shen Chongzhen sneered. "Isn't it just covering for your own family?"

Xia Mengxian's expression changed.

Shen Zhongzhen continued, "The arrested Steward Li is from Minister Xia's brother-in-law's family, and Xia Wulang is also Minister Xia's own son."

He pointed at Abbess Zhizhen: "These people are members of the Demonic Cult, so what is Minister Xia's connection with the Demonic Cult? If he wasn't an accomplice, why would he risk his life to save people?"

Xia Mengxian feigned composure and bowed to the Emperor: "I beg Your Majesty to see clearly that I have absolutely no connection with the heretical cult. I request Your Majesty to thoroughly investigate the entire Xia clan. If any members of the heretical cult are found, they shall be severely punished in accordance with the law. If any of my family members are found to be colluding with the heretical cult, I am willing to atone with my death."

“Minister Xia, you are exaggerating,” Wang Yan, who was standing to the side, said. “The case has not yet been investigated, so how can we easily convict someone? The Emperor is asking how the Ministry of Justice could so easily reverse the facts of the case and imprison a sixth-rank official.”

Xia Mengxian originally intended to shift the focus to the Demonic Cult, since he indeed had no connection with it. He thought that such a large-scale investigation would ultimately only clear his name. However, he didn't expect that Wang Yan would discover his plan...

There will be one tonight, let's try to get our Empress Dowager to appear!