Ning Dao Covered with Snow

Chapter 399 Reexamining old cases
During the morning court session this morning, an imperial censor offered his advice, proposing a reinvestigation of the case of the murder of Crown Prince Renxian twenty years ago.

The emperor sat upright on his high throne. Hearing the censor's advice, his expression remained unchanged. He asked calmly, "Father already ordered a thorough investigation into this case back then. My elder brother did indeed die from an arrow shot by the rebels. Why do you suddenly want to bring up this old case again today? Are you dissatisfied with the results of Father's investigation?"

The censor knelt down and said, "Your humble servant dares not question the late emperor. This morning, my servants received a letter through a crack in the door. When I opened it, I found sixteen characters written on it."

The emperor's heart sank; he had a bad feeling.

Xiao Wenyi glanced at the censor and asked, "Why did you stop? What were those sixteen characters?"

The censor pounded his head on the ground, his voice trembling as he said, "He murdered his brother to seize power, and Zheng became his accomplice. Heaven's justice is clear, and he will finally receive his retribution!"

These words caused an uproar in the imperial court.

Xiao Wenyi retorted, "Nonsense! Crown Prince Renxian was killed by the rebels. What does it have to do with anyone else?!"

A moment later, the Minister of Rites stepped forward, pulled a letter from his sleeve, and held it high above his head: "Actually, my family also received the same letter."

The crowd stirred again.

Another person stepped forward; it was the Vice Minister of Works. He hesitated and said, "To be honest, I also received this letter, but I didn't take it seriously and tore it up on the spot."

The emperor looked around at everyone present and asked coldly, "Who else has received such a letter?"

After a while, more than a dozen officials came forward one after another; they had also received the same letter.

Xiao Wenyi frowned, looking worried: "If even court officials can receive this letter at home, then ordinary people must receive it even more often. If this matter becomes widely known, I'm afraid it will be difficult to handle."

The audience was silent.

They were all waiting for the emperor to make a statement.

After a long silence, the emperor finally spoke: "Back when I was still the fifth prince, Crown Prince Renxian took great care of me. Without him, I wouldn't be who I am today. Over the years, I've often thought of Crown Prince Renxian, to the point that I can't sleep at night. To be honest, I wouldn't be satisfied with anyone sitting on this throne, but only Crown Prince Renxian can truly win my heart. I want to know the truth about his murder more than any of you!"

The ministers lowered their heads and listened silently.

The emperor took a breath and continued, "Those with ulterior motives are deliberately spreading these rumors because they know how much I miss my brother. They want to sow discord and plunge us into endless infighting. I will not fall for it. What about you?"

The first censor to step forward replied, "This humble subject will naturally not be fooled, but now that things have escalated, if a reasonable explanation cannot be given, I'm afraid the people of the land will not be satisfied."

The emperor glanced at the others and asked coldly, "And you?"

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. The Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, leaning on his cane, knelt down shakily and said, “Your Majesty, I believe that Your Majesty could not possibly be involved in the murder of Crown Prince Renxian. Your Majesty must have been framed by rumors. However, the common people are unaware of the truth and are easily misled by rumors. Your Majesty can send people to silence them, but this is only a temporary solution and ultimately a poor one.”

The Minister of Rites hesitated for a moment before kneeling down as well: "Your Majesty, I agree with Minister Liu's statement. It is better to guide than to suppress. The more we try to cover it up, the easier it is for others to criticize us, and we will put ourselves in a passive position. Before the rumors become more outrageous, we should investigate the case thoroughly as soon as possible, present all the witnesses and evidence, and let the world know that Your Majesty is innocent. Only in this way can we completely resolve this matter and prevent future troubles."

People kept kneeling down to express their support for reopening the old case.

In the end, only Xiao Wenyi remained standing in the same spot.

The emperor's gaze fell upon him, and he asked, "What does the Grand Tutor think?" Xiao Wenyi slowly replied, "Back when the late emperor was still alive, he ordered me to investigate the murder of Crown Prince Renxian. I worked on it for two years, and the result was still that it was the work of the rebels. Now, twenty years have passed since the murder of Crown Prince Renxian, many of those who knew the truth are no longer alive, and the evidence is no longer valid. It would be extremely difficult to reopen this case!"

"But if we don't investigate, how can we silence the public's criticism?"

"Now that things have come to this point, we definitely have to investigate, but we can't just investigate old cases. We also need to find out who spread these letters. We must catch the person behind this trouble and completely prevent such things from happening again."

The emperor nodded slightly; of all the officials, only Xiao Wenyi's words were somewhat to his liking.

"The case of Crown Prince Renxian was handled by the Grand Tutor back then. The Grand Tutor must be very familiar with the details of the case. Since we should not trouble two people with the same matter, the case will still be handled by the Grand Tutor. As for the person who spread rumors behind the scenes, the Inner Guard will handle the investigation."

Xiao Wenyi knelt down: "Your Majesty, I accept the decree and thank you for your trust."

After the meeting, Xiao Wenyi left the palace and returned home by carriage.

Xiao Wang came out to greet him, holding an umbrella in one hand and helping his grandfather through the door with the other.

"Grandfather, how was the morning court session today?"

Xiao Wenyi gave a general account of what had happened at the morning court session.

Xiao Wang was quite surprised after hearing this. After the grandfather and grandson entered the room, Xiao Wang dismissed all the servants and asked in a low voice, "Were those letters distributed by Magistrate Jiang?"

He was quite surprised to see his grandfather nod: "Does Magistrate Jiang really have such great power?"

You should know that all the gates of the neighborhood are locked at night. Unless you are a person with superb lightness skills, it is impossible to spread so many letters in one night. Jiang Qiuyu looks unremarkable, but I didn't expect him to be so clever.

Xiao Wenyi picked up her teacup and said slowly, "Do you think Magistrate Jiang did nothing for twenty years? Both he and Xie Tanyu have been working hard in secret all these years, and there are many people like them."

Xiao Wang was stunned for a moment, then quickly realized what was happening.

"Could it be that among the officials who stood up to propose reopening old cases at today's morning court session, there were some of our people?"

Xiao Wenyi nodded again.

Xiao Wang stared blankly at his grandfather. His grandfather was clearly white-haired, but his eyes shone with the brilliance of a young man.

"For the past twenty years, we have been enduring this, waiting for you to grow up. But you were poisoned by the Fallen Immortal's Poison, and you were destined not to live long. We had already prepared to fight to the death. Fortunately, God blessed you and let you meet the descendants of the Ning family. Sixth Brother, how long will it take for you to be completely cured?"

"There will be one last detoxification in nine days."

Xiao Wenyi covered the teacup and gently placed it on the table, saying, "Now everything is ready. We will make our move after you successfully detoxify yourself in nine days."

A breeze blew in, bringing a touch of coolness.

Xiao Wang then looked out the window.

The light rain continued incessantly, and the dark clouds in the sky remained persistent, as if brewing an even bigger storm.