Tang Dynasty Puppet Doctor

Chapter 60 Conviction and Rectification

After Shangguan Wan'er brought Xie's confession to the Empress, she began to read it carefully. She saw that Guo Hongba's confession, in addition to privately manufacturing weapons and raising assassins, even mentioned the King of Wei and, at his behest, assassinated the orphan of Emperor Xiaojing Li Hong. The Empress's face was suddenly filled with boundless anger. She glanced at the King of Wei, suddenly slammed the table, and asked, "Where is Guo Hongba now?"

At this moment, Lu Ling and Lu Shiyilang arrived at the banquet hall, escorting a man. Arriving before the Empress, Lu Ling ripped the black cloth bag covering the man's head away, made him bow his head, and bowed before the Empress, saying, "Your Majesty, I have interrogated and ascertained that this man murdered the entire Xie family and robbed them of their wealth a year ago. Now, he has conspired with others to murder two innocent girls and dumped their bodies in Ruyi Tower. His methods are cruel and his crimes are heinous. I implore Your Majesty to punish him severely to appease the people!"

For the past two days, Guo Hongba had been imprisoned in a dark cell. The first half of the day was in a secret prison in the Inner Guard Palace, the location of which he did not know. The second half of the day was transferred to the prison of the Dali Temple. Now that he had finally seen the light of day again, he did not expect to be in front of the saint.

The atmosphere is a bit weird and wrong!
Why are there so many people?

Guo Hongba was about to protest his innocence when he saw that the room was full of distinguished guests, all of whom were sons of aristocratic families and noble ladies. At the top of the table was Princess Taiping, who was looking at him with disdain. The King of Wei and the King of Liang were both there, but the King of Wei looked very unhappy.

The one with an even uglier expression than him was Qiu Shenji, who was also kneeling on the ground. At this moment, Qiu Shenji was as lifeless as a wilted eggplant. No, it was not just lifeless, but the despair of having tried his best but still unable to find a glimmer of hope.

"You wrote this confession, didn't you?" The Empress ordered Shangguan Wan'er to present it to Guo Hongba. "Are all your confessions true?"

"Your Majesty, I…I was forced to confess!"

Guo Hongba said with horror, his eyes suddenly catching sight of Xiao Muchen, "It was him! He forced me to confess!"

"Shut up! Even your wife has confirmed what you did, and you're still trying to make excuses? Don't try to play tricks on me. I'll know if you're lying or not once I investigate!"

"Somebody come!"

A burly Zuo Qianniu Guard came before the empress with a group of imperial guards, and the entire banquet scene suddenly became solemn and silent.

"Go and investigate how many retainers are there in Censor Guo's mansion? How much money and property have they embezzled? How many weapons are hidden?"

"Here!"

Watching the Qianniu Guards leave in a rage, Guo Hongba immediately cried out in panic, "Saint, please spare my life. I admit that everything I confessed is true. However, I was also threatened and used by General Qiu. Please forgive me. I will hand over all my family's property and turn over a new leaf!"

"If I forgive you, how can I be worthy of the officials of Bozhou? How can I reassure the people of the world?"

The empress said this and suddenly turned her gaze to Qiu Shenji: "General Qiu, do you have anything else to say?"

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty..."

He was just about to say that everything he did was ordered by the King of Wei and was for the sake of the saint, but when he faced the empress's gaze and the coldness in the King of Wei's eyes, he swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue.

At this moment, he suddenly felt isolated and helpless, and became an abandoned pawn like Zhou Xing.

"Forget it. I came to this peony banquet to see how many talented people in my Great Zhou would leave their names at this banquet. I didn't expect to see my people living in such dire straits. And the ministers I trusted actually deceived me and slaughtered innocent people to claim credit for others' achievements. This is my fault for not judging people well enough!"

After saying this, the empress sighed heavily.

"Lu Shaoqing, sentence them strictly according to the law! Investigating the case, convicting the criminals, and dealing with the criminals are ultimately the business of your Dali Temple and the Ministry of Justice. I will not interfere! As for this Lady Xie..." The Empress looked at Xie Zi'e, "She was not afraid of the rebels, she protected the people, and cleared the grievances of her companions. She was not afraid of life and death, and dared to make remonstrations. Her integrity and noble conduct are a role model for women. Tell her deeds to the world and commend her and her companions!"

Lu Ling answered loudly: "Yes!"

The surroundings suddenly became extremely quiet. Xie Zi'e was stunned in disbelief, and Xie even shed tears of excitement and sorrow.

"Zi'e, why don't you kneel down and thank the saint for his grace!"

Xie Zi'e, who was being pulled by Xie, also knelt on the ground when he woke up from his dream.

"Thank you saint for your grace!"

As she uttered these words, endless sadness and pain surged into her heart, and the tears that had gathered in Xie Zi'e's eyes finally fell: she had finally vindicated her dead companions, finally let her enemies get retribution, and let the truth come to light. But at this moment, she didn't know whether she should be happy or cry?

Lu Ling, Xiao Muchen and Murong Huan turned their attention to King Wei, because until this moment, the empress had no intention of questioning King Wei.

After the empress walked a few steps away, she suddenly seemed to remember something and turned to look at the King of Wei: "King of Wei, please follow me to the Ziwei Palace!"

The King of Wei lowered his head and replied, "Yes!" Then he quickly followed the Empress and left.

Lu Ling wanted to say something, but Lu Shiyilang grabbed his sleeve and shook his head to signal him not to say anything more.

The guests made way and watched the empress's procession leave in a grand procession.

"Congratulations to His Majesty the God Emperor!"

Just as the empress was about to leave the banquet, she suddenly turned around and looked at Xiao Muchen: "Zicheng, in two hours, you should also come to Ziwei Palace!"

"Here!"

……

As soon as the empress left, almost all the guests at the banquet rushed towards Murong Huan. The noble ladies, led by Madam Cui, chatted with each other, and even wanted to pull Murong Huan to their side.

"I didn't expect that the young lady's medical skills are so good that she can even cure Mrs. Guo's madness. When are you free to come to my Zhang Mansion and visit?"

"Yes! If you have time, come to my Huan Mansion and sit down. I have a young lady of the same age as you, who can be your companion!"

"And my family's daughter, she should have just come of age and hasn't been married yet, right?"

Amidst this incomparably noisy noise, Murong Huan felt the chill emanating from Xiao Muchen's body grow stronger and stronger. He suddenly grasped his hand, supported him, and said to the crowd, "Sorry, we have something urgent to attend to. Please move aside immediately. I need to take him back for treatment!"

Seeing Murong Huan being so rude, some of the young ladies sneered unhappily.

"Does she really think she's that important? These ladies are doing her a favor by inviting her to their homes, and yet she's so shameless!"

"Exactly. He's actually so close to Xiao Zhongcheng. Could it be that he's trying to get close to Xiao Zhongcheng under the pretext of curing his illness?"

"She's the daughter of a small family, an abandoned girl at that, how can she be worthy!"

Hearing these chattering voices, Lu Shiyilang shouted angrily: "What are you talking about? What's wrong with being an abandoned girl from a small family? Can you noble ladies compare to an abandoned girl from a small family? You don't even know the most basic etiquette to treat others. I don't think you noble ladies are that noble!"

After saying that, Lu Shiyilang drew out the sword in his hand and pushed away the crowd surrounding Murong Huan.

"Everyone, go! Don't delay the Dali Temple's investigation. This girl belongs to my Dali Temple!"

Faced with Lu Shiyilang's fierce gaze, the ladies finally scattered timidly. At this time, several police officers rushed into the scene, tied up Qiu Shenji and Guo Hongba, and took them out of the banquet.

Lu Shiyilang then turned around and looked at Murong Huan curiously: "So you are a young lady. You look good in women's clothes, much more beautiful than those noble ladies. Why did you dress as a man to deceive us before?"

Lu Ling also looked at Murong Huan for a long time, remaining silent.

At this time, Princess Taiping came over and said to Xiao Muchen with a smile, "So, Zicheng, the gift you gave me today was actually a play. You used my name to redress the grievances of others, and you also staged a play to portray two treacherous ministers and villains?

Zicheng's scheming is even greater than before. Are you including me in your schemes?"

Xiao Muchen nodded with a slight smile and replied, "I'm sorry, we did borrow the Princess's peony flower show this time, but Zicheng has also made Her Royal Highness famous."

When he heard the last sentence, Taiping couldn't help but cover his mouth and giggle.

"Zicheng is still so good at talking, but I think you seem to be more interested in promoting the reputation of the young lady beside you!" As she spoke, she actually reached out and stroked Xiao Muchen's face, then continued, "Well, I don't mean to blame you. Just based on Zicheng's beautiful face that I never get tired of looking at, I can't bear to blame you. But, you took advantage of me and offended the King of Wei. What are you going to do in the future?"

Taiping was so focused on talking to Xiao Muchen that she didn't notice that when Ah Shu reached out to touch Xiao Muchen's face, a fierce light flashed in her wide eyes, like a little wild beast ready to attack at any time.

　Next, we will return to the main story of the male and female protagonists. Thank you for your continued subscription and support.
(End of this chapter)