Selling wife for fame? Kick out the scumbag and marry the new emperor to enjoy the harem of favors

Chapter 149 Partiality
"Ah Jiang, how many years have you been following me?"

In the study, Xie Mingshen sat behind his desk and asked in a deep voice.

A cup of hot tea sat on the table, its rising steam obscuring his face.

The butler bowed his head respectfully, "I have been serving you since you were eight years old, and it has been forty years now."

He was seven years older than Xie Mingshen. He had witnessed Xie Mingshen rise from an unfavored illegitimate son to become the head of the Xie family. He also rose in rank and became the head steward of the mansion, and was granted the surname Xie.

"For over forty years, we've been more than brothers, not master and servant," Xie Mingshen said with emotion.

However, when he said these words, the butler did not show any emotion, but instead showed a look of fear.

With a deathly pale face, he knelt down with a thud.

"My lord, I have been loyal to you for many years!"

It was because he had followed Xie Mingshen for so long that he knew what kind of person Xie Mingshen was. He could even give away his own daughter without hesitation for the sake of profit, and he could kill his bedmate without hesitation. What was he, this old servant, compared to Xie Mingshen?
It's just a dog.

So suddenly calling him brother is definitely going to kill him.

Playing the emotional card first is a common tactic of Hsieh Ming-shen.

Sure enough, seeing the butler kneel down, Xie Mingshen's expression of emotion gradually faded.

"If I remember correctly, you had another grandson this year. I heard that your eldest grandson is doing well in his studies. If he were properly nurtured, it would be a pity that he cannot take the imperial examinations because he is a slave."

The butler's face was contorted with pain. As he listened to Xie Mingshen's words, his face trembled slightly, and tears began to stream down his face uncontrollably.

However, Xie Mingshen just looked at him quietly and continued.

“Your two sons both work for the household, and I trust them completely. But they are still slaves, no matter how capable they are, they will be slaves for life. Your grandson was born a slave too, and no matter how smart he is, it will be useless. But with just one word from me, I can free them from slavery and make them free people. They will have a path to take in business or the imperial examinations, and they will no longer have to serve others. I will naturally take care of them.”

At this point, the butler broke down in tears, prostrated himself on the ground, and kowtowed repeatedly.

"This servant has served you, Master, my whole life. I will do anything you ask of me, even at the cost of my life. I only ask that you protect my children and grandchildren and ensure they have enough to eat and wear!"

The next day.

He Xunzhi, who was in prison at the Ministry of Justice, revealed more information, saying that he had recently helped the Xie family with a job of forging household registrations, and had helped a man named Wang Gui obtain three new household registrations.

The people from the Dali Temple investigated further and found that this man named Wang Gui was the cousin of Xie Jiang, the steward of the Xie family. Upon further investigation, they discovered that all the tributes He Xunzhi had given over the years had gone into the pocket of steward Xie Jiang, and Xie Mingshen had no idea about them at all.

When Xie Mingshen initially said he would promote him to Vice Minister of Revenue, it was indeed because he valued his abilities, and he had no other intentions. On the contrary, He Xunzhi misunderstood and began to scheme against him in private.

However, he never expected that when he first gave Xie Mingshen a gift, it was already rejected. But the steward Xie Jiang was greedy and secretly kept the gift. In the following years, the money and gifts actually ended up in the steward's pocket.

This so-called "helping Xie Mingshen" was actually just the housekeeper's nephew committing a murder, so he wanted to get a fake household registration to escape and avoid trouble. The housekeeper was the one who orchestrated everything.

The steward was taken away by the Dali Temple officials, who intended to continue interrogating him, but unexpectedly, the steward committed suicide in prison out of fear of punishment.

However, the Dali Temple continued its investigation and found nothing other than this case of falsifying household registrations involving the Xie family in the past two years. This proved that Xie Mingshen was indeed wronged.

However, when facing Zhao Xingjin at the morning court session, Xie Mingshen was still filled with self-reproach and asked to be punished.

Wei Zhang, as always, was aggressive, saying that this matter could not possibly have been done by a mere steward, and that the current situation suggested that Xie Mingshen was trying to find a scapegoat for him.

To everyone's surprise, Zhao Xingjin chose to believe Xie Mingshen.

"Chief Minister Xie, there's no need to blame yourself too much. These servants have been by their masters' side for a long time, and it's inevitable that they've become conceited and have done such audacious things. They are truly unforgivable. As for He Xunzhi, not only is he wicked and has made a mistake, but he also dares to spout nonsense and frame others. He should be killed as a warning to others!"

"Your Majesty, I believe this matter is not so simple. How could a mere servant of the Xie family have such power to manipulate officials? There must be someone behind this! The current incident is merely a way to shift the blame onto someone else!"

Members of Wei Zhang's faction continued to express their opposition and demanded further investigation.

Seeing this, Xie Mingshen immediately took the initiative to say, "Your Majesty, the fault lies with me. I failed to properly control my servants, which led to such a great disaster. However, I truly do not know the inside story. But the results of the Dali Temple's investigation are not convincing to the public. In order to gain the trust of my colleagues in the court, I request to be investigated again. However, the envoy from Xichi Kingdom will be arriving in the capital soon. I request Your Majesty to select another person to handle the reception as soon as possible!"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Xingjin's expression turned cold.

His gaze swept over the person who had just spoken, and he said in a deep voice, "Since you say there's someone else behind this, where's the evidence? Do you think the Dali Temple's investigation is less important than your word?"

"Your Majesty, that is not what I meant. I merely feel that the Court of Judicial Review may also have been misled and failed to investigate the matter thoroughly."

"What do you mean by that? Are you saying that our Dali Temple is incompetent, unable to even investigate such simple cases, and that we can be fooled by a mere servant?" Jiang Weihe, the Minister of Dali Temple, snorted coldly, interrupting the man.

He immediately stepped forward and bowed to Zhao Xingjin, saying, "Your Majesty, this case was personally supervised by me. It is indeed a case of a treacherous servant betraying his master, and it has nothing to do with Chief Minister Xie. The evidence is conclusive, and I hope Your Majesty will investigate thoroughly!"

"Alright! All of you, shut up!"

Zhao Xingjin slammed the string of beads in his hand down hard.

"What kind of order is this, with all this arguing and shouting in the court? Now that the Court of Judicial Review has investigated this matter thoroughly, I will not allow anyone to criticize Chief Minister Xie anymore. The envoy from Xichi Kingdom is about to arrive in the capital. If outsiders see that our dynasty is not united, wouldn't we become a laughing stock?"

"Emperor calm down!"

All the court officials immediately knelt down, none daring to act rashly again.

Zhao Xingjin stood up, his gaze sweeping over the crowd, his face grim. "Court adjourned. Instead of wasting your time on infighting, you should all think about how to demonstrate our nation's power in front of the people of Xichi."

After saying this, he turned and left.

News of what happened at the morning court session spread quickly, and there was much discussion everywhere. Naturally, many people thought that Zhao Xingjin was far too biased towards Xie Mingshen, but since the emperor was already angry about it, no one dared to say anything more.

Weiyang Palace.

As the Empress listened to the news from the court, her gaze darkened.

"The emperor is too fond of Consort Xie because of the interdependence between the imperial court and the harem. He even favors her family members. If she were to give birth to a child, who knows what would happen?"