Rebirth of the Treacherous Official’s Madam

By the time this matter spread throughout the capital, it was already the next day.

But the horrifying level of this matter didn’t reduce in the slightest because of the slight delay in time.

Because the news came from the Judicial Court.

On the sixth of the twelfth month, amidst the buzzing rumors of the capital, the Wen’an Marquis Manor prepared valuable gifts and invited noble guests to the Cheng’en Duke Manor to pick up the eldest miss, Xun Yan, who was rumored to have been missing for more than a month, her life and death unknown.

However, right when they arrived back at the Wen’an Marquis Manor, before even entering the door, Xun Yan just died in the carriage?

If only Xun Yan had met with mishap just a couple of hours, or even just an hour later, then this matter will just have one possibility, and that was the Xun family’s interior executed Xun Yan, even though it’s already too late to mend the Xun family’s reputation.

But, Xun Yan didn’t die inside the Wen’an Marquis Manor, instead dying on the way from the Cheng’en Duke Manor back to the Wen’an Marquis Manor.

This sudden turn of events, no one had expected. Practically right when the Zhu family was still checking the valuable gifts the Xun family gave, discussing whether or not they should voluntarily go to the Xun manor in a few days to mention Zhu second young master and Xun Yan’s marriage arrangement, the people of the Judicial Court just came to the door.

Because as soon as the Xun family discovered that Xun Yan had died in the carriage, they just directly sent the person and carriage to the Judicial Court. The Ying Duke heir, Zhongyong General couple, Head Minister Nie, as well as Imperial Physician Chi, these witnesses that the Xun family invited for their domestic affairs, directly just became witnesses upon the Judicial Court.

Everyone all watched Xun Yan come out from the Zhu manor perfectly fine, afterwards mounting the carriage to return to the manor, yet in less than an hour later, she just directly died. If not getting attacked in the carriage, then it can only be that something had happened while still in the Zhu manor, for instance, having gotten poisoned.

The Zhu family naturally cried for their innocence, the explanation also very reasonable.

Why did they want to harm Xun Yan?

If they really had some malicious thoughts towards her, then why save her, and why look for people to identify her, giving her back to the Xun family, going through this many twists and turns? It can’t be that they just wanted to look for trouble for themselves?

However, this kind of argument can be placed in the disputes between relatives or even friends of the family, but upon the Judicial Court, one can’t use a counter question or supposed case as a response.

Xun Che directly questioned upon the hall, “Your noble manor doesn’t need to say anything like ‘if having the intention, or not having the intention’. What your intentions are, it’s all just in your noble manor’s mind. Others don’t know. At present, one’s younger sister’s corpse has already been entrusted to the Ministry of Justice and Judicial Court’s seasoned coroners to inspect. Now, asking your noble manor’s second young master to have exactly when and where he saved one’s younger sister, exactly where she has been in the past month, how she was treated, how the prescriptions were prepared, and all the available witnesses and material evidence brought out one by one!”

This time, the Cheng’en Duke Manor, from top to bottom, all changed in complexion.

While Zhu second young master was still trying to explain that he absolutely didn’t have any reason or necessity to kill Xun Yan, Cheng’en Duke who was two steps behind him gradually started turning pale.

TN: All translations outside of are stolen and reposted without permission!

Why invite witnesses of that kind of status?

Why, having clearly brought an imperial physician, didn’t they take Xun Yan’s pulse on the spot in the Zhu manor?

Why was the only question Xun-shizi mentioned just related to the process of how Xun Yan was saved?

Everything was all for this moment! The Xun family simply wasn’t trying to pursue how Xun Yan died, but rather, want to look into exactly where Xun Yan was at in the past month, or even longer ago, and exactly how many holes there were in that entire explanation!

Thinking to here, Cheng’en Duke, who was over fifty, actually sensed a wave of chilliness crawl up his back, his gaze landing on that young Wen’an Marquis heir again.

He was dressed in a dark blue brocade gown of a noble heir with sea ripple pattern, wearing a gold crown on his head, his figure tall and upright like jade, standing there quietly watching the person before him explain without emphasizing on the main point. The expression on his handsome face was very light, not revealing any obvious mockery or disrespect, his entire mannerism firm like a mountain.

A moment later, Xun Che’s gaze also swept over, his thin lips unexpectedly carrying an unknown smile. Cheng’en Duke’s heart violently sunk even more———In this matter, afraid they won’t even have the opportunity to break their arms and cut their losses…………

The Cheng’en Duke, who has had smooth wind and currents for more than half his life, actually had an incredible foresight for once this time. Starting from when this matter entered the Judicial Court on the seventh of the twelfth month, Xun Yan’s death became the most detailed case recorded in Great Sheng’s history books. Not only did it affect Great Sheng’s noble family’s education towards their children afterwards, it even gave all the noble and prestigious families a severe warning.

Because the lawsuit and accusation the Xun family raised against the Cheng’en Duke Manor in the end wasn’t just in regards to Xun Yan’s death, but also towards Xun Yan’s kidnapping, imprisonment, poisoning, as well as spreading rumors against the Wen’an Marquis heir, endangering the Wen’an Marquis Manor’s noble title, and so on.

At the same time these were listed out one by one, the Wen’an Marquis Manor naturally also brought out all kinds of detailed evidence, for instance, the entry and exit records from when the Magistrate Office of the Capital coordinated with the capital’s army to strictly seal off the capital and interrogate at the gates, Zhu second young master’s tracks and whereabouts, the witness testimonies from all the people on the official road and at the relay stations going from the capital, passing through the Ji province, to the Liu province, the location of the broken carriage from where the so called accident occurred, all the docks, boatmen, fishermen, and water transport along the river within thirty li upstream and a hundred li downstream, the apothecaries and doctors in the surrounding prefectures, provinces, counties, and so on.

Practically every explanation the Zhu family gave, the Xun family, or rather, should say, Xun Che, was all able to give out detailed circumstantial evidence and counter-argument. For instance, according to the circumstantial evidence from all the fishermen and passersby at the place where Zhu second young master supposedly saved Xun Yan, simply no one saw anyone drowning and crying for help, or anyone attempting to swim, and there also wasn’t anyone going into the waters to save someone.

Those so called reasonable time and date of the Zhu family’s, when verifying with the specific location and circumstantial evidences, not a single one was able to be brought onto the table.

Once the evidences were raised to this degree, the Zhu family really didn’t have the slightest leeway at all. Just looking at how all the witness testimonies and records the Xun family brought were all lifted in by the trunks, the Judicial Court just knew exactly what this Xun-shizi, who hadn’t returned to the capital in more than a month amidst the chaotic rumors, was doing.

The Magistrate Office of the Capital’s side was even extremely cooperative, especially given that the incident at the Zhu family’s flower banquet last time nearly caused the Magistrate of the Capital, Jiang Qisheng, to be dismissed from his position. As such, the detailedness of the records related to the Zhu family’s horse carriages and even servants entering and exiting the capital really were unable to be compared to by anyone.

Jiang Qisheng’s respected teacher, the Head Minister of Justice, Chen Min, further took the opportunity this time to accuse the Cheng’en Duke Manor of misconduct memorandum after memorandum upon the imperial court, nearly just short of having all the trial records directly read to all the court officials upon the imperial court. And the idea Chen Min raised actually wasn’t having the grudges between the Wen’an Marquis Manor and Cheng’en Duke Manor brought upon the imperial court, but rather using this matter of the Cheng’en Duke Manor’s as an example to suggest various revisions to the laws and regulations in regards to arresting bandits, case investigation, evidence submission, evidence collection, and so on.

Thus, for the entire twelfth month of Tianxu year 13, it can be said to be the month of when the Cheng’en Duke Manor left their name behind in history.

Actually, on the ninth of the twelfth month, the third day of this trial, Cheng’en Duke wanted to look for someone to mediate with the Xun family, pleading to reconcile and settle in private. Of course, it was completely ineffective.

By the twelfth, things just became increasingly detailed. The Zhu family already want to break a leg or break an arm, admitting certain matters, even if it’s actually something they’d never done, just so they can quickly conclude the case.

But the Xun family’s attitude was instead, even if admitting, our family still need to know the details of when, where, and who assisted.