Under the new statutes, Pingqing Marquis Chen Baoxiang had been formally accused, and was required at all times to cooperate with the Court of Judicial Review’s investigation without any excuse for refusal.
And so Chen Baoxiang would be summoned to the Court of Judicial Review in the middle of her city patrol, would be brought there halfway through an imperial audience, and even when she was watching the moon with Zhang Zhixu, she would have to leave for the Court of Judicial Review at the halfway point.
She laughed despite herself: “Lord Xie, do you have to be this inconsiderate of timing?”
Xie Lanting held up a candle stand and looked at her: “The case has had a development. There’s no time to be considerate of timing.”
“Couldn’t it wait until tomorrow?” She swept a glance over the bailiffs standing around them. “If you’re not tired, others still are.”
Being made to work past midnight with no extra compensation.
“Stop trying to drive a wedge between me and my people,” Xie Lanting said. “I’m here to ask you — is the person named in this corpse purchase contract your mother?”
Chen Baoxiang yawned: “Yes.”
“Then what is there left for you to dispute?” Xie Lanting leaned back in his seat. “Chen Yuan’er is your mother, and she was Cheng Huaili’s wife.”
“Hold on.” Chen Baoxiang raised her hand. “Who did you just say was whose wife?”
“Chen Yuan’er was Cheng Huaili’s wife.”
Chen Baoxiang gave a short, contemptuous laugh: “Has my lord forgotten? Cheng Huaili’s original lawful wife was Princess Shouan. That is something known to the entire world.”
“The village headman Yang from the original Guiliang Village has testified that Chen Yuan’er was with your father all along, and bore him two sons.”
“Ah, but there’s a problem with that as well,” Chen Baoxiang said. “Where did Cheng Huaili ever get sons? Weren’t the two people who died in that great fire in the border region his nephews?”
“That was a lie he told.”
“How can one be certain that it was Cheng Huaili who lied, and not Headman Yang?” She couldn’t help but be sardonic. “Just because Cheng Huaili is dead and cannot speak for himself?”
“Do not play word games with me.”
“And who exactly is playing word games?” Chen Baoxiang raised an eyebrow. “My lord, after all your years at the Court of Judicial Review, surely you know that a single person’s testimony cannot serve as concrete proof?”
Xie Lanting knew that perfectly well.
But after that great flood, the people of Guiliang Village had either drowned or died in battle, and there were precious few left who knew anything at all.
The best approach for now was to get Chen Baoxiang to confess herself.
He said: “What makes you so certain I have only Headman Yang as a witness?”
Chen Baoxiang was unmoved: “You can have as many witnesses as you like. If sheer numbers were enough to turn falsehood into truth, then I have over two hundred witnesses of my own who can testify that you and Lu Qingrong colluded together to frame a loyal official.”
“Chen Baoxiang!” Xie Lanting struck the table and rose to his feet. “You killed Lu Shouhuai, and then you killed your own father — these are established facts. Even if the evidence is still insufficient, you and I both know it to be true.”
“Fortunately, ‘both knowing it to be true’ cannot be used to decide a case — otherwise our great Dasheng would truly be finished.”
“You—”
“Lord Xie, Lu Qingrong and I have had a grudge since childhood,” Chen Baoxiang said, narrowing her eyes. “Do you know how her family once oppressed the people of Guiliang Village, and later how they massacred refugees?”
“Those matters are irrelevant to this case.”
“Then what does it matter whether I killed Lu Shouhuai or not, in relation to this case?”
“…”
“You have no direct evidence that can prove I am Cheng Huaili’s daughter, and not a single piece of evidence that can establish that I killed Cheng Huaili.” She looked at him with wry amusement. “Xie Lanting, the celebrated Chief Justice of the Court of Judicial Review — and yet you are nothing more than a man who disregards evidence and allows personal feelings to sway your judgment.”
Xie Lanting was struck speechless.
He had already assembled a rough chain of evidence, had already pieced together a general picture of what had transpired between Chen Baoxiang and Cheng Huaili.
And yet somehow, after just a few words from her, he found himself completely unable to refute her.
Her presence was overpowering as well. Even here in the Court of Judicial Review, on his own ground, he could not gain the upper hand.
The candle stand crackled once, then dimmed slightly.
Chen Baoxiang rose to her feet and said with indolent ease: “Since you have nothing more to say, I’ll be going. One more thing, Lord Xie — calling this many bailiffs in past midnight is frankly unkind. Remember to give everyone a little extra compensation.”
After coming into money, the thing Chen Baoxiang most enjoyed doing was handing out extra compensation to the people under her command.
If the work shift ran long today — extra compensation.
If there was additional work that needed to be sent down to subordinates — extra compensation.
If someone had to deal with officials from another government office and came away feeling aggrieved — that called for a particularly generous sum of extra compensation.
One person having money brought happiness to one person. A whole group having money brought happiness to a whole group. Chen Baoxiang very much wanted the people of the Court of Judicial Review to learn how to be happy too.
But Xie Lanting clearly had no interest in listening to her. His expression was deeply unpleasant, and paired with the weary, long-suffering faces of the other bailiffs around him, the entire Court of Judicial Review seemed suffused with a deadened, spiritless air.
She gave a short laugh, said nothing more, rose and saw herself out, and went back to watching the moon.
As ill luck would have it, heavy rain fell in the second half of the night, and Zhang Zhixu’s moon-watching was ruined.
He stood at the doorway watching Chen Baoxiang walk back from the Court of Judicial Review in the rain, and found his patience nearly exhausted.
The following day, Zhang Zhixu of the Ministry of Justice filed a formal complaint against Xie Lanting of the Court of Judicial Review, charging him with unauthorized release of a suspect and dereliction of duty.
With this complaint in place, Xie Lanting was forced to run back and forth to the Ministry of Justice every few days to cooperate with the investigation, keeping him overwhelmingly busy — yet the case made little progress.
He stormed furiously into Xun Yuan.
“She is without question the killer of Lu Shouhuai, and you know that perfectly well,” Xie Lanting said, his brow creased, as he confronted Zhang Zhixu. “For the sake of a killer like her, you would make things difficult for me?”