“Minister Jiang,” Sun Xu said with a stern face, “the courtroom is not a place for you to act recklessly. Let us first hear what the witness has to say.”
Before Jiang Quan could speak, Hu Die first kowtowed to Sun Xu, saying, “In response to Your Honor, this servant has come to confess the crimes committed by our mistress back then.” She kept her head lowered, but her voice was clear and distinct, just loud enough to reach the ears of the common people watching the excitement outside: “When the former mistress was alive, our mistress was merely a concubine. Though Master doted on the concubine and young miss, it was the legitimate wife who held the position of household head. The concubine had always been proud and arrogant, coming from a family of high officials and nobility, so naturally she was unwilling to remain subordinate. Although she lacked for nothing in the Minister’s mansion, sometimes even holding higher status than the former mistress, the concubine remained dissatisfied.”
Though Hu Die’s words seemed merely to state facts, they sounded quite different to others’ ears. Who didn’t know how Xia Cheng’s title had originally come about? If not for his elder brother’s early death, it would never have been the turn of this illegitimate son. Even his title only came after Xia Yan entered the Minister’s mansion. Before that, she was merely the daughter of a minor official’s illegitimate son—hardly worthy of being called from a family of officials and nobility, yet she had the face to call herself such. If she were truly from a distinguished family, why would Jiang Quan have married Zhao Mei instead of Xia Yan? An illegitimate daughter was already so vain and status-conscious, and according to Hu Die, Xia Yan’s position in the Minister’s mansion was even higher than Zhao Mei’s—what was this if not favoring the concubine while destroying the wife?
Previously, though people had heard rumors of Jiang Quan’s exclusive favor toward Xia Yan, they had assumed it happened after Zhao Mei’s death. But it turned out that not long after Zhao Mei married into the Minister’s mansion, Jiang Quan was already acting so excessively. It was clearly because he had taken a fancy to the power in her family, and once he discovered it couldn’t benefit his career, he revealed his true nature.
Hu Die continued: “Later, the concubine thought that since Master was a court official, he couldn’t find grounds to divorce his wife without cause and would have to remain subordinate to her for life. Unwilling to accept this, she planned to poison the former mistress. That day, the concubine spent a fortune to buy exotic poison and mixed it into the former mistress’s daily meals. The former mistress was poisoned bit by bit, and as the toxins accumulated, she died. Master knew all of this—once when Master discovered the concubine’s poison, he even told her to be more careful and not leave any evidence.” After speaking, Hu Die kowtowed twice more to Sun Xu: “Your Honor, every word this common woman speaks is true. I dare not deceive you in the slightest.”
“Complete nonsense! Complete nonsense!” Jiang Quan pointed at Hu Die and cursed angrily: “Who gave you the audacity to speak such lies here and disturb people’s hearts? Hu Die, don’t forget who you really are! You are a servant of my Jiang mansion!”
Hu Die shook her head: “Master has probably forgotten—Hu Die’s indenture contract is no longer in effect. Hu Die is no longer a person of the Minister’s mansion.” As she said this, though she tried to suppress something, a trace of hatred still showed in her eyes.
Jiang Quan was left speechless. Sun Xu struck his gavel heavily again: “Silence!”
Hu Die knelt on the ground and said something shocking: “In response to Your Honor, this common woman has more evidence to present!”
Jiang Quan was stunned. Sun Xu said in a deep voice: “Where is this evidence?”
Hu Die glanced at Jiang Ruan, who sat calmly in her seat to the side, the smile at the corners of her lips seemingly unchanged from beginning to end. Feeling reassured, Hu Die spoke frankly: “It is in the room where our mistress lived. Because that medicine was truly precious, and our mistress didn’t know when the former mistress would become critically ill, thinking the medicine might be useful in the future, she ordered this servant to keep it. That day, this servant buried the medicine packet under the tree in our mistress’s courtyard. But the prescription was probably kept—later Master said it was useful and took it to keep in a box in his study. By coincidence, Master seemed to forget about that box later. Once when our mistress had this servant tidy the study, this servant put that box in the innermost wooden chest. That wooden chest wouldn’t be touched for many years because it only held old things.”
Zhao Guang bowed his hands to Sun Xu, his tone already unquestionable: “Judge Sun, since this evidence has been presented, shouldn’t we have someone search for it?”
“Naturally.” Sun Xu said with a serious expression: “This official has already dispatched soldiers to search the Minister’s mansion.”
Jiang Quan sneered: “Utterly ridiculous. Do you think a few nonsensical words can determine my guilt? Hu Die, I see you’re not afraid of death!” He naturally felt confident, certain that the soldiers would find nothing in the house. Not to mention that when Xia Yan poisoned people, he had never directly participated—even Xia Yan herself wouldn’t be stupid enough to leave evidence. Xia Yan was meticulous and thorough in her actions, cleaning up any trace that could incriminate her. Though he didn’t know what benefits Jiang Ruan had given Hu Die to make her fabricate false evidence like this, Jiang Quan believed that not just anyone could enter the Minister’s mansion, especially the crucial study that he checked several times daily. What wooden chest, what box—he had never heard of such things.
Hu Die was probably just focused on lying but couldn’t produce real evidence. Without evidence, there could be no conviction—what could Hu Die do then? Thinking this, he looked at Jiang Ruan’s expression. He saw Jiang Ruan sitting properly, and as if sensing his gaze, she turned to smile at him slightly. Jiang Ruan’s smile was even calmer than Jiang Quan’s, seemingly containing subtle mockery. That look immediately sobered Jiang Quan’s heart, making him somewhat afraid. Jiang Quan wasn’t unaware of how sinister his daughter could be. Over the years, neither the Xia family nor Jiang Susu had ever gained any advantage from her. Even if the Jiang mansion were an impenetrable fortress, it couldn’t protect against whatever devious methods she might devise to harm people.
Just then, the soldiers responsible for searching had returned. The lead soldier announced himself and strode into the courtroom, bowing low to whisper a few words to Sun Xu. As Sun Xu listened, he glanced at Jiang Quan, making Jiang Quan’s heart skip a beat. Before he could sort out his thoughts, Sun Xu struck his gavel and shouted: “Audacious Jiang Quan! As a court official, you failed to manage your household properly, allowing your concubine to harm others, even colluding with her to murder your legitimate wife! What crime does this deserve? The soldiers have already found evidence in the box within the wooden chest in your room. What do you have to say?” With that, the court attendant presented an iron box. Everyone could see clearly as Sun Xu personally opened the box, revealing a thin piece of paper. Under everyone’s watchful eyes, there could be no fakery.
Zhao Yuanping rose and walked to Sun Xu’s side, requesting to examine the paper. After quickly reading through it, Zhao Yuanping returned the paper to Sun Xu. When he looked at Jiang Quan again, his smile was utterly cold: “Minister Jiang truly has excellent schemes and calculations. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have known there could be such a heartless person in this world.”
Zhao Yuanping was always accustomed to impassive sarcasm. Hearing these words, Jiang Quan turned ashen with anger, but what followed was disbelief. Even though he had come to court today, he had carefully checked his study before leaving and had seen no wooden chest or box. How could they suddenly appear? What was going on? He cried out in protest: “This is absolutely not my doing! Sun Xu, as a member of the Court of Judicial Review, you must investigate thoroughly. Based on a small prescription alone, how dare you arrest me? This is clearly someone deliberately framing me! Don’t you understand this?”
“This official has always only looked at evidence,” Sun Xu said unhurriedly. He hadn’t missed the threat in Jiang Quan’s words, but this case involved Xiao Shao’s wife—the current Princess Jinying, formerly County Princess Hong’an, who had filed the complaint herself. The power behind Prince Jinying’s mansion was well-known throughout the Great Jin court. Xiao Shao had personally given instructions—how dare he neglect this? Moreover, the murdered woman in this case was the beloved daughter of a general’s family. Without giving an account, given the Zhao family’s protective nature, they might tear down the Court of Judicial Review. Not to mention that someone from the palace had also given instructions.
Though the Court of Judicial Review specialized in cases that ordinary people dared not handle, even when involving many court officials, that was because Sun Xu had risen through the ranks with the Emperor’s support and didn’t need to depend on anyone’s favor. But when it came to the Emperor’s trusted associates, the principle of “when water is too clear, there are no fish” applied. Sun Xu understood this deeply. Having held such an offense-generating position for years while remaining steadfast in court, Sun Xu was extremely skilled at managing relationships. Now that Xuan Pei’s position in the palace was rising steadily, with the Emperor showing him great favor, while the Fifth and Eighth Princes were openly and secretly fighting each other, who could say for certain where the throne would ultimately land? Perhaps the future crown prince of Great Jin would be the currently emerging Thirteenth Prince. Though Sun Xu didn’t know the reason, Xuan Pei’s special instructions to send someone carried significant pressure. Precisely because they had been colleagues for so many years, Sun Xu could see clearly that this time Jiang Quan would find it very difficult to escape unscathed, because every person he had offended had the power to destroy him.
Zhao Yuanfeng said casually: “Minister Jiang, that Minister’s mansion is your residence—naturally only your people can enter. If you don’t know when that box was placed there, you can hardly expect us outsiders to provide answers. You should know that since your mansion was established, apart from my younger sister, no one from the Zhao family has ever set foot there.”
Zhao Yuanfeng’s words carried no small amount of sarcasm. When Zhao Mei severed ties with the Zhao family, and after her death, the Jiang family also prohibited all contact with the General’s mansion, even secretly treating the General’s mansion as an enemy. The Zhao and Jiang families had never gotten along, so the idea of Zhao family members entering the Jiang mansion was out of the question.
Jiang Quan hit a wall but had no mind to argue with Zhao Yuanfeng. Now he realized the gravity of the situation. With both human and material evidence present, and seeing Sun Xu’s attitude, escaping punishment would be very difficult. At this point, the usually confident Jiang Quan was beginning to panic. He desperately wondered how a box could have appeared in his study, his unfocused gaze sweeping across the crowd before suddenly fixing on one spot.
A familiar figure was mixed in the crowd—a relatively young and attractive woman. Jiang Ruan was startled, and several thoughts flashed through her mind before she immediately shouted: “Xia Yue! You shameless woman, you actually harmed me!”
The woman’s figure in the crowd was indeed Xia Yue, the current mistress of the Minister’s mansion. Originally avoiding Jiang Quan’s gaze by looking down, when she heard Jiang Quan shout so loudly, she couldn’t help feeling somewhat angry, her face flushing red without speaking.
Jiang Quan seemed to understand everything in an instant. Regardless of the setting, he began cursing loudly: “It’s her! It’s this shameless woman conspiring with outsiders to harm me! My study can only be entered by her! Only she could place things there without anyone noticing in the shortest time. Xia Yue, I treated you well, yet you’re so vicious, murdering your own husband! You poisonous woman!”
Xia Yue stood in the crowd as everyone’s gazes turned to her. She endured for a moment, then suddenly shed tears: “Master, since Yue’er married you as wife, what have I done wrong that you would treat me so, even throwing such terrible accusations at Yue’er? How could Yue’er frame Master? If anything happened to Master, what future would a helpless woman like Yue’er have? Yue’er knows Master’s feelings for Sister Yan run deep as the ocean. Since entering your household, Yue’er has never received Master’s favor, but Master, Yue’er is also your wife! How can you treat Yue’er like this?” She was naturally somewhat frail and timid, and after this speech, she appeared thoroughly heartbroken. She knelt down and kowtowed several times toward the courtroom entrance: “Enough, Master. Since we’ve been husband and wife, if Yue’er can save Master, Yue’er willingly gives her life to save you! That box and wooden chest were indeed placed by Yue’er!”
As she spoke, tears streamed down her face, and she nearly fainted from crying. People naturally sympathized with the weak, and when the weak person was also an attractive woman, that sympathy doubled. The more Xia Yue spoke this way, the more people suspected that Jiang Quan was even framing his newly married wife—truly a selfish man. Xia Yue’s words made perfect sense. Indeed, with the Xia family gone, why would she frame Jiang Quan? If the Jiang mansion fell, she would become a widow—how difficult would life be then? As for Xia Yue’s mention of Jiang Quan’s lingering feelings for Xia Yan, people laughed inwardly. Perhaps only a man like Jiang Quan would remain obsessed with an unfaithful woman who had cuckolded him—truly a case of like attracting like.
Jiang Ruan smiled as she watched Xia Yue’s performance in the crowd, finding it interesting. Xia family women seemed naturally gifted at acting, especially at winning tears and sympathy. Jiang Quan had fallen for Xia Yan’s tricks back then. Now with Xia Yan replaced by Xia Yue, she wondered if Jiang Quan could still stomach it. Women’s lies and tears—only those who had truly experienced them knew their power. Now Jiang Quan probably hated the Xia family thoroughly.
Xia Yue was a clever woman. With the Xia family fallen, she, a pawn used to maintain the Xia-Jiang relationship, had lost her usefulness. Xia Yue understood that with Jiang Quan’s ambition, he would eventually kick aside this useless obstacle. Moreover, as the current mistress of the Jiang family, she knew exactly what the Jiang family was like—an empty shell of a mansion that would collapse sooner or later. Jiang Quan treated her with indifference, and Xia Yue, in her prime years, was unwilling to accept this. Xia family women had always been ambitious—even Xia Yue, a distant cousin, wouldn’t be content to be buried for life. Jiang Ruan had made a deal with her, and for her own future, Xia Yue had unhesitatingly betrayed Jiang Quan.
Jiang Quan was nearly mad with rage. The people around him looked at him with suspicion, and when he tried to find someone who could speak for him, he discovered that everyone who could have spoken for him was gone. His wife, his children, his colleagues, even his allies—not one was by his side now. He suddenly realized he had become the abandoned one, a useless discarded piece.
“Is this what you wanted?” Jiang Quan stared intently at Jiang Ruan, suddenly laughing bitterly: “You made everyone betray me. What a good daughter I raised! Hahaha, I never knew I had raised such a good daughter!”
“Many wrongs will inevitably lead to self-destruction,” Jiang Ruan replied calmly. “Minister Jiang, three feet above your head, the gods are watching. When you did all this to my mother that day, you should have anticipated this outcome.” Yes, she wanted Jiang Quan to taste being betrayed by everyone. In her previous life, this father had strategized and turned everyone he didn’t value into pawns in his hand, stepping stones for the Jiang mansion, paving the way step by step for Jiang Susu’s position as Empress. Every step of the Jiang family’s glory was built on the blood of their mother and three children. Now it was time for Jiang Quan to experience this feeling—struggling with no way out, lonely and desperate, suddenly discovering betrayal by everyone and finding himself worthless and ridiculous. Like playing chess? Fine! In this life, let the player change positions. This game would be written by her, and he was just the final useless piece in the killing move—a wasted piece!
Jiang Quan suddenly fell silent. He stared directly at Jiang Ruan, and Jiang Ruan’s undisguised hatred and madness reflected in his eyes, making him suddenly afraid. He didn’t know where Jiang Ruan’s hatred came from—how could a person show such terrifying expression, like a man-eating beast?
“Jiang Quan, do you plead guilty?” Sun Xu saw that the commotion had gone on long enough and struck his gavel with a shout.
Jiang Quan turned back somewhat woodenly. Looking at Sun Xu on the bench, he suddenly began to laugh slowly. Standing in the center, he said with some disdain: “Sun Xu, what lofty pose are you striking? We’ve all served in court together—as officials, none of us is truly clean. Today you treat me this way because I acknowledge that my power isn’t sufficient—I have nothing to say. I’ll accept this guilt! But remember, I’m merely submitting to power. Today, if my influence could compete with theirs even slightly, I would fight no matter what!”
Hearing his words, Jiang Ruan slowly curved the corners of her eyes downward and smiled slightly. Worthy of being Jiang Quan—after years as an official, he immediately saw what mattered most. In today’s affair, the human testimony wasn’t most important, nor was the physical evidence—it all depended on how the case was tried. Sun Xu’s revealed attitude was most crucial. Jiang Quan had probably thought Sun Xu would show some mercy for their collegial relationship and not go too far, but Sun Xu’s attitude could only mean one thing: someone was backing Jiang Ruan. Whoever that person was, anyone who could make even Sun Xu bow must have significant backing. Even when pleading guilty, Jiang Quan kept one hand in reserve. He acted magnanimous in his confession, but his final words invited speculation, making people involuntarily think of other matters. Even while confessing, he wanted to splash dirty water on Jiang Ruan and Sun Xu—truly sinister scheming.
But why would Jiang Quan do such a thing? Jiang Ruan smiled slightly. Jiang Quan never wasted time on useless matters. Having already confessed, what purpose could such ineffective mud-slinging serve? Such behavior seemed more like the desperate wild accusations of someone with no recourse—in Jiang Ruan’s eyes, it was merely laughable. She slowly stood and walked to Jiang Quan’s side. Everyone silently watched this father and daughter. Jiang Quan was emotionally agitated, his aged face flushed red and distorted, his naturally thin and prominent cheekbones somewhat blackened, no longer bearing any resemblance to the dashing young official of years past. Jiang Ruan, however, was in her prime, with snow-white skin and flower-like beauty, her expression very calm, even carrying a trace of gentle smile.
One ugly, one beautiful; one frantic, one calm; one angry, one smiling—they truly showed no resemblance to father and daughter. Jiang Ruan walked before Jiang Quan, who glared at her angrily. His gaze held anger and resentment, even a trace of fear, but no warmth whatsoever. Jiang Ruan was already accustomed to this. She stopped before Jiang Quan and suddenly sighed, saying softly: “So even Minister Jiang, who always had lofty ambitions and integrity in his bones, has moments of submitting to power.”
Her words were full of sighs, but struck like a heavy blow to Jiang Quan’s heart. Blurrily appearing before his eyes was the image of himself in his prime as a rising court favorite. Though his ambition was as vast as the sky, his circumstances were thinner than paper. He had always maintained the appearance of a incorruptible official who wouldn’t compromise with worldly corruption, but now he had to actively admit to bowing before power. For him, this was a fatal blow and unbearable humiliation—humiliation that came from the daughter he had ground into the mud from his heart.
The more radiant Jiang Ruan appeared, the more Jiang Quan felt the meanness of his current position. He was fundamentally a cowardly and hypocritical person who had always cared about how others viewed him, which was why he had spent so many years crafting himself into an image of integrity and honesty. Now with this facade torn away, Jiang Quan could no longer bear it. He felt a tightness in his chest, unable to catch his breath, and collapsed straight down.
Two court attendants quickly carried Jiang Quan away. Sun Xu struck his gavel and declared: “The criminal Jiang Quan has confessed in court to conspiring with his concubine Xia to murder his legitimate wife and harm his children. His crimes are unforgivable, with clear evidence witnessed by thousands. The state has its laws, families have their rules. For such evil deeds, according to law, he shall be imprisoned and sentenced tomorrow!”
The crowd outside immediately erupted. Zhao Guang clenched his fists tightly—he had already controlled himself very well today, but even hearing Jiang Quan’s confession and knowing he would surely face punishment, Zhao Guang still couldn’t help losing control. Zhao Yuanjia comforted him while Zhao Yuanping and Zhao Yuanfeng exchanged glances, both their gazes somewhat heavy.
Jiang Ruan stood indifferently watching Jiang Quan being dragged away, slowly lowering her eyes. Was this the end? Of course not.