Adoption brings disaster

Chongguang left yesterday, and I didn’t know what he did. I also pretended not to know. I just knew that after practicing martial arts today, Chongguang stayed in the pavilion and didn’t go out.

Seeing Chongguang leisurely lying on a recliner basking in the sun, I jokingly said, "You're still in the pavilion at this hour. Could it be that you've done something bad again and His Majesty has confined you to study?"

"Qianqiu, don't talk nonsense. The emperor only asked me to study, but he didn't put me under house arrest. All the officials, big and small, in the Ministry of Justice heard it yesterday. The emperor also asked me to supervise the trial with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and the time is set for tomorrow." Chongguang said lightly.

"Huh?" I said, a little unconvinced. "I heard you smashed the lobby of the Ministry of Justice to pieces. The trial is tomorrow. I'm afraid the Ministry of Justice is working overtime to repair the roof right now. How can the trial be held so soon?"

Chongguang was not ashamed of smashing up the Ministry of Justice lobby, but rather proud of it. He said smugly, "Qianqiu, you underestimate me. What's the big deal about it being torn to pieces? I smashed the Ministry of Justice lobby to pieces. I'm afraid it will take more than half a month to repair it. Besides, the people in the Ministry of Justice are weak, and a lot of them were injured by the flying wood. It's really pitiful."

Chongguang tutted his words twice and added, "But with their nature, even if they're injured or dead, they'll always have someone to deal with it."

"Hahahahaha." I laughed. "Your Majesty must have had a headache these past few days. You've done this, and I'm afraid there will be countless memorials submitted to the Imperial Court implicating you. Your Majesty must be very tired reading all these memorials."

After hearing what I said, Chongguang pretended to be pitiful and said, "It all depends on His Highness Qianqiu's ability. I don't expect my father to protect me. I'm waiting for His Highness Qianqiu to kill everyone so badly that the three officials will have no time to bother me."

I ignored Chongguang's pretending to be pitiful and just said, "Your part is over, now it's my turn. Just wait and see, they're not clean people either. I just happen to have an ace in my hand. If I play it, these guys will cry."

When Chongguang heard what I said, he was also unable to react for a moment, and said: "What trump card can you have? You don't have a single one among the six departments."

I was used to being in tune with Chongguang, so when he didn't know who I was talking about, I said unhappily, "Who else could it be? Of course it's the Master Detective."

This startled Chongguang, who said in disbelief, "You actually managed to move him by shouting?"

"How can I shout at him? He is just using his disciple to control his master."

Chongguang was also happy to see that I had this trump card. When he saw me say this, he said mysteriously, "There is another trump card. It is on the way. When these trump cards are played, the scene will definitely be very exciting."

I don't know what the Seventh Prince is talking about. I planned this whole thing, and there's something I don't know about. I hurriedly asked, "What other trump card is there? It's on the way. Could it be that the bandit camp dug up something good?"

Seeing me ask, Chongguang kept it a secret and said, "You'll know when they come back. It's definitely good stuff, even more powerful than the card you used to use your apprentice to control the master."

"A card this big has to be played last." I didn't ask what the card was, but instead asked, "Then where will they review it?"

"Originally, they wanted to borrow space from Jingzhao Prefecture, but they were rejected due to having too many cases. In the end, they had to settle in the Tingwei Mansion."

"Li Er was imprisoned in the Dali Temple, but they were interrogating him at the Supreme Court. Could it be that they were going to transport Li Er to the Supreme Court?

"There are no cells in the Imperial Court, so we can only escort him there." The Seventh Prince said with a smile, "I have already made arrangements. Tomorrow, Qianqiu will slowly leave the palace, and we can intercept him."

The next day, the Seventh Prince left the palace early. Not long after he left, I also sneaked out.

Thanks to General Lu's arrangement, the people who were monitoring Qianqiu Pavilion were unable to discover that I had left Qianqiu Pavilion even in the afternoon.

Chongguang had made all the arrangements, so I was naturally not in a hurry at all. I walked slowly to the Supreme Court, and as soon as I arrived, I met Li Er who was escorted there at the gate.

I saw Li Er being escorted over and said to the escort behind him, "Get moving."

When the escort saw my order, he naturally followed my instructions and rushed forward without saying a word.

How could these officers escorting Li Er be a match for the Northern Border Army? They were pinned to the ground before they even saw the person.

After the escort uncuffed Li Er and shackled him, I asked him to send him back.

Li Er had never seen such a scene before, and he quickly said, "Your Highness, this cannot happen. This matter has already reached the ears of Heaven. What you are doing is no different from robbing an execution ground. It is a serious crime."

"You're overestimating yourself by robbing the execution ground. If you were really there, I wouldn't care whether you lived or died." I said speechlessly, pulling out a piece of paper and throwing it to Li Er. "Take a close look at what's written on it."

Li Er was confused. He took it and looked at it. He had no idea what I meant and asked, "Isn't this an arrest warrant?"

Seeing that Li Er didn't understand what I meant, I asked again, "Who was arrested?"

"The owner of the wealthy escort agency."

"Who are you?"

Li Er naturally noticed this, but he couldn't bear to let me suffer these insults, so he didn't bring it up. The civil officials also knew about it, but they thought others wouldn't notice it. After all, over the years, no military officer had noticed these details.

Li Er thought I was going to be humiliated, and naturally his heart was broken. He said, "Your Highness, you are a person of great wealth. How can you be tried in front of the court?"

"On trial? Who told you I was going to be on trial? I'm going to cause trouble for the Three Courts." I snorted coldly and said, "Get out of here right now and don't let me interfere with your performance."

Li Er thought that this was an excuse for me to comfort him, so he naturally didn't want to leave. I didn't waste any words with Li Er, but just gave him a look. Then a soldier knocked him out silently and took him away.

As soon as Li Er left, I strode into the Supreme Court with my hands behind my back, like a leader.

The presence of these three assistant officials was quite intimidating. There were nine officials sitting in the hall alone. The Crown Prince sat on the right, the Seventh Prince sat on the left, and there were more than a dozen clerks and yamen runners on each side.

When everyone saw that it was me, they were stunned at first, and then they showed ferocious smiles, just like a group of wolves staring at a delicious lamb.

Unfortunately, what they didn't know was that under the sheepskin was a tiger that was going to bite them all to death.

According to etiquette, I am a prince of noble birth, and these people must perform formalities before interrogating me.

I thought they wouldn't notice this, so this was the first time I stabbed them.

But I didn't expect that as soon as I came in, the prince stood up and saluted me, and everyone followed suit, which prevented me from stabbing with my first blow. But it doesn't matter, I still have a second one.

The Vice Minister of Justice in the hall slammed the gavel and was about to start the trial when I glanced at everyone and said, "I heard that it was you who requested that Your Majesty have the Three Departments assist in handling the case. I'd like to ask which of the Three Departments' assistance requirements this case meets?"

They just wanted to make a big deal out of it and hadn't really thought about this problem. The original reason was that the imperial official was beaten, which was a disgrace to the country, but this was not written into the Beishang Law.

A clerk below immediately reacted and said, "Your Highness is of noble rank. According to the law, you can apply for the assistance of the Three Departments."

The Minister of Justice in the hall thought this was a very good reason and immediately said, "Yes, yes, that's right."

I looked at them coldly, took out the arrest warrant, and said, "Would you like to open your eyes and take a closer look at whose name is written here? This is not my name. I am from a noble family. Could it be that my head shopkeeper, Li Er, is also from a noble family?"

My questions made them break out in cold sweats, but I knew that if I argued with these civil servants for too long, it would end up in a verbal battle. Although it could resolve the matter this time, I couldn't beat them up severely. Since the knife had been drawn, there had to be bloodshed.

Understanding this, I didn't argue much. I just looked at everyone with a haughty look and said, "Chongguang is submitting a memorial to His Majesty, requesting a thorough investigation of the Ministry of Justice."

These civil servants were naturally confident in their strict investigation. The Vice Minister of Justice also said confidently, "If Your Highness feels that we have done something wrong, you can come and investigate anytime you want. There is no need to write a memorial to His Majesty."

After hearing this, I sneered and said, "The Death Detective happened to be in Beijing recently. I want to see if he is just a name for nothing."

"Who are you talking about?" The assistant minister of the Ministry of Justice was a little panicked when he heard the words "the God of Death" and stood up to question.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince coughed lightly beside him, and the Minister of Justice realized that he had lost his composure. He sat down tremblingly, but he was still shaking while sitting on the chair.

Seeing him panic, I said in a sarcastic tone, "Don't panic, Minister. I think the title of "God of Death" is undeserved. Besides, your Ministry of Justice is upright in its conduct. Even if there are some minor flaws, with His Majesty's grace, it's just a salary fine. Don't you think you are short of this little bit of money?"

There is no official in this world who has clean hands. Now everyone in the Ministry of Justice is in danger. Some of those who were originally complacent now dare not look at me, and some look at me flatteringly.

After playing this first card, the Ministry of Justice lost all his temper. Now I will play the second card.

"Dali Temple." I shouted.

"I'm here." The Dali Temple official was shaking like a sieve when he heard me calling him. If he wasn't trying a case, he would have knelt down.

"This county magistrate, if I remember correctly, should be a commoner, right?" I said, "I am a noble. If he sued me, it means he is a commoner suing a noble. According to the law, what should be done when a commoner sues a noble?"

"When I saw that I wasn't pointing my finger at the Dali Temple, the Dali Temple Minister immediately turned into a lackey and said respectfully, 'According to the Northern Shang law, if a citizen sues an official, he must first be beaten with thirty sticks.'"

I snorted coldly and asked, "Did you hit him?"

"Your Highness, this plaintiff has always been with the Ministry of Justice. I am not aware of this."

The Dali Temple official felt something was wrong after he finished speaking, and quickly added, "But the plaintiff has only been in the capital for a few days. If he had been beaten, there is no way he would have recovered so quickly. I have concluded that he was not beaten."

"Since we haven't fought yet, let's fight now." I don't dwell on why we haven't fought yet. It's okay to fight now.

The plaintiff lying on the ground was so frightened that he lost his soul, but the Dali Temple Minister was afraid that the fire would burn him, so he quickly gave a look to the yamen runner, who covered the plaintiff's mouth and pulled him aside to be beaten with a stick.

At the beginning, the plaintiff was crying and shouting, but after being hit more than ten times, the plaintiff was no longer able to make any sound. I couldn't let him die, otherwise it would be meaningless to play my biggest trump card.

So he pretended to be helpless and said, "Alright, everyone in the capital knows that I have a kind heart, but according to the law, I have to beat him. Now that I have beaten him, let's forget about the rest."

I looked at the plaintiff, who was lying on the ground, almost dying, and said, "Looking at the plaintiff's condition, I'm afraid there's no way we can try him. Why not find a doctor to heal his injuries before trying him again?"

Now the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice was playing dumb, and the Grand Court Minister was not high enough to make a decision. Only after the Supreme Court received a signal from His Royal Highness the Crown Prince did they boldly say, "Your Highness Qianqiu is absolutely right. We will retry the case later."

I smiled contemptuously and turned to leave, saying as I left, "Chongguang, you guys will have to reply to His Majesty later, why not write the memorial now so you can serve it to His Majesty later."

"Your Highness Qianqiu." I felt that the Minister of Justice was about to cry.

I didn't want to cause any more trouble than I thought, so I feigned innocence and said, "I've already promised the Death Detective that I'll find him a case so he can teach his apprentice the art of investigating. I can't go back on my word. I remember you were colleagues before, so I don't think you'll embarrass me, sir."

After saying that, I left without looking back, leaving the Ministry of Justice alone with a sad face as if his mother had died.

I suddenly remembered something and returned to continue, "The families of all the lords have died at the hands of bandits. You should all be more careful with your actions and words. After all, our Beishang Kingdom governs the world with benevolence and filial piety."

As soon as I walked out of the Supreme Court, I was surrounded by a group of high-ranking military officers. They lifted me up and walked excitedly towards the restaurant.

"Yesterday, His Majesty the Seventh Prince asked me to book a restaurant so that we could celebrate today. I still didn't believe it, but I didn't expect it to be so enjoyable today. Hahahaha, it feels so good, so good."

"What on earth was going on inside? My skills are not good enough, so I could only hear it sporadically. If I had known this earlier, I wouldn't have been lazy during practice."

"Your Highness is talking about a group of people who can't even say a word in return. Just as these sour-minded people bully us normally, Your Highness will bully us back today in the same way."

........................

A group of military officers arrived at the restaurant, noisily. The owner had already laid out dozens of jars of wine. Seeing their fiery eyes, I was afraid they were going to drink me to death today. I quickly picked up a pot of wine and said, "This matter isn't over yet. I still have some arrangements to make. This is all I'll have today. I'll drink it and then I'll leave it alone."

Everyone was talking nicely at first, but when they started drinking they seemed to have forgotten everything. They forced me to drink several jugs of wine.

All of them who could be my father knelt on the ground and wanted to acknowledge me as their elder brother. If the Seventh Prince had not rescued me in time, I'm afraid that these military officers would be so ashamed when they sober up tomorrow that they wouldn't dare to go out.

Predict what will happen in the future, and listen to the next decomposition.