The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 1170 - 1149: The Court Session

Chapter 1170: Chapter 1149: The Court Session

The court’s actions were faster and greater than they had anticipated. Manbao and the others thought it would take two or three days before someone would come to question them, but in fact, on the nineteenth day, shortly after they had their morning meal, the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Justice personally came to summon them for court proceedings.

When he saw that Xiang Mingxue, other than his head, was completely wrapped up, he fell silent for a moment before waving his hand, having a wooden board brought over to carry the Xiang brothers out.

Bai Shan, who was reading, and Manbao, quietly watched on.

Seeing that they made no move, the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Justice could not help but say, "Surely you two are not going to ask to be carried out as well?"

Only then did the two of them put down their books and followed outside.

The grand hall next to the sky prison of the Ministry of Justice was tidied up spotlessly, where at the time sat Lord Ji Xiang, Wei Zhi, and Lord Tang.

Lord Ji Xiang was in charge of the Department of State Affairs, and given the current absence of an Imperial Secretariat, it was Wei Zhi who was in control. The Imperial Chancellor from the Imperial Secretariat had long been bedridden at home, retiring due to ill health, so now it was Tang Hui in charge.

The matter of the Prince of Yizhou raising private troops was no trivial issue, so the three of them led a joint interrogation. Of course, whether or not the Emperor had personal interest in this was unknown.

Apart from them, Minister Feng of the Ministry of Justice and the Minister from the Ministry of Revenue were also present.

The reason the two of them were individually arranged to come in was that in this case, they would be heavily relied upon.

Upon reaching the great hall, Bai Shan gave a cupped fist salute, and when Manbao saw this, he also gave only a cupped fist salute and did not kneel down. As for the two who were carried out, it goes without saying, they couldn’t even crawl to get up.

Wei Zhi and Lord Tang had no objections, and Lord Ji Xiang, whenever he thought about his grandson crawling and sweeping his study the night before, felt enough headache to turn a blind eye and not trouble them.

Although he was sitting in the middle, ...

He glanced at the two people on either side of him and twitched the corners of his mouth, saying, "Lord Wei and Lord Tang, please feel free to ask any questions."

Lord Wei and Lord Tang quickly deferred to each other, "Please, you go first, sir."

"You two please go ahead; I’m happy to just listen." As if nobody knew, after the incident, one was kept by the Emperor until late at night and the other was summoned after an hour’s interval. He wasn’t naive; he could guess with his toes that the Emperor favored them to investigate this case.

Lord Wei and Lord Tang fell silent. How could they start this conversation?

The things they should and shouldn’t know, they already knew, right?

But the crucial point was that Lord Ji Xiang and the others didn’t know, and they were the ones who could represent the officials. Lord Tang’s gaze turned to Minister Feng, and he directly said, "For matters such as these trials, naturally the Minister of the Ministry of Justice is the most skilled. Let Minister Feng speak first, and then we’ll chime in and supplement as needed."

Everyone internally scoffed: As if you’ve never been the Minister of the Ministry of Justice, right?

However, towards Lord Tang, who was clearly younger yet a former senior official, Minister Feng did not dare to voice his thoughts; he glanced at his current senior, Lord Ji Xiang.

Seeing him nod slightly, he stood up, gave a bow to the three lords, then cast a glance over Xiang Chao and Xiang Mingxue lying on the wooden boards, waved his hand, deciding not to question them first.

Thus, the bailiffs moved the two wooden boards aside, leaving Bai Shan and Manbao exposed at the forefront and center of everyone’s focus.

Minister Feng’s gaze landed on Bai Shan, asking, "Your name and ancestral home, please report them all."

Bai Shan, who had nearly finished reading through all of Great Jin’s legal codes and even memorized quite a bit, knew that this was an interrogation tool, and thus reported everything detail by detail.

Minister Feng then asked, "Being from Longzhou, why is your place of study listed as Mianzhou?"

Bai Shan responded with a cupped fist salute, "When the student was five years old, Grandma Liu took my mother and me to seek refuge with my uncle in Mianzhou, hence I went to school and studied in Mianzhou. Later, I went to Yizhou to study at the prefectural school, so my place of study has always been in Mianzhou."

"When did you learn that the Prince of Yizhou was your father’s murderer?"

Bai Shan paused for a moment before looking up, and seeing Lord Tang with his eyes downcast, he said, "I found out just this year."

Minister Feng’s eyebrows twitched as he asked, "You only found out this year?"

Bai Shan answered with a "Yes."

"How did you find out?"

"Grandma told me."

"How did your grandmother find out..."

Bai Shan left out the County Magistrate Tang and County Magistrate Yang, only mentioning his grandmother, and told Minister Feng that his grandmother had always been suspicious. He also recounted how his father had accidentally encountered Zhou Yin outside Luojiang County years ago.

This left Minister Feng with no choice but to summon Old Madam Liu for questioning.

While waiting, Minister Feng took a sip of tea and asked Manbao, "And you, report your name and household registration as well."

Manbao reported truthfully.

Minister Feng asked a series of questions, many of which were repetitions of what Bai Shan had been asked. He then inquired, "And how did you come to know about your parents’ circumstances?"

Pointing to Bai Shan, Manbao said, "Grandma Liu told me. I had no idea that my mom and dad weren’t my birth parents until she mentioned it, and then they told me."

Well, so it seems they still had to wait for Old Madam Liu.

Minister Feng then went to question the two people lying on the wooden boards.

There were still many uncalled-for witnesses and pieces of evidence on the Bai Family’s side. Although Manbao had already submitted a batch of evidence, Old Madam Liu still held a lot in her hands. This included the letters Bai Qi sent home back in the day, the testimony from Erji, the confessions from the three assassins who had posed as officials to go to Qili Village, and even the people themselves — if Minister Feng requested them, Old Madam Liu could hand them over.

For now, those people were in the hands of Wei Zhi, but they would eventually have to be turned over through formal channels.

However, compared with that, the Xiang Family could provide pitifully little evidence. Most of theirs was mere speculation, for they had not a shred of evidence to prove their ownership of Dongxi Village.

The deeds for the land and houses had all been destroyed by floods or intentionally, and even the archives in the County and Prefectural Government Offices had been lost. Other than the family tree Mingxue penned later on by himself, he didn’t even have the testimony of a single witness.

Therefore, to verify the truth or falsehood of his claims, someone would have to make a trip to Suizhou.

Looking down at Mingxue, who was wrapped up like a giant zongzi (rice dumpling), even though Minister Feng was inclined to believe him, criminal cases were built on evidence.

However, they could confirm that the evidence presented by Bai Shan and the others in the great hall the day before yesterday bore no signs of being fake, so they were allowed to leave.

Thus, Minister Feng mentioned that Bai Shan and Zhou Man could be released.

Lord Ji Xiang was about to agree when suddenly Lord Tang spoke up, "But doesn’t Old Madam Liu still have some witnesses in her hands? Perhaps we should wait until the witnesses have been heard."

Wei Zhi nodded in agreement, "First, let’s temporarily detain the two of them in jail, and we will discuss further once the witnesses have arrived."

Bai Shan and Manbao’s mouths fell open in surprise.

And with that, they were taken back to jail.

Old Madam Liu, who came to testify, was not particularly anxious. She nodded slightly to the two children and then turned and left the Ministry of Justice hall.

As the four were being escorted back by the bailiffs, they happened to meet Zhou Lijun at the entrance. She had been waiting for them outside the door, and with a fawning smile at the bailiffs, she handed over a large basket to them, saying, "Young Miss, this is your food for today and tomorrow morning. Is there anything specific you’d like to ask for? I can have Sixth Uncle make it for you."