Joy of Life: The melon-eating prince sees through Fan Xian's fake death

Chapter 24 Corrupt officials are like thieving rats, they must be punished!

"Your Highness, why are you smiling so happily?"

Li Chengze put his hands in his sleeves and walked over with no expression of joy or anger:

"You were the one who taught Fan Xian to do this, right? You're holding on to the evidence and won't let go. As brothers, why would we go to this extent?"

Li Chengqian laughed inwardly. If I gave you this opportunity, you would definitely be more ruthless than me.
"Fan Xian's poetry talent is unrivaled in Kyoto, and his ability is extraordinary. How can he be called a teacher?"

Li Chengze's small eyes narrowed into a slit, looking a little sinister.

At this time, the eldest prince came and joined the group of princes.

All the officials arrived and waited for a moment. Then the bell rang and everyone bowed in greeting. Emperor Qing, wearing a dark robe, walked slowly towards the dragon throne. After he sat down, he said:

"You all know about the Censorate, right? Have you read Fan Xian's defense?"

No one dared to respond.

Emperor Qing waved his hand.

Eunuch Hou displayed his self-defense memorial on the issue of "treacherous ministers in power" in front of all the ministers. Everyone had different expressions and thoughts.

After Emperor Qing suppressed his ministers, he finally spoke:

"Lai Mingcheng, what are you participating in?"

Censor Lai carried the red axe on his back and straightened his back:
"Assistant Attorney Fan Xian accepted bribes and was arrogant and perverted the law."

Emperor Qing asked Fan Xian if he admitted his guilt?
The latter stood out from the team and said: "I have no guilt to confess. I don't know where to start with the so-called bribery and arrogance and abuse of power."

Lai Mingcheng didn't expect him to be so shameless, and continued to give evidence:

"The Procuratorate bribed a branch of the Supervisory Council, and Fan Xian accepted the bribe in public. There are many witnesses, and it is absolutely true. This is human and material evidence. Do you still dare to deny it?"

Emperor Qing was too lazy to look at the evidence and directly had the official, Eunuch Dai, who had bribed the Vegetable Inspection Bureau, brought to the court.

The old eunuch looked terrified. He knelt before His Majesty as soon as he entered the hall, not daring to look up.

Lai Mingcheng put the testimony in front of Eunuch Dai and asked him to plead guilty.

Fan Xian, the person involved, stepped forward to fan the flames:

"Eunuch Dai, isn't it just three thousand taels? The Vegetarian Inspection Department is under the harem, this crime can't touch you."

This angered Censor Lai:
"Three thousand taels? That's just the tip of the iceberg! My Censorate has been investigating carefully recently. The Vegetable Procuratorate has committed many evil deeds. I'm glad to have found evidence of their crimes. They have used every possible means to exploit vegetable farmers over the years. Even this eunuch Dai has two or three private residences, and he even set a trap with the price of vegetables."

"The vegetable farmers lost all their money and had to sell their children, and some even sent their own daughters to brothels."

"Such evil deeds have angered the heavens and the people, and the people even privately call the Vegetarian Inspection Department the Flesh and Blood Department!"

Censor Lai wanted to hand the evidence to His Majesty, but Prime Minister Lin jumped out to interfere. Emperor Qing saw what this old fox was thinking and simply didn't even look at the testimony. He asked Censor Lai to let Eunuch Dai see it with his own eyes, and didn't even force him to plead guilty.

This made Eunuch Dai sweat profusely and he quickly confessed: "I was wrong. I am willing to spend all my wealth to make up for my mistake. Your Majesty, please have mercy on me!"

Emperor Qing said coldly: "It will be reduced to ashes."

Eunuch Dai was dragged out and beheaded while crying and screaming for his parents.

Censor Lai pointed at the tragic scene outside and questioned Fan Xian:

"Have you seen clearly what happened to you when I gave you money? What do you have to deny now? Why don't you plead guilty?"

Fan Xian took a step forward:
"According to what Censor Lai said, if I take these three thousand taels, it will be considered as bribery?"

Censor Lai didn't expect him to be so shameless:

"You still dare to say no?"

Fan Xian paused, then said angrily:

"Censor Lai, Censor Lai, how dare you frame the prince?"

When these words came out, all the ministers were surprised. Chen Pingping, Fan Jian, Lin Xiang, and the princes all had different expressions. Only Li Chengqian remained calm and didn't seem surprised. Seeing the prince so calm, Li Chengze became more and more agitated, and the veins on his hands hidden in his sleeves bulged.

Li Chengqian had to watch the show calmly. He had to hide his thoughts and what he knew from Emperor Qing.
【Successfully ate the melon! 】

[Fan Xian confronts the Censorate]

[Level: Medium]

[Reward: Making sense (ability)]

[What you say and do can easily convince others. After upgrading, you can gain the ability to restrain others' behavior with your words and actions.]

The commotion was minor and soon died down.

Fan Xian pointed at the list of princes and asked:
"Your Highness was there that day, right? If I accepted the banknotes in public, why didn't Your Highness report me? Censor Lai said that I accepted bribes, but Your Highness turned a blind eye. Aren't you saying that Your Highness was in cahoots with me? You deserve to be killed!"

Censor Lai was slightly stunned.

Emperor Qing held his forehead and pointed at the second brother:

"You, did you see him collect the money?"

The Second Prince put away the memorial he had hidden in his sleeve, which he was going to submit to Fan Xian regarding the Baoyue Tower case, and stepped out from the group of princes:

"I was in the Vegetarian Inspection Department that day and saw Fan Xian accepting a bribe of three thousand taels. Just as Censor Lai said, this is against the law. But I thought about it carefully. Fan Xian is a talented poet with a promising future. Why would he accept a bribe and ruin his future? So I thought he had other intentions. I thought I'd wait and see."

Li Chengze only said a few words to clear himself of the matter, and did not make any subjective judgments. This was because Li Chengze still could not figure out what Fan Xian was going to do, so he said less and made fewer mistakes. This also fell into Fan Xian's trap, and he used his words to excuse himself: accepting bribes was not for greed, but perhaps for other purposes.
Just as the two were about to leave, Emperor Qing suddenly looked at the Crown Prince and said:

"Li Chengqian, weren't you also at the inn opposite the Vegetarian Inspection Office that day? How come you didn't see it?"

As expected, there was his spy nearby. Li Chengqian took a deep breath and walked out, responding:

"I saw it."

Emperor Qing leaned forward slightly, with a strong sense of oppression: "Then why don't you report to Fan Xian?"

Li Chengqian looked at Li Chengze, "Just as Second Brother said, I am also wondering if Fan Xian has other intentions?"

Li Chengze's mouth twitched slightly. He didn't think of his brothers when he had good things, but he wanted to drag me into the bad things.
Emperor Qing asked with interest: "So what did you come up with?"

Li Chengqian said loudly: "I think that what Fan Xian is after is not the three thousand taels of silver, but the three thousand corrupt officials who have accepted bribes of silver!"

When these words were spoken, all the ministers were shocked, and the expressions of the senior officials were intriguing. Chen Pingping glanced at the prince inconspicuously, and there was a hint of surprise in his eyes when he lowered his eyes. Li Chengze's face became increasingly gloomy, as if he had guessed what he was going to say next.

Emperor Qing was not angry. Instead, he laughed and counted the officials:
"Even if all the officials who came to the court were corrupt officials, there would not be more than 300 of them. How can there be 3,000?"

Li Chengqian continued, neither humble nor arrogant:

"Our Daqing is a strong country with healthy people, just like a pot of porridge that can feed the people of the world.

If there are corrupt officials like thief rats who steal rice for their own consumption, the dirt left in the pot will surely spoil the delicious meal. Moreover, thief rats reproduce very quickly.

If we don’t intervene, it will soon become a disaster, and then it won’t just be a few hundred or a thousand troubles.”

The wise men in the court would not fail to hear the hidden meaning of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

Censor Lai had a sudden realization, but he was still dissatisfied with Fan Xian and asked:

"Your Highness, what you mean is that Fan Xian embezzled three thousand taels of silver in order to use the Censorate to get rid of the evil rat, the Vegetarian Inspection Office?"

Li Chengqian shook his head and said with a smile:

"I'm just guessing. How can I know what Fan Xian is really up to? After all, the three thousand taels of silver are still in his pocket."

Fan Xian stepped forward naturally, using the evidence that he had handed over the silver to the Supervisory Council to clear himself of any involvement. Chen Pingping also pushed his wheelchair before His Majesty and confirmed that what Fan Xian did was to inspect the Vegetable Department and it had nothing to do with embezzlement or bribery.

Emperor Qing made the final judgment, "Isn't this just a misunderstanding? Fan Xian, tell me clearly, what exactly do you want to do?"

Fan Xian bowed to His Majesty:
"I want to rid Qing Kingdom of rat infestation!"

(End of this chapter)