klisemfg Chapter 9: Filial piety leads to strength
Chapter 9: Filial piety leads to strength
The Minister of the Court of Judicial Review's eyelids twitched.
Hey, Shen Zhiyi, isn't this leap a bit too big?
One second they were talking about the Minister of Personnel, and the next second they're talking about him again!
One should be consistent in one's actions and see things through to the end.
He looked up abruptly and saw the old emperor on the dragon throne turned towards Shen Zhiyi, his ears perked up.
A dark line appeared on his face, and he said in a rather urgent tone, "Your Majesty, the prisoner has been brought in!"
"what?"
"Oh oh oh!"
The old emperor wasn't embarrassed at all when he realized he'd been exposed.
What do you call this?
This is called caring for the health of one's subjects.
"Cough cough."
After calming himself down, the old emperor interrogated the eldest son of the Minister of Personnel. The process was quite relaxed, and the son readily confessed to his crimes.
"I did it."
"Yes, I killed him."
"What's going on?"
"A worthless life, to have this young master's favor is already a blessing from my family for generations."
"No, it's just such a small matter, why did you bring me here in such a grand manner?"
Filial piety breeds strength!
The Minister of Personnel, his hand trembling, slapped the other man hard across the face.
"You bastard, you've really become lawless."
"Your Majesty, please grant me death!"
[As expected of a high-ranking official like the Minister, he's unparalleled in his ability to cut off his own tail to save his life, even willing to kill his own only son.]
[But where were you all this time? This scumbag can act so lawlessly because you've repeatedly covered for him.]
Overindulging children is a bad idea.
The old emperor nodded in agreement. Even a young man knows this principle; this old fellow is indeed senile.
Since he's getting senile, he shouldn't be an official anymore.
Shen Zhiyi's eyes lit up, and she was eager to try.
[Is it going to be the Minister of Personnel's job? Oh dear, I'd love to try it myself. When will I be able to remove the official hat from my head?]
The old emperor's eyes widened, and he choked on his own saliva, coughing several times.
Don't even think about it.
[Oh, on the 14th day of the 9th month of the 20th year of Emperor Taizong's reign, at the hour of Mao (5-7 AM), the Emperor coughed violently in front of the palace, and it appears that saliva dripped onto the dragon throne.]
The crown prince glanced at his father with disdain, then at the dragon throne with disdain.
Can he cancel his subscription to the throne?
Enraged, the old emperor grabbed something nearby and smashed it against the crown prince's head.
You brat, this is something others would kill for, and you dare to look down on it!
What kind of explosives did this old emperor eat?
[Never mind, I'll write it down.]
[On the 14th day of the ninth month of the 20th year of Emperor Taizong's reign, at the hour of Mao (5-7 AM), for reasons unknown, the Emperor flew into a rage, grabbed a shoe, and smashed it against the Crown Prince's head and face.]
[Utterly foul-smelling.]
Yes, I remember that.
The hall fell silent instantly.
Everyone wished they could cover their ears and pretend they hadn't heard anything.
They couldn't possibly want to hear about the emperor having smelly feet.
"Pfft!"
The courtiers instinctively held their breath, wondering who was courting death by laughing out loud at this moment.
Once you see it's the Crown Prince, everything's fine.
The old emperor put another shoe on his feet, and now his bare feet were exposed.
Shen Zhiyi held her breath and rolled her eyes.
[That old geezer has no idea how powerful his feet are; they're suffocating!]
smoke?
The old emperor raised an eyebrow and snorted coldly.
But in the end, Chen Decai still helped him put on a different pair of shoes.
After a minor incident, the Minister of Personnel was initially demoted to an eighth-rank county magistrate because of his daughter, and now his son has been demoted to a commoner and his family has been barred from holding office for three generations.
As for his daughter, the Imperial Concubine, she was demoted to a commoner, and his son was executed in the autumn.
Most importantly, their family assets must be confiscated.
The Minister of Personnel closed his eyes and kowtowed deeply.
"Thank you for your great kindness, Your Majesty."
It's truly heartbreaking. Try to think positively; you can always have another child. Such an unfilial son is worse off than never having had one. While you can still have children, go back and start having more.
Hey, I found it! It's been so long looking for me!
The Minister of Personnel subconsciously tensed up.
No way, he can't possibly get any worse off, can he?
Perhaps for the sake of amusement, those who should have left, those who should have been arrested, are still here.
The old emperor stroked his beard.
They decided to wait until Shen Zhiyi finished speaking before taking away the official seal of the Minister of Personnel.
Look, there are very few good emperors in history who are as compassionate towards their convicted officials as he is.
[Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, I've finally figured out why you can't even hold your own piss in!]
[I thought it was due to physiological structure, but it turns out it's because you're gay! You big fatso, you're actually into homosexuality, especially the bottom one, hahaha.]
The entire audience erupted in uproar, and even the old emperor was shocked.
You can't tell, you can't tell at all.
The Minister of the Court of Judicial Review is truly a man of great talent and cunning.
Shen Zhiyi's eyes shone brightly as she stared intently at the top of everyone's heads.
[Oh my god, they're having an affair! How did I not know?!]
they?
with who?
Seeing that something was wrong, the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review gathered his energy and roared.
"Your Majesty, this criminal must be immediately imprisoned."
"My dear minister, there's no need for you to handle such a trivial matter."
The old emperor waved his hand, and immediately someone came out and dragged the eldest son of the Minister of Personnel, who was frantically calling for his father, away from the main hall.
The Minister of Personnel pressed his forehead to the ground, not daring to lift it at all.
My son, may you have a safe journey.
Dad will try to have your younger brother born around this time next year.
[Oh, this part isn't good, we can cut it.]
Shen Zhiyi covered her eyes and silently fast-forwarded.
I'm going to get a sty; this is probably the price I pay for watching this kind of entertainment.
No, what's not good-looking, what's cut off?
Everyone was itching to hear Shen Zhiyi describe the scene she had just witnessed in writing.
[It's truly unbelievable! Our brilliant judge of the Court of Judicial Review and the illustrious General of the Cavalry are a couple!]
[No wonder, no wonder! Although the General of the Cavalry is old, he has eight-pack abs and is as big as a sausage. All of this explains why our Minister of Justice can't hold his poop. It's perfectly normal.]
The old emperor's eye twitched violently.
He never imagined that these two completely unrelated people could get together.
Yeah, how did those two get together?!
Shen Zhiyi, look, look!
Eager to see some amusement, Shen Zhiyi had already searched the surveillance footage back to the previous dynasty.
In the final years of the previous dynasty, the social order collapsed, but even so, the general's family still forced him, who loved martial arts, to study the classics.
[The children of wealthy families must have pageboys when they study. And lo and behold, our Minister of Justice is actually the General's pageboy!]
The general had no interest in studying, but life at the academy was incredibly boring. So, he often went to tease his pageboy, who looked like a New Year's painting. Over time, something happened between them, and they started exchanging glances and falling for each other!
[How old was the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review at this time? Oh, he'd been through all that with the General for forty years, no wonder he couldn't keep quiet.]