The laborers didn’t understand, and neither did the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review.
Since learning about the future existence of the Yuling Museum, the Minister had been fantasizing and hoping that he would have the honor of being buried in the imperial mausoleum, thus being well-preserved for future generations.
Therefore, he had recently become increasingly diligent in his official duties and more frugal in his personal conduct.
Who would have thought—who would have thought—that he would ultimately be killed by such a lowly clerk?
“Preposterous! Preposterous!”
The Minister’s face turned pale, then green.
“Young people these days can’t even handle such minor setbacks! Always talking about life and death, solving problems with such extreme methods! How can they ever achieve greatness?!”
“Who is this Tang Yuan? My Court of Judicial Review has no use for such talent!”
The Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review replied: “Your Excellency, Tang Yuan has not yet assumed any position in the Court of Judicial Review.”
“Then make sure he never does!” the Minister couldn’t help but exclaim. “It’s just overtime, just overtime! Which official hasn’t gone through this? Why can’t this Tang Yuan accept it?”
He angrily denounced: “Deviant! Deviant!”
This Overtime Bloodshed Case was truly infuriating.
Zhu Xuanyi sneered and asked the only court official present in Changding Hall: “I wonder until what hour does the Ministry of Rites under Minister Guo’s leadership typically work overtime?”
“Well…”
Minister Guo, despite his advanced age, had no desire to frequently work overtime at the Ministry of Rites. Not leaving early was already good enough—who would want overtime?
As for the other officials in the Ministry of Rites, he didn’t know!
“This old subject will certainly rectify overtime practices upon returning.”
[The Court of Judicial Review, the nation’s judicial organ. Two officials dead in one night, one of them being a department head of the Court itself.
This incident alarmed Her Majesty Xuanyi.
She immediately ordered a thorough investigation of the matter. Guess who was assigned to investigate this case?]
After some consideration, Minister of Personnel Xue Zeruo believed that since the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review held a high position, the case concerning him and the Court naturally required an official of even higher status to investigate.
Looking around the court at that time, with Sheng Mian no longer a rival, who else but him could undertake this task?
“It should be me,” Yue Guantang thought to himself.
Her Majesty Xuanyi had just ascended the throne, and for such a major case that could trigger reforms in officialdom atmosphere, she would certainly dispatch a sufficiently powerful confidant to investigate.
He, Yue Guantang, was not only Her Majesty’s legitimate husband but also commanded military forces—making him perfectly suited to thoroughly investigate this case without any difficulties.
As for him being from the military and having differences with the civil official system?
He could just have Minister of Personnel Xue Zeruo assist him.
Whoever investigated the case would be recognized as the Empress’s confidant, and everyone was quite confident about this.
[That’s right! It was Her Majesty Xuanyi’s teacher, the then Deputy Censor-in-chief Lu Fengqiu!]
Xue Zeruo and Yue Guantang: How careless! They actually forgot about him!
Why Lu Fengqiu?
Even if Her Majesty Xuanyi trusted him and wanted to promote him, it wasn’t appropriate to have him, a Deputy Censor-in-chief, investigate the case of the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review.
What would the Censor-in-chief think?
What would the Court of Judicial Review think?
Are you looking down on our Censor-in-chief and Court of Judicial Review?
Actually, the Censor-in-chief didn’t have much to say—who didn’t know about the teacher-student relationship between Her Majesty Xuanyi and Lu Fengqiu?
Having the Deputy Censor-in-chief from the Censorate investigate the death case of the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review seemed to subtly elevate the Censorate’s status.
Apart from remarking on Lu Fengqiu’s promising future, the Censor-in-chief was actually somewhat pleased.
The Court of Judicial Review had even less to say—they were immersed in the panic of their chief official being murdered.
However, the Minister of Justice was feeling quite sour about the situation.
Homicide case, and my Ministry of Justice can’t get involved at all?
Hey! So I have nothing to do with this?
[Of course, the task force wasn’t just Lu Fengqiu alone; there were also officials from the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Justice. Speaking of which, as the team leader, his rank was lower than many members. If it weren’t for His Majesty Xuanyi’s decree, it would have been nearly impossible for him to lead this team.]
Minister of Personnel: Although I’m not the team leader, a homicide case involving important court officials should involve my Ministry of Personnel.
Minister of Justice: Exactly, that’s right. How can such a homicide investigation proceed without someone from my Ministry of Justice?
[Lu Fengqiu interrogated Tang Yuan and learned the whole story. There was no deep-seated grudge.
As I mentioned before, that day, that very night, the Registrar’s actions were the final straw that broke the camel’s back.
Under that straw, the camel was already carrying a mountain.
To put it in modern terms, the Registrar was the kind of incompetent leader who rose through seniority alone—procrastinating endlessly, overly verbose, slacking off during work hours, enjoying suppressing subordinates, adept at shifting blame, and using overtime to feign diligence.
I wonder how many of my viewers are already working folks? Those who’ve experienced the workforce know how suffocating it is to have such a boss. The mere expectation of pointless overtime is enough to infuriate anyone.]
The working people of the Great Yin Dynasty resonated deeply!
Especially those serving in wealthy households—when their masters demanded certain tasks, they carried them out, only for the masters to later deny having given such orders or criticize them for acting recklessly when dissatisfied or changing their minds…
Truly, when under someone else’s roof, one must bow their head.
Like swallowing bitter herbs in silence, unable to voice their suffering.
It was precisely for this reason that many people, upon seeing Tang Yuan’s frenzied murder, felt not only sympathy for him but also a sense of catharsis.
As for sympathy for the deceased?
Hah, sympathize with those corrupt officials who never did any real work for the country or its people—the ones who slacked off and avoided their duties? May they suffer misfortune for life!
[Tang Yuan, a long-oppressed worker, had simply reached his limit and rebelled. Lu Fengqiu not only investigated Tang Yuan but also looked into the Registrar and the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review.
The Registrar’s work style was as I described earlier, while the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review—just as Tang Yuan suspected—was a hypocrite with two faces.]
The Minister of the Court of Judicial Review’s face darkened like a black pot, filled with both rage and anxiety.
How was he hypocritical?
He wore old clothes every day—how frugal he was!
[In public, the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review appeared frugal, but in private, he accepted bribes, kept beautiful concubines in secret, wore luxurious robes, drank fine wine, enjoyed the company of beauties, listened to decadent music, and played with rare treasures.
His children and relatives seized vast fertile lands, oppressed commoners, and even forced themselves upon women—some even involved in homicide cases. Not only did he fail to arrest them, but he didn’t even reprimand or restrain them, instead covering up their crimes.
Two-faced in public and private, Emperor Hui had once praised him for his frugality and simplicity, calling him a noble gentleman of ancient virtue. People say Emperor Hui may not have been good at employing talent, but he was skilled at recognizing character. In the case of this Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, he truly misjudged him.]
The Minister of the Court of Judicial Review went limp and collapsed to the ground.
The always sycophantic Vice Minister neither helped him up nor offered comfort—there was no need.
With the Sky Screen’s revelation, his tenure as Minister had come to an end.
Could the Vice Minister now be promoted to Minister?
The Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review felt delighted. Oh, Sky Screen, you wonderful Sky Screen!
Today, Qing Ju’s voice was especially pleasing to the ear.
Emperor Hui covered his mouth as he coughed, gasping for breath. This Minister of the Court of Judicial Review was truly skilled at pretending—he had even fooled him!
“Investigate! Investigate for me!”
Thoroughly investigate the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, investigate the Court of Judicial Review!
Procrastination, slacking off, shirking responsibility—such fine traditions of the Court of Judicial Review!