Chapter 660: Personal Affairs, Official Affairs, and Family Affairs
After discussing the progress of the case, Sun Shaozong went to the Dali Temple to take up his post.
He first checked in at the east corner gate, then went to the Zuosi Yamen in the west wing and summoned Tang Weishan, the temple chief. He ordered him to work with Liu Xianglian to make a simple summary and classification of the cases of gang fights that had occurred in recent years.
After handing over the task, Sun Shaozong looked through the official documents submitted to him and found that most of them were trivial matters. He simply ignored them and went straight to the inner hall in the middle to meet Wei Yi and Li Wenshan.
Finally, no one discussed animals at today's morning meeting, but no official business was mentioned either. The main topic of discussion was the quality of the Huguang Maojian tea that Sun Shaozong casually gave away yesterday or the Henan Xinyang Maojian tea.
Wei Yi and Li Wenshan each held an opinion, and they argued about everything from historical origins to color, aroma and taste, until they were red in the face. In the end, they both agreed that the Kung Fu tea brewed by Miss Chu Rui, a famous prostitute in Yanhuan Tower, was the most fragrant and authentic.
Sun Shaozong: “…”
Just when Sun Shaozong was speechless, someone outside suddenly reported that the cabinet had approved a bill, ordering Zuo Shaoqing Sun Shaozong to go to court on a chosen day to re-examine the case of Wei Ruolan shooting and killing the eldest son of the Niu family.
Sun Shaozong hurried outside to get the official document and presented it to Shangguan Weiyi for review.
Wei Yi glanced at it briefly, then handed it back to Sun Shaozong and said solemnly, "Since the court intends to let Sun Shaoqing judge this case alone, I will not say anything more. I only hope that Sun Shaoqing will be fair and just, and live up to the reputation of 'divine judgement'."
As for you who are 'untainted by anything', even if you are not the only judge, I'm afraid you have nothing to explain, right?
Sun Shaozong was complaining in his heart, but he took the opportunity to bow and said, "Since the order has come, I will go back and carefully look through the files, so as to set a date for the court session. Please sit for a while, my lords. I will take my leave now."
The two of them hurriedly returned the greeting.
Sun Shaozong took two steps back, turned around and left the inner hall, but couldn't help but let out a breath.
Although the morning meetings of later generations may not all be meaningful, they are at least in plain language and sound effortless - unlike these two who were so vague and unclear, discussing the quality of tea, and even dragging out the ancient sages to "whip the corpses" one by one.
However, when discussing the famous prostitute at the end, the words were quite down-to-earth.
Speaking of which...
When it comes to brothels, Right Shaoqing Li Wenshan had a lot of complaints about Shuntian Prefecture, including a lot of complaints about how arrogant and tyrannical the prefecture was, and how it didn't care about the people's feelings.
To put it bluntly, he was annoyed at the Shuntian Prefecture's persistent crackdown on prostitutes in recent years, which led to a surge in the prices of brothels in the city, forcing him, a dignified Right Shaoqing, to restrain his romantic life.
Back to the book
Without mentioning the dirty business of driving up prices, Sun Shaozong returned to the Zuosi government office. On the one hand, he ordered people to fetch Wei Ruolan's case file, while on the other hand, he was quite puzzled.
When Sun Shaozong first heard that the imperial court intended to let him single-handedly try the case of Wei Ruolan shooting and killing the eldest son of the Niu family, he felt that something was fishy - since the case had been delayed for two years, why were they suddenly in a hurry to retry it?
So he secretly sent people to find out the truth.
Only then did he learn that the Earl of Yongyi Niu Jizon was seriously ill. Knowing that he did not have much time left, he wrote a letter in blood to urge the court to give his son justice.
After checking here, I found the reason for the retrial.
However, even the dumbest person, after these two years, should have seen the situation clearly - the court, especially the emperor, would never be able to uphold justice for the Niu family.
At this time, Niu Jizong even wrote a letter in blood to urge a retrial...
Is it because of illness that he is confused?
Or does this old guy actually have other thoughts?
When the clerk brought the case file, Sun Shaozong flipped through it and made random guesses, and before he knew it, it was already noon.
After transcribing several unclear testimonies onto paper one by one, Sun Shaozong stretched his muscles and waited quietly for the kitchen helper from Zuo Temple to come so that he could order some food to fill his stomach.
Unexpectedly, the kitchen helper had not arrived yet, but the people from the Prince's Mansion arrived first, saying that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had already prepared a family banquet to congratulate Lord Sun on his promotion to the position of Chief Justice.
The prince had clearly sent a gift a few days ago, but now he hastily arranged a banquet...
Could it be also about the Wei Ruolan case?
Even so, we shouldn't be in a hurry to send someone to invite him in the middle of the day. We should wait until after the court is over. Wouldn't that attract attention?
I have to say, this prince is unreliable in his work!
But since he had already sent someone to invite him, it was not logical for Sun Shaozong to refuse, so he ordered his subordinates to take half a day off and go directly to the Prince's Mansion for the banquet.
No conversation along the way.
When they arrived at the gate of the Prince's Mansion, without waiting for him to introduce himself, the Prime Minister Wang Dexiu came out to greet him and led Sun Shaozong to the flower hall in the backyard.
“Second brother!”
When passing by the front hall, he suddenly saw another person coming out from the side. It was Sun Zhaolin, the younger brother of the Crown Princess whom he had met the day before.
Sun Zhaolin stepped forward and bowed, then asked curiously, "Why are you here at this time, second brother?"
This question is a bit strange. After the prince's persistent propaganda, who doesn't know that Sun Shaozong is his "loyal minister"?
What's so strange about some interactions between the monarch and his subjects?
At this time, Wang Dexiu on the side hurriedly smiled and said, "Uncle, you don't know that the Crown Prince became ill because of his worries about state affairs. Now he invited Lord Sun to come here to prescribe the right medicine and clear the blockage."
It seems that Sun Shaozong used the word "unblock" just a few days ago, but now it sounds awkward.
But these are minor details. What is really worth paying attention to is that the prince did indeed have a dispute over the Sun family's daughter's marriage - otherwise he would not have refused to see his brother-in-law on the grounds of illness.
Although Sun Zhaolin was young, he was not someone who could be easily fooled. After a little thought, he figured out the crux of the matter. His face turned red and he clenched and unclenched his fists, finally swallowing his anger with great difficulty.
He bowed solemnly to Wang Dexiu and said, "Please tell the chancellor of the Wang Mansion to pass on my message. I only want to see my sister and I dare not bother His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."
"this……"
Wang Dexiu grimaced, his brows knotted with worry, and he managed to squeeze out a sentence with great difficulty: "Your Majesty...Your Majesty has been taking care of me day and night, and now she is exhausted and sick. I'm afraid it's inconvenient for her to see guests."
Sun Zhaolin finally got annoyed and said angrily: "Am I also considered a foreign guest..."
"Don't worry, my dear brother."
Sun Shaozong raised his hand and pressed his shoulder, smiling, "I'll go in and ask for you. If it's not an epidemic that's easy to get sick with, I think it won't hurt to see him."
Sun Zhaolin then suppressed his anger, thanked Sun Shaozong solemnly, and stepped aside to leave.
The two men were on their way again, and when they arrived in front of the flower hall shaded by maple trees, Wang Dexiu stopped and signaled Sun Shaozong to go in and meet the prince on his own.
Sun Shaozong did not suspect anything and walked to the front of the hall. Just as he was about to go up the stairs, he suddenly saw a woman in palace dress kneeling inside the door with her upper body straight.
Tsk~
After the prince lost his money, he seemed to love to mistreat women even more.
But this time, she didn't look as miserable as those dancers, so Sun Shaozong didn't take a closer look and walked into the inner room without looking around.
Just as he was about to hand over his luggage to the prince who was sitting at the table, the kneeling woman suddenly jumped up from the ground!
Subconsciously glancing to the side, I saw the delicate facial features that were filled with shame and indignation. Who else could it be but the Crown Princess?
Sun Shaozong was extremely embarrassed at the moment, and thought that if he had known that it was the Crown Princess kneeling here, he would never have rashly barged in.
Just as she was thinking about how to resolve this awkward situation, she suddenly saw the prince slamming the table and scolding her harshly, "Who told you to get up, you little bitch?!"
