Chapter 198 Extra (21)

Guan Suyi stood quietly under the porch, behind her was the study, where the laughter of his grandfather and father could be heard from time to time. They were talking with the emperor, and their voices were full of the excitement and joy of being appreciated. After moving to Yanjing for four years, Guan Suyi watched them became more depress and quiet as days goes by, her heart felt painful like a knife pricking on it.

It was said that a big man cannot be without power for a day, although this was a bit crude, but this was also a wise saying. Which man didn’t have the ambition to make a name for himself? Which man didn’t have the ambitions to be a supreme minister? Grandfather and father were willing to sell their lands and moved their families, wasn’t it to realize their ambitions?

Now that they have the opportunity to meet the emperor, they could speak freely and showed their talents, which could be counted as worthwhile trip.

Guan Suyi stood in the warm sunshine and laughed for a while before going to the back house to help in the kitchen. Guan Miao was peeling the beans, Minglan was standing by the stove to make a fire, and Zhong shi was stir-frying vegetables with a spatula. A strong smell of meat wafted everywhere, truly mouth-watering.

“Mother, I’ll show off my skill too.” She said while rolling up her sleeves to knead dough, but at this moment, an old woman ran in and said, “Madam, miss, the clan leader sent someone to pick up the second miss to go home.”

Guan Miao turned pale with fright, hurriedly threw away the beans, and ran behind Zhong shi to hide. Guan Suyi was about to go to the front yard to send people away, but she saw her mother took out a piece of paper from her arms and said, “What go home? The second uncle already wrote the deed and gave Miao Miao to us for adoption, in exchange for five hundred taels of silver. It’s written in black and white, if he reneges, we will go to the yamen to sue him! Miao Miao is not in their family tree at all, even if he breaking the sky, he still can’t take her.”

“When was the deed written?” Guan Suyi had never heard of this.

“Your father invited him to drink before he was imprisoned. Your father got him drunk then lead him to sign it, seal, and pressed his fingerprint. He can’t renege at all.” Zhong shi shook the document.

“If that’s the case, this matter is easy to handle.” Guan Suyi smiled, “I know that father has always been reliable. Mother Wang, you go back to them, says there are distinguished guests at home and it’s inconvenient to entertain them. If they want to take Second Miss back, we will see them in court.”

The old woman nodded and hurried off. The servants sent by the clan leader had already inquired clearly in advance, and learned that Guan Suyi would likely be sent to the palace by Her Highness Grand Princess to serve the emperor. After being rejected, not only they did not dare to play trick, their words still needed to be careful, and could only resigned and left.

In just half a day, the story that Mao shi wanted to starve her shu daughter to death because of a piece of cake had spread all over Yanjing, and Lin shi‘s excuse were also known to everyone. Nowadays, although there were many people with rigid thinking, but the renowned Confucian who were genuinely learned had expressed extreme disgust towards this matter. Some people criticized Mao shi for “killing life with reason, but not benevolence”, while others sighed that “the way of heaven may not be completely fine.It come from ‘Wanli Compilation’ by Shen Defu in Ming Dynasty. TN: I don’t know what it means, it seems to be commentary towards the story of Hai Rui starving his daughter from previous chapter” Mao shi and Lin shi, who originally thought they could gain prestige with this matter, became synonymous with fierce hearts, and were criticized for a while.

After the servant brought Guan Suyi’s words to him, the clan leader of the Guan clan finally gave up the idea of ​​bringing back his shu granddaughter, and instead called his son and scolded him severely.

At the same time, Emperor Sheng Yuan ended his earnest talk with the Guan family’s father and son, and left after dinner. Guan Suyi took the initiative to send him off to the palace, and when the carriage was far away, she opened the package she was carrying, and said in a low voice, “Your Majesty, this is the manuscript that my grandfather and father accumulated on weekdays, this humble woman would like to invite you to take a look.”

Emperor Sheng Yuan took over the thick stack of manuscripts, and after just flipping through the first two pages, he was totally absorbed and fascinated by them. This was a policy theory written by Old Master Guan. It expounded the shortcomings of the Wei Kingdom from various aspects such as population, land, agriculture, military, political system, and people’s livelihood, and gave practical and effective solutions. Unfortunately, from the date of the article, it was completed in the first year of the founding of the country, and it had been four years since then. If these suggestions were adopted and implemented from the beginning, the Wei Kingdom would not have been so precarious as it was now.

This policy theory was well versed in the way of checks and balances, and it was completely the opposite from the way of checks and balances he implemented now. One was based on winning over the hearts of the people; the other was based on winning over the powerful and noble families. Originally the foundation of the country was the people, if the hearts of the people were unstable, how could one talk about prosperous country?

“Wrong!” He held his forehead and smiled bitterly, “It turns out Zhen has been wrong from the very beginning.” The intention of supporting the poor family was not wrong, but the mistake was in choosing Xu Guangzhi as the representative of the poor family. This person was eager to achieve quick result, and was the best at drilling camps. In a very short period of time, he had won over a large number of followers, and then excluded dissidents and creating conflicts. So the poor families fought against the noble families, the civil officials fought against the military generals, the Han people fought against the Jiuli people, and the whole court was filled with hostility. In the end Emperor Sheng Yuan had no choice but to activate the Jinyiwei, only then could suppress one or two.

However, using violence to control violence was tantamount to drinking poison to quench thirst. He also wanted to administer benevolent government and benefit the people, but the wealth and power had been taken up by the nobles, while outside the gates of the country, there were Xue evil and Hu people glaring like a tiger watching his prey, and the living space of the common people had been repeatedly deprived and occupied. The situation was no better than before the founding of the country.

If at that time he considered it more thoroughly and put Old Master Guan and Mr. Guan in important positions instead, the current Wei Kingdom would definitely be very different.

Remorseful emotions surged up, he hurriedly flipped through the following articles, and was even more impressed. The manuscript was obviously carefully organized by Madam. From the first year of the founding of the country to the fourth year, and as time went on, the old master’s elaboration of the governing policy also changed. In the last article, just one title made him breathless – Legislation, decentralization, centralization. The ultimate goal of the so-called decentralization was to centralize power.

The specific details were not personally written by the old master. Just when Emperor Sheng Yuan was disappointed, he turned to Guan Father’s article. If the old master was the one at the helm, then Guan Father was the one that got things done. He had written more than twenty pages on how to legislate, how to decentralize, and how to centralize power.

No wonder with nine murder cases over his head, he was able to produce such strong evidences. Mr. Guan was indeed an astute man.

For the first time, Emperor Sheng Yuan forgot Madam’s existence, and read the masterpieces of the two gentlemen without distraction. When Guan Suyi saw him like this, the corner of her mouth couldn’t help but went up. She then opened the wooden box beside her and carefully checked the evidence her father gave to the emperor. As a judicial officer, drafting official documents and entering confessions from the plaintiff or the defendant was the most basic job, and words could either save or kill people. Her father knew this very well.

Therefore, in every case he handled, if there were some injustices hidden behind it, he would deliberately leave a drop of ink on the official document, and then re-copied it on the grounds that it was dirty, handed it over to his superior for signature and seal, and finally hid the original copy as a record, and when others asked, he would say that it had been burned. When this incident happened, and his superior really pushed him as a scapegoat, he could have contacted his wife and daughter and asked them to take out evidence and file a lawsuit. But looking at Xu Guangzhi’s monstrous power, he was afraid that it would be difficult to report, and instead completely ruined his family, so he chose to endure.

What is killing with one word? For example, there was a robbery and murder case, and there were seven prisoners. According to the law, the main offender should be beheaded and displayed to the public, and the accomplices should be exiled for thousands of miles. The main offender’s name was written at the top and the accomplice’s name below. The judicial official accepted the thousand taels of silver from the main culprit, then wrote his name at the end, and put the others on top, which killed a human life. In another case, a mountain bandit broke into a wealthy household at night to kill people and steal their valuables. Since the officials and the bandits often exchange money, they have to protect the other, so they changed the confession from “enter through the gate” into “enter through the dog gate”. Only added one character, more than 20 bandits who were arrested were released after only half a year, and then they resumed their old business and wantonly massacre.

How so? Because the law of Wei Kingdom stated that the crime of theft and the crime of robbery should not be punished in the same way, the former being punished lightly, the latter given a heavier sentence. Climbing the dog’s hole was obviously an act of theft, not like breaking someone’s gate, which was the bandit’s behavior. Therefore, the judicial officials could release these heinous criminals only by convicting them to theft.

All kinds of bizarre and unjustly blood-stained cases could not be described in detail. If it were not for her father had a well thought plan, carefully reviewed every suspicious official document, and kept the case record, afraid even if he jumped into the Yellow River, he would not be able to clear himself. No, so what if the evidence was left behind? He was locked up in prison and not allowed to meet visitor, and by the time his family found this evidence, he might have become a dead soul. And if there was no way to ask for help, who could he seek justice to? If he accidently let the officials who framed him know, the whole family would be implicated.

It was so difficult for ordinary people without authority and power to live. It was no wonder that her father always gave money to help the families of prisoners who have been betrayed and executed. It was for this reason. Guan Suyi put down the official document and said nothing for a long time.

On the other side, Emperor Sheng Yuan also read a few policy theories and sighed, “Madam, sit here.”

Guan Suyi was feeling cold. Hearing this, she hesitated for a moment before moving over, until she was held tightly in his arms. The two cuddled each other and kept each other warm. After being silent for a long time, they both sighed, as if they had made appointment beforehand.

Emperor Sheng Yuan’s gloomy mood immediately cleared up and asked with a smile, “What are you sighing for?”

“Sigh that the world is chaotic and life is hard.” Guan Suyi bit the tip of her tongue as soon as she finished speaking, hating herself for not blocking her mouth. Saying that the world was not good in front of the emperor, wasn’t it the same as scolding him for being muddle-headed? She glanced at him secretly, but only saw a gentle and helpless smile.

“It’s Zhen’s fault that the world is chaotic. Zhen didn’t properly govern the country, and that’s why the people are killed and the lives are ruined.” Emperor Sheng Yuan whispered in her ear, “Madam just wait, in Zhen’s lifetime, Zhen must give you a peaceful and prosperous world.”

“It’s not for me, it’s for the people of the world.” Guan Suyi corrected his sentence, and finally scolded herself for being unable to control her mouth.

Emperor Sheng Yuan was amused by her painful expression that wanted to restrain herself but couldn’t help but tell the truth. While sucking her red lips, he echoed with a smile, “Madam is right, it’s for the people of the world.” Now the country had only been established for four years, he still had time to change everything.

At first, Guan Suyi just sat stiffly on his lap and tried to bear it, but in the end she couldn’t hold it anymore, and collapsed in his arms like melting snow. His kiss was tender and yet domineering, and after a shallow taste, it deepened. She felt her every pore was stained with his scent, was almost suffocated by the kiss, but when she opened her mouth to gasp, she was greeted by an even more ferocious attack.

She had never met such a straightforward plunder, her mind was so confused that she could not think of anything but cling to him like a life-saving rope.

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