Chapter 48 Impeachment

A crisp sound of “pop” came from inside the house, shocking Minglan and the others. Yinzi quietly hid away, but the newly arrived maid who was named Jinzi by Madam walked to the window to take a look and said anxiously, “Sister Minglan, should we go in to keep guard? In case Lord Marquis and Madam get into fight…”

“Don’t go in, lest miss will be embarrassed. Let’s us grab a weapon and stand here, and if miss is in trouble, we can rush in to help.” Minglan picked up a slab of brick from under the wall and held it tightly in her hand. Yinzi and Jinzi followed suit, and they also pick up a convenient weapon.

Minglan saw that they were not afraid of lord marquis at all, but were loyal to miss, so she was very satisfied. The three of them stood on tiptoe and looked into the room, only to see that lord marquis was stunned by the beating and couldn’t recover his sense for a long time, but the madam rolled up her sleeves with a leisurely expression and slowly moved her wrist, as if the one who was angry before was not her.

Zhao Luli had never hit a woman before, let alone hit by a woman. When he pulled away from the shock, he found that his cheeks were sore and hot, as if burned by a soldering iron, and when the tip of his tongue touched his gums, he tasted a few traces of blood. He was actually wounded.

Jinzi and Yinzi saw a line of blood flowing from the corner of lord marquis’s mouth, when they looked at him more and more, they couldn’t help muttering, “Madam’s hands are so strong, she slap a big man until bleeding!”

Minglan snorted triumphantly, “That’s right! Our miss can tie four or five pounds of lead around her wrist at the age of eleven or twelve. She doesn’t need a knife to eat watermelon in summer, she can split it with bare hands. If lord marquis want to take advantage of miss, it will not be easy!”

Jin Zi silently took these words to heart, and then continued to wait and see.

After all, Zhao Luli was a Confucian general, and he would not easily fight with women. Even though his heart was already steaming with anger, he still reluctantly held back. Guan Suyi was not afraid of him, and while pouring tea for herself, she said slowly, “I said how Zhao Chunxi and Zhao Wangshu are so stupid, turns out they follow the true tradition of your Zhao family and Ye family. Since you said that what happened to Ye family were all caused by Guan family, then I will dispute you. The Ye family wanted to stuff in their daughter to be a concubine, did my Guan family order it? Ye Jieyu gave face for that concubine, did my Guan family order it? The Ye family arranged the treasure appreciation banquet, did my Guan family planned it? The Ye family’s coral tree was broken, did my Guan family break it? The emperor tried his best to suppress the Ye family, did the Guan family was behind it? You touch your conscience, do you dare to say ‘yes’?’

Zhao Luli was speechless, and the left cheek, which was not slapped, also flushed red.

Guan Suyi sneered, “It’s the Ye family who has repeatedly provoked, and lord marquis is good, actually blame it all on my Guan family’s head. It’s really true that when someone is good, they will be taken advantage. I really don’t know how you were able to make a name for yourself in the military back then, even dared to meddle in those rotten things like the Ye family. Master Ye funded the rebellion of the Second Prince, and only after the defeat did he offer tributes to the Emperor to survive the calamity. Now, although he has gained some grace, he still doesn’t know how to restrain himself. On one side removed his enemies, while on the other side tried to form a party for personal gain. In a year and a half, a large number of courtiers have been won over. Minister of Justice, Minister of the Guards, Imperial Guard, Minister Coachmen, Minister of Imperial Clan, all of these ministers and captains who are related to the emperor’s safety and security have become his ‘sworn brothers’, and even Ye’s daughter become an imperial concubine, who controlled the inner palace. He seems to want to draw the emperor’s close attendants one by one, infiltrating all aspects of his life. It doesn’t look like he make friends with powerful officials, nor benefited in the slightest, but over time, his control intensified. If he want to make some small actions behind the emperor’s back, it will be easy. Emperor Ping of Han, Emperor Yin of Han, and the last emperor of the previous dynasty were all killed by their close attendants, and the trouble of murdering the monarch has a long history. And the Ye family had an enormous crime before, but they arrogantly offended His Majesty, and instead of thinking how to display loyalty and retreat to consider how to make amends, they done discreditable thing in the dark, treacherous like a ghost. If his family is not unlucky, then whose family is unlucky?”

Zhao Luli was in a panic, sweating like a waterfall.

Guan Suyi drank the tea in one go and continued, “To avoid being dragged with the crime of forming a party for personal gain and crime of misdeeds, everyone is walking around the Ye family, but you have to go up and drag me into the water. You say are you stupid or not? I, Guan Suyi, must have never accumulated virtue in my last life, so I would marry such a waste like you, who have no authority, no power, no brains, no heart, all day long grieving for his dead wife, and leave behind his mother, brother, sister-in-law, children, adopted son and his second wife. Even if I marry a dead person and have a ghost marriage, it’s countless times better than marrying you. At least the other party can let me live quietly, instead of repeatedly humiliated, constantly pierced the heart, even the slightest bit of warmth cannot be experienced. If you went back to the front yard today without saying a word, and didn’t come here to say those stupid things, I can still bear you for a few more days, but now I can’t stand it even for a moment.”

She threw away the teacup and said coldly, “There is a saying ‘it’s not too late for a gentleman to take revenge for ten years‘, his Ye family has already been taken out, and my Guan family still hasn’t repay yet! It’s not over, you just wait!”

Zhao Luli’s anger disappeared completely, leaving only fear, “You, what do you want to do? The matter of Ye family is me who doesn’t think it through, I shouldn’t make the Emperor Teacher and Chief of Ceremonies take the risk of being implicated by interceding, I take back my words before and apologize to you. Can’t we make amends?”

“There’s another saying, split water is difficult to retrieve. Broken hearts, broken tears, broken souls, and broken lives are irreparable.” Guan Suyi pointed to the door and said indifferently, “I said I will wait for you, but I will not wait forever. You should be glad that we were married by imperial decree, and cannot divorce, otherwise I would have packed up and return home by now. Your two children seems to think that the Ye family is rich and powerful, and even more favored, already plan to not come here again. Then in the future, the three of you, father and children, will live with Concubine Ye together.”

Zhao Luli’s heart, which was already full of sharp knives, was pierced through again, and he couldn’t help but be shocked. Guan Suyi meant to break relation with him, and the Guan family seemed to want to use some means against the Ye family. He was actually overreaching himself, how could it be? However, before he could think deeply, the three maids surrounded him with bricks and politely sent off the lord marquis.

Zhao Luli didn’t dare to make a fuss, for fear provoking the new madam to become even angrier, and then disaster would hurt Ye Zhen’s head, so he could only stand at the gate of the courtyard to apologize, and turned around resentfully when his voice was dry.

Zhao Chunxi, who received the news, was angry, anxious, and afraid, but there was nothing she could do. The situation of the Ye family was worse than she imagined. Her grandfather was told to introspect behind closed doors, her mom was terminally ill, the reputation of the Ye family was swept to the floor. Relatives and friends were avoiding like they were snakes and scorpions, and His Majesty was also charged a monstrous crimes. They seemed to fall from heaven to hell overnight, to the point of extinction. And she and her daddy had tore faces with Guan shi, and pushed the last bit of support away with their own hands. What should they do in the future?

Hexiang was also quite frightened, and murmured, “Miss, Guan shi‘s methods are too quick, she almost emptied the main house, leaving only three maids to serve, Minglan is loyal, Yinzi’s family is far away in Liaodong, she followed over from the border, so it is not easy to control. Jinzi is actually an orphan, and want to set up a female household to live independently, there is no leak that can be drilled at all! Guan shi seems to always think ahead of us, we just took one step but when we looked up, she had already walked ninety-nine steps, it’s really impossible to catch!”

“Shut up! Don’t sweep your own might to inflate others’ momentum. Guan shi is a human being, not a god, there will always times when she make mistakes. Go and ask again to see if what she said is true or false.” Zhao Chunxi said sternly.

“Which one?”

“It’s not too late for a gentleman to take revenge for ten years!”

“Oh oh oh, this servant will immediately go.” Hexiang staggered away, and the panic-stricken back was like a frightened bird.

Zhao Chunxi looked at her and slowly hid herself in the darkness.

—-

Revising the legal codes was a major event related to the country and should not be taken lightly, so it was necessary to pool the wisdom and work together. It was also the first time for many ministers to participate, and none of them dared to arrogate themselves. It took several days and nights of discussion to determine each memorandum. Even so, the progress was quite slow, and it seemed that something was missing, there was a feeling of having nowhere to go.

Fortunately, the Inspectorate was established at the fastest speed. Old Master Guan was appointed as the Chief Imperial Censor, in charge of supervision affairs. On top he could advise the emperor and below he could impeach officials, it even could influence the promotion, appointment, and dismissal of officials, jointly inspected local administrations and evaluate political performance. Although the grade was not high, the power was rare. In addition, two colleagues were appointed as Deputy Chief Censors and Supervisory Censors, in order to check for omissions and fill in the gap, and to encourage public opinions.

With an expression of envy and awe, the civil and military officials watched Old Master Guan took the official robe, crown, official seal, ribbon, jade tablet and other items handed over by the emperor himself. They thought he would definitely take it home and slowly admire it, but he actually put on the official robe, put on the crown, fastened the official seal with the ribbon, held the jade tablet, and said with full vigor, “Your Majesty, this minister wants to impeach Grand Astrologer Master Ye on thirty-two charges. The first crime, when he was doing business in Liaodong, he had dealings with the forces of various feudal states. At that time, he communicated with foreign enemies, leaked military information, and caused a disastrous defeat for our army in the first battle of Gaizhou, with more than 100,000 casualties. The second crime is to secretly fund the rebellion of Prince Cheng and Prince Jin, and then later change to seek refuge with the emperor, and actually awarded the title Grand Astrologer for his support. His third crime is that in his position, he never done his own government. Except for attending morning court, he never drafted a document, promoted a grand counselor, recorded historical events, and managed sacrifices, which can be called corpse enjoys vegetarian mealsenjoy the salary without doing their duties. Flattering the people on top and disrespectful to the people below. His fourth crime is that in the first month of the previous year, the former emperor was seriously ill and was about to die, every time he was saw entering and leaving, he did not show any worry, sorrows or solemn look when waiting on the emperor. On the contrary talked and laughed as usual, and feasted and drank continuously. His fifth crime, in the ninth month of the previous year, the former emperor died, in less than half a month of mourning period he done sexual intercourse, causing his concubine to be pregnant, and then pretended that she was ill and have her killed. His sixth crime is bribing the monarch’s close attendant, giving gifts to the court ministers top and below, used the convenience of his imperial-in-law to engage in private fraud, endangering the Holy’s order and offending the Holy’s face. His seventh crime, the treasures hidden in the house are more than ten thousand southern pearl and a thousand eastern pearls, which are several times more than those in the inner storehouse. There are also rhino horn cups, dragon-decorated secret porcelain, and numerous illegal objects. His eighth crime is in last year summer flood and winter cold…”

Old Master Guan recited all the way, even the sound of needle fall could be heard in the court hall. Everyone was frighten, and even Emperor Sheng Yuan broke out in a cold sweat. He was not unaware of all the things the Ye family had committed, but because of Ye Jieyu‘s life-saving grace, he deliberately ignored it, and even condoned it, until the Ye family quietly rolled out a big network of marriages. In fact, this was also thanks to Guan Suyi. If he hadn’t worried about her being humiliated after marriage, he would not have  investigate the many clan women of the Ye family, which was really crooked.

Emperor Sheng Yuan thought that knocking the mountain and shaking the tiger was enough, but now listening to the old man’s impeachment one by one, he finally found out that the Ye family had sinned into the sky and could not be forgiven.

The officials under the imperial seat were also sweating like pulp, and their legs were as soft as mud. Thirty-two charges were recited, and Old Master Guan had made it clear that he wanted to kill the Ye family, his thunderous methods were ten thousand times stronger than Ye Jieyu, right? Only this person wasn’t playing tricks and machinations, even walking on the bright road could still make them lose their position and ruined their family!

Today’s Guan Family… is really not easy to mess with!

T/N: the maids are hilarious!!

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