Chapter 151: The Court of Judicial Review

Holding a pillow, Xue Mingrui suddenly felt a wave of drowsiness wash over him. Leaning backward, he mumbled, "My eldest uncle is back recently, and my father's expression has grown increasingly sour. If it weren't for grandmother's birthday, I really wouldn't want to leave your place and would just stay here to dodge the storm. Being caught right in the middle of those two, I honestly feel like dying."

"Eldest uncle? Isn't the Gu family limited to the eldest young master Gu?" Jiang Lan kicked Xue Mingrui toward the foot of the bed, domineeringly claiming most of the space.

"That's my biological uncle, but there's also a step-uncle," Xue Mingrui said.

Jiang Lan looked surprised. "You can inherit an uncle too?"

"Of course."

Xue Mingrui propped up his head and looked at his cousin Jiang Lan, who was leaning against the head of the bed. "The relationships on my mother's side are rather complicated. My eldest uncle is the eldest son of my maternal grandmother, Princess Zhaoyang, and my mother..."

After listening for a while, Jiang Lan also felt that the relationships involved here were indeed intricate.

Jiang Lan got out of bed and put on her shoes and socks. "Then you must have it tough."

Xue Mingrui buried his face directly into the bedding. "That's why you need to come and save me. Help your cousin out, tomorrow is genuinely going to be a busy day."

Jiang Lan turned around, draped an outer robe over her shoulders, and glanced back at Xue Mingrui. "You also know that I rarely attend gatherings outside, and most of the people coming to this banquet are strangers to me. If any conflicts arise, it wouldn't be easy for me to share your burdens. Going there would just mean standing around idly with nothing to do."

Xue Mingrui got up, pulled a roster from his inner pocket, and tossed it to Jiang Lan.

Jiang Lan caught it. "What is this?"

"Open it and take a look."

Jiang Lan opened the booklet. Inside were clearly listed the people likely to attend tomorrow's banquet, complete with portrait illustrations. Seeing the entries listed for each family, Jiang Lan said in shock, "How do you even have portraits of young ladies from secluded boudoirs?"

"Wasn't this specially prepared for you? You live shut off from the world and don't even know who anyone in Jiankang City is. Take this opportunity to get well acquainted with them. I heard that after grandmother's birthday, you'll be heading to the Imperial Academy. Many of these aristocratic youths study there, so you can make some contacts in advance. I've made special notes on those individuals so you won't be completely clueless once you step into the Imperial Academy."

Jiang Lan closed the booklet. "The material is decent and you've put in thought. But as I've stated repeatedly, just letting me stay put and not cause trouble should be enough. If you really expect me to pursue serious scholarship, you might as well just chop my head off."

***

Xue Mingrui leaned back against the bed. "You weren't like this before. You used to love reading so much, and your eyes would light up every time you came to my place and looked at the books on the shelf. Why are you so averse to it now? Could people really change just by growing up?"

Ignoring Xue Mingrui's muttering, Jiang Lan went out to find something to eat.

Xue Mingrui followed her out. "I heard your newly arrived maid is quite skilled at cooking. You've already eaten quite a bit of my silver, and now you're trying to sponge a month's worth of meals from me. No, I have to make up for it."

Jiang Lan pulled her hair out from the back of her collar. "As you please."

Seeing the spread before him that resembled a grand imperial banquet, Xue Mingrui said in shock, "Do you eat like this every day? Isn't this far too extravagant and wasteful?"

Xue Mingrui took a bite, nodded, and said, "Your maid's cooking is indeed top-notch. How about you part with her and give her to me?"

Jiang Lan gave him a blank look. "Even eating isn't enough to shut your mouth."

Jiang Lan looked at Qingli, who was still serving dishes nearby, and said with a hint of grievance, "Don't you usually cook these dishes for me? You are treating people far too differently!" Wasn't this bullying her for having lost her sense of taste? Unreasonable to the extreme~~~

"Cough, cough!" Hearing her cousin Jiang Lan's tone, and observing the familiar and comfortable closeness between the two of them, Xue Mingrui almost choked to death. "I'm not being an eyesore to you two, am I?"

Jiang Lan gave him another blank stare, ignored him, and shoveled rice into her mouth relentlessly.

There might not be another meal after this one, and although she lacked a sense of taste, the appearance and aroma were still there, which didn't hinder her appreciation of good food.

Later, after Jiang Lan finished her evening meal, she glanced at him. "Don't you have matters to attend to tomorrow? Why are you still lingering at my place and refusing to leave?"

Xue Mingrui sipped a cup of tea. "Because of the birthday, the eldest aunt has been cooped up in the manor all day, endlessly questioning me about Liu Heng's case. But now, that Liu Heng has several human lives on his conscience and has long since been transferred from the Capital Magistrate's Office to the Ministry of Punishments. The trial is nearly concluded, and the eldest aunt feels that eighty strokes of the heavy staff followed by execution in the autumn is simply not enough to vent her hatred. She insists on having me pull strings everywhere to make this Liu Heng suffer a bit more."

"Aren't those connections strong enough?" Jiang Lan paused to think. Liu Heng's father was merely a Vice Minister of Rites. No matter how poorly off the Yong'an Earl's Mansion was, it was still an earldom, which lasted for three generations before forfeiture. Besides, given that the Countess was born into the Duke of Ying's household, there shouldn't have been any major issues.

"People from the Liu residence specifically came to apologize and send gifts, but my aunt refused to see them all. Ordinarily, that wouldn't be a big deal, but my aunt even released harsh words vowing a fight to the death." Xue Mingrui sighed. "These matters should be kept hidden in the heart; why voice them out? Relations certainly won't improve after this, so of course it's a fight to the death.

"However, my aunt clearly intends to make Liu Heng suffer miserably in prison. The Liu family has sent people to keep a constant watch. Now that the sentence has been passed and Liu Heng has confessed his guilt, the law must be enforced accordingly. If Liu Heng suffers even the slightest injury in his prison cell, they will file a formal complaint accusing the officials of the Ministry of Punishments of accepting bribes."

***

Jiang Lan shook her head. Such underhanded matters truly should not be brought out into the open. Regarding her convenience-seeking cousin, Jiang Lan had initially felt a sense of guilt and wanted to find a way to help him, considering his future happiness.

Unfortunately, compared to Liu Heng, that fellow was truly fifty steps laughing at a hundred.

Liu Heng used his power to oppress others quite arrogantly, whereas that fellow Wang Ruoheng from the Wang family relied on his status as the young master of an earl's mansion and the maternal nephew of the Duke of Ying to extort and exploit brothels and taverns in his hometown. He was also someone who treated human life like grass.

A brief calculation showed that this person had committed too many evils and deserved this retribution.

Later on, Jiang Lan stopped meddling in such petty affairs; after all, it was just dogs biting dogs, and her involvement would be meaningless.

"Since the path through the Ministry of Punishments is blocked and the eldest aunt is furious, crying and making a fuss in the manor all day, I had no choice but to use delivering invitations as an excuse to get out. Otherwise, I would have been dragged before the old lady and subjected to another round of interrogation."

"How are the commoners who were oppressed by Liu Heng doing with their appeals for justice?" Jiang Lan asked.

"Minister Liu has been pulling strings everywhere on our behalf. With all this back-and-forth and argument, the Emperor has ordered the Court of Judicial Review to intervene as well. Anyway, the case is exceptionally troublesome. However, the investigating officer sent by the Court of Judicial Review is quite good—young and promising, only a year or so older than your cousin here. He's an aristocratic scion you don't know. He's swamped with official duties tomorrow and probably won't be able to go, but I'll introduce him to you if there's an opportunity later."

"Judging by your tone, Cousin, you seem extremely familiar with him," Jiang Lan remarked.

"My mother and his mother are intimate friends from their maiden days, and their relationship is exceptionally close. Back then, I even studied at his family's private academy. He is not one for many words, but he is a rigorous person who pays extreme attention to detail in everything he does. I won't say much more, but you'll find out once you meet him."

Seeing her cousin hold this person in such high regard, Jiang Lan felt genuinely curious.

However, an official working in the Court of Judicial Review seemed to have no intersecting paths with her.

A little later, the old steward arrived with some items.

"Young Master, Second Young Master Xue." After exchanging formal greetings with Xue Mingrui, the steward said to Jiang Lan, "These are the birthday gifts prepared by the Duke for Madame, the in-law. I must trouble the Young Master to bring them along tomorrow."