Reborn Princess

"Your Highness, these are all the confessions of the remnants that the Dali Temple has handed out in the past few days. The Dali Temple Minister sorted them out and sent a copy to me."

Zhou Cechen waited on Shen Lilan for dinner and said, "Send it to the study first."

"Yes."

Shen Yanlan glanced at Zhou Cechen and asked, "What does the emperor mean?"

Zhou Cechen picked out fish bones for Shen Lilan and said, "If they were more stable, the emperor could have tolerated them for a few more days, but recently the salt under the control of the court was found by the inspectors to be sold in large quantities on the black market."

“They’re reaching too far.”

"They dare to touch the salt industry? This is a taboo in the court." Shen Lilan put down his chopsticks and looked at Zhou Cechen.

If they just wanted to make money from the salt industry, the court could just execute them according to the law and put an end to the trouble forever. But if they were involved in government affairs, it would be a threat to the entire Zhou Dynasty.

"Then..." Before Shen Xilan could finish her words, Zhou Cechen picked up a bowl of five-flavor porridge and fed it to her mouth with a spoon.

"Eat well first."

After Shen Xilan held the spoonful of porridge in her mouth, Zhou Cechen continued to feed her.

"I can do it myself," she whispered.

"You were tired last night." Zhou Cechen looked at her with a smile.

"You..." Shen Lilan glared at him, but her watery eyes were so clear that she didn't look angry at all, but rather like she was acting coquettishly.

"Fu Fu, open your mouth." Zhou Cechen fed her another spoonful.

There was no time to be angry, because Zhou Cechen had to feed her porridge mouthful by mouthful.

"I've just got the confessions of those people. We'll find out what they want to do." Zhou Cechen said to her.

"You will be in danger." Shen Lilan looked at Zhou Cechen with concern.

"Are you worried about me?" Zhou Cechen asked in a hoarse voice.

"Yes, I'm worried about you." Shen Lilan was already looking at Zhou Cechen.

"Don't worry, I will keep myself safe and I will also keep you safe." Every word was spoken with great seriousness.

After lunch, Zhou Cechen returned to the study to do some work. He first carried Shen Xilan back to the warm room.

Shen Lilan was half lying on the beauty couch at this moment, thinking about yesterday over and over again in his mind, going crazy.

She covered her face with the account book to hide her blushing cheeks.

……

"Is that all the confession?" Zhou Cechen asked, holding a few pages of paper.

He said: "It turns out that there is more to it than that, but..."

"explain."

"But the rest of the confessions are all about eating, drinking and having fun. They are all useless. These were sorted out by the Dali Temple overnight."

"Go to Dali Temple."

"what?"

Zhou Cechen stood up and glanced at Yanci. "Don't understand?"

Yanci immediately put the cloak on Zhou Cechen and said, "Your Majesty, do you think the confession is not enough?"

"All confessions must be read." After that, Zhou Cechen said to Yanci, "Go tell Song Yan to take all the evidence in his hands and himself to the Dali Temple."

"Yes."

The two of them left the Liyuan Pavilion, and Zhou Cechen stopped and said, "Send someone to report to the princess that I am going to the Dali Temple today. If she has anything to say, she can send someone to see me."

After a moment of silence, Yanci said, "Yes."

……

The Dali Temple was the highest level case trial office in the Zhou Dynasty, in charge of the trial of criminal cases. Its chief, the Dali Temple Minister, was ranked among the Nine Ministers.

In the Songji Hall, when Song Yan arrived, Zhou Cechen was reading the confession one by one.

The number of people involved in this case and the amount of content in their confessions was so large that the Dali Temple spent a lot of manpower on it.

"Your Highness." Song Yan bowed.

"No need to be polite. What evidence do you have?" Zhou Cechen asked him.

"I have handed them all over to Marquis Yongyi."

Zhou Cechen looked up at him and asked, "Did you also give him the evidence that he couldn't access with his identity?"

Song Yan smiled and said, "Your Majesty, if you already know, why are you asking?"

"You would have taken it out if I hadn't asked you?"

"Among those people, there are those you want to kill"

Song Yan's face was calm: "Your Highness, this is the Dali Temple. You need to be careful with what you say."

"They are all dying." Zhou Cechen stared at Song Yan.

Song Yan took out a document from his sleeve and threw it on the table. "It's all in there. It depends on whether the prince has the ability to find it out."

Song Yan was about to turn around and leave, but Zhou Cechen said, "He Cen'an is from Suzhou, Jiangsu. Both his parents died of disease. He studied hard since he was young and was the youngest person in Hetian Village to pass the exam to become a scholar."

Song Yan was stunned on the spot. He turned around and sneered at Zhou Cechen, "You're investigating me?"

"You expected me to check on you, didn't you?"

Zhou Cechen picked up the document in his hand and showed it to him, "The person you want to kill is him, Liu Linzhi."

"He was originally the magistrate of a county in Suzhou, but he was the one who received the late emperor during his southern tour. He has always been well-known for being honest and incorruptible in the local area, but he privately forced countless women into his backyard."

"This includes Su Wan."

Song Yan clenched his fists. He walked towards Zhou Cechen, leaned his hands on the table and looked at him coldly, "What do you mean?"

"Censor Song is a man of extraordinary talent and intelligence. He once came to my house and said he wanted to repay my kindness. But Censor Song, ask yourself, is there no selfish motive in this action?"

After that, Zhou Cechen took out a letter and said, "Even if all the things in this letter are reported to the emperor, nothing will affect your career. You can rest assured."

Song Yan clenched his fists and said nothing.

"What are you afraid of? Your wife Su Wan's affairs being made public?"

"She has done nothing wrong, please let her go."

Zhou Cechen threw the letter on the table. "You love her very much."

"She is my life." Song Yan's voice almost trembled.

Zhou Cechen stared at him and said slowly: "Everything about you is in there, you can do whatever you want with it."

Song Yan frowned, "Aren't you going to threaten me?"

"If I say that I didn't find out these things because I wanted to, would you believe me?"

"Censor Song, the evidence you submitted to Marquis Yongyi a few days ago was too conclusive and detailed. Someone has started investigating you. My subordinates intercepted it."

Song Yan sneered and said nothing.

"Don't be too eager for revenge."

"You once told me that you believed in me and that I would protect all the poor people in the world and bring them joy. Today I will return those words to you."

"No matter what your purpose is, as long as it is for the sake of the Great Zhou and the people, just do it."

Song Yan calmed down at this time. He bowed to Zhou Cechen and said, "Song thanks His Majesty. From now on, Song will be at your service in the palace."

"You don't have to do that. Just do what you want. You are always free."

Zhou Cechen glanced at the confessions piled on the table and said, "Want to read them together?"

Song Yan looked down at the confessions and picked up Liu Linzhi's confession: "I will use my pen as a sword to kill my enemies."

"Censor Song, you better be careful. If someone checks your letter and I intercept it this time, there will be a second and third time. You should cut off the root cause to prevent future troubles."

"Of course." Song Yan answered. After he saw the red marks on Zhou Cechen's neck, he asked, "Was your neck scratched?"

Zhou Cechen curled his lips and said, "My kitten scratched me a little harshly."

Song Yan and Su Wan have been married for so long, how could he not know the reason? He was just a little surprised after hearing Zhou Cechen's answer. It seemed that they had a very good relationship.

The confession was read page by page, and all the suspicious parts were circled. Finally, looking at the circles, Zhou Cechen and Song Yan looked at each other and said, "Wansanglou."