The old lady is reborn

In Kyoto, Peng Huan, the wife of Cao Yu, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, knocked on the door of the Nan'an Marquis's Mansion and asked to see Lady Song Ying, the Protector of the Country.

Song Ying's temper after his rebirth became more and more quick-tempered and straightforward. After sitting down with Peng Huan, he asked, "You and I are a little different in age, and we haven't had much contact in the past. What is it that Madam wants to talk to me about?"

Peng Huan said, "I don't know where to start for a moment. Madam, a disaster is coming to the Cao family, or it should be said that a disaster is coming to the Xu family, but today's disaster is actually caused by an unjust case in the past."

Song Ying said, "Your husband is the Minister of Justice. Is there any injustice that cannot be redressed?"

Peng Huan smiled bitterly and said, "The current vice minister of the Ministry of Justice cannot judge the cases of the previous dynasty."

There were two families, Xu and He, in Yuyuan County, both of which were large farming families in the local area. However, they had many conflicts and disputes due to the boundary of ancestral tombs, competition for water sources when irrigating farmland, and competition for marriage between the two surnames. The two families also had armed fights.

Xu Mao, the head of the Xu family at the time, was hit hard on the head on his way home and died on the spot.

In fact, the incident happened when the neighbor Li En's house was robbed. Li En went out to chase the thief and saw a figure at the corner outside the house. He used a hoe to kill Xu Mao who was passing by his house.

Even the real thief was so scared that he ran away from the low wall.

Li En also knew that he had made a mistake, and thought of the deep feud between the Xu and He families. He looked around and made sure that no one saw him, so he quietly entered the house, closed the door, and pretended that he knew nothing.

It was late at night and Xu Mao had not returned home yet. The Xu family went out to look for him, saw the body, and immediately reported it to the police.

The authorities examined the body and interviewed the neighbors. When they asked Li En, he deliberately said vaguely that he had seen two young men from the He family nearby yesterday.

The Xu family, who had originally had a grudge against the He family, were convinced that it was the He family who did it after hearing this.

The government asked someone to investigate and found that the two young men from the He family had been seen by many people elsewhere at the time and it was impossible for them to appear at the door of the Li family.

However, Li En went to the Xu family and said that he would definitely be retaliated by the He family for speaking up for the Xu family and seeking justice. He was a small family with his own family and could not defeat the He family, so he planned to hide away for two days.

After hearing this, the Xu family was very grateful and gave him a sum of money according to Li En's suggestion.

Li En took the money and hid for a while. He was worried that other neighbors would see him, but the government investigated the matter for a long time and there was no new evidence.

Li En is back again.

The county government at that time found out that the money Li En used to travel was given by the Xu family, so they suspected that the various branches of the Xu family had fought among themselves for the position of head of the family and killed Xu Mao.

Then he bribed Li En to frame the He family.

After the county magistrate at that time made the determination, he tortured Li En and Xu's family.

Li En felt that the wind was blowing in the wrong direction, and immediately changed his words, saying that he had not met the He family that day, but the Xu family.

However, after being tortured, Xu's family still refused to admit their guilt and refused to admit killing Xu Mao.

They believed that the county magistrate had accepted benefits from the He family, so he ignored the facts and wrongly accused the Xu family.

Two young men from the Xu family were severely tortured in prison, but they refused to admit their guilt. Other members of the Xu family went to the prefectural government to appeal for justice, but they did not expect that the county magistrate was the prefect's man and was one of his own people who was usually at ease with the prefect, so how could he be willing to depose him?

The prefect adopted the case reported by the county magistrate and detained the three brothers from the second and third branches of the Xu family who came to complain in the prefect's prison. In order to make them plead guilty and confess that it was the first branch that was fighting among themselves, they were given heavy sentences.

Three of them became disabled after being tortured, and one of them was forced to confess after being tortured.

So the case was reported to Kyoto as an ironclad case, waiting for the Ministry of Justice to review it and then sentence the two young men from the Xu family to immediate execution.

At this point, Xu Mao was killed, his two sons were arrested, and the brothers of the second and third wives were also arrested.

So Xu Lin, the eldest son and grandson of the eldest house and the fifteen-year-old grandson of Xu Mao, took a detour through other counties and went to the capital to file a complaint.

After going through so much trouble to reach Kyoto, he found nowhere to file a complaint there. No one was willing to take on the case, and it looked like the Ministry of Justice was going to review the case.

So Xu Lin adopted the most tragic way of filing a complaint to the emperor: "blood splattering".

At the age of fifteen, Xu Lin paid with his life and submitted a petition written in blood to the Ministry of Justice of the previous dynasty.

The case was remanded for retrial.

The local prefect and county magistrate were guilty and afraid that if it was really a false accusation, their hard-earned careers would be ruined. After becoming an official, would they become a commoner again?

Not only will you be fired, you may even end up in jail.

So the two of them went through the popular imperial concubine Du Zhuohua's door, and two boxes of rare treasures were presented to them. Du Zhuohua smiled and said, "It's not a big deal, it's not worth being so scared."

As a result, the Xu family almost faced a devastating disaster. The two sons were executed in the autumn for patricide and falsely accusing officials of the two governments.

All of his brothers and nephews were crippled by severe punishment, making it impossible for them to go to school or become officials.

The son of the youngest son of the eldest branch of the Xu family, another little grandson, was only seven years old at the time. However, the prefect and county magistrate wanted to wipe out the roots of the crime, so they imprisoned Xu Mao's widow, the grandmother of the little grandson, in prison.

In order to force out the missing grandson, Xu Mao's widow committed suicide in prison to save her grandson, the last bloodline of the Xu family's eldest branch.

Almost all of the Xu family's property was embezzled by the prefect and the county magistrate.

Peng Huan said: "This case has been going on for thirty years. My husband, Cao Yu, is thirty-seven years old this year. He is the surviving grandson of the eldest branch of the Xu family.

He first came to prominence in Kyoto ten years ago. The Six Kings wanted to employ him, but failed to win him over, so they found out about this old case.

The Sixth Prince used extraordinary means to kill the then elderly county magistrate and the eldest son of the prefect at the time.

At that time, my husband wanted to take revenge. To be honest with you, he was against the late emperor, the imperial concubine and the ninth prince, and was also used by the current emperor.

But it is meaningless to take revenge by legal and reasonable means. The prefect at that time has died of old age, and the county magistrate has lived a good life. Even if the old case is a wrongful one, the county magistrate will not necessarily be sentenced to death.

It was the Sixth King who avenged himself by chopping off four lives, including Li En and his son.

So the husband asked the Sixth Prince to promise not to interfere with his work in the Ministry of Justice and to help the Sixth Prince from then on.

Working for the Sixth Prince meant confiscating property and exterminating the clan. I am telling you this story today, but I dare not ask the old lady to show favoritism.

I just don't want the truth of this matter to be buried like this.

Even if my husband was exposed, he would have prepared another set of excuses, and he still had some resentment. The descendants of others are still living well.

If one day, the descendants of the Xu family can have a glimmer of hope and leave a little bloodline in the world, I dare not ask the old lady to do anything. Even if she knew about it and could turn a blind eye, it would be a great blessing.

I know that our two families have never had such a relationship. Even if the old lady has other choices, I understand that. So I will just treat it as a dying man's words of kindness. I am just saying it.

Xu Kui is my husband’s real name. I am an orphan girl who has received his great kindness. All I can do is to follow him through life and death. If Your Majesty has mercy on him for his honest service over the years, you can bury him and erect a monument for him. This is my husband’s real name.”