The Splendid Brocade of the Painting Physician – Chapter 51

Chapter 51: Decision

Zhang Mao didn’t know what to say, especially when facing Xiao Jinyu’s cold and mocking gaze, and even the angry stares of some young scholars around him. He couldn’t help but feel a little guilty.

Although this was an era where the strong preyed on the weak, everyone had a heart that cherished beauty! Especially these young scholars who pursued and appreciated beauty as a trend.

At this time, even Cui Heng couldn’t help but urge, “Prefect Zhang, I invited you here to make a fair judgment. What are you hesitating about?”

“Hmph, fair judgment? This Princess doesn’t care what the cause of the matter is, what the process is. Now, the result I see is that she is unharmed, while my son is seriously injured. Therefore, this matter is her fault, and she should be punished and convicted!”

Princess Yunyin’s unreasonable loud shouts once again attracted everyone’s attention. Many onlookers were angry but dared not speak. Xiao Xian almost crushed the armrest, and Xiao Tenth Miss was so anxious that she stomped her feet and clenched her hands, thinking to herself: I warned her not to provoke this vicious woman, but she just wouldn’t listen. Now it’s good, the matter has evolved to an irreversible point, this Princess Yunyin is probably determined to kill her!

Just as she was thinking this, she suddenly heard Xiao Jinyu’s cold and sharp laughter resounding in the hall.

“Haha… Princess, do you want to listen to what you are saying? So, you don’t care about the truth at all, and you don’t care about the evidence. You just want my life!

You’re putting the blame on me for someone else’s fault, but you say it’s a crime I should bear?”

“That’s right, you injured my son, that’s the crime you committed!” Princess Yunyin didn’t feel anything wrong with her words at all, and still raised her voice to argue.

Everyone’s expressions changed in shock, and their gazes towards Princess Yunyin were filled with anger and contempt.

Many people looked at Xiao Jinyu with worry and pity in their eyes, but they saw that this little girl was not only not frustrated by this, but instead calmed down and asked in a more mocking and cold tone:

“So sixteen years ago, you also used the same methods you are using on me now on my mother?”

Sixteen years ago, her mother? The eldest legitimate daughter of the Xiao family who was driven out of the Xiao family and wandered to a foreign land?

The atmosphere became cold again. This sentence had led everyone into deep thought. So, the old story from many years ago, those unbearable rumors about the eldest legitimate daughter of the Xiao family, the hidden truth was like this today?

“Oh, you are a bastard born from your mother’s illicit relationship with someone, what right do you have to question this Princess? Everything you have done is just to become a member of my Lanling Xiao Clan, what qualifications do you have to enter my Lanling Xiao Clan? Even if you want to acknowledge your ancestors and return to your clan, you should go to the Han family!” Princess Yunyin still refused to give up.

“You—you are simply unreasonable, slandering!”

Fenghuang couldn’t help but curse anymore, almost throwing a punch. Xiao Jinyu stopped him and looked at Princess Yunyin neither humbly nor arrogantly.

“The Princess is afraid that she doesn’t understand the rules set by the ancestors of the Xiao family. Do you think that I, Xiao Jinyu, really want to be a member of this Lanling Xiao Clan?” She sneered and said loudly, “I, Xiao Jinyu, swear here that I will establish my own family in the future and never step into your Xiao family’s gate again…”

Xiao Xian and Xiao Tenth Miss’s expressions changed drastically when they heard this sentence, but then they heard Xiao Jinyu change her tone and say, “But as a child, I must not let my mother’s soul wander in the north, lonely and helpless. She was framed and persecuted by you during her lifetime, and had to wander to a foreign land and die in the north. Now, I just want my mother’s memorial tablet to return to the Xiao family, and her soul to return to her hometown!”

After a pause, she emphasized, “I want your Xiao family to mourn for my mother!”

This sentence was undoubtedly another thunderbolt, making everyone’s eyes light up!

Asking the Xiao family to mourn for her mother!

“That’s right! As a child, one should fulfill their filial piety. It is unfortunate that her mother died in a foreign land. Relatives should mourn for her, summon her soul, and let her soul return to her hometown!” Someone couldn’t help but stand up and speak for Xiao Jinyu.

“A little bastard, how dare you have the audacity to ask my Xiao family to mourn for an abandoned daughter who has long been expelled?”

Princess Yunyin sneered, and once again used her eyes to signal a personal guard, wanting to drag the young master who spoke out. Li Mi stepped forward to stop him:

“Princess, calling her a little bastard again and again, isn’t that a bit too much for your royal demeanor?”

Princess Yunyin glanced at Li Mi coldly, and was about to get angry, when she saw Xiao Jinyu actually take out a jade seal and a piece of silk from her sleeve, holding them in her palms and saying:

“This is the jade seal given to my mother by the Xiao Clan Head when she was the eldest legitimate daughter of the Xiao family. It represents that my mother had the power to manage the family. And this piece of silk is also a written agreement made by the Xiao Clan Head, stating that the eldest legitimate daughter of the Xiao family does not have to marry, but can recruit a husband. Therefore, no matter who my father is, my mother is a descendant of the Xiao family.

Back then, she held the Xiao family jade seal and led the clan members to avoid the war, which is why the Xiao family lineage was preserved. After the world was initially settled, the Xiao family settled in Jiankang, and Princess Yunyin married into the Xiao family at this time. After that, do you want to erase everything my mother did for the Xiao family?

Princess, isn’t everything you have in the Xiao family now preserved by my mother with all her efforts?”

“How come you also have this jade seal?”

When she saw Xiao Jinyu take out this jade seal, Princess Yunyin’s eyes showed shock. Hearing these words at this moment, she couldn’t control her anger anymore, and actually gritted her teeth and said: “Take the jade seal from her hand, kill her!”

“No—”

As she gave this order, the scholars in the hall actually took a step forward in unison and shouted to stop her!

Xiao Xian even “walked” forward in his wheelchair and shouted sternly: “Stop! The personal guards of my Xiao family are here to protect the family, the country, and the people, but they must never bully the weak, especially since she is the daughter of your former master!”

When Xiao Xian said this, several personal guards obviously showed shame on their faces and hesitated to step forward.

“Xiao Xian? Are you being rebellious and going against your mother?”

✿✿✿

In this era where filial piety was paramount, the name of “unfilial” could indeed put someone to death. Ji Shuye, a famous scholar, had a friend named Lü An who was falsely accused of unfilial piety by his elder brother Lü Changti and was sentenced to exile. Shuye, who testified for Lü An, was even sentenced to death.

Princess Yunyin’s words were obviously both a hint and a threat.

At this time, Xiao Xian said: “I dare not disrespect my mother, but this matter is indeed our Xiao family’s fault, why does my mother want to kill her?”

“Xiao Xian! Pay attention to what you say today! Don’t regret it in the future!”

✿✿✿

The atmosphere suddenly became extremely tense again. Suddenly, in this extremely tense atmosphere, a person said coldly: “Prefect Zhang, is it true that when you handle cases in the south, you are competing to see who has a higher status and who speaks more forcefully, and whoever is right? I believe that as long as there are both human and material evidence, this case is clear, and there is no need for further verbal disputes. If Prefect Zhang can’t make the decision, should we find someone else who can make the decision?”

“Who are you?”

Princess Yunyin turned her hostile gaze to this man in black clothes with a veiled hat. She saw that this man had a noble and calm demeanor, and was even more fearless. This was not the demeanor that an ordinary southern aristocratic son could cultivate. The most important thing was that this demeanor also contained a sharp and murderous aura in its nobility and intelligence.

Hearing this, Zhang Mao looked at the man in black clothes, and couldn’t help but be shocked. He already had a guess in his heart: He had heard that the north had sent an envoy to Jiankang to meet the Emperor. On the surface, it was to participate in the Pure Conversation Gathering, but in reality, it was to make another agreement with the Emperor. The envoy had only arrived in Jiankang in the past two days, and it was said that this envoy did not like publicity, so the Emperor only sent a highly respected and important minister to welcome him.

And this important minister was Minister Xu Ling, the Minister of the Left and the Junior Tutor to the Crown Prince!

Could this man be?

Just as he was thinking this, he heard a voice coming from outside the door: “Your Highness is right, Master Zhang, handling a case requires evidence, how can we let Princess Yunyin act recklessly?”

Zhang Mao looked up at the sound, and saw an old man in a red official uniform striding in from outside the door.

And to his surprise, this old man was none other than Xu Ling!

Xu Ling was now nearly sixty years old. During the Southern Liang Dynasty, he was a famous scholar of the Eastern Palace, proficient in Laozi and Zhuangzi, well-versed in history books, and known as “the Stone Qilin in the Sky” and “the Yan Hui of Our Time”. After the establishment of the Southern Chen Dynasty, Xu Ling was deeply appreciated by Emperor Wen, and successively served as the Minister of Revenue, the Minister of War, the Regular Attendant, the Chief Censor, and the Minister of Personnel, until the current Minister of the Left.

This person was eloquent and good at debate, but he was most upright and uncompromising, not clinging to the powerful. When the Emperor was still the Prince of Ancheng, he had criticized the Prince of Ancheng for his lax governance, and later assisted the Prince of Ancheng in deposing the deposed Emperor Chen Bozong and ascending to the throne today.

Therefore, the Emperor highly appreciated and trusted him!

Let alone a princess, even princes and other imperial relatives, this person would reprimand them if they deserved it, without showing any mercy!

Zhang Mao sighed in his heart, and immediately stepped forward to bow and salute.

“Your subordinate greets Minister Xu!”

Xu Ling nodded, but walked up to the man in black clothes, bowed and said with a smile: “Prince of Lanling, how do you find the scenery of our Jiankang?”

Prince of Lanling?

As soon as this name came out, everyone was even more shocked, and immediately several gazes were cast on this man who was wearing a veiled hat and not showing his true face.

“Prince of Lanling!”

“He is the Prince of Lanling?”

“It’s actually Gao Changgong, the Prince of Lanling?”

Someone sighed inwardly: No wonder this person has such a majestic and imposing demeanor!

It was rumored that this Prince of Lanling was the most handsome man in the north. Although his true face was not seen, his refreshing and elegant demeanor, like a jade mountain standing tall, had already aroused people’s imagination.

But at this time, the Prince of Lanling ignored everyone’s admiring and envious gazes, and said unhurriedly: “I have just arrived in your land, and I have indeed seen beautiful scenery and talented people, but unfortunately I encountered an injustice. I have witnessed it with my own eyes, so I asked my guard to come out and testify, but I didn’t expect that Princess Yunyin almost killed him!”

His tone was very calm, but everyone who heard it was shocked. Princess Yunyin’s face turned pale, and she thought to herself: It’s so dangerous. If she had really killed his guard, it would not be a small matter of personal grudges anymore. This was embarrassing the envoy of another country, and in serious cases, it was a declaration of war!

But why did Gao Changgong also come to this Apricot Blossom and Misty Rain Tower, and coincidentally bumped into Xiao Yun and his dissolute friends?

Princess Yunyin felt even more regretful and resentful in her heart, but she didn’t dare to say anything in the face of the envoy of another country. Xu Ling had already apologized on her behalf: “I’m sorry, Princess Yunyin didn’t know the identity of the Prince of Lanling, so she made such a big mistake. This old minister is willing to apologize to Your Highness on behalf of the Princess!”

“There is no need for apologies. I have heard that Minister Xu is the most fair and upright in the south, and never engages in favoritism or corruption. As for today’s matter, please let Minister Xu make the decision!”