63: Father, the evidence is conclusive, how should we punish him?

Inside Taiji Hall, dead silence.

You could hear a pin drop.

Li Chengqian stood there, before the three judicial desks, becoming the sole focal point of the great hall.

His shadow, stretched long by the light filtering through the high windows, connected on one end to the limp, mud-like Cui Renshi, and on the other, silently pierced the solitary figure on the Dragon Throne.

Sun Fujia, Zhang Liang, and Wei Zheng felt as if three invisible blades were pressed against their necks.

One came from His Highness, cold and biting; one came from the Dragon Throne, burning like fire.

They were the chief interrogators, yet they felt they were the ones being judged.

Sun Fujia's Adam's apple bobbed violently, sweat trickled from his forehead, dripping onto his eyelashes, blurring his vision.

He dared not look at the Dragon Throne, much less spare another glance for Li Chengqian, only fixing his gaze on the cold, polished golden bricks of the floor.

“Cough…”

“Summon… summon the Imperial Guard Commander, Li Junxian, to present the evidence of guilt.”

His voice echoed in the vast hall, sounding exceptionally weak and powerless.

Li Junxian strode in, his eyes fixed straight ahead, walking directly to the desk and heavily placing a scroll, several letters, and an account book upon it.

“Bang!”

The muffled thud was like a heavy hammer striking everyone's heart.

Zhangsun Wuji's face could no longer be described as ashen; it was a complete, ghastly pallor, drained of all vitality.

He looked at the pile of evidence as if it were a death warrant for the Zhangsun Clan.

Li Chengqian didn't even lift an eyelid, merely uttering two faint words.

“Read it.”

His voice wasn't loud, yet it carried a tone of command, as if he were the true master of this palace, this Dynasty.

Sun Fujia jolted, quickly picking up the top scroll, unrolling it, and beginning to read aloud.

His voice trembled, every word like dancing on a knife's edge.

“In the tenth year of Zhenguan, during the spring imperial examination, candidate Wang Bo… bribed Cui Renshi, then the chief examiner, with three hundred taels of silver, in exchange for a top-grade ranking…”

“In the same year, candidate Zhao Yi… his father, Zhao Qian, gifted a manor in the south of the city to Cui Renshi…”

“In the eleventh year of Zhenguan…”

One by one, item by item, the evidence of guilt was laid bare.

Names, locations, amounts, dates – all details were horrifyingly clear.

These were not merely cold words; they were a vast net, ensnaring the Qinghe Cui Clan and all the Officials who were dependent on the aristocratic families.

With each item read, Cui Renshi, slumped on the ground, twitched violently.

He wanted to argue, to scream, but only a hoarse, bellows-like sound escaped his throat.

His eyes stared fixedly at Li Chengqian, filled with venom, incomprehension, and… supplication.

Why?

I am the Qinghe Cui Clan!?

Li Chengqian finally moved.

He slowly walked to Cui Renshi, crouched down, and met those murky, venomous eyes.

He said nothing, only extended his hand and, from the pile of evidence, picked up a yellowed letter.

“Lord Cui,”

Li Chengqian's voice was very soft, so soft that only the two of them could hear it, “do you still recognize this letter?”

Cui Renshi's pupils suddenly constricted.

The arrogance and belligerence he displayed when reprimanding and denouncing Li Chengqian in the court earlier were long gone.

That letter… that letter was a secret missive he had written years ago to an elder of the Longxi Li Clan, detailing how to insert their own people into the imperial examinations and suppress scholars from humble backgrounds!

How… how did this thing fall into His Highness's hands?!

“You…”

Cui Renshi's voice was hoarse beyond recognition, “You… you traitor…”

“Seize him!”

At this command, the Imperial Guard pushed Cui Renshi to the ground.

In front of all the civil and military Officials, in front of the Emperor on the Dragon Throne, in front of all under Heaven.

Everyone was stunned.

It wasn't just Cui Renshi who was seized; it was a slap in the face to the Five Surnames and Seven Clans, a slap in the face to those deeply entrenched aristocratic families!

“Abusing power.”

Li Chengqian's voice remained calm, but beneath that calm was an unfathomable, icy abyss, “Especially, oppressing the good and innocent for a thousand years.”

He stood up, no longer sparing a glance for Cui Renshi, who was merely an insignificant puddle of mud beneath his feet.

His gaze turned to Wei Zheng.

“Lord Wei,”

He called his name.

Wei Zheng's body trembled, and he suddenly looked up.

On his stern, incorruptible face, a complex and unreadable emotion appeared for the first time.

He had long held a grudge against His Highness, and His Highness's actions today were clearly putting him on the spot.

To try Cui Renshi was to offend the Qinghe Cui Clan.

To offend the Cui Clan was to make an enemy of all aristocratic families under Heaven.

He, Wei Zheng, would have no retreat.

He would either stand with His Highness, becoming a blade in His Highness's hand.

Or, like Cui Renshi, he would become the next old official to be purged.

Li Chengqian's gaze was calm and unruffled, yet it carried a power that could pierce the human heart.

Wei Zheng understood the meaning in that gaze: those who follow me prosper, those who defy me perish.

There was no third path.

Wei Zheng slowly stood up, taking a deep breath, the pent-up frustration and indignation in his chest transforming into a sigh.

He knew that from the moment he stood up, he was no longer the Wei Xuan Cheng who could, with his unyielding loyalty, brazenly admonish the Emperor.

He, too, was a pawn.

“Cui Renshi!”

Wei Zheng's voice was as resonant as ever, but with an added metallic chill, “The Censorate asks you! Do you plead guilty to these charges?!”

Cui Renshi seemed to have the last bone pulled from him, collapsing completely, muttering, “I confess… I confess…”

Sun Fujia, the Minister of Dali Temple, and Zhang Liang, the Minister of Justice, exchanged glances, both seeing deep fear in the other's eyes.

They dared not hesitate in the slightest, immediately echoing in unison.

“Reporting to Your Highness, reporting to Your Majesty! The three judicial bodies have jointly tried, and the official Cui Renshi has confessed without reservation to the case of examination fraud, with both human and material evidence present, and the charges are conclusive!”

Their voices reverberated through the great hall.

The conclusion had been reached.

Just when everyone expected Li Chengqian to immediately order a punishment, he made a move no one anticipated.

He turned around, once again facing the high and mighty Dragon Throne.

He straightened his attire, then bowed again, performing a perfectly standard bow of a subject.

In the entire hall, everyone's breath hitched.

They looked at His Highness's back, and an absurd premonition rose in their hearts.

Then, they heard Li Chengqian's clear, yet lethally destructive voice.

“Imperial Father,”

He paused, deliberately allowing time for the pressure brought by these two words to fully envelop Li Shimin's heart.

“Cui Renshi, for examination fraud, with both human and material evidence present, the charges are conclusive.”

He spoke each word distinctly, clearly.

“What do you think, how should he be punished?”