novelraw Chapter 411
Chapter 411
Hearing this, Yan Xin also hurried over: "Lord Pei is absolutely right! Lord Jiang, to show our sincerity, we are willing to offer three times the betrothal gifts. Once your sister marries into our family, she will take charge of the household. I can also guarantee that my son will never take a concubine in his life. Are you satisfied with this?"
"Satisfied?"
Jiang Buyi swept a cold glance, making Yan Xin shiver.
Then he turned to Pei Ji: "Is Lord Pei satisfied?"
"Me?" Pei Ji was stunned for a moment and said hurriedly, "Three times the betrothal gifts and the authority to manage the household, I think the Yan family has shown enough sincerity. Why don't we just..."
"Since they are so sincere, then please marry your daughter to him, Lord Pei!" Jiang Buyi flicked his sleeves mockingly.
Pei Ji subconsciously said, "How can that be?"
Not only did Yan Chenghao not have any scholarly honors, but he had also lost five fingers. How could he be worthy of his daughter?
Looking at the disdain in Jiang Buyi's eyes, Pei Ji said in a deep voice, "Lord Jiang, I am doing this for your own good. If you insist on fighting to the bitter end, haven't you thought about your sister's future?"
Jiang Buyi frowned, turned around, and knelt down towards the emperor: "Your Majesty! I know my sister. She would rather live with her reputation ruined than marry in humiliation. I beg Your Majesty to grant my request!"
Yan Zheng raised his sword-like eyebrows, stood up, and said, "Good! Since Minister Jiang has such determination, I will absolutely not show favoritism. Chief Minister Cao."
"I am here."
"You will be the chief judge for this case, with the Dali Court and the Ministry of Justice assisting. No matter who is involved, even if it is a royal relative, there will be no leniency!"
"I obey your decree."
Pei Ji wanted to say something else, but was forced back by a sharp glance from the emperor.
Yan Xin slumped to the ground, and Jiang Buyi kowtowed deeply to the emperor: "I—thank Your Majesty!"
With determination from above, the investigation below was extremely fast.
In just two or three days, all the witnesses and material evidence were gathered.
Without even looking at it, Yan Zheng ordered Cao Yang to pass judgment directly. Thus, according to the crime of attempted rape, he was sentenced to fifty blows with a cane in court and exiled for three thousand miles!
When the punishment was carried out, almost half of the capital went to watch.
The high-ranking officials and nobles couldn't believe that the emperor really didn't protect his cousin, while the common people were overjoyed to see the powerful suffer.
But it wasn't until Yan Chenghao was beaten half to death and dragged out on his last breath that those ministers truly believed that the current emperor was impartial and showed no mercy!
Therefore, after returning to their mansions, they all restrained the young men in their families, warning them never to abuse their power and violate the law.
The common people praised him endlessly.
The Imperial Palace, the Hall of Mental Cultivation.
Hearing the news outside, Chu Ruoyan smiled: "Killing the chicken to warn the monkey, winning people's hearts. In terms of military strategy, who can beat you, Third Young Master?"
Yan Zheng smiled, reaching out to pinch the soft flesh on the back of her neck: "Who said that? In front of my wife, I will always admit defeat."
Even though they had been married for so long, her ears still burned when she heard this.
The young lady turned her face away uncomfortably: "Stop pinching, it tickles."
Then she raised her eyes to look at him: "By the way, how did you deal with Jiang Buyi? Didn't he chop off Yan Chenghao's fingers? According to the law, the sentence shouldn't be light."
Yan Zheng said, "Yes, he was sentenced to redemption by fine, which is indeed not light."
"Redemption by fine?" Chu Ruoyan blinked, and Yin Shun behind him smiled and explained, "Your Highness might not know, but the emperor allowed Lord Jiang to redeem his crime with gold, ordering him to pay ten taels of gold to the third branch."
Chu Ruoyan was stunned for a moment, then couldn't help laughing out loud.
Although ten taels of gold was not a small amount, compared to Yan Chenghao's five fingers, it was really not worth mentioning.
A trace of disgust flashed through Yan Zheng's eyes: "Ever since he entered the capital, he has been using the name of the royal family to oppress the people. The Chief Minister and the Dali Court have mentioned it to me two or three times. I wanted to deal with him long ago, and I didn't expect him to run right into it."
Chu Ruoyan sighed: "These two relatives of yours are really not easy to deal with. First it was the second branch causing trouble, and now the third branch jumps out. Well, it's good to strike the mountain to shock the tiger. They should all behave themselves from now on." After saying that, she remembered something and sighed again, "It's just a pity for Sister Jiang. After this incident, I'm afraid it will be hard for her to find a good match in the future."
Yan Zheng said, "Don't worry, I have already ordered the Dali Court to post a notice. I believe it will alleviate the situation somewhat."
Chu Ruoyan nodded, but in her heart, she thought the notice would probably have very little effect.
After all, between an innocent woman who was molested and a woman caught having an affair, the former was far less eye-catching than the latter.
As expected, once the notice was out, it didn't cause much of a stir.
Instead, some people said that Jiang Yi had already lost her innocence, and the authorities were just pitying her and deliberately trying to salvage her reputation.
This statement gained the agreement of the vast majority of people, and some scheming matchmakers had already spotted the opportunity and came to propose marriage.
"Lord Jiang! Scholar Qian may be a bit older, but at least he hasn't been married before!"
"Yes, with your sister's current reputation, let alone a family of equal status, even a decent minor official's family wouldn't want her."
"You wouldn't want her to become a second wife or marry down to a merchant, would you?"
Jiang Buyi kept a cold face, grabbed a chopping board, and threw it out.
The matchmakers were all driven out, and in their anger, they began to make up stories, saying that Jiang Yi's heart was higher than the sky but her fate was thinner than paper. They claimed that she had originally wanted to cling to the Prince of Qin but failed, which was why she suffered this retribution from Yan Chenghao. Some even said that she had actively seduced Yan Chenghao and then turned her back on him...
Despite Jiang Buyi's strict orders to stop, the rumors still reached Jiang Yi's ears.
She wished she could die to prove her innocence, and it was only because Chu Ruoyan sent someone to bring her into the palace that she didn't find the opportunity.
"Sister Jiang, rumors stop at the wise. Even if you die, it will only leave outsiders with one less topic of conversation. But to your closest brother, it will be a deep pain!"
Jiang Yi wept and shook her head: "Your Highness, Jiang Yi is not afraid of these things, but Jiang Yi is afraid of dragging down my brother and the reputation of the Jiang family! My brother has suffered for so many years and finally made it to where he is today. But with this incident of mine, how can he ever marry?"
Their Jiang family originally came from a humble background and was not favored by the great noble families.
Now that this had happened, just like those matchmakers said, families of equal status would look down on them, and minor officials' families would also despise them!
Chu Ruoyan rubbed her temples, thinking that if things really didn't work out, she would just have Yan Zheng decree a marriage!
But on second thought, given the pride of the Jiang siblings, they probably wouldn't want a marriage forced by imperial power.
While she was getting a headache, Nanny Zhou suddenly came in: "Your Highness, Lord Jiang has sent someone to take Miss Jiang back to the mansion, saying that someone has come to propose marriage."
Chu Ruoyan's temples throbbed, and Jiang Yi smiled bitterly: "Which older gentleman or someone with a hidden illness has come this time?"
Lately, not a single normal person had come to propose.
Nanny Zhou, however, said, "Neither. It's... Young General Mei."
"!!!"
Yesterday, Mei Hexuan returned from the patrol camp after a shift change, and the first thing he did was ask his grandmother to go to the Cao family.
No one knew what he discussed with Old Madam Cao, but when he came out, he was glowing with energy. He visited every shop in the capital and even went to the Eight Treasures Pavilion to specially order a set of kingfisher feather jewelry.
People outside were guessing that the Mei family was probably going to have a happy event.
They just didn't know which lady was getting married.
As everyone knew, General Mei's sister had eloped with someone back then, ruining the reputation of all the women in the family. So even now, the eldest, Mei Fangru, was already twenty-five or twenty-six and still unmarried.
Driven by curiosity, she followed along to take a look, only to see an endless stream of betrothal gifts being carried into the Jiang household.