Chapter 99

Chapter 99

The Minister of Works was nearly driven to laughter by Meng Shuping. "Hmph! You’ve personally admitted to accepting someone’s property, yet you still claim you didn’t take a bribe?"

Meng Shuping kindly explained, "Lord Shi, accepting something and doing a favor in return is bribery. Accepting something without doing the favor is fraud. One shouldn't confuse the two."

[And you call yourself the Minister of Works? Can’t even get such a small matter straight? I, the one being impeached, have to correct him—doesn’t he feel ashamed?]

Emperor Qianyou: "..."

That brat really has a way with twisted logic—he couldn't even find words to refute him. But admittedly, Meng Shuping was utterly shameless. I wonder how furious Hong Da must be at home?

The court officials exclaimed, "Whoa!"

They only knew Vice Director Meng's ideas were unexpected, but they hadn’t expected them to be this unexpected. Yet, upon careful thought, that did make some sense!

They voiced their agreement one after another. "Lord Shi, what Vice Director Meng said isn’t wrong, is it? He never agreed to do anything for the other party, so it really can’t be considered bribery."

"You can criticize his character, but falsely accusing him of bribery is wrong, don't you think?"

"Foolish! Utterly foolish! If Lord Shi can't even get the charges correct, it makes me doubt whether he’s fit to hold the position of Minister of Works!"

"Hmph, even if Lord Shi has a grudge against Vice Director Meng, he can’t just slap a random charge on him, can he?"

The Minister of Works turned red with anger. He questioned Meng Shuping indignantly, "You say you didn’t agree to do anything—but how can you prove it?"

Before Meng Shuping could respond, an official from the Dali Temple stepped forward. "Lord Shi, Vice Director Meng indeed did not agree to do anything. This case has been reviewed by our Dali Temple, and no issues were found."

Now that the case was closed, if the Minister of Works claimed Meng Shuping had perverted justice, wasn’t he implying the Dali Temple’s review was flawed?

The Minister of Works was stumped. Could it be that Meng Shuping really hadn’t pulled any tricks? Impossible, right?

But since the Dali Temple officials had spoken, even if Meng Shuping had done something, it would be hard to detect. So he changed his approach. "Even so, doesn’t fraud violate the law as well?"

Officials friendly with the Minister of Works also joined in condemning him. "Exactly! Is fraud any better?"

"Taking money without providing the service—isn’t that even more improper?"

"Your Majesty, since Vice Director Meng has admitted to fraud himself, shouldn’t he be punished?"

Meng Shuping couldn't help retorting, "What do you mean, I committed fraud? When did I say that?"

[I only said that accepting something without delivering is fraud. But I never promised to do anything for him, so how can that be fraud? At most, it’s just General Hong’s wishful thinking.]

[This Lord Shi—why does he just echo whatever I say? Doesn’t he have any thoughts of his own? If I said he should eat shit, would he go along with that too?]

Minister of Revenue Chen laughed heartily. "Lord Shi, it was General Hong’s wishful thinking in offering gifts. Vice Director Meng never agreed, so how can it be fraud? It would only be fraud if he had agreed, right?"

"Exactly, exactly," Minister of Justice Cao Jie added. "Vice Director Meng clearly didn’t deceive General Hong. Should that still be considered a crime?"

The Minister of Works was livid, but upon reflection, Meng Shuping really hadn’t explicitly admitted to fraud. Furious, he thought, this kid is too cunning! He deliberately set a trap in his words!

"Pfft!" Jiang Cihe stifled a laugh, then coughed to control his expression. "Lord Shi, Vice Director Meng indeed did not agree to help Hong Yucheng avoid punishment. Perhaps General Hong misunderstood. Moreover, the deed to the property never reached Vice Director Meng—he entrusted it to me to submit to the government, and it was delivered to His Majesty."

The court officials exclaimed, "Whoa, whoa, whoa!"

So Your Majesty was in on it too!

The Minister of Works was astonished. He stared at Emperor Qianyou in disbelief. "Your Majesty, is the deed truly in your possession?"

Was Meng Shuping really so lacking in greed that he’d give up such a thing? Wasn’t he just a commoner from the countryside? How could he not love money?

And the Emperor—if he knew Meng Shuping hadn’t taken a bribe, why didn’t he say so earlier when the impeachment began? Was he just watching the show?

Under the Minister of Works’ stare, Emperor Qianyou felt a twinge of guilt, but he quickly justified himself. He merely wanted to know the full story—what was wrong with that? Maybe Meng Shuping was hiding something else?

His eyes darting away, he said, "Indeed, I’ve just remembered. That deed was indeed delivered to me. Beloved Minister Meng truly did not accept a bribe."

Meng Shuping felt relieved. Good thing he handed it over quickly, or he’d be in trouble now!

The Minister of Works was speechless for a good while. Finally, he managed to say, "If you had no intention of agreeing, then why did Vice Director Meng accept the property in the first place?"

Meng Shuping was puzzled. [I didn’t trick him—why is he so angry? Could it be that he’s been cheated when giving gifts to others too? Hahahaha, that’s really hilarious!]

He glanced at Emperor Qianyou, then quickly lowered his head. "Your Majesty, since Lord Shi brought it up, I’d like to report that General Hong attempted to collude with me to deceive Your Majesty. That’s the Crime of Deceiving the Sovereign! This deed is the evidence!"

The Minister of Works: "..."

Could Meng Shuping be any more shameless? How did he manage to twist it into a Crime of Deceiving the Sovereign?

Fuming, he retorted, "Vice Director Meng, you’re truly silver-tongued! Then how do you explain perversion of justice?"

"Hmph! I’ve heard that not only did you whip General Hong’s son in court, but you also tormented him relentlessly in prison. I suppose it’s because you didn’t get the 50,000 taels from General Hong, so you held a grudge and took it out on his son?"

Meng Shuping couldn’t help but complain, [When he can’t argue, he says I’m silver-tongued. Why doesn’t he admit he’s just bad at arguing? First, he accuses me of taking bribes to protect Hong Yucheng, now he says I abused my power against him. How contradictory! He’s said it all—what’s left for me to say?]

With a stern face, he replied tersely, "Making him memorize laws in prison counts as tormenting him?"

[Then I’ve been tormented every day of my life!]

Emperor Qianyou asked in surprise, "You made him memorize laws? What do you mean?"

Meng Shuping explained, "Your Majesty, I believe Hong Yucheng committed his crimes due to a lack of legal awareness. So I had him memorize laws daily in prison to improve his awareness."

[Honestly, although I was deliberately giving him a hard time, it’s not like I went too far, right? Besides, that kid not only behaved badly but also insulted me in court. Can’t I mete out a little justice while settling a personal score? What’s wrong with that?]

Emperor Qianyou: "..."

If Meng Shuping’s actions counted as "settling a personal score under the guise of justice," he could hardly recognize the meaning of the phrase anymore.

The court officials: "..."

If you called it torment, it certainly qualified. But calling it abuse of power was an exaggeration.

Minister of Justice Cao Jie glanced sideways at the Minister of Works. "Lord Shi, in your eyes, is this considered torment? Then all my colleagues in the Ministry of Justice have been tormented for years!"

Other officials from the Ministry of Justice chimed in, "Exactly! How comfortable did he expect prison to be? He wasn’t tortured or starved—just made to memorize texts. How does that amount to abuse of power? If that’s the case, we won’t dare do anything in the future!"

"Isn’t whipping in court fairly normal? And Hong Yucheng could still run and jump—how serious could it be?"

"If we have to assign charges the way Lord Shi does, we won’t dare handle cases anymore."

Other officials also joined the discussion. "Vice Director Meng’s method is brilliant! It punishes them without causing physical harm, aiming to change their mindset and rehabilitate them!"

"Absolutely! I fully agree!"

"Hmph! Lord Shi is judging a gentleman with the heart of a petty man! He simply doesn’t understand Vice Director Meng’s noble intentions!"

"Lord Shi probably never endured ten years of rigorous study, did he? How does this compare to what we went through back then?"

"Father," Jiang Cihe stepped forward and said, "I believe that imprisoning them is not only for punishment but also to allow them to repent and start anew. Therefore, changing their mindset is the best approach. Moreover, Vice Director Meng also proposed that since these prisoners are idle in jail, it would be better to assign them some manual work. This would not only give them something productive to do but also help cover the prison expenses, and even provide some with a skill to rely on after release, greatly contributing to the stability of Great Chu."

The Minister of Revenue's eyes lit up, "That makes sense! This way, each prison might even have surplus funds!"

Emperor Qianyou nodded and said, "In that case, Beloved Minister Meng, draft a proposal on this matter, and we will discuss it further later."

Meng Shuping grudgingly acknowledged, "Yes."

[Hold on, I'm already under impeachment, and now he's piling more work on me? At the very least, I should get some breathing room!]

The thought that his increased workload was due to the Minister of Works made Meng Shuping extremely dissatisfied. "Your Majesty! I also have something to say. I don’t know how I offended Lord Shi, making him target me repeatedly. I wish to impeach Lord Shi for abusing his power for personal gain and using his official position to settle personal scores!"

The Minister of Works angrily retorted, "That's completely unfounded! When have I ever used official pretexts to take revenge on you?"

Meng Shuping lowered his head slightly, but his words were deliberately provocative. "If Lord Shi isn’t using official pretexts to take revenge, then why did you impeach me when the censors found no issues and didn’t report me? Could it be, sir, that you think the censors are incompetent, so you had to personally come after me?"