Chapter 72: Shen Yunhe 4

Chapter 72: Shen Yunhe 4

"Silence!"

The Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture slammed his court block, and the courtroom finally fell silent.

He didn't dare look at the Fifth Prince's grim expression, so he could only look helplessly to the Chief Justice of the Grand Court of Revision and the Minister of Justice.

Fortunately, the two officials were imposing figures who didn't fear the Fifth Prince.

"Speak slowly. If you've been wronged, I'll see justice done for you."

Xiao Quan spoke, his voice carrying natural authority.

"Thank you, Your Honor."

Yan Zitan said, then shot a hateful glare at Shen Yunhe, who sat at the head of the room.

"Everyone's been fooled by him. Shen Yunhe is a selfish, two-faced hypocrite hiding behind a mask of righteousness!"

Back then, Shen Yunhe had passed the imperial exam at a young age and become a scholar, and with his striking looks and elegant demeanor, he'd caused quite a stir in Xunzhou City.

But the Yan family was also a big deal in Xunzhou, one of the richest households around. Plenty of talented young men were dying to marry into the Yan family, so they weren't about to fixate on some poor young man just starting out.

The Yan family hadn't forced anything on Shen Yunhe. On the contrary, it was Shen Yunhe who'd schemed his way into the Yan family's orbit.

"Shen Yunhe was young but deeply calculating. He used my brother Yan Qiushui's visit to Tanhua Temple to burn incense as a chance to strike up a friendship with him. He kept staging 'coincidental' run-ins, and eventually seduced my naive brother into falling for him. Only after my brother told our family he'd marry no one else did Shen Yunhe finally get the Yan family's approval."

No one noticed the stunned look on Yan Qiushui's face. The thing he was proudest of in life, the thing that had kept him going all this time, was Shen Yunhe's love for him.

But now he wondered—could all those moments he'd thought were so precious really have been fake?

No, that couldn't be. His brother had to be wrong.

At first, the Yan family had looked down on Shen Yunhe. After all, his background was way too humble. Sure, he was talented, but he wasn't the only talented man in the world.

But Shen Yunhe really did have some skills. Besides his looks and brains, he was incredibly smooth and thoughtful in how he handled people, and everything he said and did could easily win people over. Before long, Yan Qiushui's father had accepted him.

But Yan's father was a merchant, and merchants cared about profit above all else. The Yan family would never pour money into supporting an outsider without getting something back—unless that person was completely tied to the family.

So Yan's father proposed that Shen Yunhe and Yan Qiushui get married as soon as possible.

Once they were married and had kids, Shen Yunhe's future success would benefit the Yan family too. This would also tie Shen Yunhe to the Yan family for good.

But it was only then that Shen Yunhe revealed the whole child bridegroom thing with the Jia family.

He was a master of putting on an act. He went on about how grateful he was to the Jia family, but claimed that since his betrothed was just a kid, he naturally couldn't have any feelings for them. Instead, his whole heart belonged to Yan Qiushui.

He talked about falling for Yan Qiushui at first sight, about how much he adored him, so much that he was willing to go against morality and suffer the guilt just to be with him.

In short, he knew he was betraying the Jia family's support and deceiving the Yan family, but he just couldn't control his feelings for Yan Qiushui.

In the end, it was all because he loved him too much, and he just couldn't help himself.

Yan's father was naturally furious about the deception, but by then Yan Qiushui was already head over heels. After learning the truth, he only became more devoted to Shen Yunhe, so in the end, Yan's father had no choice but to give in.

But Shen Yunhe was a scholar who'd one day sit for the official exams. If the Jia family refused to let go or made a big public stink about the child bridegroom thing, it would ruin Shen Yunhe's reputation and shame the Yan family too.

So Yan's father sent someone to the Jia family, offering to compensate them if they'd break off the engagement with Shen Yunhe and keep the child bridegroom thing buried forever.

But the Jia family not only refused—they went and reported it to the authorities.

Luckily, the Yan family had connections and managed to hush it up.

Later, the Jia family's kid came secretly to beg Shen Yunhe, but Yan Qiushui caught him. What exactly happened, the Yan family had no idea. Anyway, according to Yan Zitan, the Yan family had no idea what happened to the kid after that.

At this, Xiao Quan and Fu Zhuo didn't say anything for now. Whether it was true or not would be checked later. They just listened as Yan Zitan went on.

What happened to the kid drove the Jia family to the brink, but after that blow, they'd also grown scared of the Yan family and finally gave in.

The Jia family stopped making trouble, but as long as they were around, the child bridegroom thing was still a ticking time bomb.

So the Yan family started squeezing the Jia family from every angle.

A mere rich household was nothing compared to the Yan family. With just a snap of their fingers, they could ruin the Jia family, until they couldn't make even the smallest ripple.

But then something unexpected happened. The Jia family somehow found out that Yan Qiushui was the one who'd had their kid violated, and they completely lost it.

By then, Shen Yunhe had used his silver tongue to talk Yan Qiushui into getting engaged to him.

Yeah, not married—just engaged.

He said he wanted to wait until he passed the imperial exams and then marry Yan Qiushui in grand style, to do right by his true love. For the Yan family, this would also bring both fame and fortune.

Yan Qiushui and the Yan family were both convinced, and so the two got engaged. All the big shots in Xunzhou City showed up for their engagement banquet.

That's exactly why, when they found out Jia Chengcang was heading to the Prefect's office to file a complaint, the Yan family intercepted him and beat him like that as a warning.

But this incident also reminded Yan's father that as long as the Jia family problem wasn't solved, the threat would keep hanging over them.

And so, in the end, that big fire happened.

When Yan Zitan got to this part, the crowd around them all looked furious.

So it really was the Yan family that had wiped out the Jia household.

"Animals! They got what they deserved."

"Murderers have the nerve to cry? They deserve what they got."

"They should be struck by lightning! The Yan family should be wiped out, every last one of them!"

...

The curses and jeers made Yan Zitan's face turn red. He'd known all along that telling the truth would bring this on him, but for the sake of his wife and kids, he wasn't going to back down.

The man had promised that if he told the truth, his wife and kids would be freed from their current misery and get to live normal lives.

This was his one and only chance.

So Yan Zitan gritted his teeth and kept exposing Shen Yunhe for the hypocrite he really was.

"Your Honors, this commoner knows full well that the Yan family's sins weigh heavy. But the Yan family's already paid the price. Yet Shen Yunhe, the one behind it all, is still walking free. Not only that—this two-faced villain has climbed the ranks to become the powerful Minister of Personnel. This isn't fair!"

"He's the one who should pay the price, isn't he? Otherwise, where's the justice in this world?"

"His engagement to the Yan family was just a scheme. The Yan family and the Jia family were just stepping stones on his road to power!"

"How can a man like that be fit to hold office? How can such an ungrateful bastard be a role model for scholars everywhere?"

Yan Zitan shouted himself hoarse, the hatred in his eyes no act. The surrounding scholars immediately roared, "Unworthy!"

"Nonsense! Trying to smear me with baseless accusations again. Just who put you up to this?"

Shen Yunhe burned with shame and fury, his whole body shaking.

"Your Highness, Lord Xiao, Lord Fu—haven't you all figured it out yet? This whole affair today is clearly a premeditated, orchestrated frame-up against me. If you believe it, you'll be falling right into their trap."

"Men as shrewd as you two—how could you let yourselves be used by schemers?"

Shen Yunhe wore a look of wounded indignation, still refusing to give up even now.

"Lord Shen speaks sense. I say we set this aside for now. Better yet, let's thoroughly interrogate these two suspicious characters—who exactly put them up to slandering a second-rank minister? This is simply preposterous!"

The Fifth Prince seized the chance to speak, as if Xiao Quan had made it his mission to defy him today.

"With respect, Your Highness, that's not right. Since someone is targeting Lord Shen, we should investigate right here and now to prove his innocence. Besides—is Lord Shen really innocent?"

Xiao Quan's face was set, with not the slightest hint of backing down, even before a prince.

"Regarding the Jia family and the Yan family—the fact that Lord Shen used a betrothal to swindle support, only to kick them aside once they'd served their purpose, is a truly ungrateful, backstabbing act. I believe everyone present can judge for themselves."

Shen Yunhe's face stung with humiliation, and then he saw Xiao Quan turn to the already overcrowded outer hall, speaking to a crowd of who knew how many:

"Many scholars here are Lord Shen's students, or have made him their life's goal, their role model, their idol..."

"Lord Shen swindled his way through marriage, swindled for money, swindled countless scholars—swindled his whole life, all the way up to Minister of Personnel. If scholars across the land were to follow his example, wouldn't everything in Great Yao fall apart? Who would still bother to study for real? Who would dare to hold their head high and live honorably? And who among the people of the realm would still trust the court?"

With that single word—"swindler"—Xiao Quan tore down everything Shen Yunhe was, not only stirring up the scholars but stripping away his official rank and all his achievements, even dragging the matter up to the court, up to the whole realm. For a moment, even the Fifth Prince found himself at a loss for words.

To intervene would be to cover for him, and the Fifth Prince represented the royal family and the court.

Surely the royal family wouldn't turn all the scholars in the land against them over one minister?

That damned Xiao Quan!

Shen Yunhe felt his mind go blank; for a moment, he wished he could keel over dead on the spot.

"Yes! We want to hear just how shameless, just how despicable Shen Yunhe really is!"

"I want to know what kind of shameless beast I've been worshiping as a role model all these years!"

The scholars who once revered him now found him revolting; those who once admired him now hated him with a vengeance.

The anger at being deceived and fooled, and the collapse of their faith—all of it needed an outlet.

Try him! He must be tried right here!

"We want to see just what the court's stance is on someone like this. If the court chooses to shield him, then what was the point of our ten years of grueling study?"

"And what about those of us who made it on our own through sheer hard work?"

The common people were all just as furious.

Watching a show was human nature, and watching the show of such a high official was a rare, once-in-a-century chance—no one wanted to miss it.

The sight made Shen Yunhe's face sting even more, and the Fifth Prince could only scowl, his face dark, seething with pent-up fury.

But the officials of the Court of Judicial Review were watching with predatory eyes, and the Ministry of Justice people were clearly on Xiao Quan's side. Most importantly, with so many people watching, and the Fifth Prince having always cultivated a persona of warmth and benevolence, he couldn't afford to tarnish his image.

That aggravating Xiao Quan, who'd drive a man to death and not pay for it, even had several physicians brought in, stationed behind Shen Yunhe, ready to revive him in case he fainted from rage.

Shen Yunhe had planned to fake passing out, but now he nearly really fainted from rage at this bastard.

In the end, the two could only glare at Xiao Quan with venomous, hate-filled eyes.

Cheng Yi, though, smiled.

Lord Xiao truly was formidable—he'd picked the right man.

And so, the trial of Shen Yunhe continued.

After Shen Yunhe became betrothed to Yan Qiushui, the Yan family supported him until he won first place in the imperial examination.

During those years of the Yan family's support, everything Shen Yunhe ate, wore, and used was of the finest quality. The Yan family not only provided him with the best resources and full backing but also promoted him heavily, raising him to lofty heights.

At that time, Yan Zitan deeply admired his future brother-in-law; the Yan family had been utterly devoted and generous to him.

However, after Shen Yunhe won first place, he kept putting off returning to fulfill his promise.

At first, the entire Yan family was furious, especially Yan's father, who was grinding his teeth in fury. But then, one day, the father's attitude did a complete about-face, and he ordered that no one in the Yan family mention the betrothal again—as if the Yan family had never supported Shen Yunhe, as if there had never been any betrothal. Yan Qiushui was also confined to the house.

At the time, Yan Zitan was deeply puzzled and even wanted to rush to the capital to confront them on his brother's behalf, until his father gathered the key members of the Yan family and revealed something to them.

It was then that Yan Zitan learned Shen Yunhe had latched onto the Duke of An's household.

The Jia family of old was now the Yan family—and even the Yan family was less than the Jia family had been in the eyes of the Duke of An's household.

Such power and status were enough to make anyone's blood run cold, let alone the fact that the Duke of An commanded over a hundred thousand troops of the Annanzhou Army—a force even the emperor had to fear. Before such a man, a mere merchant was no more than an ant.

Yet, to everyone's great surprise, the father's capitulation was not out of fear of the Duke of An's power, but rather a plan to collude with Shen Yunhe in pulling off a grand deception.