The deposed empress married a prince, and the dog emperor wept with regret!

Chapter 188 Digging Graves

Although Gao Ping surrendered herself to the authorities in the case of murdering Empress Jingxian, Prince Xuan still had to go through the proper procedures and try his best to ensure that all the evidence was complete.

What if she's the scapegoat?

Prince Xuan knew that the Emperor wanted him to resolve the case as soon as possible to avoid any unforeseen complications, but as the younger brother, he couldn't let his Emperor brother have his way too much, otherwise he would appear too easy to bully.

Moreover, seeing Yuwen Wuji's anxious expression, he felt secretly pleased!

However, the Dali Temple began to struggle with one issue.

First of all, according to procedure, they should have performed an autopsy.

But the corpse was that of Empress Jingxian! And the body was still in Chenliu, so an autopsy was not very convenient.

Prince Xuan was conflicted, knowing that he couldn't ask Yuwen Wuji about this matter; asking would be a dead end. So he went to the Prince Xiaoyao's residence first, intending to ask Xie Liwei's attitude.

Xie Liwei has been returning home with bruises and swelling on his face frequently lately. He always gets attacked when he goes out. He can fight back, but he always ends up getting hurt.

So much so that after so many injuries, his older sister's gaze towards him now carried a hint of disdain.

There's no way around it; even the most handsome person you'll get tired of looking at, let alone his face now, which looks a bit like a feng shui painting, with patches of blue and green.

Fortunately, she wears a mask on weekdays, so others can't tell.

"That's my meaning, but I don't know the Xie family's attitude..." Digging up graves is a reviled act, and even if it's to find out the truth, it's still disgusting enough. Especially since the murderer has turned himself in, most of the victims' families will definitely be urging for the case to be closed quickly and not to go through all this trouble.

Xuan Wang's legs trembled uncontrollably as he looked at Xie Liwei and Song Yaozhu. Song Yaozhu spoke first, asking, "After the excavation is completed, will the Dali Temple provide funds for repairs?"

King Xuan quickly replied, "Of course, we dug it, so we must repair it."

Song Yaozhu then said to Xie Liwei, "Then let's dig it up. Didn't we think that grave needed some repairs? After we dig it up, we can fix it up nicely. I want peach blossoms carved on the tombstone. Also, don't use marble for the tombstone; I want white marble. It's not worth much, but it looks nice. And that..."

King Xuan was dumbfounded. Why did the princess's tone sound like she was talking about how to decorate her own home?

Coupled with that face that resembles Empress Jingxian's, it's truly terrifying!

Creepy!

Unwilling to linger any longer, after receiving a positive reply, Prince Xuan had Xie Liwei sign a document and immediately left the Prince of Xiaoyao's residence.

He wrote a memorial about the matter and submitted it, and immediately dispatched a coroner to Chenliu. By the time the emperor saw the memorial, it would probably be the day after tomorrow. If he sent someone to chase after them then, they might already be in Chenliu exhuming the coffin.

Ah, just thinking about his elder brother getting humiliated makes him feel pretty good!

By the time Yuwen Wuji saw the memorial, it was indeed too late! The people who were on their way to Chenliu to examine the body were riding at breakneck speed, and there was no way they could catch up.

"From the capital to Chenliu, it should take at least three days." Li Wei looked at Yuwen Wuji's gloomy face and thought to himself, "If I have to even estimate the journey, is he still a eunuch? Aren't eunuchs just serving tea and water?"

Yuwen Wuji slammed the memorial onto the table with a dark expression, breathing heavily without saying a word.

He told himself, "I can't lose my composure, I can't lose my composure!" But the anger was still hard to dissipate!

He kept telling himself that King Xuan was acting according to the rules, and that he had been so rigid all these years. He, as the elder brother, should be tolerant, but he was still angry!

Li Wei shrank his neck, and soon the people from the Imperial Household Department brought in a green plaque, so that the emperor could choose one.

The imperial concubine selection was originally entrusted to Gao Ping, but was later taken over by Consort Xian. Consort Xian selected quite a few people to enter the palace, and during this period, the harem was not particularly lively, but it was also quite bustling.

Yuwen Wuji, feeling aggrieved, sought solace in these women. After choosing a new concubine, he began to attend to other political affairs.

He is still very concerned about how much money Tong Qian embezzled by abusing his position, as the national treasury urgently needs that money.

Half a month later, Liu Jiaci brought the account books that the Ministry of Revenue had found into the palace.

He said to the emperor, "This guilty subject, Tong Qian, abused his position to open brothels for personal gain..."

He reported all the details one by one, and then informed the emperor of a result that no one dared to imagine.

Everyone assumed that Tong Qian dug a tunnel from his house to the vault to steal money from it. In reality, he used the vault to hide his ill-gotten gains.

The gold bars in the entire vault were all ill-gotten gains he had obtained; the amount was enormous, and there were some discrepancies.

"Where did that money go!" Yuwen Wuji's face was grim, and his tone was chilling.

"Tong Qian said he didn't know where the money went. He hadn't been inside the vault before he went to prison, but there were indeed traces of gold bars being moved inside the vault."

"Investigate! Investigate thoroughly for me! If he can't utter a single word, you can all lose your official hats!"

You Mingwang has become completely oblivious to the consequences, constantly threatening him with his official position. What's the point? Anyway, he's made enough money; he might as well resign and retire!

A few days later, You Mingwang fell ill at home and even submitted his resignation.

The head of the Imperial Medical Academy personally went to the You residence and said that Lord You was getting old and, coupled with his long-term overwork, his body could not withstand it and he had suffered a stroke and was bedridden.

Yuwen Wuji sternly approved his resignation, and Prince Jing immediately promoted his own man to the position of Minister of Justice.

After submitting a batch of resignations, the You family quickly packed their bags and took the "seriously ill" You Mingwang back to their hometown.

Unfortunately, news soon spread that Lord You had died in bed.

"You Mingwang overestimates our emperor. How could he possibly allow his sword to leave his hand?"

"The capital is currently conducting a thorough investigation into the missing gold, so Yuwen Wuji probably won't have time to deal with us." Song Yaozhu fanned herself with a round fan, which made it hot again. She dipped her index finger in water and wrote the character "刑" (punishment) on the table, then wiped it off and wrote the character "兵" (soldier).

"Shouldn't we make some moves regarding the Prince of Yan?"

Xie Liwei nodded. He had been busy causing trouble for the Cui family's main branch. The Peng family had moved into the county where the Fu family lived and were engaged in a business war with the Fu family every day. The Cui family's main branch was afraid that they would soon be starving.

Let them mess around!

"The results will be released soon. Shouldn't we get rid of some of the bad habits of those students who have to become apprentices?"

The apprenticeship ceremony was merely a fig leaf for forming cliques, and Song Yaozhu had always wanted to tear it off, but she never had the chance.

This time, we need to think of a good way to cure this problem.

Um......

This is a bit worrying; I need to think about it carefully.