Chapter 276
Chapter 276
Mrs. Jin bathed and changed for over an hour, trying every method she could to cover the wound on her forehead. Then, she entered the room of Wannian County’s Magistrate Wang Jiguo to showcase her culinary skills for him.
Five minutes later.
She had finished displaying her culinary talents, and Wang Jiguo was gasping for breath. Mrs. Jin spoke with a seductive glint in her eyes.
"Lord Wang, you are truly incredible. You tossed and turned me until I was completely exhausted."
The words sounded strangely familiar. Wang Jiguo thought to himself that Mrs. Jin’s skills were indeed impressive. No wonder Lord Suo had her for three meals in a row. That Gang Leader Ye was truly ruthless. To become a low-ranking ninth-grade official, he had sent his wife to sleep with Lord Suo, and now with him, Wang Jiguo. And to frame Jin Mucong, he even had her sleep with Jin Mucong.
*‘But I heard Jin Mucong went at it for two hours? Nonsense. Absolutely impossible. It must be a lie!’*
Wang Jiguo believed that any man who claimed to last longer than the time it took to drink a cup of tea was all talk. Mrs. Jin said seductively,
"Lord Wang, Shen Lang humiliated me so terribly. I want him dead!"
Wang Jiguo shook his head.
"Kill him? Impossible! The Count of Xuanwu's Estate has grown more powerful than you can imagine. Although they have no foundation in the capital and have been bullied and trampled by us, killing them is out of the question. Doing so would turn the Count of Xuanwu against us."
"So I'm just supposed to endure the humiliation from that bastard Shen Lang? I will have my revenge on him."
"Revenge that doesn't threaten his life should be fine. Shen Lang is staying at the Jin Clan's villa. Tomorrow, after the officials impeach Jin Mucong, the scandal about him will shake the entire capital. At that time, someone will gather a large group of ruffians to surround the Jin Clan's villa."
"Will many people gather?"
"A great many."
In reality, Suo had only gathered a few hundred, but there were so many hooligans based in the capital that there was no telling how many would join in when the time came. It would be easy to gather a few thousand people to surround the Jin Clan's villa.
*‘Jin Mucong, you have angered everyone. You used your influence to bully people and forcibly took an innocent woman of the capital. Not only did you beat Gang Leader Ye's two- and three-year-old daughters, but you also knocked down his sixty-something-year-old mother with a single blow.’*
Rumors could be fabricated however one wished; what mattered was that they were outrageous enough to incite public fury.
"At that time, I will burn the Jin villa to the ground."
That would be acceptable. The public's anger would be understandable, and she wouldn't be punished by law.
*‘The Count of Xuanwu wouldn't dare rebel just because a villa was burned down, would he?’*
"Did Shen Lang bring a woman with him?"
Wang Jiguo didn't answer. He felt this woman was constantly crossing the line.
*‘I only slept with you once. Don't act as if we're in an intimate relationship.’*
A vicious light gleamed in Mrs. Jin's eyes as she said,
"When thousands of people surround the Jin villa, I'll have the woman Shen Lang brought with him gang-raped. Didn't that bastard accuse me of taking any man as my husband? I'll make sure his woman is ravaged to death."
***
Shen Lang returned with the Fifth Prince. Ying Zheng stared at Shen Lang with astonished eyes. His performance in the courtroom tonight had been nothing short of admirable. But that alone wouldn't change the predetermined outcome; it would only delay it.
"Tomorrow, during the morning court session, if you can't stop the censors and officials from their impeachment, you still won't be able to save Jin Mucong, nor will you be able to clear the Jin Clan's name. In the end, your father-in-law's enfeoffment as a marquis will be halted."
Ying Zheng wracked his brain.
*‘How can I stop what's going to happen at court tomorrow? How can I prevent the scandal about Jin Mucong from breaking out? It's truly harder than scaling the heavens!’*
Just then, a crimson glow that seemed to reach the sky appeared not far away. Shen Lang saw it and said calmly,
"It's done."
The Fifth Prince looked and saw it was in the direction of the Sacred Temple.
*‘The Sacred Temple is on fire? That is the sacred hall for all scholars. This is more serious than the desecration of a former king's tomb, an event that will shake the world.’*
The Fifth Prince stared at Shen Lang in disbelief and stammered,
"Wh-wh-who set the fire?"
"The warriors from the State of Jiang's envoy delegation."
The Fifth Prince's eyes widened, and he looked at Shen Lang, his face filled with trembling awe.
*‘Br-br-brilliant! There is truly no move more brilliant than this. It kills two birds with one stone! Not only does it reverse the situation for tomorrow's court session, but it also inevitably drags the Suo Clan into the mess. Truly magnificent!’*
Ying Zheng said,
"The common people of the world may be quick to forget the affairs of the state, but the burning of the Sacred Temple will be an unimaginable shock even to them. The heat from this incident will last for some time, but someone will surely bring up the case of Jin Mucong raping a woman later on!"
"Therefore, we must not just clear his name, but solve this problem at its root by killing Gang Leader Ye's family. I will kill them tomorrow! For the time being, I'll have to trouble Your Highness to look after the two girls at your residence."
"N-no problem. My wife is very fond of children."
***
Not only did Gang Leader Ye's family have to be eliminated, but they also had to be utterly destroyed politically. Only then, when the furor over the burning of the Sacred Temple died down, would it be completely ineffective for the Suo Clan to bring up the Jin Mucong case again. By then, the Wannian County Yamen would have no choice but to quietly release Jin Mucong. Was that difficult to achieve? No. It couldn't be simpler. It was easier than drinking cold porridge.
Currently residing in the capital were people who were difficult to provoke: the Great Yan Empire's Ministry of Vassal Affairs, Envoy to the State of Yue! In modern terms, it was the Great Yan Empire's embassy in Yue. Of course, the situation was a little different from modern times.
The Great Yan Empire was the sovereign of all vassal states in the world, so its envoys held an extremely high status in the State of Yue. The current envoy from the Great Yan Empire to Yue was a young nobleman, only thirty-three years old, the heir to Marquis Qingyao of the Great Yan Empire, Yun Mengze.
He was a Third-Rank Scholar of the Great Yan Empire and came from a powerful aristocratic family, so his assignment as an envoy to Yue was merely a way to pass the time. Although the Great Yan Empire was engaged in major wars almost daily, it was, on the whole, still a time of peace. Yun Mengze had nothing to do during the day, and the real trouble was that he couldn't get it on at night. This time-passing trip was a journey to drain him of all his vigor.
Who was the most popular man in the brothels of the State of Yue right now? It was Yun Mengze, the heir to Marquis Qingyao of the Great Yan Empire. He was exceedingly handsome, possessed a libertine charm, was unconstrained by etiquette, and was overflowing with talent, making countless women long to welcome him into their chambers. In the year-plus he had been in Yue, he had slept with most of the famous courtesans, becoming the envy of many.
However, his debauched behavior was hardly looked upon favorably. Of course, if it had been, His Majesty the Emperor would not have ordered him to be an envoy to Yue in the first place. Back in the Great Yan Empire, he had not only had affairs with famous courtesans but also with the daughters of prominent families. Every day, women would show up at the Marquis of Qingyao's estate demanding he take responsibility. But due to his overflowing talent, he was favored by the Great Yan imperial family, so his punishment was limited to being dispatched to Yue—with the sentiment that if he was going to bring ruin to women, he might as well do it to the women over there.
***
The Tigress, Princess Ying Yan, was good friends with Yun Mengze, the heir to Marquis Qingyao. Purely good friends, of course. Yun Mengze had been tossing and turning until the middle of the night yesterday and had only gotten four hours of sleep. The sky had not yet brightened when he was dragged from the arms of two beauties in his bed.
"What is it now..."
Yun Mengze yawned repeatedly as he looked at the Tigress, Ying Yan.
"Your breath stinks..."
After drinking all night and sleeping for only four hours without brushing his teeth, it would be stranger if his breath didn't stink. Yun Mengze patted his head and said,
"It doesn't matter. As long as the beauties don't have to smell this, my image won't be ruined. If you have something to say, say it quickly. If not, don't bother me and get lost!"
Ying Yan said,
"The Sacred Temple has burned down."
The Great Yan Empire's envoy, Yun Mengze, was startled, his eyes flying open. Then he waved his hand and said,
"Alright, I get it. You can go now. I'm going back to sleep."
Princess Ying Yan took out a book and placed it on the table. The moment Yun Mengze saw it, his sleepiness vanished completely, and his heart began to pound. The book was *The Erotic History of the Eastern Parting*.
"Are you insane? This is a provocation against His Majesty. Do you want to die? Don't you people drag me into this. Last time, when His Highness the Prince came to the capital to inspect the people's affairs, he discovered *The Chronicles of the Eastern Parting* in a bookstore, and His Majesty the Emperor was already furious! Now that you can't sell *The Chronicles*, you're selling *The Erotic History*? That bookseller must have some nerve. Isn't he afraid of death? Isn't he worried his entire family will be annihilated?"
When the Yan Emperor banned *The Chronicles of the Eastern Parting*, no one in the Great Yan Empire dared to sell it. If caught, their property would be confiscated, and they would be imprisoned. In other countries, the rule was that if the book was found, all copies would be confiscated and burned, and the business shut down, but it usually ended with just a fine.
So what was this *Erotic History of the Eastern Parting*? It was a lewd, adapted version of *The Chronicles*. In this book, the protagonist Jiang Li would do it with the sky, the earth, and even the air. Every beauty in the Great Yan Empire, including princesses, the empress, and the empress dowager, slept with him in the book. Thus, while the Great Yan imperial family could tolerate *The Records of the Eastern Parting*, *The Erotic History of the Eastern Parting* was unacceptable. Any bookstore caught selling it, no matter who they were, would be put to death. The book made even the empress and the empress dowager targets of its lewdness.
*‘You people are determined to die. I don't know which genius wrote this book, but if the Great Yan Empire ever finds out who he is, they will surely exterminate his nine generations and have him killed by a thousand cuts.’*
Yun Mengze could no longer sleep. His most important mission in Yue was to supervise the State of Yue's attitude toward the Great Yan Empire. Eradicating *The Records of the Eastern Parting* was one of his biggest tasks; as for *The Erotic History*, it went without saying that anyone caught with it had to be killed on sight.
"Where did you get this book?"
Yun Mengze asked the Tigress Princess, and she replied,
"The Tianfeng Bookstore was secretly selling it again."
"Impossible. Unless that man is insane, no mere bookseller would risk his life for money like that."
"If you don't believe me, take your men to the Tianfeng Bookstore's warehouse and see for yourself. It's packed to the ceiling with copies of *The Erotic History of the Eastern Parting*."
"A'Yan, are you trying to get someone killed? This is an offense worthy of having an entire family annihilated."