Rebirth of Poisoned Empress, by 颜若优雅

Chapter 114

As April reached its end, led by the Duke of Duan, the Ministry of Punishment took over charge of the civil exams fraud case and closed it successfully. That day, the Ministry of Punishment courthouse was crowded with onlookers. The Ministry declared Fu Yunxi's innocence right then and there and the scholars who had crowded into the hall cheered with exuberance. In contrast, Fu Yunxi himself handled the news calmly without much fluctuations in his expressions. He had endured an entire year of grievances and it was sufficient in grinding and wearing away all the spurs covering his body. All that remained was a calm storm and resignation.

Afterwards, the Ministry of Punishment and Justice also announced the verdict on the officials who had been in cohorts with Wen Yuan. Wen Yuan's entire family was to be executed for his crimes and the other officials were also scheduled to be beheaded and executed by noon. All males within three generations of Wen Yuan's family were to also be executed. The women were to be demoted from commoners into prostitutes and slaves. As for the others, those who were exiled would be exiled. Their manors would be confiscated and ransacked. Not a single one of them would be able to escape their punishments.

As for any and all examinees who were involved in bribing the officials in the civil exams, their sentencings differed by the severity of their crimes. The amount Shen Xiao and Shen Yang used couldn't be considered much, but as children of a high-ranking official's family, they were pinned with an additional crime of breaking the law they served and knew full well of. Yang Wanli sentenced them to ten years of hard labor and a fine of 40,000 taels of silver. After Shen Ruiting's repeated pleas for leniency and consideration that the empire's treasury was indeed running low, the emperor succumbed to his pleas and allowed Shen Xiao and Shen Yang to be exonerated of the hard labor for 550,000 taels of silver. 

Shen Ruiting was fatigued and weary of his family's repeated crying and coercion. In the end, he didn't hesitate to sell some of the shops and properties the Marquis Manor had as well as empty out more than half of the Marquis Manor's treasury in order to finally derive the 550,000 taels of silver to redeem the two children's freedom.

Strange enough, once the civil exams fraud case was closed and the criminals were executed, the very next day, the heavy rain that had lasted for more than an entire month now stopped and the sky gradually cleared. The citizens were even more convinced that the deceased Empress truly was grieving over the injustice of the civil exams fraud case. 

Afterwards, the Imperial Court began to occupy themselves with matters concerning a disaster relief operation. Fortunately, thanks to the families of many officials, the treasury was able to be replenished to a sufficient amount. Although the funding for the disaster relief would undoubtedly deplete it considerably, it wouldn't leave the empire's treasury into a miserable state afterwards.

"550,000 taels of silver. Half the Marquis Manor had been put into it. Shen Ruiting truly is quite generous." The day Shen Xiao and Shen Yang returned; the entire manor was present to welcome the two back home. Only Shen Liang remained in his courtyard. No one bothered calling for him as it was as though the entire manor had forgotten about his existence. Qi Yue and Qi Xuan were voicing their dissatisfaction in the marquis bias once again.

Shen Liang thought their decision to neglect calling him over was a wise decision. If he was called over, there was no say that the two people they had rescued with great difficulty wouldn't be humiliated to death by him. After all, their being raped in the prison cells was still a hot topic amongst the public. 

"Truly. Quite generous, isn't he?" Shen Liang's gaze was inexplicably cold. He wasn't a petty person and had no designs nor intentions on the marquis manor's wealth and treasury. But the shops and properties Shen Ruiting sold to make up that 550,000 taels of silver were all properties that would've been his brother's. Now, not only had they been spent on Shen Xiao and Shen Yang, but also Shen Liang didn't believe the emperor didn't have any other ideas. The Duke of Qingping Manor's betrothal gifts were lofty and generous. In return, the dowry the Marquis Manor must return couldn't pale much in comparison either. Now that all the money had been spent on Shen Xiao and Shen Yang, what would be left for Shen Liang's dowry? Without any dowry, how did they expect Shen Liang to marry the Duke of Qinping?