For a while, after the Emperor spoke, Huang Xiulan was unable to answer. Despite this, Qin Yijun was patient enough to wait for her to speak. After all, the purpose of this summons was to address this matter properly so that no one will try to find trouble for Lin Xiao in the future.
“Your Majesty, I—”
“Zhen only wants an answer. Is it true, or not?”
Huang Xiulan’s attempt to find an excuse was immediately shot down by Qin Yijun. So in the end, she lowered her eyes and stared on the floor as she answered: “Yes. Last night, it was this lady that informed the Right Minister about the suspected rebel…”
“Was there any concrete proof?”
“No. But at that time, everyone clearly hears his words! Since he dared to say that he would harm the Emperor, then—”
Qin Yijun raised his hand, stopping Huang Xiulan mid-sentence. Then, he turned to Xia Yuanfeng. “Patriarch Xia, is Lin Xiao the person she spoke about?”
Seeing that the Emperor was speaking to him, Xia Yuanfeng immediately fell to his knees and kowtowed to the Emperor. “Answering to His Majesty, the person she is talking about is indeed Lin Xiao. But, Lin Xiao did not say anything about harming His Majesty!”
Huang Xiulan’s eyes went wide when he heard what her husband had just said. “Xia Yuanfeng, have you gone crazy?! Everyone clearly heard him and you tried to protect him?! Are you trying to bring everyone down to your grave all because of that blind bastard?”
“Impudent! You are before the Emperor! Conduct yourself!” the head eunuch reminded Huang Xiulan. “Speak only when His Majesty allows you to speak.”
Qin Yijun waved his hand over to the head eunuch and the head eunuch lowered his head before taking a step backwards.
Staring at Huang Xiulan, Qin Yijun then said: “Young Lady from Huang family, there is no second time.”
Huang Xiulan bit her lips and lowered her head once more. On the other hand, Qin Yijun turned his attention back to Xia Yuanfeng and the rest of the Xia family. “Did Lin Xiao really say that he will harm Zhen?
Xia Yuanfeng grits his teeth and stubbornly replied that Lin Xiao did not say it. The rest of the Xia family also confirmed that Xia Yuanfeng did not lie, fearing that their family would be implicated if the words that they had harboured someone who dared to say he’ll ‘beat’ the Emperor would reach said Emperor.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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“Minister Huang, tell Zhen why you have taken Lin Xiao as captive.”
“Your Majesty… your minister is wrong. Please… begging for His Majesty to grant this minister amnesty…” Huang Zhexian said as he looked at Qin Yijun, pleading for mercy. He didn’t even care that his subordinate is currently looking at his disgraceful appearance. Compared to his face, his life was more important.
Unfortunately, Qin Yijun did not soften his heart at all, and Huang Zhexian could only lower his head. Knowing that the Emperor only wants to hear the answer to his questions, Huang Zhexian slowly parted his lips.
“Answering to His Majesty… Your minister received a report from his niece about Lin Xiao. But because there was not enough proof, this minister captured him and brought him in for interrogation, hoping that the rebel would confess…”
Qin Yijun closed his eyes, then the word that Old Pan had said the night before after the old physician had treated Lin Xiao rang in his ear.
“Your Majesty, the wound on Lin Xiao’s shoulder is quite deep to the point that this old one could even see the exposed the bone hidden under the flesh. And because of the nature of the barbed whip, the flesh was ruthlessly torn apart. This old one had done all he can to treat the injury, and the wound will close after a month but… it will leave a scar.”
When he found out that the injury would leave a scar, Qin Yijun was livid. He had almost gone over to torture Huang Zhexian the way he did with the previous Minister of Justice. But fortunately, his rationalities won against his anger. If there is Huang Zhexian, even if he removed him, as long as he didn’t make this matter clear, there might be others who dared to cause trouble for Lin Xiao in the future.
So, the only way for him to keep those officials from causing trouble is to let them know that Lin Xiao is someone that none of them can touch.
“Minister Huang, was it an interrogation or was it torture?” Qin Yijun asked.
“Your Majesty! It is only an interrogation. If Lin Xiao had cooperated, then this minister wouldn’t have used the punishment whip!” Huang Zhexian immediately tried to defend himself. “He had also said something that is insulting to His Majesty!”
The last sentence was a lie, but Huang Zhexian felt that as long as the Emperor did not find out about the lie, then his action of whipping Lin Xiao would be justified. But he had forgotten that there is a witness through the whole ‘interrogation’ session. So when the Emperor called An Yi out, his face paled and he wished that he could run away and hide.
An Yi’s identity as the Emperor’s shadow guard is very delicate, so for the purpose of this meeting, Qin Yijun had given An Yi another identity; Lin Xiao’s own personal guard.
An Yi reiterated everything that he had witnessed the night before. Once he had finished, Qin Yijun turned to the fearful Huang Zhexian. “Do you have anything to say, Minister Huang?”
What else could Huang Zhexian say? The Emperor didn’t even leave him a single path of escape. By now, everyone who witnessed this scene knew the purpose of them being summoned over. The Emperor is letting them see as he set an example of Huang Zhexian.
But who is Lin Xiao? Within the court members, the number of people who know of Lin Xiao can be counted in one hand. Fortunately, the Emperor did not let the officials guess about Lin Xiao’s identity for long.
“Minister Huang, not only did you unlawfully arrest someone without concrete evidence, but you have also tried to force them to make a false declaration of a rebellion. Worse than that, this person’s identity is even of a higher status than yours,” Qin Yijun said out loud.
“This kind of offence, Zhen can only let this person to punish you personally. Summon the Qing Wang in!”
Once again, the palace servant’s feet began to work. Not long after, he returned with Lin Xiao in tow.
At this time, Lin Xiao was dressed in a very magnificent robe. The edge of the dark blue garment was embroidered with silver coloured threads patterned into what appears to be a motif of clouds while the main body of the robe, one could see images of qilins being sewed on it.
His hair was tied up into a topknot, held in place by the silver crown. His appearance was that of someone born a noble and one wouldn’t have thought of associating him with someone who bargained an item worth ten gold pieces to two gold pieces.
When Lin Xiao arrived before the Emperor, he raised both of his hand in front of his chest and bowed slightly. “Lin Xiao greets the Emperor.”
His movement was slightly stiff as if he had just learnt this form of salutations. Which, was not a lie considering he only had learnt it moments after he was forced to get dressed a few hours ago.
“En. You are excused from further courtesy,” Qin Yijun said to Lin Xiao, making the officials present want to burst into a discussion. Unfortunately, with the Emperor around, they need to appear prudent. So they merely press down their words and silently watch the upcoming scene.
“Lin Xiao, Minister Huang had harmed you before. With your status as Qing Wang, you are able to punish him directly. Whatever it is you sentenced him with, Zhen will not interfere. Even if you sentence him to death,” Qin Yijun said in a calm tone.
Huang Zhexian’s breath hitched and he quickly looked up at the Emperor. “Your Majesty! Your Minister had done a lot of meritorious deeds these past two years! Everything that this minister had done is all for the sake of His Majesty and this Country!”
“Is it truly for the sake of this Emperor and the country?” Qin Yijun asked back. “Minister Huang, Zhen suggest that you obediently let Lin Xiao punish you and Zhen will let the rest of the Huang family off. If you continue to resist, then Zhen can only bring ‘everything’ to light.”
Upon hearing what Qin Yijun had said, Huang Zhexian finally realized that this was actually a light punishment. At the very least, if he let Lin Xiao punish him, only he himself will be implicated. Even if Lin Xiao sentenced him to die, the rest of his family will still be able to live. But if the Emperor decided to bring out all the dirty things he had done to the light, then his whole family will be implicated.
This sentence served as a warning to Huang Zhexian, as well as the officials present in the hall. Some of those who had dipped their hands into something dirty and illegal, made a mental note to destroy all proof, cut their ties with whoever they are dealing with, and wash themselves clean. But the stubborn ones would only destroy the proof and lay low for a while. As time goes by, they are sure that the Emperor would once again, turn a blind eye on these minor offence.
Little did they know that everything that happened here today is merely a part of Qin Yijun’s plot to uproot the corrupted officials in one fell swoop once he found proof of his father’s murderer. In the future, they could only blame themselves for being blinded by greed. But these matters are something that will happen in the next few years.
At present, Qin Yijun still has plans to use these officials. As long as they won’t touch his bottom line, he can turn a blind eye to some offence.
“What will it be, Minister Huang? Would you like for Zhen to punish you, or do you prefer to be punished by Lin Xiao?”
What the Emperor was asking is basically whether Huang Zhexian would die alone, or die with his families. Left with no other choice, Huang Zhexian surrendered his fate to Lin Xiao.
Turning to face Lin Xiao, Huang Zhexian kowtowed to Lin Xiao. “This minister is asking Lord Lin—”
“Minister Huang, you should address Lin Xiao by his proper title,” Qin Yijun reminded him.
“… Asking Wangye to punish this minister for all the wrongs he had done to Wangye.”
Lin Xiao looked at the man who is kneeling on the ground and felt amused. Just the night before, this man had been arrogant. He even dared to threaten to harm his Shizun in order to make him obedient. Now, not even a whole day has passed and this man is cowering before him.
He approached Huang Zhexian and squats down in front of him. “Huang Zhexian,” Lin Xiao called out his name. “I won’t ask for your life, but you must kowtow to Shizun for three times and ask for his forgiveness. Then, whenever you see Shizun, you will kowtow to him, no matter where the place is. Is that understood?”
A/N:
The Author has a question. Sentinel/Guide-Omegaverse with an Omega x Omega pairings. They are currently at the planning stage but I’m curious if you guys would be interested in reading it 
Yes yes and yes. ty for sharing your story so far.
Karma is a bitch right? Thanks for the chapter!
YEEEEESS baby go kick their ass ghahahahaha love this face slapping hahaha😂😂😂
Yes
Oh, Qin Yijun is clever, as befits an emperor!
As for the Omegaverse story… I hate Omegaverse, so it’s a no from me. But of course you can write what you want^^.
There is something I don’t understand. LX’s previous identity of the Emperor’s dear friend was quite high profile, since he was even allowed to move freely around the palace, and was given a title. From what I understand, he was framed by some people belonging to the government, who usually attend court. Now, since that is the case, why has no one in there recognized Lin Xiao until now? He was not disfigured or anything.
Thanks for the chapter! The face slapping was deeply satisfying x’)
(Typo alert: keep an eye out for past/present tense and the “s” for the third person conjugation 👍)
Back then, Lin Xiao never attended the court. Also, most of the officials back then had been replaced so that’s another reason. The other person who knows and recognizes Lin Xiao will soon reappear 👀
Oh, alright! Thank you!