Five Big Bosses are Too Clingy After Transmigrating into a Book - Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Bl00d Splashes the Hall of Adoration

It wouldn’t do for Zhou Buyan to leave the palace in the future, find a wife, and have no survival instincts. She needed to teach him.

“Zhou Buyan, you can’t be so cold. You can’t speak so directly; you’ll talk people to death! Girls like to hear sweet things…”

Chu Xingchen gave him some advice, though she didn’t know how much Zhou Buyan absorbed.

Wan Dong returned somewhat late. The emergency search in the Eastern Palace did uncover several issues, but the assassin servant refused to confess who instructed him. The only lead was that he had previously been helped by Chen Ruoshui and had since regarded her as his savior.

It sounded like revenge for Chen Ruoshui, but Chu Xingchen shook her head. “There might be other reasons. Why now, if he hadn’t made a move before?”

She rubbed her temples. “Investigate thoroughly again.”

Wan Dong straightened up. “Yes, Your Highness.”

…

The next day at court, an Censor impeached Chu Xingchen. “The Crown Princess, an official of high standing, embezzled disaster relief supplies meant for Du County, only to purchase several expensive flowers for her own viewing pleasure. With such a Crown Princess, the Great Chu risks becoming a laughingstock to the world.”

“I heard that the Crown Princess was also assassinated and is currently launching a massive investigation into the cause. Rather than investigate, the Crown Princess should reflect on whether it was her own heaven-defying actions that drove her servant to such a desperate act!”

The weather was unusually cold this year. Besides the snow disaster in Nanshan County, many other areas suffered from varying degrees of freezing disaster. Du County was one of them, and the court was doing its best to provide relief.

When Chu Xingchen heard the Censor mention the words ‘disaster relief supplies,’ ‘Du County,’ and ‘assassination,’ a flash of inspiration hit her, and a train of thought began to form regarding the chain of events.

Before coming to court, Wan Dong had informed her that the servant who attempted to assassinate her was from Du County.

“Before the facts are clear, don’t rush to lay the blame.”

Chu Xingchen had barely spoken when the Censor produced evidence. “The revised list of supplies, which the Crown Princess personally altered, is in my hands. What else does the Crown Princess have to say? Or will the Crown Princess claim she has never seen this list?”

Chu Xingchen looked at the evidence and thought, Sure enough. “I have seen it.”

A flicker of delight appeared in the Censor’s eyes, but before he could speak, Chu Xingchen continued, “But this is the wrong list.”

She bowed to the Empress. “Your Majesty, I also wish to ask why, when I specifically wrote a correct supplementary list, they only followed the incorrect list for procurement and distribution?”

This was a problem Chu Xingchen had discovered when reviewing the original host’s memorial. The total quantity written on the memorial had discrepancies with the attached list of relief supplies. She had specifically written a correct supplementary list before having it delivered.

The Censor seemed surprised and stunned. Chu Xingchen glanced at him and spoke again. “I was previously puzzled as to why a memorial that reached the Imperial presence would contain such a significant error, and I wondered if the officials of Great Chu were merely filling positions without merit. Now it seems the list delivered to me was swapped, clearly intending to frame me.”

The Censor was startled, his face flushing with anger as he tried to defend himself, saying he could not possibly frame anyone. “If your humble subject speaks a single lie today, I shall die in this Hall of Adoration! My death is insignificant, but before I die, I must speak candidly: the Crown Princess is incompetent and unfit to be the Crown Princess. I beg Your Majesty to grant my request, even if I must die trying!”

Before his voice faded, the Censor charged straight at a nearby pillar. With a loud dong, the Censor instantly collapsed to the ground, his head bleeding profusely.

No one expected the Censor to act this way. For a moment, everyone was stunned. After a brief silence, the hall erupted in chaos.

The Empress abruptly rose from the throne, swaying slightly. “Imperial Physician! Summon the Imperial Physician!”

The Hall of Adoration, usually orderly and solemn, descended into momentary pandemonium. Chu Xingchen stood amidst the crowd, unmoving. Her gaze swept over the bloody splatters, resting on the Censor whose life hung in the balance. At this moment, she fully realized she had crossed over to ancient times, to a dynasty where Censors would die to make an official remonstrance.

A death remonstrance! She had actually encountered one, and it was because of her. If the Censor died, regardless of the truth, his name and this incident would follow her forever, becoming a lifetime stain, a dark note in the history books.

Chu Xingchen realized with chilling clarity that they were trying to force her demise. It was a tight sequence of events, designed only to take her down.

This incident wasn’t detailed in the novel, which only stated the Crown Princess was truly incompetent, even embezzling disaster relief supplies, leading naturally to her already bad reputation worsening, rendering her incapable of doing anything else.

Now, she saw that a death remonstrance was involved, and the most ridiculous part was that the Crown Princess was completely framed in this matter.

…

The Imperial Physician arrived quickly. Fortunately, although the Censor was bleeding profusely and looked severe, his life was not in danger. The Physician treated and bandaged his wound and used acupuncture to slowly wake the Censor.

Upon regaining consciousness, the Censor knelt and immediately remonstrated again, insisting that Chu Xingchen was unfit to be Crown Princess, stating that if the Empress did not punish her or accept his counsel, he would attempt the death remonstrance again.

The Empress’s face was ashen. The other ministers bowed their heads, yet their eyes subtly focused on Chu Xingchen. Chu Xingchen sneered. “I intended to say that since the Censor has complete evidence, why not investigate thoroughly? But the Censor rushed to die without waiting for me to speak. I still maintain the same stance: before the Censor dies, he should investigate and clarify the matter, lest his death be meaningless and obscure.”

Chu Xingchen’s palms were sweating cold, but she didn’t back down one inch. She was not a scapegoat and absolutely would not take the blame. They should not dream of forcing her to accept this guilt through a death remonstrance. If she didn’t do it, she wouldn’t confess, even if ten or a hundred Censors died!

The Censor hadn’t expected Chu Xingchen to still be arguing at this point. “Good! Then let’s investigate thoroughly!”

The Empress, with a grim face, immediately ordered the relevant files to be checked. They indeed found the memorial Chu Xingchen mentioned and the revised list inside.

“Look, Censor Zhang, open your eyes and see clearly!” Seeing the list, the Empress sighed with relief, but her face grew even darker. She threw the memorial down.

The memorial struck the Censor’s newly bandaged forehead, causing him pain. But he ignored it, kneeling to inspect the document. The more he looked, the more cold sweat poured down his face. He was filled with disbelief. “This is impossible…”

“Your Majesty, this cannot be used as evidence of the Crown Princess’s innocence! Who knows if the Crown Princess discovered the error later and put it in to escape suspicion? Your Majesty, I did not frame the Crown Princess! I have human witnesses and physical evidence to prove that the Crown Princess embezzled money to satisfy her private desires!”

Censor Zhang refused to accept defeat and immediately presented human and physical evidence.

A purchasing agent from the Eastern Palace was the human witness, testifying that Chu Xingchen liked White Cloud Flowers and had therefore extensively purchased expensive ones, using the embezzled relief funds for this purpose.

The physical evidence was a flowerpot held by another person. The flowerpot contained the White Cloud Flowers that the Crown Princess supposedly collected.

With both human and physical evidence presented, everyone expected the Crown Princess to panic. Yet, Chu Xingchen remained calm, taking a careful look at the human witness.

“You are indeed a person of my Eastern Palace; I admit this. But I have never ordered you to embezzle disaster relief money to buy flowers. I don’t know how you managed this or who bribed you to deliberately frame me. But the revised list I wrote is also evidence, so this human witness is unreliable.”

Chu Xingchen did not look at Censor Zhang but turned her gaze to the flowerpot. Her lips twitched, and her expression was incredibly strange. “As for these… White Cloud Flowers, it is true that I ordered their extensive acquisition.”