Chapter 1202: Innocent

As soon as Fan Zijin returned to the capital, he brought the four clay figurines to the palace to complain. The palace received the news relatively slowly, so Qi Xiuyuan and the ministers were a little shocked when they saw the four clay figurines. If they were not wrong, the Second Prince seemed to among the four too, right?

Fan Zijin complained as soon as he came up. “Your Majesty, you have to uphold justice for the Second Prince and the others. That Wulang of the Dong family beat them up as soon as he came up, totally ignoring etiquette. He’s simply guilty of a heinous crime.”

Oh, so it was a fight between profligate sons. The ministers were relieved and began to watch the show leisurely. Everyone knew that Dong Mao was an ignorant and incompetent profligate son, solely relying on Prime Minister Rong’s power to live it up in the capital. However, up until now, the other party was still a profligate son who enjoyed cockfights and dog-racing. At most, he would go drinking and visit brothels with his friends, fight over the top prostitutes with others, and get into fights from time to time. The ministers were waiting for him to ferment further and become a criminal.

However, he was indeed bold enough to hit the princes.

Beating up a member of the royal family should be considered a crime, right?

Just as everyone was thinking about how to convict Dong Mao, Qi Xiuyuan asked Fan Zijin calmly, “Isn’t it office time now? Why did you head out of the city in casual clothes?”

Fan Zijin’s body stiffened, and the ministers froze. They immediately looked at Prince An as if they were watching a good show. As expected of King Rong’s cousin.Never mind that he skipped work, but to also appear in front of the Emperor so brazenly? Serves him right for getting caught.

Qi Xiuyuan looked at the four children with a headache. His heart turned cold. He had long known that Haoran was unreliable, but Zijin too?

He pointed at the place where the four clay figurines were standing and said, “Get out. After we disperse, I want the four of you to carry water in to clean this area.”

Then, he said to Fan Zijin, who was standing at the side with his head lowered, “How dare Dong Mao beat up the princes?”

“Your Majesty, he didn’t know that the Second Prince was among them. But Wen Nuo and Wen Zheng are also members of the royal family. Your Majesty, such contempt for the royal family must be severely punished.”

Qi Xiuyuan narrowed his eyes slightly when he saw that Fan Zijin was avoiding answering the question directly. Did that mean they had started this by provoking Dong Mao?

But that wasn’t right. Although the four children always caused trouble, most of the time, they had good intentions. Every time they caused trouble, their intentions would earn them a lot of points.

If Zijin wanted them to be exempted from punishment, shouldn’t he first give the reason and categorize Dong Mao as a heinous person?

Sensing that something was amiss, Qi Xiuyuan stared at Fan Zijin and said, “In that case, remove Dong Mao’s official rank and give him 20 strokes of the paddle as punishment.”

Fan Zijin heaved a sigh of relief. Qi Xiuyuan felt that something was amiss, so he stood up and said, “It’s time for lunch. Everyone, go to the side hall and eat first. Let the Second Prince and the others clean the Imperial Study in the meantime.”

The ministers who wanted to hear more immediately stopped talking.

They were already hungry, but since the Emperor did not suggest eating or resting, they couldn’t very well mention it first. Since the Emperor now allowed them to eat, they naturally had to eat first. It would not be too late to argue when they came back.

Qi Xiuyuan naturally turned to Rong Xuan and said, “Prime Minister Rong, stay and eat with me.”

Rong Xuan bowed and agreed. Everyone was already used to it. Every time there was a meeting in the Imperial Study, the Emperor would invite Prime Minister Rong to eat with him seven out of ten times.

Fan Zijin followed behind obediently without needing Qi Xiuyuan to ask.

Qi Xiuyuan stopped and turned to look at the four obedient clay figures. He waved his hand and said, “Go wash up and change your clothes before coming back. Until you clean up the Imperial Study, you’re not allowed to eat lunch.”

Tiger Head hugged his stomach and looked pitifully at the long table where lunch was placed. As the four of them were covered in mud, Qi Xiuyuan originally couldn’t tell who was Tiger Head and who was Little Lion. Now that he could tell, he said to Tiger Head evilly, “I got someone to leave a roasted chicken for you guys. If you act faster, you might be able to eat it while it’s hot. If you act slowly and the dishes turn cold, I’ll reward the palace servants with the food instead. The dishes won’t taste good when they turn cold.”

Tiger Head turned around and ran.

Little An and the others quickly chased after him.

Feeling better, Qi Xiuyuan sat down on the main seat. As he looked at Fan Zijin, he asked, “Tell me, what’s the reason?”

Fan Zijin looked at Rong Xuan, who paused and stood up with a smile. “Your Majesty, I remember that I have some instructions to give my subordinates. Why don’t you guys eat first…”

Fan Zijin rolled his eyes and said, “Brother Rong, I think you’re just curious why you made such a low-level mistake when you’re so smart.”

Qi Xiuyuan said to Rong Xuan, “Sit down and listen to his reason with me.”

Rong Xuan sat down in silence.

Fan Zijin said solemnly, “Rather than say that the four kids fought with Dong Mao, it’s more accurate to say that the four children interfered because they couldn’t stand to see Dong Mao lead his men to fight with the villagers.”

Qi Xiuyuan looked at Rong Xuan and asked, “Is Dong Mao your brother-in-law?”

“Yes.” Rong Xuan bent down slightly and looked at Fan Zijin. “Tell me directly what he did.”

“He might not be the one who did it.” Fan Zijin said truthfully, “The children and I were in the mood to visit the farm outside the city today. There, we encountered Dong Mao and his cronies confronting a group of villagers…”

Fan Zijin wanted to bring the children out to witness the joys and sorrows of the other children, and it was different for everyone.

They squatted in the city and watched for a while. Seeing that Tiger Head could not sit still, Fan Zijin simply brought them out of the city. He wanted to bring them to the Treasure-Bear Academy in the farmstead to take a look and see what the farmstead children were doing, hopefully spurring deeper thinking.

Unexpectedly, they encountered Dong Mao and his cronies before they even reached the farm.

Little An and the others didn’t know Dong Mao, but Fan Zijin did. Out of curiosity, he made the carriage stop for a moment, and then something happened.

The four children were all eager to see the world in chaos. As soon as the carriage stopped, they jumped off the carriage and went forward to watch.

The two sides were arguing back and forth, and there were many onlookers. As Dong Mao was in the midst of a heated argument, he did not notice Fan Zijin and the rest.

Little An and the others listened with relish for a while. After hearing from both sides, they immediately restored most of the truth.

It turned out that before the new year, Dong Mao had set up a trap in a bid to buy this large piece of farmland at an extremely low price.

As the other party was a noble, the commoners could only grit their teeth and swallow their anger. It was only after the new year that they realized that they were not the only ones who had been deceived. Somehow, they gathered the courage to join forces to seek an explanation from Dong Mao’s steward. Coincidentally, they encountered Dong Mao, who had left the city for horse racing.

Dong Mao’s steward immediately went to Dong Mao to make the decision. Dong Mao felt that this land had been bought with his own money, so there was no reason for him to return it. Therefore, he was livid, and the two sides quarreled.

Originally, this had nothing to do with Little An and the others. They could just turn around and leave, and Fan Zijin did intend to do so initially. Although he felt that Dong Mao was detestable, it was also because these unruly people were greedy that gave Dong Mao the chance to take advantage of them. Anyway, since this matter had already been finalized with a contract written in black and white, there was really no need for him to get involved.

Therefore, he called Little An and the others to get into the carriage so that they could leave quickly.

However, Little An and the others had been taught by Mu Yangling and not Fan Zijin since young, so they accurately determined that Dong Mao had deceived these villagers. Realizing that it was a contract fraud, the four of them softly reminded the villagers to report Dong Mao to the government office.

In a matter of moments, both sides immediately started fighting, though it was unknown which party started it first.