RWNEFE -Chapter 460 The Inner Cabinet Is Put in a Difficult Position

After the military examinations came to an end, the civil examinations followed immediately.

The Grand Preceptor, Mei Nanhua, personally presided over everything. From selecting the assistant examiners to setting the examination questions, every step was handled by Mei Nanhua himself, without entrusting any part to others.

Because of this, he could no longer spare attention for affairs in the Inner Cabinet, and Shen Lanxi seized the opportunity to step in and take control there directly.

“This is outrageous! Discussing state affairs is the business of men. For Shen Lanxi to come to the Inner Cabinet is simply a disregard of propriety—like a hen crowing at dawn!”

“Minister Wu, why don’t you say that the next time Shen Lanxi comes—say it to her face,” Liu Mingxin said, clearly disdainful of Wu Yanzhi’s habit of complaining only afterward.

If he truly wanted to speak, why hadn’t he said so when Shen Lanxi was present just now?

“Minister Liu, that’s not right. We are all on the same side—why are you siding with outsiders?” Wu Yanzhi accused.

Liu Mingxin replied impatiently, “I don’t know who it was just now who didn’t even dare breathe loudly.”

Wu Yanzhi became embarrassed and angry. When Shen Lanxi had come, she had brought the Imperial Guards with her, wore the Emperor’s Sword of Authority at her side, and was dressed in full regalia. Anyone with eyes could see what she intended by entering the Inner Cabinet like that.

And he was supposed to stand out and challenge her? Not a chance.

Wu Yanzhi immediately retorted, “Why didn’t you speak up then?”

Liu Mingxin glared at him and said irritably, “You know very well why.”

Their families were all under the “protection” of the Imperial Guards. If they dared to contradict Shen Lanxi and anger her, what if some “accident” happened at home?

After all, Shen Lanxi also bore the nickname the Butcheress of the Northwest.

Only now did Liu Mingxin begin to admit inwardly that Shen Lanxi might truly have conquered Dongchuan and the Northwest step by step through her own ability.

The next day, the court began to receive shipments of grain sent from various regions after the grain-storage policy had been implemented.

Shen Lanxi had all the grain delivered directly into the palace.

Standing outside the hall doors, she reported the progress to Emperor Renxiao.

“Uncle, you may rest easy now. Grain from all regions has begun arriving. Today alone, more than five thousand jin of grain arrived in total, and much more is still on the way!”

Emperor Renxiao was overjoyed; his laughter could be heard outside the hall.

All the civil and military officials were gathered outside the Hall of Mental Cultivation. Hearing the emperor’s vigorous laughter, their expressions became uneasy.

Zhou Ruyuan heard it as well.

It really was his father’s voice. His father was fine.

His gaze shifted from the hall doors to Shen Lanxi.

She was climbing higher and higher; by now, she could be said to hold power firmly in her hands.

His father would rather entrust authority to a woman than to him, his own son.

Zhou Ruyuan felt only bitterness in his heart.

From behind the doors, Emperor Renxiao praised Shen Lanxi: “Well done! Lanxi is truly a pillar of my state!”

Shen Lanxi replied, “This minister will now have the grain sent to the Ministry of Revenue and will not disturb Your Majesty’s recuperation.”

No one liked hearing others say they were ill—least of all Emperor Renxiao.

Shen Lanxi had chosen her words carefully, turning “illness” into “recuperation,” which delighted the emperor greatly.

“Go, then. Carry out your duties well. I will not forget the efforts of all my ministers!”

Shen Lanxi left with the grain, and the officials dispersed.

“Minister Shen, now that His Majesty has recovered greatly, can we return home?” one official asked. Being confined every day in the cramped Inner Cabinet, eating poorly, sleeping poorly, and longing for their families, the officials were already at their limit.

“Why didn’t you ask His Majesty just now?” Shen Lanxi replied.

The official was speechless—naturally, he had not dared to ask.

At the same time, the officials understood: it was the emperor who had ordered them to remain. Shen Lanxi had no authority to change it.

“When transporting the grain, move a bit slower. If anyone grows curious, tell them this is the first batch of grain from Shen Lanxi’s storage policy, and that from now on, the people of Great Zhou will never go hungry again.”

“Yes!”

“After leaving the palace, circle the inner and outer city ten times with the grain and make the news widely known.”

“Yes!”

Today, she intended to reverse public opinion—turn infamy into praise, so that all under heaven would remember that Shen Lanxi was the one who filled their stomachs.

No sooner had Shen Lanxi left than an imperial decree caught up with her.

When the officials heard an edict was being read, they quickly gathered again.

“By His Majesty’s written order: the National Preceptor is to assist Minister Shen in handling affairs.”

The officials exchanged glances. Returning to the Inner Cabinet, they immediately closed the doors and began whispering.

“This balancing move—it’s clearly His Majesty’s handiwork.”

“With a successor of the Ghost Valley School watching her, Shen Lanxi is still firmly in the emperor’s grasp.”

“I wonder what instructions His Majesty gave the Ghost Valley successor. From now on, we must be careful what we say.”

After arranging matters regarding the grain, Shen Lanxi went to the Inner Cabinet to deliberate on state affairs. The officials immediately scattered, each pretending to be busy with their own work.

“Minister Shen, this is a case sent from Yuzhou,” Liu Mingxin said. “It states that a son in a household broke his leg. The widowed mother sold her granddaughter to buy medicine for him. When the daughter-in-law learned of it, she poisoned the widowed mother. When the son found out, he hacked his wife to death. The case itself is very clear—but the household also has an infant still in arms. If this son is sentenced to death, the child will also die from lack of care.”

“The people of Yuzhou are petitioning the court to show leniency to this man. Public opinion is intense, so the local officials have submitted the matter to the court. Minister Shen, do you think this man deserves to die, or not?”

Anyone could see that Liu Mingxin was deliberately putting Shen Lanxi in a difficult position.

If she said the man deserved death, she would be disregarding the life of the infant.

If she said he did not, she would be contradicting the law.

Everyone in the Inner Cabinet pricked up their ears, ready to watch the spectacle.

Shen Lanxi smiled faintly, took the memorial, and asked, “Is the case file available?”

Liu Mingxin was momentarily taken aback but had the file brought to her.

After reading it carefully, Shen Lanxi raised several questions.

“The file states that the widowed mother often monopolized her son’s time, pretending to be ill to keep him in her room. She also frequently tormented the daughter-in-law for various reasons. According to the file, the son knew and witnessed all of this, yet never helped his wife or advised his mother.”

“Well…” Liu Mingxin had not actually read the file himself.

“So, Minister Shen means that the son alone bears all the blame?” Liu Mingxin thought he had found a flaw.

“Yes—and not entirely,” Shen Lanxi replied.

Hearing this, Liu Mingxin felt she was being pretentious—saying both yes and no, offering no clear answer.

“A son being filial to his mother is only natural, and a mother-in-law disciplining her daughter-in-law is also natural. What is written in the file includes the words of neighbors and cannot be entirely trusted.”

Shen Lanxi did not hurry to rebut him and continued: “There is also the son’s own testimony. He repeatedly defended his mother, yet never once mentioned that selling his daughter was wrong. Clearly, he knew in his heart that his mother was wrong, yet he still killed his wife, choosing to avenge his mother.”

“But she was the mother who bore and raised him. How could he not be enraged?” Liu Mingxin argued.

“When his mother sold his daughter, why was he not enraged then?” Shen Lanxi countered.

“That was because… because his leg was injured, and the family truly could not afford the medicine,” Liu Mingxin said. These hardships of common folk were well known to him.