RWNEFE -Chapter 496 Those Who Have Daughters at Home, Step Forward!

The officials who had been summoned originally intended to rebuke Shen Lanxi for making a spectacle. Just as they were about to speak, the now-awake Madam Song interrupted them.

Shen Lanxi said, “The law does not stand apart from human feeling. If the people do not bring a complaint, the officials will not investigate. Madam Song, regarding the Tian family—will you file a charge, or not?”

Hearing this, the Tian family’s eyes lit up at once. They immediately pushed Madam Song’s two children forward to beg her for mercy.

“Daughter-in-law, the children cannot be without a father. Are you really going to let them watch as you accuse our whole family?”

“Madam, I was wrong. I will never do it again. It was all that wretched woman who seduced me. You know I have always been honest and loyal.”

“Mother, don’t accuse Father. If you do, we will no longer recognize you as our mother.”

Madam Song’s vision went black, and she nearly fainted again. Gritting her teeth, she stared at these heartless ingrates who devoured people without spitting out the bones.

“You are all beasts. You ate my food, drank my wine, used everything I earned, and in the end you still wanted to kill me. Even after my death, you would have eaten my flesh and drunk my blood. You are not human at all.”

“You little wretches dare threaten me? Without me, you would be nothing. Bah! Today I sever all ties with you. It’s not that you refuse to recognize me—I refuse to recognize you.”

“Tian Chunshan, you are the worst ingrate of all. You pretend to be meek as a lamb, but in truth you’re a wolf in sheep’s clothing. What ‘seduced’? If you hadn’t had those thoughts yourself, could she have stripped naked and forced herself on you?”

Tian Chunshan glared furiously. He wanted to curse her as a crude shrew, but bound and gagged, he could only grunt helplessly.

“Mother, how can you speak such vulgar words?” her son said, his face full of disdain.

“Bah! Isn’t it the truth? If Tian Chunshan hadn’t been lustful, would that slut be carrying his child?”

“Tian Chunshan, you ungrateful coward—I was blind to have married you!”

At once Tian Chunshan’s mother stepped forward to shield her son, pointing at Madam Song.

“You are not allowed to speak of my son like that. What part of you is worthy of him? Other wives honor their parents-in-law, serve their husbands, and care for their children. And you? You’re nothing but a coarse country shrew who rolls on the ground throwing tantrums. If my son weren’t kindhearted, he would have divorced you long ago!”

Madam Song was so furious her eyes nearly bulged.

Shen Lanxi said, “I already know the details. You officials should have heard their quarrel and can surely understand part of the truth from it.”

Seeing Shen Lanxi speaking to the officials, the scholar in the Confucian robe quietly backed away and, when no one noticed, turned and slipped off.

Shen Lanxi raised her voice. “By listening to words and observing conduct, one knows a person’s character. Among the officials here—those who have daughters at home, step forward!”

“I have daughters at home.”

“I also have daughters.”

At first only one or two stepped forward, but seeing many others do the same, the rest followed, each taking a step forward.

“So, you all have daughters,” Shen Lanxi said with a faint smile.

“If your daughters were married into such a family—stripped to the bone, murdered for their wealth, their children taught to hate their own mother, and the entire household treating her as an enemy—how would you feel?”

Until the stick strikes one’s own body, no one knows the pain.

Shen Lanxi pointed to one man. “Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, I remember that your younger brother’s daughter died last year, did she not?”

The man’s expression changed. The mention of that niece still caused a dull ache in his heart.

“Yes… my niece died of illness last year.”

Shen Lanxi said, “Some days ago, the Court of Judicial Review submitted a memorial. It stated that your niece’s maid delivered a blood-written petition accusing her husband’s family of murdering her for her wealth. The account was very similar to Madam Song’s case today. Were you aware of this matter?”

A chill ran down the vice minister’s back; struggle filled his eyes.

“From your expression, you must have known. Unfortunately, to ensure the court would take the matter seriously—and to show her resolve—that maid, after submitting the blood petition, dashed her head against a pillar and died on the spot. Such loyalty is rare.”

The vice minister glanced toward the Assistant Minister of War. After weighing matters, he said, “My niece truly died of illness.”

Shen Lanxi said, “So you are saying that maid made a false accusation?”

The vice minister remained silent.

Shen Lanxi’s voice turned cold. “Your brother lost a daughter, and the matter is simply to be left unclear like this?”

The vice minister said nothing.

Suddenly, someone shouted: “It cannot be left like that!”

The man who shouted pushed through the crowd, rushed forward, and knelt before Shen Lanxi.

“Your Highness, it cannot be left like that! She was my daughter—not my elder brother’s daughter. He cannot sacrifice my daughter for the sake of his career!”

As he spoke, he broke down in tears.

The Assistant Minister of War immediately shouted angrily, “We are discussing Madam Song’s case. Who are you, you unruly commoner? Leave at once, or do not blame this official for punishing you!”

When the vice minister saw his younger brother rush out, his face changed drastically.

“Your Highness, my niece’s case has nothing to do with Madam Song’s matter. My younger brother lost a daughter and is understandably distraught. I will take him home at once to rest.”

Shen Lanxi smiled faintly. “Your niece’s case? So you admit that your niece was murdered?”

The vice minister’s face turned pale, and his legs began to tremble.

“Since the two cases are similar, let us try them together.”

The Assistant Minister of War immediately objected. “Your Highness, did you not summon us to revise the law? How has this turned into trying cases?”

“If the law is to be revised, we should return to the palace to discuss it. Discussing affairs of state in the street—would that not become a farce? Pure nonsense!”

Shen Lanxi’s gaze pressed down coldly upon him. “What? Are you afraid I will expose how you indulged your nephew in committing murder?”

The Assistant Minister of War looked as if he had been slapped.

“I recall that you have six daughters,” Shen Lanxi continued. “Four are already married, and two remain unmarried, correct?”

The Assistant Minister of War stared at her coldly. What was she trying to do?

Shen Lanxi said, “If such a thing happened to your daughters, would you also endure it silently? Watching your daughter hastily buried, watching her husband’s family swallow her property, watching the children she left behind be raised poorly and finally driven from the house?”

The Assistant Minister of War looked choked for words. After a long pause, he finally said, “They would not dare.”

Shen Lanxi replied, “Yes, because you are the Assistant Minister of War, your daughters’ husbands would not dare. But there is only one Assistant Minister of War. Across the world there are tens of thousands of common families. The daughters in those households do not have fathers who are high officials to protect them.”

Wei Dongzhu said, “Well spoken. Your Highness stands up for women—even I, as a man, admire it deeply. I am a man, but I have a mother and a younger sister, and in the future I will have a wife and daughters. If I encountered such a thing, I would never allow my father to treat my mother this way, nor my sister to be treated so by her husband’s family. And if anyone dared treat my daughter like that, even at the cost of my life, I would chop them all to pieces to avenge her!”