Chapter 390: Severe Punishment (2)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“…” Gu Jian’s face darkened, but Madam Gu suddenly came back to her senses.
Gu Yuan didn’t care about Gu Jian’s reaction at all. He continued, “Second Uncle wants to split up the family.”
After saying that, Gu Yuan turned to the patriarch who was lying on the ground and whispered, “Uncle, 1 don’t dare to lie in front of His Majesty.”
When the patriarch heard this, he was drenched in sweat and sighed in his heart. The Marquis Household had already angered the Emperor. If he hid anything now, it would only make the Emperor dislike the Gu family even more.
Gu Jian almost jumped up. He blew his beard and glared as he retorted, “Emperor, it’s clearly Gu Yuan and his sister who want to split up!”
“It’s not me…”
Gu Jian felt that he was extremely wronged. Just as he was about to explain, he was hurriedly interrupted by the patriarch beside him. “Your Majesty, I can testify that it was Hou… it was Gu Jian who split up the family!”
The patriarch said this firmly. At this moment, he looked at Gu Jian again, unable to hide the disgust in his eyes.
At this point, Gu Jian was still spouting nonsense. He was simply too bold. Did he want to drag him down to be accused of deceiving the Emperor?!
Zhao Rang quickly glanced at the Emperor’s expression before interrogating the patriarch on behalf of the Emperor. “Gu An, why does the Dingyuan Marquis Household suddenly want to split up?”
The patriarch honestly told him that he had been called to the Marquis Mansion to preside over the separation of the family.
This was the first time he had seen the Emperor, so he was flustered and afraid. His words were incoherent and bumpy, but he had roughly explained three points:
Today, Gu Jian had sent someone to invite him and the elders to the Marquis Mansion to preside over the separation.
Gu Jian and his wife planned to separate the eldest branch.
This time, Gu Jian’s family took up 70% of the shares. The eldest branch’s Gu Yuan and his sister only took 15% of the entire family business. The remaining 15% was divided equally between the fourth and fifth branches.
In the water pavilion, only the patriarch’s dry voice echoed in the air. Beside him, Gu Jian wanted to interrupt the patriarch a few times, but he remembered that this wasn’t the Marquis Mansion, but the imperial mansion. He couldn’t be impudent.
Madam Gu only found out about the separation at this moment. Her entire body trembled as she turned to glare at Gu Jian in disbelief, panting slightly.
How could her son split up the family from the eldest branch at this juncture? Wouldn’t that be disadvantageous and arouse suspicion?!
Why didn’t he discuss it with her! Why did he make his own decision!
She had only left for more than two hours, but she already felt like the world had turned upside down.
The patriarch kowtowed a third time and apologized solemnly, “Emperor, the separation of the family was too sloppy. It’s all my fault for not investigating.”
Madam Gu was already in a daze.
She wanted to argue and scold her son, but she didn’t know where to start.
Even if she said that Gu Jian had acted on his own accord, no one would believe her and it would be meaningless.
“Clap!”
The Emperor raised his hand and slammed the table again. He sneered and said, “Heh, 1 now know the meaning of this memorial.”
As he spoke, the Emperor threw the memorial at Gu Jian and Madam Gu. The memorial happened to land on Gu Jian’s calf, scaring Gu Jian so much that his legs softened and he knelt down with a plop.
A few censors glanced at Gu Jian in disdain. The young censor stood up with his head held high and chest puffed out. He bowed to the Emperor righteously and said, “Emperor, in order to seize the family assets, Gu Jian, the Marquis of Dingyuan, cannot tolerate his biological nephew. He even said nonsense in front of Your Majesty and wants to kill his biological nephew. He’s really disloyal and heartless.”
“Such an evil act should be severely punished. Your Majesty, please punish him by stripping him of the title of Marquis of Dingyuan as a warning to others.”
The young censor spoke impassionedly and reasonably. The other censors all felt that he was right and nodded repeatedly.
Strip him of his title?! Gu Jian felt as if his heart had been stabbed ruthlessly again, and a thick salty smell rose in his throat.
At this moment, he really wanted to kill this censor.
What right did he have to strip him of his title?!
Gu Jian was indignant. Gu Yuan was the one who suggested splitting up the family. Why did the censor invert the truth and pin all the blame on him in the end? He even asked the Emperor to strip him of his title?!
The blood drained from Gu Jian’s face. He was as pale as snow.
He wanted to say something, but he didn’t know what to say. His mouth opened and closed, and his throat felt like it was burning. He looked at Xiao Shoufu pleadingly.
Xiao Shoufu, who was at the side, frowned. The wound on his neck had already stopped. His white hair was slightly messy, and his eyes were uncertain.
The Yu family and the Feng family had gotten into trouble one after another, and today, the aristocratic families had been defeated. After this incident, the power of the aristocratic families in the court would probably be greatly reduced…
The person Xiao Shoufu felt the most regretful about was Feng He.
It wasn’t easy for him to place Feng He in the position of the capital magistrate.
The capital magistrate was a parent official in the capital, but he was only a fourth-grade official. His rank wasn’t high, and he didn’t have much power. If any noble family really had a murder case, it wasn’t up to the capital magistrate to deal with it. However, everything in the capital couldn’t escape the eyes of the capital magistrate. He could cut off the Emperor’s ears, and even…
Xiao Shoufu’s eyes were dark. The more he thought about it, the more his head hurt. He rubbed his eyebrows.
This time, their aristocratic family’s losses were too heavy.
Xiao Shoufu didn’t speak. The officials of the other aristocratic families were all led by him. They also judged the situation and watched silently from the side.
The few imperial censors beside him all pointed their fingers at Gu Jian and followed.
“Censor Han is right. This trend can’t last!”
“Otherwise, wouldn’t the others have to learn from him and expel the orphans and widows from the family in the name of splitting up?”
“That’s right. Our Great Jin Dynasty rules the world with loyalty and filial piety. Such despicable behavior must be punished with death.”
“…”
These imperial censors were best at talking. Most of them were hot-blooded, upright, and had extremely strong combat power. They reprimanded Gu Jian one after another, asking the Emperor to punish Gu Jian severely..