Unlimited estates for rural beauty-Chapter 438 Feng Xuxu Unleashes Her Power (4)

"Hmph, since you all feel so wronged, today I shall openly adjudicate your cases," she regretted having shown them any face originally.

"Eunuch Wei, summon Xuan Yue."

"As you command." Eunuch Wei wiped the sweat from his forehead, bowed, and went out. In the time it took to brew a cup of tea, Eunuch Wei had brought Xuan Yue to the Moxuan Pavilion.

"Greetings, mistress." As soon as Xuan Yue entered the Warm Pavilion, she saw a group of kneeling women, which surprised her. She approached Feng Xuxu, bowed, and greeted her with fist in palm.

Feng Xuxu glanced up at Xuan Yue and let out a slight hum: "Mm." After a pause, she lowered her head and fiddled with the diamond ring on her finger, "Go and investigate the family of the Duke of Zhenguo’s Li Tianjie and the Gao Family’s Wang Yan, no matter how trivial. The more detailed, the better. We will await here."

"Yes, mistress." She scanned the two people kneeling before her with a downward glance, then twisted and exited.

The two on the ground were sweating profusely. They slightly twisted their heads and exchanged silent looks. Lady Gao of the Li Family lifted her head, her voice trembling, "Your Majesty the Empress, it was the ignorance of this subject’s wife. Actually, my son Jie isn’t that serious."

"Indeed, Your Majesty the Empress, although my son Yan’s case is quite serious, it did not reach the vital points, so there’s no need to send someone to investigate, right?" Lady Wang of the Wang Family was startled, knowing although her son was not as infamous as hers, he was considered a bully in the Capital City. If the investigation came out, she wouldn’t be able to cope.

Lady Gao of the Li Family was even more frightened. She sought justice from the Empress because she thought the Empress was someone easy to handle, but things had backfired terribly. Relying on her connections with the Duke of Zhenguo, an in-law of the emperor’s grandmother and their ancestors’ contributions to founding the empire, she hoped the Empress would be lenient, or at least show some forbearance. Otherwise, her own end... was unimaginable.

"It’s too late to understand now. Let’s wait for the results together. Don’t worry, it won’t take long."

Feng Xuxu watched as they all began to sweat, their bodies starting to tremble slightly, some even looking faint. She chuckled coldly to herself, these were all pampered and privileged people. Heaving a secret sigh, she said, "Get up, all of you, sit down... Attendants, bring some refreshments, and new tea."

Seeing that the Empress was determined to investigate thoroughly, Lady Gao’s face turned paler as more beads of sweat appeared, her hand trembling slightly with a handkerchief in it. She glanced sideways at Lady Wang and saw she was nearly in the same state, and her mind raced with what to do next.

Her eyes darted around chaotically, attempting to find someone to plead on her behalf, but it seemed as if everyone had tacitly agreed to remain silent, their heads bowed. Her eyes passed over an older lady who appeared to be dozing off, and an idea struck Lady Gao of the Li Family.

With a thud, she suddenly collapsed onto the floor, her eyes closed, feigning unconsciousness.

Lady Wang of the Wang Family twitched the corner of her mouth, realizing that to avoid the investigation, she really had to sacrifice her dignity. She rolled her eyes, preparing to do the same, when she heard the Empress’s leisurely voice drift over. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

"Fainted? Easy to deal with. Lenglei, go, take care of it." Feng Xuxu glanced at the collapsed woman on the floor, recalling how her eyelids had twitched when she spoke. She couldn’t help but be amused by such an obvious act and wondered how she would fake waking up shortly.

Mei Lenglei smiled faintly, bowed, and stepped forward. Crouching down, she covered her hand with her wide sleeve, quickly pulled out one of her hidden weapons, the Purple Swirl Needle, clenched it in her hand, grabbed the hand of the person on the floor, and swiftly pricked a finger before retracting just as quickly—all in the blink of an eye.

"Ouch..." The person on the ground suddenly inhaled sharply, her eyes snapping open with no trace of fainting.

"Oh, awake that fast! I was expecting a longer wait." Mei Lenglei feigned disappointment, shook her head, and returned to the Empress’s side.

The person on the ground opened her mouth but ultimately said nothing.

Those who were feigning faintness heard that scream, reminiscent of a slaughtering pig, and no longer dared to fake their own collapses, instead desperately clenching their palms.

After more than an hour, Xuan Yue finally appeared in the Warm Pavilion, bringing with her the documents she had collected. The other titled ladies were overjoyed and looked at Xuan Yue with a different expression.

"Mistress." Xuan Yue handed over the freshly gathered information to Feng Xuxu and stepped back to stand aside.

Feng Xuxu opened it and saw the content was very clear, arranged in two vertical columns, with Li Tianjie on one side and Wang Yan on the other, contrasted against each other.

"In the seventeenth year of Kangze, that is the year before last, Li Tianjie forced a farmer’s daughter from outside the Capital City to become his concubine, and soon after she died in the Duke’s residence and her body was thrown back to her farmer family."

"At the end of the same year, in Yihua Building, because he and the son of Governor Wang fancied the same courtesan, they fought, and in the end, he broke the other’s leg."

"In the first year of Jiayou, he took a fancy to a storyteller’s daughter in a tea house, forced her to become his concubine, and eventually, she took her own life, unable to bear the humiliation."

"That same year, in the Capital City’s Yonghui Tavern, because a young waiter accidentally bumped into him, he had his attendant beat him to death and threw him onto the street."

"In the same year, he fancied a married woman, forcibly took her back, and when her husband filed a complaint, the Duke conspired with the Ministry of Justice to force the death of the complainant."

"At the end of the same year, at Yihua Building, he threw a fortune for a woman, and upon returning home, he was spotted by the Duke. A fight broke out between father and son over the same woman, and, in anger, the Duke killed the woman."

"The same month..."

With every incident Feng Xuxu recounted, Lady Gao’s face turned a shade darker. When the disgraceful affairs of both father and son were recited, her face turned a mix of blue and red.

The titled ladies present were holding back their laughter, their eyes on Lady Gao shifting from pity at the start, to being implicated, and now to scorn—such varied transformations.

Feng Xuxu looked at the remaining lengthy list and chose not to continue reading. She then turned her gaze towards Lady Wang of the Wang Family.

"Wang Yan, in the sixteenth year of Kangze, for harassing a virtuous woman, was beaten severely by her husband. Afterwards, Wang Yan gathered a group to secretly kill the husband, and sold his wife to a brothel."