She Really Was a Princess (Part Five)
First thing in the morning at the government office of Lin’An, a din of discontent filled the air.
Situated in the capital and directly under the emperor’s nose, the government office was rarely ever lively, so why was there such a loud fuss today?
Prefect XiMen Sheng, who lived in the rear courtyard of the government office, put on his official clothes while ordering a subordinate to go out and take a look at the situation.
Not long later, the attendant came back to report: “Replying to Lord Prefect, there are two women wanting to file a complaint.”
“Some women want to file a complaint? The women of my Eastern Ling have always placed emphasis on remaining composed. Since a woman dared to come and file a complaint, it must be some big case! Quickly, quickly open the court!”
XiMen Sheng hastily rushed toward the courtroom, but the attendant stopped him and said: “My lord, please do not rush. Those two women look extremely familiar. This lowly one was afraid of making a mistake and asked a few questions. Sure enough, they are from the brothel outside the city.”
“Brothel?”
XiMen Sheng furrowed his brow and hesitated for a moment.
“Prostitution is already considered illegal. Do they themselves not know this? If this official questions them about it in court, regardless of what complaints they might have, they will also be punished. If that’s the case, it would be better for you to have them quickly leave!”
The attendant said with a bit of difficulty: “This lowly one also said this, but the two of them refused to leave. They said that their caretaker is abducting young girls and forcing them into slavery. My Lord… should this be tried or not?”
XiMen Sheng had already decided to go back but stopped upon hearing mention of slavery.
“If people being pressed into slavery is truly happening under the ruler’s nose, this official will definitely need to perform a proper trial! Come, let’s go and take a look!”
“Order-”
The attendants stood on both sides of the room and held their long clubs, forcefully slamming them on the ground. This scared the two women from entering the courtroom.
Sneakily glancing up, they saw a large board hung at the head of the hall with a lord wearing a brocade robe. To the two sides, there were people holding large signs.
The one on the left read silence and the one on the right read recuse.
“Who is entering the courtroom? What is your grievance? Quickly come in and report.”
The gavel slammed down, and the two people held each other in fear while slowly entering the courtroom.
The two kneeled near the entrance of the hall. One was beautiful and charming, while the other looked gentle but troubled, and both were dressed in flowing dresses. It was immediately clear that they were not women from upright families.
XiMen Sheng furrowed his brow and slammed his gavel once more, “Impudence! At your age, you are no longer young girls. How can you come and voice grievances of young girls being abducted?”
The charming woman said: “Replying to my lord, we were indeed abducted. She was abducted when she was twelve, and I was abducted when I was eleven.”
The other woman pulled out two unknown items from her sleeve and brought them up with both hands, “Yesterday, a noble person said that my lord would know how to handle things upon seeing these.”
XiMen Sheng stood up and looked down. He saw that she was holding a small piece of gold and a silver needle.
The piece of gold was finer than what he usually saw. He did not even have something this fine at his private residence. It seemed that they truly did meet a noble person. As for that silver needle…
He felt that it was extremely familiar but did not know what it was.
“Noble person? Speak clearly. What exactly happened?”
…
One hour later, the personal assistant hastily led a group of attendants out of the government office.
They were headed in the direction of the palace. The people who lived there were all of exceptional nobility. Were they going there to catch a thief or something?
Along the way, people watched the scene unfold but did not dare look too closely and continued their work.
Arriving in front of Marquis Gu’s Manor, they found the soldiers standing upright with their backs perfectly straight.
Above the gate, there was an imperial marker, and the vermillion gate publicized the cheerfulness of Marquis Gu’s Manor…
The assistant gulped and stepped forward, politely saying: “This lowly official is an assistant in the government office. My lord, there are two girls…”
A soldier received the handkerchief that he held, and it contained a silver needle and a piece of gold.
Although the assistant did not hold a court position, he was the one with the highest rank in the government office aside from the prefect. The soldier also spoke very respectfully, “So that’s the case. Although I don’t know if what the two women said is true, this piece of gold does indeed come from this manor, and the silver needle does indeed belong to our young miss. Sir, please wait for a moment, as I go to inform our young miss.”
The assistant became even more polite, cupping his hands and saying: “That could not be better.”
“Those two girls really went to the government office?”
Yu Fu was in the middle of helping Yu Guan lay out a plan for his business. Suddenly hearing a soldier come to report, she was a little happy.
“Then what about their mama?”
The soldier said: “Replying to young miss, based on what the assistant said, the old woman that was struck by young miss’ poison needle was sent to the medical clinic. She has already been given medicine and is unconscious. They left and went to the government office while she was unconscious. They were hoping that the old woman could be brought to justice.”
Yu Fu clapped, “This is even better. I thought that the two of them would refuse to save that old woman to get revenge, but it seems that the two of them have kindness in their hearts. Here, go tell the assistant…”
The assistant hastily rushed back from Marquis Gu’s Manor. The two women were still kneeling in the middle of the courtroom and were a little panicked.
He whispered into XiMen Sheng’s ear, and XiMen Sheng quickly sat up with reverence, repeatedly nodding and tossing a signed stick down.
“Guards, quickly go and capture that old woman who has been abducting girls and lock her in prison! As for the two of you…”
Xi MenSheng stood up and walked down, personally handing the piece of gold and silver needle to the women, “You two are lucky to have met Princess ZhenJiang. Princess is sympathetic. From here on, you will no longer need to work in a brothel.”
“She really was Princess ZhenJiang?”
The two women exchanged a look, smiling so joyfully that tears spilled forth.
The previous night, they had heard the girls that lived nearby say that a girl claiming to be Princess ZhenJiang had appeared at Yu Guan’s residence and taken him away.
It turned out that she really was a princess…
She Really Was a Princess (Part Five)
First thing in the morning at the government office of Lin’An, a din of discontent filled the air.
Situated in the capital and directly under the emperor’s nose, the government office was rarely ever lively, so why was there such a loud fuss today?
Prefect XiMen Sheng, who lived in the rear courtyard of the government office, put on his official clothes while ordering a subordinate to go out and take a look at the situation.
Not long later, the attendant came back to report: “Replying to Lord Prefect, there are two women wanting to file a complaint.”
“Some women want to file a complaint? The women of my Eastern Ling have always placed emphasis on remaining composed. Since a woman dared to come and file a complaint, it must be some big case! Quickly, quickly open the court!”
XiMen Sheng hastily rushed toward the courtroom, but the attendant stopped him and said: “My lord, please do not rush. Those two women look extremely familiar. This lowly one was afraid of making a mistake and asked a few questions. Sure enough, they are from the brothel outside the city.”
“Brothel?”
XiMen Sheng furrowed his brow and hesitated for a moment.
“Prostitution is already considered illegal. Do they themselves not know this? If this official questions them about it in court, regardless of what complaints they might have, they will also be punished. If that’s the case, it would be better for you to have them quickly leave!”
The attendant said with a bit of difficulty: “This lowly one also said this, but the two of them refused to leave. They said that their caretaker is abducting young girls and forcing them into slavery. My Lord… should this be tried or not?”
XiMen Sheng had already decided to go back but stopped upon hearing mention of slavery.
“If people being pressed into slavery is truly happening under the ruler’s nose, this official will definitely need to perform a proper trial! Come, let’s go and take a look!”
“Order-”
The attendants stood on both sides of the room and held their long clubs, forcefully slamming them on the ground. This scared the two women from entering the courtroom.
Sneakily glancing up, they saw a large board hung at the head of the hall with a lord wearing a brocade robe. To the two sides, there were people holding large signs.
The one on the left read silence and the one on the right read recuse.
“Who is entering the courtroom? What is your grievance? Quickly come in and report.”
The gavel slammed down, and the two people held each other in fear while slowly entering the courtroom.
The two kneeled near the entrance of the hall. One was beautiful and charming, while the other looked gentle but troubled, and both were dressed in flowing dresses. It was immediately clear that they were not women from upright families.
XiMen Sheng furrowed his brow and slammed his gavel once more, “Impudence! At your age, you are no longer young girls. How can you come and voice grievances of young girls being abducted?”
The charming woman said: “Replying to my lord, we were indeed abducted. She was abducted when she was twelve, and I was abducted when I was eleven.”
The other woman pulled out two unknown items from her sleeve and brought them up with both hands, “Yesterday, a noble person said that my lord would know how to handle things upon seeing these.”
XiMen Sheng stood up and looked down. He saw that she was holding a small piece of gold and a silver needle.
The piece of gold was finer than what he usually saw. He did not even have something this fine at his private residence. It seemed that they truly did meet a noble person. As for that silver needle…
He felt that it was extremely familiar but did not know what it was.
“Noble person? Speak clearly. What exactly happened?”
…
One hour later, the personal assistant hastily led a group of attendants out of the government office.
They were headed in the direction of the palace. The people who lived there were all of exceptional nobility. Were they going there to catch a thief or something?
Along the way, people watched the scene unfold but did not dare look too closely and continued their work.
Arriving in front of Marquis Gu’s Manor, they found the soldiers standing upright with their backs perfectly straight.
Above the gate, there was an imperial marker, and the vermillion gate publicized the cheerfulness of Marquis Gu’s Manor…
The assistant gulped and stepped forward, politely saying: “This lowly official is an assistant in the government office. My lord, there are two girls…”
A soldier received the handkerchief that he held, and it contained a silver needle and a piece of gold.
Although the assistant did not hold a court position, he was the one with the highest rank in the government office aside from the prefect. The soldier also spoke very respectfully, “So that’s the case. Although I don’t know if what the two women said is true, this piece of gold does indeed come from this manor, and the silver needle does indeed belong to our young miss. Sir, please wait for a moment, as I go to inform our young miss.”
The assistant became even more polite, cupping his hands and saying: “That could not be better.”
“Those two girls really went to the government office?”
Yu Fu was in the middle of helping Yu Guan lay out a plan for his business. Suddenly hearing a soldier come to report, she was a little happy.
“Then what about their mama?”
The soldier said: “Replying to young miss, based on what the assistant said, the old woman that was struck by young miss’ poison needle was sent to the medical clinic. She has already been given medicine and is unconscious. They left and went to the government office while she was unconscious. They were hoping that the old woman could be brought to justice.”
Yu Fu clapped, “This is even better. I thought that the two of them would refuse to save that old woman to get revenge, but it seems that the two of them have kindness in their hearts. Here, go tell the assistant…”
The assistant hastily rushed back from Marquis Gu’s Manor. The two women were still kneeling in the middle of the courtroom and were a little panicked.
He whispered into XiMen Sheng’s ear, and XiMen Sheng quickly sat up with reverence, repeatedly nodding and tossing a signed stick down.
“Guards, quickly go and capture that old woman who has been abducting girls and lock her in prison! As for the two of you…”
Xi MenSheng stood up and walked down, personally handing the piece of gold and silver needle to the women, “You two are lucky to have met Princess ZhenJiang. Princess is sympathetic. From here on, you will no longer need to work in a brothel.”
“She really was Princess ZhenJiang?”
The two women exchanged a look, smiling so joyfully that tears spilled forth.
The previous night, they had heard the girls that lived nearby say that a girl claiming to be Princess ZhenJiang had appeared at Yu Guan’s residence and taken him away.
It turned out that she really was a princess…
