dkrc Chapter 324 The one who tries to extort others ends up being extorted themselves.
Chapter 324 The one who tries to extort others ends up being extorted themselves.
Once outside the imperial city gate, Han Xiao stopped the man and beat him up.
To be fair, Cui Xiang had the advantage of age, while Han Xiao was still somewhat rational and, fearing that killing someone would cause trouble, didn't go for the kill.
The pain is secondary; saving face is the most important thing.
This time, the entire civil official group united. The reason was that if Han Xiao escaped, wouldn't military officers be able to attack civil officials at the slightest disagreement? Which of them could defeat a military officer?
Shen Shixi stopped Du Hanyun, "Don't scold him anymore. As a military officer and the deputy commander of the Southern Imperial Guard, he has his pride too. Why should a woman like you be involved in matters of the court? This old bastard is shameless!"
"Let me tell you, I'm on Han Xiao's side this time. He did the right thing! If it were me, I would have slapped Cui Fangli's face to pieces, you believe me?"
Du Hanyun stopped crying and breathed a sigh of relief. "But what do we do now? No matter what, he's in the wrong now!"
Shen Shixi said, "How can a military general out-argue a civil official in court? He can't just pretend he didn't hear someone scolding his wife all morning, can he?"
Okay, don't rush me. Listen to me, go back now and tell your mother-in-law—oh, by the way, you have a mother-in-law, right?
Du Hanyun was both amused and exasperated, and said reproachfully, "My mother-in-law is still alive! Tell me, what should we do?"
"Have your mother-in-law go to the door of Prime Minister Cui's house and cry as loudly and sorrowfully as possible. Tell her that because Prime Minister Cui attacked you in court this morning, you are now at home trying to kill yourself."
Your mother-in-law has two sons, both quite old, and neither is married. Now that her younger son is finally getting married, Cui Xiang is going to ruin the marriage. He's quickly defining this as a personal grudge, and one where the Cui family is in the wrong. You know what I mean?
"I understand!" Du Hanyun understood instantly.
"And one more thing, you two are in love, and remarriage is your own choice. It has absolutely nothing to do with his set of etiquette and rules. Don't be fooled. If you're so capable of convincing my mother to go to the Cui family and cry, that would be even better!"
Soon, the area in front of the Cui family's house became a bustling place in the capital. Madam Shen and Madam Han were crying and wailing in front of the Cui family's house, and people who didn't know the situation thought that there had been a funeral in their family.
"I'm almost buried in the ground, and I've finally found a daughter-in-law. You just say a few words and even file a lawsuit against me. You want to break up my son's marriage. You surnamed Cui, I will never let you get away with this!" Madam Han cried and cursed.
Madam Shen cried, "My poor niece, you have neither a father to love you nor a mother to care for you. That short-lived man in front of you was a scoundrel who had an affair with his widowed sister-in-law. After finally getting a divorce, you found a good one, but now you're being forced to divorce him as well."
"Heavens above! Open your eyes! Why can't a divorced woman find a good man to marry? How come the Grand Secretary of the Great Zhou Dynasty has more say than the Jade Emperor? If you ruin my niece's good marriage, I'll kill myself at your doorstep!"
Madam Han cried out, "Fellow villagers, sisters who are passing by, please judge! My son's perfect marriage is about to be broken up by Prime Minister Cui. Is there any justice in this world?"
My Han family has never offended him in any way. Doesn't he have children of his own? Yet he's meddling in my son's marriage! My son finally managed to marry a woman who's six months pregnant, and now she's threatening suicide, saying she's too ashamed to show her face!"
As more and more onlookers gathered, the Shen family, being very experienced in shaping public opinion, hired many people to mingle among the crowd. This served two purposes: to explain the ins and outs of the matter, preventing those with ulterior motives from taking advantage of it, and to guide public opinion and fan the flames.
"This is absolutely outrageous! Why are they bringing up someone else's marriage in the imperial court!"
"Oh dear, you wouldn't believe it! I heard from the son of Zhang San's aunt, who works at the gatehouse of my wife's third aunt's house, that today in court, Prime Minister Cui really gave Vice Commander Han's wife a thorough dressing-down. He said all sorts of nasty things, no wonder she couldn't take it!"
"Why should I? She's properly married and has children, why are you insulting a woman? What, just because they're divorced doesn't mean they can't even be related? What kind of rule is that?"
"They say that the eldest daughter was pregnant before the marriage, but to be honest, it happened after Madam Han's divorce. I heard that Madam Han originally didn't want to have a wedding, feeling that it was her second marriage. But it was Vice Commander Han's first marriage, so the wedding was delayed due to the messy process. Now, people are talking about it in the court."
"This is hilarious! The Grand Secretary, the prime minister, doesn't care about the common people getting through the winter cold, but instead meddles in the private affairs of a married couple. Why doesn't Your Majesty drag this Grand Secretary out and behead him?"
……
With the New Year approaching, Shen Sanxiong returned and came over, feigning concern for the two of them. He said to Madam Han, "Aunt, if you're going to commit suicide, you should at least make some preparations. How about I help you get a coffin and some paper figures and horses?"
Madam Han was taken aback at first, then she understood and began to make a scene, "The Cui family is bullying us! After this happened, not a single person came out to say anything. They just rely on the fact that he is the Grand Secretary and don't care about people's lives. I don't want to live anymore! They are bullying me, a widow and my child..."
As soon as Shen Sanxiong spoke to the Han family members waiting outside, the Han family steward quickly brought two coffins, along with one for Madam Shen, and a pile of paper figures and horses. The onlookers were all kind-hearted and quickly stepped forward to help, setting them up at the Cui family's door.
The area in front of the Cui family's house became a scene of funeral procession.
The gatekeeper of the Cui family saw this scene through the crack in the door and hurriedly went to report, "Master, Madam, something terrible has happened! They've placed coffins at the front door, along with a pile of paper figures and horses. The area in front of the door is covered in white."
After a while, the sound of suona horns rang out, and now it was impossible to pretend not to know.
The melody was so mournful that it was enough to break the heart of anyone who heard it and bring tears to their eyes!
Prime Minister Cui still has a long-lived mother who would have been living past next year without any problem. But now, it's like they're sending her off to her funeral. The elderly are most averse to this, and upon hearing it, he immediately collapsed.
Prime Minister Cui was originally lying in bed pretending to be sick. The imperial physician said he had no internal injuries, but could he really afford to have muscle and bone pain? He wanted to extort money, but now he couldn't, and instead, he was the one being extorted.
Hearing that his mother had collapsed, he rushed to see her. She wasn't dead yet, but she was furious. "You're an official, and instead of doing your job properly, you're getting involved with people you shouldn't have! Hurry up and move all those things away from the doorway! Move them all away! You unfilial son! Do you wish I were dead so you could be free?"
This old mother is senile, and also confused from anger!
This would really infuriate his elderly mother. Because of those words, he would never be able to become an official, and he would be talked about behind his back for the rest of his life.
At this moment, Prime Minister Cui truly believed that Shen Shixi was indeed not easy to deal with!
No human being could come up with such a wicked trick.
After settling into his seat in the main hall, Prime Minister Cui, having carefully restrained himself, ordered, "Go, invite the person in charge of the Han family here. I've come to speak with him. He beat me up; what else does he want?"