Broken Jade - Chapter 93

Chapter 93

“Old Woman Meng, don’t talk nonsense. Shen Tongshu was never wronged.”

Someone in the crowd offered the weak protest in a low voice.

But Old Woman Meng’s cloudy eyes immediately locked onto him.

“Xu Wu.”

Leaning on her cane, she walked up to him and raised a trembling finger. “You ungrateful bastard. When your mother fell ill and you had no money for treatment, who helped carry her to the clinic and paid for her medicine?”

“And you, Wang Er.” She pointed at another man. “When your old house caught fire and your wife and children were trapped inside, even you were too afraid to rush in. Who ran into the flames and saved them for you?”

“You, Zhao Song. When you were falsely accused of murder all those years ago, do you remember who spent days running himself ragged to find the evidence that cleared your name?”

“And you, Ji Ertie…”

Old Woman Meng pointed them out one by one, recounting every deed from the past.

Only then did Sheng Zhaoning and Wei Heng realize that every person present had once received Shen Tongshu’s kindness.

It could even be said that every commoner in Pinghe County had benefited from his grace.

For some, he had saved their lives. For others, he had lent a helping hand. And for all of them, his honest governance had allowed them to live and work in peace.

The truth that had been deliberately buried and kept from the world was now on the verge of coming to light.

Everyone lowered their heads in shame, clutching at their clothes, unable to utter a word.

Old Woman Meng closed her eyes, and two streams of cloudy tears rolled down her cheeks.

“And me too.” She stumbled twice and barely managed to steady herself.

“Without Magistrate Shen, I would have died during that winter when I had nothing to eat. The County Magistrate took me in, gave me food, and let me work at the county office tending the fires. He saved this old woman’s wretched life.”

By then, Old Woman Meng’s face was streaked with tears.

She turned around, threw aside her cane, and dropped to her knees. Looking up at Wei Heng on the bench, she spoke with the resolve of someone prepared to die.

“I don’t care who’s sitting in judgment today-whether they’re a pack of rotten bastards or an Upright Judge with eyes to see!”

“Every last one of them is afraid to die, but I’m not!”

Kneeling on the floor, Old Woman Meng broke into heart-wrenching sobs. “Magistrate Shen was wronged!”

In the courtroom, beneath the plaque proclaiming, A Bright Mirror Hangs High, no one answered.

Only Old Woman Meng’s anguished weeping remained, echoing through the hall for a long, long time.

The County Deputy turned his reddened eyes away, his eye sockets burning.

Sheng Zhaoning slowly curled her ten fingers inward, one after another, until both hands were clenched into fists.

Wei Heng suppressed the ache in his heart and demanded coldly, “Li Changhan, even now, do you still intend to conceal the truth?”

Only then did the County Deputy’s shoulders slump. As if every last bit of strength had left him, he sank to his knees.

“My lord, do you think I never tried to tell anyone?”

He wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes and pointed at the commoners in the courtroom, letting out a bitter laugh. “And them? Do you think they didn’t want to speak?”

The people raised their heads, their faces taut with emotions they could not express. There was fear in their eyes, along with sorrow and guilt.

His lips trembling and his eyes rimmed red, the County Deputy looked at Wei Heng.

“The truth? What is the truth? The truth is that group after group of you came here to investigate and ask questions, yet once you learned what really happened, not one of you dared report it to your superiors!”

“The truth is that the people of Pinghe County cried out again and again that Magistrate Shen had been wronged, only to be assassinated one by one-or threatened with the lives of their families until they kept their mouths shut!”

“The truth is that no one dares even mention Shen Tongshu’s name. Every trace of his existence has been erased. The truth is that an honest official sacrificed himself to save every last person in this county!”

“In a world where human life is worth less than weeds, who would still care about the so-called truth?”

Each question thundered through the courtroom, deafening in its force.

It wasn’t as though he had never spoken out.

He had submitted document after document, only for every one of them to be rejected.

Those people had turned Pinghe County upside down. Every last one of them feared that Shen Tongshu’s name would be cleared, feared that their own filth would be exposed before the Upright Judge along with proof of his innocence.

If they wanted to live, Shen Tongshu could not be allowed to remain a good man.

So this was the truth: power really could silence every living soul.

Sheng Zhaoning drew a deep breath and looked at him. “Heaven’s law and human justice live on in the hearts of the people. The people’s hearts may not be enough to clear his name, but there will always be someone who holds true to that conviction and can do it for them.”

“So tell me-what is the truth?”

Li Changhan stared into her eyes, tears glistening behind his smile. “I dare to speak. But do you dare investigate, Magistrate?”

Sheng Zhaoning met his gaze without wavering. “If you dare speak, I dare investigate.”

He studied her eyes for a long time, weighing truth against falsehood, searching her gaze for deception-for even the tiniest crack in her resolve.

But there was none.

Her eyes were clear and unclouded, her gaze blazing with searing heat, as though she meant to burn away all the corruption in this world and scour it clean.

At last, Li Changhan let the crushing burden fall from his shoulders.

Whether he lived or died no longer mattered.

He had held this grievance inside for far too long. If he continued to endure in silence, then even if he managed to cling to life, his conscience would torment him for the rest of his days.

His gaze grew distant as he enunciated each word. “Magistrate Shen never embezzled a single thing.”

Then, as though he were an outsider recounting someone else’s tale, Li Changhan began from the very beginning.

“Starting in the third month, Jizhou and the other prefectures and counties of the Northern Territory were suddenly struck by a severe drought. Not a single drop of rain fell.

“The imperial court sent batch after batch of grain and relief funds. But after passing through hand after hand, all that reached Pinghe County was a few sacks of broken rice mixed with husks.”

A laugh broke from him through his tears. “But how could that possibly be enough?

“After years of war, the common people had no grain left in reserve. They could only struggle to survive on thin gruel made from that broken rice and those husks.

“Magistrate Shen distributed every grain of rice to the people. He starved until he barely had the strength to walk, and even then, there still wasn’t nearly enough food.

“Every memorial he submitted vanished without a trace. Ten thousand acres of fertile fields yielded not a single grain. The people starved to death one after another, and the whole of Pinghe County fell into ruin-yet he still could not obtain so much as one more grain of rice!”

By this point, Li Changhan’s face was filled with anguish.

“No one beyond Jizhou knew of the disaster. The officials above were terrified of being held accountable, so they suppressed the news and refused to let it reach the Capital. Those below had nowhere to turn and no one to hear their pleas. Corpses littered Pinghe County, yet the imperial court still knew nothing!

“After everyone along the way had taken their cut of the disaster relief funds, how could even a single copper coin remain by the time they reached Pinghe County?

“They accused him of embezzlement? What was there for him to embezzle? Those worthless husks? Those burlap sacks packed with sand to make them look full?

“Magistrate Shen could not stand by and watch the entire county starve to death. He knew why no one dared report the disaster in Jizhou: the relief silver had all gone into the pockets of higher officials. They feared an investigation by the imperial court, so the truth could not be revealed. They did not dare reveal it. All they could do was keep it tightly suppressed. Jizhou needed someone to bear the infamy!

“And so Magistrate Shen asked all the people of the county to sign a joint petition accusing him before the prefectural court. He wanted the Censor to present his crimes before the throne, so that he could carry the truth of Pinghe County’s countless starving dead upon his shoulders and spread it throughout the Capital!

“Only then was the disaster in Jizhou revealed to the entire realm.

“Magistrate Shen entered this deadly game with his own life as the stake and won a chance at survival for all the people of Jizhou. But he himself could only endure the condemnation of the entire realm, become a man cursed by thousands, and lose his good name forever…”