Secular Immortal of the Nine Realms - Chapter 58

Chapter 58: Fang Chen, Do You Know the Consequences of Lying to the Emperor?

“You can talk to me first. What’s your business?” Fang Cangyou patted the blanket covering his laps as he replied in a lackadaisical manner.

“Fang Chen has been suspected to be involved in the disappearance of Vice Minister of Rites Qin Dong. I’m here to bring him to our barracks for investigation,” Enforcement Envoy Liu said. “I have the documents from our commander in hand, and His Majesty has approved this matter too. Second master Fang, I hope you aren’t intending to obstruct justice here.”

Fang Cangyou’s face turned livid.

The Fang Manor’s guards glared at Enforcement Envoy Liu, displaying no fear toward the Valiant Defenders. All of them used to be soldiers, be it under Fang Canghai, Fang Cangyou, or Fang Chen.

They wouldn’t hesitate to deal with the Valiant Defenders if Fang Cangyou gave the word.

“You must have gotten the wrong person. There’s nothing between Chen’er and Qin Dong,” Fang Cangyou slowly replied.

“Someone spotted Fang Chen and Vice Minister Qin Dong in the northern suburb’s Compassion Hall a few days back, and Vice Minister Qin Dong went missing right after. I personally think this is too much to shrug off as a coincidence. Of course, we’d have to investigate the matter to get to the bottom of things. Second master Fang, I’ll be troubling you to inform Fang Chen and have him follow us to our barracks,” Enforcement Envoy Liu said with a smile.

Fang Cangyou was just about to speak when Fang Chen walked out.

Enforcement Envoy Liu and his subordinates visibly tensed up upon seeing Fang Chen, but they quickly composed themselves.

“We meet again, War supreme-ruler Fang,” Enforcement Envoy Liu clasped his fist and greeted Fang Chen with a superficial smile.

“Second uncle, you have been busy the entire day. Why don’t you head back and take a rest?” Fang Chen smiled at Fang Cangyou.

Enforcement Envoy Liu’s complexion turned awful after being snubbed by Fang Chen. He spoke in a more severe voice, “War supreme-ruler Fang, you have to come with us.”

“I’m talking to my second uncle right now. Learn some patience and wait quietly by the side.” Fang Chen glared at Enforcement Envoy Liu with menacing eyes.

Enforcement Envoy Liu’s face turned bright red, but he put a lid on his anger. He was afraid Fang Chen would publicly slap him once again.

“Chen’er, is this matter serious?” Fang Cangyou asked with a suppressed voice.

“What could possibly happen?” Fang Chen laughed. “I’ll be back for dinner.”

“That’s good to hear.” Fang Cangyou laughed as well before ordering a servant to push him back to his room.

Under the sharp glare of the Fang Manor’s guards, Enforcement Envoy Liu and his subordinates took Fang Chen away with them.

A moment later, Fang Chen suddenly remarked, “This isn’t the way to your barracks.”

“We’re heading to the imperial palace. The investigation will be presided over by His Majesty in the Palace of Great Peace. Ah, other than Vice Minister Qin Dong’s disappearance, we’ll be processing the case of you ordering your subordinates to murder the cavalrymen of a Longdu viscount too,” Enforcement Envoy Liu sneered.

“It’s about time to deal with that too.” Fang Chen nodded.

Meanwhile, the officials were gathered in the Palace of Great Peace, discussing the recent disappearance of Vice Minister Qin Dong. Quite a few people noticed something was amiss when he was absent for yesterday’s morning assembly.

How could the Vice Minister of Rites, a second-grade official, miss the morning assembly without a proper excuse? This was a dereliction of duty!

Thus, Prime Minister Li Guozhu sent his men to the Qin Manor to investigate this matter, and he learned that Qin Dong didn’t return the previous night. He quickly reported it to the emperor.

The emperor ordered Xiao Shence to investigate the matter. Following Qin Dong’s trail, they were eventually led to the Compassion Hall, where they learned Fang Chen was the last person to have met him.

“But there’s no reason for War supreme-ruler Fang to harm Vice Minister Qin. There’s no grudge between them. Besides, Vice Minister Qin is our Great Xia’s second-grade official. I don’t think War supreme-ruler Fang would be so reckless as to make a move on him.”

“You can’t be certain of that. War supreme-ruler Fang… is a martial artist, after all. It’s not uncommon for martial artists to let their emotions get the better of them. Who knows? Vice Minister Qin might have offended War supreme-ruler Fang one way or another…”

“Are you saying that the martial artists see us as prey they can slaughter at their whim? Such a culture can’t be condoned! War supreme-ruler Fang has to give us an explanation!”

“Indeed! How can a second-grade official vanish into thin air? We can’t let this matter slide!”

The officials expressed their stances in the imperial court.

Li Huafeng calmly watched the crowd. He occasionally glanced at the Fifth King, who was chatting and joking around with a few other officials, though he also eyed the crown prince with his peripheral vision from time to time.

The way he took in everything around him was reminiscent of a leopard lying low in a forest, ready to launch his ambush whenever required.

Beside the crown prince, Longdu Viscount Zhou Xiu sneered, “Crown prince, your War supreme-ruler Fang is getting ahead of himself to dare harm a second-grade official of your country. Hmph! Regardless, I hope to receive a satisfactory explanation today!”

“Of course. You may put your mind at ease, Viscount Zhou,” the crown prince replied.

“Fang Chen has arrived!” a high-pitched voice echoed outside.

The crowd turned their eyes over.

Enforcement Envoy Liu entered the Palace of Great Peace together with Fang Chen, and he kneeled down and reported, “Your Majesty, I have brought young master Fang here.”

In contrast, Fang Chen remained on his feet. In view of the massive contribution he had made to Great Xia, he had been bestowed with the privilege to not have to kneel before the emperor.

Everyone turned their attention to Fang Chen.

Zhou Xiu gritted his jaws in anger at the sight of Fang Chen. If looks could kill, he would have murdered Fang Chen a thousand times over.

“You may back down,” the emperor said.

Enforcement Envoy Liu backed down and took his position behind Xiao Shence.

“Fang Chen, do you know why I have called you here today?” the emperor impassively looked at Fang Chen as he asked.

“I heard Vice Minister Qin went missing,” Fang Chen replied with a smile.

“That’s right. First and foremost, explain to me why you ordered You Longchang to raid the northern suburb’s Compassion Hall,” the emperor said.

The officials thought it was weird too. Why would Fang Chen turn his attention to, of all places, the Compassion Hall? Did the Compassion Hall somehow offend this demon?

“Your Majesty, that has nothing to do with me. I only happened to bump into it. However, I heard that Compassion Hall has been kidnapping children, prostituting women, and embezzling public funds, which I presume was why General You raided the place.” Fang Chen smiled.

“Very well, we won’t talk about that. What I want to know is where Vice Minister Qin is. You were the last person who met Vice Minister Qin before he went missing. It’s preposterous for a second-grade official of our imperial court to suddenly vanish into thin air. I need an explanation for that,” the emperor growled.

“Your Majesty, Vice Minister Qin has legs of his own. He goes wherever he wants,” Fang Chen replied.

“You’re saying you have nothing to do with Vice Minister Qin’s disappearance?” the emperor asked.

“Naturally.” Fang Chen smiled.

“Fang Chen, do you know the consequences of lying to me?” The emperor’s voice grew menacingly deep. He eyed Xiao Shence.

Xiao Shence immediately stepped forward and said, “Fang Chen, I found that Vice Minister Qin was once suspected to be behind the disappearance of a maid in his manor. The Court of Great Brilliance investigated the matter and proved Vice Minister Qin’s innocence.

“Not long ago, you and a Court of Great Brilliance’s rectifier privately looked into this case, and Vice Minister Qin went missing shortly after. Everything is related here. It seems too much to shrug this off as a coincidence.”

Xiao Shence paused for a brief moment before adding, “Our Valiant Defenders have legitimate grounds to suspect that you’re involved in Vice Minister Qin’s disappearance. I’d advise you to honestly confess to it!”