98: I could guess it, but I didn't care.

"Interrogation? Why are you asking me about this?"

"Stop pretending, Master. You have plenty of confessions and case files in your study. Are you still interested in this?"

"Interested, my foot! That was when I was young. My old man worked at the yamen and forced me to learn it!"

"Exactly. So, Master, tell me, how do you conduct coercive interrogation? Is it enough to just use heavy torture?"

"Sometimes it works, sometimes torture is meaningless, especially when interrogating officials. Unless you enter the Pacification Bureau... But even if you do, the Three Judicial Offices will hold a joint trial, and some will stubbornly retract their confessions, claiming they were beaten into submission. Then you'll have to retry the case."

Xie Qingfeng stroked his beard and said with an air of profound mystery, "Being able to extract a confession without leaving a single mark on the prisoner—that is the real skill. Yingqi, remember this: interrogating a prisoner is the same as dueling. Unless you run into a peerless expert like your master, the best defense is offense."

"You must press forward step by step, giving the opponent no room to breathe. Furthermore, you must know your opponent thoroughly, dig out everything about him, find everything, and leave him with no way out."

At that time, a young Mo Yingqi nodded thoughtfully, "How shameless."

"Hey, you rebellious disciple, what did I say wrong?"

"Oh, your logic is sound, but you claim to be a peerless expert—does Old Granny Nangong know about that?"

"...You brat, you just have to bring up the one thing you shouldn't, don't you?"

Therefore, Mo Yingqi always firmly believed that to interrogate a prisoner, one must have complete mastery over everything about him, find all his weaknesses, and finally tear his facade to shreds.

"If you want to speak, you will naturally speak. If you don't want to, I don't care. As I said, the fallen you and the current me..." Mo Yingqi paused, then suddenly smiled. "Actually, I didn't expect it to be like this today—you below and me above... Don't misunderstand, although I joined the Pacification Bureau for this very day, I certainly didn't expect it to be like this."

"If you confess, I feel there is no need for me here, nor for Minister Shen. It would only need to be handed over to subordinates to record, and then ask some supplementary questions. But if you don't confess, Minister Shen and I can actually leave the court immediately; after all, we can just pass judgment directly."

Hearing this, Zhang Jiawen couldn't help but look up at Shen Xian. But Shen Xian just had a playful smile on his face; he didn't say anything, yet Zhang Jiawen seemed to not need him to say anything at all.

It was obvious that Shen Xian was on Mo Yingqi's side, and furthermore, Mo Yingqi's words just now were not only for him to hear, but also to tell Shen Xian.

For someone like Shen Xian who had been on the battlefield, and now holding the imperial edict plaque, Zhang Jiawen didn't think he would be unable to order the execution of a few hundred people.

The Zhang family had been Zhou Chutian's people all these years. From Shen Xian's perspective, truly wiping out the Zhang clan would not be a wrong thing for him to do.

Just as Mo Yingqi said, it was merely adding a few strokes of ink; who would care? When the Flying Fish Guard of the Pacification Bureau arrested officials who once held high positions, upon hearing them clamor about their past achievements, they would often mockingly say: "That's enough, my lord. An official who has committed a serious crime is not even as good as a common prisoner, so what are you still shouting about?"

It had come to this; let alone his own heartless father-in-law, those so-called colleagues and friends from the past would likely avoid him at all costs. Investigate? Investigate my foot. As long as Shen Xian confirmed it, and Mo Yingqi really modified the case files, no one would care if they dragged him straight to the vegetable market for execution!

When you were in your prime, you were a Provincial Administration Commissioner, a high official, and everyone had to show you respect. Once you commit a crime, you are nothing but mud on the ground, and anyone can step on you!

"I confess, I confess..." Zhang Jiawen seemed to have little strength left. "I'll state this first, though: if I confess, do you dare to act on it? Minister Shen, Mo Yingqi is ignorant, are you ignorant too?"

"Heh, don't worry about that." Shen Xian stood up and walked down from the chief judge's seat. "I know what you mean, Provincial Governor Zhang. You want to tell me that many people are involved, right? Perhaps even more than just Grand Chancellor Zhou, and there are likely many families in the capital, right?"

"You can go ahead and say it. See if those people die of old age or if they meet you very soon! Whether you are exiled or sent to hell, I, Shen Xian, guarantee that these people will, one by one, accompany you across the Naihe Bridge!"

Having said that, Shen Xian didn't look at Zhang Jiawen again, but nodded at Mo Yingqi. Mo Yingqi understood and followed Shen Xian back to the back hall.

As soon as they sat down, Shen Xian couldn't help but say, "Imperial Son-in-law, you were too impulsive. How did you find out about the late Emperor? And how could you casually speak of it?"

"No one told me; it was entirely my own guess." Mo Yingqi showed an apologetic smile. "Actually, it's easy to guess. I even suspect that although the late Emperor suppressed these things, he never intended for this incriminating evidence to be completely buried. Otherwise, how could a lowly seventh-rank Captain like me browse and view them at will?"

"The Pacification Bureau is directly under The Emperor, so naturally, it is of one mind with The Emperor. The late Emperor didn't allow it to be made public, so the Pacification Bureau naturally wouldn't make it public. But likewise, the late Emperor didn't allow it to be destroyed or sealed, so the Pacification Bureau naturally wouldn't do so either. I only formed this hypothesis after reading these case files."

Hearing Mo Yingqi say this, Shen Xian was somewhat surprised. After all, the Pacification Bureau is like an iron bolt; many things, even he couldn't fully know. In fact, when Mo Yingqi said these things just now, he was also somewhat surprised.

"As for why I say this, Provincial Governor Zhang is nine times out of ten aware of it. So he didn't confess at the beginning because the Pacification Bureau still had so many case files suppressed, but The Emperor didn't make a big deal out of it, and instead is still sparring with him; he can't figure out The Emperor's intentions."

Mo Yingqi said, with a hint of helplessness in his tone: "Actually, he never thought that case files are just case files. Many things, calculated from the late Emperor's time to now—to think you can topple this world's number one powerful Minister just by relying on some case files? How is that possible?"

"Instead of caring about those in the past, it's better to grab some meaningful ones, with sufficient evidence that leaves him with no room to argue. Besides, aren't you already investigating many of the things recorded in those case files now?"

Shen Xian couldn't help nodding upon hearing this; it was indeed the case. Grabbing onto things with vague evidence or no evidence at all, and then trying to get serious with Zhou Chutian, was completely meaningless.

"However, I thought you would use Zhang Yingcheng to threaten him." Although Shen Xian knew in his heart, he still had to pretend he didn't know. "After all, for him, that eldest son is the most important."

"How can a dead person threaten the living? Granduncle, you really know how to joke."

Mo Yingqi looked at Shen Xian with a half-smile; this sentence caught him off guard. Mo Yingqi shook his head and lowered his voice: "I am not a fool. Yesterday, no matter how much Aunt Ying Hong and the others tried to hide it, the smell of blood was still revealed a little."

"So I am clear that Sister Yongan and Sister Yongning have probably already done something. And Zhang Jiawen was begging me to let Zhang Yingcheng go before, but today he didn't mention it at all."

"However, I don't care about that. Whatever they do is for the best, so I guessed it, but I... I don't care."