To spare a life, in essence, meant leaving behind enough property to barely sustain oneself, allowing the Cui clan members to return to the lives of ordinary commoners.
Had Lu Qing Wan truly agreed, the Bo Ling Cui clan would have been forever relegated from the ranks of the noble families.
Cui Wang Shi immediately refused, "My lord, what are you saying? You are confused! If you hand over all the family's assets, will the clan not curse you to death? How will Hen'er and Yuan'er live in the future?!"
As she spoke, she began to sob. "Since marrying into the Cui clan, I have been filial to my in-laws and raised my children. After so many years of hard work, my children will now have to compete with those lowly commoners for a living..."
She blamed heaven and earth but not herself. The several officials in the imperial study frowned repeatedly.
Lu Qing Wan said with a cold gaze, "Lord Cui, do you know that there are many officials in the court like you, who know nothing and end up with the crime of beheading?"
Cui Wan Yuan was stunned, "What does the Princess Consort mean?"
"The Tujue know that the officials in the court are all personally selected by His Highness and will not betray him in the short term. Therefore, they found many women like Cui Wang Shi, and many others who are greedy, insatiable, and foolish, to commit grave crimes that implicate their families. They then further coerced the husbands of these women into working for them. If those officials complied, they would naturally become their lackeys. If they refused, they would face the grave crime of confiscation of property and extermination of their clan, just like you, Lord Cui. Lord Cui, perhaps you can think back if any disreputable individuals have approached you in the past half year."
This matter from the very beginning was led by Lu Qing Wan. As she spoke, Cui Wan Yuan subconsciously began to recall. Indeed, he did remember something.
"Your humble servant remembers, it was about a month ago, the day after His Highness and the Princess Consort returned, and His Highness was to meet with all the officials. That day, a registrar whose rank was not high enough to enter the palace insisted on having me escort him into the palace to broaden his horizons, saying he wanted to catch a glimpse of His Highness's true appearance. To see His Highness, he also offered to give me a genuine work by Marquis Zhao Lie and five thousand taels of silver. He also prepared my favorite Junshan Silver Needle and several calligraphy and paintings. Your humble servant despises such schemers, so I reported his actions to the Left Censorate. Later, he was expelled from the Tongzhengsi. Now that I think about it, that person's intention was not to see His Highness, but to deliberately drag me into trouble, wasn't it?"
Lu Qing Wan smiled, "Was it a registrar named Teng Dai Yun?"
Cui Wan Yuan nodded repeatedly, "It is indeed this person. Does the Princess Consort know him?"
Lu Qing Wan nodded calmly, "Since the Shence Camp confirmed that Cui Wang Shi was the source of the New Dynasty's assimilationist theory, I took it upon myself to thoroughly investigate all of Lord Cui's experiences since entering the court. Lord Lu, you will not blame me for overstepping my bounds, will you?"
How would Cui Wan Yuan dare! "The Princess Consort has sharp eyes. Your humble servant is too grateful to dare to blame you."
Cui Wang Shi, standing to the side, glared resentfully at Lu Qing Wan and Cui Wan Yuan.
Lu Qing Wan then calmly looked at the others, "The officials of the Three Judicial Offices have been invited today to pass judgment on Cui Wang Shi. As for inviting the Southern Prime Minister and the two Grand Secretaries, it is because I have a personal request, and I hope you will all grant it."
Grand Secretary Wen learned that Wen Ru Ge had been impersonated and that Lu Qing Wan was making every effort to find the real Wen Ru Ge. At that time, he was extremely grateful to Lu Qing Wan. Hearing this, he calmly said, "I wonder what the Princess Consort wishes for us to do. Perhaps you could tell us first?"
This was exactly what Lu Qing Wan wanted to hear. She seized the opportunity and said, "I wish to say that many officials in the court are like Lord Cui, who are themselves innocent but are implicated by their families. Some even have brothers who are at odds with each other, and although they are called brothers, they are actually worse than enemies. As a result, when a brother commits a crime and is punished by law, our ministers have to be implicated. Therefore, I wish to say, can we deal with this rumor by focusing on the facts of the matter?"
The Minister of Dali Temple silently raised his hand, "Perhaps the Princess Consort's so-called 'focusing on the facts of the matter' refers to what?"
Lu Qing Wan raised her elegant hand and pointed at Cui Wang Shi, "For example, this foolish woman, due to the troubles of her own family, has developed paranoia. At one moment, she feels her sister-in-law is bullying her for her family's decline and mocking her poor background. At another, she feels that her family's crimes will cause Lord Cui to divorce her for his career, thus harming her son and daughter. Incited by others, she has done many things that even considerable rewards would not prompt anyone to do. In cases like this, Lord Cui and others from the Cui family are completely implicated by this foolish woman. If Lord Cui is willing to divorce this foolish woman and clearly inform the other members of the Cui family of what she has done, and make them abandon the thought of avenging Cui Wang Shi, will you not implicate Lord Cui and the other members of the Cui family?"
As soon as Lu Qing Wan said this, a silence fell upon the imperial study. The ministers all had one thought: "This is a heart-wrenching move. Such skillful handling is indeed worthy of a future empress."
As for Cui Wang Shi, she could no longer sit still, "Wicked woman! How dare you instigate the Cui to divorce me? May you die a horrible death!" Ultimately, she was just a conservative woman of the inner chambers. While she appeared bold, in her bones, she viewed reputation as sacred. To be divorced, in her view, was only slightly better than death.
Cui Wan Yuan, however, was slightly taken aback. From the moment he heard Cui Wang Shi's words in the side hall, he had no hope. He felt that being able to save the lives of the Cui clan members was already fortunate amidst misfortune. The current situation, however, was much better than he had imagined. He looked at Cui Wang Shi blankly and said firmly, "Although Duke Pei and your maternal family both came from the Chu clan, when Duke Pei was in his prime, your father was merely a minor county official. When the second son of the Cui clan married, we only looked at character, not family background. Your sister-in-law came from a gentry family, and no one in the clan looked down on her. Only you, always comparing yourself to others. I knew you were not as happy as the young masters and ladies of the Duke Pei's mansion, so I never argued with you. But what have you done?"
Cui Wang Shi slumped to the ground, her smile bleak. "Yes, you have never argued with me, because you were not qualified to argue with me!" She suddenly became frantic, "My Chu clan is the royal family of the previous dynasty, with countless empresses and concubines among our ancestors! What are you? If my family had not fallen into decline, would a rigid and uninteresting commoner's son like you be worthy of marrying me?! And you say you don't argue with me? Do you think I won't argue just because you don't? You want to divorce me to save your Cui clan? You wish! The day you became a Tongzhengshi of the New Dynasty, I took our marriage contract and your birth charts to the ancestral shrine and burned them! You want to divorce me? Only when you are dead!"
Everyone's expression changed drastically upon hearing this. Marriage required birth charts and a marriage contract, and so did divorce. Without these, a divorce could only be arranged by the clan after the man's death. After death, these were not needed.