The case against the Cui Family had emerged from military dispatches from the Northern Border. It began with the winter padded uniforms for the troops stationed there, which had still not arrived. Snow had already begun falling there, and the nights were cold enough to freeze people to death. The quartermaster in charge of procurement hemmed and hawed, and as the investigation worked its way up, it finally led to a fourth-rank bureau director in the Ministry of War. His surname was Cui, and he was Noble Lady Cui's older brother.
The memorial had been submitted jointly by the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue, complete with account books, confessions, and witnesses' signed statements. Cotton purchased with military funds had been replaced with crushed stones to make up the weight, ginseng slices in the medicinal supplies had been replaced with dried radish, and even half the grain provisions consisted of moldy old grain. The sums involved were so staggering that several senior ministers in the Grand Secretariat drew sharp breaths at the sight.
After reviewing that memorial in the West Warm Pavilion, Qi Xiao wrote a single line: investigate thoroughly; proceed according to the law. Once the memorial was passed down, the Grand Secretariat drafted an edict overnight.
Noble Lady Cui knelt on the white marble steps outside Xuanzheng Hall. She simply knelt there, her back rigidly straight. The pearl ornaments in her hair were perfectly arranged, and her makeup was immaculate, but her face was utterly bloodless. She neither requested an audience nor asked anyone to carry a message; she simply knelt there. Because no one dared carry a message for her. De'an stood beneath the covered walkway, holding his horsetail whisk, and sighed inwardly as he looked at her back. He knew His Majesty would not