Resurrection Empire

Chapter 1395: Chapter 526: The Earl Apologizes with Birch and Rope (Part 2)

At first, Ren Zhong even thought that the young Baron named Han Zhixin might be Liu An’s hidden agenda. However, after consulting Sun Ai about the details and verifying Han Zhixin’s entire lawsuit, he understood it was indeed a colossal misunderstanding.

Most of the relatives in the young Baron Han Zhixin’s family and a significant number of his subjects were severely affected by this incident, leaving those who heard about it heartbroken and those who witnessed it in tears.

For a time, public opinion in the Nanxiang Star Cluster quickly became polarized.

Some people vaguely realized that Viscount Nan Jiu Grune’s lawsuit against the Red Blade Clan for infringement might stir up a storm.

Meanwhile, others, under the push of contacts from Nanxiang’s Earldom, began to express unfavorable opinions about Earl Red Blade.

The external upheaval naturally led to disturbances in the courtroom.

If this were a fair court, it might be a favorable development for the Red Blade Clan.

Lose a minor lawsuit that does no harm, and win a critical, life-changing one — it’s a strategic win.

Unfortunately, the Mechanical Empire’s nature is a technologically advanced feudal monarchy; true fairness never exists. After Liu An skillfully bypassed Wen Yuanbo and reached a compromise with the Imperial Marquis, the Chief Court was merely a display from start to finish, all biased against Red Blade Star.

The judge and jury ignored the peculiar parts in the Baron’s complaint and overlooked the inherent nature of the invisible coating. They simply lumped the incident of Ren Zhong’s underling oppressing the disillusioned old Baron and causing heavy losses to the Baron’s family and indirectly triggering frontline military defeats together, bypassing many rigorous evidential processes, attempting to rule against Red Blade Star.

Ultimately, it was Jin Simin, an empire commoner with no title, who burst into action in court, seized speaking rights from his beleaguered legal team, and relentlessly zeroed in on Augustus Academy’s inability to reasonably explain how they deduced invisible coating from the regular excrement of non-mutated Star Annihilation Ants. He slightly shifted public opinion and slightly altered the stance of the spectators at the public trial behind the court, barely securing a temporary adjournment.

In Jin Simin’s extensive career resume, there indeed was a reference to Red Blade Academy of Science and Technology Institute of Biological Synthesis.

Although he currently holds an administrative position, Jin Simin indeed understands some technical aspects, not necessarily profoundly, but he is a jack of all trades, epitomizing a comprehensively weaker version of Ren Zhong himself.

With his logical reasoning skills and eloquence, Jin Simin managed to pinpoint the crux at trial even without Ren Zhong’s remote guidance, achieving a breakthrough.

Of course, despite the adjournment, everyone knows that Augustus clan will certainly find a way to patch up this loophole in the future, at least temporarily concocting a seemingly plausible logical inference process, inevitably steering the lawsuit in a direction unfavorable to the Red Blade Clan.

Meanwhile, on Red Blade Star, in Ren Zhong’s office, there was a different scene.

Ju Qingmeng, awakened abruptly, stood awkwardly in front of Ren Zhong, her face flushed with shame and regret.

Ju Qingmeng had been a reliable steward for many years, handling affairs impartially and winning over people’s hearts, almost never making mistakes.

No one anticipated that such a minor error on her part would trigger an enormous chain reaction at such a critical moment, like the first domino falling, undermining Ren Zhong’s grand plan.

However, Ren Zhong did not summon other officials on Red Blade Star to criticize Ju Qingmeng. It was unnecessary, as no two people are alike.

Ju Qingmeng, with a sorrowful expression, said: "I saw Han Zhixin was just a twelve-year-old child, yet he was already tormented by his family’s predicament, neither human nor ghost, and I couldn’t help but feel sympathy. Coincidentally, that batch of samples had passed Ren Zhong’s personal review, so I thought nothing would go wrong and arbitrarily sold it to him at half price. But to avoid impacting the regular pricing strategy for invisible coatings later on, I didn’t include this contract in the commerce department’s order system. That resulted in the oversight during your planning, and it’s all my fault."

Ren Zhong stepped forward, but instead of blaming her, gently grasped her hand, saying softly: "If we’re talking about errors, this certainly counts, but I don’t blame you. Every matter has cause and effect. Your judgment is swayed when faced with a twelve-year-old child, ultimately, it is because I haven’t been able to give you a child. So the source of this issue is my own responsibility."