Chapter 387 Watch her put on a good show

The moment Yuan Wanru stepped into the hall, she felt a chill coming from the hall and she shivered slightly.

Today she wore loose clothes and walked inside with her head lowered. Her frail figure looked even thinner and her steps were so unsteady that it seemed as if she would fall down at any time.

"Lu Jiangnian's wife, Yuan, pays respect to His Majesty. Long live the emperor."

She knelt on the ground, her voice as soft as a mosquito. As soon as she finished speaking, she covered her lips and coughed twice, and her shoulders trembled slightly.

The emperor narrowed his eyes and looked at the woman.

The emperor naturally knew about her background, and he was quite satisfied that Lu Jiangnian married such a woman.

I didn't expect that such an ordinary woman would dare to take such risks alone.

Having just listened to Concubine Liang's description, he imagined that Yuan Wanru should be a heroic woman with a valiant and heroic demeanor. But now, he saw that her face was as pale as paper, and she was trembling even when she knelt.

So timid?

"Are you, sick?"

The emperor's voice echoed in the hall.

Yuan Wanru seemed to be frightened by the might of heaven. She shrank three points lower, with her forehead almost touching the ground: "Ahem, I'm not sick..."

She paused, her voice growing weaker, "Alas, I am also sick."

This incoherent answer made everyone in the hall look puzzled.

The emperor looked at Concubine Liang meaningfully and said calmly, "Yuanshi, look up and see who is in the palace."

Yuan Wanru then raised her head tremblingly, her almond-shaped eyes filled with water as she looked around the hall timidly.

When her eyes fell on Concubine Liang and her son, she widened her eyes like a frightened deer, and then hurriedly lowered her head.

When her eyes fell on the prince, her tense body relaxed a little.

When she looked at the emperor for the last time, her whole body was shaking like a fallen leaf in the autumn wind, and she immediately bent down again.

"I see... clearly." She answered in a soft voice, so soft that it was almost inaudible, just like a woman who had never seen the world.

There was a flash of surprise in the prince's eyes.

Last year, on the Crown Princess’ birthday, in the dark room of the East Palace, even though the traitor had been beaten to a pulp, Yuan remained calm, showing extraordinary courage and sharpness.

He now looks so cowardly, completely different from what I remember.

The prince almost laughed out loud when he remembered that Lu Jiangnian once said, "My wife is best at using softness to overcome hardness," and his tense heartstrings relaxed a little.

Yuanshi is really a wonderful person.

The emperor tapped the armrests of the dragon throne with his knuckles, and the dull sound echoed in the hall. His hawk-like eyes swept back and forth between Yuan Wanru's huddled figure and Concubine Liang and her son, and finally stopped on Yuan Wanru.

"Yuanshi, Concubine Liang accused you of personally admitting that you poisoned the Second Prince, rendering him inhumane. Is this true?"

Yuan Wanru looked up suddenly when she heard that, her almond-shaped eyes widened, and her pale lips trembled slightly, just like a frightened rabbit.

But when she met the emperor's sharp gaze, she immediately retracted her neck, almost curling up into a ball. The emperor frowned at her timid look - how incompetent is his son, since she was such a coward and forced Murong Xiao to retreat?

"No... cough cough..." She covered her lips and coughed softly, her voice as soft as a mosquito's hum, "Your Majesty, I am wronged. I have never poisoned you."

Before she finished her words, she swayed and almost fell, her wide sleeves swinging with her trembling arms.

The Second Prince had just recovered from the beating from the Crown Prince, and when he saw Yuan Wanru's quail-like appearance, he was so angry that he almost vomited blood.

That day at Ziyun Temple, Yuan Wanru was so aggressive and arrogant. She threatened him to release Sun Haining and forced him to abandon his cousin. She was simply a female devil.

Now, she is pretending to be a little white rabbit here? !

It just pissed him off to death.

The second prince, with bruises all over his face, shouted: "Father, don't be fooled by her. This woman is very bold. She is pretending, she is pretending!"

Concubine Liang also interrupted: "Last time in the palace, I met Yuan Shi. She was very eloquent then, not like she is now."

"Yuanshi, do you know that the crime of deceiving the emperor is punishable by the death of all nine generations of the clan?"

Yuan Wanru trembled all over when she heard this, and her eyes turned red instantly.

She bit her lower lip, tears welling up in her eyes, but she stubbornly refused to let them fall.

"I...no, ahem..."

"I, your humble servant, have not deceived the king... I dare not..."

She seemed so frightened that she was incoherent.

Her voice was choked with sobs, but she suddenly mustered up the courage to look up, "You are wrongly accusing a good person... You are the bad guys, and you are actually crying thief..."

She looked at the emperor timidly and said, "Your Majesty is wise. I did not poison you."

He said this quickly and softly, and immediately lowered his head like a child who had made a mistake.

The prince clenched his fists tightly, and he had to use all his strength to hold back his laughter.

This Yuanshi's ability to play dumb is truly unique.

The prince caught a glimpse of his father's thoughtful expression and knew that this scene was becoming more and more interesting.

The emperor's gaze wandered between the several people and finally stopped on Yuan Wanru.

Although she was trying to remain calm, the knuckles of her crossed hands had turned white, and there were even beads of sweat on her forehead. She really looked like she was terrified.

Who is lying?

The emperor's eyes darkened, and his voice was dignified without anger: "Yuanshi, I want to ask you, at the first birthday banquet of the third prince's legitimate son, why did Lu Jiangnian expose the second prince's hidden illness in public? How did he know such a private matter?"

The second prince was smug when he heard this, and glanced at Yuan Wanru with a sinister look: "Isn't it? If it wasn't the person who poisoned her, how could he know so much?"

Yuan Wanru suddenly looked up, the timid look on her face disappeared, and a sharp light flashed in her eyes.

She pointed directly at the Second Prince, her voice trembling with anger: "Your Majesty, please understand! It was the Second Prince who took human life first!"

"Second Prince, you are too cruel and cold-blooded!"

She straightened her back and spoke in a sonorous voice: "Those folk doctors who treated you couldn't cure your hidden illness, so you killed them to silence them! That old doctor cured countless patients throughout his life, but he died in vain at your hands!"

"When you wake up in the middle of the night, do you feel any guilt?"

The second prince was stunned. He didn’t expect that she actually knew about this matter?

Yuan Wanru had tears in her eyes, but she stubbornly refused to let them fall.

"My husband has always been upright. He found out about this incident by chance. He couldn't stand such atrocities, so he exposed the matter in public to make the Second Prince afraid to kill innocent people again!"

She turned to the emperor and said earnestly, "Since that day, the Second Prince has indeed stopped harming doctors. Your Majesty, my husband is repaying his grievances with justice, and his intentions are good!"

"I didn't expect that our good intentions would become an excuse for you to frame us."

"Poison? How can I have the ability to poison you?"

These words made the prince applaud.

He spoke at the right time: "Father, please be wise. Yuan Shi has been raised in seclusion since she was young, and she rarely even leaves the mansion. When Jiang Nian married her at the behest of his parents, he complained to me."

He glanced at Concubine Liang meaningfully: "As Lord Tang said, Concubine Liang's accusation really does not stand up to scrutiny."

The emperor's eyes were as sharp as lightning. Although Yuan Wanru straightened her back at this moment, her thin body was still shaking slightly. After her impassioned speech just now, she returned to her cautious appearance, but the stubbornness in her eyes had not yet faded.

The second prince's face turned pale. "You have such a sharp tongue, confusing right and wrong. That day at Ziyun Temple, you clearly admitted with your own mouth that it was you who poisoned me and forced me to release Sun Haining, Yuanshi. Now you deny it?!"

Concubine Liang quickly stopped her: "Xiao'er..."

How stupid! How can I talk about this in front of the Emperor?