Chapter 153 Framing

Looking at Huo Yunzhan's blustering yet cowardly appearance, Shen Qingci's lips curled into an even more mocking smile: "Is the Marquis... feeling guilty?"

"It seems that 'Nan Zhu' was indeed not lying."

"You!" Huo Yunzhan's face turned ashen from her words. He subconsciously looked around and saw that the palace servants and guards around him, and even the people brought by Liu Wenyuan, all lowered their heads, but couldn't help but exchange meaningful glances with each other out of the corner of their eyes.

Those gazes were like red-hot steel needles, piercing his heart!

He roared in exasperation, "What do I have to be guilty of?! I know who I am! His Majesty is wise and will surely find out the truth and clear my name!"

He whirled around, staring intently at Shen Qingci, trying to steer the conversation back on track: "Right now, the most important thing is Chu Jichen's three major crimes! Shen Qingci, stop trying to divert attention and confuse the issue!"

"Divert attention?" Shen Qingci laughed, a laugh that was cold and sharp. "Your Excellency is mistaken. This princess is not making a fuss about this matter to confuse the issue."

"Whether you are Huo Yunzhan or Huo Yunting, this matter... is of utmost importance."

Her voice suddenly turned cold, filled with a deadly sense of oppression: "After all, I, the princess, have enough evidence to prove that Huo Yunzhan is inextricably linked to the unjust case of the massacre of my entire Shen family!"

"With this evidence, it is sufficient to prove that your so-called crime of 'framing loyal officials' is nothing but a frame-up against the Regent!"

Huo Yunzhan's pupils suddenly contracted!

He almost instinctively pressed, "What evidence?!"

Shen Qingci looked at his nervous and almost out-of-control appearance, her eyes filled with undisguised contempt and mockery.

She scoffed, "Didn't the Marquis insist that he was Huo Yunting?"

"If that's the case, then what does the evidence against 'Huo Yunzhan' have to do with you?"

“Of course it’s related!” Huo Yunzhan blurted out without thinking. “He… he’s a member of the Huo family! If he commits a crime, it’s naturally related to the Huo family!”

Shen Qingci looked at him and smiled in a cryptic way.

Then, to everyone's astonishment, she slowly took out a stack of yellowed letters and a worn booklet from her large sleeve.

"These are the evidence that I, the princess, have painstakingly collected recently."

Her voice wasn't loud, but it clearly reached the ears of everyone present, like a thunderclap from a clear sky!

"Here are secret letters between Huo Yunzhan and several generals on the border. In the letters, he coerced and bribed the generals under my father's command to steal the marching and deployment maps personally drawn by my father and brothers."

“Here,” her fingertip lightly touched another stack of letters, her eyes instantly turning icy cold, “there are also his… correspondence with the emperor of the enemy country!”

"In the letter, he offered a plan, saying that he could help the enemy country by framing my father and brothers for treason, thus eliminating a major threat to them! All he wanted was for the enemy emperor to reserve a position for him. If one day he could no longer stay in the Great Zhou, he could... go and seek refuge there!"

"Impossible!" Huo Yunzhan reacted violently, shouting angrily, "Nonsense! There is no correspondence between him and the emperor of an enemy country! This is forgery! This is slander!"

Shen Qingci, however, slowly unfolded one of the letters and displayed it to everyone.

"Forgery?" She smiled faintly. "Whether the handwriting on this matches Huo Yunzhan's handwriting is something that the gentlemen present can judge for themselves. The Marquis... is also welcome to come forward and take a good look."

Huo Yunzhan's gaze was fixed on the letter, and the color drained from his face in an instant!

That handwriting... that handwriting was clearly written by his own hand!

No! That's not right!

He never wrote any correspondence with the emperor of an enemy country!

"This is a forgery!" he roared. "Someone...someone forged this letter by imitating my...my brother's handwriting!"

Upon hearing this, Shen Qingci smiled.

She looked at him with eyes full of pity and mockery, as if she were looking at a clown.

"Oh? How can you be so certain, Lord Marquis, that it's a forgery?"

"You are just Huo Yunzhan's elder brother, not him personally. How can you be sure that he didn't write such a letter in private?"

"I, the princess, have been married to Huo Yunzhan and have been in the Huo family for almost a year. How come I didn't know that you two brothers were so close...?"

Huo Yunzhan was speechless after being silenced by Shen Qingci's words. His face turned ashen, but he couldn't utter a single word in rebuttal!

He admitted it, which meant he admitted that he was Huo Yunzhan, thus confirming all his previous crimes of deceiving the emperor!

Since he doesn't admit it, he has no grounds to determine the authenticity of the letter!

No matter which option you choose, it's a dead end!

Just when he was caught in a dilemma and in a sorry state, Liu Wenyuan, who had been watching coldly from the sidelines, finally stepped forward.

“Your Highness is mistaken.” His voice was calm, yet it held a sharp edge. “General Huo Yunzhan, who led the Western Expedition, has long since died for his country, and his remains have already been buried. A dead man cannot speak to defend himself. Now, Your Highness may say whatever you want, and may accuse him however you wish…”

"Injustice?" Shen Qingci laughed upon hearing this.

She slowly put away the letter in her hand, her gaze turning icy as she looked at Liu Wenyuan: "Your Excellency, you make it sound so easy."

"First, there was 'Nan Zhu' who escaped death and publicly identified the person; then there are these handwritten letters. The evidence is overwhelming! How did it become a baseless accusation against me in the Prime Minister's mouth?"

Her voice suddenly rose, filled with undisguised sarcasm and questioning:

"Your Excellency, without any solid evidence, relying solely on some unfounded accusations, you have the power to unite all the officials to place the Regent Prince under house arrest in the palace and interrogate him day and night in shifts!"

"How come when it's my turn, I have witnesses and evidence in hand, yet I don't even have the right to question a dead person?"

"Could it be," a chilling glint flashed in her eyes, "that I, the Princess Consort, must dig up Huo Yunzhan's grave, exhume his remains, and personally interrogate him before I can claim... solid evidence?!"

"How dare you!" Huo Yunzhan could no longer contain himself. His face turned deathly pale, and he roared in a hoarse voice, "Outrageous! Utterly outrageous!"

He stared intently at Shen Qingci, his eyes filled with resentment and disbelief: "Shen Qingci! You...you may be the Regent's Consort now, but you were once Huo Yunzhan's wife! Didn't you say that you had a deep affection for him, and were even willing to die for him?!"

"His body is barely cold, and you're already trying to curry favor with the powerful and wealthy, trying to please your crippled husband, by framing him like this? Are you really going to trample your former husband into the mud?!"

"He has already sacrificed his life for his country, dying on the battlefield! What more do you want from him?!"

"Oh……"

Shen Qingci felt nauseous listening to his shameless words that distorted the truth.

She slowly raised her eyes, and in those clear phoenix eyes, there was no longer any warmth as before, only a bone-chilling coldness and resolute determination.

“That’s right.” She spoke slowly and deliberately, her voice not loud, but firm and resolute. “I was once Huo Yunzhan’s wife, and… I truly loved him.”

“But,” her voice suddenly turned sharp, filled with undeniable hatred, “as long as he is connected to the blood feud that has stained my entire Shen family, then he is my… irreconcilable enemy!”