Chapter 25: Being Cheated

Luo Zhaohan tilted his head and looked at her. "The second daughter of Minister Ling? Last month, your father reported my father, the commander-in-chief, for withholding military pay. His Majesty wrote in red ink, 'No substantive evidence found.' The ink hasn't even dried yet, has it?"

Ling Zhen's face paled, her nails inlaid with shells digging deep into her palms. Her father had indeed been reprimanded by the emperor for this matter.

"Enough!" Chao Yinzhen lashed the stone table with a whip, causing the teacup to jump. "Do you think this is the lobby of the Ministry of Justice?"

"The Ministry of Justice won't be able to investigate these boudoir secrets." Luo Zhaohan suddenly pulled out a stack of yellowed paper from his sleeve. "Should I read the passage 'I wish to be the southwest wind, forever in your arms' from Xie Wuqi's seventh letter to Liu Yueli in front of you all?"

The girl in the yellow goose-yellow shirt suddenly knocked over the teacup. She remembered that this poem was inscribed on the Xiangfei bamboo fan Liu Yueli had acquired last month.

"The eighth letter is even more interesting." Luo Zhaohan held the golden paper between his fingers. "'Ali's skin was as white as cream, and that day, Meilin—'"

"Shut up!" Chao Yinzhen reached out to grab it, but Luo Zhaohan spun around to avoid it. The hem of her crimson skirt swept across the honeysuckle blossoms on the ground, startling a few butterflies.

"What's the princess panicking about?" Luo Zhaohan retreated to the wisteria trellis, the letter rustling between his fingers. "Aren't you seeking justice for Liu Yueli? These are all physical evidence. I'm not afraid to report this to His Majesty!"

There was a chaotic sound of footsteps at the end of the gravel road. Sun Honglei and a few young masters had just turned through the moon-shaped gate when they heard Luo Zhaohan's last sentence, "I am not afraid of reporting to the emperor." Everyone stopped in their tracks.

Chao Yinzhen's knuckles turned white as he gripped the golden horsewhip.

This princess was a notorious troublemaker in the capital when she was young, and only in the past two years since she came of age did she learn to control her temper. Now, being publicly contradicted, her face flushed red.

Luo Zhaohan straightened her back even more. Her spring gown was thin, and one could see her collarbone rising and falling with each breath. "Since Princess Liu Yueli is seeking justice, have you ever asked her when she and Xie Wuqi were secretly in love? I was the one who got engaged at eleven, and she was the one who entered the general's mansion at twelve!"

"The Xie family was afraid of my father's military power, so they wanted to cancel the engagement but didn't dare to say it out loud. On the day they came to propose..." She suddenly choked up, her fingertips digging deep into her palm, "That bastard broke off the engagement in front of my parents and changed his mind to marry Liu Yueli!"

The crowd gasped.

"Those letters are hidden under the third floor tile in the east wing of the Xie family's courtyard. The princess has sent people to search for them, and the ink is still fresh." Luo Zhaohan suddenly pulled out the pouch from his waist and poured out several jade tablets with a clang. "These are tokens of trust they gave each other. Do you want me to read the words 'Ali, my love' and 'Qilang, yours sincerely' from the letter?"

Chao Yinzhen unconsciously took half a step back.

The corners of the girl's eyes were red, but she didn't shed any tears. She looked more like... a she-wolf who was cornered in her father's hunting ground.

"Princess, do you know why I've endured this long?" Luo Zhaohan suddenly lowered her voice. "Liu Yueli's father died trying to save my own father. My mother held her five-year-old daughter in her arms and stood guard in the mourning hall for three days and three nights." She raised her hand to her chest. "I was six that year, and she wept until the very end of my dress."

"Now, I want to ask you, Princess," Luo Zhaohan suddenly raised his voice, "Are you seeking justice for the descendants of loyal martyrs today, or are you helping the ungrateful wicked?"

Chao Yinzhen lashed the wisteria trellis with his whip, sending petals cascading down his shoulders. "What a sharp-tongued Miss Luo! So, I'm the one meddling in your business, aren't I?"

"You are the one who only listens to one side of the story." Luo Zhaohan actually took two steps forward, and the hem of her crimson skirt swept across the scattered petals on the stone steps.

There was a thud from behind the flower stand, and a figure dressed as a servant fled in panic. Sun Honglei narrowed his eyes and recognized it as a servant of the Xie family. He secretly sighed that Xie Wuqi was not a clean man.

At this moment, Luo Zhaohan suddenly felt a burning sensation in his throat.

The heat came strangely, rising from her dantian to her heart, making her temples throb violently. She struggled to hold onto the stone table beside her, her nails scratching white marks on the moss.

"If you don't believe me..." Her voice began to tremble, but she still held her head high, "Why not...why not now..."

"Enough!" Chao Yinzhen suddenly swung out the horsewhip and wrapped it around her wrist, "Do you think I am the Jingzhao Yin who is here to interrogate cases?" Although he said this, the ending tone was a little weak.

Luo Zhaohan staggered, a red mark immediately appearing on her wrist. She grabbed the whip with her backhand, using it to steady herself. "The princess doesn't dare to investigate?"

"You!" Chao Yinzhen stamped his feet in anger, crushing several Impatiens flowers with his cloud-shaped brocade shoes. Just as he was about to explode, he noticed an abnormal flush on the side of Luo Zhaohan's neck, and beads of sweat were rolling down his jaw into his collar.

Whispers rang out in the crowd: "Why did she suddenly..." "Is she possessed by some evil spirit..." "Look at her eyes!"

Luo Zhaohan himself also realized that something was wrong.

His vision began to turn red, and the buzzing in his ears grew louder, but he still gritted his teeth and sneered: "Where is the princess's momentum just now? Wasn't she going to enforce justice on behalf of heaven?"

The armor was hanging three inches in front of Luo Zhaohan's face, and the South China Sea pearl wrapped around Chao Yinzhen's wrist suddenly broke.

The moment Luo Zhaohan raised his hand to block, his palm became as hot as a branding iron, shocking Chao Yinzhen so much that he forgot to move.

The noble ladies exclaimed and surrounded him, and the golden hairpin became a phantom in front of Luo Zhaohan.

As Sun Honglei rushed over, a shout suddenly came from the distance: "Princess! Liu Yueli has made a fool of us all!"

Luo Zhaohan felt dizzy.

"Get out of the way!" Feng Linzhi pushed through the crowd and ran over like flying.

Her cheeks were abnormally flushed, and her embroidered shoes were stained with peach forest mud. "Liu Yueli...she uses us as pawns. We are all fools in her eyes!"

"What?!" Chao Yinzhen looked shocked.

Feng Linzhi stood in the center of the flower hall, twisting her handkerchief. The pearl hairpins at her temples trembled with her sobs. "My Lady, please understand. I was also deceived by Liu Yueli."

The gilded teacup in Chao Yinzhen's hand clanged against the table, and the splashing Biluochun tea stained the hem of her embroidered skirt. "Tell me, how dare she!"

Feng Linzhi thought of the ruthlessness with which Luo Zhaohan had moved the stone with his bare hands just now, and cold sweat broke out on the back of her neck.

"When I went to confront Liu Yueli, she hid in Tingxue Pavilion and dared not show herself." Feng Linzhi's tears fell on the hibiscus pattern on the toe of her embroidered shoes. "She doesn't even dare to see Miss Luo. She must be hiding something!"

The noble ladies in the room were shocked when they heard this.

The daughter of the Imperial Censor, who was wearing a goose-yellow skirt, suddenly threw down her round fan: "No wonder Miss Luo said we are all knives in her hands!"

The daughter of the Minister of Revenue suddenly covered her face and said, "You just cursed so harshly, how are we going to end this?"

"Don't panic, sisters." Feng Linzhi suddenly knelt down and kowtowed. "Any mistakes are all my fault. I will apologize to Miss Luo now."

Chao Yinzhen was so angry that his face turned red: "If you want to apologize, you should find the real culprit! Come, bring Liu Yueli here!"

She was the princess of the Prince Duan's Mansion, but she never expected that she would fall so miserably this time. No wonder Luo Zhaohan angrily accused her of taking advantage of her power to bully others.

Those women were indeed extremely angry, and at this moment they were gritting their teeth in hatred.

"Where is Liu Yueli? Tie her up and bring her here!"

"That's right! Tracing back to the source, she's undoubtedly the most cunning one. How dare she to play with us like that?"

"She's so hateful! If I ever meet a bitch like her again, I'll definitely scold her severely and make her feel humiliated!"