General Xie's face was filled with shock and fear, and his voice trembled uncontrollably, "Are you... insane?"

Liu glanced at him, her expression no longer showing the deep affection and lingering tenderness of the past.

"Sir, I'm not crazy!"

"When it comes to matters of principle, you shouldn't even think about protecting Shi Yan."

"He was bloodthirsty and cruel, and longed for the battlefield."

"If the two countries go to war again, Shi Yan will definitely be sent to the battlefield."

"It was precisely because of his strong desire for the battlefield that he did not stop Gu Jiangli, even though he knew her identity and her thoughts."

"As his father, how can you let him keep making the same mistakes?"

General Xie was rendered speechless.

He stared blankly in Xie Shiyan's direction.

Xie Shiyan leaned back leisurely in his chair, his eyes cold as ice, but a faint, mocking smile played on his lips.

This expression suddenly brought to mind a figure he had almost forgotten.

The person's features were already somewhat blurred, but she was the same, always wearing a mocking smile.

Her contempt, her disregard, her acerbic sarcasm were immediately apparent...

Xie Shiyan today is just like the woman before.

The way he looks down on him is exactly like his mother's!

General Xie clenched his fist.

Liu's words failed to make him understand, but Xie Shiyan's expression made him realize the purpose of their visit today!

"Your Majesty!" General Xie shouted, "My wife is right, Shi Yan is guilty, and I, as his father, cannot escape punishment."

"Your Majesty, please send someone to the General's Mansion. All the evidence will prove that Princess Jinghe's words are true!"

His voice was loud and his expression was solemn.

This convinced everyone that General Xie's actions were a noble act of sacrificing family for the greater good.

Before the emperor's anger had subsided, General Xie and Lady Liu stepped forward to testify against Xie Shiyan and Gu Jiangli.

The emperor was already at his wit's end.

He clearly didn't want to pursue this matter, but because of the watchful eyes of the ministers, he had no choice but to investigate it thoroughly.

He gritted his teeth and asked, "General Xie, the so-called evidence that Jinghe just presented has already been proven to be a joke. Can the evidence you want to present really prove that Gu Jiangli and Xie Shiyan are guilty?"

The emperor looked displeased and glanced in the direction of Xie Shiyan and Gu Jiangli.

Xie Shiyan remained silent for a long time before suddenly speaking: "Since General Xie and Lady Liu are so certain that Jiang Li and I harbor malicious intentions, then please, Your Majesty, investigate thoroughly."

"However, if we cannot prove our guilt, how will General Xie and Lady Liu deal with the framing and slander we have made today, which has made us a laughing stock in front of the entire court?"

Liu interrupted and replied:

“Your Majesty, everything I have said is true. If there is even a single lie, I am willing to be punished for defamation.”

Her confident demeanor reminded her of Princess Jinghe from a time before the incense stick burned.

"That's inappropriate." Xie Shiyan rejected it directly. "Princess Jinghe just said confidently that she could commit suicide on the spot, but you're going to prosecute her for slander? This proves that you don't have any real confidence."

"Then what do you want? Do you want me to commit suicide here in the main hall too?" Liu retorted defiantly.

The ministers pursed their lips, knowing that this was impossible.

Even though Princess Jinghe had just made such a serious vow, the emperor could not bear to watch her commit suicide.

As for Lady Liu, a general's wife, it was truly unsightly for her to be splattered with blood on the spot.

The emperor would not want his palace stained with blood.

The emperor's expression seemed to confirm this.

Xie Shiyan sneered:

"You don't need to kill yourself. If your evidence is false, I'll take matters into my own hands, how about that?"

"You!" Liu was so angry that she almost stood up from the ground.

Realizing his current predicament, he gritted his teeth and knelt upright again, saying fiercely, "Fine! If neither witnesses nor physical evidence can prove your and Gu Jiangli's guilt, then I'll let you do whatever you want with me!"

Where is General Xie?

Xie Shiyan's ambiguous smile made General Xie momentarily dazed.

But he quickly regained consciousness.

"Shi Yan, I'm doing this for your own good. If you insist that you're right and want to punish me, then do as you please!"

After saying this, General Xie refused to look at Xie Shiyan again.

Xie Shiyan's eyes turned cold as he addressed the emperor:

"In that case, Your Majesty, please send someone to the Xie family immediately to find evidence of their crimes."

————

One hour.

The atmosphere inside the main hall was very strange.

A group of ministers whispered amongst themselves, discussing the development of the matter.

General Xie and Lady Liu knelt on the ground, quietly waiting for the Imperial Guards to bring back the physical evidence and witnesses.

Princess Jinghe stared fiercely in the direction of Gu Jiangli and Xie Shiyan without saying a word, but she remained confident in the outcome.

Gu Jiangli and Xie Shiyan, on the other hand, continued chatting as if nothing had happened.

To outsiders, the two still appear to be loving and harmonious, or at least respectful of each other.

In the main hall, the only person who looked worried was the emperor.

He was more nervous than anyone else.

If what Jinghe and General Xie said is true, it proves that Nanlin has not actually given up the idea of ​​war.

If they are secretly plotting, then Northern Qi is very likely to be plunged into war again.

Once war breaks out, the national treasury will definitely be strained.

The peaceful and prosperous era he painstakingly maintained was gone forever.

Therefore, he absolutely did not want to see the Northern Qi wage war.

We do not want to see Nanlin harbor disloyal intentions.

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