"Your Majesty, the cloud pattern on the boots in my room was simply purchased from the embroidery shop run by the Meng family. What the princess said is completely unfounded!"

Bai Yan chuckled lightly, her gaze falling on Jin Chang'an kneeling on the ground: "You say I framed you, why would I frame you?"

“Because I treated you coldly on our wedding night, you are dissatisfied.” Jin Chang’an clenched his fists: “Princess, you have gone too far this time! Do you really want to see the Jin family fall apart? If you are willing to stop here, we can still live a good life together.”

At this point, Jin Chang'an gritted his teeth: "After this matter is over, I will definitely repent and care for the princess even more, and be even more loving towards her."

"Hongping," Bai Yan instructed, and Hongping stepped forward: "Princess."

"Smack him."

Without a word, Hongping slapped Jin Chang'an twice across the face. The slaps caused Madam Jin to stand up and push Hongping to the ground. While protecting her son, she glared at Bai Yan and said, "His Majesty and the Empress are still here! What right do you have to abuse your power?"

Bai Yan was ruthless towards Jin Chang'an, but put on a pitiful expression when facing her father: "Your subject is just angry."

Tears streamed down her face, aggrieved: "Father, I am wronged. I have never done anything wrong, yet I was treated so coldly on my wedding night by the Prince Consort, and the Jin family bullied me like this... And if it is true that the Prince Consort had an affair with a concubine, a crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations of his family, wouldn't I also be implicated?"

Bai Qing sighed when he saw her like this, "Come here."

Bai Yan walked over and asked the head steward for a handkerchief.

He reached out and wiped away her tears: "What kind of appearance is it to cry like a little kitten in front of others? Whose nine generations will be executed? If I do, will I have to kill my own nine generations?" He patted her hand and said gently, "My dear child, you have been wronged."

"Just sit quietly to the side." He then turned his head, his chilling gaze falling on the heads of the Jin family members.

Bai Yan wiped away her tears and sat down beside her father. Empress Jin glanced at the two of them, feeling terrible, but there was nothing she could do. She could only clutch the prayer beads on her wrist and silently chant "Amitabha."

Such a big thing, yet her sister-in-law never told her.

Empress Jin harbored resentment. She knew that Jin Chang'an had a beloved woman, and he had not married her even after he came of age. However, her sister-in-law had never told her that the woman was Consort Yun!

But she also knew that the inner palace was heavily guarded, and even if something happened between the two of them, they could never cross that line. As long as Consort Yun denied it, a pair of shoes and an undergarment embroidered with cloud patterns wouldn't prove anything.

In the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Meng Ruoyun, dressed in a pale yellow palace gown, was brought to the front of the hall.

When the chief steward went to ask Consort Yun if she had made the boots and undergarments to give to Jin Chang'an.

Consort Yun didn't even blink: "It was made by me, and I also asked someone to deliver it to Young Master Jin. Your Majesty, what has happened?"