"Ling Yan?"

"Hua Qingcheng, do you know what you are saying?"

Nalan Yunzhi looked at Hua Qingcheng with a sullen expression. He wondered if she had already known her own life story, or was she just using Lingyan as a cover to attract attention?

"Your Majesty, Qingcheng is not talking nonsense. This matter is indeed related to the late Queen Feng Lingyan." Although Hua Qingcheng was kneeling on the ground, her back was straight. She looked at Nalan Yunzhi with a firm face and said neither humbly nor arrogantly.

It wasn't that Hua Qingcheng was weak or liked to kneel down, but now that she was in another world, she naturally had to play by the rules of the game here. Hua Qingcheng wasn't so foolish as to think that she could do anything just because she was a time traveler. After all, in the face of absolute strength, all struggles were in vain.

"Stand up and answer!"

Standing in front of the desk, Nalan Yunzhi put his hands behind his back, turned around slowly, and narrowed his eyes slightly, so as not to let Hua Qingcheng see his sad look.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Hua Qingcheng stood up from the ground and looked at Nalan Yunzhi who had her back to her. She inexplicably felt that her back was very desolate and lonely, with a hint of sadness.

"Your Majesty, do you know why Shan Zuo wants to assassinate you?" Hua Qingcheng looked at Nalan Yunzhi's back and said sternly.

When Hua Qingcheng took over the two brothers Dan Zuo and Dan You, although she knew from the indenture that they were forced to become government slaves because their family members were convicted, she only learned the specific reasons from Si Chengfeng just now.

"Hmph! Hua Qingcheng, that brat is your servant. This question should be asked to you, right? It's a great blessing from heaven that I didn't regard you as an accomplice and arrest you together!" Nalan Yunzhi glanced at Hua Qingcheng behind him with the corner of his eye, his tone slightly cold.

"Your Majesty, these are the deeds of residence and indentures of Shan Zuo and his brother Shan You. Please take a look at them first."

Hua Qingcheng took advantage of the cover of her clothes to take out the deeds of residence and indentures of the two brothers, Dan Zuo and Dan You, from the study in the space villa, and walked to Nalan Yunzhi and presented them to her.

Upon hearing this, Nalan Yunzhi turned sideways, glanced at the papers in Hua Qingcheng's hand, took them and began to browse.

These are two deeds of residence with official seals, on which is written: Shan Zuo/Shan You, seven years old, a native of the capital, because his mother Shan Wushuang, the former Minister of the Imperial Household Department, was convicted of dereliction of duty, he was demoted to a lowly position and became an official slave... etc. The date of the inscription is the sixteenth year of Tianze.

The indenture stated that the two brothers, Shan Zuo and Shan You, were now Hua Qingcheng's servants, and was stamped with the official seal.

"Minister of the Imperial Household? Shan Wushuang?"

Nalan Yunzhi frowned slightly, as if recalling something related to this person.

"Does the Emperor have any impression?"

"According to the deed, this case happened two years ago. It should have been decided by the Dali Temple and submitted to the Ministry of Justice for approval. Shan Wushuang was dismissed from his post and exiled to the frontier for taking bribes and dereliction of duty. Any problem?" Nalan Yunzhi looked at Hua Qingcheng in confusion and handed the papers back to her.

"Your Majesty, this is a huge problem. According to what you said, the normal procedure should be for the Dali Temple to adjudicate the case first, then report it to the Ministry of Justice for review, and finally convict and sentence him. However, Shan Wushuang was directly convicted, taken from the palace, and exiled to the frontier, where he died on the way there."

"Oh? Is this true?" Nalan Yunzhi's face darkened slightly.

"It's absolutely true, Your Majesty. Moreover, it was your Yulin Army who went there in person." Hua Qingcheng looked at Nalan Yunzhi seriously without any joking expression.

"Yulin Army?" Nalan Yunzhi lowered his eyes slightly in thought.

"Your Majesty, the reason why Shan Wushuang was so quickly convicted and taken to the border, and died mysteriously on the way, is probably not simple. Because, she... was wrongly accused."

Hua Qingcheng reported to Nalan Yunzhi based on what Si Chengfeng said to her.

"While Shan Wushuang was looking through and sorting out old files, he stumbled upon something strange about the Queen's fall from the cliff. He then reasoned based on his doubts and the records in the files, listing and sorting out the inconsistencies one by one, and even wrote a thick memorial."

"A fold?"

"I have never seen such a memorial."

Nalan Yunzhi shook his head, his expression grim. If this were true, then there might be something else behind Ling Yan's fall from the cliff...

"Your Majesty, it is said that Shan Wushuang could not wait until the next morning court session and submitted the written memorial to the palace gate that very night. Logically, such an urgent memorial should be handled expedited. However, since Your Majesty claims to have never seen this memorial, it must have been intercepted by someone with ulterior motives."

Although the outcome was pretty much what Hua Qingcheng had expected—the emperor had indeed been deceived and the matter covered up—she still felt a little uncomfortable. After all, Shan Wushuang, who had died unjustly while defending Feng Lingyan, would never live again.

A loyal minister who dared to give advice ended up with his family broken up, his husband and children separated, and his young twin sons reduced to slaves of the officials, living a life of enslavement and inhumanity.

sad!

What a pity!

And who had harmed Feng Lingyan? Sixteen years earlier, not only had she snatched his daughter away, but she had also fabricated the illusion of him falling off a cliff, robbing him of his brilliant life and leaving him buried at the bottom of the icy pool at the Forgetful Cliff, leaving no trace of his body.

Although she had never seen Feng Lingyan in person, Hua Qingcheng couldn't help but feel an indescribable sense of sadness and loss when she thought about such a handsome and talented person who had such a tragic experience and miserable life.

"What a bastard!"

Upon hearing this, Nalan Yunzhi slammed the desk in anger. The large and solid desk instantly broke into countless pieces of wood under her palm, and the pens, ink, paper and inkstone on it fell all over the floor with a "crackling" sound.

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