"The rumors circulating among the people today are not unfounded, but are indeed true. I once went to Lord Xin's door to request an audience and proposed the two-tax system, but unfortunately Lord Xin was misled and had to reluctantly give it up."
"And the one who was deceived was Su Mingren, the Su family, who were present at the scene. Su Mingli was seriously ill and should have been pitied, but his Su family deliberately concealed the truth about Su Mingli's death out of jealousy, just to delay the commoner from taking office."
After He Yunze finished speaking in a powerful and resounding voice, the entire room fell silent.
After hearing everything, the Marquis of Anding's expression changed instantly.
Before he could even speak, Su Mingren interrupted, "Absurd! Utter nonsense!"
"Ali is alive and well! How can you say Ali is dead! He Yunze, what are you up to?"
He Yunze sensed Su Mingren's angry tone and assumed he had been hit where it hurt, so he couldn't help but chuckle to himself: "You ask me what my intentions are?"
He presented his evidence with absolute certainty: "I would like to ask you why your mother secretly purchased a coffin and a white cloth yesterday, and gave the shop assistant a sum of hush money. What was the purpose of this?"
Upon hearing this, all eyes in the room turned to Su Mingren.
Prince Yu smiled enigmatically: "There really is such a thing?"
He Yunze nodded confidently: "The shop's servants are right outside; Your Majesty can summon them to testify at any time."
"I bought the coffin to bring good luck, so it's normal to use white cloth to bandage my wounds, isn't it?"
A deep, resonant voice came from afar. Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw Su Shaoyuan with a somber expression.
He stepped over the threshold, looked in the direction of the Marquis of Anding, and loudly questioned, "Does the Marquis of Anding's mansion even interfere with who buys white cloth?"
"Is it only people from the Marquis of Anding's household who can buy white cloth?"
Upon hearing this, Marquis An Ding hurriedly wiped the cold sweat from his brow, knowing he was in the wrong: "No, no, Lord Su, you flatter me!"
But Su Shaoyuan knelt down straight before Emperor Guangqi: "Your Majesty, please see the truth! This old minister has come to the palace today to ask Your Majesty to give this old minister justice."
"Everyone knows that my son is frail and bedridden! Yet someone has gone so far as to falsely claim that he died of illness. This is a curse! It is a deliberate attempt to tarnish the reputation of the Su family!"
When Emperor Guangqi saw that Su Shaoyuan was quite old and was crying with snot and tears streaming down his face, he politely said, "Please get up, Elder Su. I will investigate this matter thoroughly."
But He Yunze spoke up again: "Buying white cloth is a normal thing, and the Marquis's mansion has no right to interfere. But if it constitutes the crime of deceiving the emperor, then it is not normal."
He put his hands behind his back, straightened his back, and said calmly, "Since Lord Su once said that Su Mingli would come to court within half a month, then his appearance now would prove the innocence of the Su family. Why doesn't he come?"
Su Shaoyuan sneered, "He's faced death on a life-or-death matter, so he's still recovering! If A-Li could enter the palace today, he wouldn't need to rest; he could go straight to court!"
Upon hearing this, Prince Yu calmly remarked, "For a dying person to miraculously recover and return to court within half a month, he truly is a reincarnation of Hua Tuo!"
"May I ask, Lord Su, who saved your son? I wish to pay my respects."
Everyone waited for Su Shaoyuan's answer, but remembering Song Xizhi's instructions, he simply said, "He was just a folk doctor who happened to cure him."
He Yunze laughed mercilessly.
Hearing his sarcasm, Su Mingren glared at He Yunze and said, "Young Master He's hostility is quite inexplicable, and his accusations are also inexplicable."
“We are related by marriage. If there is really something wrong with Ali, and you can take his place and share His Majesty’s burdens, we would be happy to see it happen. Why should we stop you?”
He Yunze's gaze deepened: "It's precisely because of this marriage relationship!"
The thought of Song Xizhi made him grit his teeth in frustration, so He Yunze knelt before the emperor again and said, word by word:
"The Su family are Song Xizhi's maternal grandparents, and Song Xizhi is my sister-in-law. She is such a lazy, treacherous, and vicious woman..."
“Because of some trivial family matters in the past, Song Xizhi harbored resentment towards me. She also overheard that I was interested in the position of Left Censor, so she joined forces with her maternal grandparents’ family to stage a play in order to prevent me from taking office.”
Upon hearing this, Marquis An Ding looked at him incredulously: "He Yun Ce! That's your sister-in-law!"
He Yunze's eyes were unusually resolute: "Father, even if that is my sister-in-law, I still have to say that ever since Song Xizhi married into the Marquis's mansion, nothing good has happened in the mansion! This matter was clearly instigated by Song Xizhi!"
Upon hearing this, Prince Yu couldn't help but exclaim, "I've never seen such a woman in the world before!"
"If such a woman were to appear in my palace, I would be the first to divorce her!"
Hearing this, Su Mingren was truly angry: "The sage said that nothing is more valuable than evidence, and nothing is more valuable than words without proof! One must be sure to have solid evidence in one's words and deeds, and one should be cautious in one's words without evidence!"
"Your Majesty, I swear on my life that my niece is absolutely not that kind of person!"
He Yunze simply said coldly, "Then you need to provide evidence. If I say I'm wrong, I'll let you do whatever you want with me!"
"If it really was Song Xizhi who did this, then I will divorce her on behalf of my brother!"
His words were full of confidence.
Seeing that everyone was sticking to their own opinions and arguing endlessly, Emperor Guangqi finally frowned and said, "Fine, then let the imperial physicians go to the Su residence to see how Minister Su is doing. It just so happens that I am also concerned about her health."
Upon hearing this, He Yunze smiled with satisfaction: "Alright, let's go take a look then, let's go together!"
But at that very moment, a weak voice came from outside the Imperial Study:
"No, there's no need to trouble the imperial physician to go to the Su residence. My reputation and that of my entire family have been questioned. Even if I have to be carried, I will be brought before the Emperor to prove that I am not dead!"
Upon hearing this, everyone turned their heads and saw a slender young man with half-closed phoenix eyes and a red mole between his eyebrows.
He staggered forward, supporting himself on the hand of the eunuch beside him, gritting his teeth, looking extremely weak.
The person who arrived was none other than Su Mingli!
Time seemed to freeze at that moment, and everyone stared at Su Mingli's pale face, their mouths agape.
He Yunze stood there, stunned, watching Su Mingli's figure get closer and closer. He felt his breathing become labored and his whole body was chilled.
Su Mingli?
How could this be! How could Su Mingli still be alive? How could he possibly walk?
He should have died yesterday!
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