Despite his advanced age, Li Quan had been living a life of luxury for the past few years and, being the Prefect of Jingzhao Prefecture, still wielded considerable strength.
At this moment, the jailer brought over a stool, and Lu Xiaoyun lifted her robe and sat down.
Since the decision has been made to abandon this grandson, the act must be performed thoroughly.
"Crack!" Li Quan gritted his teeth and lashed out fiercely, the whip using almost all his strength.
Li Qi was in so much pain that his whole body convulsed uncontrollably. The chains on the rack clanged horribly. His eyes were filled not only with disbelief but also with fear, because he saw the murderous intent in his grandfather's eyes.
Why did Grandpa kill him? Wasn't he the one who loved him the most?!
Even Wang Zhemao couldn't help but tremble.
Lu Xiaoyun clenched her hands in her sleeves, gritted her teeth, and her angular face appeared even colder and harder.
"Crack!" Another whip lashed down.
Lu Xiaoyun lowered her head, picked up the tea that the jailer had poured for her, and took a small sip.
Wang Zhemao was worried that the blood drawn from the "assassin" would splatter onto his official robes, so he took a few steps back.
Li Qi was in so much pain that his whole body was trembling uncontrollably. It wasn't just the physical pain, but even more so the pain in his heart. His grandfather wanted to kill him!
The Li family, from top to bottom, is selfish.
A few months ago, he was willing to send his elder brother to his death. Now that he has been wrongly accused of being the assassin who tried to kill Prince An, how could his grandfather still spare him?
Although the Li family only had one legitimate grandson, there were quite a few illegitimate sons. Adopting one of them would have preserved the Li family bloodline.
He suddenly laughed, and through his tongue-cut mouth, he uttered a single, indistinct word: "Master..."
Li Quan's face suddenly darkened, and as he drew out the third whip, a silver needle flew out from his sleeve.
No one saw what happened; they only heard a "pfft" sound as a large mouthful of blood spurted from Li Qi's mouth, spraying all over Li Quan's face.
Li Quan's pupils contracted sharply, and he clenched his teeth tightly. Without further hesitation, another silver needle, as thin as a hair, pierced Li Qi's heart in an instant.
Lu Xiaoyun kept her head down, and Wang Zhemao was far away, so neither of them could see the two silver needles that had pierced Li Xiang's heart.
Li Qi coughed up another mouthful of blood, his head lolled to the side, and he breathed his last.
"Your Highness, the assassin is dead." Only then did the jailer standing to the side realize something was wrong.
Lu Xiaoyun jumped up from the stool. Was Li Quan really that ruthless? He could even kill his own grandson. He actually killed Li Qi!
"Lord Li, what are you doing!" Wang Zhemao exclaimed, and immediately went forward to check on the "assassin," only to find that the man was already dead.
"The mastermind behind this hasn't confessed yet, how could you kill him!"
Li Quan forcefully wiped away the scalding blood from his face. His deeply lined old face, stained with blood, looked like a demon in the firelight.
His eyes flashed with cold light as he glared at Wang Zhemao, and he said viciously, "Which eye of yours saw that I killed him, Lord Wang?"
Wang Zhemao's face turned red with anger as he paced back and forth in front of the corpse: "The person was perfectly fine just now, and you killed him with those three lashes! Who else could it be but you who killed him!"
Lu Xiaoyun looked at Li Quan with an icy expression: "Li Quan, you had better give me a reasonable explanation."
Li Quan looked at Lu Xiaoyun and snorted, "Just as Lord Wang said, this old minister only lashed the man three times. How could that kill him? Hmph, I want to ask Lord Wang, since you knew the man was about to die, why did you still ask me to do it? What was your intention in scheming against me and letting the assassin die at my hands?"
"You!" Wang Zhemao was so angry that he didn't know how to retort for a moment. This person had indeed been beaten to the point of near death by them.
Before Wang Zhemao could continue, Li Quan said, "How can I know whether your move is a ploy to kill someone with a borrowed knife?"
"I, Li Quan, don't make false accusations! The person died at your hands!"
"That was because you used severe torture first. If we're talking about killing, you killed him first!"
"I……"
Li Quan glared at Wang Zhemao with eyes as sharp as a venomous snake: "Furthermore, this man's tongue has been pulled out, and his hands and feet have been broken. How do you expect him to confess? This makes me wonder if you have ulterior motives for doing this, Lord Wang."
"He...he can hold a pen in his mouth and write..."
"Hmph! Since Lord Wang is so resourceful, why did you order me to take action just now? Wasn't it just to scheme against me and frame me for 'murder to silence me'?"
"Ha, the moment I entered, you accused me of knowing this person. Now that I think about it, Lord Wang was actually waiting for me here. Wang Zhemao, you've really got a good plan!"
"I, I..." Wang Zhemao looked anxiously at Lu Xiaoyun: "Your Highness, you know, things are not like this."
"Li Quan, you've gone too far! I'm still here, you should use your private punishment to kill the murderer who 'attacked' me!" Lu Xiaoyun slammed her teacup heavily on the table.
Tea splashed everywhere.
Without hesitation, Li Quan knelt down with a thud: "This old minister was only angry for a moment. Under the Emperor's nose, on the Prince's wedding day, he actually dared to assassinate the Prince. This old minister was indignant on behalf of the Prince, so the whip was a bit too heavy. But this old minister did not know that the 'assassin' had been beaten to the point of barely clinging to life by the Dali Temple, and that Lord Wang had already subjected him to severe torture! It was an accidental mistake, please punish me, Your Highness!"
"This king..."
Before Lu Xiaoyun could speak, Li Quan interrupted her, saying, "Your Highness, this man died at Lord Wang's hands. Please investigate thoroughly!"
"You, you, you, Li Quan, you killed someone to cover it up, and now you're blaming me for it!" Wang Zhemao was so angry that his ears turned red and his neck bulged.
"Hmph!" Li Quan said coldly, "With His Highness Prince An here, do you think he wouldn't see that you're using me to kill someone? I was caught off guard and was used by you."
"Your Highness, please investigate thoroughly. If I wanted to kill someone to silence them, why wait until today? This person has been in the Dali Temple prison all night. If I wanted to kill him, I would have done so long ago. Why bother in front of Your Highness?" Wang Zhemao also knelt before Lu Xiaoyun.
Lu Xiaoyun's gaze slowly swept over the two people kneeling in front of her, and she said in a deep voice, "I will investigate this matter thoroughly."
Suddenly, my thumb felt like it had been branded with a hot iron, and it instantly became very hot.
The veins on her forehead throbbed violently. Zhu Yu, what happened now?
Lu Xiaoyun's face contorted from the burns. The scalding heat was unprecedented and unbearable. She gripped her right thumb tightly with her left hand, trying to reduce the burning sensation.
She couldn't remove the broken thumb ring, so she crossed her hands, clenched them into fists, and her eyes were filled with anger.
When Wang Zhemao saw the Prince of An's appearance, he knew it was all over; the Prince of An was about to kill someone.
Li Quan harmed him!
What a terrible thing! Who sent this damned Li Quan here?
Why is Li Quan, a mere Prefect of the Capital, getting involved in a joint trial by the three judicial departments?
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