When Old Lady Xiao heard this, she was furious, but when she thought of her son who was still in prison, she had to suppress her anger.
She glared at her advisor fiercely and swore secretly in her heart that if the day came when the Zhonglie Marquis' Mansion would turn things around, her advisor would definitely pay the price.
Taking a deep breath, Old Lady Xiao had no choice but to go through the back door.
The prefect was sitting in the hall. When he saw Old Lady Xiao come in, he immediately stood up and politely let her sit in the seat of honor.
Old Lady Xiao was very satisfied with the prefect's attitude and nodded with a smile.
She gave the butler a wink, and the butler immediately placed an exquisite brocade box on the table and opened it for the prefect to examine.
The prefect saw a stack of silver bills neatly arranged inside.
"Your Excellency, I know that my son did some stupid things. However, he was impulsive because he loved his son so much. Please be merciful, Your Excellency."
The prefect had already guessed the purpose of Old Lady Xiao's visit. He stood aside with his hands hanging in front of his chest, lowering his eyes and smiling faintly.
"Old lady, you are joking. I am only a fourth-rank prefect. I really don't have the ability to show mercy to the Marquis..."
"You should know how strict our legal system is against treason. So many eyes are watching your actions. Even if I want to let him go, the court will not agree. So..."
The prefect saw the brocade box containing the banknotes was pushed back in front of Old Lady Xiao. "I can't accept this money, and I don't have the ability to accept it."
"I know your concerns." Old Lady Xiao disagreed. "You can take care of the banknotes. You only need to give me seven days. Keep my son alive within these seven days. I will take care of the rest."
Old Madam Xiao made up her mind to use these seven days to travel to and from the capital.
She always felt that she was a meritorious official to the Xiao royal family.
Xiao Yujue was willing to give up even the concubines who were selected to enter the palace, so why couldn't he forgive the Xiao family again?
However, Old Lady Xiao was very worried about Xiao Wenyuan's safety within these seven days.
After all, Mu Jingrui is not an easy person to deal with.
"Old lady, to be honest, I can't make the decision on this matter."
The prefect still felt that life was more important.
He had seen Mu Jingrui's ruthless actions in the past few days, and he didn't want to offend him because of the affairs of the Marquis Zhonglie's Mansion.
Old Lady Xiao was angry and annoyed, and scolded: "You are a fourth-rank prefect, but you can't do anything. You are really useless. Where is Mu Jingrui now?"
The prefect was scolded and his expression darkened.
He had had enough of the Zhonglie Marquis's Mansion over the years. Now that it had come to this, this old woman was still acting arrogantly.
Okay, then let her go and fight Mu Jingrui.
"The prince is in the garden..."
Without waiting for the prefect to finish his words, Old Lady Xiao immediately took people to find Mu Jingrui.
"Today's weather is nice. It will make you feel more energetic if you come out to bask in the sun."
Mu Jingrui helped Shangguan Wanning sit down on the stone bench in the garden and looked up at the blue sky.
"I heard that the sunset in Xishan is very beautiful. If we can make it today, I will take you to see the sunset."
"Yes." Shangguan Wanning smiled and nodded, "I'll go check on Lutong's injury later. She also likes to watch the sunrise and sunset. If she recovers a little, I'll take her with me."
Mu Jingrui remained calm, holding Shangguan Wanning's hand and pretending to frown.
"Isn't it inconvenient to take her with you?"
Shangguan Wanning saw some ill intentions in his eyes and couldn't help blushing. "It's inconvenient to bring you along."
Mu Jingrui chuckled, but he felt unspeakable pain in his heart.
It seems that Lutong’s death can no longer be concealed.
"Old Lady Xiao, you can't go in... The prince said he won't see any visitors today..."
There was a noise coming from the other end of the corridor. Mu Jingrui looked in the direction of the sound and saw Old Lady Xiao forcing her way in despite the guards' obstruction.
As soon as Shangguan Wanning saw the old woman, some bad memories emerged in her mind.
The fear of being locked in the coffin immediately spread throughout my body.
Her body trembled slightly, and Mu Jingrui noticed it and held her hand tightly. "Go back to your room and rest first. I'll take care of this."
Shangguan Wanning was about to get up and leave when Old Lady Xiao arrived in front of them.
"Your Majesty, please forgive me and let my son go."
"Huh? Face? Old Madam, can your face cancel the crime of treason? If I let Xiao Wenyuan go, and the emperor holds me accountable for the conspiracy, I cannot afford this charge."
"No." Old Lady Xiao was very confident, "I will go to the capital to report to the emperor in person..."
"I don't care if the old lady wants to go to the capital. However, I will execute Xiao Wenyuan on time at 3:45 tomorrow afternoon."
"You..." Old Lady Xiao was angry and scared, her face turned pale in an instant. "How dare you. You didn't report it to the Ministry of Justice, so what right do you have to execute my son?"
Mu Jingrui sneered, "When I left, the emperor gave me the power to act at my own discretion and to execute first and report later. If I want to execute Xiao Wenyuan, I don't need to go through the Ministry of Justice at all."
Only then did Old Lady Xiao truly realize that she had met her match.
The Xiao family's former glory and her identity as the late emperor's wet nurse, which she was most proud of, had no deterrent effect in front of Mu Jingrui.
Mu Jingrui himself has reached where he is today thanks to his military achievements.
Moreover, he was a meritorious official who assisted the emperor in ascending the throne, and he was also the elder brother of the empress.
"I have a dragon-headed cane bestowed upon me by the late emperor... you... I can... I can beat you..."
"Old lady, you can hit me, but you can't kill me. It's your business that you have the dragon-headed cane bestowed by the late emperor. What does it have to do with your son?"
Old Madam Xiao was speechless.
"Mu Jingrui, you sent someone to steal the golden medal of immunity from death bestowed by my Xiao family. You... you are so despicable..."
"Whatever you say. Anyway, you can't get a free death certificate. With Xiao Wenyuan's current crimes, he will definitely die."
Mu Jingrui's eyes swept across Old Lady Xiao's face.
"Also, the Xiao family secretly detained the selected girls who came to Beijing for selection, which is also a serious crime of deceiving the emperor. However, considering the Xiao family's meritorious service, I will tell the old lady in advance that only the family will be confiscated, not the family will be exterminated. The old lady should go back and prepare. After Xiao Wenyuan is executed tomorrow, the soldiers will go to the mansion to seal it up."
The Mansion of Marquis Zhonglie is the only support and spiritual pillar for Old Lady Xiao.
"The emperor promised to give those beauties to my grandson. What right do you have to say that we detained them privately? Mu Jingrui, are you blind?"
"Your Majesty agrees?" Mu Jingrui smiled contemptuously, "Do you have an imperial decree? Do you have an oral order?"
Old Lady Xiao was stunned. An ominous premonition came over her heart, causing her hands and feet to become cold.
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