After leaving the palace, Su Liluo and the others did not go directly back to the Crown Prince's residence, but instead went to the Su residence.
Although they did not use the main gate when they left the Su residence with witnesses, thus disrupting the banquet in the main courtyard, many noble ladies still saw them.
Furthermore, Su Wanshi would definitely inform the second branch of the Su family for help, and they must already know by now.
When Su Liluo and the others arrived at the Su residence, the banquet had already ended.
As soon as she stepped through the gate, she saw the entire Su family sitting neatly in the hall.
"You actually knew how to come back!"
What hit them was the sound of Old Madam Su gritting her teeth.
Looking around, Su Liluo saw Su Wanshi standing beside Old Madam Su, her eyes swollen from crying.
Su Yu and Su Lianwu, the two brothers, also looked at him with reproach and resentment. Only Su Zhen had a complicated expression on his face, which was hard to describe.
Su Liluo didn't speak first, but glanced at the eunuch who had come with them to deliver the imperial decree and nodded to him.
The eunuch then solemnly opened the imperial edict and stood in the middle of the courtyard.
With a loud shout, he declared, "Imperial decree! Su Wanshi, receive the decree!"
What?
A royal decree?
Upon hearing that it was an imperial edict, the expressions of everyone in the Su family changed instantly, especially Su Wanshi, who was filled with fear and almost couldn't stand up.
The Su family all knelt down, except for Su Zhen, who remained calm with a slight frown, wondering what the Emperor's edict would say.
"By the grace of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: Su Wanshi, a daughter of the Su family, is vicious and openly plotted to murder the daughter of a court official at a family banquet. Fortunately, the Crown Princess saved her. However, this is an offense. To uphold the law, Su Wanshi is hereby imprisoned for three months. So be it!"
The eunuch finished reading the imperial edict with a resounding voice, then glanced coldly at the Su family members, "Who is Su Wanshi? Guards, seize her and throw her in jail!"
"Your Majesty, spare me! Your Majesty, spare me! My Wanshi has been wronged! You cannot arrest her!"
Upon hearing the contents of the imperial edict, Madam Su immediately kowtowed in fear and heartache, begging for mercy. Su Wanshi, on the other hand, turned pale, unable to utter a single word, and trembled uncontrollably.
Su Yu shielded Su Wanshi behind him and pleaded repeatedly, "I beg you, sir, to be lenient and not arrest my daughter. I will go to the palace and explain to the Emperor that my Wanshi is not that kind of person and has been framed!"
Only Su Zhen and Cui Niang remained calm and composed, standing up and watching them with complicated expressions.
The guards quickly spared Su Yu and arrested Su Wanshi.
Su Wanshi then burst into tears, crying, "I'm innocent! I'm innocent! You can't arrest me, I really didn't do anything! They're lying, lying!"
The guards ignored her explanations and coldly dragged her out.
As Su Wanshi passed by Su Liluo, she used all her strength to break free from the guards' grip, and with a thud, knelt down in front of Su Liluo, tightly hugging her ankles with both hands.
"Your Highness, you can't do this to me! You have to save me! I'm your cousin, we're family, family! You have to help me! And Uncle, Uncle, you have to save me too!"
Su Wanshi cried out in pain and fear.
Su Liluo ruthlessly withdrew her foot and stepped aside.
"The Emperor only sentenced you to three months in prison, which is already a great mercy because of my father. Otherwise, do you think you would still be alive after your attempted murder of Miss Zheng?"
Although Emperor Wenjian did not say it directly, Su Liluo could roughly guess from his expression that he had taken Su Zhen's situation into account when issuing the decree and had chosen to punish him lightly.
"No, I really didn't do that. It wasn't me. You can't frame me. You're deliberately trying to frame me, trying to frame me..."
Su Wanshi still refused to admit it, but was eventually taken away by the guards.
The second branch of the Su family could only cry and wail inside the house.
Su Zhen then walked anxiously to Su Liluo's side and asked with concern, "Your Highness, what exactly happened?"
Just before Su Liluo returned, Su Wanshi had already made a false accusation in front of them, saying that Su Liluo had conspired with outsiders to frame her.
They didn't know what had happened, nor did they have any evidence to prove that Su Liluo was innocent, so they kept waiting for Su Liluo to come back.
So Su Liluo told Su Zhen about how Su Wanshi had bribed Li Lianru and the others to frame Zheng Qinxue, and how they did it for the position of Princess Consort of Chu.
"She deserves it! His Majesty really didn't punish her enough! How could our Su family have such a woman!"
After hearing this, Su Zhen felt no sympathy for Su Wanshi whatsoever and angrily spat out a curse.
But at this moment, when Old Madam Su, who had been crying on the ground for a while, heard this, she suddenly came to her senses.
She staggered and walked unsteadily to Su Zhen, pointing her finger at Su Liluo and scolding her.
"How can you be so heartless! Wanshi is your cousin and your eldest brother's niece. How can you help outsiders instead of your own people?"
Even if it was Wan Shi who did it, so what? What did she do wrong? The position of Princess Consort of Chu should have been Wan Shi's rightfully. The King of Chu even liked our Wan Shi. It was that shameless Zheng family girl who stole our Wan Shi's position as the principal wife!"
"Madam! How can you be so unreasonable? The marriage of Prince Chu was arranged by the Emperor himself. Don't talk nonsense. Su Wanshi has made such a big mistake, and the Emperor has already shown extraordinary mercy!"
Su Zhen angrily shouted at Old Madam Su.
Seeing Madam Su's inability to distinguish right from wrong, he felt truly disgusted and had a headache. How could their Su family have become like this!
"You...you dare to speak to me so loudly? I am your mother! This is unfilial, unfilial!"
When Madam Su saw Su Zhen yelling at her, she immediately started yelling back at the top of her lungs.
Su Yu, who was standing nearby, quickly came over to support his mother, then gave Su Zhen a reproachful look.
"Brother, Mother is right. No matter what, Wan Shi is not your biological daughter, but she is your niece. As the saying goes, family scandals should not be aired in public. How can the Crown Princess be so righteous as to turn against her own family?"
"What good will it do for Wanshi to go to jail? Besides, you already have a young daughter. Now that our Su family has a daughter in jail, how will your youngest daughter find a husband in the future?"
"Second Uncle, you're wrong. My cousin should be punished for doing something wrong. If she's not punished, it will be hard for me to find a husband when I grow up. Otherwise, people will think that our family is abusing its power and can't distinguish right from wrong."
Upon hearing Su Yu's words, Qiao Jie'er immediately retorted, clearly unconvinced.
Although she is young, she has a very clear sense of right and wrong.
Su Liluo looked at Sister Qiao with admiration and then said, "Sister Qiao is right. If we let Su Wanshi's vicious behavior go unchecked, the Su family's reputation will be ruined by Second Uncle's family."
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