Chapter 500: Shocking News, Minister Cui's Sword is Still Strong
Cui Lin reacted and said sternly, "Qian Baokun, please stop slandering me. I just couldn't stand seeing someone colluding with the concubines and the prince to deceive His Majesty, so I spoke out in anger. Zheng Kun and I have never met before, and I had no idea that Madam Xuan would enter the palace today..."
"Are you so kind?" Qian Baokun said disdainfully.
Cui Lin angrily said, "Why can't I? My Cui family is loyal to the court, and I, Cui Lin, am devoted to His Majesty..."
"Oh."
A sudden chuckle from the side made Cui Lin stop talking halfway through his sentence, and the tone almost choked him to death.
Xiao Yan felt like he was watching a farce. Seeing Cui Lin jumping up and down, talking about justice and loyalty, he smiled, "So Minister Cui is so loyal to His Majesty. It seems you were also thinking of His Majesty last night when you were so affectionate with Madam Xuan, snuggling up and sharing your heartfelt feelings."
Cui Lin was as if he had seen a ghost: "What nonsense are you talking about!"
Madam Xuan burst into tears and sobbed, "Lord Xiao, I was only accidentally involved in the palace secrets. I had no intention of harming you. I don't even know Zheng Kun. Why are you slandering my reputation like this..."
She cried hard when she raised her head:
"Your Majesty, I have been a widow in the Xuan family for many years. I have never dared to get too close to men, and I have never made any mistakes that would bring harm to the Xuan family. Governor Xiao actually slandered me like this. How can I live with dignity in the future? I might as well die..."
Madam Xuan cried extremely pitifully. Many people in the palace frowned and looked at Xiao Yan.
Xiao Yan raised his thin lips slightly, "If Madam Xuan is considered loyal to her husband, then even the coffin of the Xuan family might not be able to hold him down. Since you and Minister Cui are both so forgetful, why don't I remind you?"
"In the west of the city, in the old residence of the Cui family, in the backyard there are bamboo forests, tents and mats, and Minister Cui's sword remains as sharp as ever."
Madam Xuan's crying stopped abruptly, and her face turned pale in an instant: "You..."
"It seems that Madam Xuan still remembers?"
"I'm not..."
Madam Xuan subconsciously wanted to deny it, but she saw Xiao Yan's eyes were cold and he did not argue with her at all. He just spoke in a completely different voice, which was actually somewhat similar to Cui Lin's.
"A-Tong, you know I've been having a hard time in the court lately. That eunuch, Xiao Yan, plotted against me, causing me to break my promise to the emperor. His Majesty is even more furious and disgusted with me because of Lu Qingfeng. I originally wanted to ask the Empress Dowager to intercede for you, and then I'd formally marry you into the Cui family. But now..."
"I've become a laughingstock in the court, and the Cui family has been implicated by me, being controlled everywhere and suffering setbacks one after another. I'm afraid that if this continues, the Cui family will follow in the footsteps of the Lu family."
"I can't marry you, lest you be burdened by the Cui family. Xiao Yan is cruel and vicious. If he knew about our relationship, I'm afraid he wouldn't even let the Xuan family go. Although I'm reluctant to let you go, I don't want you to suffer even more. From tonight on, you will be your Madam Xuan. Although His Majesty dislikes the Xuan family, as long as the Queen Mother is around, he will never treat you unfairly..."
"Shut up!"
“Shut up!!!”
Madam Xuan's face turned pale. Listening to Xiao Yan's vivid and "affectionate" words, her still charming face was filled with fear.
Cui Lin's face was even more panicked than Mrs. Xuan's.
What Xiao Yan said was clearly what he said when he met Madam Xuan last night.
In order to make Madam Xuan devoted to him and win over the Queen Mother to serve the Cui family, and to speak up for the Cui family at critical moments, Cui Lin, despite his illness, had a passionate affair with Madam Xuan, who was much younger than him. Later, the two hugged each other and confided their true feelings to each other.
What Xiao Yan said just now was exactly the same as what they said last night, even the tone and wording were no different at all.
Cui Lin's palms were full of cold sweat, and his face became even uglier when he met the questioning gazes of his son and daughter-in-law.
Xiao Yan ignored the discussion in the hall and turned to look at Madam Xuan, who was trembling on the ground.
"You truly don't know Zheng Kun, and you don't know Cui Lin would plot against me today. He's been worried about you to begin with. He wants to use you and the Xuan family to win over the Queen Mother and make her his advisor, even using you as his insider within the palace. But he's also afraid you might accidentally leak the information, worried you won't be able to naturally handle the fear of death. So, even you are just another piece of his plan tonight."
"He knew you admired him, and he deliberately revealed the Cui family's difficulties in front of you, knowing that you would resent me because of the rift between him and me. Moreover, you have resentment towards His Majesty. You resent that after ascending the throne, he was reluctant to call the Xuan family back, and resent that he refused to help the Xuan family. If you could see him humiliated in public and be plotted against and embarrassed, you would be extremely happy."
"You certainly didn't conspire with Cui Lin, but Cui Lin had already calculated what he was going to do. Even if he didn't reveal it to you, as soon as you heard Zheng Kun's words and knew that I had colluded with the deposed queen to deceive the emperor, you would have chosen to follow his pre-planned path without hesitation."
"You are his chosen chess piece, and you are also the one he chose to raise the knife against me tonight."
Madam Xuan's deepest secret was exposed by Xiao Yan's words. She felt that everyone in the hall was looking at her. Xiao Yan's words about Cui Lin using her made her feel like she was in an ice cellar in the dead of winter, and her whole body was chilled to the bone.
"Madam Xuan, you have deep feelings for Cui Lin, even though you are a widow, you still associate with him. You often speak up for the Cui family in front of the Queen Mother. Even when you sensed something was wrong tonight, you were still willing to take risks for him and bring the matter to the attention of the Emperor. But what about him?"
"When he plotted against you, he never considered how I, the Governor, would deal with you if he failed tonight, nor did he imagine how disgraced you would become..."
Xiao Yan's light mockery made Madam Xuan lose control of her emotions.
"Your deep affection only served to facilitate Cui Lin's scheme against me. It's truly... pitiful."
Madam Xuan's eyes gradually turned red, and she clutched her palms tightly and looked up.
"Are you really plotting against me?!"
She looked at Cui Lin with red eyes and asked tearfully:
"You said you admired me, that you had feelings for me since I married into the Xuan family, and that if His Majesty hadn't stopped you, you would have brought me back to the capital long ago."
"We had a past together. After I returned to the capital, you made me fall in love with you again. I even used the Xuan family to pressure the Empress Dowager for you. But it turns out you only used me as a pawn from the beginning?!"
"Cui Lin, how dare you do this to me?!"
As soon as Madam Xuan finished speaking, the hall was filled with gasps of surprise.
Although Lady Xuan was a widow and was called aunt by Emperor An, she was actually only forty years old. She still had a graceful figure and her eyes and eyebrows still showed the beauty of her youth. Cui Lin was older than her, nearly fifty years old, and was called Lord Cui and Minister Cui.
Who would have thought that Minister Cui was old but still young at heart, and actually knew how to seduce?!
At this moment, the scandal between Cui Lin and Madam Xuan almost overwhelmed the shock brought to everyone by the fact that the He family still had descendants alive.
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