Chapter 498 Xiao Yan is a member of the He family, his identity is exposed
Prince Zang glanced at Xiao Yan with a serious expression:
"I just felt strange, so I sent a message and ordered someone to follow secretly. Later, I found that the Liang family had captured a group of people and tortured them severely, as if they were trying to find out something. Afterwards, they secretly escorted them back to Beijing."
"My men followed them all the way until they were almost in the capital, when they unexpectedly learned the identities of those people. The people captured by the Liang family were actually members of the Xiao family who should have been dead long ago. Even after Governor Xiao's father was killed because of his harsh treatment, the infamous Xiao family head, Xiao Jinan, was still alive. He had changed his name and been hiding in Jiangnan with the rest of the Xiao family for years."
"What did you say?!" Marquis Wenxin was shocked.
Cao Dejiang also stood up suddenly: "You said Xiao Jinan is still alive?!"
Feng Qiuli even blurted out, "Impossible! When the Xiao family was massacred, many people saw Xiao Jinan's body with their own eyes."
"Yes, Xiao Jinan is obviously dead."
"How could the Xiao family still be alive..."
"Is this a mistake?"
The other people in the hall were all in an uproar because of the words of the Hate Prince.
Everyone knows how Xiao Yan "tortured" the Xiao family members and how he killed his father and brothers. He gained the reputation of being cruel and ruthless by stepping on the corpses of other members of the Xiao family. Later, he became the most favored eunuch in front of the emperor, and was then reused by Emperor An to take charge of the Privy Council.
Xiao Yan was a lone minister with no ties, so Emperor An valued him, and people in the court and the country were wary of him because he had no weaknesses.
Who would dare to provoke a man who can kill his father and relatives?
But now, Prince Zan said that no one in the Xiao family was dead at all, and Xiao Jinan was still alive and well. How could this not be shocking?!
An Diwan hadn't expected that the Xiao family was still alive. He suddenly looked at Xiao Yan and said, "Xiao Yan, you are so bold! How dare you deceive the emperor?!"
Xiao Yan tilted his head and said, "Your Majesty, your words are too serious. I have never personally told Your Majesty that I killed the Xiao family."
"Why don't you have it, you..."
Emperor An was about to yell, but his face turned pale as the words reached his lips.
Xiao Yan said calmly, "I am only telling Your Majesty that I have had a difficult childhood with my family. I am also telling Your Majesty that I have had no close relatives since I was young."
"Your Majesty feels that I have killed my father and relatives, that I am cruel and ruthless, and that I have committed a crime that is unacceptable to the world. From now on, I can only rely on Your Majesty, so I am useful. From the beginning to the end, I have never told you that I have killed members of the Xiao family."
Emperor An's face turned pale: "You..."
Xiao Yan looked up and said, "Your Majesty, you have a misunderstanding. As a minister, I am merely being considerate of your wishes and acting in accordance with your wishes. How can I be said to be deceiving you?"
"you!!"
Emperor An was so angry at Xiao Yan's shameless words that he was shaking all over. He was extremely furious when he met his clear eyes, but he was more uneasy.
When Xiao Yan first emerged in the palace, chance allowed him to see his talent and promote him to the Twelve Prisons. He did his job properly and everything was to his liking. He was a suspicious person and naturally checked Xiao Yan's background. When he learned that he entered the inner court because of his father's harsh treatment and the rift between them, he wanted to make an important contribution to him.
He deliberately gave Xiao Yan the opportunity to show himself, and Xiao Yan, just as he wished, turned against the Xiao family. He found excuses to accuse the Xiao family, cruelly and brutally killed the people of the Xiao family, abandoning all filial piety and etiquette, and was despised by everyone after wiping out the Xiao family.
Emperor An saw that he was alone and would do anything to win his favor. Moreover, he was like a lost dog with no one to rely on except his master, so he felt at ease to use him. He gradually gave him power and made him his confidant. He even handed over the Privy Council to him.
But now he was told that everything Xiao Yan showed was fake.
He had never killed any member of the Xiao family, let alone his father or relatives. Everything that happened after he entered the palace was false, which also meant that Xiao Yan had been acting in front of him all these years.
Emperor An was extremely uneasy.
The person who was able to hide it from him hid the Xiao family in Jiangnan and concealed him for many years in front of the emperor. What was Xiao Yan's motive?
What's his purpose in gaining his trust?!
Cui Lin didn't notice anything was wrong. He was just surprised that the Xiao family was still alive. Moreover... He felt wronged: "What nonsense are you talking about, Prince Zan? When did I send people to Jiangnan?"
"How should I know? Shouldn't you ask Minister Cui himself?"
"Don't slander me, I've never let anyone go there!"
"If Minister Cui says there is no such thing, then there is no such thing."
It would have been fine if he continued to argue, but the way he acted as if he wasn't going to argue with him made Cui Lin so angry that he almost fell backwards.
Prince Hate didn't want to say more to him. He ignored the anger on Cui Lin's face and turned to look at Xiao Yan, who had a calm expression.
"My people intercepted the letter those people sent back to the Liang family in the capital, and we found out that it was Grand Tutor Liang and his men who had long suspected Xiao Yan's identity. They suspected that he was not a son of the Xiao family. They also suspected that there was something fishy about his repeated targeting of aristocratic families and his extermination of the Lu family. So they brought the Xiao family back to the capital to plot against Xiao Yan."
"They took the opportunity to intercept this group of people and learned a shocking secret."
When Grand Tutor Liang heard what Prince Zeng said, his heart was pounding. He did send people to Jiangnan to investigate the Xiao family's affairs, wanting to find out Xiao Yan's background, but there was no news from the people he sent. He thought they had not found anything important yet, but he didn't expect that they had already found the Xiao family members, and were intercepted by Prince Zeng halfway.
When he heard Prince Zeng talking about the "shocking secret" again, he subconsciously wanted to interrupt him, but it was too late.
"Twenty-three years ago, the He family's third daughter married Xiao Jin'an, the eldest son of the Xiao family. After the He family was exterminated due to treason, the He family daughter hanged herself in the mansion to protect the Xiao family. The Xiao family did have a second son, but he died shortly after birth. However, after the He family daughter's death, the second son was resurrected."
"The Xiao family claimed that the child was sent to another village to be raised because of his illness when he was young. But in reality, the child they later brought back was not a child of the Xiao family at all."
"The Xiao family named him Yan and treated him harshly. They never let him show his face to the public, making everyone think that the Xiao family disliked him. But in reality, this so-called legitimate second son was not of the Xiao family bloodline at all. They were just trying to conceal his identity and pave the way for his future actions."
Prince Zang looked at Xiao Yan and said word by word:
"Xiao Yan is not a member of the Xiao family, but the youngest son of He Wenzhuo, the third master of the He family. He is also the only bloodline of the He family left in the world, the legitimate grandson of the He family, He Yan."
"The Xiao family hid him in their mansion for many years, changed his name, and later gave up all their connections and wealth in the capital. They pretended to break away from him and even faked the deaths of everyone in the Xiao family. This was all to allow the He family's bloodline to gain the emperor's favor and re-enter the court as a descendant of the Xiao family!"
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