Princess Yanping and Princess Qinghe waited anxiously outside the Ministry of Justice prison. They hoped that Xie Jingyan and the others would come out soon so they could ask about the situation of the Crown Prince of Yanping. They also hoped that they could spend more time with the Crown Prince. Their son, who had been raised in luxury, had never suffered such hardship. The thought of her son's life hanging by a thread made Princess Yanping's heart ache.
After waiting and waiting, the Vice Minister of Justice respectfully invited Xie Jingyan and the others to come out. Princess Yanping hurried over and asked anxiously, "How is Xun'er?"
Tang Ze hurriedly said, "Brother Zhixun was whipped more than a dozen times. We applied medicine to him. Prince Ling has already warned the Ministry of Justice. They should not dare to torture him again."
...That wasn't just a dozen lashes, it was dozens.
To avoid causing Princess Yanping too much worry, they could only downplay the situation. They tried to hide it, but it was impossible to conceal it. If they could find out that the Ministry of Justice had tortured the Crown Prince of Yanping, then the Yanping Prince's residence could as well.
Princess Yanping's eyes were red, and she was deeply moved. Her son had killed the only son of Princess Huyang and her husband. Everyone else kept their distance, fearing that the Empress Dowager and Princess Huyang would take their anger out on her. The fact that they came to visit her son in prison and even put in a good word for her son with the Ministry of Justice made Princess Yanping feel incredibly grateful.
Xie Jingyan instructed Princess Qinghe to help Princess Yanping return, and they mounted their horses and departed.
The Crown Prince of Yanping confessed to his crimes without reservation, and the Empress Dowager put a lot of pressure on the Ministry of Justice. The verdict will be delivered by tomorrow at the latest.
Xie Jingyan, Tang Ze, and Lu Cheng rode their horses to the street, then parted ways and returned to their respective residences.
When Xie Jingyan returned to Moyuxuan, the small kitchen had just brought the food into the room. When Shen Wan saw him return, she quickly went up to him and asked, "How is the Prince of Yanping?"
Xie Jingyan said, "He was beaten black and blue."
Just like in her previous life, Shen Wan had nothing to say but sigh.
Xie Jingyan said, "Let's eat."
The two sat down to eat, chatting idly, and ate more slowly than usual.
After they finished eating and put down their chopsticks, Dong'er rushed in and said urgently, "Your Highness, someone from the palace has come to deliver a message, saying that the Emperor wants you to come to the palace immediately..."
roll……
These words are unusually strong.
Shen Wan's heart skipped a beat, and she quickly looked at Xie Jingyan, "What did you do to anger the Emperor?"
Xie Jingyan had a pretty good idea of what was going on, but he certainly couldn't tell Shen Wan. He said half-truthfully, "His Majesty must know that I ignored the Empress Dowager's words and went to visit the Prince of Yanping's son in prison."
Shen Wan then said, "I will go to the palace with you."
Xie Jingyan said, "It would be so embarrassing for me to be scolded by the Emperor in front of you. Don't worry, I'll be back in a bit."
What kind of time is this to still be concerned about saving face?
However, hearing him speak so casually, Shen Wan's worries lessened somewhat.
However, since he disobeyed the Empress Dowager and visited the Prince of Yanping in prison, the Emperor would not have allowed him to leave the palace. It is only possible that the Emperor knew that he had pressured the Ministry of Justice to impeach the Empress Dowager, and that this had reached the Emperor's ears.
Just as Xie Jingyan had guessed, the Emperor was indeed enraged by this matter. As soon as he entered the Imperial Study, the Emperor's angry rebuke rang out, "How dare you! You disregard the Empress Dowager's words, and it's one thing to take advantage of loopholes to visit the Prince of Yanping's heir in prison, but you even want to impeach the Empress Dowager?!"
Xie Jingyan said casually, "If Father's son is too timid, wouldn't that be a disgrace to Father?"
The Emperor was stunned by Xie Jingyan's reaction, his anger caught in his throat, unsure whether to be angry or not.
Xie Jingyan frowned and said, "But I didn't expect the Ministry of Justice to have the audacity to file a complaint against me."
The Emperor's face was full of anger, and Eunuch Yuan hurriedly said, "Prince Ling has misunderstood. The Ministry of Justice did not file a complaint against you. It was Vice Minister Li who reported to Minister Xu, and unfortunately, Duke Du overheard it..."
Duke Du had only been gone a short while; Prince Ling should have seen him on his way here.
Eunuch Yuan's words abruptly stopped there, because the Emperor glared at him, "You've explained it so clearly, are you still afraid he'll cause trouble for the Ministry of Justice?!"
Eunuch Yuan hurriedly knelt down to admit his mistake, "It was this servant who spoke out of turn, Your Majesty, please calm down."
"Step back."
When the Emperor spoke, Eunuch Yuan quickly left the Imperial Study.
After Eunuch Yuan withdrew, the palace maids and eunuchs serving in the Imperial Study also wisely left, leaving only the Emperor and Xie Jingyan in the large Imperial Study.
Xie Jingyan said, "Why is Father so angry? The Empress Dowager is pressuring the Ministry of Justice to abuse punishments. Am I wrong?"
The emperor sat on the dragon throne, so angry that his heart ached.
Before summoning this rebellious son again, we must call Zhao Yuanzheng to wait outside the Imperial Study, lest he be angered to death by him.
The Emperor summoned Xie Jingyan to the palace, not only because he was angered by Xie Jingyan's impeachment of the Empress Dowager, but also because he asked, "The Yun family's pardon was obtained to protect the heir of the Prince of Yanping, wasn't it?!"
"good."
Since the Emperor had guessed it, Xie Jingyan no longer denied it.
The Emperor slammed his fist on the table in anger, saying, "Since you knew all along that he would kill Princess Huyang's son, why didn't you inform me beforehand?!"
Xie Jingyan asked with displeasure, "Report to Father, and then what? In order to protect the son of Princess Huyang from death, banish the Prince of Yanping's heir from the capital and never let him return for the rest of his life?"
"Why does Your Majesty think the Prince of Yanping has repeatedly tolerated the son of Princess Huyang? In order to save face for Princess Huyang and the Empress Dowager, the Prince of Yanping did not even utter a single word about why the two had a conflict. Neither the Empress Dowager nor Princess Huyang pressed him for an answer. Your Majesty should know that the fault does not lie with the Prince of Yanping."
"I only have one question for Father: if the Prince of Yanping had not killed the son of Princess Huyang that day, would his crime have truly warranted death?"
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