Zu An paused, observed carefully, and discovered that a group of embroidered-robed messengers were lying in ambush around them, and the leader was none other than Zhu Xie Chixin.
His heart skipped a beat, wondering if he had given himself away at some point.
His first instinct was to turn and run. After all, being naked and embracing the Crown Princess, even if he was framed, was definitely a capital offense.
However, he quickly calmed down. The other party might not have solid evidence to arrest him here, and if he ran away, he would only solidify the charges against him.
The key point is that the imperial guards have now been fully mobilized and the palace gates are closed, so he may not be able to escape.
He took a deep breath and calmly walked over.
As soon as he showed his face, a group of embroidered-clad messengers jumped out of the surrounding bushes and surrounded him.
"What are you all doing?" Zu An asked in a deep voice.
Zhu Xiechixin stepped forward, his eyes filled with complex emotions: "Gold Medal Eleven, come with us. We need you to investigate something."
"What is it?" Zuan asked calmly.
Zhu Xie Chixin gave him a deep look, but didn't answer. He simply waved his hand, signaling his subordinates, "Take him away!"
Zuan did not resist. With a half-step Grandmaster here, his resistance would be meaningless.
He was quickly taken back to the Embroidered Robe Envoy's main headquarters in the palace—the Embroidered Pavilion.
He was led to a secret underground chamber, where Zhu Xiechi signaled the others to leave so he could interrogate him alone.
The other embroidered-robed envoys were somewhat surprised, because according to custom, multiple people must be present when interrogating prisoners. This is to check and balance each other and prevent some people from colluding to give the same testimony.
The current president's actions are somewhat taboo.
However, Zhu Xie Chixin had extremely high prestige, and this time the interrogator was the recently mysterious Eleventh Gold Medalist, so no one said anything and obediently withdrew.
After everyone had left, Zhu Xie Chixin sat down in front of Zu An and stared at him quietly.
Zuan had already removed his mask, since the other party already knew his identity: "Commander, what have I done wrong? Why are you arresting me?"
At this moment, Zhu Xiechi slammed his fist on the table: "How dare you! You actually lay a hand on the Crown Princess!"
Zu An was immediately "shocked": "Commander, what are you talking about? This is a crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations of your family. You can't joke about this."
"Who's joking with you?" Zhu Xie Chixin's face darkened. "Someone has filed a formal complaint accusing you of having an affair with the Crown Princess. Is that true?"
“Absolutely not. Even if you don’t believe me, don’t you believe the Crown Princess?” Zu An hurriedly said. “I’ve only been in the palace for a short time. What kind of person is the Crown Princess? How could she possibly be interested in me? I don’t know which bastard is spreading rumors. May he have a son without an anus!”
He knew it was most likely Shi Jun, but he couldn't say, because only those involved knew that it was Shi Jun who was leading the manhunt to arrest them.
Having watched so many episodes of Detective Conan in his past life, where the culprit always accidentally let slip the secret, he now thinks carefully about every word he says.
"Don't worry about who reported you. You should know that you weren't reported by just one person. There were palace maids, guards, and eunuchs. They all saw it with their own eyes," Zhu Xiechi said coldly.
"Impossible! I absolutely did not do such a thing! I hope the Grand Commander will see the truth!" Zu An thought to himself that when he ran away, those people could only see his back at most, and it was impossible for them to see his face. The Crown Princess had kept her face buried in her chest, so it was even more impossible for her to be seen.
It seems that those who reported it were indeed instigated by the person who framed them.
"Then why don't you leave the palace after dark?" Zhu Xie Chixin continued to press.
"I saw that it was getting late, so I thought I'd just stay in the White Sand Courtyard. Anyway, I was alone in that house outside, which was cold and quiet. It would be better to stay in the palace and enjoy the liveliness," Zu An explained.
"Stay in the palace for fun?" Zhu Xiechi chuckled. "What do you take the palace for? It's full of concubines and princesses. How can a man just stay overnight in the palace?"
Zuan muttered, "I have the identity of an Embroidered Robe Envoy, so I might as well use it."
Zhu Xie Chixin: "..."
He took a deep breath: "Then why weren't you here when we came looking for you? Where did you go so late at night?"
Zuan said, "I'm just wandering around the palace. I'm new here and not very familiar with the layout. I'm worried that there might be another assassination attempt like last time, so I'm taking precautions and familiarizing myself with the layout of the palace beforehand, so I won't be like a headless fly if something happens in the future."
"You're wandering around the palace so late at night?" Zhu Xiechi laughed angrily. "Didn't I tell you before that the palace is full of nobles and you can't just move around freely to avoid suspicion? Don't you know that?"
"I was just bored, so I went out for a walk. I never expected to encounter such suspicion," Zu An said hurriedly. "Commander, although I haven't been in the Eastern Palace for long and I'm not very familiar with the Crown Princess, based on what I've learned about her these past few days, she would never do such a shameful thing with another man."
Zhu Xie Chixin snorted coldly: "If it weren't for trusting the Crown Princess's character, do you think the Emperor would have patiently let me ask you so many questions?"
Zu An looked surprised: "So it was the Emperor who wanted to ask me."
"What do you think? With such a big incident, how could the Emperor possibly ignore it?" Zhu Xiechixin said in a deep voice. "Based on our analysis, it's most likely that you and the Crown Princess were framed. Now, tell me honestly what happened between you and the Crown Princess so that I can cooperate with you to clean up the mess."
Zu An said seriously, "Commander, why don't you believe me? I really didn't have anything with the Crown Princess. I haven't seen the Crown Princess since I left the Imperial Study."
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