Chapter 29 Do You Plead Guilty?
Yang Zhi acted quickly, but the empress's call was even faster. The next afternoon, Yu Fei was invited to Kunyi Palace.
As soon as they entered the main hall, the empress sat at the top, Yang Zhi sat on a chair to her left, and in the hall were kneeling a man and two women, all dressed as servants.
After Yu Fei paid his respects to the empress, he stole a glance at the three people. One of them turned out to be Yu Shuang's personal maid, A Shen.
No wonder she has such a deep memory of this maid. In the original story, whenever Yu Shuang wanted to make trouble between the male and female protagonists, this Ah Shen would definitely come out to charge and break into the enemy line for her master, just like a sharp and tough knife, which was also complained by many readers.
She glanced at Yang Zhi again, secretly sighing that she was really capable of finding the personal maid of the original owner's sister to accuse her of her crimes.
However, Yu Shuang had hated the original owner for a long time, so it was not surprising that she got involved with Yang Zhi.
From the day she left Shu County, Yu Fei knew that truth would come to light one day, and that the fact that she had hurt Jing Cang would eventually come to light.
The man is innocent, but he is guilty of possessing the jade. She followed Jing Cang and became a thorn in the eyes of many people.
Fortunately, she has a fellow snake - no matter what happens, Jing Cang will definitely protect her a survival trump card.
The Queen spoke sternly, "Yu Fei, your sister's maid exposed that you were close to the prince with bad intentions. First, you tried to take the prince away from your sister and commit adultery. When you failed, you broke the prince's legs and caused him to lose his memory. Then you took over the prince's nest and pretended to be the prince's savior. After he recovered his memory, you tricked him into bringing you to the capital. Do you admit your guilt for all these things?"
The Queen spoke slowly, but her words made a loud sound, like the questioning of the goddess of mercy from heaven. Yu Fei could not help but feel her legs go weak.
Fortunately, she had already practiced this set of rebuttals several times on Jing Cang, Jing Yi and Yang Zhi, so she didn't have to think of it on the spot.
Yu Fei made a surprised expression, frowned, looked at Ah Shen with resentment and grievance, and said: "Empress, do you believe such an outrageous thing?"
She pinched her palm secretly, tears falling down, "If the prince had lost his memory and was deceived by me, it would make sense. But now that the prince has recovered his memory, if I really did these vicious and cruel things, would he keep me by his side?"
The nanny beside the queen shouted sharply: "You are not allowed to say 'I come and I go' in front of the queen..."
Yu Fei was so frightened that she took two steps back. The Queen waved her hand to interrupt the nanny and replied to Yu Fei: "That makes sense."
"Who knows what magic the eldest lady used to seduce the prince?" Ah Shen glanced at Yu Fei timidly, as if she were a bewitching monster, then moved two steps to the side on his knees and kowtowed heavily to the empress.
"Your Majesty, everything I said is true. There are two servants from the Yu family who came here with me to testify." She turned around and looked at the two people behind her.
The queen nodded, and the maid said, "Yes."
The elderly servant kneeling on the ground said, "I am the housekeeper of the Yu family. I am willing to testify for the Second Young Miss..." The following 500 words of evidence of Yu Fei's guilt are omitted.
Wiping away tears, "The eldest lady has been bullying men and women since she was young, and has done all kinds of evil. My son was killed by her. She saw that my son was handsome and wanted to flirt with him. My son refused, so she had him thrown into the lake. It was winter, and when he was pulled out, he caught a cold and died."
The man who also knelt and bowed his head said, "I am the cook in the kitchen of the Yu Mansion, and I can also testify for the Second Miss. The First Miss has been bullying good men for a long time. Your Majesty, you have a sharp eye, and you must catch this evil woman who seduced Your Highness."
He lifted his trouser leg and said, "I was persecuted by the eldest lady. Because a dish I cooked was not to her liking, she asked someone to burn my right leg with a fire tongs."
Yu Fei's temples began throbbing when he heard the two men's well-reasoned accusations.
This probably triggered the hidden plot of the original text - the evil deeds done by the original owner.
She thought for a moment, then said to the two of them, "You old woman, I clearly remember that it was your son who coveted me, so I gave him a slight punishment by throwing him into the water."
"And you, the cook, you didn't know how to distinguish vegetables and cooked poisonous mushrooms. You almost poisoned me to death. Dad wanted to beat you to death, but I injured your leg to save your life."
She bowed to the queen and said, "I also have witnesses. If you have any questions, you can ask my maid Dingxiang."
He glanced at Ah Shen again, "I've heard that there are brothers who fight for a woman, but I didn't expect that in my Yu family, there are sisters who fight for a man. I'm sorry to make you laugh, Your Majesty."
With just one short sentence, he turned Ah Shen's overwhelming evidence into a basin of dirty water, deliberately slandering her.
Ah Shen seemed to have not expected that she would "fight back desperately" like this, and stared at her in anger. Yu Fei sighed: "Sister, why are you doing this? If you take me away, will the prince accept her? If the prince wanted two sisters to serve the same husband, he would have accepted her when my sister from Shu County repeatedly came to him."
The queen picked up the teacup and took a sip, then glanced at Yang Zhi calmly, as if blaming her for causing trouble.
Yang Zhi's back was sweating.
When she sent people to Shu County to investigate Yu Fei, Yu Shuang's maid found her and said that Yu Fei had bad intentions towards the prince. After listening to the maid's evidence, she deeply agreed.
But the maid did not say that Yu Shuang favored the prince, and Yu Shuang herself did not reveal this feeling. If Yu Shuang liked Jing Cang, then the sisters were jealous of each other for the same man, and this evidence was most likely false.
The queen might have thought of this, but now that the person had been brought to her, Yang Zhi felt that she was in a difficult position and said, "As the saying goes, 'there is no wind without waves, and everything has a reason'. This is related to the safety of the prince, please consider it carefully."
Yu Fei had a bad reputation in Shu County, the maid swore so confidently, and Yu Shuang was also ambiguous. She felt that there must be some truth in the evidence. Even if one of them was true, the queen would never allow such a hypocritical woman to stay with the prince.
Yu Fei just wanted to get over this matter as quickly as possible. She was not innocent, and the more the empress investigated, the more trouble she would get into.
She revealed her trump card and said softly, "Your Majesty, instead of listening to the nonsense of those who have nothing to do with it, why not call the prince to ask him? He is the person involved and knows who is right and who is wrong.
Ah Shen followed up with a retort: "My Lady, when the Crown Prince was in Shu County, he was very tolerant of the young lady. I think he will definitely favor the young lady."
Yu Fei smiled and said, "Sister, you may not know that I have been in the palace for a few days, but I am still just a maidservant with no name or status. Is this what you call indulgence?"
If a man is interested in a woman, he certainly hopes that she will serve him legitimately, rather than treating her as a disposable toy.
Ah Shen was speechless, his eyes rolling around, as if he was thinking of a countermeasure.
The queen sent someone to invite the prince.
Speak of the devil, here comes the devil. Jing Cang entered the palace to pay his respects to the empress. When he saw Yang Zhi and the others, his brows furrowed. Then he saw Yu Fei and whispered, "Come here."
Yu Feiru saw her savior and trotted to stand behind him.
When everyone saw the prince protecting her like this, they all had different expressions.
Jing Cang said to the Queen, "On the way here, I heard about what happened in Kunyi Palace. I never thought that you would believe the jealous words of a woman."
Although no names were mentioned, it was assumed that Ah Shen was instructed by Yu Shuang to enter the palace to slander Yu Fei, which was consistent with what Yu Fei had said before that Yu Shuang was making up stories out of jealousy.
Yu Fei quietly pressed her thumb on the back of Jing Cang's neck to show her appreciation.
As if he was still unwilling to give up, Ah Shen asked with hope, "Your Highness, when the eldest lady robbed you from the second lady's carriage, you gave the second lady a jade pendant with a dragon pattern to remind her to report to the police. Have you forgotten all this?"
Jing Cang clenched his right fist and forced a frank smile, "Second Miss Yu, I must have remembered it wrongly."
Ah Shen suddenly knelt on the ground, and smiled bitterly at Yu Fei, "Miss, you are amazing, really amazing. No wonder Miss was trampled under your feet and tortured until her head was bleeding, but she didn't dare to make a sound..."
She straightened her face and kowtowed repeatedly to the empress: "The sky is clear, people's hearts are burning, my position is low and my words have little influence, I can't seek justice for the second young lady, nor can I eliminate the evil around the prince, but I am willing to die as a witness. What I said today is absolutely true, please check it thoroughly!" As she said this, she was about to hit her head against the nearest wooden table.
Yang Zhi ordered people to arrest Ah Shen. Her usually gentle face was slightly angry. She shouted, "What kind of place is the Kunyi Palace where you are the queen? A place where people can go to great lengths to commit suicide? I think you are hysterical!"
She bowed to the empress and said, "I brought these people into the palace. I misunderstood their words and was inconsiderate. I disturbed Your Majesty, the Crown Prince, and Miss Yu. Please punish me."
The queen waved her hands, "Forget it. I think you have good intentions and are thinking about the prince's safety. I'll let it go this time. Don't be so reckless next time."
"yes."
Yu Fei looked coldly at the drama directed and acted by Ah Shen. It would be Yu Shuang's merit if she was successfully exposed. Otherwise, it would be like a loyal servant dying to expose the evildoer's crime.
As for Yang Zhi, since she brought these people to expose her, she must have been prepared to cover the consequences herself if she failed. She was the daughter of the Prime Minister's family, and her status was noble. Even if she made a mistake, as long as it was not serious, the Queen would give her some face.
She was the only one hurt by this incident.
At first, when Yu Fei was confronting A Shen, she had to pinch her palms and cry bitterly, but now she felt her eyes were sore, just like when she was in school and listened to her classmates gossiping about her family, pretending not to care on the surface but feeling depressed and wanting to cry in her heart.
Jing Cang heard someone behind him sobbing twice. He turned around and saw Yu Fei with tears in her eyes and her lower lip bitten tightly, looking like she wanted to cry but couldn't. When she met his gaze, she suddenly turned her head away.
He immediately became furious. Seeing Yang Zhi and the others barking like a jealous woman with a few stray dogs at the gate of the East Palace, he immediately said in a cold voice, "If I marry a girl, I will be considered a fool. If I have a child before marriage, will I also be considered a bastard?"
Yang Zhi hurriedly bowed, "Your Highness, I am terrified by what you said."
The Queen saw that Jing Cang seemed angry, so she glanced at the nanny beside her, who tried to smooth things over: "Miss Yang's unintentional mistake, since the Queen has forgiven it, then take these idle people away quickly."
Yu Fei didn't know whether Jing Cang was trying to offend Yang Zhi on her behalf, or maybe he just felt his dignity was offended, but she shouldn't think about it too much here.
The hall was suddenly empty and silent, and she could even hear the sound of a pin drop. She inexplicably sensed a sense of horror and was about to leave when she saw the queen staring at Jing Cang with her sharp eyes and said slowly, "Qilin, you were lying just now."