Chapter 77: Qingyue's true face, completely torn apart
“That’s enough!”
Shen Qingyue's scream was like a poisoned knife, piercing the deathly silence of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. She violently broke free from the guards' grip, tearing a rip in her pomegranate-red skirt. She slumped awkwardly onto the golden bricks, but her manners were no longer a concern. She pointed at Shen Fu's nose, her voice shrill and inflected, "You slave! How much have you accepted from Yun Zhi? How dare you fabricate such a lie! When I fell off the cliff, my arm was scratched by the rocks, and I still have the scar. Tell me, could you fake your own death and create such a scar?"
As she spoke, she suddenly rolled up her sleeves. There was indeed a light pink scar on her forearm, which was particularly conspicuous under the candlelight. Some officials murmured about it, and even the emperor frowned, looking at Shen Fu with a more scrutinizing look.
Seeing this, Shen Qingyue seemed to have grabbed a life-saving straw. She struggled to get up and threw herself at Xiao Jin's feet, hugging his legs tightly. Tears mixed with rouge flowed down her face: "Prince! Look! This scar is real! I didn't lie to you! I almost died at the bottom of the cliff that year. It was you who prayed for me day and night that made me hold on until now! Yun Zhi was just jealous of me and your kindness to me, so she teamed up with these people to harm me and my father! You can't trust her!"
Her tears rubbed against Xiao Jin's dark brocade robe, leaving wet streaks. Xiao Jin lowered his eyes, looking at the scar on her forearm, his heart torn between two forces—on one side, Shen Qingyue's "evidence" and past "tenderness," on the other, Shen Fu's testimony and those irrefutable proofs. His fingers trembled slightly, and for a moment, he couldn't tell the difference.
"The scar is real, but the 'falling off a cliff' is fake." Yun Zhi's voice suddenly rang out, as calm as a deep pool of water. "Miss Chen's scar was deliberately inflicted by a maid with a knife while you were hiding in the other courtyard. Your purpose was to fabricate evidence of the 'falling off a cliff'. The female doctor Liu who was responsible for treating your injuries back then is now outside the palace. Do you want to call her in for a confrontation?"
"Doctor Liu?" Shen Qingyue's body suddenly stiffened, and the hand holding Xiao Jin's leg loosened instantly. Her face was paler than paper. "No... No need! I don't know any Doctor Liu!"
Her panic was like a signal, instantly igniting Xiao Jin's doubts. Xiao Jin abruptly took a step back, shook off Shen Qingyue's hand, and spoke with a barely perceptible tremor in his voice, "Qingyue, you said you didn't know Dr. Liu? But three years ago, the 'expert' you said treated your injuries was a Dr. Liu, wasn't she?"
Shen Qingyue's lips trembled, unable to utter a single word. How could she have forgotten that in order to make the lie of "expert healing" more convincing, she had specifically mentioned "Doctor Liu" to Xiao Jin!
"Call female doctor Liu into the palace!" The emperor's voice was majestic and unquestionable.
Soon, a middle-aged woman in plain clothes walked into the hall and bowed to the emperor: "I am Liu Lan, a commoner, here to see Your Majesty."
"Liu Lan, do you know Shen Qingyue?" asked the emperor.
Liu Lan raised her eyes and looked at Shen Qingyue, whose face was ashen. She nodded and said, "Your Majesty, I know her. Three years ago, Prime Minister Shen invited me to his villa on the outskirts of the city to treat Miss Shen's injuries. Miss Shen asked me to cut the scar with a knife. She also said that if I revealed even a word, she would kill my whole family!"
"You're talking nonsense!" Shen Qingyue screamed and rushed towards Liu Lan, but was stopped by the guards, "I've never seen you before! You bitch, you were sent by Yun Zhi!"
"I have evidence." Liu Lan pulled out a small silver hairpin from her bosom. "This was given to me by Miss Chen back then, and she told me to keep it a secret. The word 'Qing' is engraved on this hairpin. Your Majesty, please check it!"
The eunuch presented the silver hairpin to the emperor. Sure enough, there was a small Chinese character "Qing" engraved on the hairpin, which was exactly the same pattern as the jewelry Shen Qingyue usually wore!
With a thud, Shen Qingyue collapsed to the ground, no longer able to struggle. She looked at the silver hairpin, at Liu Lan's cold eyes, at the contemptuous gazes of the officials, and finally understood - her disguise, her lies, shattered to pieces in the face of these ironclad evidence.
"It was... I did it!" Shen Qingyue suddenly laughed hysterically, her laughter was sharp and piercing, but tears fell madly, "So what? What if I faked my death? What if I scratched myself? It's all because of Yun Zhi! Why does she compete with me for the prince? Why does she occupy the position of Princess Duan?"
She pointed at Yun Zhi fiercely, the jealousy in her eyes like a venomous snake, almost overflowing: "Yun Zhi! You are just a lowly substitute! The prince loves me! If your father hadn't framed my father, if you hadn't pestered the prince, I would have married the prince long ago! You are just like your father, both of you are vicious and cruel!"
"My father didn't frame your father!" Yun Zhi finally lost her temper, her voice filled with years of suppressed hatred. "It was your father who collaborated with the enemy and betrayed the country, and it was you who faked your own death to aid the tyrant! All 173 members of my Yun family were killed by your Shen family! What qualifications do you have to criticize my father? What qualifications do you have to criticize me?"
"I don't care!" Shen Qingyue covered her ears like a mad child, "It's all your fault! If it weren't for you, the prince wouldn't have doubted me at all! If it weren't for you, my father wouldn't have been arrested! You destroyed everything I have, I'm going to kill you!"
She struggled to rush towards Yun Zhi, but was held down by the guards. Xiao Jin stood there, watching her madness and listening to her twisted words. Scenes flashed through his mind like a movie.
He recalled Shen Qingyue's gentleness when she said, "The Yun family deserves what they have done" when she just returned home; he recalled her smugness when she deliberately made things difficult for Yun Zhi in the enclosure; he recalled her panic when she used "a cold" to avoid accompanying him during the spring search; he recalled her calculations when she asked Yun Zhi to "perform" before the birthday banquet...
Those details he had overlooked, those disguises he had taken for "weakness," now pierced his heart like countless needles. He finally understood that the "white moonlight" he had held in his hands for three years was actually a vicious, selfish woman; the "victim" he had protected for three years was actually an accomplice in the murder of the entire Yun family!
"No... Impossible..." Xiao Jin's body swayed and he almost fell. He held onto the corner of the table beside him, his fingers digging into the surface tightly, blood seeping from between his nails. "Qingyue, tell me, this isn't true... Tell me!"
His voice was pleading and full of disbelief, like a drowning man trying to grasp at the last straw.
Shen Qingyue suddenly stopped struggling, raised her tear-stained face, and looked at Xiao Jin, her eyes filled with crazy resentment: "Not true? Xiao Jin, you are still deceiving yourself! Do you think you love the 'weak and kind' me? What you love is just an illusion of your own imagination! I tell you, from the beginning, I approached you just to let my father get the military power! You are nice to me only because I look like Yun Zhi's sister! You are a fool! A fool who was fooled by me!"
With a loud "boom", Xiao Jin's world completely collapsed.
He took a sudden step back, bumping into the corner of the table behind him. The white jade pendant on his waist fell to the ground with a crisp sound. He looked at the hatred in Shen Qingyue's eyes, listened to her heartbreaking words, and recalled all the cruel things he had done to Yun Zhi - forcing her to drink abortion drugs, calling her "lowly", making her do the most difficult labor, and even choosing to turn a blind eye when she was humiliated by Lord Wang...
An indescribable regret and panic overwhelmed him like a tide. He opened his mouth, but could not utter a word. He could only stare at Shen Qingyue, his eyes filled with incredible pain.
The officials looked at Xiao Jin's distraught appearance and Shen Qingyue's frantic state, and no one spoke. The Hall of Supreme Harmony was eerily quiet, with only Shen Qingyue's occasional sneer and Xiao Jin's heavy breathing.
Yun Zhi stood there, watching Xiao Jin's collapse. There was no sympathy in her eyes, only a cold calm. She had long known that Shen Qingyue's true face would cause Xiao Jin pain, but this pain was nothing compared to the injustice suffered by the entire Yun family, compared to the children and relatives she had lost.
"Your Majesty," Yun Zhi turned to the emperor and kowtowed again, her voice firm. "Shen Qingyue has personally admitted her crimes, and the evidence is irrefutable. I implore Your Majesty to punish her severely and clear the name of the Yun family!"
The emperor looked at the maddened Shen Qingyue lying on the ground, then at the distraught Xiao Jin. He took a deep breath and spoke in a thunderous voice, "Shen Qingyue collaborated with his father to frame loyal officials, colluded with the enemy and betrayed the country, and even forged an identity to deceive the emperor. His crimes are heinous! Come! Throw Shen Qingyue into the Sky Prison and wait for her fate alongside Prime Minister Shen!"
The guards stepped forward and lifted up the limp Shen Qingyue. Shen Qingyue struggled, looked at Xiao Jin, and shouted hoarsely: "Xiao Jin! You will regret this! You've lost the person who loves you the most! You will live in regret forever!"
Her voice grew increasingly distant, eventually disappearing outside the hall. Xiao Jin froze in place, like a soulless statue. He stared at the direction Shen Qingyue had disappeared, then at Yun Zhi, who stood tall and straight in the hall, dressed in thin, plain clothes. His heart felt like it was being torn apart, the pain nearly suffocating him.
He finally understood how absurd and cruel he had been in the past three years. He had protected the wrong person, hated the wrong person, and even destroyed the woman who had once had eyes only for him.
And this regret will forever entangle him like a poisonous snake, leaving him with no peace.
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