Chapter 62
Inside the palace walls, there are still flourishing flowers.
Jian Xinyi had no way to appreciate it at this moment.
The Yuhua Palace is still magnificent, and in winter it is still decorated with white jade flowers, with a lingering fragrance.
"This humble girl pays homage to Her Majesty the Queen."
The queen didn't look up, but just fiddled with the beads in her hand: "I hope you have thought it through this time."
Jian Xinyi's voice trembled slightly, but her body was still kneeling straight.
"Your Majesty, I came here for a more important matter."
"Hmph." The Queen snorted nonchalantly and looked around. "Everyone, leave."
In the huge Yuhua Palace, in a blink of an eye, only the two of them were left.
The queen slowly walked down the platform and gently cleared away the smoke from the golden incense burner.
"Tell me, if you have anything else important to say, I'm all ears."
"King Geng wants to kill King Xing."
Before he could finish his words, the Queen scolded him harshly, "Nonsense!"
Jian Xinyi had no choice but to continue kneeling, not daring to speak.
"Slandering the royal family is a serious crime punishable by the death of nine generations of the clan."
"I dare not lie."
Seeing that the Queen did not say anything to stop her, Jian Xinyi continued talking.
"Now, a gang of poor people has suddenly appeared in the court. Under the pretext of robbing the rich to help the poor, they are forcing court officials to work for them. They are extremely rampant. The emperor has ordered His Royal Highness Prince Xing to thoroughly investigate the case. He has discovered a connection with Prince Geng, who is using a commoner woman as bait to distract the emperor and Prince Geng."
There was silence for a long time in Yuhua Palace. Only the occasional rustling sound could be heard from outside the palace. The silence was so maddening.
"You deserve to be distracted."
The queen was very disdainful, as if she didn't believe what Jian Xinyi said at all.
But there was no other way, Jian Xinyi could only bite the bullet and hold on: "Empress, my lady's matter is small, and His Royal Highness Prince Xing's matter is bigger."
Before he finished speaking, he heard the palace maid outside the palace bow and say, "Your Majesty, the Emperor invites you."
When the Queen heard someone coming from the Emperor's side, she no longer had the heart to argue with Jian Xinyi: "Forget it, I won't bother with you."
She leaned over, lowered her head slightly, and stared straight into Jian Xinyi's eyes.
"Your business is your own business. It has nothing to do with King Tongxing. Do you understand?"
When Jian Xinyi heard this, her heart sank.
Now the palace maid is standing outside the palace waiting for the Queen. If this fails, who else should she look for?
This is her last chance.
"Your Majesty, there are still rumors spreading in the court. Even if I were to confirm it, I would not be able to resist the gossip of the people."
She knelt in Yuhua Palace, looking at the Queen who was about to leave the palace.
But the Queen only turned her face slightly and spoke in a sharper tone.
"Lin Zhuiyu, listen carefully to me. You have no relationship with Prince Xing, and I will not intervene in your affairs."
After saying this, he left with the palace maid.
Only Jian Xinyi was left, kneeling in the main hall of Yuhua Palace.
"Thank you for your teachings, Madam."
She bit her lower lip lightly and slowly stood up from the hall. Her knees were unable to move and they hurt piercingly when touched.
I was in a hurry to leave today and didn't even bring a sponge mat.
Jian Xinyi also hated her own recklessness.
But if you don't even ask for help, then you are truly hopeless.
Before leaving, she glanced towards Yuhua Palace.
Even though he didn't hope that the Queen could really help him, as long as she could listen to his words, there was still a glimmer of hope.
In the Qinzheng Hall, white charcoal was burning brightly.
The Queen bowed before the palace and took the inkstone beside her. "Your Majesty has not recovered from the cold yet, please take care of yourself."
"Do you know why I called you here?"
The emperor's face showed no sadness or joy, but he stared at the queen with a pair of deep eyes.
"I can't think of it."
With a crackling sound, a few sparks burst out from the charcoal.
The emperor stopped writing and slowly stood up.
"Now the Poverty Relief Gang's perverse tendencies continue. I ordered the Ministry of Justice to conduct a thorough investigation, but suddenly a man suddenly appeared and died abruptly, claiming he was murdered by the gang's mastermind."
"And his daughter entered the palace yesterday and today. How could a commoner girl have the ability to enter the palace? Unless..."
The emperor deliberately left a question open, and the queen understood and quickly continued, "Yes, she is the woman that Prince Xing wants to marry."
"But I have no way of knowing anything about the Poor Relief Gang."
Seeing that the emperor's suspicions were still there, the queen could only accept the tea offered to her and continued, "We are simply inviting this woman to the Qionghua Banquet to dampen Prince Xing's arrogance. Let him know that there is a world of difference between a commoner's woman and the ladies of an official family."
Before she finished speaking, she saw the emperor looking at her with a sidelong glance.
"Queen, do you think I am getting senile?"
Suddenly, the queen's heart seemed to jump up.
"Your Majesty, why do you say that?"
"Then why, one by one, do you all treat me like a fool?"
With a crash, piles of memorials fell to the ground.
Seeing this, the Queen quickly knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, I have failed to educate my son properly. Please forgive me."
When the palace servants serving in the Qinzheng Hall saw that the emperor was angry, they all knelt down.
"He deceives his superiors and subordinates, and misleads everyone. He really thinks I am incompetent and can't even investigate a case clearly."
There was silence in the Qinzheng Hall.
"Your Majesty, the Minister of Justice, Mr. Xue, requests an audience."
"Send him in."
Seeing that he was already furious, the queen didn't want to say anything more for fear of causing trouble, so she withdrew.
"I'll take my leave."
Outside the palace gate, the Minister of Justice, Lord Xue, had a worried look on his face, but he did not forget to greet her when he saw her.
"My Lady."
As the two passed each other, the Queen whispered to him, "Master Xue, the Emperor is furious right now. You must be careful in what you do, especially when using torture, to avoid harming innocent people."
"Thank you very much for your advice, Your Majesty."
Only after seeing Lord Xue walk into the Qinzheng Palace did the Queen walk back to her own palace with peace of mind.
Rong Gu beside her was a little puzzled: "Your Majesty, His Majesty is furious right now, why are you getting involved in this mess? It's unnecessary."
"The Emperor said so. He must know something, but he just doesn't want to show it."
The queen gently stroked the jewels on her head. The cool touch made her feel refreshed.
"Then what I can do is to protect the innocent and allow them to overturn their own verdicts, thereby eliminating the truly guilty."
"In this case, I was just going along with the flow and never took any action."
The sun was at its highest point in the palace, hanging high in the cloudless sky.
The queen stood in the palace, gently stroking a small pot of white viburnum in her hand.
"This viburnum, the side branches should be pruned. If you don't prune them, they will always compete for the main branch and become an eyesore."
As soon as he finished speaking, he cut off all the side branches with a snap of the scissors.
"This is called cutting the grass at its roots."
The queen turned around and looked at Rong Gu behind her. She had a smile on her face, but her eyes were filled with cold murderous intent.
Rong Gu leaned forward slightly and praised: "Your Majesty is wise."
"It's a pity that these scissors are only good for pruning branches, but not necessarily for chopping down trees. There's no use keeping them for the future, so it's better to get rid of them altogether to prevent future trouble."
She glanced at the brand new pair of scissors and shook her head.
"Sir, are you really not allowed to go in?"
Jian Xinyi looked at the stern-looking jailer in front of her, bit her lip, and hardened her heart.
"Lin Zhimin is now a wanted criminal of the imperial court and cannot be investigated without imperial decree."
Sun Liqing was at his wit's end and could only advise, "Miss Lin, this matter cannot be rushed."
"That's all."
Jian Xinyi also knew that she was insignificant and her words carried little weight. Even if someone from Prince Xing's Mansion was present, they would be powerless to deal with someone involved in a major case in the court.
As for the Queen, it was obvious that she wanted to cut ties with her.
Now that she has been summoned by the Dali Temple, she must attend.
"Miss Lin, please."
A low voice came from behind. Jian Xinyi turned around and saw the Shaoqing of Dali Temple standing there, waiting for her to come in.
The interrogation room was built in the dark, cramped and small. As soon as Jian Xinyi entered, she felt stuffy.
There were three adults opposite, with extremely stern and solemn expressions.
It was the Shaoqing who spoke first: "Lin Zhuiyu, regarding the Lin Zhimin case, you must describe the case truthfully and in detail, word for word, without leaving out anything, understand?"
"I see."
The three of them flipped through the case files, which reminded her of her graduation thesis defense.
But soon, she no longer had this idea.
Questions came one after another.
"Lin Zhuiyu, do you admit that you handed over the book you illustrated to the bookstore for publication?"
She frowned slightly, wondering what kind of trap had been dug here.
"It was Shuxing who contacted me."
Afterwards, Shaoqing whispered a few words with the middle man, then looked at Jian Xinyi: "The bookstore owner said that it was Lin Zhimin who used the power of the Poverty Alleviation Gang to force him to make concessions as a condition for signing the contract."
Before she even finished her words, she vehemently refuted them.
"That's impossible. When I signed the contract with the bookstore, the profit split was 70:30, with the bookstore taking the lion's share. How could it be a contract with concessions?"
"Mu Qing, present the evidence to her."
The herdsman Pu, who was standing nearby, came out from behind the scenes and showed her the bookstore's contract.
Jian Xinyi took a closer look and found that it was indeed the contract they had signed at the beginning, except that on the fifth page, it was written in very small words that the bookstore would get 30% of the profit and Lin would get 70%.
Coincidentally, there were still red mud marks on it made by the maid at that time.
"How could this happen?"
Recalling the signing scene at that time, it was no wonder that the president of the bookstore kept urging her to sign the contract. It turned out that he had prepared for it in advance.
Jian Xinyi remained calm and continued to argue.
"Even though the contract says so, the bookstore hasn't paid me the annual commission yet. I haven't received any of that money at all, just a portion of the deposit."
At this moment, the adult who had never spoken suddenly challenged her, "You are right. This money was used by your father to cover the operating costs of the Poor Relief Gang."
Jian Xinyi was even more annoyed. She thought that these people had clearly already determined Lao Lin's guilt and were implicating him based on these irrelevant evidences.
Thinking of this, her voice unconsciously rose a little.
"My father doesn't even know what the Poor Relief Association is, let alone using this money to fill operating deficits."
Seeing that Jian Xinyi remained unmoved, the man became furious. "Lin Zhimin is the mastermind behind the Poverty Relief Gang. The evidence is overwhelming, and you still dare to quibble. Come, execute him immediately."
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