Chapter 173 The outcome of this case depends on the will of the emperor

The Dali Temple Chief Justice has not yet figured out the matter of Princess Chen, and now with the appearance of He Zhen, things have obviously become more complicated.

The Prime Minister's wife's implication was to question Princess Chen's identity. Seeing how certain she was, she must have found evidence.

But before the truth comes out, it is always better to be cautious. The Dali Temple said: "Princess, please be patient. Since the imperial physician is here, please ask him to treat you to avoid hurting the fetus."

Princess Chen had no time to listen to what the Dali Temple Minister said. She looked at He Zhen who was escorted into the hall in shock.

Didn’t he go to the He family to cut the weeds and eradicate them?

If her identity is to be preserved, even if Mrs. He has gone mad, she cannot be kept. Only by eliminating all hidden dangers can we ensure that there will be no mistakes.

Now that He Zhen has been brought back, it is clear that the plan has failed.

Princess Chen calmed down her troubled thoughts. No matter what, Madam He was already crazy, and the words of a madman could not be used as evidence in court.

Thinking of this, he felt more confident: "The Prime Minister's wife just randomly found a member of the He family. Could it be that she wanted to frame me?"

"Whether it is a false accusation or not, we will know it later." Ruan Qinghuan wanted to break down her defenses little by little. He Zhen was just the first one: "My lords, I caught this person at the He family in Lincheng. At that time, several men in black came to the He mansion to commit crimes. I was wondering who this crazy woman had offended."

"Later, with the help of the Jiangnan garrison, He Zhen was captured in the city. After questioning, we learned that he was an official in Beijing."

Dali Temple: "He Zhen, you are an official from the Ministry of Revenue, why are you in Lincheng? Are you here on a mission?"

He Zhen: "Your Excellency, I have no errands to attend to. I came back to Lincheng just to visit my aunt. I definitely don't want to harm anyone as the Prime Minister's wife said."

"You are just being stubborn." Chu Li snorted coldly: "Your men will be detained in jail, and we will see how you explain it after the interrogation."

Ruan Qinghuan: "Yes, Mr. He is the son of the third branch of the He family. The third branch of the He family is the weakest. Because your father was addicted to gambling, he was controlled by the first branch for a long time. Whether it is financial resources or opportunities, it is the least among the branches."

"But later on, you suddenly became close to Ho Hong-chi, the illegitimate son of the Ho family's first branch, and secretly colluded with the descendants of several other branches. Not long after, something bad happened to the Ho family's first branch."

"The person in charge of the case at the time was He Wen, the second son of the second wife. He was the magistrate of Lincheng County at the time and closed the case as an accidental fire. However, I recently ordered someone to investigate and found traces of phosphorus powder in the house where the fire broke out. It was obviously not an accident."

He Zhen: "I was not in Lincheng when the first wife got into trouble, so I didn't know about it."

Knowing that he would say that, Chu Li pulled out a record from his pocket: "Phosphorus powder is not available to everyone. This is a record of the Ordnance Department privately appropriating phosphorus powder in the name of the head of the second house at the time. On the night when the fire phosphorus was obtained, someone saw you appear near the He family's first house."

He Zhen was silent, with a hint of disbelief in his eyes.

So many years have passed, he doesn't believe that any clues can be found.

It was this moment of hesitation that made Ruan Qinghuan and Chu Li believe that their guess was correct.

**

"I wonder how the Prime Minister's wife knew that there was a hidden story behind the events of the He family's first wife?" After the court adjourned, everyone came to the side hall, and the Chief Justice of the Dali Temple was curious.

Now that the case has been brought to court, Ruan Qinghuan has to give them an explanation.

"In fact, the phosphorus powder was not found. This was just a trick Chu Li and I used to deceive him."

"This..." The Dali Temple Minister was surprised. How could this be taken lightly in the court?

Ruan Qinghuan: "After so many years, there is no way to find any clues. We just found a record of using fire phosphorus, so we wanted to cheat him."

He'an was not surprised at all, as his wife always acted unconventionally. However, the fact that she went to Linjiang City privately was beyond his expectation.

She shouldn't take risks.

Ji Lingchuan stretched his neck anxiously: "Sister-in-law, Chu Li, tell me, besides these, what else did you find?"

Ruan Qinghuan then told everyone what happened in Linjiang City. When everyone learned that the real He girl was still alive, except He An and Jiang Jie, everyone was surprised.

Ji Lingchuan: "So, Princess Chen is really a fake?"

The Dali Temple Minister thought too much: "Putting aside her status, if she is really pregnant, then she can be considered a royal heir. This case is much more complicated."

Ruan Qinghuan found that among the few people, Jiang Jie's performance was too calm.

"Miss He said that someone rescued her when she fell off the cliff, but that person disappeared after she recovered." Ruan Qinghuan looked at Jiang Jie and said, "He once heard He An mention that Jiang Jie lived in Jiangnan before he entered the court as an official."

Without waiting for Jiang Jie to answer, He An stood up and said, "Madam, you must have been exhausted after a long journey. We will review the case another day. Let's go back home and rest first."

Ji Lingchuan heard this and, as usual, took advantage of the situation to get out of trouble. He smiled and walked forward: "Li'er, shall I take you out for a good meal?"

Chu Li snorted coldly, not wanting to pay attention to her, and walked out.

Ji Lingchuan sighed helplessly and chased after him in a flattering manner: "Li'er, wait for me, take a look at what you want to eat, so we can choose a place."

**

The carriage was shaking slightly. Ever since getting on board, Ruan Qinghuan had closed his eyes and was resting, looking as if he didn't want to pay any attention to him.

I thought He'an would coax her, but he became silent as soon as he got in the car.

In order to suppress his tone, Ruan Qinghuan would not take the initiative to speak.

After a moment, his breath suddenly approached, and a sudden kiss fell, which frightened Ruan Qinghuan and pushed him away: "Rogue."

"Madam is finally willing to talk to me?"

"Who's willing to talk to you?"

He An held her hand in his palm and said, "I had no choice but to return to Beijing."

"Then you shouldn't have hidden it from me. If you told me, would I not let you go?" Ruan Qinghuan was not unaware of his good intentions, but she was angry that he left without saying goodbye.

"Of course, Madam, you won't, but you will definitely be worried."

Ruan Qinghuan: “…”

He'an's words finally broke her down. She had heard that they had experienced several ambushes on the way back to Beijing. Although they were not in mortal danger, they were still very dangerous.

This is to be expected.

Although Prince Chen was defeated, there is still Concubine Qi in the palace. As a mother, she will definitely try her best to save her son.

Seeing her eyes reddened, He An hugged her distressedly and said, "I wanted to write to Jiangnan after returning to Beijing and ask them to escort you back, but I didn't expect that you would get there before me."

"Humph, I didn't come back to see you. I came here for the He family's business."

He An gently wiped away her tears: "Okay, okay, just come back."

Ruan Qinghuan rolled his eyes at him and said, "Are you really confident that the trial of He Zhen and the assassins will be handed over to the Dali Temple Minister?"

She knew that He'an had intentionally taken a break from teaching today.

He just wanted to throw He Zhen and Princess Chen into disarray and make them suspicious of each other.

In the face of danger, people tend to protect themselves subconsciously. Moreover, whether it is He Zhen and Princess Chen, or Prince Chen and Princess Chen, they are just using each other.

"The outcome of this case still depends on the will of the emperor."

After these words were spoken, both of them sighed.