“When I saw so much silver, I had a wicked thought and swapped three of the real silver ingots with fake ones,” Hei Gui said.
"Minister Jiang, have you checked the silver? Are there three counterfeit silver ingots among them?" The Emperor asked Jiang Yunqi.
“Your Majesty, we only counted the numbers; we did not examine them carefully,” Jiang Yunqi said.
"Someone, go and check that pile of silver ingots immediately to see if there are any of the three fake silver ingots he mentioned," the Emperor ordered Wei, the eunuch beside him.
"Yes, Your Majesty." Eunuch Wei immediately led a young eunuch to the Dali Temple.
"After all this talk, where is Su Laosi? Where did Su Laosi go? What exactly happened? We can find out by questioning him. Why bother with all this trouble?" Liang Xiangzhi said.
“When we found Su Laosi, he had already been murdered. When he was dying, he said that it was the Grand Tutor’s wife, Yunlian, who killed him, and that the more than 800,000 taels of silver were buried in the courtyard of the Marquis of Zhen’an’s mansion at the instruction of the Grand Tutor’s wife, Yunlian,” Jiang Yunqi replied.
Upon hearing this, everyone turned to look at Yunlian.
Yunlian was filled with remorse. She never expected that Su Laosi, that scoundrel, would be so tough and actually survive for a while. She should have burned down the Su family's house when she left.
"Your Majesty, you are innocent!" Yunlian immediately knelt down gracefully. "Your Majesty, I did not do it."
Even if Su Laosi told her about it, what difference would it make? Su Laosi is already dead, and there's no way to verify it.
“Su Laosi is your own uncle, would he really wrong you?” Jiang Yunqi looked at Yunlian angrily.
This woman murdered her own uncle, and when exposed, she still had the nerve to deny it with an innocent look on her face.
"Lord Jiang, is there any witness or physical evidence to prove that I killed my uncle and that I made my uncle bury the more than 800,000 taels of silver in the courtyard of the Marquis of Zhen'an's mansion?" Yunlian turned her head and stared at Jiang Yunqi as she asked.
“Both His Highness the Prince of Beihan and I heard what Su Laosi said. Would we possibly give false testimony?” Jiang Yunqi said.
Yunlian chuckled, "Everyone in the world knows about the relationship between His Highness the Northern Cold King and Ranran. And you, look at the way you look at Ranran, do you think it's innocent?"
Her words offended Jun Molin and Jiang Yunqi in public. No one present expected that she, a woman, would dare to openly offend the Northern Cold King and Jiang Yunqi in the imperial court.
Grand Tutor Qin remained silent throughout, silently telling himself to trust his wife. As for whether Yunlian had offended the Prince of Beihan and Lord Jiang, he didn't care at all; compared to his wife, what did his future matter?
“Madam Qin is right. Given the relationship between Lord Jiang, His Highness the Prince of Beihan, and Princess Rongchang, neither of you can serve as witnesses. Moreover, according to the law, witnesses are the parties involved, and you are not parties involved,” Liang Xiangzhi interjected.
"If it weren't for you, where would Su Laosi have gotten so much money?" Jiang Yunqi asked.
"I didn't have that much silver back then," Yunlian replied innocently.
"According to Su Laosi, that money was earned by you secretly lending money at exorbitant interest rates and embezzling from the Grand Tutor's household expenses." Jiang Yunqi's voice was filled with anger. This woman was too cunning and shameless.
"Lord Jiang, you say I lent money at exorbitant interest rates and embezzled funds from the Grand Tutor's household expenses. Do you have any evidence?" Yunlian asked.
Jiang Yunqi was speechless. How could something that happened more than 20 years ago be found now? Even if it were found, the evidence would definitely have been destroyed by her.
Yun Qingran looked at Yun Lian with a clear and serene gaze. Her aunt was far more sophisticated than Yun Xiyue and Yun Song.
"Your Majesty~" Eunuch Wei returned with his eunuchs.
"How is it?" the Emperor asked Eunuch Wei.
Eunuch Wei held up the three silver ingots with both hands and replied respectfully, "Of the more than 800,000 taels of silver, there are indeed three ingots that are problematic. These three ingots are made of iron and have only been coated with molten silver."
"This shows that what Hei Gui said is true. The more than 800,000 taels of silver in the Zhen'an Marquis's mansion were buried there by Su Laosi and Hei Gui," the Emperor said, looking at the three ingots of silver.
"Your Majesty, this money has nothing to do with my father, so can my father be released without charge?" Yun Qingran looked at the Emperor and asked respectfully.
"Of course." The Emperor nodded, then looked at Eunuch Wei, "Take my decree to the Imperial Prison, release Marquis Zhen'an, and then personally escort him back to his residence."
"Yes, Your Majesty, this servant will go right away." Eunuch Wei, along with several junior eunuchs, hurriedly left again.
Seeing this scene, a deep sense of regret flashed across Yunlian's eyes. She had set up a scheme twenty years ago, but she never expected that it would all fall apart today.
“Father, Su Laosi is just a commoner who indulges in all sorts of vices, including eating, drinking, gambling, and whoring. He doesn’t have that much money, nor does he have any reason to go to such lengths to bury over 800,000 taels of silver in the Zhen’an Marquis’s mansion. Someone is trying to set this up and frame the Zhen’an Marquis. I hope Father will investigate this matter thoroughly.” Jun Molin stepped forward and bowed to the Emperor.
“Your Majesty, before Su Laosi died, he really said that Yunlian killed him, and that Yunlian also told him to bury the more than 800,000 taels of silver in the courtyard of the Zhen'an Marquis’s mansion.” Jiang Yunqi added.
"Lord Jiang, although my elder brother and I are not from the same mother, we are still siblings. Why would I do such a thing? Also, where is the evidence? Prove that I did these things. You can't frame someone just because you were angry for a woman." Yunlian said calmly and patiently.
“Aunt, watch your words.” Yun Qingran suddenly spoke, her tone icy. “Lord Jiang is the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review. It is his duty to clear the name of the wronged. How did you come to say that he was “raging for a woman”?
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