Chapter 155: Request for Punishment
If Jiang Xinyue guessed correctly, it was probably that Secretary Pei knew that Pei and Li Guipin were plotting to murder her, and was ready to let Pei take all the blame and save Li Guipin.
As she expected, Pei Zhongshu looked painful under the gaze of the concubines. He completely ignored the looks of the concubines and almost knelt down crying: "Your Majesty! I am guilty. I have raised an unfilial daughter! I am already sixty years old. She wants me to lose all my face! Your Majesty... Please sentence me to death! I will die to atone for my sins!"
Emperor Xuanwu said with a dark face: "What are you doing, Pei Aiqing? Get up quickly. What did you do wrong?"
Pei Zhongshu was a veteran of three dynasties. Not to mention that his daughter did something wrong, he led people to apologize. Even if he himself made a mistake, the emperor should give him a break. As long as it was not a serious crime of treason, Pei Zhongshu could live well.
The emperor had to offer him up.
Otherwise, the court officials would only feel disheartened.
Pei Zhongshu was also an old artist who sang and wrote songs. Tears came to his eyes immediately, and he pulled the rope in his hand and pulled Pei out from behind.
He shook his head and swayed his body slightly: "Your Majesty, this rebellious daughter of mine was so bold that she brought a snake girl into the palace. She wanted her to perform snake dancing for Concubine Li, but the snake girl disappeared not long after entering the palace. This rebellious daughter of mine has been looking for a long time but couldn't find her. When it was time to leave the palace, she had to go home first. Out of fear, she didn't tell me first, and only came to inform me early this morning. I hurried into the palace. Although she had good intentions, she did bad things with good intentions. Your Majesty, has the snake girl been found? Did she hurt anyone?"
After these words came out, Jiang Xinyue had a new understanding of Pei Zhongshu's shamelessness.
She would never believe that Pei Zhongshu didn't know that the snake girl released snakes into Hexi Palace with the intention of killing her.
If she didn't know, how could she come so timely?
Wasn't it just to save Li Guipin?
What she could think of, Emperor Xuanwu might not have thought of.
"No one was hurt?"
It was Jiang Xinyue who cleared Concubine Liang of the suspicion. Just now, Li Guipin had blamed her, so how could she let Li Guipin go?
She lived up to her reputation of being mean and sharp-tongued. She pointed at Pei Zhongshu and cursed him, "How can you, the Pei family, be so shameless? You are the Minister of the Central Secretariat. You have spies in the palace. You obviously knew that the snake woman almost killed Concubine Zhen and the child in her belly. Why are you pretending to be so shameless here? The old and the young are all the same. Why don't you go to the opera troupe to sing? I think Pei Zhongshu is also a great actor."
Yes, Pei Zhongshu knew it, but no one dared to expose him so openly!
The atmosphere was awkward for a moment, and Pei Zhongshu's tears flowed down his wrinkles, which made him even more embarrassed.
No one gave him a step to go down, and he was so embarrassed that his toes dug into the ground.
Emperor Xuanwu couldn't help laughing, but fearing being seen, he quickly restrained his expression and covered his laughter with a cough: "Liang Fei, please don't be so presumptuous. How can you talk to Pei Aiqing like this?"
Liang Fei bent her knees and covered her mouth: "Your Majesty is right, please forgive me, Secretary Pei. Just now, Li Guipin kept saying that the snake girl died in my palace. She meant that I was the murderer. I couldn't help it and said what was in my heart. Your Excellency, Secretary Zhongshu, please be magnanimous. Don't bother with this little girl of mine."
She really said everything.
Secretary Pei even claimed that he didn't dare, and looked at Jiang Xinyue and said: "This old minister really doesn't know about this. Is Concubine Zhen injured?"
Nonsense!
The colors of those snakes were so bright that you could tell at a glance that they were full of poison. If they bit her, she would have to go to see Prince Yan. If she was really injured, would she still be alive and standing here?
"I'm injured."
Jiang Xinyue didn't play by the rules. She covered her chest and said fearfully, "Now when I see bright colors, I feel sick, want to vomit, feel dizzy, and have blurred vision... My hands can't control the shaking. The room I live in is full of snake corpses. I'm afraid I'll be haunted by nightmares every night in the future. I heard that there is a folk custom that snakes that enter the house can only be driven away, not killed, otherwise the house will be disturbed. But I am in the palace. If something really happens in the future... "
She shook her head, too scared to think further: "I am so hurt. How can I look at snake soup and snake meat in the future? This incident will be a shadow for my whole life, following me until I die. Pei Zhongshu, do you think I am hurt?"
Some injuries are invisible in the heart, and they are more difficult to heal than those visible skin injuries.
This is probably what Zhenpin meant!
Pei Zhongshu didn't expect that someone was more shameless than himself. He was standing here fine, without a single hair missing, but Zhenpin said it was as serious as if he was injured.
He even asked him back. Could he still say: Why are you being pretentious?
He had come to admit his fault and to lower his posture.
"Yes, yes, yes... It's all the fault of this rebellious daughter. Your Majesty, Concubine Zhen, I ask you to punish this rebellious daughter. I have no complaints."
Seeing Pei tied up with ropes and kneeling on the ground, Concubine Li felt greatly insulted and her chest rose and fell violently.
"Yes..."
Concubine Li was about to confess her guilt impulsively, not wanting to see her mother being humiliated in public.
"Your Majesty, Concubine Zhen, this is all my fault for my own decision. Concubine Li is completely unaware of this. Please don't be angry with Concubine Li."
Pei shook her head at Concubine Li and interrupted her.
Emperor Xuanwu exhaled a heavy breath from his nose and did not make a decision immediately.
According to what Pei Zhongshu meant, Jiang Xinyue was not injured, so this matter could be resolved.
But Emperor Xuanwu thought, must Zhenpin die before he could investigate the faults of Pei and Li Guipin?
Zhenpin was lucky and was not bitten to death by the snake, so could she not demand severe punishment for both of them?
What if Zhenpin was unlucky and was bitten to death by the snake?
Who could compensate for the lives of Zhenpin and the child in her belly?
In the emperor's heart, Pei's worthless life was not as important as his Zhenpin.
He subconsciously looked at Jiang Xinyue, and Jiang Xinyue only showed a fake smile, as if to say: You can handle it yourself, this matter did not satisfy me, and the emperor knows my temper.
Emperor Xuanwu shook his head. How could her words still play in his mind?
"Pei brought such a dangerous person into the palace without permission, putting the concubines and me in danger. This act is tantamount to regicide. She shall be executed!"
The word "given death" was said as casually as tonight's dinner and fish head soup, so that everyone was stunned and did not react.