Chapter 425: Witness, Identify the Queen
"You brought them in?"
The queen's eyes were burning with anger as she stared at Xiao Zhian.
"yes."
Xiao Zhian admitted it.
"Didn't the Queen Mother faint from exhaustion? They all came to the palace to visit her, so naturally, my son should bring them in."
The reason why this situation was able to happen today was simply because in my mother's mind, I was too stupid and not worth guarding against.
Xiao Zhian felt sad. His mother, who always said she loved him and did everything for his own good, actually never really looked down upon him.
He has always been a cover, a pawn, and a puppet.
"You are truly my good son."
The Queen gritted her teeth as she spoke, and suddenly ordered in a stern voice, "Come here, the Second Prince is crazy, send him back to the palace to rest."
She had thought a lot about how Shi Yu and Wei Qingyan would deal with her, but she didn't expect that they would focus their attention on Zhi'an.
What she didn't expect was that Zhi'an, a traitor, would help outsiders deal with her.
But it doesn't matter, she is the chosen one, she won't lose so easily.
"Qingwu and the other gentlemen heard clearly what Zhi'an and the Queen just said. Zhi'an may have been emotionally agitated because he was heartbroken and distressed by the Queen's actions.
But he was very clear-headed. Was the Queen trying to deny what he had just said by accusing him of such a crime?
Qingwu walked in front of Xiao Zhian, stretched out her arms to block him behind her, and looked at the queen coldly.
The Queen's eyes were cold and gloomy as she said, "How can you take my words to comfort my son seriously? Didn't you see that this child has gone crazy and is determined to hurt himself?
How can a mother bear to see her child bleed? Naturally, I will do whatever he says."
"The Queen truly has a sharp tongue. This is the first time in my life that I've seen someone go back on their words so quickly."
The old Zongzheng sighed deeply, how could such a person be worthy of being the queen of a country.
Last night the prince went to see him in person and told him everything the queen had done, which shocked him.
Although he was dissatisfied with the Xiao family's empire falling into the hands of a woman over the years, he turned a blind eye to it because she was devoted to Feng Zhao and had worked hard even if she had no merits. In addition, the second prince was not interested in state affairs.
It was not until he learned that the prince was still alive that he became determined to find the prince and put the Xiao family's empire back on track.
But he never expected that the queen, who appeared to be kind, actually did so much behind the scenes.
"Empress, just as geese fly by, they leave traces. Some things, once done, will leave traces. You can't deny them just because you want to.
Although I am a minister, I am also an elder of the royal family. This is a matter concerning the Xiao family's kingdom. Today, I want to ask you, do you agree with what Zhian said?"
"I said that it was just words to coax the child." The queen still insisted.
She didn't believe they could come up with any strong evidence, otherwise they wouldn't use Zhi'an to plot against her.
The old abbot looked at the queen deeply. If he still had doubts about what the prince said last night, he completely believed it today.
The queen before him was completely different from what he had imagined, or perhaps he had never truly understood her.
He remembered that when the late emperor chose Lin Wanzhi as the queen, he told him that the Lin family was powerful and there were many ambitious people in the family. As a king, he had to be on guard against them. Therefore, he took away the Lin family's military power, separated the Lin family, and weakened its power.
However, the Lin family had made great contributions to Yu Fengzhao, and the late emperor always felt guilty. Therefore, when the late emperor insisted on marrying Lin Wanzhi, the late emperor agreed, which was a disguised compensation to the Lin family.
Unfortunately, the late emperor was so wise that he could never have imagined that Lin Wanzhi was a reborn person. At such a young age, he could guess the emperor's thoughts and use the late emperor to seek a future for himself.
If his spirit is in heaven, he would probably not rest in peace seeing Lin Wanzhi suffering from cholera all these years.
The old patriarch also thought of his own foolishness over the years and felt extremely guilty.
Fortunately, there was one thing he had kept in mind the instructions of the late emperor and had never revealed a single word. If it could be of use today, it would be considered as fulfilling the late emperor's trust.
The old abbot had mixed feelings in his mind, but in just a few moments, he turned around and looked at an old imperial physician behind him.
The old imperial physician caught his eye and stepped forward, saying to the crowd, "The Empress was not poisoned that day. It was only Lady Xia who instructed me to announce to the public that the Empress was poisoned. I had no choice but to obey her orders."
During the years when the Queen was in power, those in the Imperial Hospital who disobeyed the Queen were either killed or injured, and none of them had a good ending.
If he wanted to survive and keep his family safe, he had no choice but to submit to the queen. However, when he was young, his family was poor, and he was able to afford to study medicine thanks to the financial support of the old clan leader. Later, he was able to successfully pass the entrance exam to the Imperial Hospital, which was also due to the support of the old clan leader.
No one knew that he was the old patriarch's man, because the old patriarch had never asked for anything in return from him, except for what happened today.
The ministers looked at the queen with different expressions.
Xiao Zhian continued, "My mother pretended to be poisoned just to frame my brother the Crown Prince in front of me and alienate our brotherhood.
Since she wasn't poisoned before, there's no chance of fainting from the residual poison yesterday. However, after learning that the old Zongzheng and the Crown Prince had been assassinated, she feigned unconsciousness and locked Aunt Qingwu and her sister-in-law outside the palace.
"So, the Queen's so-called support and kindness towards the Crown Prince are all fake."
Qing Wu said, "Chen Wu was sent by the Queen to the Prince's residence, but he assassinated the Prince. This is proof that the Queen cannot tolerate the Prince."
"You bribed an imperial physician and you want to accuse me..."
"My Lady, Qian Ning never rebelled. It was you who schemed against her."
Lin Guozhang suddenly interrupted the queen.
"Because the day before the coup, she sent a secret escort to send her child to Mobei. That night, she also came to me and said that she wanted to leave the Lin family, not marry, and set up a new female household. After that, she would go to Mobei to reunite with her child.
Someone who wants to leave his family and stay away from the imperial city has no motive for rebellion."
"My sister has been hidden by Prince Consort Song for many years. Now she has been sent back to the Lin family. My father wants to help my sister get rid of the crime. I can understand."
The Queen's expression remained calm. "But you can't be partial to one over the other. She sacrificed me for her. Lin Qianning plotted treason and set fire to the palace. There's witnesses and evidence."
"The so-called witness is just a pawn you planted next to her a long time ago."
The Queen chuckled, "Father, this reason is too absurd."
Lin Guozhang couldn't laugh, "When you were eight years old, you noticed that your grandfather favored your uncle and was worried that he would inherit the family business in the future, so he encouraged him to leave home.
At such a young age, he's already so cunning, and it's not impossible for him to plant a few pawns around his younger sister."
"Words are not enough, this is all your one-sided statement."
Lin Guozhang closed his eyes and said, "Then I will let you see the witness."
After a while, Scar was brought up.
Scar didn't dare to look at the distinguished guests. He knelt down and told them everything about Lin Qianning's entrustment of the escort and what happened to them.
After he finished speaking, Lin Guozhang asked the Queen, "Tell me, what is Qian Ning's motive for rebellion?"
The Queen was silent for a moment, "Father, you can go back and ask Qian Ning about this question."
Her shamelessness made Lin Guozhang extremely angry and also made Changning furious.
"Lin Wanzhi, do you really think you can deny your crimes?"
She turned around and ran away. After a while, she carried Lai Fu, who had just arrived in the imperial city last night, back on her back.
"Lin Wanzhi, do you still remember him?"
The Queen glanced at Lai Fu, not having much of an impression of the wrinkled, skinny old man before her, until Lai Fu said, "Lai Fu wants to ask, Your Majesty, is my prince all right? Is An Zi still alive?"
He held his breath, endured the discomfort in his body, and traveled a long distance back to his hometown, just to see the person he was thinking about.
The Queen's pupils dilated slightly.
She naturally remembered the name Lai Fu, the eunuch serving Xiao Pei. However, in her impression, he was fat and stupid, and was killed in the fire in the palace that year.
It turned out that he had escaped and lived for so many years.
The Queen did not answer Lai Fu's question.
Changning, however, loudly told the story of how the Queen had planned a coup, disguised a death row prisoner as Xiao Pei and tortured him, then imprisoned Xiao Pei by her side, and how Xiao Pei escaped but was captured again for Jingzhe.
The whole audience was in uproar!
An elderly man stood up and stared at Princess Changning.
"Are you telling the truth? The prince was really framed and didn't commit treason, but was instead imprisoned by the queen for many years?"
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