Chapter 166: Fei County, Bingzhou
"presumptuous!"
The emperor finally came back to his senses from his extreme shock and roared, shaking the beams of the palace.
The Queen and Xiao Jingren crawled to their knees before the Emperor, weeping and sobbing.
"Your Majesty, please understand! Ren'er and I know nothing about this matter...about this matter!"
The queen was crying so hard that her eyes were wet and her hair was disheveled. She no longer had the demeanor of a mother of a country.
"Yes, Father! I...I was deceived! I thought...I thought it was God's mercy, so I...I made such a foolish mistake!"
Xiao Jingren kowtowed desperately, his forehead hitting the cold and hard gold bricks, making a dull "dong dong" sound.
Chen He looked at the ugly scene in front of him and sneered in his heart.
She was neither anxious nor impatient, and did not even go to look at the mother and son who refused to recognize each other.
She just waited quietly, waiting for the emperor's anger to reach its peak.
Then, she slowly and unhurriedly asked the most fatal question.
Her voice was still calm, yet it had a penetrating power that seemed to see through everything.
"His Majesty."
"Aren't you curious..."
"Lu Jiuxiao, Lord Lu."
Chen He's gaze finally shifted away from the dragon throne and landed on Lu Jiuxiao, who was pinned to the ground and in a miserable state.
"He is a dignified fourth-rank official of the Imperial Observatory, a close minister to the Emperor."
"Why would you do that for a girl from your servant's family..."
She paused, and every pause between words seemed to be torturing someone's nerves.
"What's the big deal?"
"To fabricate such a monstrous lie, to deceive the emperor and destabilize the nation?"
"What does he want?"
The last few words were like a heavy hammer, hitting the hearts of everyone in the Golden Throne Hall!
The emperor's bloodshot eyes suddenly turned from Lu Jiuxiao to his son and wife kneeling on the ground.
That look was cold, sharp, and full of scrutiny and suspicion.
Xiao Jingren was stabbed by this gaze, and his whole body felt as if he was thrown into an ice cave, cold from head to toe!
He was so frightened that he rolled and crawled on his knees a few steps, his voice trembling incoherently.
"Father! Father, you will understand!"
"I really don't know! I just did what a man should do! Shen Jiao is pregnant, I just admitted it... I really don't know anything else!"
"Father, you must trust me!"
Looking at his ugly appearance, a cold arc appeared at the corner of Shen He's mouth.
She shook her head slightly, with a barely perceptible hint of pity in her voice.
Chen He changed the subject and looked again at Lu Jiuxiao, who already looked ashen.
"The Imperial Observatory has always been aloof from worldly affairs and free from factional disputes."
"As the Chief Supervisor, Lord Lu only needs to report the celestial phenomena truthfully and relieve His Majesty of his worries. This is the foundation of his life."
"But why did he choose to risk the death of his entire clan and get involved in this mess this time?"
Chen He paused, giving everyone enough time to think, and also making some people's hearts rise to their throats.
"Indeed, if this matter succeeds, Your Highness the Third Prince will be the ultimate beneficiary."
"But at that time, the one who most directly and urgently needed to be saved was not you."
"But at that time, she was secretly pregnant, disgraced, and at the center of the storm..."
Her gaze slowly shifted to Shan Zhuyu, who had been standing there in a daze like a puppet from beginning to end.
“…Chen Jiao.”
"To be able to make Lord Lu, a close minister to the Emperor, risk his life and family honor, and go to great lengths to save a person..."
Chen He's voice suddenly became deep and distant, as if carrying a kind of bewitching magic.
"unless……"
She didn't finish her words.
But the unfinished words were like an invisible rope, tightly strangling everyone's neck!
Sitting on the dragon throne, the emperor's breathing suddenly became heavy.
He stared at Lu Jiuxiao intently, then glanced at the pale-faced Shan Zhuyu. The most absurd yet most reasonable idea in his mind grew wildly!
He slammed the armrest of the dragon throne and took over Shen He's words, his voice hoarse as a broken gong!
"unless……"
"That's his own daughter!"
boom--!
As soon as these words were spoken, the entire hall seemed to be struck by a huge thunderbolt!
Everyone was dizzy and dumbfounded!
Shen Qingyuan, who had been standing there, suddenly widened his eyes, his face full of absurdity and disbelief.
He looked at Lu Jiuxiao, then at his wife Shan Zhuyu, his lips trembling, unable to utter a word.
As for Shan Zhuyu, the moment she heard the emperor's words, it was as if her soul had been sucked out of her!
The blood color on that well-maintained face instantly faded and turned as pale as paper!
The next moment, she seemed to be crazy and let out a scream so sharp that it pierced the eardrums!
"No--!"
"You're talking nonsense! You bitch, you're talking nonsense!"
She suddenly jumped up from the ground, like an enraged female beast, and pounced towards Chen He with her fangs and claws bared!
The hatred that burst out of those eyes seemed to want to devour Chen He alive!
"I'm going to rip your mouth apart! Rip your mouth apart!"
"presumptuous!"
A majestic rebuke came from the Queen Mother's mouth!
"Someone come!"
"Bring this crazy woman to me!"
The few palace maids closest to the scene suddenly woke up as if from a dream, rushed forward in a hurry, and hugged the crazy Shan Zhuyu tightly.
"Let me go! Let me go!"
Shan Zhuyu struggled desperately, and her sharp nails scratched bloody marks on the palace maid's arm.
"Chen He! You bastard, you deserve a bad death! I will kill you! I must kill you!"
In the hall, only her shrill and desperate curse echoed over and over again.
However, this crazy denial became the most certain thing in the eyes of everyone...
default.
Shan Zhuyu's shrill curse, like a dying wail, echoed in the hall for a long time.
However, this crazy gesture became the most undoubted acquiescence in the eyes of everyone.
In this dead silence and chaos, a steady and clear voice, like a huge rock thrown into a deep pool, stirred up new ripples.
"His Majesty."
Zhou Yan'an walked out of the crowd holding a document, his face stern and his eyes sharp.
He walked before the emperor, bowed, and raised the document high above his head with both hands.
"When I was investigating Lu Jiuxiao's past, I discovered some old things."
The emperor's gaze shifted from Shan Zhuyu to Zhou Yan'an with a hint of fatigue and gloom.
"speak."
"yes."
Zhou Yan'an stood up straight. His voice was not loud, but every word was clearly heard throughout the hall.
"Lord Lu, my real name is Zhang Yunxiao."
When these words were spoken, everyone was stunned again.
Zhou Yan'an ignored the whispers around him and continued:
"His mother was a daughter of the Lu family in the capital who married into a distant branch of the family. He was born and raised in..."
Zhou Yan'an paused slightly, as if emphasizing the place name.
"Bingzhou, Fei County."
"Until Lord Lu was seventeen years old, all the male members of the Lu family in the capital died unexpectedly. To continue the family line, they brought him back from Bingzhou and adopted him as their heir, changing his name to Lu Jiuxiao."
Zhou Yan'an finished speaking.
The hall fell into an even deeper silence.
Fei County, Bingzhou?
What does this have to do with the current shocking case?
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