Chapter 289 Only Xiao Nanchen can speak for her
Not long after, Queen Wei arrived.
The matter was of great importance, so there weren't many people present. There were only Emperor Jiaping, the victims Xiao Nanchen and Shen Ning, cabinet minister Xu Ji, and the second prince who had returned to the capital with Shen Ning... Apart from them, there was no one else.
When Queen Wei walked into the palace, her expression was extremely ugly.
The incident happened so suddenly that she didn't even know what was going on!
She didn't ask Xu Zhiyi to do anything this time; it was entirely Xu Zhiyi's own decision!
But why did he do this?
Xu Zhiyi was once a sword hidden in the dark by Queen Wei... When Xiao Nanchen's life and death were unknown and he was wandering in Pingning, it was she who sent Xu Zhiyi to check on him.
Xu Zhiyi almost succeeded...
After that, he did things for her several times loyally and without any mistakes, but why did it happen today?
Queen Wei always felt that something was out of control, but she couldn't figure out what it was.
But she knew she couldn't hide...and there was no need to hide.
He was just a kid from the Xu family. What could he do if she refused to admit it?
After entering the hall, Empress Wei bowed loudly to Emperor Jiaping, and the rest of the people in the room naturally had to bow to her as well.
Xiao Nanchen and Shen Ning stood together, quietly looking at their biological mother, their hearts chilled to the bone.
Emperor Jiaping spoke in a deep voice, "Empress, Xu Zhiyi said that he was ordered by you to kill the Seventh Prince. What is your explanation?"
Empress Wei suddenly looked up, her face filled with astonishment. "This... Your Majesty, such a ridiculous accusation. I don't understand why I am confronting you."
She pointed at Xiao Nanchen and said, "Seventh Brother was born from my womb. He is my biological son. Am I crazy? Why would I kill my own son? Your Majesty, Xu Zhiyi has ulterior motives and is colluding with the Tianxin Cult. He must be trying to disrupt the court and the harem. Your Majesty must not be deceived by him..."
As if growing angrier the more she spoke, Empress Wei's face was filled with rage. "How dare I, a dignified empress, confront someone over such a ridiculous accusation? Your Majesty... If Your Majesty still has doubts about me, you can simply convict and punish me. It would be better for me to deal with such a senseless and inexplicable accusation and suffer humiliation for no reason!"
There was a dead silence in the hall. Because of Queen Wei's anger, no one dared to speak.
After a while, Emperor Jiaping said in a deep voice: "So, it's not you?"
Queen Wei gritted her teeth and knelt down: "Your Majesty, please understand."
Emperor Jiaping looked deeply at Empress Wei, then at Xu Zhiyi. "Xu Zhiyi, what's your explanation? Assassinating the prince is a capital crime, and if you falsely accuse the Empress... it's an even more unforgivable crime. Do you want to be beheaded?"
When he heard the word "behead", Lord Xu's body shook.
Below, Xu Zhiyi shouted his innocence at Empress Wei, "Your Majesty, I have only acted according to your orders... It was you who handed the Tianxin Cult members over to me, and you personally promised me that if anything were to happen, you would handle everything. Otherwise, why would I risk my life doing this? Your Majesty, how could you go back on your word?"
Queen Wei shouted angrily, "What nonsense! I am the Queen of a country and the mother of the Crown Prince. Why would I collude with a rebel sect? Am I crazy?"
After saying this, Empress Wei pointed at Xu Zhiyi and sternly shouted to Emperor Jiaping, "Your Majesty, Xu Zhiyi is truly malicious and speaks nonsense. I'm worried he has ulterior motives. I beg Your Majesty to understand and bring him to justice immediately..."
"Empress, you want to kill me?"
Xu Zhiyi said angrily, "I am loyal to you..."
"Shut up!"
Empress Wei was furious. "Your Majesty, given the Xu family's background and status, why would Xu Zhiyi come to me and do such daring things for me? What is his purpose? This doesn't make any sense... He is simply accusing me of something!"
Emperor Jiaping closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His hands on the table trembled slightly, and it was obvious that he was trying to endure something.
At this moment, everyone heard Xu Zhiyi speak slowly, "Because the Empress holds the Xu family's leverage... the leverage that could bring down the entire Xu family, this guilty minister has no choice but to surrender to the Empress and obey her orders."
Queen Wei suddenly stopped talking, turned her head, and looked at Xu Zhiyi with shock and disbelief in her eyes.
Is this person crazy?
He must be crazy, otherwise, how could he disregard the safety of the entire Xu family... What does he want to do, what exactly does he want to do?
At the head, Emperor Jiaping suddenly raised his eyes, with a rare cold gleam in his eyes: "What is the handle?"
Unexpectedly, Xu Zhiyi refused to speak. "My death is not a pity, but I would rather be cut into pieces than implicate my clan... I will never reveal a single word of this evidence, but as for the Queen's actions, I have evidence to present."
Queen Wei was so tense that she felt like she was falling into an icy cave.
The next moment, Emperor Jiaping said in a deep voice: "Where is the evidence?"
Xu Zhiyi glanced at Queen Wei, curled the corners of his lips imperceptibly, and then spoke loudly.
"The Empress colluded with the Tianxin Cult, deliberately allowing them to assassinate the palace. She then ordered Chen Nian, the Liaodong Customs Commander, to lead troops to suppress the assassination of the Prince of Beihai and the Second Prince... and this time, she ordered the guilty minister to assassinate His Royal Highness Prince Ding... All the evidence is available, and the proof is here... Your Majesty may send someone you trust."
Xu Zhiyi looked at the Queen, "I have reason to believe that because Prince Ding has made great contributions and is favored by His Majesty, the Queen has gone so far as to murder her own son in order to consolidate the Crown Prince's position, and has also secretly raised a counter-religious child with the intention of disrupting the government..."
With every word Xu Zhiyi spoke, Queen Wei's face became paler.
At the top, Emperor Jiaping's voice had become hoarse: "Xu Zhiyi, you said that you only did things for the Queen because she held a handle on you. Now that you are so reckless, aren't you afraid of the handle she holds?"
Xu Zhiyi curled his lips. "Your Majesty, I know that the more things get to this point, the less likely the Empress will bring up the matter. That's what she relies on... Before, I wanted to live well with my family, so I had to submit to the Empress's control. But now that I've fallen to this point, I have nothing to fear..."
He smiled and said, "Since the Queen has gone back on her word and abandoned me, both sides face death, so why should I continue to hide it for her?"
Empress Wei could barely contain her expression. She pointed at Xu Zhiyi and angrily shouted, "What nonsense! What nonsense! Your Majesty... Your Majesty, this man has ulterior motives and is deliberately causing chaos in the court and harem. Please execute this scoundrel swiftly to prevent this disaster, Your Majesty!"
Over the years, Empress Wei had long been accustomed to having everything under control, and she was certain that she had the leverage over these people, so they would not dare to turn against her no matter what. However, she did not expect that without any warning, everything would be exposed to the emperor.
Until this moment, Queen Wei still had no time to figure out what had happened. Xu Zhiyi had always been loyal to her, so why did he betray her without any warning...
The sudden incident and the rare loss of control made Queen Wei panic. She had no chance to respond and could only be accused in person.
She now has only one thought, that is, to kill Xu Zhiyi!
Kill this ambitious guy!
However, the next moment, Queen Wei was met with Xu Zhiyi's mysterious smile.
"Your Majesty is so heartless! You used me and then discarded me like a worn-out shoe. Now, not only are you unwilling to help me, you even want to kill me... Your Majesty, I have been loyal to you for years. Now that Your Majesty is like this, I am truly heartbroken and despairing."
As he was speaking, the Yulong Guards who were sent by Emperor Jiaping to obtain the evidence from Xu Zhiyi had already flown back.
The Yulong Guards were the secret guards of Emperor Jiaping, so they naturally had extraordinary skills.
All the evidence Xu Zhiyi had presented was before the emperor. Emperor Jiaping looked at the letters expressionlessly... After a moment's silence, he reached out and picked them up...
There was a dead silence in the hall, and no one knew what was written in those things.
After a moment, Emperor Jiaping slowly put down the paper in his hand, closed his eyes and took a deep breath, as if he had aged several years in an instant.
The next moment, without warning, Emperor Jiaping threw the evidence on the case at Empress Wei's face: "Empress...you have done a good thing!"
Since entering the palace, Emperor Jiaping had never spoken harshly to Empress Wei, let alone such a blatant slap in the face. Empress Wei subconsciously turned her head away, covering her face. When she saw the things on the ground, she felt as if she had been hit hard...
At this moment, countless thoughts suddenly surged in Queen Wei's mind, trying to exonerate herself, but she could not find a way to escape for a while. At this time, she saw Xiao Nanchen standing beside Emperor Jiaping.
"Seventh Brother..."
Queen Wei's lips trembled, and she was about to cry: "Could it be that even you believe others' instigation and think that your mother will harm you?"
She knew better than anyone how much her son had longed for her love since he was a child. No matter what she did, as long as she showed a slightly better face, he would put aside all the sharp thorns on his body and obey her every word.
It works every time.
Now, only Xiao Nanchen can speak for her!
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