The farce caused quite a stir, with all the civil and military officials looking in Jiang Ling's direction.
Jiang Zhishan, in particular, almost lost his mind when he discovered that the people under the secret guards were his elder sister. If his master hadn't held him back, Jiang Zhishan probably would have rushed over right then and there.
"Consort Jiang?" the Emperor murmured. Jiang Ling quickly replied, "This humble woman is indeed Consort Jiang!"
The Emperor stroked his chin and said to the guard beside him, "Alright, let her go for now, she's just a commoner!"
Upon receiving the order, the guards immediately released their grip on Jiang Ling.
Jiang Ling didn't get up; instead, she knelt on the ground and began to bang her head down repeatedly.
"I have been wronged beyond measure! I beg Your Majesty to investigate!" Ignoring the pain in her forehead, Jiang Ling continued to kowtow forcefully as she spoke.
After several times, blood began to slowly flow from Jiang Ling's forehead.
"Alright! Stop kowtowing! Look at you now, you don't look like a proper lady at all! I grant you permission to stand up and speak!" The Emperor frowned, somewhat displeased, as he looked at Jiang Ling's appearance.
After kowtowing again to express her gratitude, Jiang Ling stood up and said, "I have a daughter named Jiang Wenxi, who is Ye Feng's apprentice at the Six Doors! A while ago, this child had a dispute with a man named Huang Pian. Huang Pian tricked my daughter into going to his secret room, where she was later rescued by Constable Ye of the Six Doors. At that time, my daughter was covered in bruises. Half a month later, Huang Pian brought people to the Six Doors..."
"Enough, Jiang Shi! If you come to me for such a trivial matter, you're making a mountain out of a molehill! And is this place even a place you can come to?" The Emperor frowned and reprimanded Jiang Ling before she could finish speaking.
Perhaps it was the emperor's inherent majesty that made the usually silent and calm Jiang Ling panic. She bent her knees again and knelt down on the ground, her back completely soaked with sweat.
"Your Majesty, this humble woman dares to continue! That Huang Pian is no ordinary person!" Jiang Ling gritted her teeth, her brain working frantically.
At this moment, the guards reappeared beside Jiang Ling, who felt herself sweating profusely.
At the critical moment, the Emperor waved his hand, signaling the guards to step back.
The Emperor squinted at Jiang Ling and asked, "Not an ordinary person? Then tell me, what kind of person are you?"
Jiang Ling breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this, at least she was now interested in the matter.
She glanced around but couldn't see He Shunsu anywhere.
"Hmm? This humble woman, Jiang, is speaking!"
The brief silence made the emperor impatient again.
"This humble woman dares to ask Your Majesty to forgive my capital offense!" Jiang Ling kowtowed again.
"Speak first, and we'll discuss whether it's a capital offense or not later!" the Emperor replied.
There's no turning back now that the arrow has been released; Jiang Ling couldn't back out! So, she gritted her teeth and said, enunciating each word clearly, "The power behind Huang Pian is none other than the current Prime Minister!"
"Insolence!" the Emperor roared.
Upon hearing this rebuke, all the civil and military officials knelt on the ground.
Jiang Ling, however, continued with renewed courage: "Huang Pian has a younger sister who married into the Prime Minister's household as a concubine! With this backing, Huang Pian flaunts his power in Shengjing! He forcibly seizes women and bullies them!"
"You poisonous woman, stop spewing nonsense!" Before Jiang Ling could finish speaking, she was kicked hard.
The sharp pain in her arm made Jiang Ling gasp in pain.
"Your Majesty! You must not listen to this wicked woman's nonsense! You should immediately send men to beat her to death with sticks, lest she continue to spread her heresies and mislead the public!" the prime minister said, trembling with anger.
The Emperor looked at the Prime Minister beside him, and then at Jiang Ling, who was kneeling on the ground.
"Guards, take this wicked woman away! She'll be at your mercy!"
His Majesty's words caused the Prime Minister to unconsciously curl the corners of his mouth.
"Brother, thank goodness I arrived in time, otherwise people would be singing 'The Injustice to Dou E' here!" At the critical moment, He Shunsu appeared quickly from the crowd with Xiao Hai.
At this moment, Xiao Hai was holding a brightly dressed woman in his hand, while He Shunsu was holding this brocade box.
The prime minister was taken aback when he saw the woman in Xiao Hai's hand. Then, an extremely thin silver needle appeared in the prime minister's hand and fell towards the woman's arm.
In the critical moment, Xiao Hai swayed, and the woman stumbled, narrowly escaping the prime minister's assassination attempt.
"Prime Minister, do you really need to perform such a trick in front of His Majesty?" He Shunsu's tone was light, but it carried an irresistible authority.
The prime minister ignored He Shunsu's words and instead laughed, looking at He Shunsu with a relaxed expression, and said, "Third Prince, you have always been indifferent to worldly affairs, so why have you suddenly turned against this old man with weapons? What is your intention?"
"What do you mean by this? The Emperor could take your life just by what's in this brocade box!" He Shunsu said, preparing to open the brocade box.
Inside the brocade box, an imperial seal suddenly appeared before the civil and military officials, causing an uproar among them.
He Shunsu walked up to the emperor with the imperial seal in his hands, knelt down, and said, "Your Majesty, please see the truth!"
The Emperor was somewhat bewildered by these sudden events, but upon seeing the imperial seal in He Shunsu's hand, he immediately flew into a rage.
He pointed at the prime minister and shouted, "What else do you have to say!"
If it were an ordinary person, being questioned like this by the emperor would have terrified them.
But the person opposite him was, after all, the prime minister. The prime minister lifted his robe and knelt before the emperor, saying, "Your Majesty, I am innocent. Please see the truth!"
"Back when you were still the Crown Prince, I was resented by the Third Prince because I always supported you..." The Prime Minister's words once again shifted public opinion among the civil and military officials.
There are indeed some untrue rumors circulating among the people, saying that the current emperor and the third prince almost turned against each other when they were vying for the throne. Therefore, these things are the emperor's sore spot and an unspeakable royal taboo.
Although it sounds absurd that the Prime Minister has risked his life to bring this matter up, some people know that in their eyes, this is the Third Prince framing the Prime Minister again in order to cut off one of the Emperor's right and left arms.
The Emperor frowned as he looked at Jiang Ling, He Shunsu, and the Prime Minister.
He Shunsu didn't seem surprised by the prime minister's words; he suddenly burst into laughter.
The laughter echoed in the hall, making everyone feel a chill run down their spines.
"Third Prince, speak up! What are you laughing about? Have you lost your mind?" The Emperor frowned and scolded him in displeasure.
He Shunsu placed the imperial seal on the ground, looked up at the prime minister, and said, "I knew you would make false accusations. Since you believe this imperial seal is a forgery, how do you explain the dragon robe in your secret chamber?"
“Our figures are so different, and we hardly ever even see each other, so how would I know your size?” He Shunsu said, his smile fading.
"What?! You! Wang Mingzhi! Explain yourself!" The Emperor was furious upon hearing this, and he pointed at the kneeling prime minister and berated him.
The prime minister shuddered; he never dreamed that the dragon robe in the secret room would be discovered by He Shunsu.
His brain started working at lightning speed, and his gaze suddenly fell on Huang Yingying on Xiao Hai's body.
A wicked scheme came to mind for the prime minister.
"Injustice! This old minister is innocent!" The prime minister knelt on the ground and began to shout "Injustice!"
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