The fire in the backyard had been extinguished, and the servants of Prince Jing's mansion stood in the courtyard, their faces covered in soot, waiting for the search to end.
The morning breeze blew gently, and a sliver of white gradually appeared on the gray sky; dawn was approaching.
Yun Zhuo's study was the focus of the search, but they did not find the forged dragon robe and jade seal that had been hidden there earlier.
"Your Highness, nothing was found in the study," a servant reported.
Yun Xun's expression remained unchanged. He said, "Very good. Continue searching other areas."
Fan Tieshan was very unhappy.
For a prince's mansion, many important items would be stored in the study, yet no evidence of Yun Zhuo's rebellion was found?
He refused to believe it and continued searching high and low, putting in more effort than anyone else.
Yun Zhuo stood in the dim light, making it impossible to see the expression on his face.
Yun Xun looked at him and seemed to notice a half-smile on his lips, tinged with a hint of mockery.
Not long after, the search team finally arrived at the kitchen.
After the lids of the various jars in the kitchen were lifted, gasps of surprise rose and fell from the crowd.
Yun Zhuo, Yun Xun, and Fan Tieshan were all invited to the kitchen.
The soft sunlight streamed down from the sky, falling on the glittering gold and silver jewels, making them even more dazzling.
Fan Tieshan was overjoyed. He had finally caught Yun Zhuo by the tail. Today he was going to make a great contribution. "Your Highness Prince Jing, the stolen goods are here. What else do you have to say now!"
"No wonder you kept obstructing our search. It turns out you hid the stolen goods in the kitchen. You hid them so well, in the rice jar! Prince Jing is truly cunning. No ordinary person could think of such a clever method!"
"But unfortunately, we still managed to find it!"
"May I ask Your Highness Prince Jing, if you weren't plotting a rebellion to win over the people and raise a private army, what would you be doing collecting all this gold and silver?"
Yun Zhuo looked at him with a half-smile, his eyes as cold as ice. "Lord Fan, you really came to my Prince Jing's residence with the mission of slandering me. You've only seen these two vats of gold and silver jewelry, and you've already come up with a charge against me!"
"Winning over people's hearts, raising private armies, and plotting rebellion—each of these charges could put me to death."
Fan Tieshan was so angry that his chest heaved. He was a rough man and never had a good speaking ability. He knew he was no match for Yun Zhuo in words.
But with irrefutable evidence, Yun Zhuo still refused to admit it, which infuriated him.
He strode forward and grabbed a handful of jewelry.
Zhuang Xin hurriedly warned, "Lord Fan, be careful!"
Fan Tieshan turned a deaf ear, but now that he has caught Yun Zhuo in the act, how could he let it go so easily?
He displayed the jewelry to everyone and angrily said, "Now that the evidence is here, what else does Prince Jing have to say? Do you dare to say that these gold and silver jewels were not obtained by you by plundering the people's wealth? Weren't they collected by you by taking advantage of your overwhelming power?"
"If these gold and silver treasures were obtained legitimately, why not store them in the royal treasury instead of hiding them in a place like the kitchen?"
"Yes, yes, why hide it in a jar in the kitchen?" The guards outside whispered among themselves. "Isn't it because he has something to hide?"
"Our Prince Xuan originally wanted to prove that Prince Jing had no intention of rebelling, but now... alas, Prince Jing has betrayed our Prince Xuan's trust!"
"Isn't that right? When His Majesty ordered Prince Xuan to search Prince Jing's residence, our Prince Xuan assured His Majesty that Prince Jing would never intend to rebel!"
"If only Prince Xuan hadn't trusted Prince Jing so much, he would be so disappointed and heartbroken now!"
"Actually, there are clues to why Prince Jing wanted to rebel, right? He was the crown prince before, but he was deposed. He finally cleared his name, but he couldn't be reinstated as crown prince. He must be furious!"
"..."
These words seemed deliberately made to be heard by everyone, thus confirming Yun Zhuo's crime of secretly amassing wealth to support a private army and then rebelling.
Yun Xun walked up to Yun Zhuo, his brows furrowed, looking heartbroken: "Brother Jing, I don't believe it... This isn't true! Explain! If you explain, I will definitely believe you!"
Yun Zhuo raised an eyebrow at him: "Of course it's not true!"
Yun Xun was almost imperceptibly stunned for a moment.
Fan Tieshan was instantly enraged, convinced that Yun Zhuo was blatantly lying. The evidence was so conclusive, yet he still dared to say such things even when he was about to die...
Zhuang Xin carried two lanterns and strode in, illuminating the two jars of gold and silver jewelry, as well as the contents of the jewelry—Empress Shen's phoenix pendant, Prince Ding Yunchi's waist pendant, and their secret letters.
"Since Lord Fan picked up these jewels himself, can't he see there are other things inside?" Zhuang Xin said.
"What?" Fan Tieshan was shocked. He took out the phoenix tokens, waist tokens and secret letters to examine them and found that they all belonged to Empress Shen and Yun Chi.
They secretly plundered money and won over people's hearts, attempting to force the emperor to revolt.
There were also several letters from ministers—of course, these ministers had been executed by the emperor's order long ago, after the coup attempt ended last night.
"Lord Fan, please don't act rashly!" Zhuang Xin reminded him again.
Fan Tieshan refused to believe that what he saw before him belonged to Empress Shen and Yun Chi. He felt a great sense of disappointment and anger, and directly retorted to Zhuang Xin:
"What, Lord Zhuang, are you worried that I'll break these things? Although I come from humble origins, I'm not so incapable of distinguishing between important and trivial matters!"
He then angrily retorted, "But speaking of which, since these are all the stolen goods of Empress Shen and Prince Ding, why are they hidden in the kitchen of Prince Jing's residence? Why doesn't Prince Jing report them to the court and hand them over to the national treasury? Could it be that Prince Jing intends to embezzle them?"
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