When Yan Shizheng left the Xuan Prince's mansion, he also took a young girl with him, who was a gift from the Xuan Prince and his wife.
The girl was very beautiful, and Yan Shizheng was quite fond of her. He couldn't wait to see her while they were in the carriage.
That evening, Kyoto became lively, filled with voices condemning the Lan family and Yun Zhuo.
There were ordinary people as well as students.
"General Lan's cruelty towards the princess is unforgivable and he should be executed immediately!"
"Prince Jing and General Lan are in cahoots, and countless innocent students and civilians have been killed by them. They cannot be let off lightly! I beg Your Majesty to order their execution immediately!"
The outside world now believes that Yun Zhuo was the one who set fire to the prison, released the fugitive, and colluded with the mountain bandits.
Princess Huaiming was sent by Yun Zhuo to be humiliated by General Lan, which is why General Lan protected Yun Zhuo in every way.
Threatening Jiang Minzhi, fabricating evidence, and framing Prince Xuan—in the eyes of the people, General Lan was also doing things for Yun Zhuo.
In their eyes, His Highness Prince Xuan was pitiful yet respectable for injuring his leg yesterday while fighting bandits to save the people and students.
Countless voices demanded that the emperor swiftly execute Yun Zhuo and the Lan family!
They were angry, they were raging, they were violent, they cursed and threatened, shouting outside the imperial city, aiming to make the emperor hear their voices.
Some people even surrounded the Marquis of Zhongyong's residence, spitting and hurling insults at it, throwing rotten vegetable leaves, and so on.
They believed that Ye Cunsi and Yun Zhuo were in cahoots, after all, Ye Cunsi's sister was the Princess Consort of Jing, and they wanted Ye Cunsi to pay for the lives of those innocent students and civilians.
Lingya had been secretly observing the movements in Kyoto.
In the evening, he delivered these messages to Prince Xuan's residence.
When the Prince and his wife heard this, they were very pleased.
As night fell, Yan Shizheng began to take action.
Even though General Lan didn't confess anything after being imprisoned, Yan Shizheng still had someone write down his charges beforehand and took the list of charges into the prison.
He first went to see the collateral branches of the Lan family and their servants, and, as Ji Mingwei had instructed, secretly coerced and bribed them.
No one is unafraid of death or torture, especially these collateral branches and servants. They believe they are innocent and were implicated by General Lan, so they obediently follow Yan Shizheng's orders and sign the indictment.
They also promised that if needed later, they would be willing to come forward and testify against General Lan.
Yan Shizheng was very satisfied and took the charges to the next cell, the one where Lan Yi was imprisoned.
He showed the charges to Lan Yi and told her, "Your uncles, aunts, and other relatives from your collateral branches have all confessed, as have the servants of your Lan family. If Miss Lan does not want to suffer inhuman torture, she should persuade her father to confess as well."
Lan Yi's clothes were covered in blood, her long hair was loose and clumps of sweat and blood clotted together, and her face and wrists were covered in wounds, clearly indicating that she had been tortured.
After listening to Yan Shizheng's words, she slowly raised her head, her eyes filled with fierce determination, and spat at Yan Shizheng.
“My father was a loyal and virtuous minister and general. He would never have insulted Princess Huaiming to death. You are the ones who framed him. Don’t expect me to identify my father!”
Yan Shizheng wiped the drool off his face and let out a cold laugh: "Miss Lan is truly fierce. Aren't you afraid to be in a place like this, a young lady like you?"
Then he answered his own question, mocking, "Oh, I remember now, Miss Lan was defiled by Ye Cunjin long ago, and her reputation is ruined. So, she has nothing to be afraid of in a place like this."
Lan Yi glared at him resentfully. Some wounds are long-lasting; just because they are not mentioned or talked about doesn't mean they don't exist.
Ye Cunjin is the deepest wound in her life, and it always stings her to the point of being unbearable whenever someone mentions him.
Now that Yan Shizheng had mentioned it, she stared at him with eyes that seemed to be spitting fire.
But the angrier she got, the more satisfied Yan Shizheng became: "In that case, I'll find a few jailers to serve Miss Lan."
Lan Yi froze, his heart filled with fear, and his already injured body trembled slightly.
She tried to control it, but she couldn't control it at all.
"Are you afraid? If you are, then do as I say. Obediently identify your father for insulting the princess to death, and I will not allow those jailers to come up. Miss Lan is of noble birth; how could she withstand that, is that right?"
Yan Shizheng brought his index and middle fingers together and placed them on Lan Yi's face.
His gaze slid down her cheek from her brow bone to her mouth, his eyes filled with malice.
Where is the testimony of a collateral relative or servant more powerful than that of one's own daughter?
Therefore, if possible, Yan Shizheng still hoped to "persuade" Lan Yi to testify against General Lan.
Little did he know that everything he did was being watched by the people around the corner.
These people were Ye Qingxue, Prince Yu, Prime Minister Ning Hongxi, and Lü An, the eunuch official by the emperor's side.
Ye Qingxue originally hoped that the emperor would come, but the emperor was unwilling to go to the prison. In the end, the emperor arranged for Prince Yu and the prime minister to come together.
As for Lü An, Ye Qingxue insisted on bringing him along.
When Ye Qingxue went to the emperor to request a reinvestigation of the case, Lü An was not allowed to serve in the palace. He only knew that Ye Qingxue had requested a reinvestigation, but he did not know the specific details.
So when he was forcibly taken to prison, he was bewildered.
It wasn't until he followed Ye Qingxue and witnessed Yan Shizheng's actions that he felt fear, and his heart sank to the bottom.
Several times he wanted to secretly remind Yan Shizheng, but Dongbai, who was beside Ye Qingxue, kept a close eye on him and didn't give him the chance.
Unable to remind Yan Shizheng, he tried to sneak away to deliver a message to the Xuanwang couple, but Dongbai stopped him.
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