Chapter 460 Speak with Your Conscience
When Concubine Rou heard her bringing up Xiao Yanci, she immediately became furious.
She walked up and slapped Zhao Zhaoyi in the face.
She had wanted to give this slap for a long time, and today she finally did it.
"At this point, you still dare to go to Diannan Prefecture and throw dirty water on Aci! Your Zhao family colluded with the Nanyue Kingdom, studied witchcraft, and planted spies in the homes of court officials, all in order to pin all this on Diannan Prefecture!"
"Fortunately, the Emperor is very perceptive and has already seen the truth. Now, instead of confessing quickly and hoping for a lighter sentence, you are stubbornly stubborn and continue to blame us. You are simply incorrigible!"
Zhao Zhaoyi was slapped and her face was burning, but she didn't care about the pain at all.
She looked at Emperor Defeng with tears on her face, "Your Majesty, the Zhao family did not do such a thing. Please trust the Zhao family..."
Jiang Nansheng's voice was steady and calm. "I personally went to the Kingdom of Nanyue to conduct an undercover investigation. I have already found the evidence and handed it over to the Emperor."
"Now that the Diannan Prefecture has conquered the Nanyue Kingdom, there is innumerable evidence of your dealings with each other. No matter how many excuses you make now, they are just sophistry."
Zhao Zhaoyi's eyes were filled with disbelief, and all her words of defense and pleas were stuck in her throat.
How, how is this possible?
The court officials were all stunned. They had never expected that the Diannan Prefecture would actually conquer the Nanyue Kingdom! What a feat!
Xiao Yanlin already knew about this. A hint of resentment and gloom flashed in his eyes, but it quickly subsided.
He then said, "Father, the Zhao family is kind and generous, and has done countless good things for the people of southern Fujian. All of this is the result of my son and mother's advice and instructions. Father, please consider the Zhao family's good deeds..."
Before he could finish his words, something hit him hard in the face.
The one who took action was Emperor Defeng.
He picked up the teacup at hand and smashed Xiao Yanlin's head with it, causing him to bleed.
"The Zhao family, doing good deeds? Check your conscience. Do you think you're guilty of saying this? Someone, bring up the evidence of the Zhao family's crimes!"
A hint of panic flashed across Xiao Yanlin's eyes.
Soon, he saw the account books, his face became more and more ugly, and the cold sweat on his back became more and more severe.
This was the evidence he had wanted to find.
Unexpectedly, these things eventually fell into the hands of my father.
"This, this is all fake. How could the Zhao family do such a thing? Father, I know nothing about this!"
The implication is that even if it was done by the Zhao family, it has nothing to do with him and he is innocent.
At this time, Lu Zhiran, who had been silent, spoke.
"Your Majesty, your daughter-in-law's men have verified that several brothels and gambling houses, including Fugui Gambling House and Qinglan Garden, are owned by the Eighth Prince. To profit, he colluded with corrupt businessmen and officials, luring innocent people into prostitution, setting up schemes to defraud money, and even forcing people to death and harming the people. These evil deeds are all recorded in the book. Please review them, Your Majesty."
She handed the booklet in her hand to Emperor Defeng. This was the evidence she had just obtained and it was still warm.
After hearing this, Xiao Yanlin's expression froze again, and he even forgot to defend himself for a moment.
Emperor Defeng flipped through the booklet page by page. The more he read, the gloomier his face became, and in the end even his hands were shaking.
He threw the booklet at Xiao Yanlin again.
"You beast! You dare to force a woman of good character into prostitution right under the Emperor's feet! You are worse than a beast!"
Xiao Yanlin still tried to defend himself, "Father, I am innocent. It must have been my steward who did this behind my back. I was completely unaware of it."
Xiao Baozhu spoke coldly from the side, "Yes, yes, you don't know what the Zhao family did, you don't know what your subordinates did, you don't know about the huge amount of money sent to your house, you don't know about it, all the dirty work was done by others, you are the most innocent."
Faced with her sarcasm, Xiao Yanlin was completely speechless.
Zhao Zhaoyi burst into tears, "Your Majesty, the Zhao family did these things out of a moment of confusion. This really has nothing to do with Lin'er!"
Xiao Baozhu cursed, "Only based on the crime of murdering our father should he die!"
Zhao Zhaoyi immediately pointed at Zhao Shuning and said, "It's her! She did all this. Lin'er only recommended her because he valued her talent. I never thought she would be so bold as to plot to murder the emperor!"
Zhao Zhaoyi once again pushed all the responsibility onto Zhao Shuning, completely losing any of the protective feelings she had in the past.
Compared with the safety of his own son and himself, what does the life and death of a niece matter?
Xiao Wanzhen finally came back to her senses from the great surprise of her father's resurrection, and at this time, she stood up again.
"Father, please do not believe her sophistry! Lord Qin just admitted that he was coerced by the Eighth Elder to rescue Zhao Shuning from prison. I recognized him at a glance; this man is Zhao Shuning!"
"That day, I recognized her in the palace and confronted her face to face. Eighth Prince immediately stood up to defend me. Afterwards, he even ordered Lu Ziyang to poison me and kill me to silence me! Father, please stand up for me!"
When Lu Ziyang was suddenly called out, his legs went weak and he knelt down.
"Your Majesty, I did not do this. How could I dare to poison the princess?"
Xiao Wanzhen raised her hand and gave him a loud slap in the face.
She had wanted to give him this slap for a long time.
Now that she has someone to back her up, she can finally give that slap back hard.
"I saw you poison the incense burner with my own eyes, and you still dare to quibble! You want to poison me to death so that you can make your concubine your wife, right? You bastard!"
When Lu Ziyang's thoughts were exposed, he trembled all over.
"Yes, it was the Emperor...it was the Eighth Prince. He threatened me to do this. If I didn't do it, the entire Lu family would be liquidated. I really had no choice but to obey."
Xiao Wanzhen kicked him again, "Do I deserve to die just to save the Lu family? You ungrateful man!"
Lu Ziyang fell to the ground after being beaten by her, but he did not dare to cry out in pain.
She still felt unsatisfied and wanted to continue fighting. Emperor Defeng said in a deep voice, "Alright, princess, how can you fight like this with others? I will take care of this matter for you."
Xiao Wanzhen stopped after hearing this.
Emperor Defeng looked at Zhao Shuning with a gloomy gaze.
"Zhao, do you plead guilty?"
From beginning to end, Zhao Shuning's emotions were very stable and her tone was calm.
"I recognize it. I am indeed Zhao Shuning. On that day, I was to be executed, but I found a note in my last meal..."
Zhao Shuning spoke calmly as he recounted how he was saved by Xiao Yanlin and how he was instructed by him to research poison. He revealed Xiao Yanlin's true past without hiding a single word.
Xiao Yanlin's face twitched, and Zhao Zhaoyi's expression was even uglier.
She pointed at Zhao Shuning's nose and cursed, "You're talking nonsense, it's not true at all! You have nothing to do with me, and yet you want to pretend to be my niece? You're totally shameless!"
Zhao Shuning looked at Zhao Zhaoyi with a gloomy gaze. Combined with her disfigured face, there was a creepy and coldness in her eyes. Zhao Zhaoyi couldn't help but shiver.
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