All the officials in the hall, including Emperor Jingyuan, noticed the unusual appearance of his palm.
Song Ziyu's hand trembled as he held the tiger tally. Crimson liquid dripped from his palm, falling onto the blue bricks of the main hall and splashing up blood flowers.
"What, what's going on?!"
Song Ziyu shouted and threw the tiger tally away, his expression suddenly changing.
"It's poisonous! This tiger tally is poisonous!"
"How dare you!" the imperial eunuch shouted. "The tiger tally has always been kept by His Majesty; how could it be poisoned!"
Witnessing this strange phenomenon, the ministers were astonished, and Emperor Jingyuan was so shocked that he stood up and stared at the tiger tally that had been thrown on the ground as if he were looking at some kind of monster.
At that moment, a slender, pale hand gently picked it up.
Pei Xuan frowned, and Jiang Linyuan reached out to stop her, but she shook her head slightly.
Jiang Wan wrapped the tiger tally in a handkerchief, wiped it clean, and said to Song Ziyu, "The general said this is poisonous. Have you been injured?"
Song Ziyu looked at his palm. Although it was red, there was no external injury and he felt no pain or itching.
"The tiger tally is not poisonous, so why is this the case?"
Jiang Linyuan said in a deep voice.
"Since ancient times, a tiger tally stained with blood has been an ominous sign! General Song, what have you done?"
Jiang Wan blinked and then said, "Does the general wish to curse the Great Yong Kingdom to perish?"
Song Ziyu knew the seriousness of the situation, so he immediately knelt down and cried out that he was wronged: "Your Majesty, I don't know why this happened!"
The crimson liquid was extremely strange; once it touched his skin, it couldn't be wiped off, as if it had become one with his skin.
He was sweating profusely with anxiety.
Emperor Jingyuan flew into a rage and slammed his teacup onto the ground: "How dare you!"
With Donglai causing trouble right now, he was burning with rage when he saw the tiger tally showing an ominous sign. How could he not be furious?
Song Ziyu was quite frightened. His mind raced, and in his haste, he caught a glimpse of Jiang Wan staring at him with a smile in her eyes.
The smile was cold, sending a chill down his spine.
Yet something in my heart became increasingly clear.
It's her, Jiang Wan!
He glared venomously at Jiang Wan and then addressed Emperor Jingyuan.
"Your Majesty, the Tiger Tally has become like this all because of Jiang Wan. She forced me to lend the Tiger Tally to someone else. It must have been her doing!"
Emperor Jingyuan frowned: "Lady Jiang, is what he said true?"
“Your Majesty, using the tiger tally privately is a serious crime, and I dare not do it.”
Jiang Wan looked at Song Ziyu, her eyes clear and bright, without the slightest hint of panic.
"As the head of the General's Mansion, why are you being coerced by me?"
"Even if I forced you, who did you lend that tiger tally to, and what benefits did you receive in return—money or something else?"
“You…” Song Ziyu gritted her teeth.
The purpose of borrowing the tiger tally was for money; it required silver and was intended to cover up evidence of the Song family bribing the examiners.
How could he possibly say it?
"No, it has nothing to do with money!"
"Your Majesty, it was Jiang Wan and Yun Que who colluded from the inside! She...she conspired with those martial arts figures to force me to hand over the Tiger Tally! I am innocent!"
Jiang Linyuan said coldly, "Words alone are not enough. Do you have any evidence?"
“Evidence…” Song Ziyu murmured twice.
At this moment, he felt immense regret. That day, in order to greedily obtain five thousand taels of silver, he had agreed to Yun Que's request not to sign a written contract.
"By the way, Your Majesty, I have this!"
Song Ziyu took out a wooden plaque from his pocket.
"This was left by Yun Que's attendants when he returned the tiger tally, which proves that what I said is true!"
He held the wooden sign high and shouted into the crowd, "Lieutenant Li, you know Mr. Yun Que, you introduced him to me! Why don't you come out and say something!"
Lieutenant Li came out, glanced at the wooden sign, and his eyes were filled with complex emotions.
"Brother Song, this is not Mr. Yun Que's thing at all."
"How could that be!" Song Ziyu exclaimed urgently, "Don't talk nonsense if you don't understand!"
"Everyone in the capital knows that Yun Que is obsessed with jade, regarding it as a treasure, while he considers wooden objects to be worthless and has never bothered with them." Lieutenant Li sighed, "You...you haven't been deceived, have you!"
"The general said I was colluding with Yun Que, but now it has been proven that there is no such person as Mr. Yun Que, and I have no connection whatsoever."
Jiang Wan gently curled her lips into a smile.
"Then the question arises: to whom did the general give the tiger tally?"
Once it is exposed that Song Ziyu received 15,000 taels of silver from the money shop, he will be unable to defend himself.
In conjunction with the Donglai attack on the capital, he could even be accused of treason.
But for her to speak would seem too deliberate.
As she was pondering, Pei Xuan's cold voice suddenly rang out.
"What else could drive someone to do something so audacious but audacious, other than money and power?"
"Father, I think we should check his withdrawal records at the bank; perhaps we can find something."
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