After Being Betrothed to a Powerful Minister, I Found Him Mourning Me - Chapter 10
Chapter 10
The Crown Prince struck back faster than I had expected.
At the next morning’s court session, a censor impeached Pei Yanzhi for privately concealing evidence, framing the Heir Apparent, and using the pretext of his new marriage to coerce his wife’s family.
Worse, they dragged me into it too.
They claimed I was mentally unsound, that after the autumn hunt three years ago, my madness had never truly healed, and that Pei Yanzhi was now using me to deliberately fabricate an old case.
It was a vicious move.
As long as they could prove I was mad, none of my testimony would be credible.
When Pei Yanzhi returned from court, his official robes still carried the chill from outside.
I was sitting in the courtyard, cracking melon seeds.
When he saw me, his steps paused.
“Aren’t you afraid?”
“Of course I am.”
I tossed the seed shells into the dish.
“But what good does fear do? It’s not like I can charge into the palace and curse out the Crown Prince.”
Pei Yanzhi looked at me for a while.
“That isn’t entirely impossible.”
Me: “…”
He might actually have considered it.
That afternoon, another messenger came from the palace.
This time it was not the Empress. His Majesty had summoned me to the palace.
Pei Yanzhi wanted to accompany me, but an eunuch stopped him outside the palace gates.
“His Majesty will see only Madam Shen.”
Pei Yanzhi’s expression went cold.
I reached out and tugged at his sleeve.
“It’s fine.”
He lowered his head to look at me.
I whispered, “Wait for me outside. If I’m not out in an hour, you charge in.”
The eunuch’s eyelid twitched.
Pei Yanzhi, however, said seriously, “Half an hour.”
I held back a laugh.
“Fine. Half an hour.”
Inside the Imperial Study, the Emperor looked older than I had imagined.
He sat behind the dragon desk, the half page of the account book placed at his side.
On the right side of the dragon desk, there was also a letter with a blue cover weighed down beneath something.
I recognized that cover. It was the paper commonly used in the secret compartment at the Pei Mansion to seal confidential memorials.
Pei Yanzhi had said last night that he would first let His Majesty see a little of the real evidence, then have me fill in the living witness testimony.
The Crown Prince stood to one side, his expression calm.
The Empress was there as well.
This setup did not look like a questioning.
It looked like an interrogation.
The Emperor asked, “Shen Zhaoning, do you know the crime of falsely accusing the Heir Apparent?”
I knelt and saluted.
“This humble wife knows.”
“Then you still dare say that three years ago, the Crown Prince privately met with a Xiling Envoy?”
I raised my head.
“This humble wife did not say that.”
The Crown Prince’s eyes shifted.
The Empress sneered. “Shen, everyone heard what you said in the Shen Manor ancestral shrine.”
I said, “This humble wife only said that His Highness the Crown Prince intended to dispose of old people and old objects. I never said he privately met with a Xiling Envoy.”
The Empress choked for a moment.
I continued, “The account book was found by Lord Pei. The Pass and Defense Documents were dug up from the Shen Family Ancestral Hall. Liu Fuchun died in this humble wife’s place. As for whether the Crown Prince privately met with a Xiling Envoy, this humble wife was only fourteen at the time, and after a high fever, forgot many things. How would I dare speak recklessly?”
The Emperor narrowed his eyes.
“You are rather skilled at distancing yourself.”
I kowtowed.
“This humble wife is not distancing herself. I simply know my own limits. This humble wife does not dare meddle in the schemes of great figures. This humble wife only wishes to ask one question.”
The Emperor said, “Ask.”
I lifted my eyes and looked toward the Crown Prince.
“After Liu Fuchun died that year, why was her body first taken away by the Eastern Palace Guard before being returned to the Shen Family?”
At last, the Crown Prince’s expression changed.
The Empress snapped, “Nonsense!”
I took a waist token from my sleeve.
“This was left behind by Liu Fuchun. Before she died, she tore it from one of her pursuers. Bitao-that is, Liu Fuyi-has kept it hidden until now.”
The waist token rolled onto the floor. On its front were carved the words Eastern Palace.
The Imperial Study went so quiet that one could hear people breathing.
I knew Pei Yanzhi had not sent me into the palace so I could clash head-on with the Emperor.
He wanted me to place the most crucial thing right before the Emperor’s eyes.
The Crown Prince could say the account book was forged.
He could say the Pass and Defense Documents were planted.
But if the Eastern Palace waist token led to the matter of the bodies being switched, then this was no longer merely treasonous collusion with the enemy.
It was deceiving the sovereign.
