After reading my mind, Daddy, why don't you smile?

Liu Xiang is dead.

No conspiracy or trick can stop the King of Hell from coming...

When the news reached the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion, Zhao Ying and Shangguan Shu were both stunned.

Zhao Ying: Not really... Prime Minister Liu doesn't like Lin, so now he has a good reason to divorce her. Why is he still making a fuss?

Shangguan Shu: Even Zhao Cong messed up such a small matter. I really admire him...

Zhao Cong: Oh my, Prime Minister Liu is dead, and he died to show his loyalty. Doesn't that mean he is suspected of leaking the exam questions? He is so unlucky!

Runzhi, Runzhi, save me!

Emperor Jianxi was furious. He looked at Zhao Cong who was kneeling below and scolded him.

It would be fine if Liu Xiang didn't die. If he died, it would seem that Zhao Cong deliberately forced Liu Xiang to death in order to clear himself of suspicion...

This has caused a big uproar.

Zhao Cong was put under house arrest by Emperor Jianxi and ordered not to participate in the investigation of the case anymore.

It is called confinement, but it is actually protection.

How could Emperor Jianxi not see that there was something fishy going on here?

Emperor Jianxi summoned the Shaoqing of the Dali Temple again, determined to get to the bottom of the matter and clear Prime Minister Liu's name.

For a time, everyone in the capital was in danger, the courts were deserted, and the ministers dared not move around anymore.

Zhao Yao had not expected that things would get so serious. She hid in Zhongcui Palace and trembled. She originally wanted to use Liu Hai to threaten Lin not to tell anyone about her, but she didn't expect that Liu Hai also got involved.

What a stunner!

Zhao Yao had no choice but to have people capture the rest of Lin's children as threats. However, Xiao Nanzi told him that the emperor was watching them so closely now, if they rashly abducted Prime Minister Liu's children, wouldn't they be confessing their crimes?

Zhao Yao took a breath of cold air when he heard this.

She has been getting dumber and dumber recently. Why didn't she think of this?

She subconsciously asked Xiao Nanzi what to do. Xiao Nanzi said that the only option now was to deny it. Anyway, His Highness had orally told the question to Lin, and Lin had no evidence at all. Even if Lin accused Him, His Highness would refuse to admit it and His Majesty would be helpless.

Zhao Yao paused for a while and nodded.

……

The Shaoqing of Dali Temple is a ruthless man. He used to be a criminal officer of the Zongrenfu. Because of his ambition, he was promoted continuously and finally was promoted to Dali Temple.

Faced with the pressure from Emperor Jianxi, the Shaoqing of the Dali Temple first tortured Liu Hai and Lin and forced them to reveal the whole story.

After all, Lin did not tell anyone about Zhao Yao.

The Dali Temple continued to investigate based on the clues and soon found out the truth.

Then the truth of the case that angered Liu Xiang to death was revealed.

This kind of frame-up was originally a trick to gain time difference, and it was impossible to withstand further investigation. If Liu Xiang had not been in trouble, no one would know the truth, but Liu Xiang was so angry that he died because of this incident...

The Shaoqing of the Dali Temple sorted out the case files overnight and handed them to Emperor Jianxi. After reading them, Emperor Jianxi's fat body stiffened.

His own daughter framed Lin, his son-in-law framed Liu Hai... his son, daughter and son-in-law teamed up to piss off his husband to death! !

Emperor Jianxi called Zhao Ying and Shangguan Shu to the Yangxin Palace with a sullen face.

When the two arrived, Zhao Cong was just coming out dejectedly.

It looks like he's finished getting scolded.

Behind him was the furious Emperor Jianxi. Zhao Cong did not dare to say much to Zhao Ying and Shangguan Shu, and just walked past with his head lowered.

Zhao Ying and Shangguan Shu felt a sinking feeling in their hearts when they saw the situation before them.

But I still went in.

Emperor Jianxi scolded Shangguan Shu first.

After scolding, he started to punish.

"Issue an imperial decree to deduct three years' salary from Shangguan Shu and demote him two levels!" As for why he was not beaten with a stick, it was of course because... Shangguan Shu and Zhao Ying committed the same crime. If Shangguan Shu was beaten, would Zhao Ying also be beaten?

Beat Zhao Ying with a stick?

How could that be possible? She is the apple of his eye!!

Cheng Qian has never touched her even a finger since she was a child!

After Emperor Jianxi issued the decree, he thought Shangguan Shu would obey the decree obediently, but he hesitated for a long time and said, "Your Majesty, I have resigned from my post and have no salary or official title..."

So there is no penalty...

Emperor Jianxi narrowed his eyes and stared at Shangguan Shu with an unfriendly look.

After a while, he gritted his teeth and said, "Since I can't punish you, then I will punish your brother. Order Shangguan Zhu to be demoted two ranks, and Shangguan Shu to be fined 300,000 taels of silver, which will be added to the national treasury!"

After the punishment, Emperor Jianxi felt a little better.

However, the next second, he saw... Shangguan Shu stretched out his hand to Zhao Ying and said, "Ying'er, can you give me 300,000 taels?"

Emperor Jianxi could no longer hold back!

How can a man like you ask a little girl for money?!

How could he know that Zhao Ying had taken over all of Shangguan Shu's financial power? Even if he was told, he would not believe it. How could a prince of a duke's mansion be controlled to such an extent by a woman? His purse was cleaner than his face?

Zhao Ying glanced at Shangguan Shu, turned her head, and whispered, "We'll talk later!"

Emperor Jianxi turned his gaze to Zhao Ying, who pursed her lips and glared, pretending to be innocent.

"Cheng Qian! Do you admit your guilt?"

Zhao Ying admitted his guilt with a positive attitude, "Father, I know I was wrong, and I won't do it again."

Emperor Jianxi nodded and seemed quite satisfied.

"In that case, I will fine you three hundred thousand taels and put it into the national treasury!"

Zhao Ying frowned and didn't accept the order...

Emperor Jianxi glared, "Are you dissatisfied?"

Zhao Ying shook her head.

Emperor Jianxi was puzzled, "Why is that?"

Zhao Ying was a little embarrassed to say, "Father, look at this. Shangguan Shu, you fined me 300,000 taels, and I also fined 300,000 taels. Can you give me a discount..." Zhao Ying pointed with his fingers, "Two people, 500,000 taels?"

Emperor Jianxi: ...Why are you still bargaining?

Shangguan Shu: ...dare, or you dare...

Emperor Jianxi held it in for a long time and said, "Get out of here!"

Zhao Ying saw that the situation was not right and quickly stood up, "I'm leaving!"

"I'll leave right away!"

After saying this, he ran away without caring about Shangguan Shu.

Zhao Ying dared to provoke Emperor Jianxi like this, but Shangguan Shu didn't dare to do so, so Shangguan Shu knelt down alone.

Seeing this, Emperor Jianxi curled his lips in annoyance and waved his hand at Shangguan Shu, "You get out too!"

Shangguan Shu took the order and left.

When Shangguan Shu returned to the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion, news came from Shangguan Zhu that the matter had been settled.

So the next day, Zhou Changsheng was handed over by the prince.

Zhou Changsheng was tortured and confessed everything under the severe punishment.

It turned out that he had a beloved woman who was a courtesan in Yihonglou in the capital. He wanted to redeem his sweetheart, but the brothel owner asked for an exorbitant price.

He wanted to borrow money from his fellow tribesmen, but since he was born into a noble family, his fellow tribesmen knew that he wanted to redeem a prostitute and rejected him outright. They also threatened that if he really redeemed the woman, he would be expelled from the family tree.

Zhou Changsheng probably really loved this woman and would rather expel her from the family tree than not redeem her.

What if he has no money?

It happened that His Majesty entrusted him with an important task, and he was obsessed with the idea of ​​selling the test questions for silver, which led to a disaster.

The prince's merits and demerits were offset by his handing over Zhou Changsheng.

Zhou Changsheng was sentenced to immediate execution at the entrance of the vegetable market.

The case should have ended here.

however……

Death row.

A beautiful woman came over, carrying a food box in her hand.

Behind her, there was a tall old servant, with his head lowered and messy hair, which just covered half of his face, making it impossible to see his appearance clearly.

The old servant spoke in a hoarse voice, gave some silver to the jailer, and asked him to stay away so that they could talk in private.

The jailer weighed the silver, glanced ambiguously into the cell, and left.

After the jailer left.

"Changsheng..." The woman's voice was gentle and pleasant. Zhou Changsheng was lying on his side facing the wall. He turned his head when he heard the voice, then stood up and walked towards the woman.

"Yun Niang, why are you here..."

"When I learned that something happened to you, I persuaded my mother to come and see you." Xiao Yun said, tilting his head and lowering his eyes, with a line of tears dripping from the corners of his eyes.