Reborn Young Lady's Peerless Grace

When Shen Wanru arrived at the imperial study room with trepidation, several important officials, including Shen Yunlan, were inside, all with solemn expressions. When she appeared, everyone couldn't help but look over.

"Dad! I'm innocent!"

Shen Wanru knew she was doomed today; she had heard the palace maids discussing it on the way here. Now that she saw her own father, she couldn't care less and cried out as if she had grabbed a lifeline.

Shen Yunlan looked at her with a sullen face, then turned his head away and ignored her.

Seeing that her father ignored her, Shen Wanru felt like she was falling into an ice cave. Is this matter so serious? Why is even her father unwilling to plead for her?

The palace maid behind her kicked her and forced her to kneel on the ground.

The emperor waved his hand, and a young eunuch came down holding a brocade box and showed her what was inside.

"Do you recognize the things in here?"

The brocade box was covered with a layer of silk, and Shen Wanru was kneeling. In fact, she couldn't see the contents clearly, but it was a pair of golden-yellow boxes with nine phoenixes inlaid on them.

"This...this is the pair of phoenix hairpins. They belong exclusively to the Queen."

"How dare you!" the emperor shouted coldly, "What are you thinking of by secretly keeping the Empress's phoenix hairpin?"

"The Queen's Phoenix Hairpin?"

Shen Wanru was shocked. "No! I have never seen this before. I just picked up a small item like jewelry. I have never seen this before. Let me see it, Zizi."

She wanted to stand up and take a closer look at what was in the brocade box, but the eunuch dodged and she fell to the ground again.

The eldest daughter of the Shen family is no more than this.

Shen Yunlan's eyes were filled with anger. He stepped forward and kicked her: "Asshole, why don't you tell the truth? Where did those phoenix hairpins come from?"

"I just picked up some insignificant little trinkets. I've never seen this phoenix hairpin before!" Shen Wanru shouted. "When I returned home a few days ago, the prince opened the treasury and asked me to pick something. I just picked out some small items like jewelry that looked nice. I've never seen this phoenix hairpin before, let alone picked it up."

She insisted that she had only picked up some small items and that the phoenix hairpins were not hers. Unfortunately, the palace servants only found the pair of phoenix hairpins, but none of the small items she mentioned.

She just said that it was picked from the prince's private storehouse. This means that the phoenix hairpin appeared in the prince's private storehouse. One cannot help but suspect that the prince has ulterior motives.

He is now the crown prince, second only to the emperor and above everyone else. What else can he be dissatisfied with? Even if he prepared the queen's things early, does that mean he has also hidden the dragon robe?

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that this was possible, and he became extremely angry.

The emperor rubbed his forehead wearily and waved his hand to signal for Shen Wanru to be taken away first. "She will be confined to the Eastern Palace for now, and I'll make the final decision later. Lord Shen, you should also return home and rest for a few days!"

The Crown Prince was now harboring rebellious intentions. Shen Yunlan was part of the Crown Prince's faction, and since Shen Wanru was his daughter, there was no guarantee he wouldn't be involved. The Emperor would definitely not use him again at this point, and not dismissing him out of office was already a gesture of mercy.

Shen Yunlan suppressed his anger, bowed and accepted the order.

He was always careful in his official career, but he never expected that he would be ruined by this unfilial daughter.

The rest were all the emperor's trusted ministers. The emperor was silent for a moment before he slowly spoke: "What do you think of this important matter?"

The ministers looked at each other, each considering how to respond.

Lord Xuanyuan would not get involved. After all, his daughter was close to Fourth Miss Shen. Now that His Majesty was suspicious of the Shen family, he could not speak out at this time. If he made a mistake, the Xuanyuan Palace would be implicated. He would never do such a thing.

"Why, are you all mute now?"

The emperor was displeased and spoke in a very aggressive tone.

However, none of the ministers wanted to be the first to speak out at this time, so they simply lowered their heads and waited for the emperor to vent his anger, and then let it go when the emperor got angry.

Just as the stalemate was about to begin, there was a commotion outside, and a young eunuch hurried in. "Your Majesty, General Du requests an audience."

Why is he causing trouble at this time!

The veins on the emperor's forehead bulged, and he waved his hand to let someone in.

A series of clanging footsteps were heard, and Du Zhijie strode into the imperial study. He was still in his armor, as if he had just finished his official duties.

His latest official business was also about the Cast Iron Palace, and the emperor suddenly felt something was wrong.

Sure enough, Du Zhijie stopped at the bottom of the hall, bowed, and said, "Your Majesty, I have found the missing weapons."

The Weapon Casting Battalion had never completed so many weapons, and they were not lost, so how come he said he had found them? Could it be that someone had stolen his weapons?

Judging from his posture now, the person behind him must be no simple person.

The emperor had a bad feeling, but the matter was of great importance, so he had to ask: "If it was found, where did you find it?"

"It was found on the hill next to the Casting Battalion." Du Zhijie stated the key points concisely.

Then he said carefully, "I received the news last night and led my men to search several hills overnight. We followed the clues and found the nearest hill. It took some effort to get inside. In the cave, we also found a batch of newly forged weapons. I have confirmed that they were made by the Foundry Battalion."

"Top of the mountain..."

"How can you be sure that those weapons came from the Barracks?"

If he was just making up excuses to get away with it, he would punish the kid.

Du Zhijie couldn't be so confident in his statement. "The weapons in the Foundry are all engraved with the Chinese character '工' to indicate they were made there. I have already inspected the weapons, and one of them has this mark."

“Where are the craftsmen who did the work?”

"All dead."

"In this case, there will be no evidence. You call this evidence?"

The emperor immediately stood up and started scolding Du Zhijie.

Du Zhijie wasn't upset. "Because the deadline was so short and the number of weapons was so large, the craftsmen worked day and night to finish the work, and they were already exhausted. However, when we went to the Casting Barracks this time, we did unearth the bodies of several craftsmen."

Although the person was dead, the body was still there. The fact that he could take it out here was enough to prove that Du Zhijie came prepared.

This matter is now clear as day.

Everyone present understood that although the Crown Prince had taken over the Foundry, he had neglected his duties and had the Foundry forge weapons for him. In order to rush the work, he had disregarded the lives of the craftsmen, resulting in a significant shortage of weapons by the delivery date.

The prince was clever. Fearing that the truth would be revealed, he dragged Du Zhijie into the affair, hoping to find someone to take the blame. However, Du Zhijie had already seen through his scheme and was determined to take advantage of him.

The emperor understood this better than anyone else, so his face turned pale and blue, and it was hard to tell whether his eyes were filled with anger or disappointment. He whispered, "Where is the prince?"

"Your Majesty, the Crown Prince is under house arrest in the Eastern Palace. Does he need to be summoned?" the eunuch replied hurriedly.