Long Live the Empress

Chapter 314 Ready-made Evidence

"Your Majesty, it is because the Second Prince spoke that I took the initiative to ask the Dali Temple for this case! He also said that Shen Mao is a stubborn person, and when the Second Prince wears the yellow robe, he will definitely kill Shen Mao!" Since he was going to die anyway, the Minister of Justice just blurted out everything!

The old emperor was still alive, and the second prince was thinking about ascending the throne in the future! Of all the princes, none wanted to be emperor, but none said it as blatantly as the second prince!

"Haha, the second prince is cursing the emperor..." Yan Liyuan laughed, his eyes full of mockery.

The second prince wished he could strangle Yan Liyuan to death and then tear apart that deadly mouth!

"Father, I didn't! I have great respect for you, how could I say such a treasonous thing?"

The old emperor was silent, thinking back to the time when all the Second Prince's actions were motivated by money, yet he had never been found to have any intention of treason. Was he framed or was he hiding it too well?

"Minister of Justice, do you have any evidence?" Yan Liyuan asked.

The Minister of Justice pondered for a moment and said, "The Second Prince has a dragon and phoenix jade pendant! It is carved from a whole piece of white marble. To express his sincerity, the Second Prince asked me to give the phoenix piece to his daughter as a token of love! My Lord, can you send someone to search the Second Prince and compare it with my daughter's piece?"

The second prince was also a little confused. Giving the jade pendant to the Minister of Justice was originally a temporary measure. He thought that after the Spring Examination, he would find an excuse to coax the legitimate daughter to prove her innocence. By then, the old emperor would definitely be dissatisfied and give her a concubine! He could choose a woman of higher status to be the second prince's wife!

Unexpectedly, the jade pendant became a piece of evidence!

Seeing the Second Prince's bad face, Fan Changyue knew that what the Minister of Justice said was true! He cursed the Second Prince in his heart, saying that he was a fool and couldn't do anything properly!

The Ninth Prince gave a signal, and the guards prepared to search the Second Prince's body.

"How dare you! How dare you!"

The second prince used a double entendre to imply that Yan Liyuan was a servant who dared to search his master's body!

"Do you want me to do it myself?" the old emperor said gritting his teeth.

"I don't dare!"

"Don't dare? I think you are really brave enough to do it! Do it!"

This time the second prince did not stop him and allowed the guards to search him. Finally, he found the dragon-shaped jade pendant in a purse full of spices.

"What else do you have to say now?" The old emperor's voice was not loud, but full of disappointment in the second prince.

"This jade pendant originally belonged to a pair. I accidentally lost the phoenix jade some time ago, and couldn't find it after searching for a long time. I felt it was a pity so I put the dragon jade in my purse, hoping to find the phoenix jade back one day! I didn't expect that today the phoenix jade would become evidence to incriminate me!" The second prince sounded very aggrieved, which reminded the old emperor of the second prince's childhood.

So cute, so innocent!

This explanation is reasonable. Princes and noble ladies often attend various banquets, and it is also possible that the daughter of the Ministry of Justice happened to pick up the phoenix jade.

"Minister of Justice... your evidence is not very good!" Yan Liyuan said, "Your Majesty, since the Second Prince's statement is very convincing, let's change to other evidence!"

"What evidence do you have, Mr. Nine Thousand Year Old?" asked the old emperor.

“Isn’t there ready-made evidence right in front of us?” Yan Liyuan stretched out his slender fingers and pointed at the people who had just fainted during the exam!

The old emperor immediately understood. How could those people who were illiterate be on the list? They must have secretly used money! If we find out who they gave the money to, wouldn't the truth be revealed?

The old emperor immediately asked those people to come into the hall.

Those people were as timid as mice. They confessed everything after just a glance from Yan Liyuan.

"Your Majesty, my father is a local squire, and he wanted me to pass the imperial examination, but I am not that kind of person at all, so he asked someone to buy it for him, but it would cost 10,000 gold coins, so he asked around and finally found out that the middleman worked specifically for the Second Prince, so he gave him the money with confidence!"

"The examination room is very strict. How did you bring the test questions in?" asked the old emperor.

"Your Majesty, you don't need to bring it. After paying the money, the man will give the test questions to your father. Your father will then ask an expert to answer them. I just need to memorize the answers!"

What the remaining few said were similar. If there was any difference, it was just the amount of silver.

"Second Prince, can you explain it?" asked the old emperor.

"Father, they also said there was a middleman. That person must have deliberately framed me!"

"If you met the middleman, would you recognize him?" asked Shen Mao, the Minister of Dali Temple.

"Get to know him! After all, I spent a lot of money on him, how can I not remember his appearance!" those people said one after another.

"Your Majesty, can you let the palace painter draw a portrait based on their description so that it will be easier to identify them?"