People throughout the realm would only think that he, as the Son of Heaven, was incompetent and easily deceived!

The Emperor’s anger surged in his heart, making him furious beyond measure.

“Your Majesty, Prince Liang has arrived and is waiting outside…” Gao Demao whispered in the Emperor’s ear.

“Bring that beast in!”

Gao Demao stepped aside to let a young eunuch go out and summon Prince Liang. The pale-faced Prince Liang entered hunched over with a timid expression. Upon seeing the Emperor’s grim face, his legs seemed to weaken, and he knelt directly at the doorway. It was only with the young eunuch’s support that he managed to walk to the center and kneel.

He timidly glanced at the Grand Princess and Bai Qingyan before speaking: “Your… your son pays respects to Father Emperor.”

The Emperor looked at this submissive son before him, then his gaze fell on the letters in front of him… wondering if Prince Liang, with such a cowardly and weak nature, could do something like… forging someone’s handwriting to frame the Duke’s mansion for treason?

The Emperor’s gaze involuntarily fell again on Bai Qingyan, who had been keeping her eyes lowered in silence. But if this was a trap set by Bai Qingyan, what was her purpose?

Could it be that with all the Bai family men dead, she also wanted all his sons to die too?

The Emperor’s temples throbbed. First Prince Xin, and now Prince Liang…

“Respects?! Where does your peace come from?!” The Emperor’s tone was ominously low. “Beast! Explain why you had your servant bribe the Duke’s mansion maid to place such letters in Prince Zhenguo’s study!”

Prince Liang’s entire body shuddered as he kowtowed heavily, looking as if he had been terrified and hastily admitted, “Father Emperor, please calm your anger. Your son… your son was simply too infatuated with the eldest Miss Bai, but the eldest Miss Bai greatly despises your son. That’s why your son made such a foolish move! Please forgive me, Father Emperor!”

The Emperor narrowed his eyes, his fingers tapping intermittently on the letters placed on the table: “Infatuated with eldest Miss Bai, so… you forged Prince Zhenguo’s handwriting to write a letter of treasonous correspondence with enemies, intending to place it in Prince Zhenguo’s study?!”

Prince Liang’s eyes widened, his face pale as paper: “Father Emperor, why do you say this?! Your son only wrote a few love letters to the eldest Miss Bai! Your son merely wanted to use Prince Zhenguo’s name to force… force eldest Miss Bai to marry your son!”

“Your Majesty, these letters in your hands… were delivered to the side gate of our Duke’s mansion by Prince Liang’s servant. Just as this servant handed the letters to our mansion’s maid, he was captured in full view of everyone, and the letters were also opened and read aloud in full view of everyone! If Your Majesty doesn’t believe this… You can summon Prince Liang’s servant and that wretched maid for questioning!” The Grand Princess said, choking back tears as she looked at the Emperor.

“Yes… Yes, your son did send Tong Ji! But what your son gave Tong Ji were love letters!” Prince Liang seemed panicked, not knowing how to prove his innocence. He crawled forward on his knees while crying and kowtowing: “If Father Emperor doesn’t believe it, you can ask Tong Ji! Even if your son had the greatest courage, he wouldn’t dare do such a thing!”

The Emperor narrowed his eyes and said, “Bring them in.”

Soon, both Tong Ji and Chun Yan, bound tightly, were brought forward.

Tong Ji was better off since he had grown up serving Prince Liang and had seen the imperial presence before, but Chun Yan was completely terrified, fearing that His Majesty might take her life with a single word. She cowered there like a quail, trembling constantly, not even daring to shed a tear for fear the Emperor would have her beheaded.

“Tong Ji… quickly explain to Father Emperor! What kind of letters did I give you? How did they become letter forgers of Prince Zhenguo’s handwriting?”

“Your Highness, this slave doesn’t know!” Tong Ji was also scared to tears, behaving just like Prince Liang. “This slave also doesn’t know why the love letters became what Fourth Miss Bai read aloud!”

Bai Qingyan slowly spoke: “After Prince Liang gave you the letters, did you ever leave them unattended? Or did you encounter anyone… and tell them about Prince Liang’s plan to have you deliver love letters to the Duke’s mansion maid? If Prince Liang is innocent, only by telling the truth can we discover what happened.”

Eager to clear Prince Liang’s name, Tong Ji hurriedly said: “No, no! I swear to heaven, absolutely not! After His Highness gave them to me, the letters never left my person! And I never told anyone else! That night, I kept these letters in my bosom, unable to sleep all night because I felt wronged for His Highness! Oh yes… Gao Sheng also knew about this! These letters were given to me by Gao Sheng in His Highness’s presence!”

Thinking of Gao Sheng, Tong Ji suddenly turned to look at Prince Liang.

“Your Highness! Your Highness, didn’t you send Gao Sheng to find Chun Yan before? This slave heard the nanny at the Duke’s mansion side gate say… a cold-faced guard from our mansion went to find Chun Yan, but Chun Yan didn’t come out to meet him! Gao Sheng’s martial arts are extraordinarily high… surely no one could have switched the letters from his hands! That means it must be Gao Sheng trying to harm Your Highness!” Tong Ji’s face grew paler as he spoke, almost certain that Gao Sheng had framed Prince Liang. He cried out: “After this slave received these letters from Gao Sheng’s hands… Gao Sheng left the mansion and never returned! This slave said long ago that someone like Gao Sheng shouldn’t be kept by Your Highness’s side. He must have run away…”

Prince Liang’s heart sank. He had never expected that Tong Ji would drag Gao Sheng into this!

Bai Qingyan’s eyebrow twitched slightly. Tong Ji’s implicating Gao Sheng was an unexpected bonus for her.

Gao Sheng was a former subordinate of the deceased Second Prince. Back then, when the Second Prince tried to save Consort Tong’s maternal family and attempted to force the palace with troops, he was shot dead by the Emperor at Wude Gate. Those from the Second Prince’s entourage who escaped went to serve Prince Liang. What would the Emperor think about Prince Liang keeping the Second Prince’s former subordinates by his side?!

“Even so, then please, Your Majesty, summon the guard Gao Sheng from Prince Liang’s side to get to the bottom of this! Let’s see whether someone is trying to sow discord between Prince Liang and our Bai family, or whether Prince Liang truly intends to destroy our Bai family!” Bai Qingyan respectfully bowed to the Emperor before speaking.

The Emperor looked at the composed and steady Bai Qingyan. Before he could speak, he heard the distant sound of “dong dong dong—” thunderous drumbeats.

The Petition Drum had stood at Wude Gate for nearly a hundred years, always serving as a mere decoration and symbol. No one had ever dared to beat this Petition Drum.

But this year, for some unknown reason, before the year was even over, the Petition Drum had been beaten twice. How could this continue?!

The Emperor was extremely furious, restless, and agitated, his voice involuntarily rising: “Who is beating the drum again?”

“Your Majesty, please calm your anger. This old servant has already sent someone to inquire, and someone will come to report shortly!” Gao Demao’s back was also covered in cold sweat.

The Emperor ground his teeth in anger: “Send someone to Prince Liang’s mansion to bring that Gao Sheng to me! If he’s not at the mansion… have the Ministry of Justice arrest him!”

Prince Liang lowered his eyes and calculated in his heart. Gao Sheng probably knew he had been summoned to the palace, so he had someone bring Liu Huanzhang to beat the Petition Drum and accuse Prince Zhenguo of treason. Although this wasn’t according to plan, it would work!

This way… both he and Tong Ji could be completely cleared.

Seeing Prince Liang quietly breathe a sigh of relief and relax his spine, Bai Qingyan lightly tightened her hands clasped in front of her lower abdomen, only hoping everything would go smoothly.

Outside Wude Gate, Xiao Ruojiang beat the Petition Drum with earth-shaking resonance.