It was only later that the Crown Prince came to understand that his brother, Prince Liang, was not as weak and incompetent as he appeared in daily life. This time, Father Emperor was even protecting Prince Liang, only confining him to his mansion rather than executing him.
“What does this have to do with you framing Princess Zhenguo?” the Crown Prince asked again.
“Today, that residence belongs to Prince Liang’s former advisor Du Zhiwei. Your subject could only hand Wang Qiulu over to Old Fang and Master Ren from Your Highness’s side in that residence… under the surveillance of Prince Liang’s people! Otherwise… your subject would have been unable to take Wang Qiulu away alone!” Li Mingrui kowtowed to the Crown Prince again. “To extricate myself from this matter, your subject framed Princess Zhenguo, because your subject knew that Princess Zhenguo had saved Your Highness’s life, and Your Highness trusted Princess Zhenguo completely, so Your Highness would never truly suspect Princess Zhenguo!”
“Your subject also sent someone to inform Princess Zhenguo that Wang Qiulu had frequent dealings with Prince Liang, precisely to give Princess Zhenguo a warning, so that when Your Highness inquired, she could investigate in that direction…”
Just as Li Mingrui finished rationalizing his story, Bai Jinxiu slapped the small table and stood up, mercilessly exposing Li Mingrui: “Complete nonsense! Your words don’t match! If you were a loyal minister, when Prince Liang threatened you, you should have come to find His Highness… or entered the palace with the Left Chancellor to report this. At that time Wang Qiulu was still in prison – would His Majesty and His Highness have suspected your Li family of disloyalty? Are you taking His Highness for a fool?”
The Crown Prince was suddenly struck by Bai Jinxiu’s words, adjusted his sitting posture, and nodded in agreement.
Li Mingrui quickly kowtowed to the Crown Prince: “It was precisely because your subject was confused and didn’t think clearly at the time. Although your subject deeply regrets this, having already rescued Wang Qiulu, your subject could only try to remedy the situation. Please, Your Highness, discern clearly!”
“You didn’t trust His Highness, didn’t trust His Majesty! You acted on your own to rescue Wang Qiolu, then tried to remedy it by framing my eldest sister? Your explanation can only be considered a forced rationalization, but Minister Lu is here… let Minister Lu tell us whether it’s far-fetched or not!”
Bai Jinxiu laughed coldly, turned around, and pulled seven or eight letters from her sleeve, then knelt on the ground holding them high above her head.
“Your Highness, after Minister Lu arrived just now, Old Fang and Master Ren first explained this matter to Minister Lu. It wasn’t appropriate for Bai Jinxiu to interrupt. Now that Li Mingrui has arrived and the conversation has reached this point, please forgive Bai Jinxiu’s boldness… let me first present these letters to Your Highness! This is the real reason Li Mingrui intended to frame my eldest sister!”
Hearing about letters, Li Mingrui’s body trembled. If he hadn’t been keeping his head lowered, his shocked expression would surely have been exposed to everyone.
How dare Bai Qingyan?!
She handed the letters to the Crown Prince!
Didn’t she still want to use the Li family? Otherwise, she should have handed them to the Crown Prince and Emperor when she first obtained the letters, putting the entire Li family to death.
But she didn’t do that then, so why was she producing them now? Even if Bai Qingyan knew he intended to frame her, wasn’t Bai Qingyan afraid he would reveal everything, claiming that Bai Qingyan had once used these letters to coerce him into rescuing Wang Qiulu?
No… Bai Qingyan wouldn’t be so foolish. Those letters must all be inconsequential ones, merely Bai Qingyan’s way of intimidating him!
His father was the Left Chancellor, an important court minister. Now Princess Zhenguo was far away in Shouyang… if she wanted to control court affairs, she would need to control his father, the current Left Chancellor Li Mao. How could she bear to have such a useful chess piece in their family… destroyed for nothing! It made no sense!
Ren Shijie glanced at Li Mingrui, calmly picked up his teacup, and took a sip. So… Princess Zhenguo still had a backup plan.
Old Fang stepped forward to receive the letters and handed them to the Crown Prince.
Bai Jinxiu straightened up, her eyes clear as she looked at the Crown Prince: “When my eldest sister came to the capital this time, besides coming to counsel Your Highness, she had another purpose – to risk her life escorting these letters to the capital.”
“These letters were given to me by my eldest sister after she was carried back to the mansion! Eldest sister told me to take these letters discreetly to Imperial Teacher Old Tan and Lord Shoushan, two calligraphy masters, to have the two elderly gentlemen examine whether the handwriting was the personal correspondence of Left Chancellor Li Mao and the Second Prince, who once committed treason!”
Bai Jinxiu’s voice was clear and her words distinct: “Eldest sister instructed that if these were truly Left Chancellor Li Mao’s and the Second Prince’s handwriting, I should not delay but immediately deliver these letters personally to Your Highness! If these letters were fake… then I shouldn’t give them to Your Highness and should act as if nothing had happened! After all, Your Highness is currently managing countless government affairs, dedicating yourself wholeheartedly to Jin. We can’t help Your Highness with major matters, but in small matters we must do everything possible to share Your Highness’s burdens!”
The Crown Prince’s gaze moved from the letter paper to Bai Jinxiu’s delicately featured face, emotions surging in his heart…
He hadn’t expected that Bai Qingyan would consider him so completely. Even Old Fang wasn’t this thoughtful.
Bai Jinxiu continued: “Eldest sister said these letters are incomplete – if they’re real… they should only be a portion. This Li Mingrui must have learned that my eldest sister was collecting information about the whereabouts of other letters, which is why he wanted to frame my eldest sister before Your Highness! He wanted to make my eldest sister appear untrustworthy to Your Highness!”
Bai Jinxiu kowtowed to the Crown Prince: “Everyone in my Bai family is completely loyal to Jin! Completely sincere toward Your Highness! Please, Your Highness, seek justice for my eldest sister!”
The Crown Prince lowered his eyes to continue reading the letters, and his eyes suddenly widened when he reached the crucial parts.
Li Mingrui was caught completely off guard, but didn’t dare rashly resist. Although he didn’t know the contents of the letters, Bai Jinxiu had said… these letters were only partial, and Princess Zhenguo must be holding the most damning ones in her own hands.
Lu Jin was also greatly shocked. He rose and walked to the Crown Prince’s side, taking the first letter the Crown Prince had finished reading to examine it carefully.
“This Li Mao… was once in league with the Second Prince!” The Crown Prince looked up at Li Mingrui, shaking the letters in his hand with a rustling sound. “Li Mingrui! Is what Madam Qin said true? Did you want to frame Princess Zhenguo because of these letters?”
Bai Jinxiu turned to glare at Li Mingrui: “Previously, I didn’t dare confirm these letters were real, but thank you for acting to frame my eldest sister. Now… even without having Imperial Teacher Old Tan and Lord Shoushan examine these two letters, I know they must be authentic! You were afraid my eldest sister would confirm these letters were real and find the remaining letters to give to His Highness, so you preemptively framed my eldest sister, wanting to make her lose His Highness’s trust! Is that right or not?!”
Li Mingrui gritted his teeth, his eyes dark, but couldn’t think of any rebuttal for the moment, nor did he dare refute Bai Jinxiu.
With his fatal weakness in someone else’s grasp, no matter how vicious a snake Li Mingrui was, he couldn’t move.
This Princess Zhenguo Bai Qingyan was even more ruthlessly determined than Li Mingrui had imagined. He now believed what his father had said… If the Li family opposed Bai Qingyan one more time, Bai Qingyan would wipe out the entire Li family.