Song Chengru stood with eyes observing his nose and nose observing his heart, watching Elder Zhang and Elder Chen argue until their faces were red and they nearly came to blows. Yet inwardly, he was astonished by Xingfu’s performance.

Xingfu indeed seemed to have made thorough preparations in advance. Even facing such a chaotic situation, he could maintain his composure, kneeling on the ground with lowered brows and a submissive air—the very picture of a guilty person. According to what Eunuch An and Eunuch Feng had disclosed, Xingfu had entered the palace early this morning, crying profusely before His Majesty, repeatedly claiming his innocence. However, Xingfu was probably not as favored as before now. In the past, when he held great power and still enjoyed the Emperor’s grace, how would Eunuch An and Eunuch Feng dare reveal his embarrassing state before the throne?

In just that moment of distraction, the situation in the hall had changed. Cen Biliang knelt on the ground, stretched his neck, and kowtowed three times to Emperor Jianzhang. With righteous indignation, he denounced Xingfu: “As a subject of our Great Zhou, he colluded with the Tatar barbarian troops, had financial dealings with them, and even exchanged gifts during festivals. Their interactions were as close as relatives—his disloyal heart is plain as day! Not only that, he also condoned Shi Tongzhou, the Censorial Inspector of Zijing Pass, distributing maps of Tongzhou’s city defenses to the Tatars, even specifically marking the locations of wealthy mansions. With such cooperation from within and without, how could our soldiers properly guard the city gates?! Your Majesty is wise—please investigate this matter and give justice to the people who perished in Tongzhou! Give justice to the soldiers who died at Zijing Pass and the soldiers who guarded Tongzhou’s granary!”

As he reached the emotional heights of his speech, he completely lost control of his surging feelings. Spittle flew from his mouth, and by the end, tears and mucus streamed down his face.

Elder Chen immediately followed suit and knelt down. Looking at Emperor Jianzhang sitting above with an inscrutable expression, he steadily kowtowed three times as well, even removing the official cap from his head and setting it aside: “The Tongzhou incident shocked both court and country, severely damaging our dynasty’s prestige and national dignity, and breaking the hearts of our Great Zhou’s soldiers! Xingfu harbors the ambitions of a wolf—for his own selfish interests, he conspired with the enemy and betrayed the country. Heaven itself cannot tolerate such actions!”

Everyone understood why Elder Chen was so agitated—if Ye Jingchuan hadn’t arrived later, the Chen family’s estate would have been completely destroyed, unable to even preserve the lives of his legitimate grandson and granddaughter.

Emperor Jianzhang finally moved. He threw the memorial in his hand onto the table and, disregarding the mass of people kneeling on the floor, turned to look at Grand Secretary Chang: “What does the Grand Secretary think?”

Grand Secretary Chang glanced over and caught Xingfu’s peripheral vision meeting his squarely. He immediately knelt down as well: “Since there is both witness testimony and physical evidence in this matter, this humble subject believes it warrants investigation. Where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire. If Supervisor Xing has been falsely accused, this thorough investigation would also be an opportunity to clear his name.”

Xingfu’s gaze instantly turned fierce—that old fox Grand Secretary Chang!

“What do you mean there’s both witness testimony and physical evidence?” Emperor Jianzhang seemed puzzled, casually tossing down Shi Tongzhou’s confession that Cen Biliang had submitted: “Before you submitted your evidence, didn’t you look at what was written inside?”

Song Chengru’s hands at his sides unconsciously clenched tighter. He knew Xingfu couldn’t possibly have surrendered without any preparations—so there truly was trickery involved.

Elder Du beside him quietly shifted closer, also maintaining an appearance of knowing nothing.

Cen Biliang knelt at the very front. Upon hearing this, he grabbed the testimony—but upon looking at it, he couldn’t help but cry out in shock, his face deathly pale. This was clearly not the original confession!

Just as he was about to say something, he heard Emperor Jianzhang laugh again with what seemed like mockery: “As for the witness testimony… Cai Anyi just told me…”

Even Shi Tongzhou had become a problem, yet clearly he had only handed the man over after entering the palace. Cen Biliang’s eyes suddenly widened, then his shoulders slumped somewhat helplessly—how could he have forgotten that among the eunuchs great and small in this palace, how many were Xingfu’s disciples and followers? No wonder he had made no major moves before—he had prepared everything in the palace all along!

This was the true killing stroke!

Sure enough, Emperor Jianzhang coughed: “Shi Tongzhou said that the Ye family threatened him with his family members, forcing him to give false testimony. But later his conscience got the better of him, so he changed his confession.”

“He’s lying!” Cen Biliang felt his temples throbbing violently on both sides, so angry his veins bulged: “That’s not what he said before!”

Emperor Jianzhang’s face was hidden in shadow, making it impossible to discern his true expression.

Grand Secretary Chang remained rigidly kneeling on the ground, still maintaining that impassioned stance of refusing to yield an inch: “Shi Tongzhou’s testimony keeps changing back and forth—someone must be manipulating things behind the scenes! I beg Your Majesty to order a thorough investigation of this matter.”

Xingfu struck his head against the ground with resounding thuds, his voice also carrying a sobbing tone, looking like someone helplessly besieged: “Your Majesty, please see clearly! As soon as I heard the news this morning, I came to the palace to explain to you. I truly had neither the time nor the ability to split myself to do such things!”

Elder Chen snorted coldly, squeezing out a cold laugh through his teeth: “That’s not necessarily so. Who doesn’t know that Supervisor Xing is a Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, with countless junior supervisors and fire-tenders under him…”

Making baseless speculations would only anger Emperor Jianzhang. Grand Secretary Chang coughed to interrupt Elder Chen’s words. After weighing matters repeatedly, he finally made up his mind. He pulled a stack of letters from his sleeve and held them above his head with both hands: “Your Majesty! This old subject still has evidence! Please Your Majesty examine it!”

Song Chengru’s lowered head moved slightly, the corners of his mouth curving into a relieved smile. He had finally passed off this hot potato at the highest price, gained the maximum benefit, and remained outside the affair from start to finish.

When Emperor Jianzhang glanced at what was in his hands, Eunuch Feng astutely descended to retrieve that stack of letter papers and personally presented them before the throne.

Grand Secretary Chang remained immovable as a mountain. Facing the confused expressions of Cen Biliang and Elder Chen, he acted as if blind to them, his gaze fixed straight ahead.

After Emperor Jianzhang looked at just one letter, the atmosphere in the hall suddenly turned cold. By the time he finished reading all the letters, the hall had already become like an ice cellar, raising goosebumps all over everyone’s bodies.

“You cried to me all morning, saying someone wanted to frame you out of personal grudges.” Emperor Jianzhang’s expression was calm as he closed the last letter paper, his smile not quite a smile: “Is this what you call being framed?”

After saying this, he casually threw that stack of letter papers, which scattered all over the floor.

Xingfu only glanced once and felt his end had arrived. His eyes widened in terror and he finally trembled violently—the envelopes bore his exclusive wax seal and stamp, and the handwriting in the letters was his own. Even if he wanted to deny it, he couldn’t.

But how had such crucial evidence fallen into Grand Secretary Chang’s hands?!