Chapter 51 Betrayal!
Ye Hanting thought of that extremely real dream. He couldn't bear the heat in his body anymore and took a cold shower in the middle of the night.
The bold Chi Yan had been driven to Hao Ren's brothel.
Chu Li just glanced at Ye Hanting and then looked away.
She mentally humiliated Gaolinghua last night, and it would only be awkward when they met again.
Lust is like a sword over her head. She knew that she didn't like Ye Hanting, it was just because he had seen the pornographic pictures.
Chu Li quickly retracted his lustful thoughts and looked at Emperor Qingyuan.
"Your son pays homage to ......"
"Rebellious son, kneel down!" Emperor Qingyuan said angrily.
Chu Li said confidently, "Father, the truth of the matter has not yet been determined, and I don't want to be known as a rebellious son."
Emperor Qingyuan narrowed his eyes and said, "The old man's body has been dragged outside the palace gate. What else do you have to say?"
Chu Li nodded, "Then let the coroner do an autopsy!"
Emperor Qingyuan saw Chu Li's calm expression and calmed down. "Since you are so confident, I will give you a chance to explain."
"Father is wise!"
Chu Li looked at everyone, "There were lightning and thunder on the mountain last night. When Master Ye and I left after the rain stopped, Old Man Zhang was still fine. I wonder which adult worked so hard and didn't sleep at night to go to the mountain to see if Old Man Zhang was okay? This adult cares so much about the people. Chu Li admires him!"
Chu Li's words made Lu Dongchen's face turn ugly in an instant.
Chu Li meant that he was deliberately causing trouble and had planned it in advance.
"Your Highness, I have also received reports from the people. Why did Your Highness bring this up to my level?"
Chu Li caught onto his words and asked, "Lord Lu, why are you so anxious? Are you feeling guilty?"
Lu Dongchen's eyes darkened. Oh no, he had just jumped in in a hurry to prove his innocence.
He no longer responded to Chu Li's words but changed the subject: "I second the motion. Your Majesty, please perform an autopsy!"
Although Chu Li looked quite confident today, he didn't believe that Chu Li could make excuses after seeing the corpse!
Chu Li smiled and raised his hand to make a gesture of please go ahead.
Provoked by Chu Li, Lu Dongchen gritted his teeth and waited to see if the prince could still laugh!
Chu Yue stared at Chu Li. Ever since the autumn hunt, she seemed to be different from the Chu Li she remembered.
Chu Li has always been timid and fearful, and the changes in recent years have made her unable to see through her younger brother.
However, Lu Dongchen never does anything without confidence, and she is looking forward to how Chu Li will fight back!
Emperor Qingyuan's impression of her had just changed after Chu Li won the first prize in the Autumn Hunt. Now something like this has happened to him again, which is really disappointing.
So he waved his hand and said, "Carry the old man's body outside the hall and have the coroner perform an autopsy!"
The guards went to do it immediately.
Outside the palace gate, the people condemned the prince for treating human life as a joke.
"The prince treats the lives of the people as worthless. Your Majesty, please punish the prince severely!"
"Your Majesty, please depose the Crown Prince!"
These were the people hired by the Fourth Prince to stir up trouble among the people.
Most of the people are timid, how dare they criticize the prince?
But they were also ordinary people, and they felt deeply sorry for the dead old man. None of them left, waiting for His Majesty's holy will and decision.
Two guards carried a frame with a corpse covered with a white cloth on it and carried it all the way out of the hall.
Lu Dongchen thought to himself: In addition to this corpse, he also has witnesses, and the prince will be deposed soon!
Prime Minister Jiang and his party were also watching this side silently, and Chu Yue's eyes also fell on the blood-stained white cloth.
After performing the autopsy, the coroner looked at Lu Dongchen with embarrassment.
Lu Dongchen frowned. Why did the coroner have that expression?
Could something have gone wrong?
The coroner bowed at the entrance of the palace and reported: "Your Majesty, this man is about fifty years old. He was hit by a board and had a wound on his back, but he did not die from the injury, but from a lightning strike!"
Lu Dongchen stood there in a daze, as if his head had been struck by lightning.
How can it be?
The Fourth Prince’s men clearly said that they would send the old man’s body to the palace gate early in the morning!
Could this be a mistake?
He looked at Chu Li's calm expression and felt unsure.
"Lu Dongchen, what's going on?" Emperor Qingyuan's face darkened.
"Your Majesty, the person who delivered the body must have made a mistake, but I still have a witness!"
Emperor Qingyuan was in a bad mood because the crown prince he chose was repeatedly impeached. These people were clearly slapping him in the face!
If Lu Dongchen and others were making trouble out of nothing, he would not condone it this time.
However, since Lu Dongchen said there is a witness, bring him up.
"Bring someone."
Soon, two people knelt in the hall.
Lu Dongchen's lips curled slightly. He would not fight a battle without preparation. Now he wanted to see how the prince would respond!
Emperor Qingyuan has lost his patience. "You two saw with your own eyes that the people of Xiaomei Village were crushed to death by the dangerous buildings. If you tell me a lie, I will kill all nine generations of your clan!"
One of them replied tremblingly: "Your Majesty, I did not see the Crown Prince letting the people live in dangerous houses."
Another person added: "I saw with my own eyes the man outside the palace swearing that he had not harmed the prince, and then the couple were struck to death by lightning!"
"What did you say!" Lu Dongchen panicked.
"Lu Dongchen!" Emperor Qingyuan spoke in a cold voice, and Lu Dongchen fell silent.
"Keep talking, both of you!"
The two men knelt on the ground with pale faces. One of them said, "I am a guard in the Fourth Prince's mansion. I followed the orders of the counselor and went with Mei Renpin's cousin and sister-in-law to move the main beam of a commoner's house, intending to kill Mr. Zhang inside and frame the prince."
"But I saw with my own eyes that Mei Renpin's cousin was struck to death by God. I came to my senses and decided not to get involved in this evil anymore!"
The other man burst into tears and said like he was crazy: "Your Majesty, those two wanted to harm people, but God took their lives instead. Your Highness must be the chosen heir. We were wrong. We dare not frame the prince!"
A dark cloud seemed to be hanging over Lu Dongchen's head. He was trembling all over and his face turned ashen.
These two people actually betrayed the Fourth Prince!
Since they came back last night, they betrayed the Fourth Prince and gave them false information. They even kept looking at the corpse!
He thought these two men were the Fourth Prince's personal guards, and he was careless!
Chu Li stroked her sleeves. Last night, she sent the Fourth Prince's two guards to Zhang Zhilong.
Zhang Zhilong was very capable and with just a few words he made the two men break down and be willing to cooperate in exposing the crimes of the Fourth Prince.
The ministers were discussing the matter.
"Ah, it turned out that it was done by the Fourth Prince's people!"
"The Fourth Prince deliberately framed the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince is innocent!"
Chu Yue remained calm on the surface, but her heart was in turmoil. These idiots sued the prince without even understanding the situation!
How can Concubine Rong, that brainless thing, teach her to be a good son!
Emperor Qingyuan looked at Lu Dongchen with a gloomy expression, and Lu Dongchen fell to his knees with a thud.
"I received the wrong tip, I was wrong..."
Emperor Qingyuan glanced at Chu Li, who had never defended himself from beginning to end, and his prince once again made him look at him with new eyes.
He vaguely felt that Chu Li had changed from the coward who only knew how to accept everything to someone else, to someone who had the ability to fight back.
Since this matter is related to the Fourth Prince, he cannot sit idly by. He looked at Eunuch Li.
"Bring the Fourth Prince here!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
While Eunuch Li and the guards were taking people away, Pei Ye, who had been silent, spoke.
"Your Majesty, the Crown Prince did not return to the palace last night, and there is no record of him returning this morning. Where did His Highness go last night? Did he go to clean up after something he did wrong? Why did you ask the palace maid to pretend to be you and leave the palace this morning?"