Chapter 53 Ye Qiongying Confessed Her Guilt Before the Emperor
Du Ming waited and waited here, drinking pot after pot of tea. Just when he couldn't hold it any longer and wanted to go to the toilet, he finally waited for the late arrival of His Majesty.
The emperor still had that half golden mask on his face. He sat on the dragon throne as soon as he came in and had no intention of paying attention to Du Ming.
Du Ming couldn't bear it any longer, he stepped forward, knelt on the ground, and cried bitterly:
"Your Majesty! Please help me, my old minister!"
"Oh?" The emperor looked up at him without much interest. "Why, Prime Minister Du, you are already old, and there are still people bullying you?"
Du Ming is now in his sixties, with white hair, a face full of wrinkles, and a hunched body kneeling on the ground, looking quite pitiful.
Hearing the emperor's question, Du Ming immediately told the story with tears in his eyes:
“Your Majesty, my first wife fought hard to give birth to our son Chengxiu. After she passed away, I took great care to raise the child. Now that he has finally grown up, he has been cruelly murdered by that murderer.
By the time I arrived, my son's blood had already run cold.
Your Majesty, please order the execution of the murderer!"
There seems to be nothing wrong with what he said, and every word of it is true.
However, it is not quite the same as the truth.
He did not mention what his son Du Chengxiu had done, nor did he mention the identity of the murderer. It was obvious that he was worried that the emperor would know Ye Qiongying's identity as the legitimate daughter of the Ye family and let Ye Qiongying go.
Du Ming believed that as long as His Majesty issued the decree first, even if it was later known who killed his child, for the sake of the royal dignity, it would be impossible to withdraw the decree.
He didn't know yet that the emperor himself was present at the scene of this so-called "murder", and that the one who killed his son was even the emperor who was sitting on the dragon throne listening to his story.
"Really?" The emperor held his chin with his hand. "I heard that there is something else going on. It just so happens that I have someone escort the murderer to the palace today. Let her come up and confront you, Prime Minister Du."
After saying that, he waved to Liang Dehai.
Liang Dehai quickly asked someone to bring Ye Qiongying up.
Du Ming's heart skipped a beat.
Logically speaking, Your Majesty shouldn't be very interested in these things, how could he know...
When Ye Qiongying comes out, even if the charge of murder is really brought, His Majesty will not kill that woman to aton for Cheng Xiu's life!
The Ye family is full of loyal and brave people, but now there is only this one girl left in the direct line. If the emperor dares to kill her directly, the border town will be in alarm.
Thinking of this, Du Ming began to wonder what he should say next so that the emperor would stand firmly on his side and make the murderer pay with his life.
Soon, someone brought the murderer into the temple.
Ye Qiongying was wearing a white prison uniform. Although the style was not very good, the fabric was snow-white and clean. She did not look haggard at all. After a night, she did not even have any dark circles under her eyes. It was obvious that she had had enough rest, and the people in the prison did not offend her in any way.
As soon as Du Ming saw Ye Qiongying in person, his eyes turned red and he wished he could go up and strangle her to death.
When Du Ming saw the tragic scene of his son being stabbed to death in the alley that day, he wanted to kill Ye Qiongying on the spot. In this way, even if Ye Qiongying's identity was revealed later, he could also say that he did not see clearly because it was dark and acted impulsively because he was sad about the death of his child.
But who would have thought that the group of idiots not only reported the news back to the prime minister's residence, but also went to the government office to inform people.
Before he could do anything, people from the government office had already arrived. That official was not panicked as he had someone behind the scenes. He took people to take Ye Qiongying back to the government office jail. On the surface, they said they were taking her back for interrogation, but in fact, they were just providing Ye Qiongying with a layer of protection, so that Du Ming had no chance to do anything.
So, after that quick meeting last night, it was only now that Du Ming saw Ye Qiongying in person again.
Ye Qiongying was not afraid of Du Ming.
This Prime Minister Du was still very admirable in his early years, but no matter how well he performed before, it was wrong to allow people like Du Chengxiu to run rampant in the capital.
An Yu was indeed a little impulsive in his actions, but fundamentally, it was Du Chengxiu and the others who got drunk and offended him first.
If she was really just a powerless lady from a wealthy family, without a protector like Ye Shu'anyu, and without the support of the Ye family, wouldn't she have to swallow her anger and be captured and humiliated by Du Chengxiu and his group of beasts after hearing the name of Prime Minister Du?
Judging from the group's skilled movements, this kind of thing must have happened many times before.
The matter didn't get out of hand, most likely because Prime Minister Du Ming stepped in to resolve it.
If you can't correct your son's words and actions, then you should deal with the victim who may file a lawsuit, right?
If this were the case, the fair and honest Prime Minister Du would have had his hands stained with blood long ago.
"Ye Qiongying?" The emperor on the dragon throne looked at her and asked, "The Prime Minister Du next to you sued you for killing his youngest son Du Chengxiu. Do you plead guilty?"
Ye Qiongying knelt beside Du Ming, but did not deny the accusation:
"I plead guilty. But..."
"Your Majesty! She has confessed her guilt, Your Majesty!" Du Ming interrupted Ye Qiongying and shouted, "Your Majesty, the prince is guilty of the same crime as the common people. Please sentence this girl from the Ye family to death and let her pay for my son's life! Your Majesty, this old minister can only..."
"Oh!"
Before he could finish his words, the emperor sitting on the dragon throne picked up the inkstone on the table and smashed it down hard.
If Du Ming had not reacted quickly and dodged in time, the blow would have hit him right on the forehead.
If a young man was hit, he would still have a chance to struggle. But at his age, after being hit on the head like this, he would immediately have to go to see the King of Hell and reunite with his short-lived young son in the underworld.
"Since I am the one who is in charge of justice, you must follow the rules. Before one party finishes speaking, the other party must shut up and keep quiet." Even through the mask, one could feel how cold the emperor's eyes were. "Otherwise, I will shut them up forever."
Du Ming was so frightened that he broke out in a sweat.
Although His Majesty's temper remained hot in the past two years, it was much calmer than at his peak. He was so excited about his son's death that he almost forgot that this was the one who could kill people without hesitation.
Du Ming knelt down quickly, lowered his head and dared not speak.
Ye Qiongying had only heard of the tyrant's reputation before, but the last time they met, he seemed relatively normal, except for the things he said that were a bit horrifying.
Now I know that this person is really a man of action.
"Miss Ye, please continue," the emperor said, "I just said that you pleaded guilty."
Ye Qiongying collected her thoughts and continued:
"Yes, Your Majesty, I plead guilty. Prime Minister Du's son Du Chengxiu did die at my hands. But... Du Chengxiu was the first to offend me, and I was just trying to protect myself. I accidentally caused a fatal injury in my haste, which led to his death."
"You're talking nonsense!" Du Ming lost his composure when his son's death was mentioned. "My child is the most well-behaved one. You are slandering him!"