Chapter 333 Punished
After Jiang Lin finished saying those words to discredit Qian Huan, a burst of whispering began to be heard in the hall.
When those noble ladies saw that Qianhuan had been broken off from engagement and was a vain, fickle woman, they all started to speak in a flurry of sarcastic remarks and belittle Qianhuan.
"This kind of woman is really not worthy of our noble prince."
"That's right. A woman whose marriage was broken off and whose reputation is ruined, how can she be qualified to be the Crown Prince's consort?"
Fortunately, Emperor Jingxi did not believe Jiang Lin's one-sided words. He looked at Qianhuan below and asked, "Princess Jingrou, is what Jiang Lin just said true?"
Qianhuan stepped forward and replied, "Your Majesty, when I was ten years old, Jiang Lin's mother came to my parents and begged them to marry me to Jiang Lin. Seeing their sincerity, my parents agreed to Jiang Lin's mother's request. So I was indeed engaged to Jiang Lin, and later, we did break off the engagement."
Qianhuan changed the subject, "But the reason for canceling the engagement was not because I despised Jiang Lin's family for being poor. It was quite the opposite. My father broke his leg while hunting in the mountains, and the doctor said that his leg would most likely be disabled for life. My family relied on my father's hunting to earn some money to support the family. After the Jiang family learned that my father might be disabled for life, they were afraid that I would be a burden to them because of my family after I married into the family, so they broke their promise and immediately canceled the engagement. All the villagers in our Yunfeng Village knew about this, and I dared not say a single word of falsehood. I don't know who gave Jiang Lin such courage to lie in front of the emperor."
Jiang Lin immediately retorted, "Your Majesty, Princess Jingrou is clearly confusing right and wrong. Her family has become rich, and she wants to marry someone more powerful, so she broke off the engagement with me. Your Majesty, what I said is the truth."
Emperor Jingxi saw that both of them spoke very convincingly and didn't know who to believe.
"You two have different opinions. I cannot rely solely on your one-sided statements unless you can provide evidence."
Princess Ningjia said immediately, "Your Majesty, this matter can only be judged by the villagers of Yunfeng Village in Qingxi County. However, Qingxi County is far away from the mountains and it is impossible to send witnesses to the capital to testify in a short time. I think the reason why Princess Jingrou broke off the engagement with the Jiang family is not important. What is important is that Princess Jingrou is a woman who has been broken off. No matter what the reason is, a woman's reputation is already bad after being broken off. Princess Jingrou is not worthy of the prince at all. Please think twice."
Qianhuan smiled and said, "Princess Ningjia is wrong. The reason for breaking off the engagement is of course very important. If it is the man's fault, I don't think it is wrong for me to be broken off, nor do I think my reputation is bad."
Princess Ning Jia seemed to have expected that Qian Huan would not be able to produce evidence immediately. She confidently questioned, "But how can Princess Jing Rou prove that what she said is the truth? I think what Jiang Xiucai said is the truth. It is obvious that you are vain and despise the poor and love the rich, so you broke off the engagement with the Jiang family."
Qianhuan smiled calmly, "Although Qingxi County is far away from the capital, I have been using carrier pigeons to keep in touch with people in my hometown for business. As long as I send a message back by carrier pigeon, please ask the village chief to write a letter with the whole story of my breaking off the engagement with Jiang Lin. Everyone will know the truth within a day."
Princess Ning Jia didn't expect that Qianhuan actually contacted her hometown via carrier pigeons, and she suddenly felt a little guilty.
Originally, she had predicted that Qingxi County was far away from the capital, and it would be impossible to find villagers to testify at once, so Jiang Lin deliberately exaggerated and ruined Qianhuan's reputation. As long as Princess Jingrou's reputation was ruined, even if the prince was still willing to marry her, the empress dowager would never agree to let such a woman marry a member of the royal family.
Jiang Lin felt even more guilty at this time. He was afraid that his lies would be exposed. If that happened, His Majesty would sentence him for deceiving the emperor, and he would be in danger of losing his life.
Qianhuan looked at Jiang Lin and said, "Jiang Lin, I don't know who gave you the guts to lie in front of the emperor. You've read so many books, don't you know that deceiving the emperor will lead to the execution of your entire family? If you are smart, tell the truth quickly. Otherwise, wait for me to send a pigeon back to let the village chief tell everyone the truth, and then you can expect your family to be confiscated and exterminated."
Jiang Lin was completely panicked this time. Princess Ningjia had promised him before that if he could tarnish Qianhuan's reputation in front of the emperor and prevent her from marrying the prince smoothly, she would recommend him to become a juren.
Originally, he was afraid that he would be exposed for lying in front of the emperor, but Princess Ningjia said that no one would care about the truth of the broken engagement. Everyone would only think that the reputation of the woman whose engagement was broken off was ruined and she was not worthy of the prince at all.
At this moment, he really regretted that he was so stupid as to agree to Princess Ning Jia.
Jiang Lin fell to the ground and shouted, "Your Majesty, please spare my life. I didn't mean to lie."
Emperor Jingxi didn't expect that Jiang Lin really lied. He was furious and said, "How dare you, a rude commoner, to deceive the emperor and spread rumors about the princess. Come, drag him down and chop him off."
Jiang Lin saw the guards with swords coming towards him, and he was so scared that he quickly grabbed the corner of Princess Ning Jia's clothes and shouted, "Princess Ning Jia, help me, you asked me to do this, you can't just stand by and watch me die."
Princess Ning Jia kicked Jiang Lin away and said, "You are such a rude lowly person, stop talking nonsense."
Seeing that Princess Ningjia had turned her back on him, Jiang Lin immediately shouted to the emperor, "Your Majesty, please spare my life. Princess Ningjia asked me to do this. I have nothing to do with this matter. Your Majesty, please spare my life. I am innocent."
When Emperor Jingxi heard that the matter was related to Princess Ningjia, he immediately raised his hand and said, "Wait."
Princess Ning Jia didn't expect Jiang Lin to be so cowardly. He told everything just by being threatened by Qian Huan. Now he even dared to drag her into this.
Princess Ningjia shouted, "You lowly person, you are afraid of death and yet you want to slander me."
The emperor said, "Jiang Lin, you said that Princess Ning Jia instructed you to do this. Do you have any evidence?"
Jiang Lin quickly took out the jewels in his arms, "Your Majesty, these jewels were given to me by Princess Ningjia. The princess also promised me that as long as I tarnished Princess Jingrou's reputation, she would recommend me as a juren. Your Majesty, I am of low status and had to agree to Princess Ningjia's request. I have realized my mistake, and I hope Your Majesty will show me mercy."
Li Dequan brought the jewels before the emperor, who knew at a glance that these jewels were specially made by the government and were not something an ordinary citizen could own.
Emperor Jingxi looked at Princess Ningjia, "Princess Ningjia, do you have anything else to say?"
Princess Ningjia was in a panic. At this moment, she could only make up her mind and said, "Your Majesty, I have never instructed this person to slander Princess Jingrou. It was this person who found me and said that Princess Jingrou had betrayed him and abandoned him. He wanted to seek justice for himself. I felt sorry for him, so I brought him into the palace. I didn't expect him to be such a person. As for the jewelry, I did lose some jewelry a few days ago, and I don't know how it ended up in this person's hands. Your Majesty, this must be a trap. Someone must want to frame me."
Jiang Lin didn't expect that these noble ladies in the capital were so cunning and could turn black into white.
He quickly defended himself, "Your Majesty, when Princess Ningjia was conspiring with me to do this, she dropped a jade pendant. I didn't have time to return it to the princess, and Your Majesty knew the truth as soon as he saw the jade pendant."
Princess Ning Jia was completely frightened now, so she asked how her jade pendant disappeared. It turned out that Jiang Lin had picked it up and put it away.
When Emperor Jingxi saw the jade pendant presented to him, which had the word "Yin" engraved on it, there was nothing that His Majesty did not understand.
"Princess Ningjia, you are so bold that you not only instigated people to slander Princess Jingrou, but also dared to quibble."
The facts were before her eyes, leaving Princess Ning Jia no room to argue, but she still didn't think she was wrong.
"Your Majesty, I am doing this for the good of the Crown Prince. It is true that Princess Jingrou was engaged to someone else, and it is also true that the engagement was broken off. How could such a person be worthy of marrying the Crown Prince?"
The prince looked at Princess Ning Jia with disgust and said, "I already knew that Huan'er had been engaged and had broken off the engagement. I don't mind it at all. I'm even happy that the other party was blind enough to give up such an excellent girl so that I can have the opportunity to be with her."
Then the prince said to the emperor, "Your Majesty, please help me and Qianhuan and punish the evildoers."
Things had come to this point, so the emperor naturally couldn't let these two people who had deceived him go.
Because the mastermind was Princess Ningjia, Jiang Lin's status as a scholar was stripped away and he could no longer take the imperial examinations. His Majesty also had him beaten with fifty sticks and thrown out of the palace.
As for Princess Ningjia, because of Prince Duan's plea, she was finally demoted to Princess Ningjia County and was also confined to house arrest for three months.