Dantai Ji thundered, "How dare you, Sun Niujin! You have the audacity to slander that Princess Shengping is not my own flesh and blood!"
Sun Niujin's voice trembled so hard it was nearly cracking. "I-I, this lowly commoner knows nothing about any Princess Shengping. All I know is that Chen Yunxiang didn't die back then. She was my son's fiancee! The two of them were deeply in love!"
The Empress Dowager's brows furrowed sharply. "The two of them were already married!"
Sun Niujin stammered, "No, no they weren't married. But this lowly commoner is certain that they must have long since shared the marriage bed!"
The Empress Dowager's face turned livid. "Utter nonsense!"
"How dare this lowly commoner lie!" Sun Niujin wailed. "Only a few days ago did I find out Chen Yunxiang was still alive, and had become a noble consort in the palace. This lowly commoner suspects that the deaths of my eldest son, my wife, and my entire family are all tied to Chen Yunxiang!"
Dantai Ji snapped, "Do you have any proof of that?"
Sun Niujin summoned his courage and lifted his head. When he laid eyes on the most honorable Emperor on the high dais, he trembled all over, his face streaked with tears. He gritted his teeth and said, "It all started eight years ago. Back then, my son was due to get married in half a month... Who on earth would give my son five hundred taels of silver? Even the county magistrate's family could not pull out that much money! It must have been Chen Yunxiang, fearing the truth would come out, who gave him that sum to make him keep quiet. But even that did not put her mind at ease, so she took my son's life! And then she tried to kill every last member of my family! By the grace of fate, this lowly commoner barely escaped with my life."
The Empress Dowager's face had turned so ugly she could not bring herself to speak another word.
All the people present frowned.
The Right Censor-in-Chief said, "Your son never personally told you that Chen Yunxiang was carrying his child. All of this is nothing but your own speculation. Furthermore, how can you prove your own identity?"
Sun Niujin spoke in a rush, "The Cui family! Noble Consort Cui! Her Ladyship the Noble Consort was the daughter of the county magistrate of my hometown back in the days. Chen Yunxiang was her personal maid! Her Ladyship would surely recognize me! And even if Her Ladyship, high and mighty as she is, has forgotten this lowly commoner, the former county magistrate Cui Yeping would definitely know who I am."
The Right Censor-in-Chief bowed to the Emperor and said, "Your Majesty, I request that Noble Consort Cui be summoned to identify this man."
Dantai Ji commanded, "Summon Noble Consort Cui."
Noble Consort Cui arrived very soon, accompanied by the seven-year-old Princess Fuxi.
Several ministers looked displeased that the Noble Consort had brought Princess Fuxi to such a place, but none of them spoke out against it on the spot.
The mother and daughter finished paying their respects, and the Right Censor-in-Chief bowed to Noble Consort Cui. He pointed at Sun Niujin and asked, "Does your Ladyship recognize this man?"
Cui Huaiyin's expression remained perfectly composed. She only glanced at Sun Niujin once before saying, "I returned to my family's estate for a visit yesterday, and I saw this man there. He is from my hometown, Zhou County of Huang Prefecture. His eldest son was once engaged to Commoner Chen, but after Commoner Chen vanished, the engagement was naturally called off. My third brother happened to run into him when he was on a trip to Du Prefecture. Since he was an old acquaintance and this man was planning to come to the capital, my third brother let him travel along with their party. That is how he ended up in the capital city."
Seeing that Noble Consort Cui had voluntarily explained that this man's arrival in the capital was related to her, the Right Censor-in-Chief's originally scrutinizing gaze softened a little. He asked respectfully, "Does your Ladyship know what prompted this man to beat the Dengwen Drum today?"
Cui Huaiyin nodded. "I just heard about it, but I do not know what grievance he has."
The Right Censor-in-Chief was about to ask more questions when the Emperor cut him off. "I summoned Noble Consort Cui here only to identify Sun Niujin, not to let you interrogate her. Get on with the trial of Sun Niujin at once!"
"This subject obeys the order!" The Right Censor-in-Chief bowed, and did not press the matter any further. He turned back to Sun Niujin. "Do you have any other evidence to prove the claims you just made?"
Sun Niujin smacked his own forehead, shrinking his neck as he said, "Seven years ago, my son would often be out the entire day, spending all his time with Chen Yunxiang. What else could a man and a woman alone together do? He kept pressing to move the wedding date forward, so he must have already... with Chen Yunxiang..."
"Silence!" The Empress Dowager shouted furiously. "If you keep spouting unfounded nonsense, that is a capital offense punishable by beheading!"
Sun Niujin cried, "This lowly commoner dares not lie! Every word I say is the truth! Your Majesty, please do justice for the six wrongfully killed lives of my family!"
The Grand Secretary Zhang Jianming said in a deep voice, "The imperial bloodline must never be tainted. This old official requests that Your Majesty order Chen Yunxiang to come face to face with Sun Niujin for a confrontation!"
Sun Niujin lifted his head in excitement. "Yes! Chen Yunxiang! Bring that woman who murdered my whole family out! This lowly commoner will ask her how she could be so cruel!"
Dantai Ji commanded, "Summon Chen Yunxiang."
No sooner had the Emperor spoken than a eunuch hurried into the grand hall, panting urgently, "Your Majesty! Commoner Chen has been attacked by an assassin in the imperial prison!"
No one noticed that the moment the eunuch finished speaking, the little girl beside Noble Consort Cui, who was holding her hand, lit up with unmasked excitement. She lifted her head so far that her entire face was raised.
Dantai Ji's face darkened with fury. He asked coldly, "Is she still alive?"
The eunuch replied, "Fortunately, the prison guards discovered the attack in time. Commoner Chen is still breathing."
"At this critical juncture, who on earth would want to murder Commoner Chen?" The Grand Secretary asked gravely.
"The assassin was one of the prison guards. He has already been killed on the spot."
Dantai Ji ordered, "Bring all of them here at once."
Shortly after the Emperor's command was given, Chen Yunxiang was escorted into the grand hall, followed by the blood-soaked corpse of the prison guard.
Chen Yunxiang had wasted away to skin and bones. Her clothes were tattered and ragged, and her hands and feet were badly injured. She looked haggard and worn, like an old woman far older than her actual age. Everyone who saw her was taken aback.
The Empress Dowager was so shocked that she shot to her feet. She had never expected Chen Yunxiang to end up in such a state. She glanced up at the Emperor, her heart suddenly filled with chaos.
Not just the Empress Dowager, but all the other ministers including the Grand Secretary were also wide-eyed with disbelief when they saw how wretched Chen Yunxiang looked. They had assumed the Emperor would show some consideration for their past marital ties, and at most place Commoner Chen under house arrest. None of them had expected that she would be tortured.
Cui Huaiyin paled the moment she saw Chen Yunxiang. She quickly bent down to cover her daughter's eyes. "Yaoyao, don't be scared."
Rongyao, who had been craning her neck to get a good look, froze mid-motion.
Over on the other side, Sun Niujin, hearing that Chen Yunxiang had arrived, craned his neck to look. When he laid eyes on her, he jumped in fright, clutching his chest as he stared at her over and over. It took him a long time to recognize that the haggard woman was Chen Yunxiang.
She was in a miserable state, but what was that compared to the destruction of his entire family?
"Your Majesty! This is Chen Yunxiang! This is the Chen Yunxiang who was engaged to my eldest son!"
Chen Yunxiang slumped on the floor in front of the hall, her eyes hollow and empty of all light. When she heard Sun Niujin's voice, her eyes slowly focused. She lifted her head to look at him, and the moment she recognized who he was, her eyes flew wide open. She then quickly ducked her head down, hiding her face behind her matted, haggard hair.
"Chen Yunxiang! It's you! You killed my whole family! You were afraid the truth would come out, so you killed my son, and that still wasn't enough, you wanted every last one of my family dead! Today I have come to claim your life in retribution for mine!" Sun Niujin gnashed his teeth as he shouted at her.
Chen Yunxiang trembled all over, huddling into herself and muttering over and over, "No, I didn't, I didn't kill anyone, I never wanted to kill anyone..."
Seeing her in this state, anyone with half a brain could tell that the two of them definitely knew each other.
"Your Majesty, this is the man who tried to assassinate Commoner Chen," Wang Zhong said, pointing at the dead prison guard beside Chen Yunxiang.
Dantai Ji shifted his scrutinizing gaze away from Chen Yunxiang and fixed it on the prison guard. "Who ordered you to harm Commoner Chen?"
The prison guard was so terrified that his whole body trembled, and he lay prostrate on the ground, refusing to utter a word.
At that moment, the Chief Minister of the Court of Judicial Review stepped forward and requested permission, "This official is willing to interrogate this man."
Dantai Ji said, "You may."
The Chief Minister of the Court of Judicial Review then walked over to the prison guard and immediately ordered, "Go and look up right away where this man lives, how many people are in his household, and arrest all his clansmen and bring them to the Court of Judicial Review!"
"No! Don't do that!" The prison guard suddenly lifted his head and cried out in terror. He struggled frantically with his limbs, kowtowing repeatedly to the Chief Minister of the Court of Judicial Review as he blurted out, "I'll talk! I'll talk! It was Princess Shengping. Princess Shengping ordered me to get rid of Commoner Chen."
