Consort Bai’s face went deathly pale. A sudden sense of foreboding gripped her. She knew exactly how Bai Ruoshu had disappeared: her dear son had sent people to do it.
She immediately looked anxiously toward her elder brother, Minister of Personnel Bai Zishan. He stood with a grave expression, his eyes fixed on the floor, his face impossible to read.
Then she turned to Lu Jinshuang, her voice abruptly turning cold. “Princess Wenyang, the matter at hand is the cause of the Ninth Prince’s death. What does Ruoshu have to do with it? Don’t bring up irrelevant matters.”
She already knew her own son had killed the Ninth Prince, but she could defend him later. She couldn’t let Lu Jinshuang complicate matters by bringing up what had happened years ago.
Besides, if this went any further, the Bai family would turn against her completely and wouldn’t help her son when the time came.
The other officials all looked toward Lu Jinshuang, then at Consort Bai, and then at Bai Zishan. Their eyes darted between the three, their curiosity plain to see.
The old emperor’s expression grew impatient. He shot Consort Bai a glare.
Just then, Lu Qianning spoke in an unhurried voice. “Seventh Sister, go on. Father is waiting, and the ministers all want to know what happened. Consort Bai has always been considerate. Surely she won’t interrupt you again and disappoint Father.”
Lu Jinshuang nodded. “Mm. Ninth Sister is right. I’ll continue, then. Four years ago, the Bai family and Consort Bai wanted the First Prince to marry Bai Ruoshu, strengthening the bond between their families. But the First Prince thought it would be a bad deal. Even without a marriage alliance, the Bai family was still his maternal relatives and would support him. If he married into another family, he would gain the support of an additional power. But he couldn’t simply refuse, so he came up with a plan: he had someone take Miss Bai out of the city…”
Lu Jinshuang slowly recounted the whole affair. The ministers listened in utter shock, and the old emperor was equally astonished.
Bai Zishan’s expression remained calm throughout. He had already received a letter from Xi Qingyue, and its contents were even more detailed. He had also investigated what had happened years ago and discovered that a wet nurse in his household had been Prince Kang’s informant. He had already had her locked up.
Even if Lu Jinshuang hadn’t brought this matter to light, he would still have uprooted Prince Kang’s network in the capital. He simply hadn’t had the chance to act yet.
As he listened to Lu Jinshuang, Bai Zishan clenched his fist inside his sleeve. If the First Prince hadn’t wanted to marry his daughter, there were plenty of ways he could have refused. Instead, Prince Kang had chosen the most vile and vicious method of all.
Lu Jinshuang continued, “Prince Kang wanted to kill Ninth Brother and pin his death on Yue. As it happened, Yue and I were heading out of the city that day to deal with a gang of ruthless bandits. Yue spotted the assassin in time, so he couldn’t escape.
“When we arrived, the courtyard was full of bodies. They had only just died; their blood was still warm. The assassin’s name is Nightshadow, and he’s being held in Xinan City. He broke under interrogation and confessed everything. If you don’t believe me, bring him back and question him yourselves.
“And that’s not all. The mother of Commandery Princess Cenyue was also killed by Prince Kang’s men. They used poisonous snakes to kill her in Willow Tree Village. It wasn’t an accidental death. The princess knows the truth and will never let the matter rest.”
At this, she looked toward Consort Bai. “You probably don’t yet know Yue’s true strength. She’s practically an immortal. The murder of one’s mother is a debt of blood, and no one can say what fate awaits Prince Kang.”
Consort Bai’s face grew even paler. She knew perfectly well what Xi Qingyue had done in the capital. Killing her mother would make them mortal enemies.
Lu Jinshuang then drew a stack of papers from her sleeve and handed them to the chancellor. “Chancellor, these include the assassin’s confession that Prince Kang ordered him to kill the Ninth Prince, along with evidence that the governor of Xinzhou was ordered to abduct children and send them to Prince Kang for alchemy. There are also confessions from members of the Guangling Pavilion. Prince Kang had people gather more than a thousand children to use in his alchemy experiments. Every one of those missing children was reported to the authorities. Please review the documents.”
Her words plunged the hall into silence.
The chancellor felt as if the papers in his hands had suddenly grown hot. They knew Xi Qingyue had killed many people on her way through Jiangnan, and that those people had clashed with her. They had never imagined there was such a horrifying truth behind it all.
Everyone turned to Lu Qianning, their eyes wide with disbelief.
Censor-in-Chief Lin Yongzhi was especially displeased. “Princess Wenqing, did you know about this? Why didn’t you tell us at the time?”
Lu Qianning replied calmly, “If I’d told you then, would you have believed me? I did intend to speak up. Those people really did try to kill a princess of the realm, and Yue really did kill them in self-defense. They were guilty of a capital crime. You already knew all that, yet you still dragged your feet and refused to believe it. What more did you expect me to say?”
All she needed to do was make sure suitable officials were appointed there. There was no point bringing up Prince Kang’s crimes too early. She refused to believe that every official at court was ignorant of them; many were simply pretending not to know. Now was the right time to reveal the truth.
The ministers’ eyes surreptitiously shifted toward the throne. Everyone knew who the alchemy pills were meant for. They wondered whether the emperor knew Prince Kang was abducting children for his experiments—or whether he had ordered it himself.
The hall fell utterly silent.
On the throne, the old emperor’s face darkened to the extreme. His own daughter had outmaneuvered him.
He glared at Lu Jinshuang as if he wanted to devour her. She had deliberately delayed telling him until all the ministers had been summoned, then saved the matter of the alchemy for last and presented the evidence outright. She had clearly been afraid he would interrupt her.
He gripped his teacup so tightly that it seemed he might crush it. He was so furious he wanted to go down there and kick Lu Jinshuang a few times.
The chancellor finished reading the papers one by one, then silently passed them along for the other ministers to see.
The eunuch Du Chun, standing beside the old emperor, grew anxious. He wanted to go down and collect the evidence, but the emperor hadn’t given the order, and the ministers weren’t offering the documents back.
The papers went around the hall, finally ending up in the hands of Censor-in-Chief Lin Yongzhi.
Lin Yongzhi cursed inwardly. “You pack of fools. You’ve all read them, then dumped them on me, clearly expecting me to speak up. What a rotten lot.”
He drew a deep breath, stepped forward, and said, “Your Majesty, Prince Kang has murdered his own brother, attempted to frame the commandery princess, abducted Miss Bai and torn her from her family, and used the criminal organization Guangling Pavilion to seize children across Jiangnan for his alchemy experiments. His crimes have brought countless families to ruin. They are unforgivable. I beg Your Majesty to seek justice for the Ninth Prince and for the people of Great Jing.”
The old emperor’s face flushed with rage. Veins bulged across his forehead, and his gaze was cold enough to freeze the air.
If they hadn’t brought up the alchemy, he could have simply dealt with Prince Kang. But now that the matter had been made public, his dignity and authority as emperor would be reduced to nothing.
Just then, Bai Zishan also slowly spoke up. “Your Majesty, Prince Kang’s actions are utterly inhuman. Our family has already found a witness regarding the harm he inflicted on my daughter. I can assure Your Majesty that it is true. Please do justice for my daughter!”
As soon as Lin Yongzhi and Bai Zishan finished speaking, the other ministers also joined in, demanding that Prince Kang be severely punished.
Consort Bai collapsed to the ground, too drained even to speak.
