Children of Loulan

Chapter 293 Do you recognize this person?

Upon hearing this, Ziya immediately became alert and said anxiously: "Now the prime minister has become the target of public criticism. As the saying goes, 'When the wall falls, everyone pushes it'. Everyone is eager to add insult to injury. Our prince can take this opportunity to strike him a fatal blow and make it impossible for him to recover!" Ziya's hands were unconsciously gesticulating in the air when he got excited.

However, after hearing what he said, Bai Xi's face turned gloomy in an instant. He raised his hand in annoyance, slapped Ziya on the shoulder hard, and scolded: "Stop talking nonsense here! How can Your Highness interfere in such matters? Now the three princes are all adults, and all of them have the possibility of being appointed as the crown prince, and the prime minister is the most powerful backer of Prince Xin. If the prince takes action against the prime minister at this time, wouldn't it be equivalent to telling others that the prince has begun to eliminate dissidents for the position of crown prince?" After that, Bai Xi turned around and left, no longer paying attention to Ziya.

After hearing this, Ziya suddenly understood what had happened. He stared at Baixi's receding figure and muttered, "Oh, how could I have thought of so much!"

However, Bai Xi was too lazy to even look back at Zi Ya's ignorance, and he had no intention of paying any attention to him. Ever since Dal agreed to marry him, Bai Xi's mind was full of thoughts about how to properly prepare for the wedding. Although the prince would certainly come out in person to take care of everything for him when the wedding officially took place, the princess was in a special period of pregnancy with strong reactions and frequent morning sickness, so Bai Xi couldn't wait to start asking around for all kinds of items necessary for the wedding. No matter what, he secretly vowed that he would never let Dal suffer the slightest injustice!

At the same time, in the palace, the prime minister hurried to the imperial study. The king picked up a petition from the table with a serious face, and then motioned Aisan beside him to pass it to the prime minister for review. The prime minister quickly reached out to take the petition and read it carefully. As his eyes wandered between the lines, the prime minister's face became more and more ugly, and in the end he was so angry that he trembled all over, and suddenly roared: "This is ridiculous, this is absolutely ridiculous!"

He was panic-stricken, and he hurriedly bowed to the king, explaining at a very fast speed: "My king, I have been an official in the court for decades. Over the years, I have been conscientious and selfless, and have never been lazy! Moreover, I do have many disciples under me. During festivals, they will send some small gifts to the Prime Minister's Mansion out of respect and gratitude to me. However, I only care about the country and the people. How could I harm the Kingdom of Loulan for such a small profit? This is simply nonsense!"

At this point, he became more and more excited, veins bulged on his forehead, his eyes were red, and he shouted again with a trembling voice: "This, this is clearly someone deliberately framing me, your Majesty, you are very observant, you must not believe in the slander of villains!" After saying this, he looked straight at the king with eyes full of expectation and anxiety, as if he wanted to convey his loyalty to the other party through his eyes.

The king's face was gloomy at this time. He sat on the throne and stared coldly at the prime minister below. After a moment, he slowly said, "Is it true that you were framed as you said? Just find the person who accused you and confront him face to face, and the truth will naturally come out!"

Hearing this, the Prime Minister calmed down a little and quickly responded: "Okay, in this case, I am willing to confront the so-called plaintiff face to face to prove my innocence!"

Aishan, who was standing nearby, saw this and immediately shouted towards the door: "Someone, bring that man to the hall!"

Soon, footsteps were heard coming from far away. Then, two guards escorted a middle-aged woman in her thirties into the hall. Everyone looked closely and saw that the woman was wearing a tattered coarse cloth with a large amount of shocking blood stains on it. Her originally clean face was now dirty.

Her hair was messy, scattered on her shoulders like weeds, and there were still many traces of sweat on it. Judging from her current miserable appearance, the thirty strokes of the cane she received were obviously quite severe.

Although the wound had been smeared with medicine, the woman seemed to be extremely strenuous and painful every time she moved because she had just been beaten with thirty sticks. Her face was as pale as paper, beads of sweat kept rolling down her forehead, and her body was trembling, but she still endured the severe pain and slowly knelt on the cold and hard ground in an extremely difficult posture. She raised her head slightly and said in a weak but firm voice: "I, a common woman, pay my respects to the king!"

The king, who was sitting on a high throne, heard this and looked at the prime minister standing beside him with a dignified look. He asked, "Do you recognize this man?"

After hearing the king's question, the prime minister turned around calmly and only glanced at the woman kneeling on the ground. Then he replied nonchalantly: "Your Majesty, I know her. She was originally the young lady of the Shangshu Mansion."

After receiving the prime minister's answer, the king turned his gaze back to the woman and asked in a serious tone, "So is the person in front of you the one you want to report?"

When the woman heard this, her eyes filled with hatred and anger stared at the prime minister, as if she wanted to cut him into pieces with her eyes. She gnashed her teeth and said, "It's this man! He is the mastermind behind the fake stone and fake wood case in Xicheng! At the beginning, it was he who ordered my father-in-law to exchange those precious granites. Who could have expected that after the incident, this despicable and shameless villain would actually put all the blame on our Shangshu Mansion. Not only that, afterwards, he also killed the rest of the old, weak, sick and disabled people in my family, trying to eradicate them all!" At this point, the woman could no longer suppress the surging anger in her heart, and tears burst out and slid down her cheeks.

Facing the tearful accusation of the woman, the Prime Minister snorted coldly, showing disdain on his face, and retorted: "Humph, this is simply ridiculous! You want to frame me based on your unfounded one-sided words, which is too fantastic. If this is true, do you have solid evidence to present? Otherwise, don't blame me for the crime of false accusation!"

The woman had a stern face and stared at the prime minister with sharp eyes. She said in a cold voice: "If the prime minister wants evidence, I have it. But when I came to file a complaint, I was afraid that I would run into the prime minister's people if I carried the evidence with me, so I did not bring it with me, but placed it in a very safe place!"

Upon hearing this, the Prime Minister could not help but frown slightly, a trace of disdain appeared on his face, and he sneered: "Humph! You filed a complaint with the emperor without bringing any evidence? You are quite good at making up stories and lying to deceive people!"