Bai Zheng gaped, her face full of shock.
Of course, this was just an act for Princess Yunxi.
In fact, Bai Zheng knew better than anyone what was really going on behind the embezzlement case.
Especially after reading the letter left by Feng Linyuan a few days ago, she learned one more thing.
The 200,000 taels of silver that went missing back then were not taken by Bai Yizhang.
Instead, they were secretly used by the Third Prince, Feng Jingxuan, to raise an army.
Since ancient times, it has been a great taboo for a prince to raise an army.
Whether Princess Yunxi really failed to dig this deep or deliberately concealed it for Feng Jingxuan, it didn't really matter.
The key point was—
"Father and Uncle are brothers. Once something happens to the Bai Mansion, how can the General's Mansion stay out of it? What's Uncle's motive for framing our Bai Mansion like this?"
Princess Yunxi didn't answer. Instead, she picked out a piece of paper from the stack and handed it to Bai Zheng. "Why don't you take a look at this first, Third Miss?"
Bai Zheng took the paper and scanned it quickly.
The more she read, the more shocked she became.
This paper recorded Bai Yizhang's childhood.
When Bai Yizhang was born, Bai Qiying received a battle report and had to go to the battlefield to lead the troops to resist the enemy.
His wife, the current old mistress of the General's Mansion, Lady He, who had always been deeply in love with him, was determined to accompany her husband. So she simply left behind her infant son, who was only two months old and couldn't withstand a long - distance journey, and went to the battlefield with her husband.
They were away for nine years.
In those nine years, Bai Yizhang grew from a suckling baby into a literate and martial - arts - trained teenager before he finally saw his biological mother for the first time.
At that time, Lady He returned with her two daughters who were born and raised in the military camp, and she was pregnant.
At the first sight of Bai Yizhang, Lady He felt deeply guilty towards this eldest son she had never taken good care of, so she indulged him in every way.
Bai Yizhang was already at a sensible age. Having grown up without his parents around, he was especially good at reading people's expressions. He knew how to please Lady He, making her even happier.
His two younger sisters also admired this sudden elder brother very much.
Bai Yizhang had a really happy time with everyone around him.
Until— the birth of his younger brother, Bai Yinan.
On the day Bai Yinan was born, Bai Qiying achieved a great victory on the border and returned in triumph.
Therefore, everyone said that the Second Young Master was the lucky star of the General's Mansion.
Moreover, because Bai Yinan had a good astrological sign, was chubby and cute at birth, and had a strong physique, there were already rumors in the General's Mansion that the position of the general in the future would surely belong to the Second Young Master.
Bai Yizhang's status in the General's Mansion dropped sharply because of Bai Yinan's birth.
Lady He focused all her attention on the newly - born infant, and inevitably paid less attention to Bai Yizhang than before.
His father, Bai Qiying, whom he hadn't seen for nine years, went straight to Lady He's room to see the new - born as soon as he returned home, leaving Bai Yizhang, who was full of expectations, on the side.
For the first time in his life, the nine - year - old boy felt a kind of emotion called hatred in his heart when he saw those looks that had once been on him suddenly shift to his newly - born younger brother.
At first, he would directly express his dissatisfaction with this younger brother. But after being severely scolded by his parents several times and even whipped heavily by Bai Qiying,
Somehow, after being advised by someone, he suddenly became a perfect elder brother.
Not only did he show love and care for the younger ones in front of outsiders and voluntarily give the good food and useful things to his younger siblings, but he also took the initiative to teach his younger brother, Bai Yinan, archery and martial arts.
However, for some unknown reason, since Bai Yizhang became a good elder brother, Bai Yinan's performance became more and more disappointing.
Not only did his health become weaker, but he also learned archery and martial arts worse than his personal servant. He became more and more interested in poetry and literature, and his personality became more and more cowardly. Eventually, he gave up martial arts and turned to literature, completely losing the qualification to inherit the position of the general.
In addition, Bai Yinan always accidentally did some things that Lady He extremely disliked.
This made Lady He, who had once placed high hopes on this youngest son, repeatedly disappointed. In the end, she became estranged from Bai Yinan and his mother.
By this point, Bai Zheng's eyebrows were almost knitted into a "chuan" character.
Obviously, all the changes in Bai Yinan from childhood to adulthood were caused by Bai Yizhang.
Bai Yizhang's hatred for Bai Yinan may have initially been just to seize his parents' love and the position of the general.
But as time went by, this hatred became deeper and deeper. Eventually, Bai Yizhang seemed to have regarded framing Bai Yinan as an ordinary and daily - must - do thing in his life.
He didn't like this younger brother and wanted to destroy him.
Even though Lady He now completely stood by his side and looked down on Bai Yinan's family,
Bai Qiying's preference for Bai Yinan was still a thorn in Bai Yizhang's heart.
And this thorn could never be pulled out after Bai Qiying's death.
Bai Zheng couldn't help but feel a bit emotional.
Fortunately, Bai Di was only one year older than her and only knew how to use some petty tricks.
She was not like Bai Yizhang, who was nine years older, with deep - seated scheming and vicious means. Coupled with enough patience, he had spent more than a decade completely ruining Bai Yinan.
"Although it's true that General Bai framing Minister Bai doesn't bring much benefit to the General's Mansion, as long as it's handled properly, the General's Mansion can still stay out of this matter.
But for General Bai, the Bai Mansion, which is like a thorn in his heart, can be removed forever."
Princess Yunxi sighed.
She had never seen such a relationship between brothers.
On the surface, they were respectful to each other, but secretly, they harbored a hatred that was engraved in their bones and would never end until one of them died.
But this hatred was different from the examples around her of brothers killing each other for the throne.
At first glance, it was just about seizing their parents' love and attention.
"This is the testimony of a monk from Qingqiu Temple. It says that he witnessed General Bai send a bunch of Minister Bai's family letters to a master in Qingqiu Temple who was very good at imitating handwriting and asked him to imitate Minister Bai's handwriting to write that embezzlement letter."
As Princess Yunxi said, she took out a few pieces of silk. "These are the drafts the master used when practicing Minister Bai's handwriting. I guess the master knew this matter was of great importance, so he deliberately kept these things as a backup.
It really took me a lot of effort to get these things!"
Princess Yunxi's expression of seeking praise made Bai Zheng can't help but smile. She took the silk and sincerely sighed, "Your Highness really impresses me."
"You also think I have some abilities, right? The Third Prince will surely be better off marrying me than that Bai Di who only knows how to play dirty tricks behind people's backs. So, you must help the Third Prince to see the light and come back to the right path as soon as possible."
These words completely made Bai Zheng laugh. She nodded repeatedly and said, "Okay, okay."