Bai Yizhang's chest heaved violently, but he couldn't utter a single word.
After all, it was indeed he who had given the order back then to send Bai Di to secretly place the letter imitating Bai Yinan's handwriting in the study of the General's Mansion, so that Bai Yinan would take the blame.
Who would have thought that afterwards, he would be bitten back by Bai Zheng. That was why he had to send people to help the General's Mansion deliver the forged letters about embezzlement to various mansions.
Back then, the General's Mansion had indeed provided both manpower and resources for all these things. Now, even if he wanted to defend himself, he didn't know where to start!
He suddenly turned his head and looked at Feng Jingxuan, who had remained silent since returning to the Wenrui Palace. "Your Highness the Third Prince, among others, you know best about the affairs of the General's Mansion! Please, say something fair for the General's Mansion!"
"This..." Feng Jingxuan's face turned deathly pale. He felt cold sweat streaming down his back.
Bai Yizhang got anxious and blurted out, "Your Highness the Third Prince! During that period, you were always with Di'er. You know best whether Di'er was involved in this matter. Even if there are suspicions about the General's Mansion, these letters shouldn't have been found in a young lady's boudoir like Di'er's! It's obvious that someone is framing us..."
Feng Jingxuan stiffly raised his head and met Bai Yizhang's gaze. From this angle, others couldn't see, but Feng Jingxuan could see clearly that Bai Yizhang's eyes were full of hostility. It seemed that if he stood by idly at this moment, Bai Yizhang would expose everything!
Feng Jingxuan was startled and quickly said, "Yes, Father. During that period, I was always with Miss Bai Er, and I didn't notice anything unusual."
Hearing this, the Crown Prince Feng Jingye immediately gave Feng Jingxuan a meaningful look and smiled. "Third Brother, if I remember correctly, you weren't engaged to Miss Bai Er at that time, were you? Why were you always staying with her?"
"Wasn't it Young Master Chu Feng who was staying with Miss Bai Er during that period?" It was Feng Linyuan who spoke. "That's why he went to the gate of the Bai Mansion and made a big scene, insisting on breaking off his engagement with Zheng'er."
Feng Jingxuan's face became even more ugly, but he still stiffened his neck and said, "Chu Feng is Miss Bai San's fiancé. How could Miss Bai Er be staying with him every day? What kind of person do you think Miss Bai Er is!"
Feng Linyuan sneered. "What kind of person Miss Bai Er is, didn't we all witness just now?"
Thinking of the affair between Bai Di and Chen Jianzhi being exposed, Feng Jingxuan felt as if he had been slapped in the face.
Feng Linyuan smiled again and continued, "Could it be that Your Highness the Third Prince still has feelings for Miss Bai Er, so you're willing to lie in front of His Majesty to protect the General's Mansion at the risk of deceiving the emperor?"
Feng Jingxuan glared angrily and gave a disgusted look at Bai Di, who was on the verge of death in the hall. "What feelings could I possibly have for that slut!"
Feng Linyuan's smile widened, and he said leisurely, "Then it can only be that Your Highness the Third Prince was also involved in this embezzlement case?"
Feng Jingxuan couldn't help taking a step back and couldn't say a word.
This matter was originally a joint effort between him and Bai Yizhang. They had taken 200,000 taels of silver for disaster relief to raise troops, in case they couldn't legitimately claim the throne in the future. They planned to join forces with the Bai family to force the emperor to abdicate.
Now that the Bai family was in trouble, even if he wanted to stand by and do nothing, Bai Yizhang would definitely not let him off.
But how could he plead for mercy? Looking at the way Princess Yunxi had declared that she would only marry him, he was already in a difficult situation himself!
At this moment, Bai Yizhang never expected that Feng Linyuan was so eloquent. With just a few words, he had scared Feng Jingxuan into silence.
He suddenly stood up from the ground, looked at Feng Linyuan, and the anger in his voice almost burst through the roof. "What exactly is Marquis Dingyuan up to? Not only are you sowing discord between me and His Majesty here, but you're also trying to drive a wedge between His Highness the Third Prince and His Majesty! These few letters are just the work of a villain trying to frame us. In Yongding City, it's not just the General's Mansion that has the ability to sneak into other mansions and place letters. I'm afraid the Marquis Dingyuan's Mansion has even greater capabilities!"
After saying that, he turned around and knelt down in front of Feng Linche. "Your Majesty, this old minister's loyalty to Your Majesty and the Great Zhou is as clear as the sun and the moon! I will never be slandered by just a few letters. I implore Your Majesty to conduct a thorough investigation of this matter and not wrong this old minister's sincere heart!"
"The sincere heart of the Great General?" Feng Linyuan raised his eyebrows, and his tone was full of sarcasm.
As soon as Bai Yizhang heard Feng Linyuan's voice, he wanted to tear his mouth off. He retorted, "Are you questioning this General?"
But Feng Linyuan ignored him. Instead, he looked at the leading eunuch who had been sent to search the General's Mansion and asked, "I'm asking you. Answer me honestly. When you went to search the General's Mansion, did anything happen, or did you encounter any obstacles?"
Hearing this, the eunuch lowered his head. His eyes darted around nervously, and he stammered, as if hesitating about something. It took him a long time to say, "Everything else was fine, except... except that the old Lady Bai was standing in front of Miss Bai Er's courtyard with a walking stick, refusing to let us in no matter what. She even cited the late emperor, saying that... saying that the late emperor had left an edict that the Bai family could be killed but not humiliated. She said that unless we stepped over her dead body, even with Your Majesty's order, we wouldn't be able to get in..."
Hearing this, Feng Linche's face instantly darkened.
Bai Zheng quickly put on the appearance of a filial granddaughter and asked, "Grandmother stopped you like that. How did you manage to get in?"
"We didn't dare to go against the edict of the late emperor, especially since the old lady was threatening to sacrifice her life... Later... it was, it was the old lady who couldn't bear the shock and fainted, so we were able to get in..." the eunuch replied in a low voice.
Feng Linyuan sighed with emotion. "If the old Lady Bai didn't know in advance that there was something shameful inside, why would she be so determined to block us at the risk of offending His Majesty?"
"You're talking nonsense..." Bai Yizhang was extremely angry. His face turned red, and he was pointing at Feng Linyuan, about to scold him, when he was interrupted by the announcement from outside the door.
"The Prefect of the Capital is here—"
The grand eunuch quickly glanced at Feng Linche. Seeing Feng Linche nod, he then said loudly, "Let him in—"
The palace door opened wide again. Qin Mu, the Prefect of the Capital, trotted in and kowtowed to Feng Linche. "Qin Mu pays his respects to Your Majesty."
This time, Feng Linche had completely lost his patience. He didn't even tell him to get up and directly asked, "How's the investigation going?"
Qin Mu knew what he was asking and quickly replied, "As soon as Your Majesty's order came down, this official interrogated those bandits. With Your Majesty's might, they didn't dare to deceive us and confessed everything they should."
Hearing this, Bai Di suddenly widened her eyes, and her whole body began to tremble uncontrollably.
Bai Sheng frowned tightly and firmly held down Bai Di, so that the others, whose attention was drawn to Qin Mu, didn't notice Bai Di's abnormality.
Feng Linche nodded. "What did you find out?"