"Yes, Your Majesty," Zhuo Lingxiao also spoke up. "Since the Queen keeps insisting that it's Miss Bai who is falsely accusing the Crown Prince, we might as well conduct a thorough investigation to verify the truth and clear the Crown Prince's name.
Otherwise, if this matter is just glossed over, not only will the stigma on the Crown Prince be hard to remove, but it's also hard to say whether there will be a rift between Your Majesty and the Crown Prince in the future."
Zhuo Lingxiao's meaningful words made Queen Chu and Feng Jingye burn with anger.
It was so insidious! This move was truly diabolical!
Framing Feng Jingye with the suspicion of killing Feng Jingxuan and driving a wedge between father and son.
Even though Feng Linche would try his best to protect his second son for now because he had no other choice, what about in the future?
He had killed Feng Jingxuan, ruining Feng Linche's plan to form an alliance through marriage with the Western Liang, putting Feng Linche in a completely passive position in front of the Western Liang.
Wouldn't Feng Linche blame all of this on Feng Jingye?
I'm afraid that in the future, Feng Jingye would become the undeniable sinner in Feng Linche's heart!
Once the seed of suspicion is sown between father and son, it will only grow bigger and harder to eliminate.
And this... was exactly what the people of the Western Liang wanted to see.
Thinking of this, Feng Jingye felt a chill run down his spine. He had never imagined that on a whim, he had sent a spy to check if there was anything more disgraceful than the private army in the Third Prince's Mansion. Instead of finding anything, he had brought trouble upon himself!
Now that they were locked in the mansion and couldn't get any news, he didn't know how the troops he had sent to follow Feng Linyuan that night were doing in tracking down Feng Jingxuan's private army.
Feng Jingye tightened his sleeves and stole a glance at Feng Linyuan.
But he saw that Feng Linyuan and Bai Zheng remained calm and aloof from start to finish, as if Bai Sheng was only accusing him, the Crown Prince, and had nothing to do with the Dingyuan Marquis Mansion.
But Bai Sheng had clearly said just now that he, the Crown Prince, had colluded with the Marquis and his wife of Dingyuan to murder the Third Prince, Feng Jingxuan.
Why weren't Feng Linyuan and Bai Zheng in the least bit worried?
Feng Jingye frowned.
But then, he thought of something.
Although he was always reluctant to admit it, Feng Linyuan and Bai Zheng were truly rare talents. With their abilities, they could remain so calm even when faced with a great crisis. It was very likely that they had a solution.
Now that Bai Sheng had forced him and the Marquis and his wife of Dingyuan onto the same boat, wasn't it a blessing in disguise? With them around, what did he have to fear?
Just then, Feng Linyuan casually glanced at Feng Jingye.
His eyes were calm, but a teasing and confident smile flashed across them.
Feng Jingye immediately felt a bit more reassured.
He turned his head, a determined glint flashing in his eyes. He stepped forward, neatly lifted the hem of his robe, knelt on the ground, and kowtowed to Feng Linche. He said forcefully, "Father, what Young Master Zhuo said is right.
Now that this slander has been thrown at me, if we don't conduct a thorough investigation, this stain will follow me forever. I'm afraid even if I jump into the Yellow River, I won't be able to wash it off.
This matter should be investigated, and thoroughly! Anyway, I'm innocent. Let them investigate as they please! I beg Father to see the truth!"
Princess Yunxi stared fixedly at Feng Jingye. She had never stopped suspecting this most suspicious person from the very beginning. Now that Feng Jingye himself had said that he wanted to verify the truth of Bai Sheng's words, she slowly nodded. When she spoke, her words were full of hatred.
"Very well. Since the Crown Prince has spoken, we must conduct a thorough investigation. As long as the real culprit is found, no matter who it is, this princess will never let them off!" Having said that, she turned to Bai Sheng and asked, "Miss Bai, you said that the Crown Prince colluded with the Marquis and his wife of Dingyuan. Do you have any evidence?"
"Yes..." Hearing this, Bai Sheng looked at Bai Zheng with a bit of hesitation, then nodded. She lowered her eyes and said in a low voice, "Three days ago, the Crown Prince used 10,000 taels of silver to bribe the Marquis and his wife of Dingyuan."
Hearing this, both Feng Jingye and Bai Zheng were stunned.
10,000 taels of silver?
Wasn't that the time when Feng Jingye had taken a dislike to Bai Zheng, played a dirty trick, and smashed her dessert shop? Then Bai Zheng had extorted 10,000 taels from him?
But only the two of them knew about this matter. Where did Bai Sheng get this information?
Before they could figure it out, Bai Sheng's next words solved their doubts.
"The Crown Prince used the silver notes from the Song family's commercial firm at that time. Your Majesty only needs to send someone to the Song family to get the ledger, and you can find the record of the Crown Prince's withdrawal of the silver notes."
Hearing this, Bai Zheng slightly raised her eyebrows and gently curled her lips.
So that's how it was.
When she first came to this otherworld, paper hadn't even been invented yet. She still remembered that the 200,000 taels she had exchanged for the papermaking technique at first were represented by gold ingots engraved with the character "Song".
Later, when her relationship with Song Yiqing improved and paper began to be widely promoted, the Song family's commercial firm, on Bai Zheng's suggestion, abandoned the heavy and hard-to-preserve gold ingots and switched to special silver notes.
This time, Feng Jingye had wanted to cooperate with Bai Zheng and had eagerly sent 10,000 taels. He didn't want to attract attention, so he didn't carry a box of silver in a high-profile manner but instead took the silver notes stored in the Song family's commercial firm and sent them over.
But this had also left evidence—
After all, every regular commercial firm would record the income and expenses of its customers in black and white in the ledger.
Feng Jingye's face turned pale. He never thought that his actions at that time would dig such a big hole for himself.
Before he could say anything, Princess Yunxi had already reacted quickly and ordered, "Someone! Go to the Song family's commercial firm and tell the accountant to bring the ledger and come to the Third Prince's Mansion to see the Emperor immediately."
"There's no need to go through all that trouble," Bai Zheng said calmly. She smiled at Bai Sheng and said, "Sister, you must have misunderstood. Some days ago, the Crown Prince did send 10,000 taels of silver. But it wasn't a bribe. It was the Crown Prince's wedding gift to me and the Marquis."
Hearing this, Feng Jingye nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes! The Marquis of Dingyuan got married, and I didn't give any gift. I felt really guilty when I thought about it. The Dingyuan Marquis Mansion is full of rare treasures, and I couldn't come up with anything better for a moment. So I was just lazy and sent 10,000 taels of silver as a wedding gift. How could this be a bribe?"
"10,000 taels of silver as a wedding gift? The Crown Prince is really generous!" These words were from Concubine Yi. She stood up. Her somewhat plump figure had lost a lot of weight overnight.
She stared at Feng Jingye with venomous eyes and sneered, "Your Highness, others may not know your thoughts, but this concubine knows them clearly!"