Inside the Court Hall, everyone held their breath.
However, their expressions varied, each with their own thoughts.
It wasn't until Wei Ying and Chu Qing walked in side by side that everyone's gazes shifted towards them in unison.
Some looked at them with pity, some with mockery, and some with pride.
Facing all kinds of gazes, both Wei Ying and Chu Qing remained calm. They walked straight to the center of the hall and simply bowed to the emperor.
At this moment, the emperor looked at Wei Ying, then at Chu Qing, and said coolly, "Do you know your crimes?"
"Your Majesty, please investigate clearly," Wei Ying replied boldly and calmly.
Chu Qing stood silently beside him, feeling an inexplicable sense of pride and relief.
Ever since Wei Ying briefly told her his plan in the prison, besides being touched by his trust, Chu Qing had been in awe for a long time.
Neither in her past life nor in this life did she know that the relationship between Prince Ning, Wei Ying, and her grandson, the emperor, was so good.
This grand scheme was actually a collaboration between the two of them to lure the snake out of its hole and then catch it in a net.
Moreover, she had underestimated her grandson, Yuan Rui.
Back then, she had personally given him that name, hoping that he would stand on the heights of wisdom.
Now it seemed that the child had indeed lived up to her expectations.
Looking at the emperor's current appearance, if she didn't know the inside story, she would probably think that the emperor was really angry.
This child was quite good at pretending! How could she not feel proud and relieved!
...
The emperor was now looking at Wei Ying and Chu Qing with a gloomy expression. When he glanced at Chu Qing, his body trembled.
If he wasn't mistaken...
Why did he see a look of kindness, pride, and relief in her eyes?
Logically speaking, as his aunt, kindness could perhaps be explained.
But... what about pride and relief?
Although he was surprised, the emperor knew that this was not the time to dig deeper.
Since the emperor had not responded for a long time, Xu Han couldn't sit still anymore. He stepped out of the crowd, bowed, and said, "Your Majesty, the evidence is conclusive now, yet Prince Ning still wants to argue."
"Conclusive evidence?" Wei Ying repeated Xu Han's words with a smile.
Xu Han didn't dare to look Wei Ying in the eye and stood aside, bowing, waiting for the emperor's order.
At this time, several ministers from Xu Han's faction also stepped forward one after another to accuse Wei Ying to varying degrees. In the end, they all hoped that the emperor would punish him as soon as possible.
The emperor let out a low laugh at this moment. After suppressing his smile, his expression became even more gloomy.
"Is the evidence presented by Minister Xu really written by Prince Ning himself?"
Xu Han's pupils shrank. But then he thought that he had seen the prince's seal with his own eyes, and even the missing corner was exactly the same as the original. He had found someone to damage it in the same way.
It should be... foolproof.
Thinking of this, Xu Han replied, "Your Majesty, every word I say is true. If Your Majesty doesn't believe me, you can compare it with the memorials or letters that Prince Ning has stamped with his seal in the past."
"Good. Eunuch Li, bring those things to me!"
Eunuch Li left after receiving the order.
Xu Han was a bit stunned. He said this just to make the emperor think that he was confident. Who would have thought that at this point, the emperor would actually agree!
The waiting process was very long, and for Xu Han, it was even more difficult.
When Eunuch Li walked in holding a stack of memorials and letters, Xu Han was already covered in cold sweat.
He hoped that nothing would go wrong.
After secretly making a rubbing of Prince Ning's seal, he had spent a great deal of effort and a large amount of money to hire someone to forge a seal in the same way.
Even the material was the same as that of Prince Ning's seal.
The emperor randomly picked up an old memorial and placed the two parts with the seals side by side.
"Go and show them. See if they are the same," the emperor ordered Eunuch Li.
After receiving the order, Eunuch Li held the old memorial in one hand and the so - called secret letter to the Xiliang people in the other, and showed them to everyone one by one.
Someone who was quite good at this field wanted to show off, so he bowed and said loudly, "Your Majesty, in my humble opinion, the two seals are exactly the same!"
The emperor raised his eyebrows and then gave Eunuch Li a look.
Eunuch Li understood immediately. He quickly dipped a little water and wiped it on the two seals respectively.
"What about now?" The emperor's tone became even colder.
The person who had just spoken looked carefully and was a bit surprised. "On the old memorial, the place stamped with Prince Ning's seal... has turned blue!!!"
Hearing this, Xu Han quickly walked forward. Sure enough, there was a faint blue mark on the memorial that the emperor had sent someone to fetch later. However, the secret letter he had presented a few days ago was only wet.
"Your Majesty! This!" Xu Han wanted to argue some more.
The emperor sitting at the top gave him a cold look and interrupted him before he could finish. "This is not enough to prove anything, right? Eunuch Li, show the rest to everyone in this way!"
"Yes."
So, everyone saw that except for that secret letter, all the other places stamped with Prince Ning's seal turned blue!
Since it was the emperor who had personally selected them, there could be no forgery.
Seeing everyone's silence, the emperor ordered someone to bring two more things.
A piece of snow - white paper and a seal with a missing corner.
"Coincidentally, I asked for Prince Ning's seal a few days ago. How about we all take a look and see if this seal will turn blue?"
After saying that, he waved his hand and stamped the seal heavily on the white paper. Then, the emperor personally dipped his finger in water and wiped it on the place where the seal had just been stamped.
After the emperor was done, Eunuch Li held up the white paper in front of him and showed it to everyone in the hall.
Right in front of everyone's eyes, the seal that had been wiped with water actually turned blue.
Seeing this, before the emperor could say anything, Xu Han knelt down in a hurry. Looking shocked and extremely remorseful, he said, "I'm so stupid! I was actually deceived! I didn't know that the seal was forged. I was so angry that I presented it to Your Majesty without finding out the truth! I hope Your Majesty will punish me!"
After saying that, Xu Han kowtowed heavily.
With these seemingly self - blaming words, he actually managed to absolve himself.
Seeing this, Chu Qing secretly applauded Xu Han for his audacity.