"You're so heartless! How could you treat my son like this? Li Hui, you're his own aunt. How could you be so cruel!"
The lady hugged the man tightly, crying heart - rendingly. She drew out her words in a shrill voice towards the entrance of the prime minister's mansion.
Qin Junxing had excellent eyesight. He immediately recognized the man in the woman's arms as the one who was called cousin by Zhang Yao at the National Protection Temple that day.
This was getting interesting!
"The Zhang family sure is having a hard time these days," Qin Junxing said unhurriedly. The crown prince ignored him and glanced back at the eunuch behind him.
The eunuch understood and quickly explained, "Your Highness, that woman is the elder sister of Prime Minister Zhang's wife. The man in her arms is her son."
"How did it come to this?"
The eunuch shook his head. "I don't know, Your Highness. I'll send someone to find out right away."
"Go!"
The eunuch quickly waved a young eunuch over and sent him out to inquire.
The farce at the entrance of the Zhang Mansion continued. Finally, the gate of the Zhang Mansion opened, and a middle - aged and charming woman in a somewhat worn - out daily dress walked out.
This was Li Hui, Prime Minister Zhang's wife. Seeing the woman, Mrs. Zhang quickly walked over. "Sister, why are you doing this? Please come in. How could I harm Heng'er?"
"Pah!" Li spat on Mrs. Zhang's face. "You're lying! If you hadn't sent Heng'er out of the city overnight, how could he have encountered bandits and ended up like this? You still dare to say you didn't mean to harm him?"
"Sister, I sent Heng'er out of the city for his own good. He offended the young lady of the Marquis's Mansion. If he didn't leave, he would surely die."
Oh, there was something about the young lady of the Marquis's Mansion involved!
Everyone got excited when they heard this.
Some gossips even asked, "What does this have to do with the young lady of the Marquis's Mansion?"
"Yeah! Wasn't it the Zhang Mansion that sent your son out of the city? There are no bandits within a hundred miles of the capital. Could it be that someone pretended to be bandits?"
Hearing this, Li felt a chill in her heart. She looked up at Mrs. Zhang. "Your daughter is so shameless. She seduced Heng'er and then tried to shift the blame onto others. Let me tell you, if your prime minister's mansion doesn't give me an explanation today, I'll go to the palace and appeal to the emperor!"
Mrs. Zhang turned pale and shook her head repeatedly. "Sister, it's not like that. How could you say such things? I've always been so good to Heng'er!"
"Pah! If you were really good to him, why did you refuse to agree to the marriage between the two children several times? You still say you're good to Heng'er. You forcibly brought the child here, and when something happened, you just wanted to send him away. There's no such easy thing in the world."
Someone kindly reminded Li, "Madam, this is the prime minister's mansion. Prime Minister Zhang is a favorite of the emperor."
"Pah! What favorite? He was so poor back then that he came to our house on his knees to ask for marriage. It was my father who supported him to study and take the imperial examinations. Now that he's a high - ranking official, he doesn't recognize us anymore? What an ungrateful man."
Li was clearly shrewd and aggressive. The gentle Mrs. Zhang was no match for her. The servants beside them didn't dare to interrupt because of their status, and Li almost exposed all of Prime Minister Zhang's past.
At this moment, someone suddenly shouted, "Prime Minister Zhang is back!"
The onlookers quickly made way and stepped back a few steps, revealing the woman.
Prime Minister Zhang walked over, helped Mrs. Zhang up, and looked down at Li on the ground. He said in a deep voice, "Sister - in - law, why don't you come into the mansion when you're here? What's all this ruckus about?"
When Li met Prime Minister Zhang's gaze, her heart skipped a beat. Her brother - in - law looked so imposing at this moment that she couldn't say a word for a while.
At this time, someone beside them shouted, "Prime Minister Zhang, she's your wife's elder sister, not an enemy. Why are you scaring her?"
Li immediately gained confidence. She was in the right, so what did she have to be afraid of?
Just as that person said, if she didn't seize this opportunity to hold the prime minister's mansion accountable, Heng'er would never have a chance to marry the Zhang family's daughter again.
Thinking of this, Li straightened her back and pointed at Prime Minister Zhang. "You've harmed my Heng'er. If we mother and son enter the prime minister's mansion, will we still have a way out?"
Prime Minister Zhang casually scanned the crowd. Frowning, he said, "Sister - in - law, what are you talking about? Wife, quickly help sister - in - law into the mansion. Don't make a fool of ourselves."
"Prime Minister Zhang is afraid of being laughed at, but I'm not. My Heng'er has become like this. What else do I have to be afraid of?"
"Sister, please come into the mansion. I've already sent someone to invite a doctor to examine Heng'er. We can talk things over as a family."
"I don't dare to be part of your family. You must give me an explanation today."
Li was being stubborn and refused to get up. The man in her arms groaned from time to time, as if they were in perfect coordination. Prime Minister Zhang's face turned ashen.
He had just been refuted by Qin Junxing in the palace, and now he was facing a shrew. He was so angry that he felt like killing someone!
Just then, the young eunuch came back with the truth.
"Reporting to your lords, the woman at the entrance of the prime minister's mansion is the elder sister of Prime Minister Zhang's wife. The man in her arms is her son. It is said that this young master was sent out of the city overnight by the Zhang Mansion a few days ago. He was injured by bandits outside the city, and that's why this woman came back to seek an explanation."
"Oh, isn't that the one who was involved with Miss Zhang? Is the Zhang Mansion feeling guilty?"
Qin Junxing picked up his teacup to hide a strange look on his lips.
He felt that there was something strange about this matter.
The crown prince looked at Qin Junxing in a rather complicated way. He even missed the aloof cousin he first met.
Although he was arrogant, he wasn't so talkative back then!
However... "Cousin, how do you know about this?"
"I heard about it."
"..." You're a noble young master. Can you be a bit more responsible when you speak?
As if knowing what the crown prince was thinking, Qin Junxing said casually, "Prime Minister Zhang told the emperor that Miss Xie has a bad reputation and is unworthy of marriage. Now that it's his own daughter's turn, it's no better. Can't people talk about it?"
"Why did you suddenly mention Miss Xie?"
The crown prince had also heard the rumors about Xie Fengran in recent days. He knew what happened in the palace was false because he had experienced it himself. He had also sent people to investigate what happened in the Xie Mansion and knew it was false. So when he heard Qin Junxing say this, he naturally didn't like it.
"Of course, I mentioned marrying the beauty to Uncle again. It's a pity that Uncle didn't agree. It's really a shame."
After saying that, he even clicked his tongue twice. His appearance was really unbearable to look at.
The crown prince shifted his gaze and his eyes fell on Prime Minister Zhang. A cold light flashed in his eyes. "Go, find out what's really going on."
Qin Junxing didn't say a word. He lowered his eyes and stared at the teacup in front of him.
It wasn't convenient for him to let the father - son pair know that he was at the National Protection Temple, so he couldn't say anything about Zhang Yao. Prime Minister Zhang obviously knew this too.
But just because he didn't say anything didn't mean others wouldn't investigate.
If the crown prince found out, he would like to see how Prime Minister Zhang would struggle!