"This..." Mr. Qiao stood there awkwardly, for there was still a knife at his back. He had to let this matter pass.
"Steward Hao, I... my accountant has to go with me. Otherwise, I'm afraid I'll make a mistake in calculating such a large sum of money."
Hearing this, Chu Junyi nodded.
His trusted subordinates lifted one eyelid each, nervously and cautiously staring at Steward Hao.
Steward Hao thought that Mr. Qiao was worried that they would embezzle his interest, so he wanted to bring an accountant to figure it out clearly.
Since that was the case, they could go in together.
Mr. Qiao heaved a sigh of relief. He wiped the cold sweat off his forehead with a trembling hand, then turned around to look for the "accountant".
Chu Junyi originally thought that everyone could go together, so he could disguise himself as a servant and get in. But now only two people were allowed in. Even if his face was smeared with ash, he might still be recognized.
To be on the safe side, he winked at his own man who was holding a dagger against Mr. Qiao in front.
That man then followed Mr. Qiao in, while the others could only wait outside as backup.
At this time, the people sent by the state uncle Lin Wei to investigate Chu Junyi's background brought back an old couple, and they were in the palace.
The old man tearfully accused Chu Junyi of all kinds of filial impiety in front of Emperor Mingde, claiming that such a despicable person was unworthy of being an official.
He pleaded with the emperor to dismiss Chu Junyi from his official position and give them a fair deal.
When the crown prince learned of this, he sent someone to inform the princess mansion.
Before Li Xinyue could come up with a countermeasure, someone from the palace invited her and Chu Junyi to enter the palace.
So she went.
...
The imperial study was extremely quiet. The eunuchs who usually served Emperor Mingde were all sent outside. Kneeling below the imperial desk was a rural couple in half - worn clothes.
The woman lowered her head, motionless. The old man was sobbing, wiping his tears with his dark hands again and again, as if he had suffered a great deal of injustice.
When Li Xinyue walked over, she deliberately took a look at the couple, then knelt down and saluted Emperor Mingde, "Your son - daughter pays respects to Father."
Hearing this, the woman kneeling on the ground suddenly looked up, curiously sizing up her daughter - in - law's appearance.
The old man also stopped wiping his tears and looked up, staring directly at her.
Li Xinyue frowned slightly. She could already see through the couple's temperaments from their looks.
One was kind and weak, the other was sour and mean.
Lin Wei had played a good move. She had to recognize this relative even if she didn't want to, because they were Chu Junyi's registered parents on the household register. If she didn't recognize them, wouldn't it mean admitting that his identity was fake? That would be a crime of deceiving the emperor.
But once she recognized them, there would be more and more troubles in the future.
Although they were just trivial family matters, these troublesome and noisy trivialities were the most difficult to deal with.
The only thing that made her feel a little better was that Lin Wei really hadn't found out Chu Junyi's real identity, so he used these two people to disgust them.
If he had found out his identity, he would have come to Father in person long ago and forced Father to order Chu Junyi's death on the charge of deceiving the emperor.
This was a little bit of comfort to her.
Li Xinyue slowly let out a breath. Before she could ask a question, she heard her father - in - law complaining about Chu Junyi.
At the end, he was even more tearful, "... Even when you got married, this unfilial son didn't even invite us to the wedding!
How could there be such a thing in the world! How could a son get married without his own parents knowing about it? It doesn't make sense at all!"
"Your Majesty, although I, Old Man Chu, can't read a single word, I know well that filial piety is the most important of all virtues! Moreover, the Great Yan Dynasty governs the country with filial piety. How can such an unfilial descendant like Chu Junyi be an official!
In addition, Your Majesty and Her Royal Highness may not know. My son was betrothed when he was young. Now that the engagement has not been annulled, he has married the princess. This is a betrayal of trust.
How can such a person who is neither loyal nor filial and betrays trust be worthy of being an official or a person!"
When the old man got excited, he even gestured while talking.
Li Xinyue folded her arms and quietly watched him perform, then glanced at Emperor Mingde.
Such a vicious person had completely exposed his character while accusing Chu Junyi.
She didn't even need to say anything. Father already had a clear idea in his mind.
Emperor Mingde helplessly rubbed his forehead. He had listened to their nagging for almost an hour. The more he listened, the more confused he became. Were they really father and son?
How could there be a father in the world who hoped his son would be in trouble? It seemed that they had a feud.
But then, he remembered something, "I remember that before I betrothed them, I sent someone to investigate my son - in - law's family background.
Didn't he only have a widowed mother? When did he get an extra father?"
He almost forgot about this.
Because Emperor Mingde only valued Chu Junyi's ability at that time and didn't care about his family background at all. Now he just remembered this matter.
Old Man Chu was stunned. Just now he had been talking non - stop and confidently, but suddenly he was speechless.
Li Xinyue became interested. Her eyes turned to the woman who had been silent but was trembling violently.
"I wonder if Father's coming back to life is related to Junyi leaving home when he was young? Mother, if you had to choose between protecting your son and protecting your husband, what would you choose?"
She put the pressure on this woman.
She guessed that this woman should be the foster mother in Chu Junyi's mouth, the rural aunt who had given him a period of peaceful days.
She guessed that when this aunt took in Chu Junyi, this uncle should have been away from home for many years.
Otherwise, with this uncle's temper, how could he have taken in Junyi.
"I, I..." The aunt covered her chest with one hand, extremely tangled inside.
Choosing her son meant exposing her husband's shortcomings, while choosing her husband meant harming her foster son.
He was her only son. She didn't want anything to happen to him, nor did she want anything to happen to her husband.
She just wanted both of them to be well and not to make her so embarrassed.
"Your Royal Highness, what do you mean?" Old Man Chu was anxious, but due to Li Xinyue's status, he didn't dare to be presumptuous.
"Filial piety also depends on who it is for. Blind filial piety is foolish filial piety. If you were really a respectable and loving father like my father, who wouldn't want to be filial to you?
But if you yourself are also wrong, then you can't blame Junyi for not being filial to you."
Li Xinyue smiled slightly, but this smile made the old man tremble in his heart.
"Mother, what do you think?"
"I, I..." The woman's chest heaved violently, obviously struggling fiercely.
Li Xinyue helped her up, hugged her in her arms, and gently wiped the dust off her face.
The woman looked at her in surprise and excitement. She never thought that the high - ranking princess would condescend to wipe the face of a peasant woman like her. A storm was raging in her heart. Under the excitement and guilt, she exposed her husband's character.
She also told the reason why he ran away from home back then. It was because he had provoked some gangsters outside and was being chased, so he had to hide. Her son was so angry that he left home and never came back. That was why the later Chu Junyi had the opportunity to use their son's identity and turn from a nobody to a respected person.
Of course, the woman didn't say the latter part. She only told about her husband's misdeeds.
In the end, this matter was left unsettled. But Emperor Mingde was a filial emperor. He thought that no matter how big the mistakes of the parents were, the children shouldn't ignore them.
Therefore, he decided to give Chu Junyi a few days off and let him take his wife home to fulfill his filial piety. He asked Li Xinyue to convey this message.