When Lord Liang saw Prince Li coming, he secretly said in his heart that something was wrong.
Prime Minister Xia invited Prince Li to sit down. Prince Li looked at the seat and then at the old lady. "Old lady, there is a clear distinction between the superior and the inferior. Although you are the old lady of the prime minister's mansion, the princess is here, so you must give up your seat to the princess."
The old lady's face was a little stiff and cold, but she had no choice but to give in. She was helped up by Aunt Cuiyu and asked Prime Minister Xia to stand up so that she could sit down.
However, Prince An pointed to Prime Minister Xia's seat and said, "Old Madam cannot sit here. This is the Crown Prince's seat. Grand Tutor, please move. I have to sit here. You go over there."
It took a quarter of an hour to finish the meal. No one objected. The prince refused to sit down, but under his gaze, he had to sit down tremblingly. The pain made him cry.
Seeing that Prince Li was still trying to find fault, Taifu Liang said, "Your Highness, business is more important. Let's try the case first."
Prince Li said unhappily: "Etiquette and law are the real business. Shouldn't the trial also be based on etiquette and law? Without etiquette and law, there is no law. Heaven, earth, emperor, parents, and teachers, everything must be based on this, just like..."
"Okay, Your Highness, please arrange it." When Taifu Liang heard that he was going to continue nagging, his face turned green and he hurriedly stopped him.
“For example, although my aunt is younger than me, the seniority is there and we cannot mess with it.” Prince Li could not stop talking. He had to finish what he wanted to say before he felt comfortable.
After Prince Li had finished making the arrangements, he looked at Lord Liang who had already sat in the corner and said, "Lord Liang, how is the trial going?"
Lord Liang then told Madam Linglong what she had just said, and ended by saying, "Your Highness, you have always been very particular about etiquette. Although Madam Linglong is the eldest lady's stepmother, she is still an elder after all. How can you not be outraged by her poisoning you for no reason?"
Prince Li listened and looked at Xia Wan'er. When Lord Liang finished speaking, he said to Xia Wan'er, "Turn your face away. You only hurt one side. The other side is fine. It hurts me to see this."
Xia Wan'er was stunned, not knowing what Prince Li meant.
Prime Minister Xia knew his temper and didn't want to cause any trouble, so he said to Xia Wan'er, "Go into the inner hall first, and come out only when you are needed to testify."
Zi'an watched as Prince Li separated Xia Wan'er and Madam Linglong without making a sound.
If the two of them cannot cooperate in their testimony, once Madam Linglong is forced to give a false testimony, Xia Wan'er's testimony will not match when she comes out to testify.
She had heard about this prince's temperament when she was in Xiao Tuo's courtyard in the suburbs of Beijing, so she thought of asking him for help.
When he went to see him, the two talked in the mansion for about half an hour. During this half an hour, Zi'an told Prince Li the gist of it. Only Prince Li could seize the power to interrogate the case.
It’s not that the Grand Princess can’t help, but she is unfamiliar with the laws and etiquette and can be easily led by them. In the end, not only will she be unable to help, she will also make things worse.
After Xia Wan'er went in, Prince Li looked at Lord Liang and said, "Well, go on."
Lord Liang was startled. "This, I have finished speaking."
Prince Li looked at him in astonishment. "Have you finished? You only talked about one family's confession. What about Yuan and Xia Zian's confessions? And what about the confessions of the eldest princess and the guards? What about what happened when you intercepted the carriage and returned to the clinic?"
Lord Liang said awkwardly: "Well, according to my inference, nothing happened during this section of the interception except for encountering the crown prince."
"Inference? Did you rely on inference when handling cases in the past?" Prince Li seemed very angry. "Then you can infer. When Yuan fell off the carriage, she was able to stand up and was not blind. Why did she injure her forehead and become blind later?"
Lord Liang wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "Well, well..."
Taifu Liang answered on his behalf, "Your Highness, when Yuan jumped off the carriage, she said she wanted to frame Chen for murdering the mistress. She must have hit herself."
"Where is the evidence?" Prince Li asked Tutor Liang.
"Evidence? She hit herself, who could have seen it?" Master Liang sneered.
"No one saw you speak so confidently, as if it were true? Master, you are at least a high-ranking official in the court. It's fine if you get involved in the family affairs of the prime minister's mansion, but now you are still speculating like a fool. Where is your wisdom? Maybe you failed tonight and found a weak woman to vent your anger."
Prince Li spoke very seriously. He was not mocking Tutor Liang. He was stating the facts, what he believed to be the facts, and he said them in a serious manner.
It would have been better if he was being sarcastic, but it wasn't. It made Taifu Liang's face turn pale, but he couldn't get angry. He just waved his hand and said, "Okay, continue the interrogation and continue asking questions."
Prince Li looked at Lord Liang, and seeing that Lord Liang was also looking at him, he said, "Why are you looking at me? I am not the chief judge, so go ahead and ask."
Lord Liang had no choice but to look at Zi'an, "Xia Zi'an, I want to ask you, you said that Yuan was pushed down by them, do you have any evidence?"
Zi'an said, "Your Excellency, the carriage that the princess and I were riding in was behind their carriage. When my mother fell, she was almost run over by our carriage. Fortunately, the driver noticed it quickly and stopped the carriage in time. When we got off the carriage to rescue her, my mother was already unconscious. She did not fall to the ground, but landed on her left side first. The left side of her forehead hit the gap in the floor, causing heavy bleeding. From the posture of her landing, we can infer that she was pushed down. Your Excellency has been investigating cases for many years, and you should know that if my mother jumped off the carriage, she would definitely fall forward."
Lord Liang was speechless.
Lord Liang said, "We need to call the driver in to ask him about this."
Zi'an said calmly, "Have you forgotten, sir? The driver's confession has been overturned before. His confession is not credible."
Mrs. Linglong finally understood why Xia Zian had been leading her around in circles instead of simply refuting her words.
"Okay, even if the coachman's confession is not credible, Yuan and Chen are now each sticking to their own story and cannot provide any evidence," said Lord Liang.
Prince Li spoke up, "Well, the two of them have different opinions. There is no witness, and no one is willing to check the physical evidence. Who should we believe?"
Lord Liang didn't say anything, but cold sweat kept coming out of his forehead. He had been fooled. No one testified and everyone had their own story. Under this circumstance, the government had to believe Yuan's words first when trying the case.
Lord Liang looked at Prime Minister Xia, who had no expression on his face. In fact, from the moment Prince Li arrived, he knew that he could not use this matter to bring down Xia Zian.
However, he still struggled desperately, "In this case, let's check the physical evidence. Sir Liang, send someone to check the carriage. If my wife was pushed down by Chen, there must be traces left."
He still hoped that he could tamper with the physical evidence. If he let Xia Zian and Yuan escape today, he would not be able to control them in the mansion in the future.
Prince Li said calmly, "I will order someone to investigate. As for Lord Liang, we will continue to interrogate him. I have doubts about what Chen said about what happened in the carriage. If it is confirmed that Chen lied, Yuan will lose the motivation to jump off the carriage."
(End of this chapter)