"Your Majesty, long live His Majesty."
Prince An bowed and saluted with a very humble attitude. Even though Emperor Liang Ping always told him not to be so polite, he still did so every time. This move really made Emperor Liang Ping feel more comfortable. After all, the two were rivals in the past and had tripped each other up a lot. Seeing the current state of his younger brother, who used to seem docile but was actually very arrogant in front of him, Emperor Liang Ping was happy to invite him to every palace banquet.
"Fourth brother, there is no need to be so polite. Please sit down." Emperor Liang Ping waved his hand to signal the palace servants to serve him tea.
Prince An, who had just sat down, stood up and bowed: "Thank you, Your Majesty."
Emperor Liang Ping said, "It has been a while since we last got together for the Mid-Autumn Festival. I wonder if Fourth Brother is doing well?"
Prince An was suddenly concerned and showed his gratitude in a proper way, saying, "Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty. I am fine. I wonder if Your Majesty is in good health?"
“Haha, my body is being taken care of by the imperial doctors in the palace, so it’s naturally fine. If you, fourth brother, feel unwell someday, just have someone pass a sign in, and I will ask Imperial Doctor Liu to visit you. I remember that when you were not feeling well before, it was Imperial Doctor Liu who saw you…” Emperor Ping of Liang seemed to be accidentally stabbing Prince An in the heart, so that he could realize the difference between a winner and a loser.
Prince An listened to him with a smile, nodding his head from time to time to show his approval. Seeing that his brother was still talking about irrelevant things, he felt a little impatient, so he found a gap and asked, "I wonder what the emperor has summoned me to do?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Emperor Liang Ping's expression changed. He frowned slightly, and seemed to be in some embarrassment.
"Fourth brother, I called you here today because of something. Someone came to me to sue you and said he wanted to confront you face to face."
Many conjectures suddenly emerged in Prince An's mind. He had been locked up in the palace and rarely went out. Who could he have a grudge against? Could it be that someone was bullying others under his name
Thinking of this, Prince An immediately said, "I am willing to confront that person. If it is really because I failed to discipline my subordinates and let them make mistakes, then I am willing to apologize. I wonder who the victim is? Where is he now?"
"Let them in." Emperor Liang Ping ordered.
Wang Chao looked back and as the footsteps got closer, the first thing that caught his eye was a young man with a cold face. The man was tall and handsome. Just one glance reminded him of the man from the past, who was equally handsome, but always had a gentle smile on his face, just like the warm sun in early March.
"Shijie..." He couldn't help but call out, and then suddenly realized that Pei Shijie was dead. The person in front of him should be his eldest son Pei Che.
"Fourth brother, the victim who sued you is Pei Che. He is the eldest son of the Duke Zhongguo Mansion. You have only attended family banquets in recent years and never attended state banquets. You should not know him, right?" Emperor Liang Ping said.
Prince An sighed, "I have been ill in recent years, so it is rare to see him. What I still remember in my mind is his childhood appearance. It's hard to realize that so many years have passed."
After he finished speaking, he looked up at Pei Che: "My dear nephew, you and your father look so much alike. When we were studying, your father and I were best friends. It's a pity..."
Pei Che stared at him coldly. This man had killed his father, yet he pretended to be mourning him in front of him.
"I wonder what you are suing me for today? If my subordinates do something wrong, I will never cover it up." Seeing that he did not respond, King An changed the subject and talked about business.
"Your Highness Prince An, do you still remember the murder of my father?" Pei Che turned to Prince An, bowed, and then asked.
Prince An sighed, his face showing some grief, and said: "Oh, of course I remember. When this news was passed back to Liangjing, I didn't believe it at first. I didn't expect that Shijie would be killed by an accident. It's really a pity."
"What if I say this wasn't an accident?"
"What?!" Prince An stood up suddenly, his expression very angry, "Could it be that Shijie was persecuted to death?"
"Yes, my parents died unjustly. Fortunately, God has eyes and left a clue, which allowed me to find out the truth."
Prince An said with relief: "That's great, it can comfort their souls in heaven." After saying that, he felt something was wrong.
"Just now my royal brother said that you wanted to confront me. Could it be that you suspected that I was the one who harmed your father? Ridiculous! Everyone knows that your father and I are good friends. How could I harm your father? My dear nephew, don't listen to the instigation of others!" Prince An said with great sorrow, as if if he had a knife right now, he would cut out his heart and show it to Pei Che.
Jiang Miao watched his performance coldly, without any ripples in his heart. I don't know if others saw it, but he saw it clearly. When he heard that Pei Che's father did not die accidentally, the face of this Prince An was clearly full of anger, but not a trace of surprise. If he said that he didn't know about it beforehand, it would be hard to convince others.
Prince An's pupils contracted violently, but he immediately calmed down and put on a stiff smile: "My dear nephew, you really love to joke. I have never done it before, so why would I be afraid of others knowing?"
"Really? I wonder if Your Highness Prince An still remembers Cheng Kaihua?"
"Cheng Kaihua?" Prince An recited the words silently, then revealed an expression of sudden enlightenment. "I remember that this person was once the Minister of the Ministry of Rites, but wasn't he dismissed by the Emperor and sent back to his hometown because of his poor performance? What does this person have to do with this case?"
Pei Che said, "Your Highness Prince An, I'm afraid I didn't say enough. Cheng Kaihua married the concubine of the Wu family. Logically, you should call him uncle. Why is Your Highness Prince An so unfamiliar when he mentions this person?"
"In the past, I didn't have much contact with my relatives by marriage, and I usually judged them according to my status in the court. If everyone called me by my kinship like you do, wouldn't this court become a family ancestral hall?" Prince An frowned and said coldly.
"You must know that there are also human feelings outside of legal principles. In the court, there are the emperor and his subjects, and outside the court, there are relatives. If you don't recognize your relatives, wouldn't that be too heartless and unrighteous?"
"You are being unreasonable!" Prince An scolded, "When did I become disloyal? But you, why did you get involved with Cheng Kaihua when you were just talking about him?"
Jiang Miao and Emperor Liang Ping watched the two of them talking back and forth, seemingly peaceful but actually full of war, and they couldn't help but feel like eating melons. And Prince An's appearance of being fierce but weak at the moment showed in three words: he was anxious.
Pei Che said: "Because he is very important in this case. One of the murderers sent to murder my father was his step-wife's nephew."
"Oh, according to what you said, anyone who is related to him could be the one who ordered him? In that case, why don't you dig out his family tree and check one by one? Logically, I shouldn't be ranked first, right?" Prince An snorted coldly and said sarcastically.
"According to my investigation, after his step-wife's nephew entered the palace, he was assigned to the Sixth Prince's mansion as a guard."
Prince An laughed, "That's even more strange. He is a subordinate of my sixth brother, so how could he listen to my orders? I think my nephew is desperate and is trying to find a cure, so he is making random accusations against me. Or maybe some people don't like me and want to use you to get rid of me?"
When Emperor Liang Ping heard his meaningful words, the first thing that came to his mind was not anger, but nostalgia.
That's what it tasted like! His fourth brother's ability to get people to take the blame is still as great as before. After seeing him being so timid, I really miss his bad intentions.
“Don’t worry, Your Highness Prince An. You live in seclusion now, so who would want to make things difficult for you or frame you?” Pei Che reminded him that he was now a prisoner. He was just a prince, but in reality he was just a prisoner in a luxurious prison. Why should he be afraid of this or that
Prince An's sore spot was touched and his face immediately turned dark.
Pei Che continued, "Although the nephew is a subordinate of the Sixth Prince, he is not loyal to the Sixth Prince. He has secretly joined forces with his uncle to join you, Prince An. Although he was the Sixth Prince's guard that time, the one who gave him the order was someone from your house."
“You knew my father was determined to leave, so you felt resentful and sent people to follow my father. When you learned that someone was coming to recruit him, you were afraid that my father would be shaken, so you thought of a way to sow discord. But you didn’t expect that it rained too heavily that day, and the speed of the trees rolling down could not be controlled, and directly pushed the carriage my parents were sitting in off the cliff. It was you who killed them!” Pei Che’s eyes were red. The person who killed his parents was now standing in front of him. As a son, he could not take revenge immediately. This feeling was really uncomfortable.
Prince An listened expressionlessly. After a moment's silence, he suddenly clapped his hands. "Haha, wonderful! This story is well-written. Why is my nephew still working as the head of the Ministry of Revenue? Wouldn't it be better for him to be a storyteller? Judgment depends on evidence. If a person could be convicted by making up a random story, the court wouldn't have to hold the imperial examinations every three years to recruit talented people."
"Who said there is no evidence?" Pei Che also laughed. "Your Highness Prince An should know the inside story of that year, right? Of course, he should also know that they were able to succeed by bribing a monk in the temple. Although the monk was stabbed with a sword, he was lucky and has been alive for so many years. As long as we call him and ask him, the truth will be clear."
"Who knows where you would find a wild monk to slander me? I have seen this kind of tactics many times." Prince An looked down on him. If you ignore the flash of surprise and doubt in his eyes, everyone would probably think that he really didn't care.
"Then the banknotes from the Fourth Prince's Mansion can't be fake, right? As long as we go to the silver shop and check them, we will know who the money was given to!" Pei Che pressed on.
"Oh, there are many people in my palace, and there are countless accounts coming in and out every year. If others steal the banknotes to do other things, what does it have to do with me?" Prince An was not afraid.
"Your Highness Prince An, there were more than just that monk alive back then. If the confession of one person is unreliable, what about two people? Especially, that person knew a lot of private matters in the mansion." Pei Che spoke with full confidence. If Jiang Miao hadn't remembered that the bones were still in their house, he would have thought that Zuo Shun was alive.
"Impossible! Zuo Shun is already dead." Prince An blurted out. His subordinates had clearly reported that Zuo Shun had been killed by a sword piercing the heart, and he had buried the body with his own hands. How could he still be alive
Pei Che looked at him with a half-smile: "Your Highness Prince An, I never mentioned that man's name was Zuo Shun. I also never said that he was also hit by a sword that year. Aren't you confessing yourself?"
(End of this chapter)