"Preposterous nonsense!"
The Queen Mother sneered, "It's a joke. Even if I wanted to poison someone, why would I send Nanny Dou? Such an obvious truth is known to everyone. Doesn't Concubine Zhao understand this?"
Amid the highly charged conversation, Prime Minister Wang in the hall quietly winked in a certain direction.
"Oh?"
Ling Shan curled her lips in a half - sneer, "So the Queen Mother also knows such an obvious truth?"
The Queen Mother's face stiffened.
She stared coldly at Ling Shan's undisguised mockery. Her face felt as if she had been slapped hard.
A sense of humiliation she hadn't felt in a long time slowly crept over her.
Ling Shan disdainfully glanced at the Queen Mother's pale and flushed face. She didn't want to give them any more leeway.
"If the Queen Mother doesn't believe it, I still have witnesses. Don't be impatient, Your Majesty."
A sense of unease flashed across the Queen Mother's mind.
"Bring in the witnesses!"
Soon, palace servants brought in several other palace attendants into the hall.
As these trembling people revealed the evidence of the crime, all the blame was cast upon the Queen Mother.
Many people in the hall couldn't believe it. They never expected that it was the Queen Mother who had poisoned someone, and she was also the one who had cried out "thief" first!
Those with quick wits quickly realized that tonight's Mid - Autumn Festival banquet might be a trap.
In other traps, one might still survive, but a royal trap meant that one had to worry about whether the whole family could leave behind a single descendant.
Heaven help them!
Even if they had known in advance, they couldn't have feigned illness and skipped the banquet, could they?
At most, they could have found a way to properly arrange for their family's illegitimate sons.
But in the end, weren't they still doomed to die?
"Your Majesty... I... cough... I never thought that the Queen Mother... actually wanted me... wanted me dead..."
"Your Majesty, don't be so agitated. Come, follow me... take a deep breath... that's right... very good..."
After a few breaths, Jun Wuyuan seemed to be feeling much better.
But perhaps he was really angered by the Queen Mother's attempt to kill her son and the king. His face was deathly pale, showing a deep sense of disappointment.
"Queen Mother, I've always respected you as my step - mother and put you first in everything. Even when the Wang family's descendants were arrogant, oppressing the common people and committing unforgivable crimes, I...
I still respected you. I always punished them lightly. I never thought... huh..."
The cold sneer on the emperor's incredibly handsome face inexplicably sent a chill down the spines of everyone in the hall.
The sense of unease in the Queen Mother's heart spread even more.
"Bring in the imperial envoy from Jiangzhou and all the evidence!"
When the Queen Mother and Prime Minister Wang heard this, they couldn't help but blink nervously.
Jun Wuyuan, this bastard, had been putting on a show. Even if he were to punish the Queen Mother in the name of justice, it would be hard for the subjects of the world to find any fault with him.
It was only when the imperial envoy and the evidence from Jiangzhou were thrown in front of the Queen Mother and the others that they realized that tonight, although it seemed well - prepared on their side, it was actually a trap set by Jun Wuyuan.
They thought they had prepared everything, but in fact, they had fallen into Jun Wuyuan's snare.
"This is all slander!"
The Queen Mother stared at Jun Wuyuan with cold eyes, filled with deep hatred.
Jun Wuyuan's face was pale. He didn't even look at the Queen Mother. Instead, he reached out and held Ling Shan's hand, gently soothing her with a tender look in his eyes.
"Your Majesty, I have evidence to prove that the Wang family has wolfish ambitions. All the crimes they committed in Jiangzhou are real, without any falsehood!"
In the hall, a concubine in a stone - blue palace dress knelt in the middle, revealing a face that had been absent for a long time but was enough to make people think.
When the Queen Mother saw Concubine Xue's face, her pupils contracted violently.
The Xue family had been pushed out by Prime Minister Wang and the Queen Mother to take the blame. The whole family was exiled to Lingnan, and several of them were said to have died on the way.
Since then, although Concubine Xue wasn't implicated, her life was worse than that of a deposed concubine in the cold palace. She had long disappeared from everyone's sight.
The Queen Mother and Prime Minister Wang never expected that the once - obedient Xue family had actually defected to Jun Wuyuan, this young emperor!
Perhaps even the Xue family's straightforward act of taking the blame was just a trap set by Jun Wuyuan!
The Xue family!!!
Prime Minister Wang's face turned even paler. He already had a disturbing premonition in his heart. Fearing that it was too late to turn the situation around, he decided to take a desperate gamble.
As Concubine Xue pleaded her case, the venerable Prince Su of the previous generation, the Minister of Punishments, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and others personally examined the evidence presented one by one.
On the spot, the venerable Prince Su, the most respected among the royal relatives, announced the crimes of the Wang family one by one, which were irrefutable.
Jun Wuyuan sighed heavily, looking disappointed and powerless.
His tone seemed to be filled with reluctance, but his imperial dignity wouldn't allow him to act as if nothing had happened.
After a while, everyone heard the emperor's tired but authoritative voice.
"By my imperial edict, the Wang family has deeply betrayed the imperial grace but doesn't know how to be grateful. Wang Yuyao is a despicable and heartless person. As a court official, instead of serving the country, he has harbored evil intentions, plotted treason and tried to disrupt the court!
I've always considered our old relationship and shown tolerance repeatedly. However, you've refused to mend your ways. Relying on the Queen Mother, the descendants of the Wang family have acted perversely and committed heinous crimes!
Now, in accordance with the national law..."
Unfortunately, before Jun Wuyuan could finish his imperial edict, the sound of heavy armor and weapons came from outside the hall.
In just a moment, the entire Lindede Hall had fallen into the hands of the Wang family.
Prime Minister Wang and his followers stood up straight, with a hint of pride on their faces.
"Your Majesty, I've been loyal all my life. Since the previous emperor's reign, I've been diligent and careful, never making the slightest mistake. I've dedicated my whole life to the Great Yan Dynasty. I never thought that in my old age, Your Majesty would not tolerate me."
Wang Yuyao's old face seemed full of disappointment. He said painfully,
"Your Majesty, the Queen Mother is the wife of the previous emperor and your step - mother. She has always been elegant and not power - hungry. It doesn't matter if we, your subjects, suffer such grievances, but Your Majesty should never have treated the Queen Mother like this."
Wang Yuyao was so excited that it seemed as if Jun Wuyuan had committed a great crime of filial impiety.
But Jun Wuyuan just sneered, his voice rising slightly.
"Gentlemen, you've all seen it. The Wang family is trying to force a confession and plot treason. The evidence is conclusive!"
The court officials: "..."
"Arrest these ambitious villains for me! If anyone resists, execute them on the spot, no matter who they are!"
As Jun Wuyuan's cold and angry words fell, it seemed as if a large army was approaching outside the hall. The sounds of countless soldiers killing and fighting were intertwined.
Before everyone could react, countless black - armored soldiers rushed out from the secret doors and instantly surrounded Wang Yuyao and his group, who stood out like a crane in a flock of chickens.
The killing was about to break out!