Reborn into the palace, she seduces the emperor's heart, driving the chief minister to madness!

Chapter 216 Scapegoat

Before long, Pei Yuanling returned with a cup of tea.

He sat by the couch, and Chu Qingyin slowly drank from his hand.

That obedient and docile demeanor, like that of a kitten, made Pei Yuanling's heart flutter.

Just as he was about to kiss her, he suddenly pulled away.

Chu Qingyin was slightly taken aback, then raised her eyes, which were brimming with tears: "Your Majesty?"

Pei Yuanling coughed lightly and pulled her into his arms. "You've just recovered from your illness and are still weak. I won't make things difficult for you."

He lowered his head again, reached out and pinched the tip of her nose, "After some time, you will have to return all of these to me."

"it is good."

Chu Qingyin feigned shyness, lowered her eyes and said in a coquettish voice, "Once I am well, Your Majesty may do as you please."

Pei Yuanling had already secretly gathered a lot of evidence, all of which could prove that Chu Tianheng had been loyal all these years and had never colluded with the enemy or betrayed the country.

However, out of consideration for the Wang family's power and unwilling to antagonize the Empress, Chu Tianheng had been imprisoned.

Now Chu Qingyin has repeatedly requested this matter, and Wang has become increasingly arrogant lately...

It's time to teach the Wang family a lesson.

The following morning at court, Pei Yuanling ordered a reinvestigation of the Chu State Duke's treason case.

The news immediately sparked heated discussions in the imperial court.

The most nervous and flustered of them all was Wang.

"Father, what should we do!"

Wang Jinglin was extremely annoyed. "This was my elder brother's doing. If it gets out, won't it implicate us?"

"What else can we do? If something is really found out, we can only beg the Empress Dowager."

Wang Chengxun looked at Wang Jinglin with a look of disappointment and frustration.

His second son was far inferior to his eldest son, lacking courage and being overly reckless.

“You two brothers are so reckless in your actions! I originally thought that Lu Zhiheng would push all the blame onto the Chu family, but I never expected that the newly appointed Consort Liang would be able to bewitch His Majesty, bring up the old case again, and reopen the case.”

"That……"

“We didn’t do this ourselves. We just found a scapegoat to push out and convict him. We were determined to clear your brother of all charges.”

Wang Chengxun said coldly, "Now that His Majesty's power is growing, he is increasingly disregarding our family. Fortunately, he doesn't dare to act rashly against us right now. As long as we don't break off relations, even if he knows that the person who framed the Duke of Chu's mansion is our Wang family, what can he do?"

"Yes, Father."

Wang Jinglin acknowledged and withdrew, quickly going to find a suitable scapegoat.

Meanwhile, in the Imperial Study.

Lu Zhiheng had also investigated the Wang family's actions and immediately presented all the evidence he had to the Emperor.

"Your Majesty, although the handwriting on this letter of treason is very similar to that of General Chu, General Chu has made outstanding military achievements and has risked his life for our Great Qing many times. How could he be such a person who treasons and betrays the country?"

Lu Zhiheng stood before the desk, looking solemnly at the emperor above him: "There must be something fishy going on here. If we could find someone who understands General Chu's handwriting, we could examine it carefully."

However, now that everyone in the Chu State Duke's mansion has been exiled to Lingnan, thousands of miles away, it is probably difficult to find anyone who can recognize Chu Tianheng's handwriting.

After calming himself down, Lu Zhiheng continued, "I have already investigated the matter of the assassination attempt on the street last time, and it was indeed carried out by General Chu's former subordinates."

"However, most of Chu Tianheng's former subordinates have been taken over by Wang's eldest son. I have found out that it was Wang's eldest son who spread the word in front of the generals that Your Majesty is about to execute General Chu."

"Those former subordinates did not believe that Chu Tianheng was a traitor, which is why they launched that assassination attempt."

In the end, he listened to the slander of treacherous people.

Lu Zhiheng couldn't help but sigh. This matter was originally caused by him. He only wanted to suppress the Duke of Chu's mansion, but he never expected that Wang would take advantage of the situation.

Pei Yuanling fell into deep thought after hearing this.

"Your Majesty, the most urgent task is to confirm as soon as possible that the letter was not written by General Chu."

Seeing that he remained silent, Lu Zhiheng raised his sleeve and said, "This is the most serious evidence against General Chu. If it can be proven to be false, then General Chu's charges will fall apart on their own!"

Can you identify the handwriting?

Pei Yuanling's eyes flickered slightly, and he suddenly remembered something. He reached out and put the letters on the table that were treasonous into his sleeve.

"I still have some matters to attend to, Minister Lu, you may leave now."

After leaving Zichen Palace, Pei Yuanling took the letters directly to Feixue Palace to meet Chu Qingyin.

"Yinyin, do these words look familiar?"

"This is... my brother's handwriting? No, it's not."

Upon seeing it a second time, Chu Qingyin immediately dismissed the idea.

Although these handwritings resembled his brother's, there were still some differences in the details.

“My brother is left-handed, and although the characters are imitated very well, there are still some differences.”

Chu Qingyin could not hide her excitement. "Your Majesty! These letters are definitely not from my brother's hand."

Those who slander my brother for treason are simply using these letters to convict him. But if these letters were not written by my brother, would that prove that he never colluded with the enemy or betrayed the country?

It was all a frame-up by someone else!

"Yinyin, are you sure these letters aren't Chu Tianheng's handwriting?"

This matter is of great importance and cannot be concluded so easily.

Chu Qingyin shook her head, took the letter, walked up to him, and said firmly, "I am certain!"

"Your Majesty, please take a closer look. Although the handwriting on this letter is similar to that of my brother, it is only about 80% the same. My brother often fought on the battlefield, and his writing style is also bold and unrestrained. However, the handwriting on these letters is a bit cramped and lacks the expansive and bold strokes of my brother's writing."

At this point, Chu Qingyin suddenly thought of something.

“Your Majesty, my brother used to have a deputy general by his side, who was his capable assistant. Whenever there was correspondence, my brother would often ask him to handle it!”

Chu Qingyin said, "Perhaps over time, his handwriting has become somewhat similar to my brother's?"

Pei Yuanling's expression turned cold. "There is such a person? How come I don't know him?"

I have never heard of this person since Chu Tianheng fell into misfortune.

Although Chu Qingyin had entered the palace early in her previous life, she still had some impression of this deputy general surnamed Xu, and hurriedly told Pei Yuanling all the information she knew.

Upon hearing this, Pei Yuanling did not linger any longer and directly summoned Lu Zhiheng, who had just left, back to the Imperial Study.

The most urgent task is to find out where Deputy General Xu is.