Ask the Nine Ministers

Chapter 229 Dark Fire
Startled, Li Yan staggered backward, and in his panic, kicked over a clay pot in the corner.

"Your Highness, watch your step," Xue Sui said slowly, leaning against the stone wall. "The lamp oil that the jailer spilled the other day hasn't dried yet."

One sentence was like a bucket of cold water poured over my head.

Li Yan's drunkenness dissipated almost instantly.

"You vile woman, how dare you threaten me?"

"Still being stubborn?" Xiao Zhao pushed her arm forward.

The sharpened bamboo thorn sliced ​​through the air, grazed Li Yan's ear, and left a bloody mark on his cheek.

"Ah!" The shrill scream had barely left her lips.

Xiao Zhao then leaned forward and forcefully covered his mouth.

The bamboo thorn in his hand was also pressed against his fragile neck vein.

"If you keep making noise, I'll kill you!"

Li Yan glared angrily and immediately shut up.

Xue Sui raised his hand to stop Xiao Zhao, a half-smile playing on his lips, "You should be more polite to the Prince. Just half an inch further, and that bamboo splinter will pierce your trachea, causing at best paralysis, at worst—"

She lightly raised her fingertips on her knee, and said, "He died."

"You dare, Xue family!" Li Yan roared in a low voice, his voice trembling with fear, as he struggled to twist his body.

Unexpectedly, the soles of the boots felt wet, slippery, and sticky, as if stepping on ice.

He slid forward uncontrollably, crashing hard into the wall. He saw stars, felt dizzy, and felt as if his bones were about to shatter...

"How could Your Highness be so careless?"

Xue Sui straightened his prison clothes, slowly stood up from the pile of straw, his movements unhurried, his eyes fixed on Li Yan with an unfathomable look.

"Could it be that the wine Princess Ping Le gave him was too strong, making him unable to even walk steadily?"

Li Yan's pupils suddenly contracted.

Looking at the woman's aloof smile, he felt as if he were seeing a bewitching enchantress.

"You...you knew I would come?"

"Your Highness is joking. How could such a calculation be accurate..." Xue Sui's wrist shackles clicked softly as he stepped forward slowly, staring at him with a smile.

"However, I know that His Highness Prince Wei is always easily swayed, and after a few drinks, he becomes arrogant and easily manipulated..."

"Who dares to use me?!"

"Whoever instigated the Prince to come to the Ministry of Justice prison is the one who..."

Li Yan swallowed hard, his expression fierce but his teeth clenched.

"Stop trying to sow discord here..."

Xue Sui tilted his head slightly, looking at him with a faint smile, his eyes full of insight.

"Your Highness might consider this carefully: who in the court has been having the worst time lately? Lord Lu and Grand Tutor Lu, along with several other high-ranking officials, impeached Princess Ping Le, exposing all her shady dealings. She's in a terrible predicament and desperately needs a scapegoat... If something happens to me in prison, the blame will inevitably fall on Your Highness..."

She deliberately dragged out the last syllable and paused.

"When the time comes, will His Majesty side with the Prince or the Princess...?"

Li Yan felt a tightness in his throat, and cold sweat soaked his back.

He felt a little guilty, but he didn't want to show it, so he kept his neck stiff.

"Do you think I'd believe your nonsense?"

"Whether it's ghost language or not, Your Highness will soon find out!"

Xue Sui's smile remained unchanged, and with a slight upturn at the corner of his mouth, he suddenly began to count down.

"three!"

"two!"

"one……"

Before the words had even faded, a series of hurried footsteps echoed through the passageway.

The prison guards on duty hurriedly straightened their clothes and bowed.

"Greetings, Your Highness Prince Duan!"

"Your Highness, stay safe!"

Li Yan's expression changed drastically. Just as he was about to speak, Xue Sui suddenly sneered and violently tore open the collar of his prison uniform...

The gruesome old wound on her collarbone was clearly visible. She smiled and held the bamboo thorn against her neck, her delicate body slowly collapsing to the ground.

"Why must Your Highness force me so hard? I would rather be a prisoner than suffer this humiliation..."

Li Yan's eyes widened, his mind a jumbled mess, unable to process what was happening. A cold shout, like a thunderclap, exploded behind his ears.

"evil creature!"

Li Huan strode into the dungeon, his gaze sharp as a knife.

"Guards, seize the King of Wei!"

Li Yan and Li Huan had a very close personal relationship, and Li Huan treated him with great kindness and indulgence. He had never seen his brother with such a stern and murderous expression.

For a moment, he was so frightened that his face turned pale and then red. In his panic, he suddenly pointed at Xue Sui and stammered:

"She...she seduced me!"

"Oh? She lured you into the dungeon?"

Li Huan raised an eyebrow, his eyes filled with a chilling light.

"Shameless wretch! How dare you spout such nonsense before me, the King?"

The air inside the dungeon seemed to freeze.

Li Yan was terrified and suddenly turned to run away, but was stopped by the guards standing outside the door with their swords drawn.

The gleaming blade was pressed against his chest.

It was as if if he dared to make the slightest move, blood would be spilled on the spot.

"Tie them up!" Li Huan coldly ordered.

The well-trained guards swarmed forward.

Li Yan fell heavily to the ground, struggling but looking at Xue Sui in terror.

Xue Sui slowly rose against the wall, and in the shadows where Li Huan couldn't see him, he met Li Yan's terrified gaze with a slight smile, his eyes calm as still water.
-
Ci'an Hall.

The charcoal brazier in the warm room burned bright red, and the aroma of fruit mixed with the fragrance of tea filled the air.

Empress Dowager Chengqing leaned against the rosewood couch, her eyes half-closed, gently twirling the Buddhist prayer beads in her hand, her expression exceptionally relaxed.

The curtain swayed gently twice...

Suddenly, Cui Shanggong rushed in.

"Your Majesty, an urgent report has arrived from the Ministry of Justice—"

Cui Shanggong lowered her voice, glancing at the palace maids serving in the hall out of the corner of her eye.

The Empress Dowager frowned slightly and raised her hand in greeting.

The palace maids curtsied and filed out.

After the palace doors were closed, Cui Shanggong hurried to the Empress Dowager, her face pale, and whispered, "Your Majesty, His Highness Prince Wei broke into the Ministry of Justice's dungeon last night and was caught red-handed by Prince Duan..."

He lowered his eyes again and cautiously stole a glance at the Empress Dowager's expression.

"It's said that he made advances towards Consort Xue, intending to take liberties with her, which enraged Prince Duan..."

"Snap!" The Buddhist prayer beads in Empress Dowager Chengqing's hand suddenly broke, and the Bodhi seeds scattered all over the ground.

Her face instantly darkened as she stared at the flickering sparks in the charcoal brazier, her chest heaving with anger.

"That good-for-nothing! He dares to drink and commit violence before the mourning period is over. Does he think this capital city is his Prince Wei's backyard?"

Lady Cui hurriedly knelt down to pick up the Buddhist prayer beads, but then heard the Empress Dowager suddenly ask in a cold voice:

"How did Prince Duan handle it?"

"Your Majesty, Prince Duan has temporarily detained Prince Wei in the Right Wing Guard Prison on the grounds of trespassing in the important prison area, saying that he wants to ask the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs to punish him according to ancestral rules."

Upon noticing the Empress Dowager's expression, Cui Shanggong lowered her voice even further.

“Prince Duan has always been upright and incorruptible, and he cannot tolerate the slightest injustice. I’m afraid he’ll take this opportunity to punish me…”

The Empress Dowager suddenly looked up, her eyes full of suspicion.

Why would the Prince of Wei suddenly go to the Ministry of Justice prison to cause trouble for the Xue family?

Lady Cui dared not raise her head and stammered, "Your Majesty, according to the servants of Prince Wei's residence, last night, His Highness Prince Wei met Princess Ping Le at Zui Xian Ju. I don't know what they talked about... His Highness Prince Wei suddenly went mad and led his men straight to the Ministry of Justice prison..."

"Well done, Ping Le!"

Empress Dowager Chengqing suddenly slammed her hand on the table, causing the teacups on it to clatter.

"Absolutely outrageous! They actually dared to instigate the King of Wei to go to the dungeon to silence him, trying to use someone else to do their dirty work. Humph! Do they really think I'm dead?"

Lady Choi lowered her head even further, not daring to breathe.

Empress Dowager Chengqing pondered for a moment, then slowly sat down, her fingertips gripping the soft cushion beside the couch tightly. After a long while, she finally spoke softly.

"Go and invite His Majesty over. Tell him that my old illness has relapsed, and I am suffering from unbearable chest pain..."