Can't a princess ascend the throne?

Chapter 220 Do you know why?

Even if Weishan is incredibly clever, how could he possibly find any evidence by now?
Weishan paused slightly. She should have felt disappointed, but perhaps because she had been disappointed so many times over the decades, she no longer had the energy to feel disappointed. She just found it funny.

Even after all these years, Yu Huaishan's heart remains as filthy and wicked as ever, unchanged. He has only ever thought of himself.

"Yes, I really didn't have any evidence for what happened back then."

"Then you can't talk nonsense in front of everyone..."

"But a few days ago you tried to strangle A-Yang, unaware that A-Yang had secretly practiced martial arts under my instructions since childhood. Although he may not have become a martial arts master, he has certainly improved his health. Although he was too grief-stricken by his husband's death and lost his appetite, becoming quite thin, he is still not someone an old man like you could kill! A-Yang was lucky to escape from your grasp, and you still have scars on your arm from when he broke free!"

Without hesitation, the Weishan family grabbed Yu Daru's arm, rolled up his sleeve, and tore off the white cloth covering his arm, revealing two arms covered in scratches. It seemed that because the person had used too much force, some of the wounds had the skin torn off, making him look quite disheveled.

Immediately, some busybodies below shouted loudly.

"What else does Master Yu have to say? Is he going to say that he was accidentally injured by an outsider?"

The one who shouted was Jiu Que. She had long been annoyed that she couldn't see clearly from inside the carriage, so she squeezed into the crowd. Now she was just trying to make a big scene.

Standing on the high platform, Yu Daru immediately saw Ying Jiuque smiling. The lines at the corners of his eyes twitched, and he tried his best to speak calmly.

"Of course not. But as that gentleman just said, anyone could have scratched my arm. Who can prove that it was A-Yang who did it?"

As expected of a renowned Confucian scholar, his rhetorical question stumped many. However, someone quickly provided the answer. It was none other than Jiu Que.

"Sir, if you trust the abilities of the officials in the Ministry of Justice of our Great Jing Dynasty, you can entrust this matter to them. After all, if this matter cannot be resolved properly, wouldn't you become the laughingstock of everyone? The officials in the Ministry of Justice of our Great Jing Dynasty are meticulous and skilled at investigating cases. Entrusting such a trivial matter to them is just the right thing to do."

"This……"

The students below unanimously agreed upon hearing this. After all, the Ministry of Justice was in charge of all cases in the country, and it was most appropriate to entrust them with handling matters like comparing fingernail marks.

However, what Yu Daru least wanted to do was hand this matter over to the Ministry of Justice. If it were handed over to the Ministry of Justice, even if he could be proven innocent in the end, his reputation would be ruined in the process of the investigation.

Of course, ever since he took up his post at Weishan Station, he'd lost all reputation. One could only imagine the Second Prince's fury. He'd placed a heavy price on him; if he didn't get what he wanted, who knew how the Second Prince would treat him, given his temper?
Moreover, given the current situation, the Second Prince is the future emperor. If he offends the future emperor, what chance does he have of survival? He's spent most of his life scheming to become the foremost scholar in the land. If the emperor were to humble himself and thrice invite him to serve, that would be the highest honor a scholar could receive. But all his plans have been ruined!
"Very well, I'll go with you to the Ministry of Justice."

Yu Daru sighed deeply, his gaze towards Li Chengyuan still filled with unwavering affection. It was as if everything he was about to face was merely to appease the Weishan family.

Needless to say, everyone in Weishan was disgusted. However, the onlookers below, unaware of the truth, felt that Yu Daru's calm demeanor suggested that perhaps it was all a misunderstanding. Logically and emotionally, no one wanted to believe that someone could do such a beastly thing.

"Speaking of which, there's always the possibility of error in identifying fingernail prints like this. And with only Master Weishan as a witness, it's indeed a bit insufficient..." "In that case, it is indeed true..."

Seeing the people below whispering amongst themselves, Yu Daru subtly curled a smile that was hard to detect.

Jiu Que frowned as well. The evidence verification technology of this era was indeed not advanced, so it's understandable that people would have such doubts. But then again, isn't one witness from the Weishan family enough? Or is there some rule that spouses cannot testify for each other?

Just then, a weak female voice rang out.

"I'm a witness!"

Upon hearing this voice, Yu Daru, who had already succeeded, paused slightly, his eyes filled with complex emotions.

The crowd looked in the direction of the voice and found an extremely thin and sickly woman with a thick silk handkerchief around her neck.

Many people immediately recognized the young woman and couldn't help but show complicated expressions. Through the confrontation between the two, the erudite scholar Yu and the scholar from Weishan, people had already pieced together a concrete story in their minds. But they truly hadn't expected that Yu's granddaughter, one of the parties involved, would appear and demand testimony about her maternal grandfather.

In today's society, filial piety is paramount, and people emphasize the importance of filial piety. It's one thing for the people of Weishan to testify about their husbands, but for descendants to testify about their elders is seen as unreasonable by many traditional people.

Immediately, someone spoke up, in an unfriendly tone.

"Yu family girl, you should think this through. You need to prove that the person who harmed you was your maternal grandfather, your elder!"

"So what if he's my maternal grandfather? He killed my mother, and now he wants to kill me. Are we, as his descendants, just supposed to watch the guillotine fall without being able to resist?"

"You?! You're utterly unreasonable."

"I think it's you who's being unreasonable. Why don't you try having your own maternal grandfather strangle you, so hard that the veins on the back of your hand bulge out? Do you know what that feels like? Besides the inability to breathe and the excruciating pain in your chest, the most intense pain is in your heart. I can't believe until my dying breath that the person who wanted to kill me was actually my own maternal grandfather!"

Contrary to the fragile image many had of her, Yu Chuyang was an exceptionally resilient woman. Having seemingly faced death, her temperament was even more composed. She would directly retort to unreasonable questions from others, showing no mercy. Perhaps only someone like her could survive an assassination attempt by a loved one.

She ignored all the criticisms directed at her from those around her. She walked resolutely up the platform, standing before Yu Daru, whose eyes dared not meet hers.

“Grandfather, when my mother died for her country, you were the one who benefited. To commemorate you for raising such a good daughter, my father gave me the surname Yu. I don’t know what the connection was, but I was even happy about it at the time because I missed my mother so much that I could barely remember her, and I was glad to have the same surname as her. But now I feel disgusted, Grandfather, do you know why?”

(End of this chapter)