I, the villainous eldest prince, will suppress everything!

As Zhao Guanwen finished speaking, everyone looked at Qin Li.

Now, all the unfavorable clues point to Crown Prince Qin Li.

It was him, relying on his personal relationship with Cao Quan and Chen Wangju.

One of them made him the top student in his class in high school.

Another one was to have him use Lu Jia's name to deliberately slander and frame the Sixth Prince.

"Your Highness, do you have anything else to say?"

boom!

With a sudden slam on the dragon table, Emperor Xuan finally found an opportunity to launch his attack.

After so many years, this is the closest the Emperor has come to bringing down the Crown Prince, and he will not show any mercy.

Qin Li, this can be considered as lifting a rock only to drop it on his own foot.

They insisted on having a joint trial by three judicial departments. Now look what they've done.

"Oh?"

Qin Li became interested and looked at Emperor Xuan: "Your Majesty, how do you intend to deal with me?"

Now, Qin Li is even too lazy to call him "Father Emperor".

This shows just how heartbroken he was.

Not only will I not shout it today, I will never shout it again.

Pointing two fingers at Qin Li, Emperor Xuan said, "It's not about how I decide to deal with you, but how the laws of the land will decide!"

"Zhao Guanwen, according to the laws of our dynasty, how should the Crown Prince be punished for the crimes he has committed?"

Zhao Guanwen quickly stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, the Crown Prince's crimes warrant execution and the extermination of his entire family. However, given the Crown Prince's special status, in my opinion, he should be stripped of his title and demoted to a commoner."

"Very well, then demote him to a commoner!"

The Mysterious Emperor said.

This result couldn't be better.

He would certainly feel relieved if he killed Qin Li directly.

But he didn't know how people would talk about him, and he was unwilling to bear that infamy for all eternity.

Therefore, Qin Li was first demoted to a commoner, and then an opportunity was found to kill him later.

Having made up his mind, Emperor Xuan ordered someone to draft an imperial edict.

He couldn't wait any longer and wanted to demote Qin Li to a commoner.

He wanted to see what Qin Li would become after he was reduced to a commoner.

How can we possibly fight against this emperor, or against this father!

Seeing that the situation was not good, Xiao Yuanlu and the others were about to step forward to defend Qin Li.

But they saw Qin Li slightly raise his arm to stop them.

Qin Li turned to look at them, as if to say... You all saw it, didn't you? This is my good father.

Xiao Yuanlu and the others clenched their fists secretly, feeling indignant on Qin Li's behalf.

How could there be such a biased emperor in the world?

Such a father is utterly unworthy to be the emperor of the Great Zhou.

Now that the situation was settled, the Sixth Prince seemed to have forgotten the pain of his past wounds.

He clutched his chest, limped over to Qin Li, and said smugly with a smirk:

"Brother, blame yourself for taking yourself too seriously. This Great Zhou belongs to Father, not you."

"When you become a commoner in the future, don't be arrogant and look down on others anymore. This is your advice, brother."

But to everyone's surprise, with a "smack," Qin Liling made a move and flung the Sixth Prince over in front of him.

The sixth prince, clutching his face which was visibly swelling, scrambled to Emperor Xuan's side, pointing at Qin Li and complaining, "Father, look at my elder brother! He hit me again! You must do justice for me!"

Emperor Xuan was furious and urged people to draft the decree as soon as possible. Then he stripped Qin Li of his crown prince robes, threw him out of the palace, and demoted him to a commoner.

Qin Li stepped forward slowly and deliberately. Emperor Xuan instinctively took a step back, pointed at Qin Li, and shouted, "You rebellious son, what are you doing!"

Han Zhen and the others at the palace gate slightly drew their sword hilts, their palms sweating profusely, fearing that Qin Li might harm Emperor Xuan. Qin Li was capable of such a thing.

Qin Li ignored the Emperor Xuan, simply walked to the dragon throne, turned around abruptly, and addressed the assembled officials:

"On what grounds have you demoted me to a commoner? What wrong have I done? You accuse me of deliberately cheating in the imperial examinations and framing the sixth prince. What evidence do you have?"

"He has already confessed!" Zhao Guanwen said, pointing to Chen Wangju kneeling on the ground.

"Plead guilty?"

Qin Li snorted coldly, "When did he confess? Chen Wangju's exact words were that the man in black asked him to participate in the imperial examination under the name of Lu Jia. However, upon investigation, it turns out that the man in black is Lao Liu's man, not mine."

"Then how does Your Highness explain Cao Quan's first-place ranking in the imperial examination?" Zhao Guanwen questioned.

"What is the explanation?"

Qin Li laughed. "Why should I explain? Cao Quan passed the exam based on his own true abilities. Just because I have a good personal relationship with him, you all think I gave him preferential treatment in the examination hall? Zhao Guanwen, use your pig brain to think about this."

Zhao Guanwen was naturally unwilling to be called a pig-brain in front of so many people.

He's quite old; by his age, he could be Qin Li's grandfather.

In terms of official rank, few people in the Great Zhou Dynasty could compare to him.

If this were any other crown prince, they would try their best to please him.

But Qin Li not only looked down on him normally, but now he's calling him a pig-brain.

"What do you mean by that, Your Highness? Do you dare to do it but not take responsibility?"

Zhao Guanwen roared furiously, spitting as he spoke.

Qin Li simply picked at his ear with his little finger, completely disregarding his image as the crown prince, and even flicked it.

After it was all over, Qin Li said, "Lord Zhao, we are in the right, so there's no need to raise our voices. You should rest too. If something bad happens because of your shouting, I can't bear the responsibility."

He noticed that Zhao Guanwen was speaking so loudly that he was almost out of breath, and worried that he might faint in the main hall and end up blaming Zhao Guanwen.

"Who's in the wrong? Who's in the wrong?"

Zhao Guanwen, like an unreasonable old man on the street, puffed out his chest and held his head high, "Now all the clues point to Your Highness..."

Before Zhao Guanwen could speak again, Qin Li interrupted him, saying:

"Hey, you're right. All the clues point to me now, but I have to tell you, clues are not evidence. You only suspect me, but you can't convict me."

"I'll show you what evidence is: this man!"

Qin Li pointed at Chen Wangju, who was kneeling on the ground in prison clothes:

"He accepted payment from the men in black, used the alias Lu Jia to participate in the imperial examinations, and those men in black were Lao Liu's men—that's solid evidence!"

"That man has already hanged himself!" Zhao Guanwen said.

The man in black was someone they sent to silence, so that there would be no witnesses.

Because only the mouth of a dead person is truly sealed.

"He hanged himself, but do you admit that he was one of Lao Liu's men?" Qin Li asked.

"What is there to be afraid of admitting?"

The man in black was originally a江湖 (jianghu, a term referring to the martial arts world) expert. The Sixth Prince recruited him into his service, a fact known to many, and it's impossible to remain oblivious.

This is like Qin Li trying to deny in front of everyone that Zhou Biao isn't one of his men—it simply won't work.

"Okay, it's good that you admit it."

Qin Li waved his hand and said, "Someone, go and bring that bag of gold over."

"Gold? What gold?"

Zhao Guanwen asked.

Qin Li said, "The man in black hanged himself. You were quick to act, and there's no way to prove it. But why didn't you think to cut off the tail cleanly, or that Chen Wangju was in my hands and you wouldn't have had a chance to make a move?"

After he finished speaking, someone brought in a bag of gold.

"Chen Wangju, you tell me, what is this bag of gold?" Qin Li ordered.

With his head bowed, Chen Wangju said, "Deposit!"

"Speak louder!"

"Deposit!"

"Well said!"

Qin Li snatched the bag of gold and swung it forward with all his might.

The gold in the bag instantly fanned out and scattered forward.

Many people were hit, covered their foreheads, and cried out in pain.

After a chorus of complaints, many people bent down and reached out to pick up the gold that had fallen at their feet.

"Alas, the shape of this gold is quite strange, unlike the ingot shape commonly seen in our Great Zhou."

"Yes, yes, judging from its shape, it looks like a '卍' symbol!"

"Yes, yes, it's the '卍' symbol."

"Only Buddhist kingdoms use this kind of gold!"

Everyone chimed in with their own opinions, discussing the matter animatedly.

The ministers who were nearby gathered together to compare the gold in their hands, and it was indeed a swastika.

"Well said."

Qin Li bent down and picked up a piece of gold from the ground, examined it closely, and said slowly, "This kind of gold is only used in the Buddhist Kingdom."

"Moreover, the gold we have is of extremely high quality, and upon closer inspection, it bears a mark, indicating that it was exclusively used by the royal family of the Buddhist kingdom."

"It's not surprising that our Great Zhou has gold from the Buddhist Kingdom, given the frequent exchanges between the two countries. But it is rare to have gold that is exclusively used by the Buddhist Kingdom's royal family."

"As far as I know, only five years ago, the Buddhist Kingdom sent an envoy to the Great Zhou Dynasty and brought a box of this kind of gold."

"And our Emperor is always stingy; he only bestowed some of this gold upon the sixth prince two years ago."

"In other words, the gold used to bribe Chen Wangju came either from His Majesty or from the Sixth Prince."

"Your Majesty, did you secretly bribe Chen Wangju?"

Upon hearing this, Emperor Xuan was furious.

He had lost count of how many times he had slapped the dragon table in front of him.

With a loud bang, Emperor Xuan roared, "Nonsense! Why would I bribe a mere scholar? What benefit would it bring me!"

"It's good that it's not His Majesty," Qin Li said with a smile. "Then it must be the sixth prince."

All eyes turned to the Sixth Prince once again.

The sixth prince took a step back in a panic, almost falling to the ground.

He quickly explained, "It is my gold, but it was stolen without my knowledge."

Zhao Guanwen and Zhao Guanli breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this.

Fortunately, the sixth prince wasn't too stupid and managed to fool him.

Otherwise, the whole game will be lost!

"Stolen without your knowledge?"

Qin Li stared intently at the Sixth Prince and said, "Such an important thing would be stolen? How careless of you are?"

"Even the imperial seal of the previous dynasty was stolen, let alone gold," the sixth prince continued, making excuses.

However, he still glanced at Emperor Xuan with great fear.

The gold that Emperor Xuan bestowed upon him from the Buddhist kingdom was stolen.

No, it wasn't stolen, but rather he bribed Chen Wangju.

He actually managed to bribe a poor, lowly scholar with the gold from the Buddhist kingdom that Emperor Xuan had bestowed upon him.

When Emperor Xuan found out, he was in deep trouble.

After today's joint trial by the three judicial authorities, he will surely be given a severe beating.

"Okay, okay."

Qin Li was amused by the Sixth Prince's excuse. "It's good that it was stolen. That way, Sixth Prince, you've cleared yourself of suspicion. But, Sixth Prince, did you only lose one bag?"

Upon hearing this, the Sixth Prince's eyes immediately began to flicker.

Not only did they not dare to look Qin Li in the eye, but they didn't even dare to look anyone else in the eye.

The Zhao brothers immediately sensed something was wrong. After exchanging a glance, Zhao Guanwen stepped forward and tentatively asked:

"Your Highness, what do you mean by that?"

"Hahahaha, hahahaha!"

Suddenly, without warning, Qin Li burst into laughter, looking up at the sky.

Everyone was stunned. What was wrong with the Crown Prince?

Could it be that he felt the joint trial by the three judicial authorities was destined to fail today, and that he would be demoted to a commoner, thus shooting himself in the foot, and that's why he was laughing?

After laughing for a while, Qin Li finally stopped and pointed at the Zhao brothers:

"Of course I'm laughing at Lao Liu for lying to you all, for all the effort you put into exonerating him wasted!"

"Um?"

"Um?"

The Zhao brothers were both taken aback and quickly looked at the Sixth Prince.

The Sixth Prince even lied to them? What else is the Sixth Prince hiding from them?

"Someone, bring us more gold!"

At a command, several more bags of gold were brought up, exactly the same as the ones that had been brought up before.

At this moment, a minister asked, puzzled, "Your Highness, what is the meaning behind this action?"

"What do you mean?"

Qin Li waved his hand with a cold laugh, "Men, bring the second, the third, the fourth... Lu Jia here!"

At another command, several young men, just like Chen Wangju, disheveled and dressed in prison uniforms, were brought forward and knelt down with Chen Wangju.

"Your Highness, what does this mean?"

The ministers were completely baffled by Qin Li's actions.

Who exactly are these people? And what is the meaning of the second, third, and fourth Lu Jia?

Are they the second, third, or fourth Lu Jia?

"Sixth Brother, why don't you tell them what I really mean?"

Qin Li looked at the Sixth Prince with a smile on his lips.

The reason Qin Li waited until now to launch a full-scale attack was to see if the Sixth Prince had any remorse.

If he had even a hint of remorse, Qin Li wouldn't have gone too far. After all, he didn't want to bear the stigma of harming his own brothers. As for the fourth brother, he deserved his fate and deserved to die.

The sixth prince's eyes darted around, and he stammered, "W-what do you mean? I...I don't know, I don't know..."

Seeing the Sixth Prince's state, the Zhao brothers gritted their teeth and cursed inwardly.

The sixth prince had indeed lied to them; he had deliberately kept something from them and hadn't told them anything.

All our efforts were in vain, all our efforts were in vain...

How could the Sixth Prince be so stupid as to commit such a heinous crime and not tell them everything? Is there something he's hiding from them?

"have no idea?"

Qin Li paused for a moment and said, "Do you not know or do you not want to say? If you don't want to say, then I will tell you ministers what good deeds your Sixth Prince has done."

Having said that, Qin Li was about to elaborate when, unexpectedly, the Sixth Prince suddenly knelt down at Qin Li's feet, grabbing Qin Li's sleeve with both hands:

"Your Highness, no, elder brother, elder brother, you are my own elder brother, you can't treat me like this!"

"I can't tell, I can't tell!"

"If I tell anyone, I'm dead, I'm dead!"

"Big brother, I don't want to die, I don't want to die!"

"Brother, I promise you, I'll never do it again!"

The sixth prince looked up, pleading with snot and tears streaming down his face, looking utterly pitiful.

boom!

To his surprise, Qin Li showed no appreciation whatsoever, kicking him to the ground and then disdainfully patting his sleeves.

To reiterate, if the Sixth Prince had shown even a hint of remorse from the beginning, he wouldn't have gone too far.

Now the Sixth Prince realizes his mistake? Too late!! Too late!

"Your Highness, what exactly do you mean? Don't try to be mysterious!"

"Sixth Prince, get up! Who gave you permission to kneel and beg him like that?"

Emperor Xuan roared in fury, still clinging to a sliver of hope that the Crown Prince couldn't punish the Sixth Prince!

"Your Majesty, all the ministers in the hall are sensible people, and now they are all silent. How come you're the only fool? You're really getting old!"

With a merciless sneer, Qin Li flicked his sleeves, and his entire demeanor suddenly changed.

He first pointed at the sixth prince, whom he had kicked to the ground, and said:

"In this spring imperial examination, Lao Liu knowingly broke the rules and bribed several students. The one who did the best was Chen Wangju, who used the alias Lu Jia, and ranked fifth in the first class. There were two other people who made the list, but they were both at the bottom."

Pointing to Chen Wangju and the others, Qin Li continued, "These are the students who were bribed by Lao Liu. Lao Liu first sent someone to give them a bag of Buddhist gold as a deposit, promising them even greater rewards and official positions after they passed the imperial examinations!"