freenovelworld Chapter 830 The Crown Prince's Forced Interrogation!
Chapter 830 The Crown Prince's Forced Interrogation!
"My God, it's actually the fourth young master of the Xie family!"
"Hmm, that girl looks unfamiliar. She doesn't seem like a rich young lady. Could she have been brought out of a brothel to have some fun here?"
"You know what, when I looked at you, you saw that girl's wanton expression when we came in. If she were a respectable woman, how could she do that?"
"Alright, stop gossiping. Maybe she's someone's concubine?"
"Wait a minute, wasn't it said at the beginning that he was a distant relative of the Chu family?"
This last sentence caused an uproar, like a pot boiling over.
"Alright, quiet down! How did this alarm the authorities?" Duanmu Xing said, but his eyes were fixed on the fourth young master of the Xie family.
Sure enough, when Young Master Xie heard that things had gotten out of hand, he was immediately stunned.
Chu Yan froze on the spot. Fortunately, a kind young master came over and draped a robe that his maid had taken off over her shoulders. Otherwise, Chu Yan would have really wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear.
With the government's intervention, the onlookers were naturally cleared out.
Duanmu Xing and the others naturally wouldn't leave.
"Your Highness, do you think you should also avoid this place for a while?"
Duanmu Xing is the heir of a prince, the emperor's grandson, and currently enjoys great favor with the emperor. Naturally, the officials below him dare not offend him.
"Oh, it's like this. I was having a chat with Young Master Mu and these two when we overheard someone slandering Young Master Mu, even daring to say that he was having an affair here. In any case, we, the victims, should at least hear what really happened, right?"
Upon hearing this, the Prefect of the Capital realized he was in deep trouble.
Who doesn't know that the Mu family is the most dangerous family in the capital right now?
Where did these two get the audacity to offend Young Master Mu?
The Prefect of the Capital was no new official; he seemed to have seen similar things before. Even if he were stupid, he could tell that someone had set a trap today, and the original victim in this trap was the eldest son of the Mu family.
For some reason, he became the fourth young master of the Xie family.
Having understood this, the Prefect of the Capital naturally dared not neglect it and immediately ordered his men to lock up the two men and bring them to the courtroom of the prefectural government.
This is going to be quite a spectacle.
Young Master Xie's face was almost entirely turned a liver color from holding it in!
What's going on here?
I'm afraid Xie Si is truly the first person in the capital to be caught in a philandering scandal and brought to the yamen (government office) by someone.
In the past, who would have dared to lock him up?
But that's not the case now. The Mu family is currently in favor, and the Xie family has long lost its former glory.
When the old patriarch of the Xie family heard that his son had been taken to the government office and, upon further questioning, discovered that he had done something immoral, he frowned slightly and went to find Xie Qingkuan.
When Xie Qingkuan returned from the yamen, he entered the study and saw his father waiting for him.
Slightly surprised, he still bowed and asked, "Father, what brings you here?"
Have you heard about what happened to the fourth brother?
Xie Qingkuan was taken aback. "Fourth brother? What's wrong?"
The steward of the manor hurried over and recounted what Xie Si had done at the restaurant that day.
After his initial surprise, Xie Qingkuan was filled with anger!
"Well done, Xie Si! No wonder His Highness the Crown Prince was so rude and displeased in court today! So that's why!"
The old patriarch Xie's expression changed slightly. "Explain yourself clearly. What exactly happened?"
"Father, this morning at court, His Highness the Crown Prince suddenly expressed his dissatisfaction with the Xie family's previous actions, though he did so rather subtly. After court, he summoned me and gave me a severe scolding, telling me to return to the manor and wait while he sent over some testimonies."
"What testimony?"
Xie Qingkuan shook his head. "Well, my son just returned home and I haven't seen him yet. Has he not come over yet?"
The old patriarch Xie was no longer as leisurely as before. He got up and paced around the room a few times. "You mean to say that our fourth son has offended His Highness the Crown Prince?"
“Very likely! Although His Highness did not say it explicitly today, I could tell that His Highness was truly angry.”
The father and son thought about it and realized that the Xie family hadn't done anything out of line recently!
In fact, Xie Qingkuan knew the truth perfectly well, but he couldn't say it now.
Although this father has handed over the reins of the Xie family to me, he still has some reservations about me.
If I were to reveal what happened to Xie Laosi, my father would likely assume that I was plotting against him, and my future in the Xie family would probably be bleak.
Ultimately, it was His Highness the Crown Prince who was the most thoughtful.
Xie San himself understood that the Crown Prince did not want the power he had painstakingly built up to decline further.
Although Xie Qingkuan is now the head of the Xie family, the decision-making power for many matters still rests with his father. Because there is still some distrust towards him, it is impossible for his father to so readily hand over all the power of the Xie family to him.
"But now it is clearly our Xie family who have been schemed against. What is Your Highness's grievance? Or is it that all of this today was at Your Highness's behest?"
As Elder Xie said this, he himself was somewhat skeptical.
No matter what, he was the high and mighty Crown Prince. Where would he have so much time to scheme against a mere fourth young master of the Xie family?
How could someone without even an official title be nominated in front of the Crown Prince?
"Reporting to Master, Third Young Master, someone from the Eastern Palace has delivered something."
The father and son's eyes lit up, and they immediately invited the man to the front hall for tea. The eunuch handed the items to Xie San, received a reward, and left happily.
"Father, please take a look."
Xie Qingkuan opened the box and presented it to the old patriarch of the Xie family.
Mr. Xie was quite pleased with his son's subtle gesture of respect.
He took out the items, several in a row, all of which were confessions. In addition, there were two silver notes. Although the amount was not large, judging from the dates on them, they were clearly the ones that Xie's fourth son had taken from him before.
"That wretched child! He's an absolute bastard! How dare he send someone to provoke the eldest son of the Mu family? Doesn't he know his own limitations? Does he think he can afford to mess with the Mu family now?"
"Father, please calm down." Xie Qingkuan quickly stepped forward to soothe him, while glancing at the testimonies.
"They actually colluded with outsiders to try and ruin Mu Qingxuan's reputation. Don't they realize that he is someone even the Emperor values? What sins has our Xie family committed?!"