Chapter 462: Dog Bites Dog

She really is blind as a bat!

"Mother, you're kind-hearted, so it's normal that you can't see a villain's true face!" Pei Di said, giving Mu Mingcheng a sideways glance.

At this moment, Yelu Kebao Ge seemed to have just regained her senses; she suddenly rushed forward, picked up two bowls to examine them, as if trying to see a hole through the bowl.

She didn't believe it; she didn't believe that Mu Mingcheng would deceive her!

"Grand Princess, don't you still believe it?" Mu Yuanzhi asked. "You're so smart; you already knew the outcome from the first bowl of water, didn't you? You're just unwilling to believe it."

Yelu Kebao Ge held the bowl in a daze, her mouth opening and closing, but she said nothing.

Mu Mingcheng clung to her like a drowning man clutching at a straw, rushing over to grab Yelu Kebao Ge: "Grand Princess, listen to me! I…"

"How else are you going to quibble?" Gu Rongjin asked amusedly. "I'd also like to hear it, and everyone else would too."

Hearing this, Mu Mingcheng's trembling gaze swept over the crowd; everyone looked at him with contempt, the Emperor's face grew grim, the Empress wore a look of disappointment, and the Grand Empress Dowager's demeanor was stern.

All kinds of gazes intertwined into a heavenly net and earthly trap, enveloping him completely, leaving no escape.

At this moment, silence spoke louder than words; he felt as if countless voices were cursing him.

These gazes pierced him like swords, leaving him nowhere to hide.

Why has it come to this?

Why did it suddenly become like this?

He was just one step away, just one step from completion!

Mu Mingcheng clenched his palm tightly!

"Mingcheng, speak, I'm listening." After a long while, Yelu Kebao Ge finally seemed to come to her senses and looked at Mu Mingcheng.

Mu Mingcheng swallowed hard, at a loss: "I…"

"You can't even come up with an excuse, Mu Mingcheng—you didn't expect to be exposed today, did you?" Qi Shihuai sneered: "If it weren't for your cunning, you would have been caught long ago!"

Qi Shihuai did not mention the matter of abducting Mu Mingcheng to Xixi, after all, a young lady shouldn't unnecessarily stir up gossip; anyway, Mu Mingcheng's current crimes are enough to land him in hot water.

Xixi also understood the stakes, so she too could only remain silent; she believed Mu Mingcheng's current crimes were enough to land him in hot water.

Yelu Kebao Ge relentlessly pressed Mu Mingcheng: "Speak up! Mingcheng, say something!"

She became agitated, tears welling in her eyes, but she forced them back.

She never imagined that the man she had always trusted and admired would turn out to be a shameless swindler!

The first time her heart stirred, the first time she gave her true love, and she ended up covered in wounds……

Yelu Kebao Ge no longer waited for Mu Mingcheng to speak, she raised her hand and delivered a hard slap!

"I don't want to see you again!"

She turned and walked away without looking back!

"Grand Princess!"

Mu Mingcheng panicked instantly—how could his sole support just leave?!

She's gone—what is he to do?!

"Grand Princess, you can't just abandon me!"

Mu Mingcheng hurried to give chase, but Gu Rongjin stepped forward in a single stride to block him, saying, "Where do you think you're going, Young Master Mu? Do you think you can still fly out of here?"

He kicked out, aiming for Mu Mingcheng's knee; Mu Mingcheng's leg gave way and he knelt with a thud, feeling as if his life was over.

From being one step away from heaven to falling into hell……

Mu Mingcheng knelt here in a panic, cold sweat pouring down like rain.

"Mu Mingcheng, impersonating the son of the Grand General, intending to harm the General Who Suppresses Rebellion and the Empress, with all these crimes, do you plead guilty?" Gu Rongjin asked.

"I… it's all Li Pozi's fault! Li Pozi tricked me!" Suddenly remembering he had a pot to pass the blame, Mu Mingcheng instantly became agitated.

"As for plotting to harm the General Who Suppresses Rebellion, that's a misunderstanding—others were pulling the strings; I don't have the guts for that! Regarding the Empress… the Empress… I merely wanted to build my own image, with no intention of harming her at all!"

Mu Mingcheng began to argue at length in his own defense.

It seems Pei Shangling here is greatly satisfied!

He knew that Mu Mingcheng was no good person!

Not only is he a fraud, but he also harbors ill intentions, causing harm everywhere; evil deeds will inevitably bring about one's own downfall.

Looks like there's no need for him to take action!

Pei Shangjue finally let out a sigh of relief, but he was puzzled—why had he seen Gu Rongjin near the Myriad Fragrance Pavilion that day? What was he doing there? What was he investigating?

It seemed related to Mu Mingcheng's affair, yet also seemed not.

At this moment, the Emperor spoke, drawing everyone's gaze.

"Someone, summon Li Pozi!"

"Yes!"

On such a day, Li Pozi was naturally also in the Grand General's residence; she had no idea that disaster was imminent, arriving with a bewildered expression, until she entered this courtyard and sensed the unusual atmosphere did she begin to panic.

"Bold servant, you know that deceiving the sovereign is a capital crime?" Gu Rongjin's shout frightened Li Pozi into kneeling outright.

"I'm innocent!"

Only then did she see Mu Mingcheng kneeling on the ground; even if she were foolish, she now understood what was happening.

It must be that the matter has been exposed!

But how could it have been exposed?

Trembling with fear, Li Pozi finally caught sight of the two bowls of water out of the corner of her eye, and she instantly understood.

It turned out the blood had given them away!

"Stop protesting your innocence! It's all this old servant's deception of me! Your Majesty, it's entirely that old servant's fault—she tricked me, a commoner, into believing I was the son of the Grand General, and so I fully believed her!" Mu Mingcheng now began insisting it was all Li Pozi's fault, that he himself had been kept in the dark.

Li Pozi, upon hearing this, immediately shouted: "Zhang Mingcheng, don't spout bloody nonsense! It was you who came to me to help you act out this farce!"

She revealed Mu Mingcheng's true name.

Surname Zhang? Mu Yuanzhi frowned.

"Your Majesty, please see clearly!" Li Pozi kowtowed hard twice, "This Zhang Mengcheng is the son of Zhang Pozi; Zhang Pozi knew the birth characters of the Guarding the State Princess, and since her own son's birth characters were not much different from the princess's, she harbored wicked thoughts, intending to deceive His Majesty, but Zhang Pozi fell ill and died, so Zhang Mengcheng could only turn to us slave girls to pretend to be one of the former midwives!"

"I, the servant, initially dared not agree, but Zhang Mengcheng threatened and lured me, saying that at the time things were too chaotic, there were no records, no medical files that could be casually brushed over, so I momentarily became muddle-headed! I beg Your Majesty for forgiveness!"

Li Pozi spilled everything!

"You're spouting nonsense; it's clearly you, this wicked slave, trying to extort wealth!"

"It's because you mother and daughter dreamed of climbing high by attaching yourselves to the Grand Princess of Huangli State that you resorted to underhanded tactics!"

Chief Eunuch bellowed angrily: "Enough! No clamor before the hall!"

"Dogs biting dogs, what a good show!" Pei Si laughed.

The Son of Heaven, having listened, did not voice an opinion on this matter but instead turned to ask Qi Shihuai: "General Qi, you just said you were imprisoned by Zhang Mengcheng; how exactly did that happen? Are you injured anywhere?"