Chapter 60: I really underestimated her!

But Prime Minister Su snorted with disdain: a mere abandoned concubine, what grievances could she have!

If this was accusing the Pei Mansion, it would be even more laughable and ridiculous!

Qin Yuan signaled Eunuch Gao to take the petition. After reading it, his face changed slightly. It seemed she really wanted to overturn the unjust case that happened in the previous dynasty.

But people had already been brought up by Lu Zhenting, and all the officials in the court wanted to know what happened, so he could only let Lin Jiaojiao state the grievances first, and then make a judgment.

He looked at Lin Jiaojiao with burning eyes, "Miss Lin, please speak."

"Thank you, Your Majesty," Lin Jiaojiao kowtowed to the Emperor again before speaking slowly, "Your Majesty, I, Lin Jiaojiao, have three crimes. The first is using pufferfish to poison the Dali Temple Minister Xu Xiao and his family, causing his family to be poisoned and unconscious, and Xu Xiao to be paralyzed."

The civil and military officials took a deep breath: Xu Xiao was actually poisoned by someone!

Prime Minister Su was even more shocked: how did she poison the entire Xu Fu of over a hundred people!

Lu Zhenting frowned slightly. He looked at Lin Jiaojiao and signaled with his eyes: didn't Song Shijie already decide to shield you?

Lin Jiaojiao shook her head slightly, and Lu Zhenting understood: she didn't want to owe Song Shijie a favor!

Qin Yuan's expression was complicated: on one hand, he had a preliminary judgment about the fire at the Dali Temple, on the other hand, this woman was truly daring!

But there must be a reason for this, otherwise, such a fresh and lively woman wouldn't have become like this.

Qin Yuan signaled, "Please continue."

"The second crime is that I, in the Dali Temple prison, because I was worried about my child, swapped identities with my maid and escaped to General Lu's mansion to visit the child. Because of this matter, my personal maid Bai Zhi was buried in the sea of fire at the Dali Temple." Lin Jiaojiao closed her eyes as she spoke, and Bai Zhi's figure appeared in her mind.

The past was like a blunt knife cutting her heart, especially the sentence Bai Zhi said after swapping clothes in the Dali Temple, "I'll be fine, wait for you to come back."

Thinking of this now, Lin Jiaojiao felt even more heart-wrenching pain.

Thinking of this, her heart was drowned by guilt and hatred, finally turning into a line of tears, sliding from the corner of her eye and dripping onto the smooth stone bricks of the hall.

Lu Zhenting also felt suppressed hatred in his heart. Bai Zhi died innocently, but he didn't dare to think, if the one burned to death in the fire wasn't Bai Zhi, but Lin Jiaojiao, what would he do?

But Xu Xiao setting fire to the Dali Temple was originally aimed at Lin Jiaojiao!

Poisoning the entire Xu Fu was ultimately too cheap for that old guy!

Lu Zhenting clenched his fists under his silver armor, so angry that his knuckles turned white.

Qin Yuan saw Lin Jiaojiao so sad and painful, and couldn't bear it. If it weren't for the morning court in the Taihe Hall, he would definitely step forward to wipe her tears.

"Your Majesty, since this is the case, why not punish her quickly?" Prime Minister Su saw a trace of heartache in Qin Yuan's eyes, and he felt something was wrong, so he hurriedly stepped forward and kowtowed, requesting Qin Yuan to punish Lin Jiaojiao.

Qin Yuan waved his hand, "Prime Minister Su, let her finish speaking, it won't be too late to punish her then."

Prime Minister Su could only give up, but the sidelong glance at Lin Jiaojiao was full of hatred: I really underestimated her!

"The third crime is that I, as the daughter of Wang Ye, escaped from the case of the Minister of Revenue Wang Ye being executed and silenced when I was young." Lin Jiaojiao said every word clearly.

Prime Minister Su's face changed again and again, and he was shocked beyond measure in his heart: Wang Ye still had a daughter alive!?

But he still maintained a calm appearance on the surface, thinking in his heart how to make the Emperor punish her again, preferably a death sentence!

Since she said she had 3 charges herself, as long as someone came out to fan the flames, she would definitely be sent to the execution platform!

Thinking of this, Prime Minister Su gave a look to his student, and the student nodded in understanding.

Other officials looked at each other, all feeling strange. The older officials were clear about the case of Minister of Revenue Wang Ye embezzling military pay fifteen years ago, and the evidence was solid. Although the younger ones had experienced less, they had all heard of it.

This daughter of a criminal, wasn't she here to seek justice, why did she start by convicting herself first?

And she convicted herself of 3 charges!

These charges were heavier than the last!

She didn't live well outside, but actually made so many things, she was afraid she had lived too long!

"Presumptuous, you, a daughter of a criminal, don't accept punishment, but also poisoned Minister Xu's family!" A student of Prime Minister Su stood out and pointed to accuse her, "Now you have the face to jump up and down in front of the Holy One, truly shameless!"

At this time, the remonstrance official Cheng Jing also stepped forward and asked Lin Jiaojiao, "Miss Lin, are you here to beat the drum to seek justice, or to seek your own destruction?"

"I, Lin Jiaojiao, risk my life to confess my crimes, because all these charges have reasons!"

"Oh? What are the reasons?" Cheng Jing was a bit puzzled, but wanted to know the original cause.

Not only him, but even other officials whispered to each other, nodding one after another, "Willing to hear the details."

Qin Yuan roughly inferred the ins and outs of the matter in his heart.

However, in the hall, if he wanted to help Lin Jiaojiao, some words still needed to be spoken by her personally. He nodded silently, agreeing to let Lin Jiaojiao continue.

But Prime Minister Su stood out to stop her, "Your Majesty! This woman was originally the concubine of my son-in-law Pei Aosong. She stirred up the back house, her words cannot be trusted!"

"She is as clever as a tongue, provoking the husband-and-wife relationship between my son-in-law and my daughter with a few words. Now my son-in-law is ill and cannot attend the morning court. If we listen to her words, we will determine that there are grievances, then wouldn't all the back-house concubines in the world have grievances!?"

His question echoed throughout the Taihe Hall.

"If the husband-and-wife relationship between Pei Aosong and Su Wanqiu can be easily provoked, doesn't it mean their true feelings are fake?" Lu Zhenting was the first to stand out to speak for Lin Jiaojiao, "And it was clearly you who bullied first. If everyone who was bullied didn't fight back, then wouldn't everyone be bullied!?"

"Look at the world. If our Dakang Dynasty is bullied by foreign borders and doesn't fight back, then wouldn't the entire Dakang Dynasty be in danger?!"

Lu Zhenting's words were deafening, and the officials present were silent.

"Sophistry!" Prime Minister Su had never thought that General Lu would speak for Lin Jiaojiao. He was so angry that his beard and eyes were blowing.

But he couldn't say in the hall that General Lu was bewitched by Lin Jiaojiao, otherwise all the military generals would criticize him. The entire Dakang Dynasty knew that anyone could be provoked, but not the military generals.

He turned his gaze back to Lin Jiaojiao, "You say you have grievances, then fifteen years ago, it was clearly your Lin family who embezzled military pay and was investigated, the evidence was solid. You, a woman, escaped, didn't hide your name to cherish your own life, but instead came out to make waves every three days!"

He put his hands behind his back, his eyes full of official power and pressure, "Now you actually dare to be as clever as a tongue here, confusing black and white, and spreading rumors!"

Lin Jiaojiao was not timid at all. She ignored Prime Minister Su's threat and confronted Prime Minister Su directly: "I am not as clever as a tongue, but your Su family has tried to put me to death again and again!"

"Now the Dali Temple's Xu Xiao is sophistical, insisting that I killed the witness and locked him in the dungeon, and even set fire to the Dali Temple to silence me, lighting up the female prisoners, treating human lives like grass. How many people died in that fire!"

"Also, fifteen years ago, it was Xu Xiao himself who embezzled military pay and was discovered by my father. Who knew he would rake it back and punish our Lin family instead. Please ask the Holy One to re-investigate the old case and return our Wang family to innocence!"

When the officials heard this, an old official with gray hair stroked his gray beard and recalled, "If I remember correctly, the case of the Lin family embezzling military pay back then was reported by Prime Minister Su, right?" ===== CHAPTER 61 =====