Chapter 106: Public Display of Affection in the Celestial Prison
Translator: Storm in a Teacup
Ke Ruan felt that as long as Lin Qingye and Qi Cheng were together, there was no room for him to play.
It turned out that General Long was too wise. Knowing that General Lin could handle these matters, he handed all over to him.
As Ke Ruan showed up in the prison, the imprisoned officials all cried out their grievance, their voices breaking through the sky.
When Qi Cheng saw these people, his murderous aura was beyond suppression. He held the sword in his hand tightly, in case that he could not help but kill them.
He remembered them clearly. These people were Lei Zhen’s henchmen. Back then, they were hostile to his father, and most of them had signed their names on the petition.
If it wasn’t for the high-level security in Red Flame Country, he could not only find the information but also get his avenge by killing these enemies.
The family feud couldn’t be avenged, which tormented him day and night.
Sensing the violent emotional ups and downs on Qi Cheng, Lin Qingye patted him on the shoulder. Qi Cheng was comforted somehow and the chilling aura around his body gradually weakened.
Ke Ruan felt that their existence could completely be ignored, thus a weird scene appeared in the prison.
The Imperial Prince of Red Flame Country with a hostage, sat around a table in the prison, on which was full of fruits and dishes. General Lin and the bearded man sat behind the tribunal table, looking at the two onlookers now and then. General Lin’s mouth twitched vaguely.
Ke Ruan didn’t care so much. He rolled up his loose sleeves and concentrated on peeling litchi and grapes for Si Yuhan.
Si Yuhan wore an indolent look, without a trace of feeling of being flattered while accepting the service from the condescending service from the the Imperial prince.
“Delicious?” Ke Ruan put the lichi pulp into his mouth.
Si Yuhan nodded.
“What else do you want to eat?”
Si Yuhan pointed to the grape, and Ke Ruan immediately drew close the grape plate to him, carefully peeled the fruits, and took out all the small cores inside.
Lin Qingye’s eyes darkened watching the prince took great care of Si Yuhan. Ke Ruan shouldn’t be the one doing these trivial things, and his attention was not on these officials too.
“Your Highness.”
Ke Ruan didn’t even look up from his peeling work. “General Lin, you can handle it. Don’t worry about me, I’ll watch.”
Lin Qingye’s hands on the table suddenly tightened and he subconsciously wanted to stand up.
Qi Cheng grabbed Lin Qingye’s wrist. “Brother Qingye, what’s wrong?”
Lin Qingye frowned. “His Highness shouldn’t be like this.”
Qi Cheng smiled bitterly. Was that all?
Then he shot Ke Ruan with a look of anger and coldness. This person was an eyesore all the time.
As Ke Ruan was peeling the grape, all of a sudden, he felt that he was being stared at.
This damn illusion was really uncomfortable. Si Yuhan immediately noticed his change and asked, “What’s wrong?”
Ke Ruan shook his head. “Don’t worry, come on, Xiao Han. Taste this, this is delicious.”
Si Yuhan swallowed the pulp that he fed him, but his eyes fell on Qi Cheng not far away.
The blank gaze made Qi Cheng shiver and he quickly retracted his hostile look towards Ke Ruan.
These people were undoubtedly Lei Zhen’s henchmen. As long as they confessed, they could definitely topple him.
Moreover, the settlement of the matters of Qi family also had to start with these people.
Chapter 107: Confession
Translator: 独步三月
“He is the crown prince. Brother Qingye is unable to control him,” Qi Cheng held his hand and refused to let go. Caught in his own emotions, Lin Qingye didn’t sense the body contact between them.
How could Qi Cheng let go of such an intimate moment with Lin Qingye? People who practiced martial arts usually wore casual robes with silver wrist bands.
The skin on Lin Qingye’s hand was as white as the silver bands.
Qi Cheng’s fingertips gently rubbed the skin on his wrist. Qingye also practiced martial arts. How could his skin be so tender, so tempting?
Soon Lin Qingye composed himself and took back his hand. Qi Cheng was a little disappointed that their contact time had been a little short.
Lin Qingye took up the letters, slapped it back on the table and said coldly, “Take a good look at it. This alone will cost you a thousand deaths to offset your crimes.”
The jailor beside him showed the various letters on the table to them. Their expressions changed when they read them.
“General Lin, these are not ours.”
“Yes, General Lin, we are wronged.”
……
For a time, the cell was filled with pleadings of grievance. Ke Ruan stopped his movements and looked at those people coldly.
Back then, because of these people, Qi Cheng’s family were all killed, which was why Qi Cheng had such strong hatred against them. And the hatred, in the end, all fell on the royal family.
Indeed, his father had committed mistakes, and he had no position to exonerate him, but since ancient times, if it weren’t for these treacherous court officials, how could there be so many dim-witted emperors? Not every emperor was able to associate only with wise ministers and keep away from mean ones.
The reason he almost died in Qiao Mountain was also because of these people. If those things hadn’t happened, Qi Cheng might be a general like Lin Qingye and serve the country.
It was even more unforgivable that they were still unrepentant.
Ke Ruan stood up and looked at them. “All of you are high-ranking ministers in the court. Of course, I know that you are all Lei Zhen’s followers. So far, do you still plan to follow this prime minister? Do you really think that he has superb power?
These people became silent.
Their usual political views were the same as that of prime minister, and they were indeed on his side.
“Now that the status of prime minister is getting higher and higher. Do you think that my father doesn’t want to get rid of him? It is only because he can’t find any evidence. But…” Ke Ruan paused for a moment and saw the temporary joy on their faces. He pulled the corner of his mouth and mocked, “Your proofs of crimes are all here. If we get rid of you, will prime minister lose a lot of confidants?”
Ke Ruan talked to himself, “But after all, confidants are only confidants. Compared to prime minister’s life, they are nothing.”
“Your Highness, I…”
Many people started to waver.
Ke Ruan felt that it was time to use bait.
“Don’t worry, My purpose is only to topple the prime minister. As long as you are willing to testify, I will plead for you in front of my father.”
“Your Highness, We will confess.”
These people kowtowed. “Our lives are humble. We only expect Your Highness to protect our family.”
Ke Ruan nodded and promised, “Don’t worry. I will not only protect your family, but also your lives.”
Si Yuhan looked at Ke Ruan’s smirky look, a glimmer of smile appearing in his eyes, but…
He looked at these officials. This matter wasn’t as simple as this.
Chapter 108: The Fiery Peace in Golden Palace
Translator: Storm in a Teacup
In the past few days, Si Yuhan literally moved into Ke Ruan’s palace, because he claimed that he dared not to sleep alone.
Luckily, he always climbed into Ke Ruan’s bed late at night. When he did that for the first time, Ke Ruan was scared to death. He thought to himself that a grow-tale was almost turned into a horror story.
Si Yuhan found that only by Ke Ruan’s side he could rest well.
He didn’t even know how to feel. He used to hate this man to the guts, but now he couldn’t leave him.
In his past life, he spent half of his time defeating Ke Ruan. In this life, he would probably compensate him by being with him forever.
For the past few days, Ke Ruan had to go out to wash his face and rinse his mouth after getting dressed because he didn’t want to wake up Si Yuhan.
Apart from Si Yuhan, no one knew why Ke Ruan suddenly became so diligent.
Today was an important day. Today would witness whether Ke Ruan’s success or failure. He didn’t let Si Yuhan sleep late as usual, but instead woke him up.
In fact, every time Ke Ruan woke up, Si Yuhan was awake, too. So the moment Ke Ruan said something, he opened his eyes leisurely.
Opening his eyes and seeing Ke Ruan, Si Yuhan had a gentler expression.
He pretended to rub his eyes and asked, “What’s wrong?”
His gentle and cute look was somewhat similar to Ke Ruan’s sister. Ke Ruan rubbed his hair lovingly and said, “Stay in your room for these few days. No matter what happens, don’t run around, ok? You know, your identity is different. So I need you to stay here. I’ll send someone to look after you.”
A flash of sadness flashed across Si Yuhan’s eyes. But when he looked up again, that was gone. His eyes were now filled with ignorance and dullness from just waking up.
He nodded obediently, “Ok. Got it.”
Ke Ruan didn’t think too much about why Si Yuhan was so obedient today. He ordered his servants to take good care of Si Yuhan, then walked toward the Golden Palace.
The atmosphere in the Golden Palace was particularly tense. All of the people kneeling down in the middle were Lei Zhen’s followers.
“General Long, how’s your investigation?” Ke Zhan looked at everyone coldly.
Just as Lin Qingye was about to step up, Ke Ruan shook his head at him and then knelt down in front of the Emperor. “Father. I have found out that these people all followed the orders from the Prime Minister.”
The moment he finished his sentence, a dead silence appeared in the Golden Palace.
The sentence meant a lot. It was well known that all the land belonged to the Emperor, and all the people should listen to the Emperor.
No one could do anything against the Emperor. What Ke Ruan said was actually accusing the Prime Minister to be guilty of treason.
After a moment of dead silence, Lei Zhen bent down as if he had received a severe blow. He staggered forward and knelt down on the ground, “Your Majesty, I’m falsely accused.”
Lin Qingye also hurriedly stepped forward. “Your Majesty, what the prince said was a little inappropriate. We all…”
Ke Ruan interrupted Lin Qingye and then continued, “I’m not finished. A few years ago, the Prime Minister accused the Qi Family of treason. But they were all so loyal. It was all his fault. Those so-called evidence were prepared in advance to frame old General Qi.”
“Your Highness!” Lin Qingye stared at Ke Ruan with his eyes wide open.
Ke Ruan didn’t look back at him. He looked at Ke Zhan who was sitting in the dragon chair directly, and said word by word, “Father, I’m asking you to find out the truth and right the wrong for the Qi Family. Get rid of the evil men and make the Red Flame prosper again!”
Chapter 109: Defeated
Translator: Storm in a Teacup
Bang!
Even the case of Qi Family was brought up. It was getting more and more serious.
Lei Zhen kowtowed while saying, “Your Majesty, I am deeply wronged.”
Ke Ruan sneered, “You are wronged? How about those more than 100 people in Qi Family? Aren’t they wronged? I need to ask you, our dear Prime Minister, that after doing all those things, aren’t you afraid in the night that they will come back after you?”
Lei Zhen suddenly stood up and looked at Ke Ruan. His eyes were almost popped out like he was treated so unjustly. He said word by word, “You Highness, I’m nothing but loyal to our country. You really hurt my feeling by saying that. Do you have any proof?”
Ke Zhan’s looked bad, too. He looked at Ke Ruan with worry and disappointment. Lin Qingye noticed this, but Ke Ruan looked like no one could stop him today.
“Of course I have proof.” Ke Ruan stood up, taking out from his sleeve those letters in which these officials admitted their crimes.
The eunuchs serving Ke Zhan went down the stairs, took the letters and presented to Ke Zhan.
When Ke Zhan opened it, he looked even angrier. He started to look at Ke Ruan in a warning way.
“Your Majesty, I want to know what exactly is the proof that the prince said.” Lei Zhen looked at the Emperor directly in the eye and said word by word.
Ke Zhan’s forced a smile, “Prime Minister, don’t take him seriously.”
Ke Ruan frowned and was somewhat panicked, “Father, I…”
“Don’t! Stop messing around. Just shut up!”
Ke Ruan suddenly looked at Lei Zhen. “What did you do?”
Pah!
Ke Zhan smashed his fist down the table and looked furiously at Ke Ruan, “I asked you to shut up!”
A shadow of a smile crept up Lei Zhen’s lips, but his face was filled with sorrow. “Your Majesty, I have been committed to serving the Red Flame Country, but now…”
Before he could finish his sentence, Lei Zhen trembled as he stretched out his hands and took off his hat, “Your Majesty, please allow me to resign and go back to my hometown.”
Ke Ruan stared coldly at Lei Zhen. His actions were simply too disgusting.
At this moment, he realized that all the evidence had been changed. Good job! Indeed.
Ke Ruan looked at him in a neither humble nor pushy way, ” Prime Minister, I have to say that I underestimated you. You did a really good job here. But it doesn’t matter. The evidence is gone, but I still have witnesses.”
He pointed to the people kneeling on the ground. “They all admitted that they were following your orders.”
“Son, shut up! I’m not going to say that again.”
Ke Ruan looked at Ke Zhan with red eyes. “Father, I’ve already got the truth. They all admitted it.”
“Your Majesty, We never admitted anything. This is insane. We won’t admit to things that we didn’t do.”
“That’s right, Your Majesty, we are falsely accused.”
“We sweared to be devoted to the Red Flame country. How could we possibly do such things like the prince said?”
……
Everyone withdrew their confession. Ke Ruan looked at them with his heart beating so fast and his eyes filled with contempt, ” You did say this the other day.”
Now, how could he not understand? Ke Ruan looked at Lei Zhen and chuckled coldly, “Good move!”
Lei Zhen straightened up and said, “I don’t understand. I didn’t do anything wrong. Why do you have to frame me?”
Lin Qingye hurriedly said, “Your Majesty, the prince…”
Ke Ruan said sternly, “Lin Qingye, shut up! What I do, what I said, they all have nothing to do with you.”
“You all just shut up. Son, what’s this place? It’s not somewhere you can mess around and make irresponsible remarks.”
“Father, I didn’t…”
Ke Zhan said sternly, ” The prince has gone crazy. Bring him to the royal doctor to give him a thorough check.”
Chapter 110: Lin Qingye Was Reduced As a Commoner
Translator: Storm in a Teacup
The guard outside the Golden Palace walked in with head lowered and held Ke Ruan’s hand down.
Ke Ruan struggled and said, “You are clearly Lei Zhen’s henchmen, otherwise, you won’t gather up here. It is a felony to gang up.”
One of the ministers said, “The reason that we had the private discussion together, is that we share the same opinions on some political issues. We have not ganged up. Besides, prime minister has never participated in it. His Highness wronged us so, which would make many senior officials feel disappointed.”
Huh!
What a sin it is to chill old ministers’ hearts?
Lei Zhen kowtowed heavily and his cloudy eyes dimmed. “Your Majesty, please allow me to resign.”
“Lei Zhen, you…”
“Hurry up and take the crown prince away. Such a groundless talk. It seems to be a mistake to allow you to go to court. Follow my oral order: from today onwards, the crown prince will be imprisoned in the Eastern Palace. Without my permission, he cannot step outside of it. Now take him away.”
“Your Majesty, His Highness is just too young,” Lin Qingye quickly pleaded.
“I am really old,” Lei Zhen sighed constantly.
“I thought the prince had mended his ways. Alas.”
“Obviously he is more unbridled than before.”
……
Ke Zhan’s face became more and more sullen. “Hurry up and take him away.”
“Yes!”
Lin Qingye said, “Your Majesty…”
“Whoever pleads for mercy, beheaded on the spot.”
Lin Qingye opened his mouth without saying anything, kowtowed, and then put the sword on the ground. He was the first person who had Ke Zhan’s special permission to bring a weapon to the palace.
Lin Qingye said, “Your Majesty, as the teacher of the crown prince, I also have the responsibility. I am willing to be punished together with the crown prince.”
Ke Zhan said a few “OK” in succession with his chest heaving and he patted the table.
“Lin Qingye failed to discipline the crown prince. However, his contributions are enough to offset his faults. From this day onwards, Lin Qingye got removed from his official position and reduced as a commoner. Never step into the palace again.”
Lin Qingye got up and removed his armor. “Allow me to present to Your Majesty the homage of my gratitude.”
Ke Zhan then looked at Lei Zhen and jokingly said, “Prime Minister, the prince is messing around. How can you take it seriously? You are indispensable to Red Flame Country.”
Lei Zhen insisted on kneeling there and said, “Your Majesty, I am really old.”
Ke Zhan said, “Prime Minister, don’t say such things again. Without you, I shall lose a capable assistant, and the Red Flame Country will suffer the loss of a talent. Thus I still hope that you will stay.”
“That’s right, Prime Minister, why bother take the words of the prince seriously?”
“The prince is nothing but a kid. There is no need for Prime Minister to be in the same level as him.”
……
General Long, who kept silent from the very beginning, suddenly said, “That’s right.”
Everyone knew that General Long and Prime Minister had always been in hostile relationship, but now even General Long had spoken.
Lei Zhen slowly picked up his official hat and patted the dust that did not exist on it. Then he put it on solemnly and said, “I accept the imperial edict.”
General Long’s face instantly got sullen and he cursed in his heart, bah, this old treacherous scoundrel!
This confrontation ended with Ke Ruan’s crushing defeat. In just half an hour, the incident that he framed old minister in court spread all over the court.
This incident not only made him locked up in the palace, but also implicated Lin Qingye .
All of a sudden, the grudges against Ke Ruan from the court escalated.
In the past, Ke Ruan was just arrogant and domineering, which would only cause trouble to the maids and servants in the court, but now even the major general of Red Flame Country was implicated by him, which was intolerable.