Chapter 550: Photo Scandal

Chapter 550: The Photograph Scandal

"Now that she's jumped into the river and died, her younger siblings' school fees are cut off, and her whole family has been destroyed because of Yuan Zeming. Her greatest wish before dying was to seek justice for herself—how could I not help her?"

After hearing this, everyone sighed in dismay.

No one had expected that Yuan Zeming, famous for his gentlemanly demeanor, would secretly be a lecherous scoundrel who forced himself on common girls.

Both Empress Dowager Yuan and Grand Marshal Yuan's faces darkened.

Before they could speak, Yuan Jiuan continued, "If Grand Marshal thinks one human life is nothing, I have more petitions right here."

Yuan Jiuan picked up the petitions and casually read out two more in front of everyone.

One was from a young man accusing Yuan Zeming of beating his sixty-five-year-old father to death behind closed doors, and after the man died, threatening witnesses into silence—anyone who talked would have their whole family killed.

Another accusation was that Yuan Zeming had lured the son of a wealthy Jizhou merchant into a gambling den, rigging the dice on purpose, plunging the merchant's family into massive debt and ultimately ruining them.

Every last coin went straight into Yuan Zeming's pockets.

Yuan Jiuan finished and said, "Jizhou doesn't allow officials to open casinos, let alone gamble. But the moment Yuan Zeming arrived, he was the first to break that rule."

"I did send men to warn him, but he said he was from the capital, not a local of Jizhou, and that he was of nobler birth than me—so I had no right to discipline him."

"Because of him, lives have been lost and families destroyed. Just because he's a big shot from the capital and the Empress Dowager's nephew, does that give him the right to wreck families and ruin these innocent women?"

"I don't care what he does elsewhere, but if he dares to raise hell on my turf, I'll stand up for the people of Jizhou!"

He tossed the petitions into the air, and they scattered in the wind, landing at everyone's feet.

Some ministers picked them up, read them, and went quiet.

The charges against Yuan Zeming were there in black and white, and the case documents all bore the county magistrate's official seal.

This proved the accusations were true and couldn't be faked.

So Yuan Zeming really did deserve to die.

So it seemed there was nothing wrong with Yuan Jiuan having him killed and sending back a severed hand.

The Empress Dowager was livid. She hadn't expected that in trying to go after Yuan Jiuan, he'd turn the tables on her with evidence.

A chilling thought suddenly crossed her mind.

Back in Jizhou, with the emperor so far away, she couldn't get to Yuan Jiuan.

But now that he was in the capital, on her turf, she started to entertain thoughts of having him killed.

According to her spies' intel, Yuan Jiuan had come to the capital with just a coachman and four guards—hardly anyone by his side.

Killing him would be a piece of cake.

Maybe she could also use this chance to revoke his fiefdom, take Jizhou back from the Yuan family, and destroy him once and for all.

The thought had barely crossed her mind before it took root.

But this was clearly not the time for an assassination attempt. Remembering what he'd just said, she decided to back off and keep Yuan Jiuan calm for now.

She'd send assassins at night, when no one was around.

Snapping back to the present, the Empress Dowager softened her tone and said, "Please calm down, Prince. My father and I didn't look into this matter properly. We didn't mean to blame you—it was all a misunderstanding."

"Since Yuan Zeming was the one at fault, I won't shield him. Let's just call this matter settled."

"After the succession ceremony, I'll send you ten thousand taels of gold and a hundred dan of millet as compensation for you and the people of Jizhou."

Yuan Jiuan sneered to himself. The Empress Dowager and her father were stubborn as mules, cut from the same cloth.

If he hadn't guessed before leaving that the Empress Dowager would use this against him, and had thought ahead enough to send someone to the magistrate's office to gather all the evidence of her nephew's crimes to bring along, he would have been in trouble.

That had saved him from disaster and cleared his name.

Yuan Jiuan was about to speak when he caught Ji Yuntang's peace sign signal out of the corner of his eye.

He immediately understood—she and Chu Yi had already slipped into the underground chamber and gotten Emperor Chu out.

He didn't need to keep stalling the Empress Dowager anymore.

With that, Yuan Jiuan stopped wasting words and simply replied.

"Then on behalf of the people of Jizhou, I thank Her Majesty for her generosity!"

He knew full well the Empress Dowager would probably never get the chance to deliver that reward, and he wasn't holding his breath.

Seeing that Yuan Jiuan had gone quiet and no longer demanded to see Emperor Chu, but had sat down instead, the Empress Dowager let out a quiet sigh of relief.

Thank God—she'd finally gotten that pest to shut up!

If he'd kept making a scene, the succession ceremony would've been ruined.

Yuanchao watched it all unfold, standing there with a complicated look on his face, his thoughts unreadable.

A smile crept across the Empress Dowager's face as she said to the presiding official, "Since the misunderstanding between me and Prince Chengxuan is resolved, let's continue the succession ceremony."

The official acknowledged the order and was about to read the succession decree when, suddenly, another twist occurred.

"Your Majesty, please wait—this official and the others have something to report!" The four officials seated below exchanged looks and stood up at the same time.

Everyone turned to look and saw they were the heads of the four great families.

Their spokesman was Qi Huaichuan, head of the Qi family, who also served as the Imperial Secretariat Director.

The moment the Empress Dowager saw the four of them stand, her first thought was that they'd reneged on their deal!

Originally, the first candidate they'd put forward for crown prince was Qi Huaichuan's son, who'd later been replaced by Yuanchao.

To appease the heads of the four great families, the Empress Dowager had given them no small number of favors—no less than a hundred thousand taels of gold, not to mention various properties.

That had barely been enough to persuade them to support Yuanchao's ascension and to serve him as they would their own master.

But now, the four of them had stood up at once, and a sense of dread welled up in the Empress Dowager's chest.

She narrowed her eyes and asked coldly, "What is the meaning of this, gentlemen?"

Qi Huaichuan produced a photograph and held it up right in front of the Empress Dowager, and said bluntly, "We received several portraits this morning. If we're not mistaken, the people in these portraits are Her Majesty and the Grand Preceptor, and the background looks like the Grand Preceptor's Baohua Hall."

"The misunderstanding between Her Majesty and Prince Chengxuan may be resolved, but what about this one? How does Her Majesty intend to explain this?"

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