Chapter 51 Testimony

Liu Rulan hated the Crown Prince for being completely devoted to Tang Chaochao, and a sly smile suddenly appeared on her face.

"If His Highness the Crown Prince refuses to seek justice for me, this concubine will have no choice but to beg His Majesty to rule on the matter."

Upon hearing this, Crown Prince Murong Bo furrowed his brow tightly, glaring angrily at the somewhat unhinged Liu Rulan.

"Do you feel that this matter isn't humiliating enough, and you want to make a public spectacle of it all over again?"

Liu Rulan's heart was already dead to the world. She had a beloved sweetheart, yet she was forced to marry the Crown Prince because of Tang Chaochao.

For her, this was simply worse than death.

Faced with the Crown Prince's fury, she still stubbornly stiffened her neck.

She cut the very picture of someone demanding justice.

Xie Tingyao had come precisely for this matter, so naturally, she had no intention of letting it be brushed aside easily.

She looked at Crown Prince Murong Bo and said, "Elder Brother Crown Prince, Consort Liu is so resolute and certain; could there be some hidden story behind all this?"

As she spoke, Xie Tingyao even turned her gaze toward Tang Chaochao, hesitated for a moment as if swallowing her words, and continued, "Perhaps it really was Second Miss Tang who did it, who knows?"

As long as she could make Elder Brother Crown Prince see through Tang Chaochao's two-faced and hypocritical facade, Xie Tingyao believed the Crown Prince would definitely never want to marry this woman again.

Tang Chaochao watched the two of them putting on quite a harmonious and dramatic show.

"Consort Liu, you claim you were framed, and you repeatedly insist that the culprit is me. Then I must ask, where is your evidence?"

Liu Rulan knew Tang Chaochao would say that.

Her voice carried a trace of triumph.

"Tang Chaochao, did you think I wouldn't have any? Someone come here! Bring the maid Xiazhu forward."

Before long, a servant brought a woman dressed as a palace maid into the presence of everyone.

That maid was someone Tang Chaochao recognized.

She was precisely the palace maid who had led her to the side hall during the snow-viewing banquet.

The maid inadvertently met Tang Chaochao's gaze, and a flash of evasion crossed her eyes.

Once she knelt down, she lowered her head even further, not daring to look at Tang Chaochao again.

Crown Prince Murong Bo's expression at that moment had already become extremely unsightly.

This woman Liu Rulan was hell-bent on ruining his plans.

Had he known she would pull such a stunt, he never should have tagged along.

However, opportunities to get close to Tang Chaochao were simply too few.

Therefore, the moment Crown Prince Murong Bo heard that Xie Tingyao had invited Tang Chaochao, he followed along without a second thought.

What the Crown Prince did not know was that Liu Rulan had deliberately let those words reach his ears.

After all, the Crown Prince's intentions were not difficult for her to guess.

Liu Rulan sneered.

"Xiazhu, tell everyone what actually happened on the day of the snow-viewing banquet."

Xiazhu lowered her head, her body trembling slightly.

Then, stammering, she said, "On that day, the young ladies and young lords came out of the main hall to enjoy the snow, and this servant prepared to enter the main hall to clean. Ununexpectedly, I bumped into Princess Zhaonan halfway."

The princess she spoke of was none other than Tang Chaochao.

The princess said she was feeling a bit drunk and asked this servant to find her a place to rest. So, this servant led the princess to that side hall."

The side hall she referred to was the very one where the Crown Prince and Liu Rulan had been caught in the act.

The palace maid's testimony caused everyone present to turn their eyes toward Tang Chaochao.

With the look of someone whose wicked scheme had succeeded, Liu Rulan pointed at Tang Chaochao and said, "It must have been Tang Chaochao who entered the side hall ahead of time, planted that kind of drug inside, then knocked me out, threw me into the side hall, and finally sent someone to trick the Crown Prince into coming. Tang Chaochao, your heart is simply too venomous!"

By the end, she spoke as though she had witnessed it all with her own eyes.

Things having reached this point, it was no longer possible for Crown Prince Murong Bo to shirk responsibility and stay out of it.

He looked at Xiazhu and said harshly, "Vile maid! Do you know what crime it is to frame a princess? If a single word of what you said today is false, this Crown Prince will execute you on the spot."

Terrified by the Crown Prince's tone, Xiazhu collapsed flat onto the ground and cried out, pleading, "Please clear my name, Your Highness the Crown Prince! Every word this servant has uttered is the absolute truth, without a shred of falsehood. I beg Your Highness to spare my life!"

Seeing Xiazhu like this, Xie Tingyao glared at Tang Chaochao.

"Tang Chaochao, how venomous your heart is! You even dare to frame the Crown Prince. I will definitely tell my aunt and have her severely punish you for your crimes!"

Meanwhile, the noble ladies and young lords standing nearby also began to whisper among themselves.

They even cast looks of utter contempt toward Tang Chaochao.

This kind of jumping to conclusions upon hearing mere rumors was not something new to Tang Chaochao.

She slowly took a step forward and stopped right in front of Xiazhu.

With an unfathomable look in her eyes, she gazed down at the person kneeling and prostrated on the ground.

"Consort Liu, you wish to convict me based solely on one-sided words. Isn't that a bit too absurd?"

Liu Rulan assumed that Tang Chaochao was feeling guilty.

Although Xiazhu's words were entirely scripted by her own instructions, she could be certain that this whole affair was undoubtedly orchestrated by Tang Chaochao.

"Tang Chaochao, even now at this stage, you still want to quibble and deny it!"

The corners of Tang Chaochao's lips curled up.

"Consort Liu, why are you so agitated? You claim that I drugged you, knocked you out, and tricked the Crown Prince into going there. Then I must ask: how did I smuggle that kind of filthy substance into the imperial palace? In what exact location did I knock you out? And whom did I order to lure His Highness the Crown Prince over?"

This sort of logic simply did not stand up to scrutiny.

The day of the snow-viewing banquet was only the second time Tang Chaochao had ever entered the palace.

Upon entering the palace, one's person had to be searched to prevent anyone from carrying forbidden items that might harm the nobles within.

Liu Rulan argued stubbornly, "You are Princess Zhaonan. Slipping past with the help of a little silver—surely that isn't difficult?"

Upon hearing this, Tang Chaochao suddenly let out a light laugh.

"It seems Consort Liu is exceedingly well-versed in the affairs of the imperial palace. Yet I have only recently arrived in the capital, and the snow-viewing banquet was merely my second time entering the palace. Pray tell, whom exactly should I have bribed in order to smuggle such items into the palace grounds?"

Liu Rulan had not considered this point.

Indeed, Tang Chaochao had only recently arrived in the capital and probably did not even know how many palace gates there were in the Forbidden City.

How, then, could she have bribed the inspectors?

Everyone quickly figured this out as well.

Liu Rulan retorted, "Just because you didn't know doesn't mean others didn't."

Her implication once again attempted to cast suspicion onto the Tang family.

Tang Chaochao glanced at her coldly.

"Then do tell, Consort Liu, who is so thoroughly acquainted with the inner workings of the palace that they could leak this to me? Name the person, and I will bring them right before you to be interrogated at your pleasure. How about that?"

As everyone knew, General Tang and his wife resided year-round in Huaicheng.

Tang Chaochao had only returned from the mountain temple not long ago.

Furthermore, the Tang family had no daughters serving as imperial consorts in the palace, so naturally, they could not possibly possess such intimate knowledge of the imperial grounds.

As for the second branch of the Tang family, that was even less likely.

Compared to General Tang Wu, His Majesty was practically unfamiliar with this Tang Wen.

He had never even been granted a private audience.

To someone of such mediocre talent who only obtained his official rank thanks to his elder brother, people might occasionally maintain superficial pleasantries, but no one would ever go out of their way to curry favor with him.

As for Tang Wen's son and daughter, they never had the opportunity to enter the palace except during grand state banquets.

Thus, it was even more impossible for them.

Then there was the maternal family of Tang Chaochao, the Duke's Estate.

Yet everyone knew that before the news of Tang Mumu's death reached the capital, the entire family of the Duke's Estate had already returned to their ancestral home to pay respects to their forebears.

No matter how one looked at it, there was simply no way Tang Chaochao could have suddenly bribed every single palace maid and matron on duty during a brief security check.

While everyone else could easily reason this out, Liu Rulan stubbornly refused to let go.

"Say what you will, you still have no one to prove your innocence. But I have a witness! Unless you can prove you were never in that side hall!"

Tang Chaochao's gaze suddenly shifted toward Xie Tingyao.

Xie Tingyao suddenly remembered that she had indeed seen Tang Chaochao prior to the incident.

At the time, she had even found it strange that someone she had just seen moments before could somehow end up entangled in a scandalous liaison.

However, back then, she had been entirely focused on watching Tang Chaochao make a fool of herself and had overlooked that detail completely.