Counterattack of the Concubine’s Invincible Daughter

25. Effortless Counterattack

Translator: Snowball

The thought made Mu Yingxue feel more relieved, so she waited for the next one to testify her calmly. The one, however, was the crown prince who sat next to the emperor.

“Father, I have something to report.”

Xuanyuan Lie raised his eyebrow in surprise, wondering if the crown prince was also involved in this. He waved his hand, “Go ahead!”

“Thank you, Father.” Xuanyuan Jin replied, “In fact, I don’t know much about this case, but I happened to have met Miss Mu Yingxue in the Moonlight Pavilion the other day. I remember her in a poetry competition with Miss Mei Qianqian. After Miss Mei failed, Miss Mu required her to get down on her knees outside the gate of the Moonlight Pavilion and let a hundred passers-by kick her ass. I couldn’t bear to embarrass Miss Mei, so I intervened and finally eased the matter.”

Mu Yingxue took a glance at the crown prince, sneering inwardly that he was indicating that it was not surprising for a disreputable and immoral girl like her to kill someone. She finally realized that the crown prince was a narrow-minded man. She merely rejected the kind gesture he had offered and ruined his plan accidentally by saving Anning, and he had already held the grudge against her.

Xuanyuan Lie wondered, “Mu Yingxue, is that true?”

“Guilty as charged, Your Majesty.”

Xuanyuan Jin didn’t expect her to admit so frankly, so his firm gaze became a little hesitant. Given the present situation, Mu Yingxue didn’t care if he was paying attention to her. Although the crown prince turned the fact upside down, she wouldn’t act rashly or defend herself. Who would the emperor trust the most? The crown prince or her? The answer was obvious. As the saying went, relatives were favored over outsiders.

To her surprise, someone stood out to voice her discontents at this time.

“Father, I know Mei Qianqian. She is quite indulgent, while sister Mu is very easy-going and sincere. I believe she could never make such unreasonable demands on her. It must be Mei Qianqian who set the rules first, but planned to get rid of the punishment after she failed.”

Mu Yingxue nodded gratefully at Anning. Although the emperor might not buy Anning’s explanation, it was already very rare for Anning to be willing to defend her in such a situation where everyone was framing her. She would bear this friendship in mind.

Xuanyuan Jin hated Mu Yingxue very much because she was the reason that he had failed to kidnap Anning last time. So he took the opportunity and was desperate to kill Mu Yingxue right away.

“Father, I was there when this farce happened.” So would Xuanyuan Lie believe him or Princess Anning?

Although Xuanyuan Lie was a noble emperor, the power of the crown prince could by no means be underestimated, so what he said sounded like a threat to Xuanyuan Lie to some extent.

“Mu Yingxue, how do you explain this?”

Mu Yingxue was about to answer, but she heard a loud voice from the door of the palace, saying, “I have something to say!”

Mu Yingxue turned around, seeing Xuanyuan Sheng walking in with a sense of enthusiasm. Beside him was Nongyue, who was classy and elegant with half of his face covered by a silver mask. Seeing the two of them, Mu Yingxue was still calm and collected, but she was relieved inside. It looked like she wouldn’t need to take too much efforts to solve this problem.

Seeing Xuanyuan Sheng coming, Xuanyuan Lie finally showed a sincere smile for the first time tonight. That smile was not the emperor’s smile to his courtier, but the expression of a loving father looking at his beloved son.

The concubines’ expressions changed as they saw this, and the crown prince Xuanyuan Jin was further infuriated, seemingly dissatisfied with the arrival of Xuanyuan Sheng.

But Xuanyuan Sheng went straight to Xuanyuan Lie’s table, kneeling down to curtsy to the emperor on one knee improperly. Before Xuanyuan Lie allowed him to rise, he had secretly taken the cup on the table and took a sip before he stood up naturally.

The empress, Princess Xiao and Princess Xian who sat near them were all shocked to see this. They found that Xuanyuan Lie did not stop Xuanyuan Sheng’s rude behavior, but felt very happy because he drank from his father’s glass casually.

After he finished his little trick, Xuanyuan Lie looked at him lovingly and asked, “Are you ready to talk now?”

Xuanyuan Sheng nodded and went downstairs, pointing at Mu Yueli and exposing a shocking message, “Father, this woman covets me!”

As soon as he finished, the expression on everyone’s face changed, especially Mu Yueli, who was not angry for being stigmatized, but was blushing with disbelief, as if she was wondering, “That’s indeed the case, but how did you figure it out?”

Mu Yueli was good at putting on a show. It was just after she met Xuanyuan Sheng in the Moonlight Pavilion, she always missed this handsome and uninhibited prince, and even fantasized a future with him. It was fair to say she coveted him. Since it was the truth, she couldn’t even defend herself for that.

Therefore, she didn’t respond for a while, stuttering, “Your Highness, you don’t have any evidence. Please don’t ruin my reputation.”

Xuanyuan Sheng was very confident in his charm. Mu Yingxue was the only exception though. Seeing Mu Yueli denying the fact, he despised her more and asked, “How dare you say you don’t covet me? Who got me drunk and restrained me in a room, trying to pull off her tricks?”

Facing her loved one’s fictitious questioning, Mu Yueli was somewhat overwhelmed, doubting, “Don’t slander me, Your Highness. When did I kidnap you?”

Xuanyuan Sheng smiled contemptuously and said, “Of course, you would deny it. Fortunately, I’ve foreseen your reaction. Guards, present those exhibits!”

Then a group of servants rushed in, holding Xuanyuan Sheng’s jade pendant, clothes, and even a piece of girl’s underwear.

Xuanyuan Sheng pointed at these things and said, “These stuff were found in this lady’s bedroom. There is also a piece of underwear embroidered with my name. Her ignorance and shamelessness are outrageous!”

“Your Highness, do you have any evidence that all of these were found in my bedroom?” Mu Yueli came to realize at this time that she had been plotted.

Xuanyuan Sheng replied very aggressively, “I said they were found in your bedroom. Do I look like an idle person who would frame people up?”

“I’m a man of my word and I don’t lie.” Xuanyuan Sheng said righteously, as if he would fight with anyone who would blame him for lying. Mu Yingxue almost couldn’t control her laughter. This kid really talked big to say he never lied.

“Brother Jin, do you believe me?”

At the end, Xuanyuan Sheng turned around and asked Xuanyuan Jin. Mu Yingxue secretly praised his tact. The crown prince would be embarrassed no matter how he responded. Obviously, his purpose of asking was just to provoke his brother.

As expected, Xuanyuan Jin’s expression was stiff, and he glanced at him without replying.

Xuanyuan Sheng didn’t mind. Anyway, he had reached his purpose, no matter whether the crown prince responded or not.

“Please don’t slander me, Your Highness. Yueli has never done anything to plot against you.” Mu Yueli was so anxious that her eyes were bloodshot and her voice became shrill.

Xuanyuan Sheng pretended to be ashamed and indignant. He pointed at her, “How dare you quibble? If Mu Yingxue hadn’t seen us at that time, I’m afraid I would have lost my virginity to you, and you would have even held me responsible and force me to marry you! You shameless and vicious twat! Your selfish desire wasn’t satisfied, so you plotted again and tried to kill Mu Yingxue. As the saying goes, the guilty party always files the suit first. How dare you!”

He was filled with indignation and righteousness as he said that, and his expression was very sincere, which made everyone present who thought this was ridiculous at the beginning start to feel this was somewhat suspicious.

“Your Highness, you can’t accuse me of that charge! Your Majesty, I didn’t do that!”

Realizing that he persisted in saying that she coveted the royal family and failed to kill Mu Yingxue, Mu Yueli suddenly panicked. She was in no mood to think about how to frame Mu Yingxue, but only wanted to wipe out these unfounded crimes from herself as soon as possible.

Of course Xuanyuan Lie was willing to believe his favorite son, but he knew his son very well. This prince had been spoiled since childhood, and he could do whatever he wanted. Therefore, what he just said was somewhat unreal.

However, a man stood up at this time and said, “Father, what Sheng just said is true. I’m willing to testify for him.”

Xuanyuan Lie looked at Xuanyuan Chen, the unexpected witness. He was the most reticent and cautious prince among all of his sons. Xuanyuan Lie pondered for a second and then asked, “Mu Yueli, do you know what the consequence of deceiving me will be?”

Mu Yueli was so terrified, with completely no idea how things could end up like this.

“Your Majesty, I’ innocent. I did not covet Prince Sheng, nor did I want to plot him. Mu Yingxue is a murderer, but I am not!”

Seeing Mu Yueli shivering on the ground, Mu Yingxue only wanted to say to her “you deserve this”. She fell firmly into the category of people who could live a tranquil life, but simply couldn’t bear to see others’ situation became better. They would find fault or even murder whoever they hated. Now, there was one step from overturning Mu Yueli’s testimony.

At this time, Mu Yingxue felt that someone’s vicious gaze was fixed on her. She simply turned to look at another person.

Song Wanrou was angry and depressed. They were so close to convict Mu Yingxue of murder, but Prince Sheng showed up and saved her. Although she was indignant, she had no hope to reverse the story. Given that Mu Yueli could hardly protect herself, Song Wanrou decided to at least get herself out of this. Unfortunately, Mu Yingxue grasped the chance to meet her eyes. The obsession of Song Wanrou made herself an easy target to be mesmerised within a blink.

“Your Majesty, I admit my guilt!”

As soon as Song Wanrou spoke, she burst into tears, kneeling down on the ground.

Xuanyuan Lie felt that the farce today was of high quality compared to a simple welcoming banquet, filled with twists and turns.

“How so?”

“I shouldn’t have listened to Miss Yueli and lied. Miss Yingxue actually didn’t have the crush on my nephew Song. Everything I just said was taught by Miss Yueli.”

Human beings were born with the instinct of seeking benefits and avoiding harm. Even when hypnotized, she still tried to get away with the crime and shirk her responsibility. Song Wanrou was now intending to claim herself innocent and shift the blame to Mu Yueli.