Chapter 468: Chapter 468: Oh no! We’ve been tricked!
“What are you trying to do?” The man on the bed finally panicked. He crawled up and looked alertly at the man wearing the veiled hat.
Baili Jiang sneered, “You’re asking what I’m doing? Wasn’t it you who invited me here?”
“How dare you! I am the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Revenue!” Zhan Xincheng endured the pain radiating from his battered back and stood up straight, using his rank to press the other man.
Baili Jiang suddenly sensed that something was amiss. This person had invited him over clearly for some financial dealings; there was no need to act so foolishly.
He thought to himself: This is bad! I’ve been tricked!
Just as he considered escaping through the window, eight Iron Armor Guards appeared in Zhan Xincheng’s courtyard, surrounding his room.
Soon after, more than twenty Imperial Army soldiers surged into Zhan Xincheng’s residence from all sides.
Baili Jiang fled through the window, and his subordinates escorted him out of Zhan Xincheng’s residence.
Zhan Xincheng was panicked. What on earth was happening?
Who were the people that suddenly appeared in his residence, and why did the Imperial Army come despite his painful back?
These Iron Armor Guards belonged to Mu Yan. What were they doing here?
The screams of the women in the residence were rising and falling, and it sounded like all the servants had been captured.
“Zhan Xincheng, come out!”
Zhan Xincheng suddenly heard a voice from outside.
Feigning composure, he walked out and saw Mr. Xiao Chen from the Ministry of Criminal Justice, accompanied by several constables.
Zhan Xincheng’s rank was not greater than Xiao Chen’s. He bowed respectfully, “Mr. Xiao, what requires such a grand display?”
His residence was not large, but the courtyard was nearly filled with people from the Xingtian Department, Ministry of Justice, and Imperial Army.
Clearly, this was no ordinary matter.
Commander Yang Wu walked up from the back of the group, shoved Zhan Xincheng aside, and entered his room.
Zhan Xincheng was shocked and immediately followed him.
Yang Wu found a black jade pendant in Zhan Xincheng’s mahogany cabinet, carved with strange runes.
Zhan Xincheng’s pupils contracted sharply; having fought against the Western Rong, he knew only they possessed such a jade pendant.
“Commander Yang, this… this is not my pendant!” Zhan Xincheng hurriedly explained.
Xiao Chen walked in, tapped the wall twice, scraped off the wall skin with his sword, revealing a secret door. He entered the secret room, searched for a long while, and retrieved a brocade box containing several sealed letters.
Zhan Xincheng felt a deep unease; he had never known there was a secret door in his bedroom.
Behind the secret door was an entire secret room!
His instincts told him that someone was trying to frame him.
He desperately explained, “No, my lords, this is a residence I bought from someone else. I have no idea why there would be a secret room, and the things in there are not mine!”
Xiao Chen slowly opened the sealed letters; Zhan Xincheng scanned them and saw they bore his handwriting.
Zhan Xincheng thought of how his son Zhan Feng was framed for treason years ago and completely panicked, raising his voice, “Someone must be trying to frame me!”
Xiao Chen looked at the constables and said, “I see that there are also several boxes of disaster relief silver in the secret room. Take them back with us.”
“Yes, sir!”
“What disaster relief silver?”
Zhan Xincheng’s eyes went red; though he had pocketed some silver while at the Ministry of Revenue, it wasn’t nearly that much!
“What’s going on?” Mrs. Wang’s voice echoed from outside.
Ever since Zhan Xincheng was beaten, Mrs. Wang had been nursing his injuries. She entered the room despite the Imperial Army’s attempts to hinder her.
Xiao Chen said coldly, “Mr. Zhan has conspired with the Western Rong, colluded with them, sold out the nation, and embezzled the court’s disaster relief funds. You can discuss your crimes with the emperor!”
“Impossible, someone is trying to frame me!” Zhan Xincheng roared, finally understanding there was a ploy against him.
Who was it?
This residence had been found for him by Zhan Lan, saving him a lot of silver at the time.
Zhan Lan had proposed that he separate from the main branch of the Zhan Family and had helped him become the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.
Could it be that Zhan Lan, who had once sought Doctor Qi to pull him back from death’s door and schemed step by step, was now after his life!
No!
Zhan Lan didn’t want him to die so easily.
Zhan Lan aimed to completely uproot their second branch!
But why?
Was Zhan Lan’s hatred not just because of Zhan Feng, or had she discovered it was him who orchestrated the Heavenly Slaughter Sect’s Ouyang Qingming incident from behind?
Zhan Xincheng recalled how Zhan Lan had gained his trust and concocted schemes, and it was as if he was wrapped by a terrifying, venomous snake.
Zhan Lan and Mu Yan acted against him only after Emperor Xuanwu’s death because the court of Nanjin was now controlled by them as a couple.
They could accuse him of any crime!
And Zhan Lan wanted more than just his death; she wanted his complete ruin and societal condemnation!
Mrs. Wang looked at Zhan Xincheng, his face pale, unable to stand. Her voice strong, she addressed Xiao Chen and Yang Wu, “What are you trying to do? The Zhan Family has been loyal and true, yet you act so disgracefully!”
She first invoked the loyalty of the entire Zhan Family, using it as a threat against Xiao Chen and Yang Wu.
Simultaneously, she hinted at Zhan Xincheng’s connection with Zhan Xinzhang and the Zhan Family.
Her eyes brimming with tears, she aided Zhan Xincheng, “My son has spent years on the border; even without accomplishments, he’s surely suffered. Yet you call him a traitor based on evidence thrust upon us by some rascal—it’s sheer slander!”
Mrs. Wang’s voice was firm, “Years ago, my son was wounded again and again by the Western Rong, still refusing to abandon the border. Have you all forgotten? Has your conscience been eaten by dogs?”
Her words grew increasingly passionate, “Go now and summon the Old General so we can prove my son would never rebel!”
Filled with righteous anger, Mrs. Wang disregarded Xiao Chen and Yang Wu. Suddenly, a sorrowful voice echoed from outside, “Zhan Xincheng, what is going on?”
Both Wang and Zhan Xincheng turned to look; Zhan Xinzhang stood coldly at the door.
Beside him were Zhan Lan, Mu Yan, Zhan Beicang, Imperial Censor Zhong Xuanliang, and Great Scholar Lu Zhong.
The sheer number present terrified Mrs. Wang. Why had they all come?
Zhan Lan looked down on Mrs. Wang, who no longer had her past radiance. The ordeals of the second branch over the last two years had worn her into a frail, emaciated state, with deep wrinkles on her face.
She fell to her knees with a thud at Zhan Xinzhang’s feet, suppressing her tremendous anger and tears, begging, “Husband, this is not Xincheng’s doing. Please believe in Xincheng, grant him his innocence!”