Chapter 656: Confession
Translator: Pika
The crown princess gave him a look. “If even you are saying it’s an uproar, how can I not know?”
Zu An used this chance to ask, “Then does the crown princess feel that Cheng Xiong can be punished?”
The crown princess was always paying attention to this matter. After all, to a certain degree, this affected the battle between the crown prince and King Qi. She remained silent for a moment, but she still lightly shook her head in the end. “Even though the Embroidered Envoy and the Security Officer have deemed him guilty, the Commandant of Justice firmly believes that he was a framed victim. There isn’t enough proof either. They can only pronounce Cheng Gang guilty at most and cannot bring down Cheng Xiong.”
King Qi’s faction was extremely powerful. They had the Qin clan as the head of the military, Imperial Secretariat’s Left Confidential Assistant Yu Xuanchong, Secretariat Director Lian Yu, Chief Attendant Pei Zheng, and many more big shots who presided over their respective important roles. They even had older supporters with outstanding moral standing and reputation from the imperial clan who supported them. How could they just let their Cheng Xiong be wrongly accused?
Even though her father contacted the Liu clan, Meng clan, King Liang, and many others in the court, their men fighting back fiercely, they still couldn’t convict Cheng Xiong.
Murong Tong was transferred away from his vital position as the Security Officer, which already made King Qi’s faction suffer a fierce blow. How could they just watch their Left Guard General be transferred away too?
That was why only Cheng Gang would be convicted. This was already the consensus the crown prince’s faction reached.
She became annoyed when she thought of this. She said in annoyance, “Why are you asking about these things?”
Zu An smiled and said, “Does the crown princess want Cheng Xiong to be guilty, or do you want him to be innocent?”
The crown princess’ expression sank. “What are you beating around the bush for? Whether an important minister like General Cheng is guilty or not will be decided by the court. What does it have to do with me?”
Zu An sighed. “Whatever, I thought that the crown princess wanted to punish Cheng Xiong for his crimes, so I had a good way. Now, it seems like I was overthinking it.”
He walked out after saying this.
The crown princess’ expression changed when she looked at his rear figure. In the end, she said, “Wait, do you really have a way?”
Zu An paused. He turned around to look at her. “Does the crown princess feel that I would waste my time here and joke around about this type of matter?”
The crown princess frowned. Even though she found this guy annoying, he was definitely not a fool like the crown prince. It was indeed not likely for him to do something so meaningless.
However, she still had her misgivings. “Why would you help me?”
Zu An said with a chuckle, “What if I said it was because the crown princess was pretty?”
The crown princess’ expression immediately changed. “Do you know that you’ve already committed a great crime of disrespect?!”
You have successfully trolled Bi Linglong for +700 Rage points!
Zu An saw that even though she was angry, she didn’t call for the imperial bodyguards. Thank goodness this is a woman who knows how to weigh her pros and cons… “Crown princess, please do not get angry. Actually, my reason for helping you is very simple. Has the crown princess already forgotten what my current identity is?”
“Your identity?” The crown princess was stunned. Then, she remembered that he was the crown prince’s secretary. He should already be part of the crown prince’s faction. He should obviously help the crown prince for the sake of his own future.
She thus felt relieved. “Even though I trust your motives, I doubt your competence.”
Zu An lowered his voice. “All I need is the crown princess to help me arrange a meeting with the captured assassins.”
Apart from preventing his status as Sir Eleven from being exposed, the other reason why he met the crown princess with this identity was because he wanted to improve his status within the eastern palace. He didn’t want to be a stupid fatty’s study companion forever. Only by letting the crown princess and the powers behind her know of his worth, would more plans go into motion.
“Meet those assassins?” The crown princess was confused.
Zu An said, “The crown princess should have a way of convincing Right Guard General Guo Zhi, right? Those assassins are all under his management right now. Normal people cannot meet with them.”
The Left Guard General was already someone under King Qi’s faction. Unless the emperor suddenly lost his mind, there was no way he would let the Right Guard General be on King Qi’s faction too.
The crown princess frowned. “What do you want to do with them.”
Zu An shook his head. “I cannot tell you right now, because if I tell you, then it won’t work. The crown princess will understand everything later.”
The crown princess gave him a look. She began to think to herself. A while later, her red lips opened again. “Fine, I can arrange a meeting. However, if you lied to me, I will report your rudeness to the emperor. Not even an immortal would be able to save you then.”
Zu An smiled. “I will not disappoint the crown princess.”
The crown princess then arranged for the guards to lead Zu An to the prison. When he saw that the guard leading the way had dark circles around his eyes, Zu An was overjoyed. “Oh? Isn’t this imperial guard Piao and guard Jiao?”
The two lesser imperial guards were precisely Jiao Sigun and Piao Duandiao.
Piao Duandiao couldn’t hold back his smile as well. “So it was Sir Zu! It’s an honor to finally meet you.”
Next to him, Jiao Sigun couldn’t help but say, “You never even heard his name before, what do you mean it’s an honor.”
Piao Duandian’s face darkened. “Didn’t we meet a few days ago? Stop bickering with me.”
Jiao Sigun harrumphed. “I’m not bickering. I just don’t want to see you being fake.”
Piao Duandiao didn’t want to pay him any more attention. He said to Zu An with a smile, “Sir Zu really is enviable. You’ve only been in the eastern palace for a few days, but you already obtained the crown princess’ trust. We brothers have never been assigned to be the guards of an important minister yet.”
He noticed that Jiao Sigun was about to say something again and immediately gave him a look. “Shut up! Or else I’m not bringing you with me to the government brothel again.”
Jiao Sigun said, “Now that something so big happened at the government brothel, who would dare to go there? Are you stupid?”
Piao Duandiao: “……”
Zu An couldn’t help but smile when he saw these two clowns. He didn’t know how the crown princess put up with them all these years.
He coughed lightly and said, “Brother Piao is being too formal. It’s merely to get some information for the crown princess. The palace hasn’t been too peaceful recently, so I must trouble you two this time.”
“You’re too kind, you’re too kind.” Piao Duandiao’s chest stuck out a bit further when he heard what Zu An said.
When they arrived at the imperial prison, the Right Guard General Guo Zhi already received the news and was waiting here. He cupped his hands when he saw Zu An. “Sir Zu.”
Zu An returned the greeting with surprise. “General Guo is troubling me with your courtesy! Huh? General, why do you look like this?”
After all, this was a glorious Right Guard General. His status and authority were much higher than the crown prince’s secretary.
It had only been a few days since their last meeting, yet this fella’s dark circles looked like Piao Duandiao’s. His hair was messy and greasy as well, it had clearly been a while since he washed it. His beard was also scraggly. He looked like he seemed to have aged a decade.
Guo Zhi brought him to the side. He sighed and said with a low voice, “His majesty ordered me to investigate the eastern palace’s attack, but I haven’t found any clues. Those assassins insist that they were acting under King Qi, yet when they are asked how King Qi prompted them, they always replied that they don’t know. This type of confession is clearly framing King Qi, so how can I report that upwards?”
There were no stupid people in the imperial palace, so he knew that the assassins were framing King Qi. If he dared to bring out these oral confessions, then King Qi’s faction would immediately fire back. However, he also understood what the emperor wanted, so he couldn’t say that King Qi was completely innocent. That was why he was stuck in a dilemma.
“I heard the crown princess say that you had a way to open these assassins’ mouths?” He asked excitedly.
Zu An had a rough idea of what he was thinking. No wonder this man looked like he finally met his savior. “I can give it a try.”
Guo Zhi was overjoyed. “Sir Zu, please hurry on in.”
When they saw how enthusiastically Guo Zhi brought Zu An in, Piao Duandiao and Jiao Sigun outside the imperial prison looked at each other in dismay. They said quietly, “Why does the Right Guard General treat him so well? We might have to cling tightly to this patron in the future.”
“Seconded.” Jiao Sigun surprisingly didn’t argue about this.
Zu An followed Guo Zhi down. When he entered the imperial prison, he cupped his hands and said, “General Guo, I wish to talk with these assassins in private.”
Guo Zhi nodded and said, “That’s fine. The crown princess has already told me. However, Sir Zu, you must be careful. Those assassins are all vicious people.”
Zu An voiced his response. Guo Zhi was about to leave, but a terrified and panicked voice sounded from nearby. “Don’t hit me anymore! I’ll confess everything! I want to meet Sir Guo!”