Great, it's just a lackey, we're saved!

Chapter 211 Arrest Warrant!

If the Crown Prince had adopted such a humble posture, Mei Xingyue would have been extremely proud.

But at this moment, she only felt fear!

I have a vague feeling that if I don't tell the truth now, I might lose the crown prince forever.

But when Mei Xingyue's gaze fell on Zhou Wei at the back of the group, she found Zhou Wei looking at her with a half-smile, as if she was waiting to humiliate her at any moment.

Mei Xingyue's pitiful pride started acting up again!

The words of confession that were on the tip of his tongue came out as: "Your Highness, this is absolutely not true, it's all slander! Your Highness, you must believe me."

Upon hearing this, the Crown Prince's shoulders suddenly slumped, and he looked utterly deflated.

He looked at Mei Xingyue intently for a long time without saying a word.

After standing up, the confusion and pain in his eyes disappeared, replaced by calmness.

"General Qiu, I have a question."

Qiu Ming cupped his hands and respectfully inquired, "Does Your Highness have any questions? I will answer them to the best of my knowledge."

“Xingyue has been away from the capital for five years, and I have sent people to search the entire Great Zhou but have not found any trace of her. Based solely on the case files from various prefectures, you claim that these murders were committed by Xingyue and my three children. Isn’t that a bit hasty?”

"I strongly suspect that someone, after learning of Xingyue's existence, pinned these cases on her. Otherwise, how could cases that couldn't be solved in various prefectures for five years be solved as soon as Xingyue entered the capital?"

Everyone understood what the Crown Prince meant.

This means that someone has misrepresented these cases and attributed them to the Mei family of four.

Knowing that the Mei family of four existed, he deliberately collected these files in order to frame them.

That makes sense, but Qiu Ming remained completely calm when questioned like that!

He cupped his hands and said, "What Your Highness said is not true. The various prefectures did not collect these cases on anyone's orders. Rather, these cases have been piling up for many years, and the aggrieved families have been pleading everywhere, never giving up all these years, until..."

As Qiu Ming finished speaking, he looked intently at Mei Xingyue.

"It wasn't until the Imperial Prison in the capital arrested the Mei family of four on charges of extortion, and before they could be interrogated, that the family of four escaped from prison. Only then did the Embroidered Uniform Guard issue arrest warrants to all the prefectures and counties."

"Unexpectedly, when the arrest warrant was issued, the various prefectures realized that the four members of the Mei family were the murderers described by the eyewitnesses, and they never thought that they would commit crimes in the capital."

"I received official letters from various prefectures and counties, and was preparing to arrest the four members of the Mei family for questioning, but unexpectedly... they actually moved into the Eastern Palace."

After listening to Qiu Ming's words, Mei Xingyue immediately seized upon the loophole.

As if grasping at a straw, she angrily retorted, "You're lying!"

Qiu Ming asked, puzzled, "What lie did I tell? Please explain."

"You said the Embroidered Uniform Guard issued an arrest warrant. Where is it? Is it posted anywhere in the capital?" Mei Xingyue said, looking at Wang Shu. "Lord Wang, you are the Prefect of the Capital. Have you seen the Embroidered Uniform Guard's arrest warrant?"

Wang Shu looked displeased when Mei Xingyue questioned him.

Who do you think you are to question this official!

However, since Mei Xingyue was now being protected by the Crown Prince, Wang Shu could only patiently say, "This official has indeed not seen any arrest warrants for the Mei family."

Upon hearing this, a smile immediately appeared on Mei Xingyue's face.

However, the Crown Prince showed no joy on his face, instead staring blankly at Jiang Yueli, who seemed to have nothing to do with him.

He had already realized that all of today's events were caused by his elder sister!

There must be something wrong with this arrest warrant, otherwise Jiang Yueli wouldn't be so calm.

"Your Highness, gentlemen, you have all heard it. Lord Wang said that he did not see any wanted posters in the capital. Therefore, General Qiu's claim that the prefectures and counties only found out that my family of four were murderers after seeing the wanted posters is a fabrication!"

All eyes turned to Qiu Ming, and Bai Xiaoxiao remained silent.

This embroidered-clothes commander was clearly one of the eldest princess's men, so Bai Xiaoxiao naturally believed that the eldest princess had a backup plan.

Sure enough, Qiu Ming calmly explained, "Your Highness, colleagues, everything I said was true..."

"I have the arrest warrant from that day on file here, with the official seal affixed to it, and all the records are complete. Please pass it around for review."

As Qiu Ming spoke, he took out several documents from the files and handed them to the civil and military officials respectively.

Everyone started passing it around curiously.

Upon seeing this, Mei Xingyue roared like a madwoman: "Impossible! This must be a forgery. Even the Prefect of the Capital said he had never seen the wanted poster. This wanted poster must be fake!"

Qiu Ming sighed, looking regretful: "Your Highness, when this family of four was imprisoned, they claimed to have connections with nobles in the capital. To avoid this matter having too great an impact and implicating nobles in the court, I handled the arrest warrant discreetly. I never expected that my good intentions would be misinterpreted."

Upon hearing this, the Crown Prince did not react, but simply nodded slightly.

Mei Xingyue was still struggling to prove that the arrest warrant was fake, but Chen Wenyu was the first to rebuke her.

"Enough! There's nothing wrong with this arrest warrant. Stop trying to argue, you vile woman."

Li An also knelt down before Bai Xiaoxiao, weeping and pleading, "Your Majesty, I beg you to execute the entire Mei family! This family is a reincarnation of evil spirits. I originally thought my daughter was just unlucky and was tormented to death by them, but now it seems that this family clearly takes pleasure in killing!"

"In just five years, he committed countless crimes in various prefectures and states, each and every one of which is too numerous to recount."

"I believe that the entire Mei family must be executed by slow slicing to appease the spirits of these unjustly killed people in heaven!"

Upon hearing that Ang Lee intended to skin her alive, Mei Xingyue's lips trembled with fear, and her eyes revealed terror.

Unable to sit upright in her wheelchair any longer, she tumbled off and kowtowed to Bai Xiaoxiao.

"Imperial Noble Consort, please do not listen to these people's slander. I have never done such a wicked thing... I... I..."

Mei Xingyue was at a loss for words at this point, but then suddenly remembered something.

Forcing himself to stay upright, he said hopefully, "That's right, I still have Xiao Yue, and Xiao Yue has food... We still have food..."

Mei Xingyue spoke, her tone already bordering on madness.

"Imperial Noble Consort, I still have food and charcoal. The snowstorm in the capital is incessant, and refugees are rising up everywhere. Only food and charcoal can save us. Don't you want food?"

"As long as the Imperial Noble Consort does not listen to these people's slander, I can provide as much grain as the court wants!"

"I beg Your Highness to have mercy! My son's master comes from a blessed land, and he has an inexhaustible supply of food..."

Mei Xingyue muttered to herself, her words somewhat incoherent.

The Crown Prince looked at Mei Xingyue, who was completely disheveled, lying on the ground, kowtowing and begging Bai Xiaoxiao, with icy eyes.

Mei Xingyue's cries were only interrupted when the young eunuch who had gone to the East Palace to look for someone returned to the hall.

Mei Xingyue looked hopefully at the person behind the little eunuch.

But she didn't see her precious son and immediately became anxious!

She grabbed the kneeling eunuch and shook him, crying, "Where's my Xiao Yue? Where's my son? Why didn't he come?"

The young eunuch knelt on the ground, trembling, and dared not utter a word.

Seeing this, Bai Xiaoxiao asked, "What exactly happened? Just tell me the truth."

The young eunuch then spoke tremblingly: "Reporting to the Imperial Noble Consort, this servant was ordered to summon Young Master Jiang Nianyue from the East Palace, but after searching the entire East Palace, I could not find any trace of him."

“At the gate of the East Palace, I encountered two seriously injured Embroidered-Robe Envoys. They said they were ordered by the princess to protect the East Palace, but they saw Young Master Jiang Nianyue stealing valuables from the East Palace. When the Embroidered-Robe Envoys tried to stop him, they were severely injured by the young master.”

Upon hearing this, Mei Xingyue completely collapsed to the ground.

She simply couldn't believe that Jiang Nianyue would abandon his own mother like that.

"You're talking nonsense! That's my son, whom I carried for ten months and gave birth to with great difficulty. He's a precious child. How could he abandon me? I'm his own mother. How could he possibly abandon me?"

The young eunuch seemed to think that merely provoking Mei Xingyue wasn't enough, so he added, "Goddess, Young Master Jiang Nianyue didn't leave alone... I heard from the Embroidered Robe Envoy that he also took the seriously injured Eldest Young Master Jiang Nianxing with him, and..."

Hearing the little eunuch stammer, Mei Xingyue's heart sank.

He grabbed his clothes and shouted, "What else! Tell me!"

"And... Young Master Jiang Nianyue also took away Miss Jiang Nianmei, who had been frozen in the lotus pond of the East Palace for many days."

"According to the Embroidered Robe Envoy, when the young master dug the young lady's body out of the lotus pond, it was still lifelike!"