Chapter 918: Duke Yong Was Driven into a Dead End
"Father, I'm wronged! I didn't bribe anyone! I don't know where Supervisor Ji got the money. If you don't believe me, you can summon Supervisor Ji here, and I will confront him!" Chu Liuyue cried out his grievances in a tough voice.
The Emperor looked at his two sons with suspicion. One had the evidence—the supervisor of Prince Zhou's Mansion—to charge the other. But the witness was Prince Zhou's servant, which made him less convincible.
But Chu Liuzhou had physical evidence to prove that Duke Yong's Mansion made deals with Supervisor Ji twice with banknotes. Although the interval was long, the supervisor of the money house paid special attention to them because of the large sum of money.
According to the supervisor of the money house, Supervisor Ji of Prince Yue's Mansion deposited the money, and someone from Duke Yong's Mansion withdrew it.
Normally, the person who received such a large amount of money should have been invisible, but the accountant working in the money house was an astute man with a photographic memory. He specially paid more attention to the payer and payee at that time. When he saw the two people the next time, he realized that they were from different aristocratic families, one from Prince Yue's Mansion and the other Duke Yong's Mansion. The bank accountant was confused because he had been told that the two mansions had no connection.
All the information was collected by Chu Liuzhou. There were witnesses and physical evidence in his statement, so it was hard not to believe it.
"Why did you give money to Duke Yong's Mansion?" the Emperor snapped. How could he be unaware of the intrigue between his sons?
"Father, I swear I am wronged. I don't know anything!" How could Chu Liuyue admit it? At this time, he gritted his teeth and held on to himself.
Though Chu Liuyue was surprised that Chu Liuzhou could dig Supervisor Ji out, he was not afraid of it. After all, Supervisor Ji would lose his life before he showed up to testify against him if there was even the slightest incident.
"Bring him here!" the Emperor ordered the guard.
The guard took the order and left, but he came back soon with a message. When he went to find Supervisor Ji, the latter had hung himself in his room.
"Father, I'm really innocent. If Second Brother hadn't mentioned him, I wouldn't even have remembered such a person. How could I have given him such a large sum of money and ordered him to bribe other officials with it? Father, please trust me!" Chu Liuyue said.
In his words, he not only just defended himself but also implied that Chu Liuzhou framed him up. Chu Liuzhou couldn't know what he didn't know, unless the former told a lie.
Chu Liuzhou was furious and said, "Father, obviously Eldest Brother is the person behind the scenes. The evidence is conclusive! Please make a clear judgment!"
"Supervisor Ji is involved in the trouble, but now he is dead! Second Brother, why do you insist that I am the mastermind? What did I do to offend you?" Chu Liuyue looked sad and distressed.
"How dare you argue now?"
"I am not distorting the fact, Second Brother. You have two witnesses, one a servant of your mansion and the other of my mansion. But the one from my mansion is dead now. A dead man can't say anything, so you can say whatever you want! I believe that Father will find out the truth to prove my innocence!"
"What a good plan, Eldest Brother! You killed Supervisor Ji so that there is no witness to testify against you, didn't you?"
"Second Brother, I am really wronged. Is it appropriate for you to say that?"
The two of them started a verbal fight in the Imperial Study. Chu Liuzhou insisted that Chu Liuyue conspired against the Emperor by secretly bribing some officials with a financial relationship. While Chu Liuyue kept declaring his innocence and hinted that Chu Liuzhou was the one behind the scenes who had ulterior motives.
The Emperor was angrier and angrier when hearing their quarrel. He smashed the writing brushes on the desk to the two people.
The writing brushes were not heavy, but the black ink on them splashed on their faces, marking their handsome faces with several black lines.
But neither of them dared to wipe them away with hands. They fell to their knees and didn't dare to make a move.
"Duke Yong, tell me where you got the money. Why did the payer give you money? Since he gave you money, he must need your help." The Emperor ignored his two sons and looked at Duke Yong.
The Emperor couldn't tell who was right or wrong for a moment, Chu Liuzhou or Chu Liuyue. But it was sure that Di Rufeng was involved in it. The Emperor slammed his hand on the desk and questioned, "Has Duke Yong's Mansion been at such a loss of money? You not only stole money from your sister and daughter-in-law, but also took money from the prince's mansion! What do you want to do?"
Di Rufeng had never thought that he would be linked to it again.
It was too surprising for him, as it was not what he had discussed with Chu Liuyue in Prince Yue's Mansion yesterday. He was indeed the one who had contact with Supervisor Ji, and the money he received was indeed given by Prince Yue in private. It was also a large amount of money.
Di Rufeng stole a glance at Chu Liuyue, only to see that he ignored him with his head lowered. Di Rufeng became anxious and annoyed.
"Di Rufeng, can't you talk without looking at Prince Yue?" The Emperor's voice became colder.
"Duke Yong, if you have something to say, you can tell Father. Just tell him the truth! I am not afraid of Father's investigation because I am innocent!" Chu Liuyue said aloud.
Di Rufeng was forced into a dead end. He, with his forehead full of drops of sweats, slowly closed his eyes and then opened them, clenched his teeth, and said, "Your Majesty, Supervisor Ji of Prince Yue's Mansion did give me some money!"
"What did he ask you to do?" the Emperor asked with a calm face.
"He didn't ask me to do anything for him. He just said that Prince Yue appreciated me. He heard that my mansion was in a financial strait, so he gave me some money. At that time, my mansion did have some money problems. And… and Prince Yue didn't ask for anything else, so I just accepted the money!" Di Rufeng said with a bitter face.
"Did Prince Yue tell you in person?" the Emperor asked again.
"How could I meet Prince Yue in the flesh? It was… it was Supervisor Ji who said so and gave me the money. He also mentioned that he was the supervisor of Prince Yue's Mansion. I watched him enter Prince Yue's Mansion. Later, I asked the people in Prince Yue's Mansion, and they all said that he was indeed the supervisor of Prince Yue's Mansion!" Di Rufeng said with his head lowered.
Since Supervisor Ji was confirmed to be implicated, he had to say so. Otherwise, he couldn't keep his own life. At this time, he had to declare his innocence to get rid of the danger.
"When you knew nothing but that he was the supervisor of Prince Yue's Mansion, how dare you accept the money he gave?" The Emperor sneered.
"Your… Your Majesty, I had no choice! Since I wasn't asked to do anything, I just took it as Prince Yue's pity for me! I have a disappointing son, who squandered money on drink and women and owed a lot of debts… When Supervisor Ji sent me the money, I was just in short of it. Otherwise, there would be a scandal in my mansion!" Di Rufeng covered his face and burst into tears.
"I only have one sister, and I have always doted on her! If I had not been in such a difficult situation, I would not have swallowed her dowries. How useless I am!" Di Rufeng became more and more excited. He pounded his chest hard with a regretful face.
The Emperor had known early that Duke Yong's son was a black sheep that shamed his family lots of times. "The heir of Duke Yong is not a promising man. He is just a useless playboy addicted to sensual pleasures!"
But it was hard for him to determine whether Chu Liuyue or Chu Liuzhou was telling the truth. He just looked at Di Rufeng, who was crying silently, with unpredictable eyes.
"Father, I swear I didn't give any money to Duke Yong! My mansion is not wealthy, and I am not rich enough to give others such an amount of money, though Mother gave me some allowances sometimes. If you don't believe me, Father, you can check the accounts in my mansion and see how much money I have!"
Chu Liuyue cried out his grievances again. Actually, the money he offered was not relevant to the business of Prince Yue's Mansion. Chu Liuyue earned it somewhere else.
Since he mentioned his mother Consort of Virtue, people naturally thought of the Empress.
Consort of Virtue, as one of the four consorts of the first rank, was the second most powerful woman in the harem. However, the Empress was on the top, always oppressing her. Therefore, when it came to supporting their sons, she certainly could not do it better and easier than the Empress.
According to this, the person behind Supervisor Ji was more likely to be Chu Liuzhou! After all, Chu Liuzhou had the Empress behind him, so he must be richer than Chu Liuyue!
Chu Liuzhou was infuriated. He said with his eyes wide open, "Chu Liuyue, don't falsely accuse me of doing what you committed!" His hatred for Chu Liuyue, for new and old wrongs, welled up in his heart with the memories flashing in his mind that they had battled against each other in public or secret and they had a physical fight in Marquis Xing's Mansion.
After that fight, they felt something wrong, but they had given vent to their anger and hatred. At least, they had punched each other on the bodies.
"Second Brother, we are in the Imperial Study. You can't be presumptuous!" Compared with Chu Liuzhou, Chu Liuyue was much calmer. He even had the mood to remind Chu Liuzhou.
Suppressing his anger, Chu Liuzhou said to the Emperor, "Father, Chu Liuyue is ambitious. Obviously, he hooks up with some officials in secret. But he just came up with such excuses to deny his crime. Supervisor Ji worked for him and even has inquired about my information, so he must be Chu Liuyue's henchman!"
"Father, I think someone wants to frame me up in this matter. Please uphold justice for me!" Chu Liuyue also said to the Emperor.
His two sons started another quarrel, and neither of them gave his way to the other. The Emperor became furious and the blue veins on his forehead stood out. "Someone comes and takes them out of the hall! You two knee outside and reflect yourselves! You can't come back until you think it clearly!"
A eunuch showed up and caught them, so they had to stand up and leave together after casting a fierce glance at each other. When they walked out of the door, they knelt side by side outside the Imperial Study.
"Duke Yong, if you don't tell the truth, I don't know what will happen to my Eldest Brother and Second Brother, but I am quite sure what will happen to you!" Chu Liuchen looked at Di Rufeng with gentle eyes and said with an elegant smile…