Gate of God

“Su Qing!” Fang Zhengzhi asserted.

“No way! There is no way Su Qing could have administered the poison. He does not have the clearance to be able to even attempt it.” Crown Prince Lin Tianrong’s expression darkened.

He knew that Fang Zhengzhi knew the truth.

Fang Zhengzhi knew that Shan Ling was the one who administered the poison. The reason why Fang Zhengzhi would say that it was Su Qing…

He wanted to drive a wedge between the Crown Prince and Su Qing.

As such, he decided to recount the situation back then to prove that Su Qing could never have administered the poison.

“Who else could it be if it wasn’t Su Qing? He was the only one who wasn’t at the banquet. Your Highness, you can’t possibly think that Shan Ling was the one who added the poison, right?” Fang Zhengzhi smirked.

“Why not…” Crown Prince Lin Tianrong’s eyes glittered icily. He knew that if he said that the poison was administered by Shan Ling…

Fang Zhengzhi would definitely ask for Shan Ling’s motivation.

Then…

Things would begin to unravel.

Crown Prince Lin Tianrong could not let this happen! As such, he couldn’t say anything that would pin this on Shan Ling.

“Your Highness, is your silence reflective of your indecision?” Fang Zhengzhi chuckled.

“Fang Zhengzhi, I suggest that you refrain from guessing when you do not have evidence on hand. Else, you can be charged with slandering an official!” Crown Prince Lin Tianrong was not going to let Fang Zhengzhi continue with this line of questioning.

Things were already out of his control.

He did not have a good feeling about this. It felt like he had stepped right into Fang Zhengzhi’s trap.

This was a terrifying thought, one that sent shivers down his spine.

Most importantly, he had no way of denying that there was poison in the spices. The fainting of countless officials had already made that an irrefutable fact.

Any doctor worth their salt would be able to determine what poison it was. Then, the truth would come to light.

All he could do was try to calm himself down.

The officials who had not eaten the lamb all nodded when they heard what the Crown Prince said. They began to shed doubt on Fang Zhengzhi’s suspicions.

Fang Zhengzhi chuckled lightly. “Your Highness, are you really planning on pushing this to the late Shan Ling?”

“I do not know what happened then, so I will not comment! I will not accuse anyone until I have evidence!” Crown Prince Lin Tianrong asserted.

“It is actually a very easy problem to solve. All we have to do is bring Su Qing in for questioning.” Fang Zhengzhi suggested.

“Hahaha… Fang Zhengzhi! You are quite naive! For starters, your accusations are baseless and unbelievable! Furthermore, Su Qing is watching over the Northern Five Constabularies! You are in no position to recommend that he be brought in for questioning!” Crown Prince Lin Tianrong chuckled icily.

“What if I have evidence?”

“You have evidence?” Crown Prince Lin Tianrong was shocked.

He knew that he had not left any evidence behind.

He had already killed the eight mercenaries! Su Qing was also fiercely loyal to him! There was no way Fang Zhengzhi could have gotten hold of any evidence.

However, could he reveal these facts?

Of course not!

“Of course I have evidence! Your Highness, do you think that I would really accuse an official without any evidence?” Fang Zhengzhi replied calmly.

The eyes of the other officials were on the verge of popping out of their sockets.

“Su Qing administered the poison?”

“How is that possible?”

“How else would Fang Zhengzhi have evidence?”

The officials were all extremely confused. Things had changed much too quickly, so much so that even they couldn’t keep up.

The crowd was almost equally confused. They had thought that Fang Zhengzhi would try to run his mouth but no one expected that Fang Zhengzhi would actually have evidence.

Ping Yang stared at Fang Zhengzhi.

In fact, when she saw the officials crumple to the ground, she finally understood why Fang Zhengzhi would ask the officials to eat the meat before the royal family.

However…

Did this shameless fella really have evidence on hand?

Ping Yang refused to believe this but Fang Zhengzhi looked extremely calm. She had no other choice but to believe what he was saying.

Xing Yuanguo and Chi Hong both looked on doubtfully.

Evidence? How could Su Qing possibly be the one who administered the poison? They refused to believe that Fang Zhengzhi would have any evidence on hand.

“What evidence… could you possibly have?” Crown Prince Lin Tianrong looked on in disbelief.

“Do you really want to hear it?” Fang Zhengzhi smiled.

“Of course!” Crown Prince Lin Tianrong nodded.

The other officials perked up their ears and waited for Fang Zhengzhi to tell them the evidence he had on Su Qing.

“Okay then… but even though you want to hear it, I can’t say it.” Fang Zhengzhi shook his head in exasperation.

“F*ck!”

“Is he playing us?”

“How does someone like that even exist?”

The officials couldn’t resist the urge to swear when they heard this. All of them looked at Fang Zhengzhi with scorn.

Crown Prince Lin Tianrong’s expression darkened.

He was the Crown Prince! How dare someone play him like this in front of so many people?! He was infuriated.

“Fang Zhengzhi! What do you mean?”

“Nothing… Your Highness, you should know that some evidence is easily destroyed. I can’t tell you the evidence just yet.” Fang Zhengzhi explained calmly.

“You say you have evidence, yet you refuse to tell us?”

“I do have evidence but I can’t reveal it right now. Is there a problem with that? Your Highness, why are you in a hurry to know?” Fang Zhengzhi asked.

“You…” Crown Prince Lin Tianrong clenched his fists and felt a wave of fury. He had no choice but to suppress it. “When do you plan to tell us?”

“When the trial starts!” Fang Zhengzhi replied calmly.

“The trial?!” Crown Prince Lin Tianrong was stunned but recovered quickly. “This case is closed, why would we have a trial?”

“Your Highness, did you not see that countless officials had been poisoned?” Fang Zhengzhi pointed at the unconscious officials.

“So what?”

“I already said that I was poisoned in the same way over a year ago. I couldn’t have possibly killed Shan Ling.”

“Humph! Why should we believe you? How can you prove it?” Crown Prince Lin Tianrong grit his teeth.

“You need me to prove this?” Fang Zhengzhi queried.

“Of course! Everyone knows that you’re prone to spouting nonsense! How can we believe you without proof?” Crown Prince Lin Tianrong pressed.

This was honestly quite a ridiculous request.

Fang Zhengzhi had already proven that Princess Shan Yu’s spices had been tampered with and the officials were all poisoned.

This had already shown everyone that Fang Zhengzhi had been poisoned.

However…

Crown Prince Lin Tianrong had to try this.

He needed to pray that Emperor Lin Mubai was still on his side.

He knew for a fact that Emperor Lin Mubai could never pin the murder of Shan Ling on him as long as he was still the Crown Prince.

Even if he had killed Shan Ling, he had done it to quell the rebellion and bring peace to the land. It was a good deed.

Emperor Lin Mubai needed a reason.

It didn’t matter even if the reason was a ridiculous one.

He instinctively looked at Emperor Lin Mubai. He could tell that the Emperor was thinking.

This had reaffirmed his belief.

As the Crown Prince, Fang Zhengzhi would never be able to get any charges to stick as long as he kept denying involvement.

“If that is the case, we will have to do an experiment to find out.” Fang Zhengzhi nodded accommodatingly.

“What kind of experiment?” Crown Prince Lin Tianrong’s gaze was icy.

“If my guess is correct, the officials should have been drained on all energy. However, they are still conscious. That means that they can still hear us.” Fang Zhengzhi added.

“What can that prove?”

“I experienced the same thing a year back. If I am right, this will prove that I was poisoned by the same toxin a year ago.”

“Okay! We will have the Ministry of Law interview them when they wake up!” Crown Prince Lin Tianrong hesitated but nodded.

This was one of the few experiments that he would agree to.

When it came to the officials, he was absolutely certain that they would take his side.

“No need for that. We can wake them up now.” Fang Zhengzhi shook his head.

“Now?” Crown Prince Lin Tianrong squinted.

“Mm, after I was poisoned by this a year ago, I began to search for the name of it. I brought along some of the antidotes just in case. Your Highness, you seem rather anxious. Are you afraid?” Fang Zhengzhi explained.

“Afraid? What do I have to be afraid of?” Crown Prince Lin Tianrong grit his teeth.

“I will be impartial. Do you have any objections if I administer the antidote to Yue Hu?” Fang Zhengzhi added.

“You’re choosing Yue Hu?!” Crown Prince Lin Tianrong was stunned.

He had thought that Fang Zhengzhi would choose one of the neutral officials. To think that Fang Zhengzhi would choose Yue Hu…

How could he not be shocked by this choice?

He was not alone. Ping Yang, King Duan, Xing Yuanguo, Chi Hong, and Wen Dabao were all equally shocked.

Why would he choose Yue Hu for this experiment?

Was he trying to court death?

“Your Highness, do you think that he is an inappropriate choice? I can always choose someone else.” Fang Zhengzhi added.

“No need for that. Yue Hu has served five years as a minister and is known to be impartial! I have no objections!” Crown Prince Lin Tianrong had no idea why Fang Zhengzhi would choose Yue Hu.

However, he knew that Fang Zhengzhi had signed his own death warrant by choosing Yue Hu.

“He is? Oh wow, I guess I picked the right candidate.” Fang Zhengzhi nodded and walked over to Yue Hu.

Crown Prince Lin Tianrong chuckled icily to himself when he saw Fang Zhengzhi walk over.

He wanted to say one thing to Fang Zhengzhi.

Don’t you know that Yue Hu is in my camp?

Chi Hong stared at Fang Zhengzhi and shook his head. Fang Zhengzhi was just one step away from success.

But he made such a choice at the last moment.

His heart ached.

Yue Hu was the Minister of Finance and has spent decades in the court. He had been loyal to the Crown Prince even before he was the Minister of Finance.

How could Fang Zhengzhi succeed by choosing Yue Hu?

Emperor Lin Mubai watched as Fang Zhengzhi walked over and bent down to Yue Hu’s ear. The Emperor saw a glimmer of iciness flash through Fang Zhengzhi’s eyes and waved to Eunuch Wei.

Eunuch Wei saw that and brought over a cup of hot tea.

Emperor Lin Mubai lifted the lid and took a whiff. Then, he took a sip and thought about the flavors.

At that moment…

A resonating voice echoed through the air.

“Yue Hu, your concubine “Liu Lan” is currently having sex with your second son Yue Tianxiao in room two of the Qingtian Motel. Did you hear me?!”

“Sh*t!” Emperor Lin Mubai spat out the mouthful of tea immediately.