C432 It's not like this

"Your majesty, please forgive me. This old official deserves to die. This old subject really deserves to die!" Xiao Zhenhai suddenly bent his knees and heavily kneeled on the ground. Tears flowed from his eyes as he looked extremely regretful.

When the third son of the Xiao family saw this, he immediately knelt with Xiao Zhenhai. The four of them knelt in front of Emperor Zhou.

"Your majesty, this was this old subject's idea. All of this was this old subject's idea. This old subject deserves to die a thousand times for his crimes. Your majesty, please bestow a punishment upon this old subject!"

Just when everyone thought that the Duke of Xiao would argue for the sake of the Xiao family's innocence, he knelt down in front of the Emperor with his three sons and admitted his guilt.

"Your majesty, this fake palace maid was actually arranged by this old subject. The purpose of doing so is only to save Fourth Prince."

Ever since the emperor bestowed the marriage upon her, her daughter, Xiao Rou, had regarded the Fourth Prince as her future reliance. Ever since the Fourth Prince's incident, she had bathed her face in tears all day long.

This old official has been out fighting for so many years, but I haven't been able to take good care of my daughter. In her prime age, she has already lost half of her leg. The old official could not bear to see her in prison, unable to think of food and tea for the Fourth Prince. As she became thinner and thinner, he decided to take the risk. "This old official was muddle-headed and had fallen in love with his daughter, yet this old official lied to the emperor because of that. This old official was truly unworthy of being a subject. Now that it's too late to speak of it again, this old official is truly ashamed!" As he spoke, he took a deep breath and wiped away some tears. He looked like a worried father.

"Your majesty, no, it wasn't my father's idea. It was all this general's idea. Xiao He is willing to shoulder all of it. Please punish him." Seeing this, Xiao He immediately brought out his treasured sword with both hands and admitted his guilt.

After hearing those words, the tense expression on Zhou Chengdi's face slowly relaxed. However, he did not relax at all.

"Your Majesty, the Xiao family has betrayed the trust of the Emperor. The Xiao family is guilty of heinous crimes." "Rou Er is our only daughter, seeing her suffer, we wanted to give her some compensation. As we thought about how His Highness had already bestowed upon Rou'er and His Highness, the Fourth Prince didn't mind that Rou'er's legs were injured, and that if anything happens to His Highness, Rou'er will only be a widow for the rest of her life. If we were to grow old and die in the future, we would have to leave Rou'er to live."

Seeing that each member of the Xiao family was about to plead guilty, the corner of Feng Yunzheng's lips curled up into a mocking smile. A smile similar to his appeared on Liu Ruyue's face — —

Xiao Zhenhai was worthy of being called an old fox. He knew that he would not be able to escape punishment today. Thus, he tried to figure out what Zhou Cheng Di was thinking.

This way, the emperor's anger couldn't help but lessen. Then, he cleverly attributed the reason for doing so to the love of his daughter, Lu Xi, the daughter of the prince of An Ping. At this time, no matter how angry the emperor was, he calmed down almost half of his anger.

"Hmph …" Lian Yan Qing chuckled as he cursed in his heart. This Scorpion really knew how to act.

"Your Majesty, this old subject knows that his crimes cannot be pardoned. This old subject requests that Your Majesty remove my position as the Duke of the Kingdom, and then remove my second son, Xiao He's, position as the Marquis to show his punishment. This old subject would then like to make an example to the other officials."

After saying that, Xiao Zhenhai solemnly and sorrowfully took off the crown on his head that symbolized the title of a noble and placed it on the ground. Xiao He then took off the crown on his head that symbolized the Marquis, placing it beside Xiao Zhenhai's crown.

The crowd was stunned. The Crown Prince had asked for the decree to lower himself to the nobility? It had to be known that the division between the prince and duke had been made during the battle. If the title of prince was taken away, then the Xiao family wouldn't be as powerful as the Lian family.

Just as Feng Yunzheng and Lian Ruyue expected, they saw Zhou Chengdi slightly sigh, and the anger in his heart had almost subsided. He opened his mouth and said:

"The Duke of Xiao and his sons, Xiao He, have cheated, trying to frame Jiu Zi and the Lian family's direct daughter. They are guilty of an unforgivable crime, but thinking of the Duke of Xiao's beloved daughter, I decided to open up a net and punish the Duke of Xiao for three years and Xiao He for three years."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" The Xiao family's people were overjoyed. They knew that they had escaped this calamity, so they kneeled on the ground to express their gratitude.

Zhou Chengdi still had some preference towards Xiao Zhenhai. In addition, Madam Xiao was the daughter of the vassal lord, so he decided to give up.

"Your Majesty, this subject is unconvinced." However, Lian Ruyue suddenly said this. Her voice was loud and resounding, reaching everyone's ears.

"Yue Er …" When Lian Yan Qing saw this, he hurriedly said in a low voice, "Stop it!"

"No!" Lian Ru Yue raised her head and said with an unwilling expression, "Father, daughter has repeatedly suffered injustice because of the Xiao family. If it wasn't for my daughter's servants helping her with her wrongs, she would have been in jail by now!

Your daughter has been wronged, and your daughter will naturally be able to endure it for the greater good. But your father is the prime minister of the imperial court, and you serve the imperial court with all your might. "Your majesty, if this news were to spread, do you wish to say that your majesty is unfair to the ministers?"

Everyone was greatly shocked, and they all broke out in a cold sweat for Lian Ru Yue. She unexpectedly had the courage to publicly question the Emperor's decision.

"Yue Er!" Cold sweat broke out on Lian Yan Qing's forehead, but his heart was moved by Lian Ru Yue's words. That's right, the Xiao family was committing violence during his birthday banquet, if he were to give up now, where would he, Lian Yan Qing, hide his face? What would the civil and military officials think of him? Only, he was afraid of the Emperor and didn't dare speak clearly.

"Father." At this moment, Feng Yunzheng took a step forward and said, "Lian Xiyue's words are reasonable. This son is fine. Today, the one who suffered the most was her. The Xiao family should at least give her an explanation."

Suddenly, he realized that if it wasn't for the last intense battle today, Lian Yue would really have been imprisoned again. He recalled what Daoist Master Xuanwei had said, that Lian Ru Yue was a remarkable woman who could bring spring to a withered tree.

He thought for a moment and said, "What you say makes sense. You have to make up for the grievances that you have suffered twice, for the disturbance caused to your birthday. How about this, I will bestow upon Duke Wan Huai, Feng Lianyue, and the County Lord. "

"Thank you …"

"Your majesty, this subject isn't willing to give up this time. I'm not bestowing this title, this subject only wants to seek justice for the matter of being framed by the Xiao family time and time again." Just as Lian Yan Qing wanted to show his gratitude, Lian Meng Yue still had no intention of stopping. She fixedly looked at Emperor Zhou Cheng, her gaze never retreating.

What she wanted wasn't the position of a county lord!