Chapter 529: Everything Is Messed-Up
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
As the leader of an Empire, Emperor Lin Mubai rarely lost his composure in such a manner. He had impeccable self-control, especially in front of the other officials.
But this time...
He spat out his tea.
When he heard this, he couldn"t believe his ears. The tea instantly stained his golden dragon robe.
"This fella is really..." Emperor Lin Mubai shook his head speechlessly as he looked at Minister of Finance Yue Hu.
He was not the only one who had been rendered speechless.
All of the other officials were equally speechless. They stood in their positions, stunned by what they just heard.
"Cheating?!"
"The concubine and his son?"
"Room two of the Qingtian Motel?"
The officials exclaimed to themselves when they heard Fang Zhengzhi say this.
"How could someone be this shameless?"
"How dare he accuse a rank two official"s concubine and son of having s.e.xual relations in broad daylight?"
"Does he have any values? Does he even have any sense of shame?"
The officials were all rendered speechless. They never thought that it was possible for someone to be this shameless.
If they could...
They would have beaten Fang Zhengzhi to death where he stood.
They had to suppress the urge to give him the middle finger. He had just insulted one of their own.
However, they couldn"t because Fang Zhengzhi was in the middle of an experiment.
Crown Prince Lin Tianrong was stunned.
He never expected Fang Zhengzhi to say something like that, much less in front of so many people.
These were unspeakable things!
Most importantly, how dare he make such groundless accusations? Did he have any respect for the courts?
Silence...
Everyone fell silent.
The crowd watched on by the side as they watched Minister of Finance Yue Hu. They were all rendered speechless.
Ping Yang"s mouth was agape and her crystal clear eyes were filled with shock. Then, she blushed and lowered her head, muttering "shameless" as she did so.
"This fella..." Chi Hong shook his head and turned to look at Xing Yuanguo. Xing Yuanguo"s expression was equally strange.
If there was one man who could remain calm throughout all this.
It was Yan Xiu. Even though Yan Xiu blushed slightly, he did not lose his composure like those around him.
At that moment...
Minister of Finance Yue Hu regained consciousness.
After Fang Zhengzhi had said his piece, he had given Yue Hu a dose of the antidote. Yue Hu opened his eyes soon after.
He did not seem lost and did not try to look around to get a feel of where he was.
Minister of Finance Yue Hu"s face was completely flushed and his eyes were bloodshot. He looked slightly off balance.
"Fang Zhengzhi, I, I..." Minister of Finance Yue Hu clenched his fists and his knuckles whitened as he glared at Fang Zhengzhi. He wanted to shred Fang Zhengzhi where he stood.
"What"s wrong? Official Yue, are you feeling alright? Did you hear anything whilst you were unconscious?" Fang Zhengzhi didn"t seem shocked by Yue Hu"s expression.
"You... I didn"t hear anything!" Minister of Finance Yue Hu knew what Fang Zhengzhi was trying to do.
He was furious! He wanted to kill Fang Zhengzhi right now but he couldn"t. If he did so, the Crown Prince would be finished.
As for Fang Zhengzhi"s words...
He had heard them loud and clear, but he couldn"t possibly admit to that.
"Did you really hear nothing?" Fang Zhengzhi asked again.
"Of course!" Minister of Finance Yue Hu nodded solemnly. His only option was to suppress his anger. His face turned purple, then paled.
"Oh wow, you do have quite a high tolerance." Fang Zhengzhi chuckled.
Everyone could tell what was happening. Yue Hu was trying to suppress his fury and embarra.s.sment.
Anyone with some semblance of intellect and sight could see that Yue Hu was extremely uncomfortable. He had clearly heard what Fang Zhengzhi said.
However...
Yue Hu chose to deny it.
He grit his teeth and denied it.
Fang Zhengzhi couldn"t do anything about it. This experiment would have gone in the Crown Prince"s favor.
Shan Yu frowned. Even though she knew that Fang Zhengzhi was shameless, she never expected him to say this. His words would have been quite effective.
However, Fang Zhengzhi should never have chosen Minister of Finance Yue Hu. To be one of the six ministers, he had to have extraordinary tolerance.
If he chose to grit his teeth and deny it.
What could Fang Zhengzhi do?
Everyone felt equally doubtful.
"What are you talking about? I don"t understand!" Yue Hu was in pain, but he tried to keep a calm expression.
"You really don"t? How about I repeat it for you?" Fang Zhengzhi remarked.
"You..." Yue Hu wanted to add "wouldn"t dare" behind that. However, he swallowed the words as he felt a chill down his back.
He had no idea why Fang Zhengzhi had chosen him.
If he had a say in this matter...
He would have never agreed to it.
However, he didn"t have the right to choose. Fang Zhengzhi had chosen him and the Crown Prince had given the go ahead. He had no choice but to swallow his pride.
"Official Yue, if you don"t object to it, I"ll repeat it one more time." Fang Zhengzhi added.
"You... carry on!" Minister of Finance Yue Hu stammered.
"Actually, I have another question before I repeat myself."
"What is it?!"
"Official Yue, do you want to know if what I said was true?" Fang Zhengzhi smirked as he looked at Yue Hu.
"Fang Zhengzhi!" Minister of Finance Yue Hu was stumped. He grit his teeth, "I don"t know what you"re talking about and I have nothing more to say to you!"
"Is that so?" Fang Zhengzhi nodded and turned to look at the crowd. "The Qingtian Motel is just 15 minutes away. Do you all want to take a look at the second room there?"
"Whoa!"
Everyone burst into chatter.
Commoners and officials alike looked at Fang Zhengzhi in disbelief. They had no idea what Fang Zhengzhi was trying to do.
Could it be...
Did he just speak the truth?!
Impossible!
Something like this would never happen! It was unfathomable!
But if it wasn"t true...
Why would Fang Zhengzhi know the name of Yue Hu"s concubine? Why would he accuse Yue Hu"s son so openly?
He even invited the crowd to go and watch them in action!
If this ended up being a farce, Fang Zhengzhi would definitely have to pay for it with his life!
Everyone turned to look at Minister of Finance Yue Hu. His expression was darkening with each pa.s.sing second.
His concubine was cheating on him with his son?!
What was happening?
This was the capital! This was a society which emphasized loyalty and values. Such adulterous behavior...
Was unfathomable!
Yue Hu paled when he heard this. He didn"t want to believe what Fang Zhengzhi said. But what if it was true?
He was being put through an emotional roller coaster.
"Impossible! This is impossible! He is definitely lying to me. Liu Lan and Tianxiao would never do this to me. Tianxiao... no!" Minister of Finance Yue Hu tried to convince himself but his body continued to tremble.
Crown Prince Lin Tianrong"s expression changed.
He could tell that Yue Hu was rather emotional right now. Anyone in his position would be too.
The fact that he could remain composed even up till now...
That was quite the extraordinary feat.
"You have to keep calm! He is just trying to agitate you! Official Yue, don"t fall for it!" Crown Prince Lin Tianrong exclaimed in his heart.
He could not say this out loud.
Because...
Emperor Lin Mubai was staring at him.
He knew what that look meant. Right now, he had to pray that Yue Hu could stomach this.
At that moment, the crowd began to grow restless. They couldn"t suppress their curiosity any longer.
More and more people began streaming over to the motel.
Wen Dabao also began to move. He was not going to miss out on this!
Furthermore, he needed to satisfy his curiosity.
"Come on! I know exactly where this is! Come with me! Let"s catch this adulterous pair! Don"t let them escape!" Wen Dabao hollered.
The crowd was reinvigorated when they heard this.
The thought of catching the Minister of Finance"s concubine with his son set fire to their veins.
"Come..." Yue Hu wanted to shout at the crowd and gave them come back. However, he swallowed his words before he could say them.
He glared at the crowd rus.h.i.+ng towards the motel. Right now, he had the urge to commit suicide.
If what Fang Zhengzhi said was true...
He would be embarra.s.sed in front of such a huge crowd! How could he still face anyone ever again?
There was a light breeze.
It messed up Yue Hu"s hair and Crown Prince Lin Tianrong"s confidence. It also ruffled the crowd outside the palace.
It was quite chaotic...
However, nothing could match the chaos...
In their hearts!
Time seemed to slow as all the officials waited anxiously for the results.
It was a strange feeling.
To be honest, they hoped that Fang Zhengzhi had made it all up, but they were still anxious to see the results.
It was inexplicable.
"Yan Xiu, do you think that the shameless fella was telling the truth?" Ping Yang raised her head and looked at Yan Xiu.
"Mm, it"s true." Yan Xiu nodded.
"You trust him that much?" Ping Yang couldn"t understand it. The possibility of something like that happening was unbelievably low.
"Yes." Yan Xiu nodded and didn"t give any further reasons.
This conversation was overheard by Lin Tianrong and Yue Hu. Both of them felt a s.h.i.+ver down their spines.
The Crown Prince looked at Yue Hu and saw nothing but pain in his eyes. Yue Hu was pleading...
He was begging the Crown Prince to think of a way to ameliorate the situation. If what Fang Zhengzhi said was true...
This involved his concubine and his son!
King Duan saw the interaction between Yue Hu and Lin Tianrong. Even though he didn"t believe Fang Zhengzhi...
He made his decision quickly.
He turned and shot a look at a figure nearby. That figure nodded and shot off into the distance.
Chi Hong seemed rather calm but he was looking at Fang Zhengzhi differently from before.
He thought of something else.
If...
If Fang Zhengzhi was right...
How did Fang Zhengzhi know about this? The fact that the concubine of the Minister of Finance was cheating on him was not something easy to find out.
Most importantly, he had to know this even before he had this confrontation with the Crown Prince!
This was getting more unbelievable by the second!