I am a prince in Zhutian Films

Chapter 50 Wait a little longer

"Good one just watching."

Just as Mei Zhili was cursing in his heart and feeling embarrassed, the second prince Li Chengze walked in clapping his hands.

Mei Zhili breathed a sigh of relief and quickly stood up to face Li Chengze, and saluted with everyone else in the hall.

"Greetings, Second Prince."

"Everyone, please stand up. The prince is here. How can you kneel before me?"

Li Chengze said, and when he passed by Si Lili, he stopped and joked, "Sister-in-law, if Third Brother knew that you knelt before me, he would definitely make trouble for me. Please don't hurt me. I really can't beat Third Brother."

Listen, you can tell she calls you brother and sister-in-law without you having to mention it specifically. She is much better than Li Chengping.

Although the second brother is not a good person and has done many wrong and bad things, and is a villain, he is sensible, good at speaking, and knows how to deal with things.

Even as a villain, he is a lovable and charming villain.

It was just that some of the things the second brother did really made Li Chengzong unhappy, otherwise the relationship between Li Chengzong and the second brother would not be inferior to that between Li Chengru and Li Chengping.

"Your Highness is joking."

"I'm not kidding you, Third Brother really dares to hit me."

Li Chengze shook his head and laughed, then walked up the steps to face Li Chengqian and bowed deeply.

"Meet His Highness the Crown Prince."

Li Chengqian, who was sitting upright, waited until the second brother paid his respects before he said hypocritically that there was no need for brothers to be like this. He stood up and helped the second brother up. After the two brothers performed a show, the second brother also sat next to Mei Zhili.

Mei Zhili, who was sitting between the two of them, was now in a real dilemma.

The prince obviously wanted to convict Fan Xian.

As for the second brother, although I have never heard that he has any friendship with Fan Xian, he has always been at odds with the prince, which means he has stood against the prince.

Whether Fan Xian is convicted or not, he must have offended one of them.

and many more!

still have a chance.

Thinking of a certain question, Mei Zhili spoke.

"Earlier, His Royal Highness said that Master Fan was already on the pleasure boat at midnight, and Miss Si Lili said that he had gone to bed at midnight. Only His Royal Highness the Third Prince knows about Fan Xian's situation, so the key to this case is the witness, His Royal Highness the Third Prince. How about we wait for His Royal Highness to come to the Kyoto government office for a retrial?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the court in Kyoto Prefecture fell into silence.

The prince had a blank expression on his face. He felt a little regretful for listening to Li Yunrui, but at the same time he was also somewhat glad that he did not completely break off relations with the third brother.

Li Chengze glanced at the prince opposite him and showed a playful smile.

Si Lili was secretly surprised. She never expected that the man who seemed a bit of a scoundrel to her could be so powerful in Kyoto.

Although it was true that all eighteen members of the Feng family were killed before, the evidence of the Feng family's guilt was irrefutable. The head of the Feng family was a junior official in the Dali Temple, and his status and position were far inferior to that of the prince.

So in her opinion, Li Chengzong's power can be summed up in four words: respectful but not fearful.

People can respect his status, but not be afraid of him as a person.

Anyway, he is definitely not as good as the crown prince and the second prince who have been involved in politics for a long time.

But looking at the current situation, even a fool can feel that the Crown Prince and the Second Prince do not want to offend Li Chengzong.

Fan Xian also had a good eye. Seeing the looks of the Crown Prince and the Second Prince, he immediately calmed down and thought to himself that I seemed to have underestimated the power of my fellow countrymen.

Seeing that neither side spoke, Mei Zhili looked around and said cautiously, "Your Highness, Crown Prince, Second Prince, what do you think?"

"You are the presiding judge, and you ask me?"

"That's what I meant, Your Highness."

Seeing this, Mei Zhili secretly praised himself. He used the Third Prince to take the blame. I think in the end it should be none of my fault. Neither the Crown Prince, the Second Prince, nor Guo Youzhi can blame me.

Mei Zhili heaved a sigh of relief, picked up the gavel, then timidly stepped down and shouted, "The Third Prince is an important witness. We will proceed with the trial after the Third Prince has appeared in court. First, the suspect, Master Fan..."

The rest of the words were not uttered because a shout was heard outside the court.

"Third Prince, here you are!"

As he finished speaking, Li Chengzong walked into the court of the Kyoto government office.

"No need to take him into custody, I'm here."

Just like when the crown prince and the second son came, Mei Zhili hurriedly stood up from his seat and bowed to greet them.

"Greetings to His Majesty the Third Prince. Please take a seat. Please take a seat."

"In the Kyoto government office, you, the prefect of Kyoto, are the most powerful. Besides, I am just a witness. Just stand down below. You can sit down."

"This is inappropriate."

"Ok?"

Mei Zhili sat down tremblingly.

Li Chengzong yawned and bowed to the crown prince and the second brother above him: "Greetings to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and greetings to my second brother."

The two men stood up at the same time and returned the greeting, "Excuse me, Third Brother."

After greeting, Li Chengzong looked at Mei Zhili and said, "I didn't sleep well last night, so I took a nap. I blame my subordinates for not calling me in time. I came a little late. Don't mind, Lord Mei. How far is the case?"

"Your Highness, now we just need someone to prove that Fan Xian was on the pleasure boat at midnight, and then we can prove that Fan Xian is innocent."

Li Chengzong nodded, "Who is Editor Guo's lawyer?"

"Student He Zongwei pays homage to His Majesty the Third Prince."

Li Chengzong hummed, and after waiting for a long time without any response, he said speechlessly: "Why don't you ask?"

"Ah, what do you want to ask?" He Zongwei was thinking about how he had offended Si Lili before, and what would this Third Prince do to him when he came. His mind was already in a state of confusion, so he didn't even remember what kind of lawyer he was.

"That's it. Are you qualified to be a lawyer?"

Li Chengzong sneered and asked, "Hongcheng, you are also a witness. Can you tell me how Attorney He asked you questions?"

"The great scholar He asked us if we had seen Fan Xian at midnight."

"What did Fan Xian say?" "He said he would drink with you on Third Sister-in-law's pleasure boat at midnight."

My little brother has a future, at least better than that Li Chengping.

Li Chengzong gave Mei Zhili an admiring look and said, "Master Mei, I was drinking with Fan Xian in the painted boat at midnight."

Mei Zhili looked at Li Chengqian beside him.

"Look at what I do. I always say I'm here to watch, but I believe in my third brother."

Mei Zhili nodded: "Since the Third Prince has testified, Master Fan is cleared of suspicion and the case is closed."

After he finished speaking, the Crown Prince and the Second Son also stood up, with no intention of pursuing the matter further.

Li Chengzong was somewhat speechless and said, "Your Highness, I'm already here. If you don't serve the main course, I feel like I've come here for nothing."

Everyone in the court was stunned. How could the trial be related to food?

Although others didn't understand, Fan Xian understood what the main course meant, so after a moment of shock, he felt uneasy.

"Third brother, what do you mean by this?"

"Your Highness the Crown Prince has arrested someone. If you don't serve this main dish, it will be difficult for me to handle the next step. Please give me some face."

Upon hearing this, Fan Xian's face changed drastically.

"Since Third Brother has said so, as your elder brother, I will naturally give you this face."

Li Chengqian smiled, wondering how Li Chengzong knew that he had captured Teng Zijing, and shouted outside, "Bring the man in."

Soon, two palace guards came in, bringing the bound Teng Zijing.

If Fan Xian was just feeling uneasy before, he was panicking now.

He looked at Li Chengzong in panic, and found that he gave him a reassuring look. Only then did Fan Xian gradually calm down.

"Who is this?" Li Chengze asked. He really didn't know Teng Zijing.

"Guo Baokun recounted the case last night. The perpetrator repeatedly asked about the whereabouts of Teng Zijing's family. As far as I know, Teng Zijing is from the Supervisory Council. After the assassination in Danzhou, Fan Xian claimed that he killed him personally. So who would care about the whereabouts of Teng Zijing's family if he was already dead?"

As Li Chengqian spoke, he walked up to Teng Zijing, looked back at the second brother, and continued, "It will be more interesting to investigate further. The Teng family's wife and children moved to a new residence outside the city, so I had to send people to look for them. As a result, Teng Zijing was caught. I naturally believe my third brother, so Guo Baokun must have misunderstood Fan Xian, so the person who beat Guo Baokun was obviously Teng Zijing. Second brother, is it okay for me to say this?"

"There is no problem, but since Your Highness the Crown Prince has already caught the real culprit, why did he still come to the Kyoto government office?" Li Chengze said as he stood up and walked down the hall to the opposite side of Li Chengqian.

"Don't be anxious, second brother. Let's talk about Guo Baokun being beaten first."

Li Chengqian smiled, turned to look at Fan Xian, and said slowly: "According to the criminal law, assaulting an official is a capital crime, Fan Xian!"

With Li Chengzong's support, Fan Xian remained calm and bowed slightly, "Your Highness, you said that Guo Baokun was beaten by Teng Zijing. Who can prove it? We must rely on evidence. Just because the suspect questioned Teng Zijing's family members when he beat Guo Baokun, can we conclude that it was Teng Zijing who did it? Couldn't it be Teng Zijing's friends who asked questions? Maybe it was a chivalrous knight who saw injustice and did it."

Li Chengze nodded in agreement, looked at Li Chengqian and said with a smile: "Well, what Fan Xian said makes sense."

"It is indeed a quick wit, but Fan Xian, you seem to have forgotten that you once reported to the emperor that you had killed Teng Zijing with your own hands. Then I want to ask you why Teng Zijing is still alive?"

In Li Chengqian's eyes, Guo Baokun's case was not the point at all. The point was that Guo Baokun's case led to Teng Zijing. But Fan Xian had reported that Teng Zijing had been killed by him personally.

In fact, Fan Xian was guilty of deceiving the emperor, punishable by death!

Li Chengze crossed his arms and said calmly, "Fan Xian might have been deceived by this person's trick. People from the Supervisory Council always have some tricks up their sleeves."

"As far as I know, this person has been accompanying Fan Xian since he came to Beijing."

Li Chengqian walked slowly to Li Hongcheng and asked, "He also went to the poetry gathering, right?"

"I did see it."

"Fan Xian's personal bodyguard?"

"Yes."

Li Chengqian smiled, "Second brother, third brother, our young Master Fan falsely reported his death and brought people from the Supervisory Council under his command. Do you think this is considered deceiving the emperor?"

Li Chengze was silent.

Li Chengzong, who was watching the show from the side, didn't expect that there would be something for him to do, but he nodded anyway.

"Well, deceiving the emperor is a capital crime!"

"Fan Xian, you have just arrived in Kyoto, so you probably don't know my third brother yet. He takes national laws and criminal laws very seriously. He has said that you are guilty of a capital crime, so I'm afraid it will be difficult for you."

Fan Xian was calm now. He smiled faintly and said, "In fact, Guo Baokun's case is not important. Whether I beat Guo Baokun or not, you have already charged me with the crime. I will not be able to escape death in the end."

Fan Xian now understood that ever since the failed assassination attempt in Danzhou and Teng Zijing joined his motorcade, the Crown Prince or someone else had probably been preparing for this moment.

Li Chengqian returned to his seat and sat down: "Since you are a poet, I can spare your life."

Fan Xian opened his mouth, but Li Chengzong beat him to it.

"Your Highness, the crime of deceiving the emperor is not something you can just let go. He can only live if your majesty wants to spare his life."

"Thank you for the reminder, Third Brother. It was I who made the mistake."

"You're welcome. Besides, we'll have to wait and see if Fan Xian is deceiving the emperor."

"Didn't third brother just agree with Fan Xian's deceiving the emperor?" Li Chengqian was a little confused.

"Don't be impatient, Your Highness. Wait a little longer."

"Waiting for what?" Fan Xian asked.

Li Chengzong did not answer, but asked: "Of the two words 'deceiving the emperor', which one is the most important?"

"bully."

According to modern people's thinking, there is nothing wrong with deceiving. After all, there is no such thing as deceiving the king without deceiving.

Unfortunately, Fan Xian forgot that this is a feudal society and imperial power is above everything else.

"No, it's you, Jun. You are cheating only if you think you are cheating. If you don't think you are cheating, it doesn't matter whether we think so or not." Li Chengzong reminded deliberately.

If Fan Xian still cannot understand and does not try to adapt to the current world, Li Chengzong can only say, you go your way and I go mine.

Fan Xian was silent, with an inexplicable look on his face.

Li Chengzong ignored him and looked at the Crown Prince and the Second Brother, smiling faintly: "So Your Highness the Crown Prince, Second Brother, don't be anxious, wait a little longer!"

(End of this chapter)