A female coroner arrived at the Jingzhao Prefecture.

Chapter 428 Ending (97)

"Ah Zhao, bring the person up."

Upon hearing Mu Yan's order, Lu Zhao jumped off the platform and strode into the crowd.

After Mu Yan moved into Liuzhuang Villa, he severed ties with the people of the Duke of Song and replaced them all with guards from the Marquis of Huai'an's mansion. Lu Zhao accompanied him day and night, serving Mu Yan as if he were his father. In addition, he was sweet-talking, attentive, cheerful and lively. In just over two days, he had managed to coax Mu Yan into changing his address to "Second Young Master Lu" to "A Zhao".

Soon, Lu Zhao brought a middle-aged woman dressed in coarse linen clothes into the courtroom.

Mu Yan said, "Song Zi, take a look at who she is!"

Song Zi looked at the woman in a daze, and the moment the woman looked up, she was struck dumb, "Zhao... Zhao Rong!"

"Yes."

The woman's voice was hoarse and low, as if she had sand in her throat, making it impossible to tell that she was a commoner. She stared directly at Song Zi with a look full of aggression. "I never thought that the Empress Dowager, who sits high in the temple and enjoys the honor of the world, would still remember a commoner like me!"

Song Zi no longer cared about Zhao Rong's disrespect. She grabbed Zhao Rong's arm and asked urgently, "Didn't you die in the fire? Why are you still alive? Then... then where is she? Is she alive too?"

Zhao Rong smiled, revealing the crisscrossing scars on her face, making her look particularly ferocious. "You're disappointed that I escaped by sheer luck, aren't you? If your adoptive mother were still alive, would you have planned to kill her again?"

Song Zi froze!
Zhao Rong swung her arm and flung Song Zi away, saying sternly, "To protect your wealth and status, you schemed to get rid of your own mother. But do you know that to prevent you from being accused of matricide, Wen Yun, your birth mother, hanged herself the day before the 'Shuiyunjian' tragedy occurred!"

"What?" Song Zi was shocked.

"You ruthlessly killed 'Shuiyunjian' because you thought your foster mother had returned to her old ways? No! Your foster mother only asked me to retrieve an old item, a keepsake left to her by her mother, which she wanted to take with her to the afterlife! Who would have thought that you would rather kill the innocent than let the guilty go free!"

"Zhao Rong, how dare you deceive me..."

"Lying to you? Ha! My foster mother's grave is on the western hill of Longyuan Village. Do you want to go and see it for yourself?"

"..."

"After burying my adoptive mother, I originally planned to stay in Longyuan Village to guard her grave until the end of my life. But you tried to eliminate me completely by burning me alive. After escaping, I could only hide in the deep mountains and eke out a living! I lived like this for more than ten years until someone came looking for me..."

Overwhelmed with grief and indignation, Zhao Rong's voice choked with sobs. Suddenly, she raised her hand and slapped Song Zi hard across the face!
"I am all alone, without any family ties. I'm risking this worthless life just to ask you: Your adoptive mother gave birth to you and never mistreated you, nor did she ever tell anyone about your background. She paved the way for your future. You were to live as a noblewoman of the Song family, and she didn't cling to you. She only wanted to live a quiet life with me in the countryside. Why can't you tolerate her? Even the Duke and Duchess Song didn't care about your adoptive mother's background. How could you, her own daughter, be so heartless as to try to kill us? Do you think that as long as your adoptive mother dies, you can cover up your true parentage? Heaven is watching!"

The entire venue was as quiet as a bell.

The sheer volume of information overwhelmed everyone's minds, leaving them speechless with indescribable shock!
The emperor gripped the armrest of his dragon throne, his chest heaving. He whispered, "Zhou Chun, tell Mu Qingcheng to arrange for more people..."

Song Zi fell to the ground, completely dazed, and remained motionless for a long time!
After venting her pent-up anger and resentment, Zhao Rong became exhausted. Mu Qingcheng caught her just before she collapsed.

"Father, even Lu Xun had no leads, so how did you find Wen Yun? And how did you find Zhao Rong?" Mu Qingcheng remembered that before Mu Xun went to the capital for the imperial examination, he never mentioned the Huai'an Marquis's mansion. He also never mentioned why he was seriously injured and became a beggar. Both he and his daughter thought he had lost his memory.

Lu Xun was also curious, "Yes, Father, how did you find out? Was it... was it the Duke of Song who provided you with the clue?"

However, upon hearing Lu Xun's address to Mu Yan, everyone was astonished, even the emperor's eyes widened in disbelief. Could it be that the Mu and Lu families were already engaged?
Facing his two children, Mu Yan's usually stern face softened with affection. "When A-Xun first came to our family, he always had nightmares at night. In his dreams, besides calling out 'Father,' 'Mother,' and 'A-Zhao,' he also called out another name—Wen Yun. So, I already knew A-Xun's identity as Wen Yun, the key figure in the 'Shuiyunjian' case. However, the search was not easy, and it took many years to find Wen Yun's adopted daughter, Zhao Rong."

Lu Xun was stunned. He had always thought he had kept it a secret, but he never expected that he had been betrayed by his dream talk.

"Ha, no wonder Father didn't object at all when my sworn brother wanted to go to the capital for the imperial examination. But when he heard of my brother's sudden death, Father didn't even think of going to the capital to collect his body, and he wouldn't even let me go." Mu Qingcheng choked on her words, her eyebrows twitching violently with anger. Mu Yan sighed helplessly, "Wasn't that for your safety?"

Just as Mu Qingcheng was about to retort, Zhou Chun walked to her side and whispered, "Master Mu, please let me speak with you in private."

Mu Yan glanced at the emperor out of the corner of his eye, his thoughts slowly sinking.

Song Shuyu stared at Zhou Chun, his expression complex and difficult to decipher. Based on his understanding of the emperor, he could roughly guess the emperor's intentions; however, whether Mu Qingcheng would agree was hard to say.

Unable to contain his curiosity, Qin Songyang asked, "Lord Lu, what's going on with you? Didn't you grow up in the capital? When did you take the imperial examinations?"

"Back then, after I was stabbed, I fell into Taihu Lake and lost the jade pendant that belonged to Lu Zhao..."

Lu Xun recounted his tumultuous past in detail. By the end, his eyes were bloodshot, and he felt a lump in his throat. "Therefore, I am not only Lu Xun, the heir of the Marquis of Huai'an, but also the adopted son of my father, Mu Yan—the third-ranked scholar, Mu Xun!"

After years of hiding his identity and bearing heavy burdens, the truth has finally come to light, and he is finally able to stand tall in the world!
Not to mention the many emotions in Lu Xun's heart, even the people listening to the trial felt deeply saddened and sighed.

Song Zi was resolute and never vomited blood or fainted, no matter how high or low his mood was, no matter how desperate, regretful or hateful he was.

She struggled to her feet, her disheveled hair unable to conceal the ghostly gloom in her eyes. "I did nothing wrong, you're the ones who are wrong, you forced me to this..."

Midway through her conversation, Song Zi suddenly felt a sharp pain in her temple. Before she could even cry out, she lost consciousness and fell to the ground again!

Song Yan suddenly looked in the direction where Zhou Chun and Mu Qingcheng were. Mu Qingcheng subtly withdrew her two fingers that had been flicking.

Mu Yan took Song Zi's pulse, and after a short while, said, "The Empress Dowager's blood and qi have attacked her heart, and she has fallen into a coma!"

"Minister Song!" The emperor's sharp eyes turned to Song Shuyu. "How is the interrogation going?"

Song Shuyu replied, "Your Majesty, all the major cases have been tried today. Any missing details can be supplemented upon returning to the yamen."

The Emperor nodded. "Well, since the Empress Dowager is unconscious, let's end the trial here and adjourn the court."

"As you command!" Song Shuyu finished his bow, but then looked troubled. "But I don't know how to deal with the Empress Dowager. According to the laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty, she should be imprisoned and treated as a serious criminal! But the Empress Dowager still holds her title, and the law does not allow it!"

Song Yan bowed deeply, his voice resounding: "The crimes committed by Empress Dowager Song Zi are too numerous to count, too many to record! I humbly request Your Majesty to depose the Empress Dowager!"

Upon hearing this, the emperor glanced at the civil and military officials and asked, "What do you all think?"

"Your Majesty, we humbly request that Your Majesty depose the Empress Dowager!"

Since the emperor ascended the throne, there had never been a time when all the court officials had voted in favor. But with Song Yan and his son personally taking the lead, everyone rushed to agree, as if being even a fraction late would not be enough to express their loyalty.

The emperor rose from his dragon throne, surveyed the surroundings with awe-inspiring power, and declared, "I obey the late emperor's decree. Effective immediately, the Empress Dowager is stripped of her title and demoted to commoner status! The Imperial Guards are to imprison Lady Song in the Heavenly Prison until her case is concluded and she is executed according to the law!"

"Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!"

The cheers of the people, reflecting their will, resounded throughout the heavens and earth!
It is the end of old evils and the beginning of new life.