Did the Seventh Prince attend court today?

Just as Gu Cheng was about to spill the medicine powder from the bottle, Song Zhiyao appeared with his constables and shouted, "Grab him!"

The constables rushed forward, catching Gu Cheng off guard. He was tackled to the ground, and the porcelain bottle in his hand fell to the ground and rolled twice.

Jian Dan quickly stepped forward and picked up the porcelain bottle.

He had barely brought the mouth of the porcelain bottle to his nose when he smelled a putrid, pungent odor. He quickly covered his mouth and nose, exclaiming in horror, "This is mixed with corpse poison and pus! Anyone who drinks it will surely cause a plague!"

Song Zhiyao swayed, his back instantly soaked with cold sweat.

Fortunately, they arrived in time.

His eyes were bloodshot as he pointed at Gu Cheng and roared, "What a vicious heart you have! You're going to build your grand mansion on the blood and flesh of millions of people!"

Gu Cheng finally realized what had happened, his face turned deathly pale, but he had no room for explanation and could only close his eyes with trembling lips.

"Throw him in jail! I'll write a memorial to the throne and send it to Shengjing tonight!"

Gu Cheng did not resist; in fact, he even seemed somewhat relieved.

He tried his best, but failed. In any case, he owed nothing to himself or his family.

But there was still one thing he didn't understand.

He looked up at Song Zhiyao, "You arrived so promptly, did you already know I was going to drug you?"

Song Zhiyao cupped his hands towards the south and sneered, "The Duke of Zhenguo and the Seventh Prince saw through your treacherous intentions long ago and reminded me to send people to keep an eye on your movements. I received the news as soon as you went out tonight and rushed over immediately."

At this point, he couldn't help but feel a chill; if they had been a step too late, the sky would have fallen.

Gu Cheng muttered to himself, "So that's how it is, so that's how it is. It seems that Xiao Yunlu does indeed have some extraordinary abilities. Losing to him is not a disgrace to me."

"And what about you? Why are you here too? Don't tell me you're one of Xiao Yunlu's people?"

He turned to Jian Dan and gave a wry smile.

She glanced at him with simple disgust and said, "I have nothing to do with that guy, but he promised to give me toad venom from the Ice Toad, so I came to help testify."

"Hahahaha!" Gu Cheng suddenly burst into laughter, tears streaming down his face. "I knew it was a trap, but I still jumped in! Hahahaha! Xiao Yunlu, it's not that you're so smart, it's that I'm too stupid, I'm just too stupid!"

After laughing for a while, he slumped his shoulders in dejection.

"Take them away!" Song Zhiyao ordered, adding, "Remember not to make a sound."

Gu Cheng was secretly imprisoned. Song Zhiyao remembered Cang Shuyue's instructions in the letter and waited until dawn the next day before sending people to the county government office to take control of everyone there.

Zhang Rui was taken to the courtroom of the prefectural government.

Upon seeing Gu Cheng kneeling below, he knew things had fallen apart, but he remained calm and immediately feigned a bewildered and innocent expression, asking, "Your Excellency, what has happened? Commander Gu has rendered meritorious service in disaster relief; even if he has committed a crime, he shouldn't be treated like this..."

Before he could finish speaking, Song Zhiyao slammed his gavel and roared, "How dare you, Zhang Rui! You still dare to try and mislead us here!"

Zhang Rui immediately knelt down obediently, crying out, "My lord, spare my life! I truly do not know what wrong I have committed to incur your wrath, but I swear on my life that I have absolutely not done anything to wrong the people. Please, my lord, see the truth!"

The crowd listening outside the courtroom echoed, "Yes, yes, Lord Zhang is a good official who has done many good deeds for the people. Lord Song mustn't wrong him!"

Even worse, some whispered among themselves, "Is it possible that Lord Song is worried that Lord Zhang's reputation is too high and threatens his position, so he's deliberately making things difficult for Lord Zhang?"

Many people shared this view, and the crowd was in an uproar, demanding an explanation from Song Zhiyao.

And that's exactly what Zhang Rui wanted to see.

Song Zhiyao wanted to harm him, but couldn't.

Song Zhiyao was both angry and anxious. He slammed his gavel and shouted for silence, explaining loudly, "Gu Cheng intended to poison and murder the entire city; the evidence is irrefutable! After arriving in Xiangyang County, he only had contact with Zhang Rui. Therefore, this official arrested Zhang Rui for questioning, which is perfectly legal and justified!"

The indignant crowd finally calmed down a bit and started discussing it again.

"To poison someone like that, they definitely need to be thoroughly interrogated and cannot be let off lightly!"

"It seems that Lord Zhang is indeed a suspect, and it is reasonable to arrest him for questioning."

Zhang Rui, lying prostrate on the ground, gritted his teeth and pleaded tearfully, "I'm innocent! I merely treated Commander Gu to a few drinks to express my gratitude for his great kindness to Xiangyang. How could I be accused of colluding with him?"

"I implore you, sir, to produce evidence. Otherwise, I will report this to the imperial court immediately and fight to the death to clear my name!"

He took the initiative and declared that he wanted to take Song Zhiyao to court.

Just then, the yamen runners who had searched Zhang Rui's residence returned and reported, "Your Honor, no evidence was found in Lord Zhang's room."

Song Zhiyao broke out in a cold sweat.

Zhang Rui became increasingly smug, straightening his back even more.

Since he dared to do something that could cost him his life, he must have made thorough preparations. To find fault with him would require a divine intervention.

Upon hearing this, the people, who were already biased towards Zhang Rui, immediately raised their right hands and shouted, "Restore Lord Zhang's innocence! Restore Lord Zhang's innocence!"

"Silence! Silence!" Song Zhiyao slammed the gavel, but it had no effect whatsoever. Some people even tried to storm into the courtroom.

Amidst the commotion, Gu Cheng knelt lifelessly below the hall, his face blank.

Just as the situation was about to spiral out of control, a clear voice came from outside the hall.

"I have evidence."

Upon hearing this voice, Gu Cheng, who had been standing like a puppet, suddenly raised his head and gritted his teeth, spitting out three words: "Xiao Yunlu!"

The crowd below instinctively turned around and saw a handsome young man in luxurious clothes gracefully approaching, his smile even more radiant than the blazing sun.

Behind the boy was a man in black robes, whose cold aura was enough to make anyone tremble at a glance.

Song Zhiyao quickly rose to greet him, cupping his hands and saying, "This humble official greets the Seventh Prince and the Duke of Zhenguo." He then instructed the yamen runners, "Bring two chairs."

The people were in uproar.

You Lu nodded to Song Zhiyao, ignoring Gu Cheng's murderous gaze, and walked towards the chair brought by the yamen runner.

As he passed by Zhang Rui, he glanced at him briefly, taking in all of Zhang Rui's actions over the past few days.

Zhang Rui's heart pounded; he suddenly had a bad feeling.

After taking his seat, Youlu dusted off imaginary dust from his sleeves and said without further ado, "Didn't you want evidence? I have evidence. Give me the bottle of poison that Gu Cheng was preparing to use, and also get some charcoal powder and a soft brush."

Without a word, Song Zhiyao immediately fetched everything as instructed.

Youlu wrapped the porcelain bottle in a handkerchief, picked it up gently, shook it, and smiled at Zhang Rui, saying, "Everything leaves a trace. I won't beat around the bush. There are fingerprints of people who touched this medicine on this bottle. Do you need me to extract the fingerprints and compare them with yours one by one?"

Zhang Rui, who had been so confident, suddenly looked dejected and slumped to the ground, stammering, "I admit it..."

Lu nodded in satisfaction, clapped his hands, and stood up. "His bed board has a hidden compartment containing evidence of the bribes he accepted, as well as letters between him and the mastermind behind it all."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Rui collapsed to the ground like a limp rag.

It's over, it's over!