The daughter of the emperor was reborn and was spoiled by the sickly prince.

Deep in the palace, Li Zheng sat alone on the dragon throne, with deep fatigue in his eyes.

Gu Mingzhao walked in, bowed deeply, and saluted Li Zheng: "Your Majesty, I am Gu Mingzhao."

Li Zheng's gaze fell on him, his eyes complicated and unreadable.

Seeing Gu Mingzhao is like seeing a giant green hat walking around...

Li Zheng sighed, "When you wanted to marry Liao Zhendong's daughter, I didn't agree! I told you a long time ago that she was young and didn't know the seriousness of the matter. How could she have caused such a thing?"

Gu Mingzhao looked directly at Li Zheng: "Your Majesty is very well-informed, and should know that this is a deliberate frame-up."

After hearing this, Li Zheng frowned and said in a displeased tone: "Regardless of whether someone deliberately framed her or not, if she acted impeccably, how could others succeed?"

Li Zheng was still angry about the incident in Miaojiang.

Now that this kind of thing has happened again, Li Zheng's dissatisfaction with Liao Qinglan has reached its peak.

In his opinion, his son was good in every way except for his poor vision.

During the past five years, Gu Mingzhao, as the regent, has handled matters prudently and under his rule, the court has been governed in a clean and honest manner.

Therefore, Li Zheng was very satisfied with Gu Mingzhao and was more and more eager to have him return to his ancestral home.

But ever since Liao Qinglan woke up, everything he did became more and more unreliable.

The reason for grounding him this time was not really to punish him, but to let him see clearly what kind of situation a regent who has lost power will fall into.

Gu Mingzhao was silent for a moment, then slowly spoke: "Your Majesty, I understand your concerns, but I'm afraid this matter is not intended to target me or the princess."

"If it's not directed at you, then is it directed at Wang Tingzhi?" Li Zheng said unhappily.

"It is also possible that he is targeting his wife, Qin Xiaoxiao."

Li Zheng thought about it and felt that it was unlikely: "The Qin family is rich and powerful, and many people do covet it, but most of their assets have been transferred to you and are only managed by the Qin family. Even if you deal with the Qin family, you won't gain anything."

"But except for His Majesty, no one knows about this. They think that the Qin family's assets are still in their hands. The reason they didn't touch them before was because the Qin family and the Langya Wang family are related by marriage, and the Wang family is so powerful that it is not advisable to touch them rashly."

"Are you trying to say that someone is spreading the story of Princess Qin and Wang Tingzhi in order to drive a wedge between the Wang and Qin families, with the ultimate goal of swallowing up the Qin family's fat piece of meat?"

Gu Mingzhao nodded: "That's right, Wang Tingzhi has always refused visitors and rarely interacted with others after resigning. They must have waited for this opportunity for a long time."

"These are just your guesses."

Li Zheng felt that this was an excuse that Gu Mingzhao had come up with with great effort to exonerate Liao Qinglan.

"Your Majesty, this is not speculation. When I met Qin Yunhan, he was persecuted and pushed off a cliff in the northern border. If it weren't for his good luck and Qin Xiaoxiao's own hard work, the Qin family would have been divided up long ago." Gu Mingzhao said.

Gu Mingzhao had not mentioned this matter before, so Li Zheng really didn't know about it.

"What happened to Wang Tingzhi's wife? Why did she run away?"

Gu Mingzhao replied: "Qin Xiaoxiao went out to find a miracle doctor to treat Wang Tingzhi's eyes. I was worried that she might meet with an accident, so I sent someone to protect her secretly."

After hearing this, Li Zheng nodded slightly: "Since this matter is caused by your princess, and Qin Xiaoxiao is your adopted sister, you can handle it yourself."

Gu Mingzhao bowed and said, "I obey your order."

Li Zheng waved his hand and let Gu Mingzhao go first.

When he reached the door, he suddenly remembered something and said to the eunuch Desheng who was serving beside him: "Withdraw the imperial guards from the Qin Palace and his house arrest order will be lifted."

*

Li Zheng made a big fuss about Gu Mingzhao being confined to his house for three months, but after only one month, he was released.

If it were usual, others would definitely think that the King of Qin was still deeply favored by His Majesty, and would be more or less envious.

But now, everyone in the capital feels that Gu Mingzhao has been cuckolded.

There are more people who sympathize with him than those who envy him.

Gu Mingzhao didn't care about the discussions outside.

His current focus is on Qin Xiaoxiao, who is thousands of miles away.

Ever since Qin Yunhan disappeared, Qin Xiaoxiao has been the head of the Qin family.

After Qin Yunhan came back, he saw that Qin Xiaoxiao was doing well, so he felt relieved and spent his remaining years at home peacefully.

Gu Mingzhao was more worried that they would treat Qin Xiaoxiao the same way they treated Qin Yunhan.

No matter how careful you are, you never expected an accident to happen right under your nose.

A few days after Qin Xiaoxiao left, the originally peaceful Qin Mansion was surrounded by officials.

Xiao Cui, the maid of the Qin Mansion, stood at the door, looking at the officials with horror, and an ominous premonition arose in her heart.

"Master Qin, we received a report from Zuihonglou saying that Miss Qiao'er came to your house yesterday and has not returned yet, so we came to search." The leading officer said seriously.

Qin Yunhan hurried forward and bowed, saying, "Sir, no outsiders have come to visit my home, let alone Miss Qiao'er."

The officer didn't care. He waved his hand and ordered his men to start searching.

Although the servants of the Qin Mansion were reluctant, they did not dare to resist and could only watch their home being turned upside down.

For a moment, the Qin Mansion was in chaos.

Qin Yunhan was so anxious that he turned around and whispered to Xiao Cui beside him: "Go to the Qin Palace quickly and tell His Highness the situation here."

Xiao Cui quietly retreated to the door.

Before he even stepped out of the Qin Mansion, he was pushed to the ground by the soldiers guarding outside.

"Want to escape? Are you guilty? Catch her first!"

The officers tied up the petite maid like a criminal.

Qin Yunhan became even more anxious: "Sir, there really is no such girl as you mentioned here!"

The officers did not intend to listen to his explanation. They searched every corner carefully, even turning over the soil in the garden for inspection.

Suddenly, someone shouted, "Sir, we found it!"

Everyone's eyes turned to the direction where the sound came from.

I saw an officer walking towards the well, holding a wet sack in his hand.

The accompanying coroner opened the sack, and a female corpse appeared before everyone.

Qin Yunhan was stunned when he saw this scene. He asked in a trembling voice: "How...how is this possible? I don't know her at all. There has never been such a woman in my family!"

The officers ignored his explanation and began to examine the female corpse carefully.

The body had obviously been thrown into the water not long ago and was not deformed by the soaking.

"The deceased's appearance, clothing, and jewelry all match those of Miss Qiao'er from Zuihonglou. Master Qin, the evidence is irrefutable. What else do you have to say?"

"Sir, there is a misunderstanding here. My Qin Mansion has never been involved in any murder case. Please look carefully!"

The officers didn't seem to want to listen to his explanation. They began to escort everyone in the Qin residence out of the mansion one by one.

"Sir, we need evidence to investigate a case. How can you arrest all the people in our house?"

"The evidence will naturally be investigated by the higher-ups. We are just following orders to arrest the suspect!"

Qin Yunhan knew that this matter was definitely directed at him.

These servants are all innocent...

"Sir, the servants in our house don't know anything. Can you let them go first?"

Qin Yunhan couldn't help but plead for them.

"A murder has occurred. Everyone in your house is a suspect. All of them must be taken away!" said the leading officer.

Afterwards, more than twenty people from the Qin family were taken to the Ministry of Justice prison.