Re-embroidering life

Chapter 131 Accusations

Shui Qinghua took advantage of this opportunity to quietly scan the situation in the hall. She saw two young men dressed in the clothes of princes standing under the throne. Shui Qinghua recognized one of them at a glance. It was the nobleman who almost broke her brother's leg in the street market that year - the third prince.

The Third Prince had an upright posture and a resolute face. Not much emotion could be seen on his face, except for the slightly tense corners of his mouth and his clenched fists on both sides of his body, which revealed his inner tension and anxiety.

The other one must be his rival, the eldest prince. The eldest prince was handsome, in high spirits, with a look of complacency between his brows.

The two princes are of similar age, both around twenty years old.

On the other side of the throne stood a man and a woman. The man was the mighty man who had just accused Shui Qinghua, and the woman... Shui Qinghua's eyes paused, and she was secretly shocked. It turned out to be Princess Dihua.

Her mind was thinking frantically, the prince, the princess, the dragon robe, what was going on today?

In the middle of the hall stood a group of high-ranking ministers dressed in red and purple, with Ji Zimo standing far behind.

Soon, Mr. Qian was brought to the main hall. When he saw the so-called "dragon robe", his eyes lit up, he took it with both hands, looked at it over and over again, and made a sound of admiration.

Finally, the crowd could no longer bear it, and the emperor asked, "Mr. Qian, what did you see?"

Old Qian said confidently: "Your Majesty, in my humble opinion, this is an exquisite dragon robe."

There was an uproar in the hall.

Old Qian turned a deaf ear to him. He cleared his throat and continued to explain, "First, the fabric used is the imperial brocade specially supplied by the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau. Such fabric is impossible for ordinary people to obtain, let alone a mere opera troupe."

"Secondly, look at the embroidery. There are a total of nine dragons and twelve emblems on the dragon robe, interspersed with five-colored cloud patterns, symbolizing the emperor's supreme authority. In order to avoid exceeding the regulations, the dragon claws on the theatrical robes are one less than those on real dragon robes, only four fingers. However, the dragon on this robe has five complete fingers."

"Third, look at the needlework. Dragon robes are mostly embroidered by the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, using top-grade Suzhou embroidery. The Suzhou embroidery needlework on this robe has reached the pinnacle, and there is a section of needlework in the middle that is very similar to the needlework of the masters of the Shui family that I have seen before. In my opinion, this robe was made by her skillful hands. She really deserves the title of Needle Saint!"

Old Qian's eyes were filled with joy and admiration, immersed in the appreciation of the dragon robe, and he didn't notice at all that his words had caused everyone in the hall to change color, and the atmosphere became increasingly tense and solemn.

Princess Dihua laughed out loud: "Everyone heard it, Shui was just making up excuses and trying to deceive the emperor. She is so bold!"

She pointed at Shui Qinghua and accused him harshly, "Shui, you were praised by the Queen Mother. You should be grateful for her kindness and serve the country. But you embroidered the dragon robe privately and harbored evil intentions!"

Shui Qinghua's heart tightened, but she didn't say anything.

Princess Dihua still did not give up, facing the throne and said: "Your Majesty, the matter is very clear. Doctor Ji and his wife have a close relationship with the Third Prince's wife. Doctor Ji is a fellow apprentice of the Third Prince's wife, and Shui is a close friend of the Third Prince's wife. In order to seek refuge with the Third Prince, they used the excuse of repairing the costumes to privately embroider a dragon robe for the Third Prince."

"The Ji couple had originally planned to take advantage of the Third Prince's wife's banquet to have the opera troupe sneak the dragon robe into the Third Prince's mansion without anyone noticing. Unfortunately, the law is long and nothing can escape it. The troupe's backstage suddenly caught fire, and everyone tried their best to rescue the props and costumes. I was there at the time, so I sent servants from the mansion to help. This group of people was not a big deal, but my people actually discovered that there was a real dragon robe hidden in the costumes! This matter was of no small importance, so I immediately sent someone to inform the Guard Bureau." Princess Dihua recounted the whole story in an excited tone.

"Commander Shen, please tell us what the troupe's owner said." Princess Dihua looked at Shen Yi.

Shen Yi had a blank expression on his face. He stepped forward and clasped his hands together, and replied, "The troupe is a Kunqu opera troupe from Jiangnan. The troupe owner said that they received a job not long ago. The Third Prince's mansion held a flower-viewing banquet and invited them to perform on stage to entertain. In order to satisfy the noble, they took the damaged costumes out for repair, and a family named Chen took the job. A month later, the Chen family returned the costumes. The troupe owner looked at the costumes and found that they were well repaired. He packed them into the suitcase without checking them carefully, and just missed checking the dragon robe. Later, the Guards found Chen and learned that the batch of costumes had passed through the hands of the Shui family, so they invited the Shui family."

"Commander-in-chief, the Guards must conduct a thorough investigation of this matter. The troupe owner must be a member of the Shui family! As for the dragon robe, is it a unilateral display of loyalty by the Ji couple, or did the Third Prince already know about it..."

Princess Dihua's eyes drifted towards the Third Prince, and the Third Prince's facial muscles couldn't help but twitch.

The eldest prince looked at the third prince proudly.

"Xuan'er, auntie doesn't want to doubt you, but where did Shui get the royal brocade fabric?" Princess Dihua wiped her eyes with a handkerchief. "You grew up under the care of auntie, so how could auntie not love you? But as a daughter of the royal family, I must put my ancestors' country first. Seeing you do such a rebellious act, I can only reluctantly report it to my brother, hoping to get you back on the right track as soon as possible!"

At this moment, everyone in the hall was talking to each other. There was a famous "dragon robe case" in the history of this dynasty. It was not long after the founding of the country, during the reign of Emperor Taizu, when the Guards found a dragon robe and a set of dragon and phoenix seals in the mansion of Deqing Hou Liao. Deqing Hou was a meritorious official who followed Emperor Taizu to conquer the world, but he committed the crime of treason by keeping the dragon robe privately. Emperor Taizu finally reluctantly gave Deqing Hou a cup of poisoned wine.

Unexpectedly, they would personally experience another dragon robe case during their lifetime. How many heads would be lost this time?

"Your Majesty!" The mighty man who shook the roof with his words came out, knelt solemnly, and said to the emperor: "There are some things I have to say! The Third Prince's rebellious intentions are obvious. Princes who break the law are guilty of the same crime as common people. Your Majesty, please don't care about personal feelings. For the sake of the country, please deal with it impartially!"

"Marquis Zhenyuan, you are pushing me too far!" With a "thump", the Third Prince knelt heavily, "Your Majesty, the innocent are innocent. Your Majesty knows what kind of person I am, and all the officials know it. I have no intention of rebelling. These are all framed by villains. Please, Your Majesty, help me!"

The emperor rubbed his brows tiredly, "You said you were framed, do you have any evidence?"

"This..." The third prince was speechless for a moment.

"Your Majesty, I have evidence!" a clear female voice sounded.

Everyone turned around, and the Third Prince also looked over hopefully. He saw Shui, who had been kneeling on the ground, straighten up and look at the throne with sparkling eyes.

"Your Majesty, I have evidence," she repeated.