Chapter 526 Revealing Li Na and Li Caihong's True Face
"Prime Minister Xi may present the evidence that he has against Second Young Miss Li and Third Young Miss Li."
In the huge silent banquet hall, Eunuch Wang's voice sounded and was clear to everyone.
Only at this moment, Li Na and Li Caihong seem to understand that something was wrong.
What evidence Eunuch Wang was talking about…
As both the sisters looked at each other with confused faces and then at Xi Ying who stood up from his seat, they still couldn't figure out anything.
However, they could feel that something was amiss.
It was perhaps those people's eyes who were sitting in the banquet hall. It held something other than they had thought.
But whatever it was, both the sisters were sure that it was not sympathy.
Xi Ying walked towards the center of the banquet hall and stood in front of the Emperor.
He didn't feel any need of bowing down his head as he directly turned around to look at the pair of sisters and said
"Your Majesty, before showing any evidence, this minister asks Second Young Miss Li and Third Young Miss Li whether they had drugged their cousin sister four years ago in the banquet and had hired an Imperial Guard to …rape her."
Xi Ying's voice had an extra layer of deathly coldness when he said the last two words.
His each and every word was chosen very well.
Even when he called Li Rui, Li Na and Li Caihong's cousin sister, he did it intentionally to make people pay attention to the fact that these two schemed such an evil scheme against their own sister.
Li Na and Li Caihong's faces were pale as they heard Xi Ying finishing his words.
What…was going on?
Both of them thought silently.
Their eyes went to look towards their parents where they saw their mother crying and their father sitting there with a cold and emotionless face.
Li Na swallowed as she understood that not something but everything was wrong.
She had actually never thought that Xi Ying would really come out with this matter in front of so many people.
After all, last time in the Li Manor, Xi Ying had said himself that he wouldn't reveal this matter to anyone until Li Qiang would keep them under control.
Her own thoughts scared Li Na.
Yes, if their father kept them in control but they…
Li Na gulped audibly.
She saw Li Caihong opening her mouth to say something and her heart immediately started to jump up and down.
She was scared that Li Caihong would say something that would put them in more trouble so she immediately stepped forward and said before Li Caihong could speak.
"Your Majesty, this maiden and her sister are being blamed wrongly. We didn't do any such thing."
Li Na said everything in such a soft voice and with such an innocent face that everyone including Lu Jianye couldn't help but believe her.
Maybe Xi Ying was really accusing Li Na and her sister of something that they never did and all of this was just to make his wife free of her bad reputation.
Thinking this, Lu Jianye's heart was filled with hope and he was also ready to stand up for Li Na if needed.
Perhaps a lover's heart was like this.
Even now whenever Lu Jianye saw any hope of him and Li Na being together, he would hold onto it so tightly but in the end, he didn't know that he would be forced to let it go.
Because Li Na was not what he thought she was.
After Li Na said her words, Xi Ying nodded his head with a cold smile on his lips and turned to look at the front.
" "Your Majesty, please notice that if this Lord will prove that both of these innocent maidens were not so innocent…"
Xi Ying said sarcastically and paused for a moment as the smile from his lips vanished and he said in a deathly cold voice
"Then these innocent maidens must also suffer a huge punishment for lying in front of the Emperor."
And hence like this, Xi Ying added one more sin to Li Na and Li Caihong's account which was already full of mistakes and sins.
Li Na and Li Caihong's faces went paler and Li Rong didn't look any better.
She looked at her elder daughter hoping that she would just accept her fault and not fight against Xi Ying.
Li Caihong was thinking the same. However, her mind had vicious thoughts.
She wanted to turn everything against Li Na and then free herself from this matter. However, Li Na held her hand tightly and glared at her as if signing her not to say anything.
Li Caihong felt more furious seeing this. She jerked her sister's hand away and then stepped forward as she started shouting
"It was not me, Your Majesty. Everything was planned by my sister. I was forced to support her. I...ah..."
Li Caihong's words were cut with a slap on her cheek. The loud sound of the slap made everyone gasp in surprise inside the banquet hall.
Li Caihong fell down on the floor because of its heavy impact while Lu Jianye who was confused by now also seemed to be slapped by reality.
Even her sister was saying that she did it.
Lu Jianye couldn't help but believe Li Caihong even if he didn't want to.
After all, if Li Caihong was not saying the truth then why did Li Na stop her from saying anything.
Li Na perhaps also seemed to realize this as she immediately maintained her composure and then looked down at her younger sister with a disappointed expression on her face.
When she turned around to look at the Emperor, her eyes were teary and she said softly
"Your Majesty, this maiden doesn't know where did she lack in giving affection to her sister that my own sister is spouting such lies that could make me have a very bad reputation in the whole Empire."
Saying this, Li Na covered her face and her shoulders shook every few seconds.
Li Caihong who heard each and every word said by his sister smiled in disgust.
Her cheek throbbed in pain because of the heavy slap and it made her remember that she needed to avenge herself.
So she immediately stood up from the floor.
It was only when she heard people gasping and whispering to each other, that she realized that the cloth that was covering her face had fallen down the floor when Li Na slapped her.
In other words, everyone could see her face.
The mothers covered their scared children's eyes while the maidens who were scared looked away in disgust.
A few screams sounded in the banquet hall but only for a few moments.
Only one-third of the people in the banquet hall were looking at Li Caihong's face.
Li Caihong says everything.
Her eyes blank as she observes each and every reaction. They were scared of her.
'She is so ugly and disgusting...'
She seemed to hear a whisper from the crowd and her whole body went stiff.
It was the first time she had stepped out of the Li Manor and even her room to stand in front of so many people.
Li Caihong had been scared of this only.
She had not wanted people to see her face and that's why she didn't want to come to the Imperial Palace.
However, the thought that she might be able to force Li Rui to give her that ointment if she did this made her sit inside that Imperial Carriage silently.
But she had never thought that what she had feared would happen in the end…and like this.
"Ha…"
Li Na exhaled sharply as her hand rose to cover her face.
No!
She didn't want them to see how ugly she looked.
It was Li Rong, in the end, who walked toward her daughter and picked the cloth that had fallen to the ground.
Tears slid down her eyes as she helped her daughter in covering her face with that cloth.
She couldn't bear to watch how pale Li Caihong's face looked right now.
Inside her heart, Li Rong was very disappointed in Li Na right now. How could she behave like this with her younger sister even after knowing what kind of state she had been in after the Mid Autumn Banquet Festival Celebration?
However, Li Na was oblivious to her mother's thoughts. At this moment, her whole attention was on ensuring that Xi Ying would not reveal anything.
She stepped forward and looked at Xi Ying with tear-filled eyes.
"Prime Minister Xi, is my sister forcing you to do this? She is a little childish and sometimes doesn't think before doing anything but you…you are very intelligent. You must not adhere to her demands."
Li Na still was able to think that her actions would be able to make Xi Ying have any sympathy for her, and that was where she was wrong.
Her words only made Xi Ying's eyes colder as he stared at her.
"Shut your mouth if you wish to keep your tongue intact, Second Young Miss Li otherwise this Lord doesn't know if you will stay alive for long or not."
Li Na's face went red because of the embarrassment of being humiliated like this in front of everyone.
At the same time, Xi Ying heard his shadow guards whisper.
"Master, everything is ready."
As soon as Xi Ying heard this, a cold smile graced his lips and he said in his cold and indifferent voice.
"Your Majesty, this Lord wishes to present something."