"Your Majesty, that isn't what happened! It isn't!"
Teng Zixiu's face went pale, and he immediately turned to Xiao Jinxuan. "I absolutely had no such intention!"
"No such intention?"
Jiang Xiaobai snorted. "Then let me ask you: did you order that burly fellow to beat up someone from my Northern Guardian Marquis's Estate?"
"That... yes..."
Unable to deny it, Teng Zixiu could only grit his teeth and nod.
After all, a little inquiry would easily uncover the truth. There was no wriggling out of it.
"And did you order that burly fellow to deliberately provoke me?"
Jiang Xiaobai questioned him again.
"I..."
Teng Zixiu's expression changed once more.
"Speak!"
Jiang Xiaobai looked at Teng Zixiu and said mildly, "Why have you gone quiet?"
"Hmph, you had that burly fellow beat up someone from our Northern Guardian Marquis's Estate in public, and even... specifically told him to leave a message for my father!"
"Then, in the arena, the man kept provoking me!"
"As an extraordinarily handsome, hot-blooded young man, I naturally couldn't endure that sort of provocation. In a moment of impulse, I went for the kill, and thus... fell right into your trap!"
"Teng Zixiu, oh, Teng Zixiu, you're terrifying! Who would have thought your heart could be so vicious? What a cunning scheme. One careless moment, and I was taken in!"
The more Jiang Xiaobai spoke, the angrier he became. He pointed at Teng Zixiu, his body trembling as well.
Seeing this, the officials in the Imperial Court began murmuring among themselves again.
Indeed, Teng Zixiu's actions did seem rather strange.
"You... you..."
Teng Zixiu opened his mouth, but after struggling for ages, he still couldn't produce a single sentence.
Everything A Qiu had done had indeed been arranged by him.
Now, under Jiang Xiaobai's relentless questioning, it really