Chapter 138: The real culprit who framed the Wen family
Although Wu Jiayi was thrown into prison, the final sentence has not yet been decided.
It was no surprise that the reversal of Wen's case was the biggest thing in the imperial city these days, but now compared with the disappearances of Dongling Yuanhui and Xia Houyiyun, few people are treating Wen's case as a top priority.
!
However, Wu Jiayi, who was in prison, did not calm down because he was temporarily forgotten by everyone.
Especially when facing his father, Wu Xingxu, his face was expressionless and his eyes were cold. He didn't even glance at Wu Xingxu, who also had a cold face.
The jailer opened the cell door, but Wu Xingxu did not step in. He only looked at Wu Jiayi inside and yelled angrily in a slightly lowered tone:
"You unworthy and unfilial son, do you want the entire Wu family to be buried with you?"
Wu Xingxu never expected that what he thought should have been settled long ago would actually cause huge waves again.
The fact that the things he tried so hard to cover up were revealed again did not make him lose his cool. What caught him off guard was that his most cherished biological son gave him a blow in the head.
Wu Jiayi publicly admitted in front of the current emperor that he was the murderer who framed the Wen family, which was equivalent to a death penalty.
More importantly, if you are not careful, not only Wu Jiayi, but also the Wu family will suffer.
Wu Jiayi slowly looked at his father, and he said in an almost indifferent tone:
"If my father is worried that the Wu family will lose its glory and wealth because of me, then he is worried too much. I have already asked Your Majesty to do the work for everyone, and use my life to end everything, ha..." Wu Jiayi suddenly sneered.
: "Although my life is not enough to repay the hundreds of innocent lives of the Wen family..."
"You bastard, the Wen family was ordered to be killed by the late emperor. What does it have to do with my Wu family? Why should you risk your own life to repay it?"
"Does father really think that the destruction of the Wen family had nothing to do with the Wu family?" Wu Jiayi clenched his fists, trying to suppress the anger in his heart.
"Of course it has nothing to do with it, they deserve it..."
"It's not Wen who deserves the crime, but the malicious frame-up..." Wu Jiayi roared loudly and wanted to shout something, but in the end, he reserved his words.
Wu Xingxu's wrinkled face seemed indifferent, but his heart could no longer be calm.
Because only he knew best what Wu Jiayi really wanted to say, but he chose to pretend to have a clear conscience. As the head of the Wu family, he ordered:
"Jiayi, listen, if you are still my son, Wu Xingxu, you must insist that you are not guilty. You must maintain that you are just acting in accordance with the late emperor's will."
"Insist on innocence?" Wu Jiayi frowned impatiently: "I have already confessed my guilt in front of His Majesty, how can I still insist on innocence?"
"You don't have to worry about this. As long as you retract your confession, the other fathers will naturally find ways to turn the Wen family's daughter into a criminal who falsely accuses you."
"What does father want to do?"
Hearing Wu Bingwen mention Wen gurgling music, Wu Jiayi felt uneasy for no reason.
"Dealing with a defenseless orphan girl, no matter how difficult it can be, it's just something that can be solved with some arrangements."
When Wu Jiayi heard this, his helpless disgust instantly grew. He didn't want to have another fierce quarrel with his father. But Wu Xingxu showed his usual insidious behavior and asked him out of control:
"What are you going to do, father? Are you going to rely on the power of my uncle, Prime Minister You, to cover up the truth like before? Or are you going to send someone to silence Miss Wen?"
"Why not?"
Wu Xingxu instantly became even more angry. If killing a sinner who deserved death could keep the Wu family safe, he wouldn't mind having one more life on his hands.
"Father, don't be so self-righteous. Miss Wen is not her maid. She has the support of His Majesty and Prince Hao and is very safe. If you don't touch Miss Wen, the Wu family may still be safe. If you touch her, father is
Take the Wu family to be buried with him."
When Wen Gongyin angrily accused him of sending people to hunt her down and kill her maid, he was indeed at a loss. Because he had no idea that anyone in the Wen family was still alive, and there was no way he could hunt her down.
That's why he denied everything at first... But soon, he began to realize that Wen Yingyin's evidence existed, but she didn't know that there was someone else who was chasing her.
Naturally, that "other person" was undoubtedly the father in front of him. It was precisely because he came to this conclusion that he gave up arguing and took all the blame.
Unfortunately, his idea of sacrificing himself to save the Wu family not only failed to awaken Wu Xingxu's heart of repentance, but he also stubbornly and selfishly insisted:
"You are my eldest son, Wu Xingxu. Even if you die, you will never die because of your sins. I will never allow any stain on the Wu family!"
"Father, don't you understand?" Wu Jiayi roared uncontrollably again: "From the moment you framed the Wen family for your own selfish purposes, there will no longer be any Qingbai in the Wu family."
In fact, this is the truth! The person who framed the Wen family was never Wu Jiayi, but his father Wu Xingxu!
The one who really has a personal grudge against the Wen family is not him, but his father!
It is true that he had a deep affection for the eldest daughter-in-law of the Wen family, and it is also true that he was jealous of the eldest son of the Wen family for marrying the woman he liked, but he would not do such an evil thing as destroying the entire clan because of this.
.
However, he couldn't do it, but his father did it...!
It was his father who secretly added the Wen family to the list of people to be executed. When the late emperor gave him the sealed list for safekeeping, he had not read the contents at all.
It was only when he read out the list in Kaifeng in front of the late emperor that he discovered that the Wen family was on the list.
But at that time, the situation was already chaotic and urgent, and he had no extra time to think carefully about what was going on.
When he executed the Wen family, he never thought that the list had been tampered with. He really thought that the list was personally decided by the late emperor.
After that, the bloody night subsided, and his numb thoughts gradually came to life.
When he tried to remind the late emperor of Wen's innocence, his father was more anxious than anyone else to provoke the late emperor, who was already ill and not very conscious. As a result, the late emperor issued the order to kill him regardless.
Then he recalled that on the day he brought the list home, his father had appeared in his study on the pretext of looking for a book.
On the second night, the execution order was carried out according to the list...
The list had been tampered with by his father, and only if the list had been tampered with would the Wen family's name appear. Otherwise, the list made by the late emperor would have included more than just the Wen family.
He did not question whether his father had done such evil things, he chose to numb himself.
However, the Wen family is not a family of ordinary people. The Confucian clan was executed overnight. There are always people who question it, and there are always people who want to speak out for the Wen family.
However, no one knew that his father had tampered with the list, but more than one person heard the late emperor's personal order to kill the families on the list.
Coupled with the fact that the newly promoted You family and the Wu family are closely related by marriage, those few voices naturally disappeared quickly.
Wu Jiayi was numb on the surface, but he was in extreme pain inside. He wanted to expose his father, but he couldn't bring himself to do it, so he could only bear the pain of his conscience being corroded.
However, his pain was finally revealed unconsciously in front of Chu Hengye, his former life-and-death friend while drunk. Not only was Chu Hengye friends with him, but the eldest son of the Wen family was also acquainted with Chu Hengye.
Friends. But compared to him, Chu Hengye's friendship with the eldest son of the Wen family was shallower.
But that didn't stop Chu Hengye from coming to defend the Wen family. Therefore, Chu Hengye hoped that he could reveal the truth and bring justice to the Wen family.
But he refused, and told Chu Hengye that since the Wen family had disappeared, why should he bury the Wu family with him? Chu Hengye was disappointed with him and broke off relations with him.
From then on, Wu Jiayi also decided to alienate Chu Hengye, and the two even went from best friends to tit-for-tat rivals.
However, no matter how Wu Jiayi deceived himself and others, the guilt he carried in his heart became heavier and heavier and could not be erased.
The appearance of Wen Yingyin tore off his fig leaf, and he had no way to escape. But he was not afraid of facing death. On the contrary, the moment he took on the sin, he was relieved. Even if he had to pay for it immediately, he would be happy to accept it.
Wu Xingxu knew very well that his son had long known that the Wen clan was exterminated by him. The relationship between father and son also became at odds after the Wen clan was exterminated.
But Wu Xingxu chose to ignore their estranged father-son relationship. He was more concerned about the longevity of the Wu family.
He knew that Wu Jiayi hated him for framing the Wen family, but he always thought that no matter how much Wu Jiayi hated what he had done, Wu Jiayi would still do his duty as a legitimate son.
But Wu Xingxu did not expect that Wu Jiayi would take the initiative to admit all guilt and even plan to pay the price with his life.
Human nature can be so evil sometimes. He could kill hundreds of Wen family members without blinking an eye. But when it came to his own son's life, he wanted to save it and didn't want to lose it at all.
However, from Wu Jiayi's helpless and resentful eyes, Wu Xingxu could see his determination to die.
Although he was heartbroken, Wu Xingxu still half persuaded and half commanded:
"Jiayi, don't forget that you are the eldest son of the Wu family. Your life belongs not only to you, but also to the entire Wu family. So... listening to my father's words, you must deny that you are not guilty.
Do you understand?"
Wu Jiayi looked at his father, and he could feel that his father's selfishness also contained the human instinct of loving him.
He also knew that he was the future of the Wu family, and it was because of this knowledge that he always pretended that he was unaware of the crimes his father had committed, and even shouldered his share of the crimes in a depressed and silent manner.
However, Wu Jiayi didn't want to escape anymore. He closed his eyes and wrinkled them. When he opened them again, he responded calmly and resolutely:
"Father, it is precisely because I have not forgotten that I am the eldest son of the Wu family that I am here to atone for my sins. I thought that by pretending not to know about the sins our Wu family committed against the Wen family, our Wu family would really be innocent. But,
, the appearance of Miss Wen made me completely understand that if our Wu family does not clear Wen's name, the Wu family will never be honest. Therefore, my father should let his son risk his life to clear Wen's innocence!"
"Jiayi, you...don't you want to force your father to death and the Wu family to death?"
"As long as my father doesn't do anything in vain, he will be safe and nothing will happen to the Wu family."
"You are going to die. How can I, as a father, watch you die as an innocent person? Even if you want to die..."
"Father!" Wu Jiayi loudly interrupted Wu Xingxu: "Let this matter be settled like this! The Wu family does not have me as the eldest son, and there is also a second son. The second brother's talents are not half inferior to mine, and he is fully qualified to succeed me in guarding
The Wu family will not be separated. But if my father gets into trouble again, the Wu family will not be able to maintain its current peace!"
Wu Jiayi heard that his father had a faint intention to plead guilty instead of him. But since he chose to take the blame himself, it was to protect the peace of the Wu family!
Anyway, everyone thought that he harmed the Wen family because he was jealous of the eldest son of the Wen family. He might as well "confirm" the crime. In this way, everything would end naturally!