I was chased by my sickly junior brother who had two lives

The night was as dark as ink, slowly covering the capital city, but the various forces in the city did not stop their activities because of the falling night.

The mansions of Chen Jue and King Zhao were brightly lit at this moment, and a tense battle for evidence search was unfolding in secret.

After Chen Jue returned home, he immediately called Chen Jia, the prince and Liao Feng together.

His face was solemn as he told them in detail about the attack launched by King Zhao in the court.

"Today, the King of Zhao pressed me step by step in the court, intending to kill me. We must find evidence that can reverse the situation as soon as possible to prove my innocence."

"Brother, don't panic. We will definitely find a way. I will contact Master's old friends and see if I can get some useful clues from them."

After saying this, she quickly changed into simple clothes, took a few trusted maids with her, and quietly went out under the cover of night.

The prince also fell into deep thought. After a moment, he said, "Chen Jue, I will ask my confidants to carefully search the palace for any clues related to King Zhao. Especially the records of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, maybe some key information can be found from them. I will also visit those respected and upright old ministers in the court to listen to their views and suggestions on this matter."

Liao Feng patted his chest and said confidently, "Brother Chen, don't worry! I will go to Minister Chen's house to conduct another carpet search. I don't believe that I won't find anything useful. I will bring those of my men who are good at tracking and investigation, and I will never let go of even the slightest clue."

So, everyone split up into several groups and quickly took action.

Chen Jia came to the home of a friend of his master. When the old man saw Chen Jia, he couldn't help but sighed: "Jia'er, your father was upright all his life, and we all know him well. I have also heard about Minister Chen's case, but I didn't dare to intervene easily before. I heard that Minister Chen and King Zhao had a fierce dispute at a banquet. King Zhao seemed to want to win over Minister Chen to participate in some shameful activities, but was sternly rejected by Minister Chen. The two of them had a very unhappy quarrel on the spot. You might as well start from this aspect to investigate."

Upon hearing this, Chen Jia was delighted, and hurriedly thanked the old man and carefully wrote down this important clue.

The prince and his confidants carefully shuttled through the palace. They avoided the eyes of King Zhao and sneaked into the Ministry of Internal Affairs. After a hard search, they finally found a key record.

The above shows that some time before Chen Shilang's case broke out, King Zhao had rewarded Chen Shilang with a batch of precious calligraphy and paintings. The source of these calligraphy and paintings was very suspicious. They actually came from the collection of a corrupt official who was investigated by the court.

The prince keenly sensed the trick here, and immediately asked someone to copy the record and prepare to bring it back to Chen Jue.

At the same time, they continue to search for other potentially relevant documents and records, not missing any potentially useful details.

Liao Feng brought his men to Chen Shilang's residence, and they conducted a detailed inspection of every room and every corner. In Chen Shilang's study, Liao Feng found that some books on the bookshelf were placed in an unusual way.

After careful observation, he found that the spines of several books had slight scratches, which seemed to be caused by frequent use. He took down these books and opened them. There were some notes between the books, which recorded some accounts and some names.

Liao Feng's eyes lit up, thinking that these might be related to the case, and quickly put the notes away. Then, they continued to search in the study and found another seemingly ordinary family letter.

Liao Feng felt that the letter was a little strange, so he took it away and prepared to go back and study it with Chen Jue.

On the other hand, Prince Zhao quickly discussed the matter with Prince Jin and Prince Consort Chen.

King Zhao said gloomily, "We failed to bring down Chen Jue in the court today. We must speed up our actions and find enough evidence to prevent him from turning over."

King Jin sneered: "Don't worry, I have sent people to investigate Chen Jue's past. Those merchants who have done business with him will definitely be able to dig out something that is beneficial to us."

Prince Consort Chen thought for a moment and said, "I will use my connections to bribe the servants in Chen Jue's house to see if I can get some inside information from them. In addition, I will contact some officials who have had conflicts with Chen Jue and ask them to come forward to testify and point out Chen Jue's improper behavior in handling the case."

So, the confidants sent by the King of Jin went around and found a businessman who claimed that during a business cooperation involving the procurement of government materials, he saw Chen Jue secretly meeting with the officials in charge of the project late at night.

Later, Chen Jue's camp successfully won the bid, and he suspected that there was an improper transaction. The businessman also said that he had seen some precious gifts in Chen Jue's house, which were suspected to be kickbacks for this business.

Another businessman revealed that Chen Jue once hinted to him that if he could be given certain "conveniences" in a certain business project, he would get more opportunities and benefits in future cooperation.

Although there was no actual proof of the transaction, these testimonies were enough to cause trouble for Chen Jue.

Chen Jue's son-in-law bribed a servant in Chen Jue's house with a large sum of money. The servant provided a copy of Chen Jue's private letter that he had secretly copied.

Some vague statements in the letter were misinterpreted by Prince Zhao and others as evidence of Chen Jue's collusion with certain forces.

In addition, the servant also claimed that he had heard Chen Jue mention words such as "special arrangements" and "countermeasures" when talking with a mysterious visitor. Although he did not know what he was referring to specifically, King Zhao and others decided to make a big fuss about it.

In order to make the evidence more "conclusive", the advisers of King Zhao also carefully forged a record of the account transactions between Chen Jue and Chen Shilang. The record showed that in the period before Chen Shilang's case, Chen Jue had received huge sums of money from Chen Shilang many times, and the flow of the money was unknown.

The forged accounting records were very realistic, with detailed dates, amounts and so-called "transaction notes".

King Zhao also bribed a minor official who used to work in the Ministry of Revenue to come forward to "confirm" the authenticity of the account records when necessary. He claimed that he had accidentally discovered similar suspicious transaction clues during his work, but did not dare to make it public at the time because he was afraid of Chen Jue's power.

The next day, the atmosphere in the court was as tense as a taut bowstring. The emperor sat high on the dragon throne, looking majestically at the ministers below.

King Zhao took the lead and presented the so-called evidence triumphantly. "Your Majesty, after an in-depth investigation, I have found evidence of many illegal acts of Chen Jue. These businessmen can prove that Chen Jue accepted bribes and sought personal gain in his business dealings, which seriously violated the laws of the court and the professional ethics of officials."

As he spoke, he asked the merchants to come forward one by one and make their statements.

Chen Jue remained calm and responded, "Your Majesty, the evidence presented by the King of Zhao is pure slander. The words of these merchants are baseless and are all malicious slanders directed by others. When handling affairs, I have always been fair and honest, and have never done anything like this."

Seeing that Chen Jue was not panicked at all, King Zhao felt a little angry and took out the forged account records and the copy of the letter provided by the servant.

"Your Majesty, look at these account records. They clearly show that Chen Jue and Minister Chen had improper financial dealings. And this letter, the content of which is enough to prove that Chen Jue has evil intentions and is colluding with certain forces to disrupt government affairs."

Chen Jue sneered, "Your Highness Prince Zhao, you are at your wit's end and have forged evidence to frame me. This account record is full of loopholes. Not to mention that Minister Chen and I have no such transactions, just looking at the handwriting and seal, there are obvious signs of forgery. As for this letter, it is fabricated out of thin air and was maliciously misinterpreted by you."

At this time, Chen Jue also produced the evidence he had found. He first presented the testimony and written statements of the palace maids, detailing the dispute between Chen Shilang and King Zhao at the banquet and the fact that King Zhao tried to win over Chen Shilang to participate in illegal activities.

"Your Majesty, this is the key evidence of the conflict between Minister Chen and King Zhao, proving that King Zhao has the motive to frame Minister Chen."

Then, he showed the records of calligraphy and painting rewards found by the prince's confidants from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the related investigation and analysis.

"Your Majesty, the origin of the calligraphy and paintings that King Zhao gave to Minister Chen is suspicious, and the timing is related to an important decision of the court. King Zhao's move is obviously for ulterior motives. He tried to bribe Minister Chen but failed, so he framed him."

Then, Liao Feng took out the note and the mysterious letter found in Chen Shilang's study. Chen Jue's friend came forward to explain the discovery of the hidden handwriting in the letter and the symbols and marks on the note pointing to the secret stronghold and treasure of King Zhao.

"Your Majesty, these evidences are sufficient to prove that Minister Chen was framed while investigating the illegal activities of the King of Zhao, and that the King of Zhao used all means to forge evidence to slander me in order to cover up his crimes."

At this time, there was an uproar in the court, and the ministers were whispering and discussing.

Some officials who originally supported King Zhao also began to waver, while those upright ministers spoke up for Chen Jue.

The emperor looked at the evidence presented by both parties, his face becoming increasingly gloomy. He knew very well that this matter was of great importance and must be handled with caution.

"This matter concerns the dignity of the court and the reputation of officials. I will definitely send people to investigate carefully and will not tolerate anyone who breaks the law. During this period, Chen Jue and King Zhao must both be temporarily suspended and await the results of the investigation."