Once the intruder had spoken those words, everyone in the courtyard gasped in astonishment.
Those intruders were actually hired by the Great Elder to assassinate Ye Qingtang? What exactly is going on here?
Ye Ling’s face clouded over in an instant. Given his previous experience, he believed that that was most probably the case.
The Second Elder ceased his attacks for the time being and frowned suspiciously at the Great Elder.
Whereas the Great Elder was clearly taken aback for a moment.
Why are these assassins trying to pin this crime on him?
“Stop spouting nonsense! As the Great Elder of the Ye household, why would I want our young lady assassinated?!”
Ye Qingtang watched the situation unfold with a twinkle of amusement in her eyes. She came forward and added: “That’s right! You think you can get away scot-free by making that groundless accusation?! Come clean right now or don’t even think about leaving this place in one piece!”
The Great Elder did not expect Ye Qingtang to speak up for him instead and became quite flabbergasted.
The intruders exchanged glances before the leader replied: “Miss Ye, we’re telling the truth. If you want evidence, what we have here is the Great Elder’s handwritten letter delivered to us by one of his henchmen.”
With that said, one of the intruders produced an envelope, “We may hand this letter over to you, on the condition that you’ll let us go safely.”
Ye Qingtang did not answer straight away but took a peek at the Great Elder instead.
The Great Elder furrowed his brow but did not reject the proposal since he certainly had not hired assassins to deal with Ye Qingtang.
“All right, I’ll promise that after determining its authenticity.” Ye Qingtang agreed since there were no objections.
Once the verbal agreement was made, the intruder tossed the envelope, which landed neatly in front of Ye Qingtang and the others.
She picked up the envelope immediately, before browsing its contents with Ye Ling.
During which, the Great Elder stood by, totally unperturbed.
However…
After checking the content, Ye Ling’s clouded face became more intense as he peeled his eyes off the letter and glared straight at the Great Elder.
“Why’re you doing this to my daughter?!”
Even the Great Elder who was initially unperturbed, faltered for a moment at Ye Ling’s exclamation.
“Sir, I beg your pardon?”
Ye Ling exposed the written letter in front of everyone, where its content indicated a reward of ten thousand gold for taking Ye Qingtang’s life.
And that content was clearly signed off with the Great Elder’s signature seal, bearing his initials.
“That must be a fake.” The Great Elder knitted his brow and retorted.
“Fake? I can recognize your handwriting, and your signature seal is impossible to be forged.” Ye Ling answered coldly.
The surrounding guests began examining the seal on the letter and concluded that it was certainly identical to the one on the Great Elder’s birthday invitation, which they had received not too long ago.
All eyes were on the Great Elder again, this time with looks of astonishment and disbelief.
Forging a person’s handwriting might be plausible, but certainly not in the case of a signature seal which was a unique private property. That could only happen if it was stolen right under the person’s nose, which was highly unlikely given the Great Elder’s prowess.
The Great Elder’s face clouded over as he personally scrutinized the handwriting and the seal on the letter, which was at first glance, identical to his own.