I Married a Commander and Became a Galaxy Star

Chapter 241: Chapter 156: We Always Thought the Seed Was Harmless

Emergency risk-avoidance measures? Controlling the impact of the incident? Such concepts were a level of thought he simply couldn’t reach.

"Don’t be nervous," Zuo An explained. "We’re just here to investigate the Poisonous Tree Seeds. All you have to do is tell the truth."

Imperial University’s law school had a mock courtroom.

Some of the group followed the prosecutor inside. Uninvolved personnel were kept outside.

Thanks to Song Xiaoxing, Lin Zhenxiang was also able to get into the mock courtroom, and she had even snagged a good seat.

Seeing Shu Yao sitting in the very front row, wedged between the Commander-in-Chief and Dean Si, made her mood turn foul.

Song Xiaoxing ditched Lin Zhenxiang, went to the second row to squeeze in between Li Hancheng and Ke Dancheng, and anxiously asked Shu Yao, who was in the row ahead:

"Sister Yao, my dad’s not going to be in trouble, is he?"

"It shouldn’t be a big problem." It was Dean Si who answered. "Fortunately, your dad is a bit of an airhead."

Song Xiaoxing glanced at the Commander-in-Chief and couldn’t help but shudder. "For the Commander-in-Chief to personally lead my dad’s interrogation... that’s terrifying!"

A casual, sidelong glance from those cold, ink-green eyes swept over him, and Song Xiaoxing instantly clammed up, meekly sinking back into his seat.

He tapped Ke Dancheng on the shoulder. "Dandan, you’re Mrs. Bao’s assistant. I gave you the list of special admission students, so who did you give it to? How did the Empress end up sending a message to our special admission students in the name of the Imperial Family?"

Ke Dancheng explained, "Mrs. Bao is a streamer signed with the Imperial Court Company, which the Empress has always managed. That night, Mrs. Bao contacted the company’s senior management, so of course the Empress found out."

Realization dawned on Song Xiaoxing.

’To think she could connect with the Empress... Sister Yao is on another level!’

Shu Yao leaned over, getting closer to the man beside her. "Why are you here?"

Qin Shiwei replied in a low voice, "The Empress is following this matter very closely. But Dean Song’s family is on good terms with the Austin family. It wouldn’t be appropriate for her to get involved personally, so she asked me to conduct a surprise interrogation of Dean Song and see how he reacts with no time to prepare."

If the court had issued a formal summons, Dean Song would have had plenty of time to prepare his story after receiving it. In that case, his official testimony would likely be less than truthful.

"So you’re that easy to order around?" Shu Yao remarked with a sigh.

"You should know the answer to that better than anyone." A suggestive smile touched Qin Shiwei’s ink-green eyes.

Shu Yao was speechless. ’He assaults me with his hormones at the slightest provocation! Can I even keep a man like this?!’

Once the prosecutor was in position, the interrogation of Dean Song officially began.

Zuo An asked, "Dean Song, could you please tell us who decided on this year’s special admissions exam question for the Imperial University Agricultural College?"

Dean Song sat in the respondent’s chair. It was the first time in his life he had ever faced such a situation, and he looked completely lost and out of his depth.

He took a moment to compose himself and replied in an orderly fashion, "The three of us deans decided on it together."

The Imperial University Agricultural College had three deans in total: one dean and two vice deans.

Zuo An said, "Could you tell us more about the seeds?"

"Considering the seeds’ growing period, we decided on this year’s special admissions question last year," Dean Song said. "This batch of seeds was sent back from another planet by Vice Dean Zhang, who is in charge of the land reclamation team. I’m not saying this to shirk responsibility. I just want to make it clear that when they were processed through customs, the scanners didn’t detect them as hazardous materials. That’s why we always assumed the seeds were harmless."

Zuo An asked, "How many seeds did you receive in total?"

Dean Song stammered, "A-... a little over a thousand, I believe."

Zuo An pressed, "Please tell me the exact number."

Dean Song, however, did not know.

"1,241." Someone stood from the gallery. "Excuse me, Prosecutor. My name is Liu Mingdao, and I’m a graduate student in the Agricultural College working directly under Dean Song. I’ve been with him for two years. When the seeds from Vice Dean Zhang arrived, I was the one who signed for them. I made a record of it myself at the time.

In some respects, I might know the situation better than Dean Song himself, because he spends most of his time in the greenhouses. Prosecutor, feel free to ask me anything you’d like to know. I will answer everything truthfully."

Zuo An nodded, then asked, "So, did you open the box and inspect the contents immediately after signing for it?"

"Yes." Liu Mingdao nodded earnestly and began to explain seriously. "Conditions on a Deserted Star are limited, so they don’t have special containers for seed preservation. Since some seeds have a very short shelf life, in order to maintain their viability and pick out any that have spoiled...

Basically, considering all those factors, we have to start the preservation work the moment we receive a shipment. I was just following our usual procedure. But, when I opened the box to inspect it, I thought Vice Dean Zhang had sent us a pile of rocks..."