445 Framing Someone (3)
Unexpectedly, that delicate figure appeared in his mind. He smiled bitterly and shook his head. Things in the world were so unpredictable.
Back then, if he hadn’t thought that he could rope in Minister Chen, he wouldn’t have interfered. Without his reminder, Shen Ruyun would have been the one to marry Song Jingchen, so there naturally wouldn’t have been a change in fate.
He didn’t expect the Shen family to have such a variable. He even personally sent this variable to Song Jingchen’s side.
Ji Yunxi picked up her teacup and took a sip. She frowned and said, “In that case, we should get rid of it as soon as possible to prevent any more trouble.”
“Did you treat Lord Jing’an yesterday? Did you gain anything?” The white-robed man did not continue this topic and asked about something else.
Speaking of Xuanyuan Ce, Ji Yunxi’s depression from the flower bud incident eased a little. She told him about Xuanyuan Ce’s past and his search.
Everyone thought that the matter of Shen Pingxiu recuperating should end here. Unexpectedly, early the next morning, the drum in front of the capital’s residence was beaten.
Everyone looked over.
“Eh, isn’t this the mistress who came to report that Lord Shen was missing yesterday? Could she have disappeared again today?” people thought.
Madam Zhang was in a sorry state. Under everyone’s gazes, she stumbled into the court with the bailiffs.
“Who are you? What grievances do you have?” The capital magistrate was an official surnamed Cai. He sat on the high platform in his official uniform and looked at Madam Zhang below with a burning gaze. Not only were the onlookers curious, but he was also curious.
Madam Zhang knelt down with a thud. “Sir, please save me. Someone wants to kill me to silence me.”
As soon as she said this, everyone, including Lord Cai, first thought that the culprit she was talking about was Shen Pingxiu’s official wife, Madam Chen.
Without waiting for Lord Cai to ask, Madam Zhang continued to cry, “It’s the second daughter of the Shen family. She wants to kill me to silence me. Yesterday, she was the one who asked me to call myself Lord Shen’s mistress and report the case.”
“I’m just a widow whose man died early. I worked hard to raise my child alone. How would I know Lord Shen?” she continued.
“It’s… it’s Second Miss Shen. She saw that my family was poor and gave me a hundred taels of silver. She said that as long as she helped me do something, she would give me another five hundred taels of silver.”
“I was also blinded by the money. I thought that with this money, I could send my son to school, so I agreed. That’s why I reported the case yesterday. I didn’t expect her to want to silence me after that. Sir, you have to save me.”
It was a huge accusation.
No one expected things to turn around like this.
Lord Cai thought of how Madam Zhang had mentioned that Second Miss Shen was married to Song Jingchen and narrowed his eyes. “Do you have evidence? You have to know what kind of crime it is to slander others.”
In order to prevent anyone from treating the court as a game, their tongues would be chopped off if they lied.
Madam Zhang was so frightened that her entire body trembled. She gritted her teeth and kowtowed a few times. “Sir, everything I said is true. I’m not lying. I still have the 100 taels of silver she gave me.”
As she spoke, she took out a crumpled banknote.
There was no name on the banknotes. What evidence was there?
Lord Cai slapped the wood. “Nonsense. What can a banknote mean? Do you have any other evidence? If not…”
“Yes, yes. When Second Miss Shen came to look for me, some neighbors saw her. They can testify,” Madam Zhang quickly said.
Seeing that she did not seem to be lying, Lord Cai instructed the bailiffs to bring people along. Apart from the witnesses Madam Zhang mentioned, there were also people related to this case.
Shen Yijia’s eyelids had been twitching the entire morning. When she stood in the court, she was still in a daze. When she saw Shen Pingxiu being carried in on a stretcher, she frowned.
What was Shen Pingxiu trying to do?
Madam Li, Lin Shao, Bruiser, and the others also arrived. However, the bailiffs did not let them in, so they could only stand outside.
“Second Sister.” Shen Wenbo had a smile on his face, but the viciousness in his eyes could not be hidden.
Shen Yijia rolled her eyes and ignored him.
The witness Madam Zhang mentioned was the last to arrive. There were a total of three women, and the woman walking in the middle was round.
Seeing her, Shen Yijia felt even more strange. Wasn’t this the fat woman she had asked if she had seen Shen Pingxiu the other day? The reason why she remembered was because she had given her a piece of silver.
After the women entered, they knelt beside Madam Zhang without looking at Shen Yijia.
For a moment, other than Shen Wenbo and Shen Pingxiu, only Shen Yijia was standing in the hall.
Because she was beautiful, the gazes of the surrounding commoners landed on her.
They really did not believe that such a young lady would do such a vicious thing to frame her biological father.
