“She ordered me to do it!” one of the kidnappers shouted, pointing at Fan Jiangshi. “She gave us ten taels of silver. We initially refused because we thought it was too little, but then she said that we should sell the child tonight, and no matter how much she sold it for, she wouldn’t take it and would let us brothers keep it.”

Upon hearing this, Fan Jiangshi, who was being identified, almost fainted!

With red eyes, she said, "You're talking nonsense! Lord He, please investigate! It has nothing to do with me! I didn't ask them to kidnap Xia Yaomei! I'm innocent!"

"Stop making excuses. Someone saw you come to Osmanthus Lane to find me yesterday evening. The adults can find out with a simple investigation."

He Bo looked at Madam Fan: "Is what he said true?"

Everyone turned to look at Madam Fan.

Fan Jiangshi was trembling all over, her mouth opening and closing, but she couldn't utter a word.

At this moment, she was filled with regret, regretting going to Jin Biao. Now she was truly in a situation where she couldn't clear her name no matter what she did.

He Bo immediately sent people to Guihua Lane to find the witness Jin Biao had mentioned.

Fan Jiangshi was terrified. What if a witness was found who could prove she had indeed been in contact with Jin Biao?

This was also the first time Fan Jiangshi had done something like this, and she wasn't very mentally strong. Before the officials could bring back the witness, she couldn't help but tell the truth: "I did go to Jin Biao, but I didn't ask him to kidnap Xia Yaomei!"

Du Bin, don't even think about pinning this on me! It was your father who ordered him to kidnap Yao Mei!

"What nonsense about your father advising us to walk the right path! Your Du family was the mastermind behind this kidnapping and threats!"

"You're talking nonsense!" Du Jinghua and his wife rushed over. He already knew what had happened from the servants. Now he could only stand with Du Bin and firmly deny what Fan Jiangshi had said.

Du Bin said, "If this was done by our Du family, then why would I help Miss Xia? Isn't that a contradiction?"

No one could refute Du Bin's words.

The Fan family was even more terrified when they heard this!

Du Jinghua said to them, "You should just confess. If you do, Lord He might be lenient."

The common people also began to chime in: "That's right, they dare to do it but not to admit it."

"Tsk tsk, they still want to frame the Du family with this?"

"Do you think the Fan family might have been behind what happened to Miss Du?"

"Who knows?"

...

Hearing these comments, the Fan family members turned ashen-faced.

Now, Fan Baowen knows that he has become a discarded son of the Du family, and he also knows that Du Bin has become Xia Chunmei's side.

Given the current situation, Du Jinghua, for the sake of his family's reputation, had no choice but to cooperate with Du Bin and pin the blame on them.

Fan Baowen looked at Xia Chunmei kneeling on the ground. He didn't know what went wrong. Why was Du Bin siding with her? This plan should have been foolproof.

Was it simply because Du Bin harbored resentment towards Du Jinghua and his wife that he turned against them and deliberately sabotaged things?

Aside from this, Fan Baowen couldn't think of any other reason.

Many people knew that Du Bin was not favored in the Du family, including Madam Fan Jiang.

Madam Fan's eyes widened as she pointed at Du Bin and said, "Did you frame us? Was it to get revenge on your parents? You're going against us and framing us! Isn't that right?"

Du Bin: "Mrs. Fan, please watch your words!"

"What kind of bewitching potion did Xia Chunmei give you? You framed us for her sake! This was clearly done by your Du family, why did you harm us, you bastard! You two are a pair of dogs!"

Enraged, Madam Fan rushed forward and scratched Du Bin, but was held down by the constables.

Upon hearing this, Fan Mingli suddenly understood and immediately said, "So, Xia Chunmei, is it because of Young Master Du that you want to break off the engagement?"

My lord, fellow villagers, actually, it was Xia Chunmei who insisted on canceling the marriage between my son and her, not our Fan family!

Xia Chunmei came to annul the engagement that day entirely because she had the correspondence between my son and Miss Du.

That day, my son asked her for some time to investigate the matter, but she insisted on breaking off the engagement. Why would a young woman insist on breaking off an engagement? Doesn't she know how much impact it would have on her?

Unless she already has a boyfriend or someone else!

I now suspect that the two of them had been having an affair for a long time and that's why they framed us!

Those letters between my son and Miss Du Lanlan might have been deliberately fabricated by them to ruin my son's reputation, so she could have a legitimate reason to annul the engagement!

Fan Mingli's impassioned speech stunned everyone!

Fan Mingli knew that even if the Du family were on Xia Chunmei's side now, they would never admit that the letters circulating outside were real, let alone admit the affair between Du Lanlan and Fan Baowen.

Now that Du Lanlan is "dead," there's no way to verify the truth, giving the Fan family a chance!

Based on the genuine letter in Xia Chunmei's hand and Du Bin's attitude, the Fan family concluded that Du Bin had stolen the letter and given it to Xia Chunmei.

In fact, the Du family also thought so, but given the current situation, it was inconvenient for them to question Du Bin about this matter.