Chapter 253: Breaking the Situation

"What does the Fourth Prince's wife want?"

"I am not as petty and aggressive as Lord Shen. If it is proven that the young master of the Chen family is not the murderer, and Lord Shen is an accomplice to the evil, then I will punish myself with thirty strokes of the cane and apologize for my crime."

Shen Yunbai stared at Shen Anan for a moment, then nodded, “Then let’s do as the Fourth Prince’s wife said.”

The two reached an agreement, and the others naturally had no objections. The Chief Justice of the Dali Temple seemed to come alive and was full of energy.

The two of them placed bets privately, which had nothing to do with him.

"An An." Xiao Yuan frowned, and the latter gave him a reassuring look and smiled slightly.

"Miss Taofen," she spoke again, her voice as cold as ice and snow in the cold winter, "In order to cure your lover's illness, you betrayed your benefactor sister. Don't you feel guilty when you wake up in the middle of the night? After Master Chen dies, aren't you afraid that Miss Yinhong will come to question you?"

Taofen's body suddenly stiffened, panic and surprise rolled wildly in her eyes. She gritted her teeth tightly, and tears fell to the ground, "I don't understand what the Fourth Prince's wife is saying."

"Oh, really?"

Taofen suddenly began to kowtow desperately, "My lord, everything I said is true, there is absolutely no falsehood."

After a while, a large pool of blood remained on the ground, which was so shocking that people could not bear to look at it.

"Fourth Prince's Consort." Miss Xu spoke softly, "Now that things have come to this, don't force Miss Taofen. It's a life after all. This is all caused by Master Chen and I. If you had told me properly, I could have accepted Miss Yinhong. Why did it come to this?"

Shen Anan glanced at Miss Xu lightly, without any emotion, but it made her heart tremble and a chill surged up.

"Don't worry, Miss Xu. There will be plenty of time for you to blame yourself and cry later."

Her expression froze in sorrow, "What does the Fourth Prince's Consort mean by this?"

Shen Anan said nothing, her eyes drifted towards Qingfeng, who nodded slightly to her.

"Miss Taofen, there is no need to hide it anymore. Mr. Sanlang is a gentleman and he has already explained everything."

Tao Fen suddenly looked up, her eyes full of fear, "You, you found San Lang?"

"Peach pink—"

At this moment, a weak male voice suddenly sounded from behind the screen. He just called out one sentence and then began to cough uncontrollably.

"Sanlang." Taofen was about to rush behind the screen, but was stopped by the yamen runner. She looked at that place anxiously, "Didn't I send you out of the city? Why are you back? How can your body withstand the ordeal?"

"Peach powder," the man sighed, "Don't be stubborn anymore. Miss Yin Hong has been very kind to us, and Master Chen is her favorite. You are repaying kindness with hatred by doing this. Even if we leave, we will have a guilty conscience and live in guilt and regret for the rest of our lives."

"Tao Fen, you are a sincere and kind girl. I don't want you to go against your conscience for me. I don't like it."

"Sanlang, Sanlang," Taofen stretched out her hands behind the screen and cried bitterly, "I don't want you to die, I don't want you to die, please don't say anything more, please don't say anything more."

"Peach powder, cough cough cough..."

"Sanlang, are you okay, Sanlang?"

"I'm fine, I'm just sad. It's all my fault that I got you into trouble."

"No, no, my sister is dead, but you are still alive. If I can't even keep you, what's the point of me living?"

"Tao Fan, tell me now. Don't harm Master Chen anymore. He is not a bad person."

Tao Fen gritted her teeth, half-prostrated herself on the ground, and cried inconsolably.

"Miss Peach Pink, you..."

"Miss Xu." Shen Anan turned her head suddenly, staring at the girl from the Xu family with a sinister and cold gaze, "If you keep talking, be careful or I'll have someone sew you up!"

Miss Xu was frightened by such a fierce Shen Anan and stepped back repeatedly, her heart beating faster, she swallowed and couldn't say a word.

"Miss Taofen," Shen Anan walked up slowly, stood in front of her, and looked down at the woman on the ground, "I'll give you one more chance, you have to think it over carefully, whether you want to say it or not, I'll give you a kind word of advice, Sanlangjun has a reputation, if it is all destroyed because of your fault, can you have a clear conscience?"

"I, I,"

"Fourth Prince's Consort," Shen Yunbai said coldly, "You are not trying the case, but intimidating her. You know that the young man is the one Miss Taofen cares about the most, but you use fame to intimidate her."

"If she didn't do it, it would be in vain for me to threaten Sanlangjun with his life," Shen Anan tilted her head and stared at Shen Yunbai, "Or is Lord Shen afraid? Feeling guilty? Not daring to let me continue asking?"

Shen Yunbai's face was extremely ugly. Xiao Yuan's voice sounded slowly and low in the hall, "Qing'an, Qingfeng, guard the gate of Dali Temple. If we can't make it clear today, not even a fly can fly out."

"yes."

The Chief Justice of Dali Temple watched Qing'an take his men out, while Qingfeng led a group of people to surround the court. He did not dare to say a word, and sat on the chair trembling, trying to reduce his presence.

Shen Yunbai's face looked extremely ugly.

The lobby fell into an eerie silence.

Suddenly, a subtle sound reached her eardrums. Shen Anan did not turn around, and her cold voice echoed in the hall, "Where is Miss Xu going? Are you going to find someone to go back to the Xu family to inform them?"

She froze in place, and after a while she turned around woodenly, "I just want to go to the toilet, what are you talking about, the Fourth Prince's wife?"

"My husband just said that not even a fly can fly out. Miss Xu, didn't you hear it?"

“…”

"Miss Xu," Shen Anan seemed to smile, but there was a cold frost in her eyes, "If you are ruthless to the young master of the Chen family, you shouldn't come today. If you are affectionate, you shouldn't be instigating and condemning in your words. You think you are smart, but you treat others as fools."

She staggered back half a step, her pretty face as pale as paper.

"Princess, please don't say anything careless. I am only here to accompany Madam Chen out of kindness. What does this case have to do with me? Can you dismiss the case based on the few words of that Sanlang? Miss Taofen has not spoken a word. You are making a false accusation out of nothing."

"Oh, a cooked duck is no match for Miss Xu's stubborn mouth." Shen Anan looked at Shen Yunbai with a sullen face, but spoke to Taofen.

"Miss Taofen, when you learned that your sister was murdered, the first person you suspected was the young master of the Chen family, because he happened to be engaged to the young lady of the Xu family at that time, so he was the most likely to have killed her to silence her."

Her pink nails were clasped tightly on her palms, and she said nothing. Shen Anan did not expect her to speak, and continued, "Then, you filed a complaint to the government, but no one dared to take your case. At this time, the reputation of Minister Shen's integrity and honesty reached your ears."

"You went to the Shen residence and were tricked by him into giving false testimony. But in fact, you did not witness the murder of the young master of the Chen family. Everything was just your speculation. But you did not think about why Minister Shen would take on this case that would not benefit him."

"You're talking nonsense." Shen Yunbai sneered, his tone full of disdain, "Chen Anan, you have to be responsible for making up false accusations. If she hadn't witnessed it with her own eyes, how could she have described Yin Hong's death and the circumstances of that day so clearly."

"That naturally has to be attributed to Miss Xu. On the day Yin Hong died, no one knew the cause better than the culprit, Miss Taofen. Miss Xu's words were all taught by her own words and deeds."

"No, no, it's not me, it's not me. What does this have to do with me?" Facing everyone's gazes, Miss Xu shook her head desperately.

Chen Anan ignored her and stared at the silent Taofen with her eyes downcast. "When you know everything, there is no way back. The other party threatened the Sanlangjun. You can only listen to them and push the Chen family's son to take the blame. Is that right?"

ah--

Taofen let out a shrill wail, hugged herself, and cried heartbreakingly.

Shen Anan knew that she had guessed correctly, and it was worth her deductions over and over again last night and the person who gave her the clue.

She tilted her head to look at Xiao Yuan who was sitting on the chair and gave him a gentle smile, which was completely different from her aggressive look just now.

Xiao Yuan raised his lips high, his eyes filled with proud joy.

Plop——

Everyone looked towards the place where the sound came from and saw Miss Xu slumped on the ground, shaking her head and mumbling something.

After listening for a while, I could vaguely hear what she said, "I want to go home, I want to find my dad, I don't understand what you are saying, I want to go home."

Shen Anan walked towards her slowly, and Miss Xu's eyes were filled with fear. She moved to the side of Madam Chen. Madam Chen, who had been stunned by the development of the situation, came to her senses and quickly bent down to grab Miss Xu's wrist.

"You killed Miss Yin Hong, and you framed my son. Why? Why did you do this? I was so good to you, why did you want to harm my son, you jealous woman!"

Miss Xu raised her hand to block the palm from Madam Chen, her face wrinkled, "Jealous? Your son is not worthy of it. The Chen family is just a small official in the Ministry of Personnel, how can they be worthy of my Xu family."

Mrs. Chen was dumbfounded and stood there in a daze.

Miss Xu frowned, climbed up from the ground, and shouted that she wanted to look for Lord Xu.

Shen Anan looked at Madam Chen with pity and said, "The Xu family is a wealthy and prestigious family, but they are willing to marry their daughter down. Madam Chen doesn't even think about why."

Why? Why? Madam Chen stood up quickly and stared at Miss Xu. "Tell me, why did you want to harm my son?"

Miss Xu tightly grasped the sachet around her waist, gritted her teeth and said nothing.

"The scent sachet in Miss Xu's hand has a similar scent to the brocade handkerchief that Miss Yin Hong gave to Master Chen. They should both be from the Pei family, the owner behind Zuichunlou."

"It's just that Miss Xu's is obviously a bit older. It wasn't bought recently. It must have been a while. It must have been given to her by the eldest son of the Pei family."

As soon as these words were spoken, there was an uproar in the hall.

Miss Xu's face was as pale as dust. She had bitten her lower lip so hard that it bled, staining the pale lips scarlet red.

"No, it's not. I bought it myself."

"The Xu family is a noble family. The twenty-cent sachet is not even worthy of being hung on the girl's waist. Yet it is so old and yet Miss Xu treasures it like a treasure."

"Such a flaw will be revealed with a simple investigation. Do you think there is any need to quibble?"

"So, the Xu family is willing to marry my son because the girl from the Xu family has an affair with someone, and the wealthy family is afraid that they can't catch her, so they are eager to insert her into my Chen family to cover up the shame!!" Mrs. Chen was shaking all over and almost roared out in anger.

"You, you, are in cahoots with each other and have teamed up to harm my son. You want to put him to death. You are living together in adultery!!"

Mrs. Chen couldn't catch her breath, her eyes rolled back and she fell backwards. Lin Yurou hurried forward to support her, "Aunt, Aunt."

"I will sue the officials and file a complaint with the emperor. I will never let this adulterous couple go. I want the Xu family to be discredited." She gritted her teeth, wishing she could tear those people into pieces.

Miss Xu looked at Madam Chen and was so frightened that she dared not go forward. She wished she could just shrink into a corner and wait for her father to come and rescue her.

Shen Anan tilted her head, smiled at Shen Yunbai, whose face was livid, and opened her lips silently, "You lose."

"Sir." The servant beside him whispered, "I'm afraid Sir Xu won't come. We can't save Miss Xu. I'm afraid our previous agreement with Sir Xu is no longer valid."

Shen Yunbai didn't say anything, his whole body was shrouded in a deep gloom.