Chapter 503: Lan Tingxue was beaten back to her original form

The middle-aged man recalled the situation at that time and was in great pain. He covered his face and cried.

Afraid that his crying would disturb the emperor, he had to bite his arm.

Another man came forward to testify that his child also died of thirst.

That was his first son.

My family was poor and I was born weak.

After four months of nursing, he passed away.” He then shook out his clothes.

A tiny baby was revealed.

A four-month-old baby is only slightly longer than an adult man's palm.

The women in the hall were so frightened that they screamed and covered their eyes, not daring to look.

The emperor asked the villagers to bring the child to him.

The child was so thin that his bones were visible.

His eye sockets were sunken, his face was a bluish-gray, and his lips were covered in cracks that oozed blood, gluing them together tightly.

That look is really scary.

Lan Fei, who was closest to him, just took a quick glance.

He was so scared that his body shook and he took several steps back.

All the hairs on Manager Liu's body stood up.

Pei Qiuyan is really bold. Can this kind of "evidence" be presented casually?

Aren’t you afraid of scaring the emperor and bringing about death penalty?

The emperor's pupils just trembled.

Pei Qiuyan presented the body of another child: "Your Majesty, this is another girl."

The girl is even thinner than the boy.

Pei Qiuyan said, "Your Majesty, please summon the imperial physicians and have them examine the cause of death of the two children."

It's so dehydrated.

Anyone with a discerning eye could tell that he died of thirst.

However, in order to convince the aunt and nephew of the Lan family, the emperor still summoned the imperial physician.

The imperial physician hurried in, holding his hat.

It was soon determined that both men died of dehydration.

The emperor gently touched the two children's faces and said with deep sorrow, "Rest in peace, children. I will redeem you for the grievances your village has suffered."

Steward Liu was terrified: "Your Majesty, your holy body..." How could he touch such a filthy thing as a baby's corpse?

The emperor said, "My people have all died tragically, so why bother with all those empty rituals?"

The two fathers in the hall had already burst into tears.

Lan Tingxue's face turned pale and blue.

Concubine Lan was so frightened that she couldn't stand.

Her mind raced, and she immediately found another excuse. "Without the mountain spring, won't you go get water somewhere else? Could it be that your entire county depends on that one spring for survival?"

The middle-aged man's face turned red, and if he wasn't in front of the emperor, he would have cursed.

"It's not that we haven't paid for water before, but we are all poor people. It's hard enough to make a living, so how can we have extra money to buy water?" He suppressed his temper and said, "Now every household in every village is short of water. How could they give up the water for no reason?

Sometimes people fight over water, resulting in bloodshed and even deaths.”

Concubine Lan opened her mouth, but in the end she could not find any words to refute.

Seeing this, Pei Qiuyan said to the other villagers, "Bring out your other evidence for the Emperor's review."

The other villagers took off their shirts in public out of shame, revealing the whip marks on their bodies.

"These were all beaten by the Lan family's servants."

With both witnesses and evidence present, Lan Tingxue has nothing to defend herself against.

Her face was ashen, her body went limp, and she slid down the stool and sat on the ground.

Concubine Lan needs to stay calm.

Even in this situation, she was able to think quickly and come up with a way to deal with it.

She knelt before the emperor with a plop: "Your Majesty, Tingxue grew up in front of our knees.

She has been kind since she was a child. When a koi died in the pond in the imperial garden, she was so sad that she fainted from crying.

How could she do such a heartless thing?

She is a weak woman, why would she need so much water?

This kind of thing must have been done by the servants of the Lan Mansion, who, in order to please her, did such evil things behind her back."

"Is that really the case?" The emperor looked at Lan Tingxue.

Lan Tingxue collapsed on the ground, completely terrified and not knowing how to answer.

Concubine Lan quickly tried to smooth things over: "Your Majesty, just seeing the two children die pitifully has made her so sad. How could she do such a wicked thing?

Tingxue bears the title of Princess Ruixue and has always been aware of her responsibilities.

Besides, she was at the age of marriage and her reputation could not be damaged. How could she knowingly do such a thing now?

It must be those evil servants who deceive their superiors and hide the truth from their subordinates.

He acts recklessly outside in the name of Princess Ruixue.

Your Majesty, please stand up for Tingxue and give her justice."

As Concubine Lan spoke, she lifted up her skirt and knelt down to beg for mercy.

Pei Qiuchen suddenly burst into laughter.

Everyone looked at him.

The emperor asked him, "Pei Shaoqing, what are you laughing at?"

Pei Shaoqing pointed at the deeds and said, "The deed for buying the mountain clearly has the private seal of Princess Ruixue."

"It must...it must be that evil servant who stole Ruixue's private seal." Concubine Lan was still making excuses.

"What kind of evil servant is so bold as to steal the princess's private seal and commit such evil? Do you think that the whole family has lived too long?

Besides, as a princess, her personal seal is supervised by the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Works. To verify whether the seal is genuine or not, we can just ask the people from the two ministries to come and verify it."

Concubine Lan stared at Pei Qiuchen fiercely, warning with her eyes: "Do you really want to kill us?"

Pei Qiuchen turned his eyes away indifferently, as if he didn't see her eyes.

The emperor glanced at Concubine Lan and said, "Well, this matter has nothing to do with you. You don't need to say anything more."

In the weather of July and August, Concubine Lan broke out in a cold sweat.

The emperor asked Lan Tingxue to explain himself.

Lan Tingxue usually plays with the Fifth Princess and Princess Jinghe, and is used to being arrogant and domineering. She has never fallen into such a situation.

Her young brain was a little slow to react.

But she also knew that following Lan Fei's thinking would be the right thing to do.

She put all the blame on the servants.

She said that the servants were pretending to obey but actually disobeyed, and as for the seal, she rolled her eyes and simply pushed the blame onto other people in the Lan family.

She said they stole her seal and went out to do evil.

Lan Tingxue spoke more and more fluently. In addition, she had learned to act well and please others since she was a child. For a while, her words sounded convincing and she managed to push most of the charges away.

In the end, she was only charged with "failure to properly keep the private seal."

She was almost portraying herself as a victim.

Pei Qiuchen curled his lips and asked her a few questions in public.

These questions may seem like casual conversation, but they are actually very tricky.

In just a few moves, Lan Tingxue was beaten back to her original form.

Lan Tingxue realized belatedly that she had fallen into Pei Qiuchen's verbal trap and revealed the whole story in a roundabout way.

The emperor did not get angry, but asked Pei Qiupan: According to the law, how should we deal with this matter?

Pei Qiuchen answered truthfully and recited many Dayong laws.

The Lan family's aunt and nephew became more and more frightened the more they listened.

The emperor simply calmly announced the punishment for the case.

He ordered Pei Qiuyan to arrest all the servants who had committed crimes, execute the mastermind immediately to serve as a warning to others, and send all the accomplices to the quarry to serve for a year.

The county magistrate in charge of Ganquan Village was fined three months' salary for suspected negligence.

The Lan family also ate the leftovers.

Although he was not demoted, the emperor issued an imperial edict of reprimand, which was enough for the Lan family's political enemies to make a big fuss about.

The Lan family will have to keep a low profile for a long time.