Chapter 132 Outward Harmony, Inward Distance

"Child, I know you're wronged. It's Qingyan who has wronged you. Don't worry, once he recovers, the baby will only come out of your belly. If he dares to keep someone else outside, I'll break his legs!" Old Madam Xu was afraid that Ning would go back to her parents' home in a fit of anger. In the past, the Xu family had spent a lot of money to marry Ning into the family in order to form a marriage alliance.

Ning sneered inwardly, thinking to herself: This old woman really thinks I'm easy to fool. What's the use of saying that a child can only come out of her belly? Her son doesn't even have the ability to get a woman pregnant. What's the use of saying such empty words? Back then, when Xu Qingyan kept a mistress outside, not only did she not know, but she also kept it a secret from an outsider like herself for her son.

The wet nurse beside her noticed that her expression was not right and quickly nudged her arm gently.

Ning Shi came to her senses and gave Old Madam Xu a fake smile: "Mother, what are you saying? My husband and I are husband and wife, so of course we hope that he can recover soon. Mother, don't worry too much. My husband is still young, and he will have children eventually."

"Good child! I knew you wouldn't look down on Qingyan. From now on, you two will support each other and live a good life. I'd like to see who dares to gossip. I'll tear their mouths apart!" Old Madam Xu patted Ning's hand and comforted her for a while.

They opened the storeroom again and picked out many good things for Ning before letting her go back.

"Old hag! You're just trying to fool me," Ning said, making no attempt to hide her disgust for Old Madam Xu as she returned to the house.

The wet nurse didn't say anything, knowing that she hadn't rested well these past two days, so she had someone prepare some nourishing medicinal food for her.

Song Yushu was unaware of what had happened to the Xu family. He originally thought that the third young master of the Xu family would send someone to discuss cooperation after receiving his reply, but after waiting for several days without seeing anyone come, he didn't take the matter to heart.

"You heartless bastards! Give me back my son's life!"

"Don't go to that restaurant! I bought some pumpkin cakes from there yesterday, and my son only ate two before he died that night!"

An old woman threw several rotten eggs at Song Yushu's restaurant, causing several customers inside to run out because of the stench.

The commotion attracted passersby, who gathered around to watch.

As soon as Song Yushu came out, she was almost hit by the old woman's rotten eggs, but luckily she dodged in time.

"Do you recognize this old woman? Did she really come here yesterday?" Song Yushu asked the shop's employees to confirm.

“I was here yesterday, the pumpkin pancakes… I packed them up for her,” one of them said, before being attacked with rotten eggs by the old woman.

Upon hearing this, Song Yushu instructed Xiong Erni to snatch the old woman's rotten eggs to prevent her from attacking indiscriminately later.

"Let go! Is there no justice in this world?! Are you trying to silence me? I'll kill myself right here at the door..." The old woman, having had her rotten eggs snatched away, tried to throw another tantrum, but Xiong Erni held her firmly, preventing her from moving, and she started wailing again.

"There was a disturbance at our restaurant today, and we've already reported it to the authorities. We're afraid we won't be able to serve you anytime soon. Please leave your address so we can compensate you three times the cost of your meal once this is all resolved!"

Song Yushu bowed to the customers of the restaurant to express his apology.

The customers, who had been looking grim upon hearing that the restaurant's food had poisoned people, paid no attention to her words and rushed to the clinic, fearing that they would be the next to be poisoned.

"Pah! You heartless wretch! A life for a life!" The old woman continued to resist stubbornly under Xiong Erni's control.

Passersby couldn't stand it and tried to dissuade her, saying, "She's an old woman, how can she be treated like this? If there's any misunderstanding, the officials will come and investigate later."

"Yes, the old woman is already pitiful enough having lost her son, how can we treat her like this!"

Hearing the indignant voices behind him demanding justice for the old woman, Song Yushu had no choice but to let Xiong Erni release the woman.

Undeterred, the old woman grabbed the rotten eggs from the basket and attacked Song Yushu. Song Yushu dodged, and the rotten eggs hit the face of the passerby who had spoken up for the old woman.

"vomit!"

People who were close to him immediately distanced themselves from him.

The old woman showed no sign of apologizing and continued to throw several rotten eggs, all of which hit passersby behind her. Even those who felt sorry for her began to curse, "Ignorant woman! We were just speaking up for you, and you throw rotten eggs at us! Ugh!"

"We shouldn't have had them let her go!"

"I think she's just being unreasonable! If I were the shop owner, I'd beat her up first!"

"That can't be right! There really was a child lying on that straw mat, and we don't know if he's alive or dead!"

Song Yushu then noticed a child wrapped in a straw mat at the back of the crowd and hurriedly went to check on him.

"What are you doing? Let go! My son is dead, what else do you want to do?" The old woman lunged at Song Yushu like a madwoman when she saw her approaching the child's body, making it impossible for Song Yushu to get close.

Song Yushu originally went to check on the child, hoping that he might still be alive and that a doctor could save him. Although she hadn't poisoned the pumpkin cake, it was still a human life, especially since it was a child.

But when she saw a thin arm covered in red rashes and turning bluish-purple peeking out from beside the straw mat, her heart sank.

"The officials are here!"

Song Yushu, the old woman, and several employees of the restaurant were all taken to the county government office.

"My lord! You must get justice for my son! He died because he ate the pumpkin cakes from that restaurant!"

As soon as the old woman saw the prefect in the hall, she began to cry and complain.

"Silence! If there is any injustice in the courtroom, I will certainly uphold justice for you. However, time is of the essence. Please explain the details of the case clearly and without delay!"

When Prefect Liu saw Song Yushu below the hall, he sighed inwardly. In just a few months, he had already met Song Yushu several times. His luck was really bad.

Not to mention Prefect Liu, even Song Yushu felt that the prefectural city was definitely her nemesis, and she would encounter all sorts of bad luck. She suspected that she might be the villain who interfered with the male and female protagonists in this world, which was why she was so unlucky and troubled one thing after another.

The old woman continued her accusations against Song Yushu, but due to the prefect Liu's authority, she dared not digress further. However, her words implied that Song Yushu had poisoned the pumpkin cake, which was why her son had died.

“Reporting to Your Honor, I do not know this person and have absolutely no motive to poison her. Moreover, this old woman was not the only one who bought pumpkin cakes that day. Everyone else was fine, only the old woman’s child was injured. I believe that someone must have instructed this old woman to frame me!”

Song Yushu was quite experienced; having been falsely accused many times, he could defend himself in a rather organized manner.

"Moreover, this old woman, despite having lost her child, only knew how to bring the corpse to cause trouble. The woman discovered that besides being unreasonable, she had carelessly dumped the child's body on the street without paying any attention, only concerned with causing trouble. Moreover, the child's arms were covered in bruises, suggesting that he had been abused. The woman suspected that the child might not be hers."

After reviewing the information he had gathered in a short time, Song Yushu shared his guess.