Steward Zhao couldn't care less about making up any excuses at this point. He was so anxious that beads of sweat were dripping down his forehead, and he kept glancing at the village head.
Upon receiving the signal, the village head coughed lightly, cleared his throat, and stepped forward to speak:
"Alright, alright, let's not talk about the past anymore. The main reason we're here today is to clarify the matter of the Gan family's popsicles and clear their name."
As he spoke, he gave Steward Zhao a wink, and Steward Zhao immediately understood. He raised his hand and waved, and the servants behind him pulled out a woman.
The woman was timid and avoided eye contact, not daring to look directly at the crowd.
Those below were quite surprised to see her.
"Isn't this Granny Wang? She was the one who said the Gan family's popsicles were poisoned last time, and that her husband was poisoned to death."
"That's right, but didn't Butler Zhao just say it was all a frame-up? Then what's really going on with her husband?"
The crowd immediately erupted in discussion.
Butler Zhao coughed twice and said coldly, "Speak, how did you frame the Gan family?"
Granny Wang glanced at him, saw the fierce look in his eyes, and was so frightened that she stammered:
"The Gan family's popsicles are indeed not poisonous. What I said that day was all a lie. Someone gave me five taels of silver to deliberately slander... slander the Gan family."
"Wow! Five taels of silver? That's quite a sum!"
Upon hearing this, the crowd erupted in uproar. After all, five taels of silver might not seem like much, but it would take quite a while to accumulate it.
Take the dockworkers for example. Their daily wage is fifty coins. If they work for thirty days, they will only earn one and a half taels of silver a month. To earn five taels of silver, they would have to work for a full hundred days without eating or drinking.
No wonder Granny Wang was tempted...
After the initial shock, some people questioned, "So how exactly did your man die? It wasn't you...?"
Upon hearing this, Granny Wang was so frightened that she frantically waved her hands:
"No, no, no, I didn't kill my man, he drank himself to death! He was a complete alcoholic, everyone in the neighborhood knew that!"
That day he came back drunk and I couldn't wake him up no matter what I did. That's when I found out he was dead. The news got out, and people came looking for him. I thought that if I could find a different way to die, I could earn five taels of silver, so... so I agreed.
What she said was half true and half false; the rest was true, but the person looking for her... She twisted her fingers, not daring to look to the side at all.
Butler Zhao remained unfazed and rebuked her, "So, you think you can frame others? If I hadn't happened to find out about this, an innocent person would have been wrongly accused by you!"
The village head also seized the opportunity and stepped forward to say:
"That day, I was anxious. When I heard that someone had been murdered, I could only arrest Gan Mingli and prepare to send him to the county government for interrogation."
However, after Master Zhao's men investigated the matter, they came to inform me, and I learned that the Gan family had been framed. I immediately ordered Gan Mingli to be released.
I came here today specifically to clarify this matter in front of everyone, so that an innocent person wouldn't be wronged!
His righteous and indignant demeanor made him appear to be a paragon of justice and integrity.
Gan Li saw his pretentious manner and couldn't help but sneer—even a fool could tell that this guy had taken bribes from the Zhao family, which was why they sent people to arrest him.
She knew exactly what was going on, but she lacked evidence and couldn't expose him. She could only let this guy team up with Butler Zhao to put on an act.
However, just because we can't settle scores now doesn't mean we won't in the future. A gentleman takes his revenge even after ten years, and she'll make sure this place suffers a setback sooner or later!
Fortunately, although we cannot expose their true colors for the time being, the fact that the popsicles are poisonous has finally been completely clarified.
Sure enough, after learning the truth, the crowd immediately erupted in uproar. No one expected that there was such an inside story!
Those who had previously criticized Gan's dessert stall felt incredibly guilty now.
"I'm so sorry, I even cursed at you earlier..."
"Me too... Actually, we should have thought of that back then. We eat these popsicles every day. If we were going to get poisoned, we would have gotten it long ago. How come only he got sick?"
"I mean... Manager Gan, I'm sorry."
Seeing everyone's embarrassed apologies, Gan Li said considerately, "How can you blame yourself? Actually, if I were in your shoes, I would definitely be scared too if I suddenly heard about this. So if anyone is to blame, it's those with wicked intentions!"
Her understanding and consideration for others made everyone feel much better, and they all cast kind glances at her.
The village head also seized the opportunity to step forward and say, "Alright, alright, the truth has finally come out. Everyone, please disperse and don't all gather here anymore!"
Having said that, he took the lead and walked out, with Butler Zhao and his men following closely behind. However, apart from them, no one else moved at all!
Curious, he turned around and saw that everyone was rushing to the Gan family's stall, taking out their coins to buy popsicles!
"Manager Gan, give me two mung bean popsicles! You have no idea how much I've been craving them these past two days while you weren't setting up your stall!"
"The craving is secondary, the problem is the heat! Usually, eating an ice pop at this time would make me feel cool all over, but these past two days, that coolness is gone, and I'm almost dying of heat."
Everyone agreed with this.
They used to eat popsicles to cool off, but because of the rumors that they were poisonous, no one dared to buy them... They couldn't buy them even if they wanted to, because everyone had been arrested.
Damn it, it's so hot, I'm just going to tough it out!
Fortunately, the truth has come out: the popsicles were not poisonous! Now, wouldn't they like to buy a few to satisfy their cravings?
People crowded forward with coins in hand, afraid they would miss out if they were late.
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