Sun Yu was not blindly confident.
First of all, more than ten years have passed since the case was filed, making it impossible to investigate the crime scene. The physical evidence has long been eroded by time, leaving only a few witnesses, who have already been disposed of.
When local officials want to do whatever they want, the sky above the people collapses, and all they can do is cry and flee.
Sun Yu's confidence proves that the tragedy was even more brutal back then.
This only fueled Qiao Yuhe's hatred.
"Sun Gou, are you mistaken? If I didn't have evidence, why would I be sitting here?" The young woman, barely in her twenties, laughed cruelly. "Have you forgotten that you still have the Qin family's jade mine?"
The Qin family had accumulated some wealth through the discovery of a jade mine, but after the whole family met with misfortune, the jade mine ended up in the hands of the local officials. Who would believe there wasn't something fishy going on?
Sun Yu visibly panicked.
But he quickly regained his composure. "The jade mine was a gift from Qin Feng. I have a certificate of gift written by him. On what grounds are you convicting me just because I own a jade mine?"
"Furthermore, the Qin family is gone. If the jade mine doesn't belong to me, it will belong to someone else."
As expected of someone who has served as a local official, their sophistry is layered with logic, leaving no room for doubt.
For example, Sun Yu definitely has this book on mining, and it was definitely written by Qin Feng; it's not a fake.
But only the Qin family knew the exact moment Qin Feng wrote this gift book for the mine—at that time, he was already critically injured by the explosion, while his parents and wife were being held hostage by Sun Yu. If he wrote it, he would die; if he didn't, his whole family would die.
For his elderly parents and his newlywed wife, Qin Feng struggled to write even on his deathbed.
But now, this grant of mining rights has become evidence for Sun Yu to evade legal prosecution.
Qiao Yuhe lay on the ground, wailing and crying, filled with despair and helplessness.
Seeing this, Sun Yu became even more smug, stroking his little mustache and saying, "I don't blame you for going crazy, Qiao Shi. As long as you are willing to admit that it was all your fault for framing and slandering, I am still willing to accept you as a concubine of the Sun family. However, you cannot be a good concubine; you can only be a lowly concubine."
A concubine is a daughter of a respectable family, and should always be treated with some respect.
Concubines are of low social status, no different from maids and servants who have signed a death contract. They can be sold off at will, except that they have the additional function of warming the bed.
From the moment Qiao Yuhe made up her mind to file a lawsuit in the government office, she had no intention of remaining a concubine in the Sun family.
She turned her head and gave Sun Yu a cold look, then suddenly kowtowed to the prefect, "I beg the prefect to do justice for me. I will never withdraw my complaint. If Sun Yu is not convicted, I will die with my eyes open in disgrace."
This wasn't just a perfunctory bend; it was a real, hard fall to the ground.
One sound after another, one after another.
At first, Qiao Yuhe only had redness and swelling on her forehead, but soon her skin and flesh were torn apart, and later there was blood on the ground.
She seemed oblivious, continuing to kowtow again and again, begging the righteous judge to intervene and for a miracle to happen.
The surrounding people couldn't bear it, and the clerk in the hall closed his eyes early on.
With bloodshot eyes, the prefect slammed his fist on the judge's table. "Arrest both parties and imprison them. This matter will be tried again later."
I need to investigate this myself.
Qiao Yuhe's face was covered in blood, her delicate features contorted and terrifying, but upon hearing the news, she couldn't help but smile, her lips curving upwards as bright and cheerful as they had been ten years ago.
"You bastard, your death is near," she mouthed provocatively.
Sun Yu was taken aback and was about to rush forward, but was stopped by several constables.
"My lord, my lord, I have official rank and title. Why are you detaining me without any evidence? I refuse to accept this!" He broke free of his shackles and roared at the court.
The advisor hesitated. The Dayu Dynasty did indeed have this rule: only those with conclusive evidence could be detained, in order to avoid wrongly accusing innocent people.
The prefect's face was ashen, and though his voice was soft, it was exceptionally firm: "Rules are rigid, but people are flexible."
In front of countless witnesses, Sun Yu screamed as he was taken into the dungeon.
Qiao Yuhe was also imprisoned. Her head was covered in blood, which was quite a sight. The clerk specially invited a doctor to bandage and treat her.
Meanwhile, the outside world was in chaos.
Sun Yu was the most promising member of the Sun family and the most valued younger brother. Now that he was imprisoned, neither the Sun nor the Wang families would let the matter rest.
First, the Sun family went to the prefectural governor's office repeatedly, hoping that the prefect would release the person.
Upon arriving at the Wang family, they exerted pressure, even stating bluntly: Sun Yu is innocent, and if the prefect insists, he will be harming the innocent.
What a terrible way to harm the innocent.
The prefect was so angry that his beard trembled, and he sent several constables out overnight to find evidence.
Everyone is waiting.
Once the prefect finds evidence that Sun Yu harmed the Qin and Qiao families, and finds a charge that would warrant Sun Yu's execution.
At this critical juncture, Jiang Yi and Jiang Er returned from the south.
The two of them, travel-worn and dusty, knelt down as soon as they arrived at the Zanhua Courtyard.
Xu Mo's heart skipped a beat, and he asked urgently, "Nothing found?"
Jiang nodded heavily.
Xu Mo sat in his room for half a day.
Half a day later, he got up and went to the government office to ask the prefect to release Sun Yu.
The prefect was puzzled. "If we release Sun Yu, he will erase even the slightest bit of evidence, and then we will find nothing even after searching everywhere."
Xu Mo sneered, "If he really does erase it, that would be fine, then we can directly track down solid evidence."
Besides, the prefect couldn't withstand the pressure of keeping Sun Yu imprisoned indefinitely.
That afternoon, Sun Yu walked out of the prison with bloodshot eyes, cursing as he went, his words filled with nothing but hatred for Qiao Yuhe.
According to the jailer, the two were imprisoned in close proximity. Qiao Yuhe hated Sun Yu to the core and would yell and curse at him every day, not giving Sun Yu a moment's rest. If Sun Yu dared to close his eyes, she would curse Sun Yu's ancestors for eighteen generations.
In total, Sun Yu has been in prison for four days and hasn't had a single moment of rest.
Logically, he should have rested immediately upon returning to the Sun residence, but he did not. Instead, he summoned the family physician, seemingly plotting something.
at the same time.
Xu Mo went into the prison alone to visit Qiao Yuhe under the watchful eye of the jailer.
These four sleepless nights tormented not only Sun Yu, but also Qiao Yuhe.
The once charming and radiant young woman in Yuzhenfang is now pale and thin, like an eighty-year-old woman.
"Are you really sure?" After a long silence, Xu Mo only asked this one question.
The jailer was completely baffled.
Qiao Yuhe gave a desolate smile, "I've already thought it through."
"Alright then." Xu Mo closed his eyes, seemingly reluctant to do so. "Madam Qin, please rest assured."
He brought neither food nor drinks; he simply bowed slightly to Qiao Yuhe through the fence.
Xu Mo then left.
Not long after, Qiao Yuhe's two children came to visit their aunt.
They brought food and pastries, crying out to their unrecognizable birth mother, "Auntie... Auntie..."
In the end, as a concubine, she only deserved to be called "auntie," not "mother."
Qiao Yuhe glanced longingly at her eldest daughter, tilted her head back and drank the wine, then finished off the pastries.
When the jailer came to urge her to leave, she began foaming at the mouth. By the time the doctor was called, her limbs were stiff and her body was ice cold.
"Mother..." the eldest daughter cried out in anguish, "Wake up, Mother, don't sleep..."
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