Qiao Yuhe died from poisoning, which originated from food given to her by the Sun family.
Because of the timely response, there was both witness testimony and physical evidence.
The government office reopened the trial, this time focusing on Qiao Yuhe's life.
Sun Yu and his two children knelt below the hall, their eyes filled with resentment. "That bitch, she won't even rest in peace in death, she won't let me go even in death."
"Shut up!" The prefect slammed his gavel. "Sun Yu, do you agree with the accusation of poisoning Qiao Yuhe?"
How could anyone possibly agree with that?
Sun Yu immediately cried out his innocence, "Your Honor, you are innocent! I did not poison this woman. I am innocent!"
“But this food was indeed sent by your Sun family, and even these two children are your Sun family’s children.” The prefect’s face was cold. “Moreover, I heard from the Sun family that after you were released from the dungeon, you summoned the Sun family’s physician, which must have been a plot to poison Qiao Yuhe.”
Sun Yu was startled.
He did call the imperial physician to teach Qiao Yuhe a lesson, but he never intended to kill her. He wasn't so stupid as to kill Qiao Yuhe at this critical moment.
If you're going to kill someone, you have to wait until things have calmed down.
As for the two children, they weren't sent by him to deliver food to Qiao Yuhe.
Could it be that someone in the Sun family wants Qiao Yuhe dead?
Sun Yu racked his brains but could not find a solution.
Upon seeing this, the prefect turned his gaze to Qiao Yuhe's eldest daughter, Sun Qin, and asked, "Who exactly sent you to deliver food to the government dungeon?"
Sun Qin was a little over nine years old. She was pretty and bright. Although she was frightened by the gavel, she still stammered, "It was Father, Father told us to deliver food to Aunt."
Sun Yu suddenly turned around and stared intently at her illegitimate daughter.
If he still doesn't understand the intricacies of the situation by now, he'd be a fool.
Who could have imagined that the little girl who cried so hard when she saw her husband being blown up could be so heartless, willing to sacrifice her own life to drag Sun Yu down to hell?
Below the hall, a young nine-year-old girl was still stammering as she recounted her mother's last words.
In the courtroom, the Prefect has solemnly pronounced his verdict.
The bamboo token fell to the ground with a crisp sound, and the prefect's voice seemed to come from near and far, sometimes clear and sometimes faint.
Only two brief sentences were heard: "...This matter is of great importance. According to the laws of the Great Yu Dynasty, murdering a concubine is a serious crime. He is hereby ordered to be delivered by fast horse to the Ministry of Personnel in Fengjing for review. If there are no errors, he will be beheaded at the market at noon..."
Sun Yu's face was full of resentment.
Outside the lobby, some people expressed regret, some sighed, some clapped excitedly, and some wiped away tears and choked up.
Xu Mo pursed his lips, his expression grave.
No one knew that from the moment Qiao Yuhe started beating the grievance drum, she had no intention of living.
Ten years is too long. All the physical evidence has long been lost to time. Given Sun Yu's ruthlessness, it's impossible for him to leave any witnesses.
To bring him down, the only way is to fabricate evidence yourself and eliminate Sun Yu as quickly as possible.
Therefore, Qiao Yuhe faced death calmly, showing no mercy when she kowtowed in the main hall.
Xu Mo didn't want her to die, so he patiently dragged it out until Jiang Yi and Jiang Er returned. As long as there was even the slightest bit of evidence, even the smallest piece of physical evidence, he would protect Qiao Yuhe.
However, there was nothing there.
Qiao Yuhe eventually died, poisoned by her own carefully prepared poison, in front of her own children.
Xu Mo once asked her, "Aren't you afraid that the Sun family will retaliate against Sun Qin if you let Sun Qin testify against Sun Yu?"
Qiao Yuhe laughed, "Why do you think Sun Qin is called Sun Qin?"
This was her destiny.
If the Sun family is willing to treat Sun Qin well, then they should.
If they don't want to, then send them to be reunited in the underworld. Her father, her grandparents, her maternal grandparents, her uncles and aunts are all waiting for her.
Unfortunately, the laws of the Dayu Dynasty did not include immediate execution. In order to prevent corrupt officials from harming people, the imperial family also issued a policy: ordinary death sentences required review by the Ministry of Personnel three times, during which the Court of Judicial Review could raise objections and overturn the death sentence.
Even for capital offenses involving egregious circumstances, the Ministry of Personnel must conduct a review before the execution can proceed.
Even at top speed, it would take seven or eight days to travel from Anshui County to Fengjing, and more than ten days to go round trip. Xu Mo was afraid that something might go wrong during such a long time, and that Qiao Yuhe's sacrifice would be in vain.
Fortunately, the Prefect of Anshui County assured him, "Don't worry, young Xu, the Ministry of Personnel will definitely approve it quickly."
As expected.
Twelve days later, before the Sun family could respond to the message they sent to the Fang family seeking help, news arrived first that the Ministry of Personnel had verified the information and confirmed it was correct.
The verdict was carried out on the same day. Sun Yu was beheaded cleanly and swiftly; no one could stop him once the blade fell.
The Sun family went almost insane; while collecting Sun Yu's body, they also wanted to grind Qiao Yuhe's bones to dust.
The prefect did not give it to him.
At Xu Mo's request, Yuan, the yamen runner, had long ago transported Qiao Yuhe's body outside the city. The six siblings worked together to bury her behind a wild mountain.
Qiao Yuhe has fair skin and once joked that she was most afraid of the sun. Now that she has the protection of the wild mountains, she no longer needs to avoid the sun.
Jiang Sheng carefully placed two plates of osmanthus cakes in front of the grave and said softly, "My aunt invited me to eat osmanthus cakes, and Jiang Sheng also invites my aunt to eat osmanthus cakes."
But that honey tea was impossible to buy.
Her eyes were red, and she sobbed softly.
Chang Yan and Wen Zhiyun comforted her, one on each side.
Xu Mo looked gloomy. Although he had achieved his goal and Sun Yu could no longer compete for the position of Anshui Prefect, and the Sun family had also suffered a great loss, he was not happy.
If bringing down all the bad guys in this world requires sacrificing a precious life, is that still a meaningful thing?
If he hadn't found Qiao Yuhe, could she have lived a peaceful life until she grew old?
Xu Mo couldn't find the answer.
This chapter is not finished, please click the next page to continue reading!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
