Chapter 226 I Have an Idea
Shen Qingci slowly raised her eyes. In her clear phoenix eyes, there was no longer any warmth as before, only a bone-chilling coldness and mockery.
She didn't answer immediately, but gave Chu Jichen a reassuring smile: "Your Highness, please wait here for a moment, I'll be right back."
Having said that, she walked slowly toward the blue cloth carriage, silently protected by a group of guards.
Before she even reached the carriage, the carriage curtain was suddenly flung open!
Madam Huo stumbled and tumbled off the carriage!
She didn't even bother to tidy her already disheveled hair and clothes before kneeling heavily down in front of Shen Qingci!
"Qingci!" Tears streamed down her face, her voice filled with endless pleading and despair. "Old woman... I beg you! Please... let him go!"
"This old woman... only has this one son left!"
This sudden kneeling instantly attracted the attention of all the passersby!
Countless curious, inquisitive, pitying, and disdainful gazes were cast in unison toward this place!
Shen Qingci looked at the old woman in front of him, who was crying and acting like a madwoman, and sneered inwardly.
Madam Huo, you really have ill intentions.
So they were trying to use this method to... morally blackmail her?
What a pity.
To deal with immoral people, you should... use even more immoral methods.
She slowly stepped forward, looking down at the old woman on the ground, who had long lost all her former dignity, her voice icy and chilling:
"What are you doing, Madam? Please rise."
Although she said "Please get up," she didn't move an inch, nor did she show any intention of helping her up.
"Huo Yunzhan... under the severe torture in the prison, has... confessed everything."
Old Madam Huo's crying suddenly stopped!
She looked up in disbelief, her cloudy old eyes filled with terror and horror!
Shen Qingci's voice, like poisoned icicles, struck her heart with each word:
"He said that back on the battlefield in the western frontier, it was he who... personally set up the ambush, leading his own brother Huo Yunting into a desperate situation!"
"It was he... who personally killed Huo Yunting and took his place!"
"He even went home and took Huo Yunting's wife for himself!"
“Madam,” Shen Qingci looked at her, his eyes as if she were witnessing a colossal joke, “you’re telling me that one of your own sons killed another of your sons with his own hands. And you… do you intend to forgive him for that?”
"No...it's impossible!" Old Madam Huo screamed, her whole body trembling violently. "He...he wouldn't do that! How could he..."
But her mind was uncontrollably filled with the memory of that night when "Nanzhu" presented her with that blood-stained notebook!
On it, clearly written, were Huo Yunting's dying questions, filled with endless pain and bewilderment—
"He was clearly my twin brother, born of the same mother, so why...did he kill me?!"
Seeing that Shen Qingci remained unmoved, Old Madam Huo disregarded everything else. She lunged forward and tightly embraced Shen Qingci's leg, her voice filled with endless pleading and despair:
"Qingci! I beg you! Please... please spare his life for the sake of him being your husband and the man you once deeply loved!"
"He...he's your husband!" she sobbed, her voice hoarse. "He's the husband you...once deeply loved! Didn't you...have a child with him?!"
Upon hearing this, Shen Qingci laughed, a laugh filled with endless mockery and sorrow.
She slowly crouched down, meeting the gaze of the already collapsed old woman on the ground, her voice extremely low, almost a whisper:
"But do you... really think that he married me simply because... he likes me?"
Old Madam Huo's crying stopped abruptly!
She suddenly raised her head, staring intently at Shen Qingci, her eyes filled with fear!
"Huo Yunzhan," Shen Qingci said, looking at her and enunciating each word clearly, "has also confessed everything."
"It was him... who used me, fabricated evidence, and killed... my entire Shen family!"
Shen Qingci's last sentence was like a thunderclap from a clear sky, instantly causing an uproar among the already packed crowd!
"What? The Shen family...the Shen family is really innocent? Or...or were they framed by Huo Yunzhan using Shen Qingci?"
"My God! This is absolutely outrageous! Using his fiancée to frame his father-in-law's entire family! Is this something a human being would do?"
"So, what that 'Nan Zhu' said before was all true? The one who died on the battlefield wasn't Huo Yunzhan at all, but Yongning Marquis Huo Yunting? Huo Yunzhan killed his brother to seize the title and impersonated him?"
In an instant, all the discussions turned into curses and contempt for Huo Yunzhan!
"You beast! You're worse than a beast!"
"It's pitiful that the Shen family, a family of loyal martyrs, met such a tragic end!"
"And that Huo Yunting... he truly died with his eyes wide open in disbelief!"
Countless gazes filled with sympathy and pity fell upon Shen Qingci.
As Shen Qingci listened to the murmurs around her, a cold smile slowly curved her lips.
She slowly stood up, looking down at the old woman on the ground, whose face was already ashen, her voice filled with endless mockery and accusation:
"Madam, did you hear everything?"
"You're only thinking about protecting your only son. But have you ever thought about your eldest son, Huo Yunting, who died unjustly?"
"Have you ever thought about how he would feel if he saw you kneeling down today, begging for mercy and trying every means to clear his name for the murderer who killed him?"
Upon hearing this, Old Madam Huo trembled violently, and a complex mix of pain and struggle flashed in her old eyes, which were already red and swollen from crying!
Before she could even speak, Shen Qingci sneered again, completely shattering the last shred of hope in her heart!
"Huo Yunzhan's confession was thorough." Her voice was icy cold. "It's no use begging me now."
“Every single one of the crimes he committed was a capital offense punishable by the extermination of nine generations of his family!”
"The Huo family will probably be implicated by him."
“Instead of thinking about how to save him,” her eyes were utterly cold and indifferent, “you should think about how… to protect the Huo family.”
"You should also think of a way to protect yourself and the Huo family."
She looked at Old Madam Huo's face, which had turned deathly pale, and slowly squatted down, lowering her voice even further:
"I do have... an idea."
"Madam Huo, you can take the initiative to go to His Majesty and tell him everything you know."
"To atone for one's crimes through meritorious service."
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