Chapter 28 Retribution Against the Evil Slave
"The Bianjing Prefecture has received a report that a wicked servant is deceiving his master and engaging in forced buying and selling. Is this true?"
The man in scarlet robes who entered was about twenty-five or twenty-six years old and was the Vice Prefect of Bianjing Prefecture.
His handsome face swept over everyone in the room before landing on Song Yi and Li Nanke, who were sitting on the floor.
Li Nanke quickly knelt on the ground, tilting her little face up, her round eyes filled with glistening tears.
Pointing at Mama Qian and Shopkeeper Liu, he shouted, "It's them! They bullied me and my mother, forcing my mother to sell her dowry shop!"
"My mother wouldn't sell, so they beat me. Look, sir!"
She rolled up her sleeves, revealing four or five bruises on her fair and delicate arms, a shocking sight.
"If my mother doesn't sign, they'll keep hitting me. Luckily, the adults arrived in time, or they would have killed me."
Tears welled up in her eyes and fell one by one. Li Nanke's small body trembled, and she looked extremely frightened.
The prefectural magistrate of Bianjing's face darkened.
"This is outrageous! Guards, tie these three up immediately and take them back to Bianjing Prefecture for strict interrogation."
Mother Qian, Manager Liu, and Zhang Jiulang were so frightened that they all knelt on the ground at the same time, shouting that they were innocent.
The prefect snorted coldly, "I saw it with my own eyes when I came in, how could it be false?"
"Guards, take him back immediately for interrogation."
A group of constables rushed in from outside the door, tied up the three men without saying a word, and took them out.
The magistrate looked at Song Yi.
"Since you are the one who has suffered the most, please come back to Bianjing Prefecture with me."
Song Yi was so shocked by this sudden turn of events that she forgot to cry.
Hearing this, he simply nodded blankly.
"We'll go with you immediately."
The magistrate nodded and turned to leave.
Zisu and Zilan rushed in from outside the door and helped Li Nanke and Song Yi up respectively.
"Miss, am I not late?"
Li Nanke wiped away the tears on her face and shook her head with a smile.
"No, the timing was just right."
That's right, she deliberately provoked Qian Mama and Manager Liu.
When she left home in the morning, she sent Zisu to Bianjing Prefecture to file a complaint, saying that they had been bullied by an evil servant who forced them to buy and sell.
If they delay signing the sales contract, Madam Qian and Manager Liu will definitely get angry, and Madam Qian will surely take action if she loses her temper.
The prefectural magistrate of Bianjing happened to witness the incident, and since the facts were irrefutable, he would naturally bring the person back to the yamen for questioning.
"This Lord Wei is just as upright as the young lady described. Upon hearing about the case, he brought his men without saying a word."
Zisu whispered.
Li Nanke chuckled.
Of course, she had seen Lord Wei ten years in the future in her dream, so she naturally knew that he was a first-rate official.
Song Yi listened blankly to the conversation between Li Nanke and Zisu before finally coming to her senses.
"Ke'er, did you arrange all of this?"
Li Nanke nodded, "Mother, you just saw Qian Mama's true colors with your own eyes. Her loyal master is not you at all."
Over the years, whether it was the shop that was her mother's dowry, or the principles of life she taught her mother, she had been harming and deceiving her mother all along.
As Song Yi recalled what she had just witnessed, tears streamed down her face.
When she was two or three years old, her wet nurse died of illness, and after that, Qian's mother came to take care of her.
More than twenty years have passed in the blink of an eye, and master and servant have been together day and night.
When she came of age, got married, and for all the important events in her life, Qian's mother was by her side.
In her heart, Qian Mama was like a wet nurse, practically a second mother.
She trusted Qian Mama wholeheartedly and entrusted her with almost everything, including her Fanghua Courtyard, which was also under Qian Mama's control.
These past two days, even though she knew that Qian's mother was fooling her when it came to dressing up, she just thought that Qian's mother was confused and didn't think about it any further.
Unexpectedly, Qian's mother had been trying to harm her from the very beginning.
Being hurt so badly by the person you trust and are closest to feels like having a million needles piercing your heart at the same time, constantly churning it.
The flesh was turned inside out, and the pain was so intense that it was almost impossible to breathe.
On the way to Bianjing Prefecture, Song Yi cried uncontrollably.
Li Nanke didn't try to persuade her anymore. She just quietly held Song Yi's arm and gently patted her back with her small hand.
Nothing is more convincing than seeing it with your own eyes.
She can say a thousand bad things about her mother, but it's not as good as letting her mother see it with her own eyes once.
As they approached the government office, she tugged at Song Yi's arm.
"We're almost at the yamen. Mother, do you know what to say to Lord Wei?"
Song Yi's eyes were swollen from crying, and she looked completely bewildered.
"ah?"
Li Nanke whispered a few words to her.
"Did Mother remember?"
Song Yi nodded while wiping away her tears.
"Waaah, I...I remember...hiccup...but what should I do if Mommy keeps wanting to cry?"
She was so upset that she kept hiccuping from crying.
Li Nanke said, "Don't worry, Mother. Just remember one thing: as long as things are explained clearly, it's okay to cry while you're explaining."
"Mother, you can do it! Whether we can get back the money we earned in the shop, whether we can save Father, it all depends on you."
When her husband was mentioned, Song Yi sniffed.
"Okay, Mother will try not to cry."
Li Nanke looked at her mother's red and swollen eyes and sighed softly.
Mother still thinks that Manager Liu and Mama Qian embezzled the money in the shop. If she knew that the real mastermind was actually her maternal grandmother, Madam Zhang.
I wonder if my mother will cry herself to death.
The group arrived at Bianjing Prefecture.
Song Yi went in, and before she could even speak, tears started streaming down her face.
"Waaaaah... My lord, you can consult the old accountant who has been in charge for many years... Waaaaah, it was these two heartless and wicked servants who colluded with outsiders to deceive us..."
Although she was crying bitterly, she remembered her daughter's instructions and insisted that the shops were all profitable. She even made sure to explain things clearly while crying.
Lord Wei was very skilled at handling cases. He immediately ordered his men to take Manager Liu and Zhang Jiulang away, while he ordered his men to investigate the shop's accounts. Meanwhile, he left Qian Mama in court to interrogate her.
Qian's mother was pinned to the ground, glaring at Li Nanke with eyes that seemed to want to tear her apart.
She'd lived to a ripe old age, never imagining she'd be outsmarted by an eight-year-old girl.
"It was you, you did it on purpose, didn't you?"
That brat deliberately agreed to sell the shop, then went back on her word, just to force her to take action and directly frame her for the crime of a wicked servant deceiving her master.
Li Nanke blinked her big eyes, nestled in Song Yi's arms, looking completely innocent.
*Smack*
Lord Wei slammed his gavel.
“This wicked servant has deceived his master. According to the law, he should be given twenty strokes of the cane. Guards, give him the beating immediately.”
Qian's mother was pressed down on the torture bench.
Without saying a word, the executioners began their work.
When the paddle landed on her buttocks, almost every hair on Qian's mother's body stood on end. The excruciating pain felt like a red-hot iron was stuck to her body, making her feel as if her whole body was about to split open.
Mother Qian screamed repeatedly, wishing she could faint immediately.
Just then, the voice of a yamen runner rang out from outside the door.
"Your Excellency, the two people next door have confessed, saying that it was all Qian's idea, and that the price of three thousand taels for forcibly buying the shop was also set by Qian."
Mrs. Qian was terrified.
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