He hesitated for a moment, then spoke.
"The witness is in the government office, and he is still very weak. The physical evidence is the remaining rice he brought. The coroner has examined it and found that there is indeed something unusual in it."
Hearing this, Qin Qing roughly understood that this person was trying to kill her, and had even prepared evidence! She had hardly offended anyone since she came to the capital, let alone someone with such deep hatred who wanted to harm her!
Aside from… that scheming, hypocritical person I met a few days ago!!
That little girl is really ruthless! So petty and vengeful at such a young age, what will she be like when she grows up?
"Go for it! I'll go with you guys!"
Hearing her decisive tone, the head constable breathed a sigh of relief. Anyone with half a brain could see that this was a frame-up, a deliberate attempt to frame someone, but the adults just believed it was true and that he had to arrest the person.
"Guards! Take him away!"
No sooner had he finished speaking than Dongzi suddenly knelt down, his face filled with panic.
"Sir...Sir! I don't know anything! I was just a laborer, I didn't even touch the grain ledgers! This has nothing to do with me!"
Seeing that he absolutely did not want to go, Qin Qing immediately frowned. Although it is said that everyone flees when disaster strikes, and they were only employer and employee, Dongzi had no need to accompany her to the government office. However, seeing this scene, she could not help but feel disappointed.
"Officer, he's right. He's just a laborer we hired for our rice shop and hasn't touched anything. Why don't we let him go?"
After saying that, she looked at Dongzi kneeling on the ground and sighed.
"Our employment relationship is terminated from this moment on. I'll pay you for the past few days right now!"
After saying that, she took out ten taels of silver and handed them to Dongzi, which was supposed to be his monthly wages!
Then he looked at the head constable.
“My Qin’s Rice Shop has nothing to do with him now. Even if you arrest him, it will be pointless.”
Dongzi was taken aback, and quickly continued to plead for his own leniency. The head constable frowned upon seeing this, for the officials were referring to the landlady and her family; arresting the laborer would be pointless…
"Fine! Now get out of here!!"
Upon hearing this, Dongzi immediately stood up and left without looking back...
Qin Qing sighed and reached out to take her granddaughter's hand.
"You don't need to tie us up anymore, we can walk by ourselves."
The onlookers watched for a while, and upon seeing this, they immediately began to discuss it amongst themselves. The constable turned to leave, but he didn't notice that a low-key yet luxurious sedan chair had stopped under the shade of a tree not far away. The middle-aged woman next to the sedan chair frowned upon seeing this...
Two women came running over shortly afterward, panting.
"Reporting to you...Master! I've found out that someone got sick from eating the grain at Qin's Rice Shop. After the report was filed, the government sent people to seal it up and arrest the Qin family! The hired laborer, seeing that things were going badly, begged the proprietress to terminate his employment. Now the proprietress and her whole family have been taken to the government office!"
Inside the carriage, a languid woman with a composed demeanor opened her eyes, her wise gaze filled with sarcasm.
"We finally managed to get out of town, and this is what we get! Ugh! We're bored anyway, let's go check it out."
Upon hearing this, the group quickly agreed, and the sedan chair was lifted again, heading towards the government office.
After a long while, Qin Qing and his family arrived at the government office and stood upright in the main hall, their expressions showing no sign of panic.
Beside them knelt a pale-faced, weak woman who gasped for breath upon seeing Qin Qing, as if she were about to die at any moment!
"Smack!"
"You criminal, Mu Qinshi! Why do you not kneel before me, this official!"
Qin Qing looked up, her gaze icy.
"Your Excellency is mistaken. First of all, I am not a criminal. Someone has reported me, and the truth of the matter is still pending. I am not a criminal! Secondly, since I am innocent, I do not need to kneel before Your Excellency! After all, the laws of Tianlong Kingdom are strict, but there is no provision that states that commoners must kneel before officials. Finally, Your Excellency's gavel was too loud and frightened my little granddaughter. As a local official, you should not have done that!"
The woman's rebuttals left the man in the hall speechless! Outside, a large crowd of people stood, and on the surface, what she said seemed to make no mistake…
The prefect was furious and gritted his teeth.
"You... fine! Then confess your guilt first! I ask you, do you recognize the person below the court?"
Upon hearing this, Qin Qing took a serious look at the woman on the ground.
"Your Excellency! I don't recognize him!"
These words enraged the prefect! He roared.
"How dare you! She bought rice from your store, and you claim you don't know her?"
Seeing this, Qin Qing couldn't help but laugh out loud, leaving everyone bewildered, thinking she had gone mad. But then Qin Qing's expression suddenly froze, and she looked at the prefect with a mocking expression.
"Does the gentleman remember what he did five days ago, who he met, what he ate, and how much water he drank?"
The unexpected question startled the onlookers once again.
The prefect was also taken aback and couldn't help but say something.
Why are you asking this? Don't change the subject!
Qin Qing shook her head, disappointed.
"I thought the Prefect had such a good memory! He even remembered clearly who he had seen and what he had done just a few days ago! If even you are like that, how can you expect a woman like me to remember so clearly! There have been at least a hundred people coming and going in my rice shop these past few days. Do you expect me to remember them all exactly when they appear in front of me again? What a joke!"
"Pfft!"
As soon as she finished speaking, bursts of laughter erupted from the crowd outside, who realized that she was mocking the prefect.
The prefect snapped out of his daze and, seeing that she had been mocking him, became so angry that his hands trembled. He picked up the gavel to punish her, but was stopped by Qin Qing's cool words.
"Be careful, sir! My granddaughter is only five or six years old; she can't be frightened!"
This infuriated the prefect even more, his face turning red. In the end, he put down the gavel and said with a gloomy expression.
"Mrs. Mu Qin, let's get straight to the point! The person in your court bought rice from you a few days ago, and has suddenly developed symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea. The coroner has already determined that the rice contained poison powder. Furthermore, you two had a public argument a few days ago, which many people witnessed! With witnesses and evidence gathered, what else do you have to say?"
Upon hearing this, Qin Qing glanced at the pale-faced woman on the ground and suddenly realized what was happening.
"Oh, it's you! I was wondering why you were the auntie who gave us one and a half taels of silver but lied and said she gave us two taels, trying to cheat us out of our rice."
That's right, this person was the woman who caused trouble when she opened her business a few days ago. She recognized her a long time ago, but she just couldn't be bothered to pay attention to her.
Upon hearing this, the crowd began to whisper among themselves, occasionally glancing at the woman with disdain, which made her originally pale face instantly flush red with anger.
"Your Honor, you must seek justice for me! I later bought rice from her family, and after eating it, I was poisoned. She gave it to me out of resentment and did it on purpose! Please, Your Honor, see the truth!"
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