Master Wang stopped speaking halfway through his sentence, his expression quite complicated.
At this moment, Wang Fujin came in to report, "Master, Madam has returned."
Master Wang hesitated for a moment, then instructed his sons, "You all go stand behind the screen and don't make a sound. Come out only after your mother has left."
Cat Brother looked completely bewildered, but Li Brother grabbed his younger brother and left.
Soon, Wang E came in. Seeing the medicine bowl on the table, she picked it up and said, "Master, are you feeling better? Let me feed you your medicine."
But Master Wang knocked over the medicine bowl and asked in a deep voice, "Wang E, I have been married into the Wang family for more than ten years now. You know best how I have treated you and the Wang family, but why did you want to kill me?"
Wang E turned pale with fright, her lips trembling as she refused to admit it, "What is the master saying? I don't understand."
"Don't you understand?" Master Wang sat up, extremely annoyed.
“My headache is caused by blood stasis in my brain. A few doses of medicine, a simple way to improve blood circulation and remove blood stasis, would have cured me. But you have bribed doctors time and time again to say that my headache is incurable, leaving me to suffer for more than ten years. Now, I am about to die! Wang E, how cruel you are!”
When Wang E was exposed, she covered her face and burst into tears.
After being married for over a decade, she naturally felt sorry for him, but she had no choice but to do so.
When Master Wang saw that she didn't speak, he became even angrier and threw the pillow next to him.
“Even if I have done something wrong, we have two sons. For their sake, how could you scheme to kill me? What will they do without their father?”
Wang E was so frightened that she jumped off the bed. She wiped away her tears and said with a heavy heart, "Master, I have wronged you in this life. I will repay you in the next life by serving you like a cow or a horse. Now that things have come to this, there is nothing I can do even if I regret it. You should rest and get better. After you are gone, I will raise Li Ge'er and Mao Ge'er well."
Having said that, she turned to leave, but then heard someone call out from behind the screen, "Mother!"
Cat was too young to understand what his parents were arguing about, so he ran out and hugged his mother.
Li Ge'er understood everything. He walked out with a pale face and weak legs, staring at his mother in disbelief.
Wang E suddenly looked at her husband on the bed, extremely angry.
She never expected her husband to hate her so much, actually exposing her scheme in front of the children!
She wanted to explain to her eldest son, but then she heard a commotion at the door.
A servant ran in shouting, "Madam, officials have come to arrest you and take you to the government office!"
Wang E's face turned pale immediately. "Why are you arresting me?"
But four or five officers had already entered, confirmed Wang E's identity, grabbed her arm, and started to pull her out.
Li Ge and Mao Ge were terrified. Master Wang struggled to get out of bed, called for his servants to hitch up the carriage, and then he took the two children and chased after them.
Because of the relocation of the capital, the originally insignificant small prefectural government office has now been upgraded to the position of Prefect of the Capital.
Furthermore, due to frequent frictions between the powerful figures in Kyoto and the local aristocratic families, the government office was bustling with activity every day.
Therefore, the emperor specially sent a famous and upright minister to oversee the matter, handling everything impartially and never considering personal relationships, only right and wrong and evidence.
After more than a year, everyone was convinced and the conflicts gradually decreased.
After all, no one benefits from going through official channels, so it's better to sit down and have a proper talk...
But today is a special day. Early in the morning, a dozen or so people dressed in mourning clothes entered the city. They were all ordinary people, young and old, but they were carrying two memorial tablets and their cries were deafening.
"Please, Your Honor, do us justice!"
"Old Master Wang of Sihaiju killed my son! Waaah, my son died unjustly!"
"Father, your son misses you!"
"Er Gouzi, if you're watching from heaven, please see if your mother can avenge you!"
Such a commotion naturally attracted a large crowd, who gathered to watch the spectacle and couldn't help but discuss it amongst themselves.
"What are these people saying, Sihaiju? Didn't Sihaiju just poison someone yesterday? Is it about that incident again?"
"It doesn't sound like that to me. It sounds like they're talking about Old Master Wang from Sihaiju!"
"Hasn't Old Master Wang been dead for many years? How could he commit murder? That's impossible!"
"Let's go take a look!"
"The Wang family is really unlucky. One thing after another keeps happening, it just won't end..."
Soon, the procession grew larger and larger, and by the time they arrived in front of the government office, the crowd of onlookers had almost completely blocked the street.
Upon hearing the grievance drum, the prefect quickly dressed and took his seat in court.
Upon seeing this group of people dressed in mourning clothes, he frowned. After asking them carefully, he found that their stories were incoherent, but he eventually managed to piece together the whole story.
It turns out that these are two families from Dahuaishu Village in the north of the city. Their son suddenly disappeared more than ten years ago and they could not find him anywhere.
They were heartbroken because they couldn't find him at home.
But yesterday, one of the families went to the city on business. While having a drink at a teahouse in the south of the city, they heard something interesting that sounded very similar to some of the things their son had said years ago.
So the two families guessed that their son had been murdered, and that's why they came to complain, wanting to find out exactly how their son died and where his remains were.
Since two lives were at stake, the prefect ordered his officers to arrest the Wang family's only daughter while simultaneously inquiring about the Wang family's background.
The clerk standing in the corner was a clever man. Besides helping the prefect handle documents, he was also responsible for keeping up with the latest news.
As luck would have it, his family lived in the alley south of the city, and he had heard his father, who loved going to teahouses, explain the Wang family's affairs clearly last night.
He then told the Prefect everything, adding at the end, "Of course, Your Excellency, this is all what the neighbors near the Wang family heard and talked about; there is no evidence."
Although the prefect was upright, he was not a blockhead; otherwise, he would not have gained the emperor's trust and been appointed to this position.
His keen sense of crime-solving, honed over many years, led him to suspect that something was amiss.
After all, the Wang family's business just collapsed yesterday, and it was revealed that the Wang family's only daughter deliberately refused to treat her son-in-law's illness, almost causing his death. Today, someone comes to accuse the Wang family of causing a death. It's too much of a coincidence.
Coincidences can happen in the world, but when so many coincidences come together, they are no longer coincidences...
Soon, Wang E was brought over.
The crowd of onlookers automatically dispersed, leaving a path for the officials.
Someone, emboldened, scrutinized Wang E closely and couldn't help but ask, "Is this the only daughter of the Wang family, the one with the heart of a viper?"
"It must be her. She refused to treat her husband's illness and let him suffer until he was about to die."
"Such a beautiful woman, I never expected her to be so vicious. No wonder people say that the most poisonous heart is a woman's!"
Wang E heard a few words and turned pale with fright.
She finally understood why her neighbors had avoided her in the morning!
I originally thought that only my family knew about this, but now everyone knows!
Her legs were a little weak, but the officers showed no mercy and dragged her into the courtroom.
The prefect glanced at Wang E kneeling below the hall, and was about to speak when another commotion broke out outside the government office.
Soon, Master Wang, leading his two children, squeezed to the front of the hall and shouted, "Your Honor, I am Wang E's husband, Wang Xinqiu. Please allow me to enter the hall."
The prefect nodded, and the bailiffs made way. Master Wang led his two children in and knelt down as soon as he entered.
He was already pale and emaciated, looking like he was terminally ill. His haste to arrive made him look even more disheveled. When he tried to speak, he vomited blood again.
Although he quickly pulled his sleeve to cover his mouth, there was still blood at the corner of his mouth.
Everyone in and around the hall saw this and couldn't help but sigh.
"Master Wang is such a good man. He was about to be killed by that poisonous woman Wang E, but he still came to protect her."
"Yes, perhaps it's for the sake of the two children."
"Wang E is so heartless! You can't find such a good husband anywhere."
"Yes, people like that deserve to be struck by lightning!"
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