Chapter 114 Self-Proof
For a moment, everyone who saw the painting had a thoughtful look on their faces and a discerning mind.
Or maybe it just happened that Chang Suining was wearing a green skirt today, and the girl in the painting was also wearing a green skirt, which made it easier for people to associate them with one another, and the two did indeed look somewhat similar, as if the person in front of them was the person in the painting.
What is even more worthy of deep thought, or perhaps it is not necessary to think deeply at all, is the red beans in the painting...
If this painting was really given to Zhou Ding by Madam Chang, it cannot be simply explained by the word "aid"...
How can one be innocent when he personally painted red beans and gave it to someone as a gift?
Listening to the discussions around him, Hu Huan subconsciously said, "But... red beans are not only used to represent the love between men and women. Let's not talk about the distant past. Wang Wei used red beans as a poem to express his sadness of parting and his longing for love. Wasn't it a gift to his good friend Li Guinian?"
"That's true, but that's because Wang Wei and Li Guinian are both men, so there's no need to explain." Xi Zhiyuan looked at the girl in the whirlpool and said, "But Madam Chang is a woman, the situation is different, and we can't generalize."
Hu Huan asked anxiously: "What should we do then?"
You can't just watch Madam Chang being bullied like this! In his opinion, no matter whether Madam Chang and the man surnamed Zhou had any feelings for each other before, it was all in the past and it didn't affect anyone. Moreover, Madam Chang was the one who was almost killed, and now she was about to lose her reputation... This was bullying!
Hu Huan squatted down and hurriedly pushed Cui Lang, who was drunk and sleeping on the small table: "Cui Liulang, wake up!"
Cui Lang couldn't open his eyes at all. He waved his hands and muttered incoherently: "I'll get drunk if I drink any more. I can't lose face in front of my elder brother..."
Hu Huan sighed anxiously: "How could Mr. Cui Liu be so drunk at this critical moment?"
Yihu, who was kneeling beside him and serving her husband, also sighed: "Hu Hu, don't worry about this. After all, even if my husband is not drunk, he can't help much."
With the way my husband talks, he might even cause more trouble.
Hu Huan: “…”
It seems so.
"Don't be anxious yet." Xi Zhiyuan still looked at the figure of the girl and said, "This matter cannot be determined by one person's words. Madam Chang hasn't spoken yet."
Cui Jing, who had been standing beside Chang Kuo and was responsible for stabilizing Chang Kuo, turned his head slightly, looked over the crowd, and calmly looked at the young man who came from the Dongluo Kingdom.
"The painting is here... Madam Chang, are you still going to cut off ties with my nephew?" The man raised his hand and wiped away his tears.
"Did I give this painting to Zhou Ding?" Chang Suining asked Xier.
Xier immediately shook her head: "Of course not! The girl only wanted to help him, so the gift was only money!"
The girl had no other thoughts about Zhou Ding. The only one who had delusions from the beginning to the end was Zhou Ding himself! And it was not out of any pure and holy love between men and women, but just wanting to climb the high branch of the girl! It was really unlucky, he was already dead, but he still wanted to be famous!
Xier reiterated: "This painting was definitely not given to Zhou Ding by the girl!"
"You..." The man was stunned for a moment before he said, "You two, the master and the servant, are singing the same tune here... and you want to get away with it?"
Are you treating me like a fool? Wei Shuyi carefully analyzed it.
It shouldn't be that they all agree with each other. He looked at Madam Chang and she seemed really unsure - her brain was probably really broken.
The man holding the painting continued crying, "...I came here with this painting today to find my nephew's whereabouts, but who knew he would commit such a serious crime. I dare not make excuses for him... But everything I said is true, and this painting is real. The Chang family is powerful, how can I bear the crime of slandering the reputation of the Chang family's wife? If I want to stay alive today, I am afraid I can only ask you to speak a fair word for me!"
Faced with the man's desperate request for help, people around him reacted differently.
“That’s enough!”
At the same moment, the two voices merged into one.
Chang Kuo looked at the person who spoke the same words as him at the same time—
All the scholars were surprised to see that the person who stood up to speak was Master Chu, who is also the current Minister of Rites.
"I wonder who is offended by her apprenticeship banquet today?" The gray-haired Master Chu stepped forward, his thin figure still straight. "If you want to mess up the poetry gathering, then do it in a proper way at a poetry gathering! Talking about women's reputation is totally unoriginal and low-class, and it's extremely annoying!"
"Who she associates with privately is her business. It is not the place for irrelevant people to bring it up in front of others for people to judge!" Master Chu's eyes swept over the people around him, and his voice was old but still resounding: "One is a murderer, and the other is a person who was almost killed. He failed to kill the person, and now he is destroying the person's reputation. What level of hell did you crawl out of?"
He was not the kind of person who would meddle in other people's business, but he simply couldn't stand it any longer!
Old Qiao and the others are from the same family as this little girl. In order to avoid being caught by others to make a fuss about the inappropriateness of his words, it is not appropriate to say more for the time being, but he is not afraid! It would be best if someone impeached him for his inappropriate words at the morning court tomorrow. It would be great if the position of Minister of Rites was lost! Thinking of this, Master Chu simply pointed at the man and cursed: "Your face is sinister and ugly, which makes people sick. You are full of the stench of old wine. Why are you pretending to be pitiful here?"
“……” The man opened his mouth in astonishment.
This old man who looks respectable... why is he being attacked based on his appearance!
There was a brief silence all around.
"Brother Jin, hurry up..." The young man named Tan behind the ice basin poked his companion beside him.
The companion was puzzled: "What?"
"Write a poem!" The young man surnamed Tan whispered, "Master Chu made such a wonderful suggestion. This is a rare opportunity. Brother Jin is good at writing poems that express his feelings on the spot. If he produces a good work, it will be sought after..."
The companion suddenly realized.
Yes! I immediately went to find paper and pen.
Looking at the old man who was speaking up for him, Chang Suining felt a little dazed.
Although the teacher is old and sometimes full of resentment, she is still her teacher and can be a teacher to people all over the world.
During this interval, she whispered to Xier: "Where should this painting be?"
There were so many people around that Xier had no chance to elaborate, so she could only answer briefly and in the quietest voice possible: "In the coffin."
"?" Chang Suining: "...Is it far?"
Xier: "In Bingzhou..."
Chang Suining glanced at Cui Jing subconsciously.
Cui Jing was the commander-in-chief of Bingzhou. The capital was the upper capital, and Bingzhou, known as the northern capital, was a thousand miles away from the capital.
If we send someone to investigate why this painting appeared here, to collect clues, and to look for witnesses, even if everything goes smoothly, it will take at least ten days to go back and forth.
Ten days is too long. The truth after ten days will have little meaning and no one will even listen.
Moreover, the painting that should have been in Bingzhou appeared here, which was enough to show that the trap set up against her had been set up for a long time, and it just happened to coincide with today's good opportunity - if it was a trap, then ten days would be enough time for the rumors to develop to the worst extent.
So, it's too late.
Xier obviously thought of this as well, and said anxiously: "Girl..."
She naturally knew the origin and ownership of the painting, but her words could not serve as evidence, and she did not dare to say anything before the girl spoke.
Chang Suining, who had already made up his mind, looked at Master Chu.
"What the Grand Master said is very true." She said, "Whether a woman's reputation is pure or not should not be left to others to judge, and there is no standard for judging. In fact, the existence of the word reputation is absurd and corrupt."
Mrs. Xie frowned and sneered silently.
What shameless and arrogant words.
Shouldn't it be left to others to judge? Then can she shut up the world? In her sight, the girl looked calm and said something shocking: "If Zhou Ding and I really had a so-called love affair, there is nothing wrong with admitting it."
She regarded reputation as nothing and never thought of erasing or denying anything that belonged to Ah Li.
"But it doesn't exist. I will never accept this stigma that is completely fabricated."
Ah Li's act of helping her was originally out of kindness. Even though she was a girl who didn't know people well and was deceived, she was indeed a little confused, but this was definitely not a reason for Zhou Ding to harm her and kill her.
It was even more unacceptable that after she was murdered, she was labeled as someone who had an affair with a murderer. This was a great humiliation for Ah Li.
She would never let Ah Li let her be tainted by such a fictitious stigma, not even for a moment.
Chang Suining stood in the middle of the second floor where he was surrounded by the crowd and looked around at everyone in front of him.
So she couldn't wait ten days.
She wanted tonight, here, at this moment, in front of everyone, to completely cut off any possibility of being entangled in this stigma.
so--
"I didn't give this painting to Zhou Ding." She glanced at the picture of the girl with red beans and denied it, "It wasn't made by me either."
The painting in the other person's hand is real, but the words are false.
The person behind the scenes had been planning for a long time, using half-truths and half-lies as a means of communication. He knew that she could not find evidence to prove that her words were lies, and he believed that she would be unable to defend herself at this time.
Since she couldn't prove that the fake thing was fake at this time, she might as well turn the real thing into a fake.
So she denied it again: "I never painted this picture."
Xier was choking.
Although there is no need to be rigid in the face of these evil-minded villains, but... will this work for the girl?
Would anyone believe it? If someone revealed that the girl lied, would it be even more troublesome?
Xier was extremely nervous and almost cried but she didn't dare to show it - could it be that the girl's brain was sometimes working properly and sometimes not?
wrong……
sack!
Xier suddenly thought of the sack that day.
Yes, there must be a reason for the girl's actions! Xier, who faithfully followed the "sack truth" in her heart, slowly calmed down.
Chang Suining's denial was clearly heard by everyone around him.
The man said excitedly: "Mrs. Chang really refuses to admit it...but Mrs. Chang's name is on it! It's clearly written!"
Chang Suining said calmly: "If I say it's not true, then it's not true."
"Since Madam Chang said it's not, then it must not be." Madam Jie, who had been watching quietly on the side, spoke up.
Chang Suining looked at her.
Wei Miaoqing also looked over, with an inexplicable alertness in her eyes - how could this Mrs. Xie say such nice words to help someone out of trouble? Was there any "but" behind it?
Mrs. Xie said calmly, "But empty words are always useless."
Wei Miaoqing gritted her teeth: "......!"
Just let her say it!
Madam Xie looked at Chang Suining with a fair and serious expression: "After all, this painting is now in front of everyone. If Madam Chang wants to prove the truth of her words, she needs to produce convincing evidence."
Chang Suining asked, "Then according to Madam Jie, what should I do to prove myself?"
"The most convincing way is for Madam Chang to paint a picture right now..." Madam Xie smiled and looked at the people in the building: "There are many learned people here today, including those who are proficient in calligraphy and painting. Madam Chang only needs to paint another picture and let the scholars identify it. If the two paintings are indeed not from the same hand, the famous scholars will naturally prove Madam Chang's innocence, and no one will dare to question it anymore."
After a brief thought, many people nodded in agreement.
"That's a good idea..."
"Ms. Chang, all you have to do is paint. Even if the works of other girls are similar, we will be able to tell the differences!" someone assured.
"That's right... Everyone has different brushstrokes. Even if a copyist is considered a master, mistakes can be seen in the subtle details."
Those subtle differences may easily deceive ordinary people, but among them there are masters of calligraphy and painting who are famous in Dasheng, and there is also the great mountain of Master Chu -
They are absolutely confident that they will not be distracted by such works of girls.
Looking at those pairs of eyes that were particularly enthusiastic perhaps because of her hospitality, Chang Suining couldn't help but feel fortunate that she was a "fake" one.
Having received everyone's agreement, Mrs. Xie was very satisfied and looked at Chang Suining again.
Not drawing?
That means he is guilty and is confessing himself.
Painting? If you deliberately make it look bad, it will never convince the public.
As for deliberately changing the writing style?
Mrs. Xie sneered in her heart.
Just looking at this picture of the girl with red beans, you can tell that the other party is of average talent and has no ability to conceal the truth.
So what if all the people here are guests at her apprenticeship banquet?
It is impossible for so many people to lie at the same time.
No one would risk lying and ruining his own reputation just for the sake of a little girl's reputation.
She wanted to see how arrogant and ignorant this little girl was, and how long she could keep calm.
Amid the crowd's echoing voices, she asked at the right time: "What do you think, Madam Chang?"
Chang Suining nodded: "This method is very good."
Mrs. Xie raised her eyebrows slightly and nodded.
Then she would wait and see.
Seeing his sister nod, Chang Sui An said, "Someone, prepare paper and pen!"
Even though others don’t believe his sister, he does!
The young man had a lot of energy but nowhere to use it, so he carried a desk over himself and placed it in the middle of the second floor with a "bang".
Yao Xia stepped forward quickly: "Sister Chang, let me grind it for you!"
"Let me lay the paper for Madam Chang!"
The girls gathered around.
Wei Miaoqing took a step forward and then suddenly retracted her foot - strange, why did she also want to move forward!
Mrs. Xie looked at the group of girls and sneered in her heart again.
There are quite a few people who are crowded with people.
Today's lesson should allow them to grow together.
Under the gaze of countless eyes, the girl in green skirt picked up the pen.
Due to the atmosphere, Yuanxiang was so nervous that he wanted to bite his fingernails.
But his own governor did not give him the opportunity to continue to be nervous.
Cui Jing finally let go of Chang Kuo, tilted his head slightly, lowered his eyes and whispered something to Yuan Xiang.
Yuanxiang was slightly surprised.
Thank you all for your monthly tickets, recommendations and comments~ (The audiobook of "The Auspicious Time Has Arrived" is out on Himalaya, and it's played very well. It's the same host who previously played "Joy on the Brow". If you're interested, you can search and listen to it)
(End of this chapter)
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