The Su family members were already in the wrong, and Shen Qingtang's words left them speechless. Their faces were flushed with anger and embarrassment.
Su Lingyu was trembling with rage, and she shrieked, "Who do you think you are? You dare to interfere in the affairs of our Su family! You're nothing but..."
Before she could finish speaking, a sharp "slap" rang out, and Shen Qingtang slapped her across the face.
"Insolence!" Shen Qingtang's eyes flashed sharply. "With officials here, how dare you spout such nonsense? Openly insulting others, do you have no respect for the law?"
Those officials already found the Su family's united accusations somewhat distasteful.
Seeing Su Lingyu throwing a tantrum and cursing in public, the head constable was immediately enraged. His face darkened: "What an unruly and ignorant commoner! How dare you be so disrespectful in front of the officials!"
With a wave of his hand, the constables behind him immediately stepped forward and, without any regard for the consequences, tied up Su Lingyu and Su Mingxuan, who were arguing the loudest.
Su Lingwei's grandfather became anxious upon seeing this.
Struggling to step forward and argue, he was met with a cold glance from the constable: "Old man, why didn't you shut up when you were twisting the truth? Tie him up too!"
In the blink of an eye, those members of the Su family who had just been so confident in shifting the blame onto Su Lingwei were all tightly bound with thick hemp ropes.
Su Lingwei stood there, looking at her bound clansmen, her lips moving as if she wanted to say something.
In the end, he simply lowered his eyes in silence.
Long eyelashes cast a pale shadow on her pale face.
"It was her! She did it all!"
Even while bound, Su Mingxuan continued to struggle and shout, "It was all Su Lingwei's fault! We were all deceived by her!"
Upon hearing this, Shen Qingtang laughed, but the laughter didn't reach her eyes: "A crime committed by one person? Miss Su, you have quite the ability."
She slowly swept her gaze across the crowd. "How could a woman conceal this from her entire clan, collude with foreign enemies, and leak the border defense deployment? Did she draw this defense map, or did she personally hand it to the enemy? Does she possess extraordinary abilities to bypass layers of checkpoints and send out something so important?"
A series of rhetorical questions gradually silenced the Su family's clamor.
The officials weren't fools; Shen Qingtang's words enlightened them—this matter had far-reaching implications.
This was something no single woman could accomplish alone.
The head constable sneered, "Enough nonsense! Since you can't explain yourself, take us all with you. We'll investigate you slowly once we get to the place of exile!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the bailiffs pushed and shoved the bound Su family members toward the prison cart.
Su Lingyu cried out, and Su Mingxuan cursed.
Even the old man who had been putting on airs just moments before could only hunch over as he was forcibly shoved into one of the prison vans.
The sound of wheels rolling could be heard.
Ultimately, the Su family could not escape the fate of exile.
When the Su family members were put into the prison van, their eyes were filled with resentment and venom as they looked at Shen Qingtang; their hatred was almost tangible.
Just then, a childish yet shrill voice broke in: "Shen Qingtang! You bad person! Mind your own business! You've killed them! You're so vicious!"
It was Shen Qingtang's daughter, Jiaojiao. She had come running over at some point.
Her face turned bright red.
He pointed at Shen Qingtang's nose and cursed loudly, his eyes filled with undisguised disgust.
Shen Qingtang frowned.
Before she could even speak, Jiaojiao's curses grew even fiercer: "You can't stand to see others doing well! Grandpa Su and the others are so pitiful, yet you insisted on sending them all to prison! I'm going to tell Father that you're a vicious woman!"
"Smack!"
The crisp sound of a slap rang out again, and Shen Qingtang slapped Jiao Jiao across the face.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
