Looking at the stunningly beautiful young woman before him, Lu Zheng'an thought to himself, "What a pity."
If it were a regular lawsuit, and if she were willing to serve him for a few days, he might be able to protect her.
However, this lawsuit was ordered directly by the princess. How could he, a mere military officer, dare to offend the princess?
Su Xuerong looked closely at the remaining incense.
The incense balls that had been used were burnt brown, and most of them had turned into ash, making it impossible to tell whether they were from Su Ji Incense Shop.
“Your Excellency, this box is indeed from Su’s Incense Shop…” Su Xuerong said calmly, “but the incense balls inside that have been burned are not from my family.”
The woman next to her looked slightly startled, then immediately gritted her teeth and angrily said, "How can it not be your incense? This box clearly says it's from your incense shop!"
“Since my family’s incense shop opened, we’ve sold no fewer than a thousand boxes of incense. These boxes are readily available everywhere.” Su Xuerong looked at the woman without changing her expression and sneered, “Then may I ask you, what kind of incense did you buy, and how many?”
The woman declared confidently, "It's a four-in-one incense, a whole box contains ten incense balls."
Su Xuerong looked quietly into her bloodshot eyes: "Are you sure it's Four Seasons Incense?"
The woman shuddered at her calm yet sharp gaze, but stubbornly insisted, "That's right, it's Sihexiang!"
Su Xuerong stopped looking at her and turned to Lu Zheng'an: "Your Excellency is wise. The four-in-one incense sold in Su's Incense Shop is made of four kinds of spices: lychee peel, orchid, chrysanthemum, and cypress fruit, and honey. Where did this 'Qianji grass' come from!"
Lu Zheng'an sneered, "But there's clearly some 'Tethering Grass' in this remaining incense ball, don't try to deny it!"
Su Xuerong laughed: "My lord, have you ever used my family's incense yourself?"
Lu Zheng'an scoffed, "Why should I bother burning incense at your house?"
“If you haven’t personally burned it, then you won’t know the characteristics of my family’s incense!” Su Xuerong said with a serious expression. “Once the four-in-one incense I make is burned, there will be no residue left; it will all turn to ashes. How can you possibly test for the ingredients of the ’Qianji Grass’?”
Lu Zheng'an: "..."
Su Xuerong said calmly, "If you don't believe me, you can try burning a censer ball yourself right now."
After saying that, she took out an exquisite sachet from her sleeve and selected a fragrant ball from it: "This is the four-in-one incense made by me."
Lu Zheng'an ground his teeth.
According to normal legal procedures, he would never convict the defendant based solely on the plaintiff's testimony. Naturally, he would send someone to conduct a detailed investigation to determine whether the incense mentioned by the plaintiff actually belonged to the defendant. He would never be so hasty in his decision.
But this case is clearly a frame-up ordered by the princess, and he intends to use the emperor's authority to force Su Xuerong to confess.
But to my surprise, this seemingly delicate and frail young lady was so serious.
Lu Zheng'an frowned and said, "Su Shi, I'm giving you a chance. If you confess, I will..."
"I am innocent, why should I confess?" Su Xuerong met his gaze coldly, without the slightest fear. "If you cannot judge this case fairly, I will ask the Prince to come and seek justice for me!"
She had a vague suspicion that this matter was related to the Prince of Fenyang's residence.
However, whether it is Xiao Yuan himself or Chen Siyi remains to be determined.
If it were Xiao Yuan, she would have no chance of turning things around.
Rather than being troubled by this brat here, it's better to negotiate with him again and try to buy some time to escape.
But if Chen Siyi secretly arranged it, she would be even more determined to meet with Xiao Yuan and expose his private affairs, so that he could find a way to quell the matter himself.
Lu Zheng'an felt a pang of sympathy upon hearing this.
He really did offend the princess!
Looking at her stunningly beautiful face, what else could Lu Zheng'an not understand?
He went through several thoughts in his mind.
Although the princess clearly intends to kill Su Shi in this lawsuit, what if the prince is unaware of it?
When a man has many women in his backyard, all sorts of messy lawsuits will follow.
Lu Zheng'an had roughly guessed the truth.
The prince must have taken a fancy to the woman in front of him, Su. If I were to deal with her without his knowledge, the prince might not know how he would treat the princess, but I might lose my official position.
If I offend the princess...
She probably can't even influence him with her pillow talk, so what does he have to fear?
His eyes darted around, and he immediately said, "Someone, bring incense."
Su Xuerong was slightly taken aback.
She thought Lu Zheng'an would condemn her to death and insist that she was the murderer, but unexpectedly he changed his tune.
It seems that her deliberate mention of Xiao Yuan was a wise move.
Lu Zheng'an summoned a servant who knew how to light incense, and in front of everyone lit the small stove. Then he laid a small piece of silver foil on the stove and finally placed the incense ball on it.
The incense ball on the silver foil was slowly roasted over a low flame, and a fresh and elegant fragrance immediately spread everywhere.
Lu Zheng'an squinted at Su Xuerong without saying a word, and the constables beside him also remained silent.
Two quarters of an hour later, the incense on the silver foil burned out completely, just as Su Xuerong had said, leaving no trace, only light ash, which scattered in all directions when the wind blew.
Lu Zheng'an coughed lightly: "It seems that the incense you brought is indeed without any residue, but how can you prove that the incense purchased by the He family was not deliberately mixed with poison?"
Su Xuerong said, "Your Excellency asks a very strange question. I have no grudge against this woman, so why would I go to such lengths to harm her husband..."
"That's because my husband coveted your beauty. He glanced at you a few times in the incense shop, and you were tempted to kill him!" Madam He shouted hoarsely from the side.
Lu Zheng'an gave an "Oh," and looked at Su Xuerong meaningfully: "So, Su family, you do have a motive..."
Su Xuerong stared coldly at Madam He: "When have I ever seen your husband? Tell me."
"I saw it in your incense shop! Don't even think about denying it!" He Shi said fiercely.
Having finally gotten a chance to make money, she was determined to crush the Su family under her feet.
“But why can’t it be that you’re using this opportunity to murder your husband?” Su Xuerong suddenly retorted. “If you’ve already grown tired of your husband and can’t get a divorce, maybe you want to kill him but are deliberately framing me to escape punishment!”
"Moreover, from the moment I came in, I have never seen any grief or longing for your deceased husband in your eyes. Who instructed you to frame me?"
He was utterly horrified.
She hadn't expected that the Su family had guessed almost exactly what was going on!
Lu Zheng'an looked at the two women kneeling below with great interest and was about to speak when he suddenly heard a noise outside the door.
A servant rushed in from outside and said, "Sir, Princess Qinghe has arrived!"
Su Xuerong was somewhat surprised when she saw Chen Siyi walk in with a cold expression.
She spoke loudly to Lu Zheng'an, who was sitting high above her, "My lord, I can testify that Lady Su's Four-in-One Incense will not cause any harm to people!"
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