Chapter 168 Covering Up
At this point, Hang Qi had no way to stop anything and could only let Lin Xi do what she wanted.
"Master Wang, we're in trouble." Lin Xi said.
Wang Jing nodded, dragged Zhao Pingwei out from somewhere and brought him to the hall.
As soon as he saw himself, Zhao Tan felt as if he had been struck by lightning. Lin Xi knew that she was going to push him into a desperate situation!
"Lin Xi, what do you mean! My son has nothing to do with this matter, don't involve him!" Zhao Tan growled, his face flushed.
Lin Xi's expression was normal. "Zhao Lizheng, whether Zhao Pingwei has nothing to do with this matter or not is not up to you or me. Let's hear what he has to say."
Hang Qi said seriously, "Zhao Pingwei, you speak for yourself."
Zhao Pingwei had never seen such a scene before, he fell to his knees and said, "Dad, I was possessed by a demon for a moment and cut up someone else's rice field. I did it all!"
Zhao Tan's eyes were red with anger. Zhao Pingwei actually admitted it. Did he know what the consequences of his admission would be?
"Sir," Zhao Tan knelt on the ground, "My son is usually unreliable. You must not believe what he says!"
"No, sir, what happened to the rice fields was done by me alone. It has nothing to do with other people. Please do not implicate innocent people!" Zhao Pingwei said quickly.
The governor found the situation very interesting and asked Zhao Pingwei, "Tell me why you did this?"
"I..." Zhao Pingwei paused, "I was just being stupid."
Anyone with a discerning eye knows that this reason doesn’t make sense, but since the other party has admitted it, what else can you say?
"Sir, you also know that the rice field incident has nothing to do with me." Lin Xi said, "Since all the strange things in the village have nothing to do with me, then what the old Taoist said is simply a lie. A Taoist with no ability is cheating people outside and almost got me kicked out of Taoli Village. Please punish him severely."
The old Taoist priest, who had been watching the show for a long time, didn't expect that he would get into trouble without saying a word, so he quickly said, "Sir, I am not talking nonsense. This woman is indeed not in harmony with Taoli Village!"
Hang Qi is now in a state of confusion. Lin Xi has easily cleared all suspicions on him, but many things about Zhao Tan are unclear.
Xiao Yongyan watched the whole thing silently, and finally spoke at this moment, "Sir, all the strange things that have happened in Taoli Village recently are man-made. I suspect that someone deliberately framed my wife and wanted us to be excluded by the villagers. Please make sure to investigate it thoroughly!"
Zhao Tan had cursed Lin Xi and Xiao Yongyan dozens of times in his heart, but that didn't solve the problem at hand.
"Sir, this was all done by me. I am willing to take full responsibility!" Zhao Pingwei suddenly said.
How could Zhao Tan let his only son admit these things? He immediately said, "You are confused, kid. When did you do these things? If you really want to talk about it..."
"Dad," Zhao Pingwei grabbed Zhao Tan's arm, with pleading eyes, "I did all this alone, it has nothing to do with others. Even if you are the head of your village, you can't protect your son like this!"
Zhao Tan was stunned and heartbroken. His son was sacrificing himself to save his position!
But that was his only son, how could he bear to let him go!
"Sir, this is all due to my poor discipline. If you want to punish someone, punish me!" Zhao Tan said.
"No, sir, my father did nothing wrong, it's all my fault!" Zhao Pingwei said.
Lin Xi looked at the drama of deep love between father and son in front of him, but she didn't feel moved at all.
What is there for these two people to fight about? Neither of them can escape responsibility here.
The other villagers were completely stunned when they saw this scene. They could never imagine that the person who did these things would be from the Zhao family.
Although Zhao Pingwei was a bit absurd in his daily life, he would never do such an outrageous thing.
Alas, how can they accept this?
Hang Qi had a headache. He was not stupid, so he could see that this was most likely a trap set by the Zhao family father and son. They invested so much money with only one purpose, which was to drive Lin Xi out of the village completely.
However, as luck would have it, the prefect was here, so even if he wanted to protect him, he had no way to do so.
"Both of you shut up," Hang Qi said, "Zhao Pingwei, I want to ask you, do you admit that you were the only one who did this?"
Zhao Pingwei immediately said, "Yes, sir, I admit it all. The fruit, the rice field, the footprints, I did it all."
Zhao Tan couldn't say a word. He actually recognized Zhao Pingwei, whom he shouldn't have recognized. He was just pushing himself into the fire.
"Sir," Zhao Tan sighed, "He is still a child, what does he know? I am the one behind all this, and it is me, the village head, who has been bewitched!"
Zhao Pingwei heard this and quickly stopped Zhao Tan from speaking, "Dad, what nonsense are you talking about? I did all these things behind your back. It has nothing to do with you!"
"You shut up!" Zhao Tan was also angry. "What can you think of in your head? If I weren't here, you wouldn't know what to do!"
Seeing that the father and son were about to quarrel in the county government office, the governor asked, "Zhao Tan, are you the head of Taoli Village?"
Zhao Tan quickly said, "Yes, sir."
"You said you did all these things?" asked the governor.
"Sir, I instructed my son to do all this. He didn't want to do it in his heart, but he couldn't disobey me as his father! Sir, please show some leniency." Zhao Tan said.
"In that case, both of you admit your involvement?"
Zhao Tan was speechless after being asked this question. He didn't know whether he should admit it or not.
"No more words?" The governor said calmly, "Then let me speak. Zhao Tan, as the head of the village, you did not try to solve the problem when it arose in the village, but instead sought a Taoist priest instead of asking the government for help. This was improper handling. Secondly, as the head of the village, you actually manipulated everything behind the scenes, harming the interests of the villagers, and even burned your own rice fields to eliminate suspicion. Your scheming is so deep that it is frightening. You are not suitable to be the head of Taoli Village."
As soon as these words came out, Zhao Pingwei's face changed drastically, and he kowtowed several times, "Sir, this matter has nothing to do with my father, it really has nothing to do with him!"
"It's the father's fault if he didn't raise and educate his child well. So let your father take the responsibility." said the prefect.
All the strength in Zhao Pingwei's body was drained away by these words. If his father's position as head of the village was taken away, why should he accept all this? Wouldn't he be a fool?
"Lin Xi, you lied to me!" Zhao Pingwei was very excited. He stood up and rushed towards Lin Xi. "Didn't you say that as long as I admitted all the charges, my father would not be implicated? How dare you lie to me!"
However, before he could touch Lin Xi's body, he was stopped by Xiao Yongyan and could not move. "Zhao Pingwei, when you and your son teamed up to plot against us, you should have thought that this day would come."
If Lin Xi had not been pushed too hard, he would not have wanted to bring down the Zhao family.
"It's all my own fault." Lin Xi said softly.
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