Chapter 301
A girl of about sixteen or seventeen was brought into the hall. She should be bright and beautiful at this age, but her face was extremely pale and haggard, her eyes were red and swollen, and her sky-blue dress hung on her body like a sack. She was so thin that she seemed like she could be blown away by a gust of wind.
"This humble woman pays homage to His Majesty. Long live His Majesty."
Her salute was very standard, as if she had been specially taught.
Wang Qi looked at her in surprise: "Why are you here?"
The girl was about to speak when she heard a voice calling, "Wan'er!"
Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and found that it was Marquis Zhongyong who spoke.
He stared at this side with a look of astonishment.
Among the officials, those who had just noticed the girl looked familiar couldn't help but whisper to their colleagues, "This looks like the second daughter of the Marquis of Loyalty and Bravery."
Colleagues were surprised: "Is he the one who killed Prince Li?"
The man nodded. Isn’t that the guy? The wanted warrant issued by the Dali Temple is still posted at the city gate.
The eyes of the Dali Temple Minister lit up. If he had not been still in the Fengtian Hall, he would have almost ordered people to arrest Li Yuwan and take her to the Dali Temple for interrogation.
Although the Dali Temple has issued a wanted order, based on his intuition from years of handling cases, he believes that the death of Prince Li is closely related to Marquis Zhongyong, and he might be able to get some clues from the second young lady.
Dong Yi reached out and grabbed him, calm down!
Amid the whispers of the officials, Li Yuwan did not respond to Marquis Zhongyong, nor did she even look at him.
Seeing this, the Marquis of Loyalty and Bravery strode over, cursing as he walked: "You evil creature, you still dare to come back!"
He reached out to grab the kneeling Li Yuwan, but was stopped by Xie Hui next to him and pushed back hard.
The Loyal and Brave Marquis was caught off guard. If he hadn't been trained, he would have been thrown to the ground.
He staggered to a stop, staring at Xie Hui with fiery eyes.
What business is this guy meddling in?
Xie Hui didn't look kind to him either. He crossed his arms and said coldly, "Your Majesty hasn't spoken yet, and you are being too presumptuous. Even if you want to teach your daughter, you should wait until His Majesty asks. What do you think?"
What else could Marquis Zhongyong think? The person sitting on the dragon throne is not someone to be trifled with.
He stepped aside with his fists clenched, staring at Li Yuwan with heavy eyes.
However, Li Yuwan never looked at her majestic father from beginning to end.
[So this is the second daughter who ran away from her marriage.]
Beside the dragon throne, Chu Liuzheng secretly looked at Li Yuwan, thinking about the gossip he had uncovered.
[She was willing to run away from her marriage to avenge her best friend. Not only did she kill the scumbag in Shisong County, she also scattered his ashes at her best friend's grave. What a good friend!]
Hearing this, Xiao Jingfan raised his eyebrows slightly, looked at Li Yuwan, and asked, "Did you know that the Dali Temple has issued a warrant and is looking for you?"
"Your Majesty, I know," Li Yuwan said. "I never killed Prince Li. After today's incident, I am willing to fully cooperate with the officials of the Dali Temple to find out the truth."
She spoke so frankly that everyone was surprised.
Many people thought that the second young lady beat the drum to clear herself of the grievances, but from the meaning of her words, it seemed that she did not come here for the murder of Prince Li.
Xiao Jingfan also asked: "Why are you beating the Dengwen drum?"
Li Yuwan said respectfully, "Your Majesty, I am here to testify for Wang Qi. I was there when Dongjing Village was massacred, and I can prove that what Wang Qi said was true. That day—"
"Shut up!" the Loyal and Brave Marquis interrupted harshly. "What are you talking about, you rebellious girl? Even if you're unhappy with the marriage your mother arranged for you, you shouldn't join forces with outsiders to harm your loved ones."
"Lord of Loyalty and Bravery," Xiao Jingfan called out calmly, glancing at him coldly, "Why don't you ask for me?"
The Loyal and Brave Marquis wanted to, but didn't dare.
The emperor was obviously angry.
Seeing that he had shut up, Xiao Jingfan said to Li Yuwan, "Go on. If anyone dares to interrupt you again, I will punish him with a hundred strokes of the cane."
Even the strongest body cannot withstand a hundred blows.
These words were obviously spoken to the Marquis of Loyalty and Bravery.
The loyal and brave Marquis's face turned pale and he glared at Li Yuwan with gritted teeth.
Madam was right. This rebellious girl was born to bring bad luck to them. He shouldn't have been soft-hearted and spared her life!
Li Yuwan still didn't look at him. She spoke at a moderate pace, telling him what she had seen that day.
"On the day Dongjing Village was massacred, I was offering a memorial service with a friend on nearby Shilong Mountain. As we were about to descend the mountain, we suddenly saw a fire ahead. I thought it was the dry weather from the lack of rain that had sparked the fire, so I hurried with my friend to investigate. Unexpectedly, the fire wasn't in the forest, but in Dongjing Village."
The tragic scene flashed before her eyes, and her already pale face turned even paler, with almost no blood left.
"When I and my friend arrived, the thieves who had burned and murdered the village were setting fires everywhere, and the flames almost illuminated half the sky red."
"There are many thieves. Although my friend knows some martial arts, two fists cannot defeat four hands. I asked my friend to rush back to the city to report to the authorities, while I hid in the dark, hoping to see who these thieves are."
"Perhaps they thought there were no more survivors in the villa, so the gang of thieves took off their masks." She laughed self-deprecatingly at this point. "Coincidentally, the leader happens to know Uncle Dai, the old mansion's head butler. The people behind him are mostly the old mansion's servants and guards."
Xiao Jingfan asked, "You grew up in the capital. It's hard to tell in the dark, and even with the light of a fire, you can easily make mistakes. Why are you so sure they are all from the old house of the Loyal and Brave Marquis Mansion?"
"Your Majesty, you may not know that I didn't grow up in the capital." Li Yuwan stared at the area in front of her. "I was sent back to my old home when I was only two years old. I wasn't brought back to the capital to be raised until I was twelve. I've been with these people for nearly ten years. There's no way I would have made a mistake."
Girls from large families usually start looking for men when they are eleven or twelve years old and get married early. The Marquis of Loyalty and Bravery's Mansion must have brought Li Yuwan back to the capital for her lifelong event.
Unless necessary, Xiao Jingfan didn't like to pry into his subjects' family affairs, so he didn't know about this matter.
He nodded and motioned Li Yuwan to continue.
Li Yuwan said, "Those people left after the fire at the villa was completely engulfed. My friend hasn't returned yet, and although I'm anxious, I didn't dare show up rashly. I waited until those people were far away before running out, hoping to see if there were any survivors in the villa."
"Just then, my friend returned, but not only did he not bring back the official, he was nearly killed. He helped me search for him, but in the end, we only found one person alive."
At this point, she glanced at Wang Qi beside her and said slowly, "Wang Qi was seriously injured and dying. Our friends bandaged him up and were about to take him to the clinic when the police arrived. They weren't there to arrest the thief, but to kill us and silence us."
"On the way back to Beijing, we were constantly being hunted and nearly lost our lives several times."
The person behind the scenes who keeps sending people to hunt him down must be closely connected with Tuzhuang, and he might even be a government official.
All the officials looked at each other with solemn expressions.
In fact, they could guess it without Li Yuwan saying it.
The people of a village were massacred, but the court didn't even receive a tip-off. This can only mean that the government and the thieves who massacred the people in the village were in cahoots.
Many people secretly glanced at the Marquis of Loyalty and Bravery who was standing nearby, thinking that the Marquis of Loyalty and Bravery’s Mansion was going to be in trouble this time.
The face of the Marquis of Loyalty and Bravery had turned so pale that it was unbearable to look at. He wanted to shout to stop the attack several times, but he swallowed his words because of the emperor's warning.
He stared at Li Yuwan's profile, moved his fingertips slightly, and a thin needle shot out silently.
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