Chapter 76 If we can't report it to the authorities, then tell me, what should we do? ...
This area was originally a place where high-ranking officials and nobles lived, and ordinary people rarely set foot here.
At this moment, there were very few pedestrians. The only few passersby who witnessed this shocking scene covered their mouths and stood still, not daring to move or go forward.
Upon witnessing this scene, Yu Nie felt a surge of anger rising from the bottom of his heart.
She abruptly lifted the carriage curtain, rushed down from the carriage, ignoring Xiao Chengyan's urgent shouts to stop her, and ran towards the place where the old woman had fallen.
The Li family's group was ruthless.
When she knelt down to check, the old woman had already passed away.
The middle-aged man held the old woman's body and cried his heart out to the child beside him.
Those few wicked servants from the Li family remained arrogant and haughty. They found the crying too noisy and shouted at the father and son to get away from their mourning.
A living human life was lost so easily.
Seeing the unrepentant expressions on their faces, Yu Nie felt a surge of anger rising to her head, and her grief and indignation almost overwhelmed her.
She suddenly stood up, and before anyone could react, she drew the sword from the guard's waist and held it to the neck of the leading wicked servant.
"How dare you treat human life so lightly in broad daylight! I'll make you pay with your lives!" Her eyes burned with fire, as if they were about to burst forth.
These people didn't recognize her, but they recognized Xiao Chengyan, who was standing next to her, and based on her attire, they judged that she was someone of extraordinary status.
Upon seeing this, the men immediately changed their attitude, becoming obsequious and kneeling on the ground: "Spare us, madam! We only wanted to scare these filthy beggars with our knives, but she got too excited and ran into one of the knives and died."
The leader of the wicked servants was quite aggrieved: "I hope you, madam, will investigate thoroughly. We really didn't kill the person. We are just servants, how could we dare to do such a thing as murder?"
He just killed someone, yet he dares to claim he's innocent.
She thought she had heard the biggest joke in the world.
Before she could question him, Xiao Chengyan spoke first, saying sternly, "You were the one who wielded the knife, how dare you shirk responsibility!"
He was furious and pointed into the gate: "Go, bring out your Li Huangmen! Today, I and Princess Shunhe are two living witnesses. I want to see how capable you are to turn this clear-cut murder case upside down!"
His words were firm and authoritative, carrying an unquestionable air of authority.
The servants looked at each other, their eyes blaming each other for not doing their jobs well.
The leader of the wicked servants was obviously more clever, bowing and scraping: "Your Highness, please calm down, Your Highness, please calm down... I will go and fetch my husband to meet Your Highness and the Princess."
"Go quickly!"
"Eh eh eh..."
The wicked servant had just turned around and taken a few steps when a man of about twenty-six years old, with a fair complexion and greasy hair, and a clean and upright appearance, with dark circles around his eyes—not the kind of dark circles from being beaten up, but rather the appearance of someone who had inhaled too much cold food powder—came out, surrounded by attendants and waving fans.
The wicked servant rushed forward as if he had seen a savior, and before Yu Nie and the others could speak, he recounted what had just happened.
But neither of them admitted to the murder.
Yu Nie rushed to the wicked servant and retorted, "What accident? You clearly took someone's life with your own hands, yet you're here twisting the truth!"
Her words were filled with resentment.
After reprimanding the wicked servant, she stepped forward and sized up the man who had just come out of the mansion, her expression mocking:
"Bring out that scoundrel from your household who stole someone! You have the guts to do such a despicable thing, but you don't have the courage to show yourselves in public? I thought that scions of noble families would at least have some manners, but I didn't expect you to be nothing but pampered rich kids with nothing but gold and jade on the outside, a bunch of rats that only know how to hide in their holes and dare not show their heads!"
At this moment, she was no longer the gentle and quiet princess she once was; she was sharp-tongued and seemed ready to bite anyone who dared to approach her.
Song Ai quickly stepped forward, wanting to persuade her to calm down, but she was pushed away. The anger in her eyes was burning brightly, and no one could stop her.
The man learned her identity from a whispered remark by the wicked servant.
He first bowed deeply, his movements extremely humble: "Princess Shunhe, please calm your anger. I am Li Yunsheng, son of Li Xing, the Attendant Gentleman of the Yellow Gate."
After Li Yunsheng finished bowing, he straightened up and spoke in a voice that was not arrogant: "Princess Shunhe, please understand that there must be some misunderstanding regarding the so-called abduction of a woman." He explained: "Earlier this morning, I went to the outskirts and happened to find Lady Qu sprained her ankle by the roadside, so I kindly took her back to the mansion for treatment."
His expression was helpless, as if he had done a good deed but was misunderstood. He flicked the fan in his hand and said, "Who knew that the Qu family would suddenly barge into our door, crying and making a scene, insisting that we hand over the person, saying that I had abducted a woman."
Li Yunsheng spoke with sincerity and honesty, without a trace of glibness.
Xiao Chengyan saw that he spoke sincerely and did not seem to be lying. In addition, when he dealt with Li Yunsheng before, the other party did not have any bad character.
He wondered to himself, could there really be some misunderstanding?
Thinking this, he tugged at Yu Nie's sleeve, truly preparing to persuade her to calm down.
Unexpectedly, just as he raised his hand, the middle-aged man holding the old woman's corpse could no longer contain himself and roared in a loud voice:
"It was clearly my wife who didn't want to get into your carriage, but you forced her in. My wife cried and struggled the whole way, but you ignored her and wouldn't let go! My mother and I were on our way to pick her up at the time, and we saw it all clearly!"
The middle-aged man glared at Li Yunsheng with bloodshot eyes.
Even after the truth was exposed, Li Yunsheng remained calm on the surface.
Having learned the whole truth, Yu Nie saw how utterly wicked the person before her was. She calmed down a bit, said nothing more, and coldly said, "Where is Madam Qu? Hand her over."
Li Yunsheng originally didn't intend to hand her over, but when he thought about her identity and Xiao Chengyan's identity...
If this matter gets out, they'll have to put in a lot of effort to smooth things over. Right now, he's just angered his father, Li Xing, because he and that Prince Qi have made that Secretary of the Imperial Secretariat half-dead, and he's still locked up in the water dungeon, almost dying.
His father, Li Xing, didn't want him involved in royal family affairs and had been keeping a close eye on him these past few days. If this matter were discovered, he would inevitably be criticized.
Thinking of this, he pondered for a moment, then reluctantly waved his hand, signaling his men to bring the people inside out.
Releasing the man was only one aspect. Yu Nie continued, "Your servant killed someone, and murderers must pay with their lives. Shouldn't Young Master Li have the man bound and sent to the authorities? And those who did the beating shouldn't escape responsibility either. Plus..."
She stared at him: "Young Master Li, you forcibly took a woman from the people, shouldn't you also go to the government office?"
Li Yunsheng readily agreed with her earlier statement: "The princess is right, killing is never a respectable thing." He suddenly changed the subject and called out to the father and son, "One hundred taels, is that enough?"
The father and son seemed not to have reacted.
"Looks like it's too little." Li Yunsheng's smile deepened, and he raised his voice again: "Two hundred taels, this deal should be done now, right?"
This time, regardless of whether the father and son understood or not, Yu Nie understood.
She felt a chill run from her feet to the top of her head. This person was clearly treating human life like pork in the marketplace, showing no remorse whatsoever. This was nothing short of an insult!
She shouted angrily, "Who wants your filthy money? Is this the kind of son raised by the prestigious Li Huangmen? You measure human life with money? Do you have no regard for the law?!"
She appeared determined to seek justice for the father, son, and old woman, while Li Yunsheng simply seemed annoyed.
“Princess Shunhe, this won’t work, that won’t work.” He spread his hands, seemingly helpless: “Then tell me, what should we do?”
She had seen shameless people before, but Yu Nie was still shocked by his attitude.
Li Yunsheng didn't waste any more words with her and said, "In that case, since the princess wants to report to the authorities, go ahead and do so. We are upright and have nothing to fear. I am ready to accompany you anytime."
After saying this, Li Yunsheng turned around and went straight into the mansion.
Xiao Chengyan stepped forward without hesitation to block the other party's path, but his attendant grabbed him with great strength, indicating that he should ignore the matter and that no matter how hard he tried to shake him off, it was no use.
Yu Nie didn't notice this scene. He watched as Li Yunsheng went inside and closed the door to guests, and the vermilion gate slammed shut with a loud bang.
He and a few others were left behind.
Li is so arrogant, she has to go to the government office no matter what to do to get justice for this family.
But Song Ai stopped her without explanation, forbidding her from interfering in the matter. At the same time, she turned around and gave the father and son a gold ingot, and ordered two guards to help them send the old woman's body back.
At this moment, Lady Qu had already come out. She had been dressed up and her appearance had been changed, even her clothes had been altered, and her headdress was disheveled. When she saw her mother's corpse, her legs went weak and she knelt on the ground, immediately fainting from crying.
Song Ai gripped Yu Nie's wrist and called over two palace servants to help her into the carriage.
Xiao Chengyan wanted to follow, but she stopped him in her capacity as a female official, using the excuse that "the princess's studies are not yet finished" to keep him outside the carriage.
Yu Nie didn't understand Song Ai's actions and kept arguing with her the whole way.
Once inside the mansion, she still didn't understand why they insisted on dragging her away, and asked them what their purpose was.
Inside the bedchamber, Song Ai answered respectfully, "Li Huangmen wields great power. If one of his servants kills a commoner, at most he'll pay some money and be fined a few months' salary. The princess's desire for an eye for an eye is absolutely impossible. On the contrary, offending the Li family would not benefit you."
"The officials who impeached the Li family before were either exiled or died violent deaths. What can you do about it?"
Yu Nie looked up, seemingly puzzled: "Even if the aristocratic families have great power, the Li family committed murder in the street, and there are two witnesses, Cheng Yan and I, so how can they not be convicted?"
Song Ai's expression was solemn, and her tone was slow and deliberate: "Has the princess forgotten about your assassination attempt? Wasn't the mastermind behind it also a member of the aristocratic class?"
She only learned about the assassination attempt by privately questioning Gu Xiangzhi.
At this moment, she made no attempt to hide anything and spoke frankly: "Supervisor Gu said that even if the assassin is caught, the Gao family will at most get away with a half-interrogation. In the end, they will only kill a few scapegoats, while the real mastermind will still be drinking and having fun in the Gao family mansion, living a carefree life."
Her tone was solemn, and her words were clear: "If the aristocratic families make mistakes, their subordinates will take the blame for them. Who would dare to truly offend the aristocratic families?"
"The lives of ordinary people are as short as mayflies, born in the morning and dying at dusk, as insignificant as ants crushed into mud. In today's world, it is nothing out of the ordinary."
“Princess, some things cannot be changed by your intervention alone. You have no power to rely on, so you must not act impulsively.”
Song Ai had no choice but to say something important: "If the princess insists on reporting this to the authorities, the Qu family of three might 'die unexpectedly' tomorrow."
"Can you guarantee they will be protected?"
She looked up, her tone firm: "I can bring them into Hongzheng Hall."
Song Ai, however, ruthlessly shattered this naive idea: "There will always come a time when they have to go to court and step out of the prison. What will you do then? Send people to watch them day and night? But interrogation means being imprisoned, and in that deep prison, will you still be able to get involved?"
Is it possible?
The answer is clearly no. Government rules are never something anyone can break at will.
Looking into Song Ai's eyes with pleading and helplessness, she remained silent for a long time before finally loosening her clenched fist, gritting her teeth, and swallowing back the words "I don't believe it."
"Send some more silver to the Qu family and tell them... to settle down properly." There was a hint of dejection in her voice.
Seeing that she had finally relented, Song Ai knew it was a temporary measure, but she could only agree for now and then turned around to send someone to do it.
Only Cuiwei and Yu Nie remained in the hall.
Cuiwei tried to persuade her, but was dismissed. She reminded Cuiwei to send prickly pear juice to Jiheng Mansion.
After Cuiwei left, she sat there blankly, as if most of her soul had been taken away.
The tragedy of the Qu family and the arrogant faces of Li Yunsheng and his ilk kept replaying in her mind. The feeling of powerlessness—being unable even to send the villains to jail—made her realize for the first time how utterly useless she felt.
Are we really going to let those evildoers get away with it?
She couldn't convince herself.
Affected by the Qu family's affairs, she didn't eat a single grain of rice all day, and just lay on the couch.
I let the twilight spill over the windowpane, watching the moonlight move continuously until late at night.
In the middle of the night, a series of rapid flapping sounds shattered the silence.
She looked in the direction of the sound and saw a falcon land on the windowsill, its iron claws gripping the edge of the window.
Yu Nie suddenly sat up, a glint of light flashing in his eyes.
She rushed to the window and carefully untied the secret message from the falcon's leg.
Unfolding the paper, one finds only eight characters written in sharp, forceful strokes:
I'll pick you up at 3 AM the day after tomorrow.
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