Chapter 203 Zhan Xingzhuo cares about Qingling
The Mulan Courtyard was brightly lit.
Prefect Gao, being accommodating, was surprised that Yao Qingling was awake when he heard she was going to hear a case. He didn't mind being woken up in the middle of the night, and dressed in his official robes, he came with his clerk and several guards.
It's good that she's awake. Now that she's awake, her shop can continue to operate. As long as she runs the shop, she can continue to hire refugees and create more political achievements for him.
As soon as the prefect arrived, Qingling handed over the midwife who had been detained, the incense that had not yet been used up from the incense burner, and the maid who was responsible for adding the incense to him.
Yao Qingling was still weak, so she asked He Yin to give her acupuncture to boost her spirits.
"Qingling!" Zhan Xingzhuo was worried and reached out to block in front of him, and the needle pierced his arm.
He frowned, but looked at Qingling and said, "Don't force yourself."
He gave He Yin a deep look; in the end, he was just worried about the people around her.
He had just listened for a while when Ma accused Yao Qingling's maid of plotting to murder her while she was giving birth.
He felt that no one could be trusted before the results were in.
"Leave this to me, you go inside and rest. I'll let you know when the case is closed."
Yao Qingling brushed his hand away and said to He Yin, "Continue."
He Yin glared resentfully at Zhan Xingzhuo, her eyes saying: You wasted one of my silver needles.
She had the acupuncture needles inserted again.
Outside the courtyard, Prefect Gao sipped his hot tea, not in a hurry, and leisurely watched the moonlight for a while.
He was probably the most relaxed person in the whole courtyard.
However, Ma and Yao Qingqi are different.
Yao Qingqi's face turned pale, and she could barely stand. She gripped Madam Ma's arm tightly and said, "Mother, I want to go back."
Ms. Ma was just as nervous; she also wanted to leave.
But can we really leave?
Yao Qingling ordered that all the gates to the courtyards be locked.
Madam Ma's breath was labored. She said, "Don't be afraid. This is the Marquis's residence after all. What can she really do to us?"
If Yao Qingling didn't die, then it doesn't count as a murder.
"The Marquis and the Old Madam are here; they won't abandon us."
Ma turned to look at Ma Peizhen: "Peizhen, you're smarter, think of a solution quickly!"
Ma Peizhen glanced at Yao Qingqi, bit her lip, and shook her head helplessly at Ma Shi.
But in her heart she thought that neither the midwife nor the incense had anything to do with her.
She wasn't the one who came up with the idea, nor was she the one who bribed the midwife, and she certainly wasn't the one who poisoned the incense.
Yao Qingling is a ruthless person; she won't let Yao Qingqi off the hook.
Yao Qingqi won't escape unscathed this time.
She thought that with Yao Qingqi gone from the Marquis's mansion, her aunt would value her even more and would need to marry her off to a higher social class in order to restore her dignity as the Marquis's wife.
However, Ma Peizhen still had to put on an act to gain Ma's trust and pave the way for the future.
She pretended to suddenly remember something and lowered her voice, saying, "Didn't we arrest that midwife's family? Have the maid go and 'remind' her. For the sake of her family, she'll know what to do."
Mrs. Ma breathed a sigh of relief and clutched her chest. "Yes, I was so anxious I forgot. How could I not remember? Pei-zhen, you're so calm. If you hadn't reminded us, we would be completely helpless right now."
Ma Peizhen smiled faintly: "Aunt, let's not talk about these things now, let's deal with the immediate situation first."
Her composure, intelligence, and prudence greatly pleased Ma.
Yao Qingqi still felt uneasy.
Even if the midwife doesn't identify them, there's still the incense and that third-class maid from the Magnolia Courtyard!
It was only then that Madam Ma realized that the reason Yao Qingling was unconscious was due to the incense Yao Qingqi had used.
"Didn't you say you didn't do anything? I've reminded you so many times to stop immediately, why didn't you listen!"
Ma suddenly realized that Yao Qingqi's encouragement for her to take over Yao Qingling's shop at this time was not only for the money and valuables, but also to take the opportunity to clear herself of the dirty deeds she had done!
"You, you really are...you've ruined me!"
Ma was furious at her lack of self-control. If she had listened and stopped in time, Yao Qingling might not have noticed anything and could have pretended it was a difficult childbirth, thus getting away with it.
Yao Qingqi grabbed Madam Ma's sleeve and said urgently, "Mother, why don't we try to go find Princess Jinyang?"
She couldn't think of any other way.
The engagement has not yet been dissolved at the Princess's residence. Although Princess Jinyang cannot match the prestige of Grand Princess Deyang, she is still the daughter of a prince and carries weight.
She plotted to murder Yao Qingling in order to cover the deficit in the Princess's mansion!
As long as she could get away, she wouldn't care even if Princess Jinyang eventually broke off the engagement.
Madam Ma was also in a panic; after all, this was her own daughter. She nodded and said, "We can only go to Princess Jinyang. When she speaks, Prefect Gao must give her face."
Thinking of this, the mother and daughter calmed down a bit.
Don't worry, even if Magistrate Gao finds them guilty in the end, he can't possibly cut off their heads overnight, right?
Yao Qingling rested for a while before coming out. Prefect Gao, understanding her frail health, allowed her to be interrogated while seated.
One by one, witness testimonies and physical evidence came to light.
Ma and the others thought that since Sun's mother was being detained, she would be subjected to severe torture to extract a confession, so they could turn the tables and say that she had been forced to confess.
But when Sun's mother was brought up, she only had a few scratches all over her body, and she wasn't so hungry that she couldn't walk.
His clothes were a bit dirty, and his hair was a mess.
Taoye stepped forward and said that after she caught Sun Mama, she only made her do farm work in the village, and that was really just farming.
This Sun Mama makes quick money as a midwife; because she's famous, she earns quite a bit.
Her hands are the key to her earning a living; she doesn't need to do farm work normally.
She was asked to use a hoe to dig the ground, and after only a few days, blisters appeared on her hands. She complained incessantly that she couldn't take it anymore.
They made her pick cotton and cut wheat. The wheat awns poked her skin, making her unbearably itchy. They wouldn't let her take a bath and even tied her up. The only way she could relieve the itch was to roll around on the ground.
For Sun's mother, it was no different from being tortured.
So Tao Ye quickly found out that Mama Sun had been bribed by Miss Qing Qi.
"...This woman's hands have delivered countless babies and are famous throughout the surrounding villages. I thought she came to me to help her child be born safely and healthily, but unexpectedly, they wanted me to use my massage skills to kill that woman in labor."
"My lord, I didn't want to. So, when I was halfway through the delivery and saw other midwives arrive, I immediately gave up my place to them... I was afraid and didn't want to get into trouble..."
The mother, surnamed Sun, tearfully recounted how she received the money, while also protesting her innocence, saying that she had a good conscience and that she was only greedy and had no intention of killing the pregnant woman.
Prefect Gao was speechless. He slammed his hand on the table, and the gavel struck loudly. Madam Sun almost jumped up on the spot. Prefect Gao questioned her sternly: "Madam Sun, you poisoned the food of the other two midwives, causing them to have diarrhea and preventing them from going to the delivery room in time. Do you dare to say you are innocent! Do you know that if the two of them had not received timely medical treatment, the mother and the baby would have died without a doubt!"
Sun's mother pointed at Yao Qingqi and Madam Ma, her hands trembling with panic: "They forced me to do it... They said the opportunity had come and told me to act quickly."
Yao Qingqi was furious.
This old woman was really easily frightened; she told everything without even being subjected to torture.
Ma Peizhen was also an accident.
They sent people overnight to pick up all of Sun's mother's family members, just in case they could blackmail her after the incident and tell her not to talk nonsense. Little did they know that she was just a selfish person.
Before we even had a proper interrogation, he confessed everything.
Well, there was nothing she could do.
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