Chapter 56: Questioning at Kaifeng Prefecture
Mu Jicui looked at Yan'er and Pu Qiongzhi eagerly.
"Where are the people from Chaoxia Cloth Shop now? Are they still at the gate of Ruilou?" Pu Qiongzhi asked.
Mu Jicui nodded, "That's right. Before I came, Director Qiao had already reported to the authorities."
"Pei Wanqing still has the courage to deal with me before getting married." Pu Qiongzhi sighed softly.
The officers and soldiers arrived quickly, and the leader was quite polite. "Lady Wen Shu, there's a case in Kaifeng Prefecture that needs questioning. Please come with us."
"Okay." Pu Qiongzhi stood up calmly and walked out among the group of people.
Yan'er and Mu Jicui watched her leave worriedly, and then each did as she instructed.
Nangong Jiayu saw Pu Qiongzhi being taken away in the yard and chased after her in a few steps.
"Don't take my aunt away! What are you going to do? My aunt has never done anything bad! Don't arrest her!"
The child ran all the way, crying and shouting "Auntie" in a heartbreaking voice...
"Wait a moment, sir, could you allow me to have a word with the child? It won't take long." As she spoke, she casually handed over a gold leaf.
This was the gold leaf she always kept in her sleeve as a spare gift for rewarding people or saving lives in negotiations at critical moments.
But she hasn't used it for such a long time, and it finally came in handy today.
Nangong Jiayu ran so hard that she fell on the road, but she kept crawling forward, "Auntie!!!"
"Be good, Yu'er. Auntie is fine. I'm just going to talk about some things and will be back soon." Pu Qiongzhi helped him up and wiped away his tears.
Nangong Jiayu curled her lips and looked at her, saying, "Aunt is lying. Father and his men said the same thing before they left for the war, but they never came back..."
His big eyes were filled with fear and sadness. He was afraid that she would never come back.
Pu Qiongzhi touched his head and said, "I promise you. Besides, you also said that I didn't do anything bad, so I will be back soon."
"But..." Nangong Jiayu wanted to say something, but saw the officers and soldiers urging her with dark faces.
Pu Qiongzhi said, "Eat your meal well at home. Your aunt won't lie to you. If you irritate these people, your aunt will get into trouble too."
"Okay. I will be good. Auntie must come back." Tears flashed in his eyes as he spoke word by word.
After Pu Qiongzhi left, he immediately crawled out of the house to find his second uncle.
In the morning, he seemed to hear his uncle say that he was going to the north of the city.
Wuuuu, no matter what, I must save my aunt!
…
When Pu Qiongzhi appeared in the court, three men and two women rushed towards her like crazy.
The officers and soldiers quickly stopped these people and detained them aside.
After all, he had just taken Pu Qiongzhi's gold leaf. This little thing was part of his duty and a piece of cake.
"It was you who forced my family to close down and killed my father! Oh God, please open your eyes!"
"You vicious woman, I want to avenge my father!!"
"You have such a cruel heart! Our family is gone! And you still want to take someone's life. You are totally devoid of conscience!"
"Give me back my son! Give me back my son! I'm already over fifty, and I still have to send off a young person... Wuuuuu..."
The Kaifeng prefect on the stage slammed the gavel, "How dare you! You are not allowed to act wildly in this court!"
"My name is Pu Qiongzhi, and I'm honored to meet the prefect of Kaifeng."
Pu Qiongzhi saluted without changing her expression, not caring at all about the accusations of these people.
Kaifeng Prefecture Governor Di Jin looked at the rising celebrity, Wen Shugong, and said, "Excuse me, please. Do you know why I called you here?"
"In reply to your Excellency's words, I only have a vague understanding of the matter. Please explain the whole story to me."
Di Jin narrowed his eyes and examined the young lady. "They accused you of killing your family member Qian Kun. Do you admit it?"
"My lord, I don't know Qian Kun, and I have no way of killing him," said Pu Qiongzhi.
"The owner of Chaoxia Cloth Shop in Lin'an City. Does that mean you have any impression of him?" Di Jin added.
The people on the side nodded hurriedly, their eyes full of resentment and accusation, staring at Pu Qiongzhi viciously.
"You, the Pu family, bullied our Chaoxia Cloth Shop because its business was booming. You suppressed us in many ways, which directly led to our family going bankrupt. You also... killed my father and hung his body in front of your shop!" One of the men pointed at Pu Qiongzhi and accused her.
Pu Qiongzhi ignored him and bowed to Di Jin, "Sir, Zhaoxia Cloth Shop is indeed a competitor of the Pu family, but I have no reason to kill him."
"My Pu family has been rooted in Lin'an for many years. The cloth incident won't affect the Pu family at all. What's more, all the Pu family's cloth for this season is sold in other forms."
"Instead, it was Chaoxia Cloth Shop that somehow first used Pu's patterns, then tried to imitate Pu's sales, even using Pu's name. This case was also handled by the Lin'an prefect."
Di Jin looked at the others and asked, "You are accusing Pu of murdering Qian Kun. Do you have any evidence?"
"Your Excellency, yes! We have evidence!" One of the old women said anxiously, and a letter slipped out from her sleeve.
Di Jin looked at his subordinate, who took the letter and handed it to him.
"Mrs. Wen Shu, please write a few words." He ordered someone to prepare pen and ink, and signaled Pu Qiongzhi to rewrite the words above.
Pu Qiongzhi took a look and saw that they were - if, collect, life, and it.
She wrote down a few words and handed them to Di Jin's men.
Di Jin compared them and frowned, "This handwriting is indeed yours."
As he said this, he threw the letter to Pu Qiongzhi.
Pu Qiongzhi opened the letter and saw that the handwriting was exactly the same as hers.
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The content of the letter was nothing more than her relying on her status and power to oppress Chaoxia Textile Workshop, and there were threats between the lines.
"Your Excellency, handwriting is easy to imitate. I know there are all sorts of miscellaneous folk who create fake calligraphy and antiques to defraud people. Some of them imitate the works of famous masters, and their imitations are so convincing that they are indistinguishable from the real thing, let alone my own handwriting!"
What Pu Qiongzhi said was indeed true. The handwriting was indeed too easy to imitate, but this could not completely rid her of suspicion.
"Did your Excellency notice the paper and ink used in this letter?" Pu Qiongzhi added, "I would never use paper of this quality."
The person on the other side immediately retorted, "What if you deliberately used such paper just to get rid of suspicion?"
"That's even more impossible." Pu Qiongzhi smiled, "I just smelled a scent coming from this letter."
"I think the writer considered changing the paper and deliberately left a trap, using soot ink to write."
"Coincidentally, I have been unable to touch sesame oil added to lampblack ink since I was a child. Even smelling the smell will cause rashes on my body." Pu Qiongzhi said, raising a hand.
In just a short while, everyone could see with the naked eye that there were many more rashes on the back of her hands.
"What if you are deliberately using this to get rid of suspicion?" The man still refused to give in.
Pu Qiongzhi remained calm and said, "Just because I sent a threatening letter, am I asking for trouble?"
"The evidence is indeed insufficient. What other evidence is there?" Di Jin turned his gaze to the few people again.
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