Chen Qingwan sneered inwardly, "A brothel?"
As an empress, what kind of beauties hadn't she seen?
Princess Mingyue is truly... innocent and carefree.
However, she feigned curiosity and nodded:
"Okay, let's go take a look."
The three arrived at the entrance of Zuixianlou, and the madam immediately spotted Princess Mingyue, dressed in gorgeous clothes.
He immediately greeted her with a beaming smile:
"Oh, what brings Your Highness here? Please come in, please come in!"
Princess Mingyue walked in with her head held high, followed closely by Chen Qingwan and Qiao'er.
The madam led them to a private room on the second floor.
He immediately summoned a group of beautiful women, each with their own unique charm, some plump and some slender.
Princess Mingyue was clearly very interested in this occasion.
He took Chen Qingwan and Qiao'er to enjoy the song and dance and taste the fine wine.
Chen Qingwan, however, was absent-minded; she looked around.
Although the place was filled with singing and dancing, it was permeated with an atmosphere of decadence.
She wondered to herself, is such a place really suitable for a girl like Princess Mingyue?
Just then, a ragged man suddenly rushed in.
He knelt before Princess Mingyue, crying out:
"Your Highness, please save my daughter!"
"She was forcibly taken by the prefect's son, and her fate is now unknown!"
Princess Mingyue was taken aback, then flew into a rage:
"Outrageous! In broad daylight, they dare to abduct a young woman!"
"This princess will go and seek justice for you!"
A thought struck Chen Qingwan: this might be an opportunity…
"Your Highness, since this man is so wronged..."
"Why don't we go together to the prefect's office and seek justice for him?"
Princess Mingyue was overjoyed upon hearing this and immediately slammed her hand on the table and stood up:
"Very well! This princess wants to see just how bold the son of the prefect of Jingzhou is to dare to forcibly abduct a woman!"
Princess Mingyue arrived in a menacing manner, accompanied by Chen Qingwan and Qiao'er.
The group headed straight for the prefectural government office.
When the yamen runners at the gate saw that it was Princess Beixiang who had arrived, they dared not be negligent and hurriedly went in to announce her arrival.
Upon hearing the news, the prefect of Jingzhou was so frightened that he wet himself and rushed out to greet him.
His son is used to being arrogant and domineering, and has caused him a lot of trouble.
This time he actually offended the princess; isn't this going to cost him his life?
Princess Mingyue didn't care about his explanations; as soon as she entered the yamen, she began to interrogate him:
"Where is your precious son? Tell him to come out and see this princess!"
The prefect wiped the cold sweat from his brow and answered meekly:
"My son...my son is resting in the back room. I will go and fetch him now."
Before long, a young man dressed in fine clothes and with slicked-back hair came out.
He glanced at Princess Mingyue sideways, his tone flippant:
"Hey, where did this wild girl come from, daring to yell at me?"
Princess Mingyue was furious upon hearing this and pointed at the young master's nose, cursing:
"You ignorant fool, how dare you be so disrespectful to this princess! Guards, seize him!"
Chen Qingwan stood aside, observing everything with a cold eye, a playful smile playing on her lips.
She subtly gave Qiao'er a wink, and Qiao'er understood immediately and quietly withdrew.
When the prefect's son saw that Princess Mingyue was serious, he also panicked a little.
He quickly hid behind the prefect and shouted:
"Dad, save me! This crazy woman is going to hit me!"
The prefect was terrified and, while protecting his son, apologized to Princess Mingyue.
The scene was chaotic, but Chen Qingwan remained calm throughout.
Qiao'er was extremely efficient and quickly investigated the whole story.
It turns out that the so-called "commoner girl" was actually the prefect's son's childhood sweetheart, and the two had already secretly pledged their lives to each other.
The man's family was materialistic and looked down on the prefect's son, seeing him now in dire straits.
She then wanted to break off the engagement, so she instigated the man to sue her for abducting a woman.
Chen Qingwan informed Princess Mingyue of the investigation results, but Princess Mingyue was skeptical:
"Are you telling the truth? Or is this man and his family lying to me?"
Chen Qingwan smiled slightly:
"Your Highness, you might as well bring both parties and their families to Zuixianlou."
"If this matter is tried publicly and the people are the witnesses, the truth will naturally come to light."
Princess Mingyue thought the idea was good and agreed.
When everyone arrived at Zuixianlou, Chen Qingwan ordered her men to bring up both parties involved and their families.
She first questioned the man, who tearfully accused the prefect's son of forcibly taking his sister.
Chen Qingwan listened calmly, occasionally asking a few questions.
The men answered fluently, as if they had truly suffered a great injustice.
Next, Chen Qingwan questioned the woman.
The woman kept her head down and didn't say a word, only silently shedding tears.
Seeing this, Chen Qingwan said to the man's family:
"You insist that the prefect's son forcibly abducted a woman, but do you have any evidence?"
The man's family quickly produced a petition, which was filled with the prefect's son's "crimes".
Chen Qingwan took the petition, examined it carefully, and then asked the woman:
Is what is written on this complaint true?
The woman kept her head down and didn't speak, only gently shaking her head.
Seeing this, Chen Qingwan already knew the answer in her heart.
She threw the complaint in front of the man's family and shouted angrily:
"The handwriting on this petition is clearly from the same hand!"
"Do you know that the crime of deceiving the emperor is punishable by the extermination of nine generations of your family!"
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