Chapter 88 To Sue King Cheng
Shen Shu's voice sounded like it was laced with poison: "Go to the Ministry of Justice right now and tell Wen Lanting the truth you told me."
Zhao Mama's body went weak, and she dared not agree: "If this old servant were to say this in front of Madam, she would surely have someone kill this old servant!"
Shen Shu acted as if she hadn't heard.
She casually tossed out a sentence: "Then you should think of a way to prevent Wen Lanting from killing you. Once you've done this, you won't need to go back to the Bo Gong Mansion. You can go wherever you want, and from then on, you'll be free."
Zhao Mama's face was ashen, but she knew this was her only way to survive. She nodded tremblingly, "Yes, old servant... old servant will go right away."
Shen Shu watched Zhao's mother's departing figure, a cold glint flashing in her eyes: "Fang Mama, go and remind Zhao's mother not to let her ruin things."
Zhao's mother was Wen Lanting's confidante, and Shen Shu didn't believe that she hadn't done anything about her mother's affairs back then.
Now that she was involved, how could she let Zhao's mother off the hook?
Let these two, master and servant, go to hell together.
Fang's mother knew perfectly well what was going on.
So he took out the bottle of poison that Wen Lanting had instructed Tang'er to use on Shen Shu, and secretly replaced the mute medicine that Zhao Mama had prepared for Wen Lanting.
Three days later, news came from the Ministry of Justice prison.
Wen Lanting died on the spot after eating the food brought by Zhao's mother.
Zhao's mother vehemently denied the allegations, saying she did not poison anyone.
They said Shen Shu harmed her, that Shen Shu poisoned her.
Li Xiu intended to subdue the person, but for some reason, Zhao Mama ran around like a madwoman. In her panic, she was accidentally shot through the heart by an arrow from a constable.
It was originally quite difficult to leave a survivor who could testify against Shen Shu, but now that she is dead, the matter has become completely unverifiable, so the case had to be closed hastily.
Li Xiuzheng had a headache, when he heard his advisor come from outside.
"Sir, something terrible has happened! So many people... they want to file a lawsuit... they want to file a lawsuit..."
Seeing that his advisor could barely speak, Li Xiu couldn't help but get annoyed: "What? Can't you speak properly anymore? What's wrong with so many people?"
The advisor was also seeing such a large scene for the first time: "Several hundred people have come, saying they want to accuse Prince Cheng of disregarding human life, forcibly abducting women, and committing rape and kidnapping!"
Upon hearing this, Li Xiu's head suddenly spun. Prince Cheng hadn't even found the person yet, so how could someone suddenly come to file a complaint!
Li Xiu hurriedly straightened his clothes and walked quickly outside.
Upon arriving at the front hall, one sees a dense crowd of people, men, women, and children, all with indignant expressions. Cries and shouts mingle together, creating a chaotic scene.
Following behind were a group of women wearing veils.
Li Xiuqiang suppressed his agitation and shouted, "Silence! I am here. Tell me your grievances!"
The crowd gradually quieted down, and an elderly man with white hair stood up shakily, tears streaming down his face.
"My lord, we are villagers from the outskirts of the city. Several months ago, His Highness Prince Cheng took a fancy to my second daughter, forcibly abducted her, and even beat several villagers to death when she resisted. Now my second daughter's fate is unknown. We have no other choice but to come here to file this complaint!"
"My lord, and my wife, who was captured by Prince Cheng two years ago, are still missing and their fate remains unknown. I have no choice but to beg you to uphold justice!" Another middle-aged man cried out, then knelt down with a thud.
"grown ups..."
Immediately afterwards, several more villagers stepped forward to recount Cheng Wang's evil deeds, almost all of which involved abducting women. The time when they were captured by Cheng Wang ranged from about half a year ago to several years ago.
Li Xiu listened to these accusations with a furrowed brow.
He knew that if this matter was not handled properly, it would definitely arouse public anger, and then he, as the Minister of Justice, would also be held responsible.
He pondered for a moment and decided to appease the public first.
Then he said loudly, "Fellow villagers, I am aware of your grievances and will certainly give you justice. However, His Highness Prince Cheng disappeared several months ago, and it will take time to find him and find out the truth. Please go back and wait for news. I will send people to investigate as soon as possible and will not tolerate any evil deeds."
The group of women behind the common people were not having it.
“Prince Cheng forcibly took us into his mansion, causing our families to be destroyed and our sisters to lose their lives. Is this how you, sir, just dismiss us with the excuse that Prince Cheng is missing?”
A haggard-looking woman stepped forward, her voice trembling but filled with an undeniable anger.
"We can't wait any longer, sir! For so many days and nights, we've been hoping someone would stand up for us, but now you tell us to wait. How long will we have to wait? Will our grievances be lost forever?"
These words caused the crowd, which had calmed down slightly, to stir again, with everyone echoing their sentiments and their emotions becoming agitated once more.
The women covered their faces and wept, recounting the inhuman torture they had suffered after being abducted by Prince Cheng.
The men clenched their fists, their faces filled with indignation, and declared that if the government did nothing, they would organize themselves and seek justice from Prince Cheng.
Looking at the agitated crowd before him, Li Xiu knew that if things weren't handled properly, it could very well trigger a riot.
Just then, several constables entered: "Sir, the body of Prince Cheng has been found."
Li Xiu was startled and quickly asked, "Where was it found? What was the condition of the body?"
The constable replied loudly, "The body was found in a private residence in Fuqu Lane. It was already decomposed, but judging from the clothing and accessories, it is undoubtedly His Highness Prince Cheng."
These words immediately caused an uproar in the hall.
Someone in the crowd shouted, "The government must be lying to us! We just came to report the case, and Prince Cheng is already dead. What a coincidence!"
"Let's go! Let's go take a look!"
The crowd surged forward like a tide, shouts and curses mingled together, and the scene briefly spiraled out of control.
A large crowd began to walk towards Fuqu Lane.
Seeing that he couldn't stop them, Li Xiu could only order his soldiers to maintain order and make sure nothing else went wrong.
He then instructed a junior yamen runner to deliver a message to Fuqu Lane: "Under no circumstances should anyone be allowed to enter. The body of Prince Cheng must be guarded."
Fuqu Lane had long been guarded by government soldiers, and when they saw so many people rushing in, they were about to draw their knives to stop them.
But a minor yamen runner stopped them: "Lord Li said that the people should be allowed to go in and see, and we cannot stop them."
The soldiers and officers, though filled with doubts, thought of Li Xiu's usual prestige and decisiveness and slowly lowered the swords they had raised.
The people rushed into Fuqu Lane like a flood bursting its banks.
Taking advantage of the crowd, the young constable slipped away amidst the chaos, took off his clothes at the corner, and vanished without a trace.
Li Xiu rushed over and was speechless with anger when he saw that the guards had actually let people in.
"Useless trash! Didn't I tell you to guard this place properly?!"
One of them, forcing a smile, replied, "Sir, it was a lowly clerk who relayed your order to let the people in to see. We...we dare not disobey."
"I didn't ask him to tell people not to come in..." Li Xiu suddenly understood halfway through his sentence.
This lowly clerk was clearly arranged by someone!
Someone deliberately misrepresented his orders, attempting to use the people to disrupt the situation.
Why did these people have to come forward to sue now, of all times? He doesn't believe it's because no one arranged it!
Li Xiu's eyes sharpened, and he quickly scanned his surroundings, but he couldn't find the young yamen runner.
He took a deep breath, suppressing his anger, knowing that this was not the time to assign blame; the most urgent task was to control the situation and prevent it from escalating further.
But now there are so many people, Li Xiu can't possibly squeeze in.
inside the house.
On the table lay a male corpse whose face was barely recognizable. The women recognized him at a glance as Prince Cheng.
They all said angrily, "They actually let him die like that!"
Today, not only the women abducted by King Cheng have come, but also their families.
Recalling the suffering they had endured, she became emotional.
They started throwing the remaining tables, chairs, and ornaments from the room at Cheng Wang's corpse. If they didn't knock it down, nothing would happen, but once they did, maggots crawled out of the corpse.
The crowd was so frightened that they covered their noses and backed away.
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