Prefect Xu suddenly raised his voice, startling Zhao Jiao, whose face turned pale. She stammered, "Your... Your Excellency, I... I don't know. It was all arranged by my husband. I'll have to go back to Yanyang to check the family genealogy to find out. Please give me some time. I'll go back to Yanyang to check and then I'll let you know."
As long as she can return to Yanyang, she can persuade Lin Zhengshan to add Su Ruojin's name to the family genealogy, and everything will fall into place.
Prefect Xu sneered, "Lin Zhao, do you think our Shuntian Prefecture court is a joke? Or do you think this prefecture is stupid? As the matriarch of the Lin family, do you not know whether your adopted daughter is included in the family genealogy? I think you won't shed tears until you see the coffin. Guards, drag Lin Zhao away and give her ten strokes of the cane."
"Yes!" Two constables were about to come up and drag the person away.
Zhao Jiao panicked. Ten strokes of the cane! How could her body withstand that?
She kowtowed repeatedly, saying, "My lord, spare me! My lord, spare me! I remember now! I remember now!"
At the time, I was grieving the loss of my biological daughter and was so distraught that I forgot to add Su Ruojin to the family genealogy. But I raised her with great care for over ten years, that's an indisputable fact. At worst, I'll add her name to the genealogy when I return to Yanyang this time. Please, Your Excellency, understand.
Su Ruojin looked coldly at Zhao Jiao: "When I was a child, I ate spoiled food that even dogs wouldn't eat in the Lin family. In winter, I wore tattered clothes. If it weren't for my grandmother's rescue, I would have starved and frozen to death long ago! Is this the kindness of raising me? Lord Xu, if you don't believe me, you can send someone to the Lin family to investigate. If I have told a single lie, I am willing to accept fifty strokes of the cane!"
Fifty strokes of the cane would be tantamount to killing a frail woman.
Su Ruojin is swearing on her death to prove that what she said is true.
Hearing this, Xiao Yanchu looked at Su Ruojin with heartache in his eyes. He realized that Su Ruojin had had such a hard childhood.
When he looked at Zhao Jiao again, his eyes were filled with frost.
The Lin family is very good.
Yao Zhangshi, who was standing nearby, also noticed something was wrong. Her eyes darted around, and she cried out again, "My lord, Zhao Jiao forced me to do all this. She came to Yuzhou and made us pretend to have a marriage agreement with the Lin family, putting on this show."
"Sir, we are just ordinary people, how dare we disobey the magistrate's wife? Sir, we were also deceived, please, sir, do justice for us!"
After saying that, Yao Zhangshi secretly pinched Yao Qingfeng, who was kneeling beside her.
Yao Qingfeng, who had been silent all along, finally realized what was happening and hurriedly said, "Sir, this marriage certificate was forced upon me by my aunt. As a junior, I dare not disobey my elders. Please understand, sir."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Jiao trembled with anger. She never expected that Yao Zhangshi and her son would be so foolish as to betray her at this time.
It is an indisputable fact that Su Ruojin has lived in the Lin family for many years. As long as both families insist on this, the marriage can be called off at most if necessary.
But Yao Zhang's betrayal changed the nature of the case.
Yao Zhangshi's change of story is simply an attempt to shift all the blame onto her.
Zhao Jiao couldn't stand it. She pointed at Yao Qingfeng and cursed, "You, Yao Qingfeng, you were the one who took a fancy to Su Ruojin and shamelessly asked to marry her. I refused, and you've been holding a grudge ever since. Are you waiting here to take revenge on me? Someone like you wants to marry a daughter of the Lin family? You're dreaming."
When Yao Zhangshi saw Zhao Jiao scolding her son, she was also furious: "Zhao Jiao, if it weren't for your cousin's sake, why would we have come all the way to the capital to suffer like this? Now you've even caused Feng'er to get into legal trouble. If Feng'er is affected in any way, I won't let you off the hook!"
Madam Yao Zhang may fear the Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, but she will not fear Zhao Jiao. So what if she is the wife of the county magistrate? She still has to call her cousin-in-law. Besides, Lin Zhengshan is just a minor county magistrate of Yanyang County now, and he has no jurisdiction over Yuzhou.
The two started arguing in the hall.
Oh, so this is a dogfight now.
Su Ruojin watched with great delight.
Magistrate Xu slammed his fist on the commotion hall and roared, "Roaring in the courtroom! Give each of them five strokes of the cane!"
After the three men, limping and battered, knelt back in the courtroom, they glared at each other but dared not utter another word.
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