Chapter 68 It turns out that the adulterer is you
"We'll discuss this later." Lord An asked Shan Dajun to place the jujube paste cake on the long table beside him and asked, "What did you find out at Yunshuizhai?"
Shan Dajun reported, "Your Excellency, it is indeed as Scholar Lu said. On the screen wall of Yunshuizhai is a poem he and Scholar Qiao collaborated on, and the dates match. The owner and employees of Yunshuizhai remember this and can testify to it."
At the same time, Xiaohuan gently tugged at Shang Wan's sleeve and whispered, "Sister, I think there's something wrong with those jujube paste cakes."
Dan Dajun’s words just now reminded Xiaohuan of the orange cat that ran out to scratch people again and again.
Shang Wan's eyebrows twitched slightly, and he glanced at Yuanyuan, who tilted her head. "Do you think those were the jujube paste cakes that Yuanyuan didn't let you eat at Lufeng Rice Shop?"
Xiaohuan nodded and leaned close to Shang Wan and whispered a few words.
Shang Wan looked at her in surprise and said, "Well done."
Xiaohuan pursed her lips and smiled, she was just doing it casually.
Shang Wan walked up to the long table, reached out to pick up a piece of date paste cake, and put it to his nose to smell it carefully.
Shan Dajun noticed Shang Wan's actions out of the corner of his eye and thought that Shang Wan wanted to eat, so he quickly came over to stop him.
"Madam Shang, those have been scratched by cats and are covered in mud. You can't eat them."
"The jujube paste cakes don't taste right." Shang Wan shook the jujube paste cakes in his hand and looked at Lord An, "Sir, could you please ask the coroner to examine these jujube paste cakes?"
Everyone was wondering, do these date paste cakes have anything to do with this case?
Everyone thought that Lord An would not agree, but unexpectedly, Lord An actually asked someone to call the coroner over to check the date paste cake.
Everyone: ???
Are adults so easy to talk to?
Lord An said that since they still had to wait for Shen Qi to come back, it would not be impossible to find something to do.
The result came out soon, and it turned out that the date paste cake was drugged.
Shopkeeper Ge's cheeks twitched imperceptibly.
Lord An became interested. "Shang, how did you find out there was something wrong with the jujube paste cake?"
"My younger sister discovered it." Shang Wan winked at Xiaohuan, who stepped forward and continued the story about eating the date paste cake.
Of course, she didn't ask Yuanyuan to stop her, but she said that she was good at cooking, and she smelled something wrong with the date paste cake, so she didn't dare to eat it.
Xiaohuan's meaning was very clear. She suspected that the date paste cakes that Shan Dajun brought back were the ones that Lufeng Rice Shop used to entertain them.
"Sir, please don't listen to her nonsense," said Shopkeeper Ge. "Date paste cakes can be bought anywhere, and their origin is unknown. How can they be sure they are related to the rice shop? They are trying to take advantage of the opportunity to frame me. Please be careful."
This statement does make some sense. Just like the silver mentioned above, things without marks are difficult to prove.
Xiao Huan said, "Sir, I have evidence. Please order someone to break open those jujube paste cakes."
Lord An nodded, and Shan Dajun and two yamen runners stepped forward and broke seven or eight pieces of jujube paste cakes into pieces. They found two round glass beads in two of the pieces.
Shan Dajun wiped the glass beads clean and presented them to Lord An.
When Shopkeeper Ge saw the glass beads, his eyes widened in shock.
"Shopkeeper Ge, you gave these two beads to Yuanyuan yourself." Xiaohuan looked at Shopkeeper Ge. "There are four of them on the counter of the rice shop. They are a complete set. The cracks inside can be pieced together to form a chrysanthemum. Just take the remaining two and we can immediately verify their authenticity."
Suddenly, Shopkeeper Ge's face turned green.
I had planned everything, but I never expected that I would fall into the trap of two glass beads.
He made excuses, "I don't know why there was a knockout drug in the jujube paste cake. Someone must have framed me. I..."
"Ge Shunliang!" Lord An angrily slammed the gavel. "Are you taking me for a fool?"
"I dare not." Shopkeeper Ge immediately prostrated himself on the ground.
Lord An narrowed his eyes and asked, "What are your intentions in putting a knockout drug in the jujube paste cake?"
"I'm not a villain." Shopkeeper Ge's eyes darted around, trying to find his words, "Yes... yes..."
He said "yes" for a long time, but before he could think of what to say, Shen Qi came back with the shopkeeper Qi from Qingfeng Pavilion.
Shen Qi said to the people around him: "Please identify them. Are those two people in this court?"
"Yes." Manager Qi nodded, his eyes sweeping across the faces of everyone in the courtroom, finally landing on Fang Cailian and Manager Ge.
Shen Qi followed his gaze and confirmed, "Are they the two of them?"
Shopkeeper Qi nodded affirmatively.
Shen Qi then stepped forward to report.
It turned out that on the ninth day of the previous month, it was not Lu Chengjing but the shopkeeper Ge who went to Qingfeng Pavilion. The shopkeeper Ge booked a private room in Qingfeng Pavilion and ordered a table of wine and food.
Not long after, Fang Cailian also arrived and told the waiter that she wanted to see Manager Ge, and the waiter then took her to the private room.
The two stayed in the box for nearly two hours before coming out. Manager Ge left first, and Fang Cailian left after a while.
The reason why Manager Qi had this impression was that when Fang Cailian left, her face was pale and her eyes were red and slightly swollen, as if she had just cried.
He kindly asked Fang Cailian if she was feeling unwell, saying there was a clinic nearby and he could send someone to take her there.
Fang Cailian, however, treated him as a monster and left in a hurry without even saying a word, as if there was a dog chasing her from behind, which left Manager Qi speechless.
When Shen Qi went to Qingfeng Pavilion and asked, Manager Qi immediately remembered the incident. After flipping through the account book, he found that it was indeed the ninth day of the first lunar month.
Although from his description, the woman must be Fang Cailian without a doubt, but for the sake of safety, Shen Qi still brought her back and identified her in person.
After listening to Shen Qi's report, everyone looked at Manager Ge. It turned out that the adulterer was you.
"Shopkeeper, is it really you?" Fang Bao looked at Shopkeeper Ge in disbelief, unable to accept this result.
The shopkeeper is such a good person, how could he bully Cai Lian?
No, this is not true!
Shopkeeper Ge's face turned pale and blue, and he forced an explanation: "We just had a meal together, nothing else..."
"Sir," Fang Cailian suddenly kowtowed to Lord An and said bitterly, "The person who bullied me was actually Ge Shunliang, and had nothing to do with Mr. Lu. Ge Shunliang used the excuse of his brother's request to invite me to Qingfeng Pavilion to meet him, and took the opportunity to bully me, causing me to become pregnant. I beg you to help me and severely punish this beast!"
Fang Bao felt as if a bolt of lightning had struck his forehead, and he was completely stunned.
Actually... he is the shopkeeper.
"I kill you!"
Fang Bao's eyes were red as he punched the bridge of Ge's nose. Ge cried out in pain and two streams of blood flowed down his nose.
Xiao Fei stepped forward to stop him, "Brother Fang Bao, the shopkeeper is not that kind of person, don't..."
"Brother, don't believe him." Fang Cailian pointed at Xiaofei in a sharp voice, "It was he who helped Ge Shunliang trick me into going to Qingfeng Pavilion, and even used this to threaten me, forcing me to give myself to him. He and Ge Shunliang are birds of a feather, neither of them is a good person!"
She was so excited that she felt cramps in her lower abdomen.
"Blood!" someone exclaimed, pointing at Fang Cailian's skirt which was gradually dyed red.
Fang Cailian clutched her stomach, her face pale and almost transparent. Another wave of cramps hit her, and she blacked out before her eyes, collapsing to the ground.
(End of this chapter)
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