Chapter 23 It's Always Like This
"A letter," Yang Rang said. "Ten days ago, Tian Sheng received an anonymous letter warning him that Li Wenhua already knew about his affair with Zhang and was trying to take advantage of the situation to ruin his reputation as an official."
Lu Chengjing: "Where is the letter?"
Yang Rang: "Burned."
Lord An asked, "Who delivered the letter?"
"I don't know." Yang Rang shook his head. "The letter is buried under the official documents in Tian Sheng's duty room. There are so many people coming in and out of the duty room, it's difficult to check."
"Tian Sheng doesn't look stupid. What if an anonymous letter of unknown origin is intended to sow discord?" Shang Wan, who was specially allowed to observe, felt that there was something fishy about this matter.
How could anyone speak freely in a courtroom? However, Lord An only glanced at Shang Wan without scolding her, as if he tacitly agreed.
Lu Chengjing did not miss the look on Lord An's face, secretly wondering what Shang Wan had done to deserve such preferential treatment from Lord An.
"Tian Sheng was skeptical about what was said in the letter and sent someone to investigate." Yang Rang glanced at Lu Chengjing. "The investigation revealed that Li Wenhua had once confided in someone about his wife while drunk."
Lord An turned his gaze towards Lu Chengjing, who said, "I have indeed heard of this matter, but it was just drunken talk, so I didn't believe it completely, and I never spread it to anyone."
Lord An nodded.
The case is now clear, with both witnesses and evidence. The main culprit, Tian Sheng, committed suicide by taking poison, and his accomplices should also be punished.
Although Niu Baoqing was coerced by Tian Sheng, the poison was indeed put into the wine by him. After considering the case, Lord An sentenced him to 60 strokes of the cane and two years of imprisonment in accordance with the law.
Xie Zhiqiang committed dereliction of duty and murder, but was spared the death penalty because it was attempted. He was sentenced to 100 strokes of the cane and exile 2,000 miles according to the law.
Geng Hao threatened Niu Baoqing's family and neglected his duties after the incident. Considering that he protected important witnesses in the case, he was sentenced to 50 strokes of the cane, a fine of 20 taels of silver, and was banned from holding public office again.
Yang Rang disregarded human life and helped Tian Sheng commit countless evil deeds. The circumstances were serious and he was sentenced to immediate execution according to the law.
Liu Tong replaced the heavy shackles without authorization. According to the law, he should be beaten with ten sticks and fined two taels of silver. If he commits the same offense again, he should be dismissed and investigated.
Lu Chengjing was acquitted, but because he was implicated for no reason and almost lost his life, the government gave him twenty taels of silver as compensation.
Shang Wan was rewarded with five taels of silver for his contribution in assisting in the investigation of the case.
"Adjourn!"
As soon as the notice was posted, people started talking about it, and the Li family was in an uproar.
Zhang committed adultery and was sentenced to 90 strokes of the cane according to the law. If the Li family was willing to pay 1,000 taels of silver to redeem her, the sentence would be commuted to 20 strokes of the cane and she would be taken back by her husband's family.
Li Can wanted to strangle Zhang, who cheated on him, so how could he possibly pay money to redeem her?
Zhang was afraid of being beaten, so she ended her life with a white silk thread.
Qin Cuixiang was secretly delighted and sent a message home to discuss the matter of relying on her son to become the legal wife.
Shang Wan placed Lu Chengjing at the door, asked the gatekeeper to help look after him for a while, and ran to the East Market to rent an ox cart.
Upon hearing the news, Qiao Yu'an rushed over, accompanied by a girl of about fifteen or sixteen years old who looked 50% similar to him.
"Now the truth is out. Tian Sheng was so despicable. It was too easy for him to commit suicide by taking poison." Qiao Yu'an said indignantly, as if he was going to punch Tian Sheng if he was in front of him.
Lu Chengjing curved his lips and smiled slightly. Because he was worried about scaring Shi Tou and the other two, Shang Wan had already helped him take care of himself, and he had restored some of his former charm.
Qiao Weiwei had admired Lu Chengjing for a long time, and when she saw him smile, she could hardly take her eyes off him.
Lu Chengjing naturally noticed it and frowned and asked, "Who is this girl?"
"She's the sister I often tell you about." Qiao Yu'an winked at Qiao Weiwei, "Chengjing is the same age as me. Weiwei, you should call her big brother."
Qiao Weiwei's pretty face flushed slightly, and she bowed, "Weiwei greets Brother Lu."
The voice is like that of an oriole, melodious and pleasant.
Lu Chengjing nodded but said nothing.
The slight blush on Qiao Weiwei's face faded away in an instant, and she bit her lip, looking helpless.
Qiao Yu'an quickly tried to smooth things over, "Chengjing, Weiwei is a girl, and she's shy. This is also our first meeting, so you should at least be polite."
Lu Chengjing had a blank expression on his face, "I've always been like this."
Qiao Weiwei's face turned pale and she looked a little hurt. She grabbed Qiao Yu'an's sleeve and hid behind him.
Qiao Yunan immediately felt sorry for her sister. "Look at you, you have a stern face all day long. You scared Weiwei. Weiwei will be afraid of you like a tiger in the future."
Lu Chengjing frowned and was about to say something when Shang Wan drove over in an ox cart with Shi Tou sitting next to him.
"Master!" Shitou jumped out of the car excitedly, ran forward in three or two steps, squeezed out Qiao Yu'an and Qiao Weiwei who were blocking the road, grabbed Lu Chengjing and looked him up and down, tears streaming down his face, "How did you become so thin?"
His young master must have suffered a lot in prison, wuwuwu, his poor young master!
Lu Chengjing was helpless. He raised his left hand, patted Shitou's shoulder, and said a few words of comfort.
Shitou cried because he was too excited just now. As soon as he calmed down, he felt a little embarrassed and quickly wiped away his tears.
Shang Wan came over, her eyes swept over Qiao Yu'an who was glaring at her and Qiao Weiwei who was hanging her head, and said to Lu Chengjing: "It's noon now, eat something before you go. It will take more than an hour to take the ox cart."
"Okay." Lu Chengjing nodded.
Shang Wan bent down to brush the hair away from his face and asked with a smile, "What do you want to eat?"
Lu Chengjing thought seriously for a while and said, "Three Fresh Wontons."
"Okay." Shang Wan wanted to pick him up, but Lu Chengjing stopped her with his hand, his ears reddening. "Let Shitou do it."
Shang Wan raised an eyebrow, "Dislike me?"
"No." Lu Chengjing's long eyelashes trembled slightly, and his pale lips were pursed together.
Shitou scratched his head and said, "Sister, I'm stronger, so I'll do it."
Shang Wan looked at him, "Are you sure you want to compete with me in strength?"
"No, no, no." Shitou waved his hands repeatedly. He was joking. His sister could kill a wild boar with one punch.
Shang Wan glanced at Lu Chengjing's expression, thought about it, and decided to give the task of carrying the person onto the ox cart to Shi Tou.
Tsk, a man’s self-esteem or something.
Qiao Yu'an's eyes were sore from staring, but Shang Wan didn't even look at him. Even Lu Chengjing forgot to say goodbye to him and left in the ox cart.
Qiao Weiwei asked quietly, "Brother, don't you want to invite Brother Lu back to stay for a while?"
Qiao Yu'an slapped his forehead and said, "I forgot my anger as soon as I saw Shang Wan. No, I have to follow him and see."
He saw Shang Wan, the unfaithful woman, flirting with a strange man in the alley.
Cheng Jing is no longer the third young master of the Lu family, and he has been seriously injured. Who knows how he will be abused by that woman. He must not let her succeed!
Qiao Weiwei was forgotten by him and was biting her lip, with a hint of annoyance in her eyes.
Shang Wan knew that Qiao Yu'an was following him secretly, so he asked Shitou to bring him a bowl of three-fresh wontons.
Qiao Yu'an clenched his fists as he looked at Wonton.
Humph! Don't think that he'll help keep it a secret just because you treat him to wontons. When he finds a good opportunity, he'll definitely tell Cheng Jing about Shang Wan's infidelity and ask him to divorce her!
However, this restaurant’s three-fresh wontons are really delicious.
"Weiwei, what do you think...eh?"
Where is Vivi?
The three of them rode slowly back to Yushu Village in an ox cart. They wanted to give Xiaohuan and Yuanyuan a surprise, but they didn't expect that the two of them would give them a scare first.
Yuanyuan is gone.
(End of this chapter)
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