The world was initially settled.
Wang Pan'er felt no sympathy for the traitor among her compatriots, but instead became extremely interested in Mu Chuan's interrogation process.
Whether it was because she was present or because Mu Chuan disliked bloodshed, he did not torture or extract confessions from those thieves who tried to deceive him, but instead used psychological tactics to obtain the information he wanted.
Every captured traitor was documented. Therefore, whenever someone was brought to court, a soldier would hand them a relevant file.
Mu Chuan would flip through the case file, make some hasty annotations, and then begin the interrogation.
Regardless of whether the group of traitors were in high spirits, crying and wailing, or even jumping up to attack the "pretty boy" sitting in the main seat of the hall, Mu Chuan remained calm and composed, creating an aura of overwhelming power over those below him.
The interrogation methods were also quite brilliant.
He wouldn't reveal all the evidence in the case file at once, but rather, like playing chess, he would gradually discard his pieces, destroying the other party's lies and breaking down their psychological defenses at crucial moments. He would deliberately leave blanks or create some errors, causing the interrogated person to unconsciously supplement and correct them. For cases with insufficient evidence, he would make general but relatively accurate inferences, giving the mole the illusion that the evidence was completely in their hands. He would even ask them to recount events in reverse, constantly interrupting them during the process and questioning them about the smallest details...
With a constant stream of new techniques, Wang Pan'er thoroughly enjoyed the repeated psychological breakdowns of the traitor, exclaiming that Mu Chuan truly understood people's hearts and was adept at exploiting human weaknesses.
This isn't about asking her for help; it's clearly an attempt to use this opportunity to promote herself.
The most outrageous thing is that during the downtime, Mu Chuan could take advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention to him and raise his eyebrows and wink at her smugly, completely different from his serious and dignified demeanor.
The stark contrast was irresistible. Wang Pan'er's heart pounded with desire. She propped her head up, no longer looking at the traitor, but staring intently at Mu Chuan, scanning him up and down.
Since you're going to show your face, don't blame her for staring!
Before Wang Pan'er could even get her fill of the spectacle, Mu Chuan, that peacock, gestured for her to turn and look at the prisoner. Wang Pan'er pouted, deciding to drag him back to her room that night, pose him in her favorite position, and have a good look at him.
She reluctantly turned her gaze back to the courtroom, where three familiar faces appeared.
Old Man Wang, Aunt Wang, and that good-for-nothing younger brother Wang Yaozu.
The three of them might not recognize Mu Chuan, whom they had only met once, but they could recognize this daughter, whom they had repeatedly brought up to ruminate on and hold a grudge against, who had left home to live a better life on her own, even if she were reduced to a skeleton.
Seeing that Wang Pan'er was sitting steadily on one side of the courtroom, clearly indicating that she held some status, they immediately knelt down and moved towards her.
Wang Pan'er felt a bit disgusted and unconsciously shrank her legs.
Upon seeing this, the soldiers holding the three men immediately exerted their strength and held them down firmly.
Granny Wang was pinned to the ground, unable to move, when suddenly she burst into a piercing wail: "Pan'er! Say something! Save your parents and Yaozu!"
Seeing that they couldn't get close, Wang Pan'er relaxed and looked down at her three closest relatives.
Aunt Wang cried and wailed, while Old Man Wang trembled like a leaf. But Yaozu, the spoiled younger brother, was oblivious to his own limitations. He stuck out his neck and glared at her with resentment, like a silly goose with its neck stuck and still trying to peck at someone.
Wang Pan'er laughed at her own imagination, then suddenly had a wicked idea and deliberately continued to provoke her cowardly younger brother: "If you glare again, I'll gouge your eyes out."
Wang Yaozu simply couldn't believe his sister would dare to do such a rebellious thing, until the soldier actually held the short knife he was holding right in front of him.
A fishy, foul odor wafted over.
A puddle of water appeared at Wang Yaozu's feet.
Wang Pan'er's face contorted from the stench, and she waved her hand dismissively, saying, "Drag him away. With such a cowardly appearance, he dares to act as an inside agent? Does he even know how to do it properly?"
After Wang Yaozu was dragged away, Old Man Wang, who had been trembling like a leaf, actually tried to break free from the restraints. He tried two or three times but failed, so he had to shout at Mu Chuan: "Sir, it was all Wang Pan'er who instructed us! She is the mastermind! She coerced and bribed us!"
When a grown man sets his mind on murder, he is truly... terrifying.
In such a solemn setting, Wang Pan'er couldn't help but laugh, raising her sleeve to cover the lower half of her face. Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced at the head of the courtroom, and sure enough, Mu Chuan's lips twitched as well.
The atmosphere in the courtroom became eerie. Old Man Wang sensed something was wrong and stopped struggling. He turned to look at his daughter, only to see her lower her sleeves and give them a half-smile. The mockery in her eyes sent a chill down one's spine.
Not knowing what other absurd tricks these awful parents might pull, Wang Pan'er simply changed to a more relaxed posture, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning lazily against the back of the armchair. In this solemn courtroom, she exuded an incongruous air of a rogue.
Mu Chuan went even further. He ordered tea and snacks to be served, dragged Wang Pan'er's chair to his side, and while carefully feeding her snacks, he pointed and commented on the two of them.
Wang Pan'er held back her laughter until her whole body stiffened, afraid that she might accidentally break her composure and ruin this extremely amusing scene.
The two men's behavior was so outrageous that, as Wang Da Niang watched their oblivious interaction, her mind suddenly cleared. She let out a shrill scream: "It's you! The bastard who kidnapped my daughter, you heartless scoundrel! Even a mistress can end up in court! What a damned world!"
Upon hearing this, Li Decheng's veins bulged, and he kicked Wang Da Niang in the back leg. Wang Da Niang fell face-first to the ground, sustaining a serious injury.
Upon seeing blood, she wailed and howled like a banshee, pointing to the sky and choking on the ground. Anyone who didn't know better would think she had suffered some injustice, like snow falling in June.
The army guarding the Northern Barbarians held Mu Chuan and Wang Pan'er in high esteem. Li Decheng, listening to Wang Da Niang's incessant cursing, finally lost his temper and shouted in a rough voice, "How dare you insult the Prince and Princess! Ten heads wouldn't be enough to chop you off!"
"Princess Consort? Prince?"
Even a landlord like Zhang was someone their family couldn't possibly aspire to, and they could only look at the prefect's advisor from afar. The status and position of a prince and his consort were something Old Man Wang and Aunt Wang wouldn't even dare to dream of. Aunt Wang was stunned by the news, and Old Man Wang was so frightened that he collapsed back into his lap.
After a while, Granny Wang came to her senses and suddenly began kowtowing repeatedly in the direction of the two men, pleading, "Your Highness, please have mercy! We are family! Pan'er is our flesh and blood, even if our bones are broken, our tendons are still connected!"
"Blood relatives?" Wang Pan'er put down her teacup, slowly raised her eyes, and glanced at the two people kneeling on the ground. She said lightly, "I'm someone who crawled out of a funeral parlor. Where would I get blood relatives? You say I'm your daughter, then I am. Show me the proof."
Seeing that their daughter not only refused to help but also took advantage of her misfortune, anger replaced fear and washed away their foolish minds.
Old Man Wang, harboring a wicked scheme, shouted at Mu Chuan, "Your Highness, please be wise! My daughter has always been disobedient and unfilial, turning my family upside down. She is an absolute jinx. I beg Your Highness to consider this carefully. If this troublemaker disgraces our family, my Wang family cannot bear the consequences."
"So noisy." Mu Chuan gestured for her to stop, then tapped lightly on the table. "No wonder Pan'er ran away and broke off her family. She's called a jinx here, but she's a pampered darling in the Princess's mansion. So it's just that your royal family is unlucky and can't bear the blessings. Putting everything else aside, I only got my title of Prince because of Pan'er."
Li Decheng became curious and leaned closer to ask, "Please tell me in detail, Your Highness?"
"It was only after Pan'er comforted my mother, freeing her from being confined to the inner quarters and causing her to divorce her husband, that my younger sister and I went together to change our surnames, which led to this imperial decree of investiture."
Li Decheng looked at Wang Pan'er respectfully a few more times, and decided in his heart that he should treat her with even more respect in the future. After all, the Prince's success today was truly thanks to the Princess.
After Old Man Wang and Aunt Wang started resorting to desperate and reckless slander, Wang Pan'er suddenly felt that the matter had lost its meaning.
They were incredibly stupid and malicious, constantly arguing and wasting everyone's energy. She was too lazy to argue further and simply instructed, "Stubborn to the end, take them away and deal with them fairly."
They were dragged away, still defiant. Li Decheng, seeing their pathetic state, couldn't resist the urge to deliver the final blow, and gloated, "Our Prince only knows how to interrogate people by appealing to their hearts. Once they're taken away, they'll suffer the torment of torture."
Hearing that she was about to suffer the consequences, Granny Wang completely lost her temper and shouted viciously, "You vicious woman with a heart of stone, treating your own parents like this, you will surely suffer retribution and die a horrible death!"
Compared to the oleander they had personally forced upon her, even the most vicious curse seemed insignificant to Wang Pan'er, especially since the original owner of this body had already met a tragic end. She rose, gently flicked the crumbs of pastry that had fallen onto her hem, and strolled over to the two men.
"Go ahead and curse me. Your deeds are too numerous to count. When it's time to be executed, I will be there at the execution ground," she sneered, looking down at you and saying each word with a condescending tone, "I will watch your heads roll."
The piercing screams and vicious curses immediately echoed throughout the court, but as they were dragged away, they gradually disappeared from Wang Pan'er and Mu Chuan's ears.
"Are you alright?" Mu Chuan asked.
Wang Pan'er shook her head, saying it wasn't too good.
Although they were just the original owner's parents, she didn't have much of an emotional reaction. But after all that arguing and her body's instinctive reaction, she still felt completely exhausted.
"Should we have someone take you home first?"
Wang Pan'er declined Mu Chuan's suggestion: "No, I'll go with you."
Being with Mu Chuan always brought her a sense of peace, calming the turmoil in her heart caused by the outside world.
No matter what they encounter, Mu Chuan will understand her most genuine feelings, and no matter how unconventional her actions are, he will always understand and affirm them.
These things were like a large net that could hold her tightly, and like generous rain that nourished her. The soil in her heart, which had been battered by the storm, finally saw seeds fall, take root, and sprout, radiating an endless stream of energy.
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