But now this Wei family girl is recklessly interrupting the execution in court, which is tantamount to her running into the blade herself.
"Then tell me, what grievance do you have? If you can tell me, I will uphold justice for you. If you cannot, I will punish you for shouting in court!" Zhang Jian said.
This time, Wei Shuwan no longer needed to lower her body. She straightened her posture and looked at Zhang Jian in the hall with an air of authority.
"Lord Zhang, as a third-rank official of the imperial court, you must know that a case requires both witnesses and physical evidence. You have convicted my father without any evidence, so of course I must cry out for justice!"
The young woman spoke without fear, which somewhat angered Zhu Haogan. However, before he could react, Wei Shuwan continued with her reasoned arguments:
“Although my father, Wei Zheng, holds the position of Water Conservancy Commissioner, by the time he arrived in Wu County after more than half a month, most of the dikes in Wu County had already been completed. In other words, most of the project was not actually supervised by my father. Surely my father couldn’t just let them tear it down and rebuild it, could he?”
"But coincidentally, the breach occurred right in the dam that was built earlier. Even if someone did use substandard or non-compliant building materials, it couldn't possibly be the girl's father!"
"The physical evidence has not been found yet, so the witnesses are probably even more impossible to find. I heard that the handyman who guarded the collapsed section of the embankment has disappeared."
As she continued to argue with conviction, Zhang Jian's patience gradually ran out. He slammed his gavel down, interrupting her, and said, "The dam has collapsed, so that servant was naturally swept away by the flood!"
Wei Shuwan refused to back down, "If she was swept away, why did my daughter's father lead people to search downstream for several days, but they couldn't find her alive or dead?"
"Every year, many people are swept away by floods and their bodies are never found!"
"Did the lord send someone to that servant's house to inquire about his family?" Wei Shuwan questioned righteously.
Zhang Jian was truly enraged by her. Who was judging the case, and who was being judged? However, the young woman clearly showed no sign of backing down. Seeing that he couldn't answer, she continued speaking on her own:
"If you send someone to check, you will find that not only the servant has disappeared, but also his mother, his wife, and his son!"
This caught Zhang Jian completely off guard, and he frowned.
Wei Shuwan pressed her advantage: "Your Honor, under what circumstances would a witness disappear with his family?" She smiled faintly, seemingly mocking those in the courtroom.
"This humble woman is not very knowledgeable, but I also think it seems that the servant was bribed to do bad things, and then ran away with his wife and children with the ill-gotten money!"
These details were what Li Qingchen told Wei Shuwan before he left for the prison that night. Li Qingchen had read the case file; he knew everything the officials of the Three Departments knew, and he had even personally sent people to Wu County to investigate and verify, so he also knew things that the officials of the Three Departments did not know.
These were indeed things Zhang Jian was unaware of. He first silently pieced together the information in his mind, and then interrogated Wei Shuwan: "You've been in prison the whole time, so how did you know all this?"
Wei Shuwan, of course, would not betray Li Qingchen. She had already prepared her words and spoke them fluently:
"My lord, you may have forgotten that my family originally came from Wu County. Even though we moved to Shengjing two years ago, we still have many relatives and friends in Wu County. When they learned of the Wei family's troubles, they helped us find clues and then sent a message by fast horse, which was relayed to me by the Wei family's servants. If you don't believe this information, you can send someone to Wu County to verify it and see if it is as I have said."
"I only beg you, sir, not to wrong innocent people and to give my family justice!"
As she said this, Wei Shuwan kowtowed sincerely.
The unexpected new clue left Zhang Jian in a dilemma. He turned to look at Crown Prince Zhu Haogan, hoping to hear the Crown Prince's opinion.
Zhu Haogan wasn't really interested in whether Wei Zheng was innocent or not. He just wanted to use Wei Zheng's case to suppress Wei Chengxiu. If he could break Wei Chengxiu's arms and legs in court, that would be even better. He wanted to see how much that stubborn girl, Ayun, could tolerate this kid.
She doesn't mind if he's blind, but what if he's completely useless? Would she still want him?
With this intention in mind, Zhu Haogan didn't mind creating a miscarriage of justice himself. And he had indeed made preparations before coming.
Zhu Haogan couldn't help but chuckle. "Miss Wei is truly protective of her father. However, you and I are of the same mind. Just a few days ago, I sent someone to Wu County to investigate the dam guard. We actually found some things."
After saying that, Zhu Hao gave a wink to the eunuch beside him, who immediately took out a piece of paper from his sleeve.
"Present this to Lord Zhang for his review."
When Zhu Haogan said this, his gaze was fixed on Wei Shuwan, a confident confrontation that even contained a hint of pity.
Wei Shuwan's heart skipped a beat. Although she was still unsure what was written on the note, she understood the meaning Zhu Haogan was conveying: the Wei family was finished.
Zhang Jian, filled with curiosity, took the paper from the eunuch, quickly scanned the writing on it, and suddenly two glints flashed in his eyes, and a smile appeared on his lips.
However, he quickly composed himself, put down the paper, and glanced between Wei Shuwan and Wei Zheng, the father and daughter.
"Wei Shuwan, no wonder you know so much, daring to question me about the disappearance of that servant's family!"
The lack of specific details made Wei Shuwan's heart skip a beat. What did he know?
Zhang Jian's gaze fell on Wei Zheng. "Wei Zheng, so after the dam collapsed, you led people to that servant's house and took his whole family with you!"
Wei Zheng's eyes widened in surprise, and Wei Shuwan also showed an expression of astonishment. Just as the father and daughter were about to refute this statement, Zhang Jian threw the paper on the ground:
"Look for yourself! This is the testimony written by the servant's neighbors. They witnessed you taking the man away, and they never went back afterward!"
Wei Zheng knelt on the ground and quickly crawled forward a few steps. He picked up the paper and looked at it. It did indeed contain testimonies and signatures. Several villagers swore that they had personally witnessed him taking away the servant's family.
"this……"
Wei Zheng knew better than anyone what he had done and what he hadn't done. He was clearly only concerned with disaster relief afterward and had no time to go to that servant's house!
Even though he knew the testimony was fabricated, he felt powerless. How could he prove the witnesses were lying?
Wei Shuwan had no more words to say. The Crown Prince, in his blatant framing of her own father, who could she turn to for justice?
Zhu Haogan looked with satisfaction at the Wei family's dejected expressions, and then suggested to Zhang Jian:
"Lord Zhang, in my opinion, none of the Wei family members are easy to deal with. It seems that we can't just use one set of torture instruments."
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