"Even a powerful dragon can't suppress a local snake..."
Xiao Che repeatedly pondered the threatening words that Prefect Wang had uttered before leaving, his eyes filled with a chilling coldness that seemed to freeze into ice.
What a local tyrant!
How dare they flaunt their power in front of him, a true dragon!
After leaving the government office, Granny Liu fainted from grief and anger. Xiao Che and Lin Wanwan had no choice but to take her back to the dilapidated thatched hut, hire a doctor to treat her, and leave her enough money before returning to the inn with heavy hearts.
Once back in his inn room, after closing the door and shutting out all outside noise, the terrifying aura that had been suppressed for the entire morning finally erupted from Xiao Che's body!
"Bang!"
He slammed his hand on the table, and the rosewood table, which he had already cracked, could no longer withstand his thunderous rage. With a mournful cry, it collapsed and shattered into pieces on the ground!
"This is outrageous! Absolutely outrageous!"
Xiao Che paced back and forth in the room, his handsome face contorted with extreme rage. Two raging fires burned in his deep eyes, as if he wanted to burn this corrupt Jiangnan officialdom to ashes!
"Officials protect each other! They collude in evil! Right under my nose, such a filthy festering sore is hiding! It's time to give the people of Jiangnan a good clean!"
He abruptly stopped, a resolute killing intent flashing in his eyes.
He reached into his robes, intending to retrieve the dragon-shaped jade pendant that represented his supreme status and was powerful enough to mobilize secret agents in the capital and cause bloodshed throughout the Jiangnan region!
"His Majesty!"
Just as he was about to take out the jade pendant, a soft hand gently pressed on the back of his hand.
Lin Wanwan had somehow already walked up to him. Looking at the almost destructive rage in his eyes, she said softly but firmly, "No."
"Why not?" Xiao Che's voice was as cold as a knife. "I am the Son of Heaven! My people are being bullied like this, my empire is being trampled on like this! If I do not take action, what kind of monarch am I?!"
"Of course I know you are the emperor, and I know that in your anger you can cause the heads to roll in this Jiangnan government office." Lin Wanwan looked into his eyes, her tone as calm as the ice and snow on a mountaintop. "But have you considered, Your Majesty, that once your identity is exposed, our incognito visit will be in vain?"
"So what if we've been exposed?" Xiao Che sneered. "Wouldn't it be faster if I just wiped out these rats all at once?!"
“It’s almost here,” Lin Wanwan shook her head. “But then you’ll only ever see the tip of the iceberg. You can kill Prefect Wang, you can wipe out the Gao family, but what about their networks? What about the local tyrants hiding deeper within? Once you reveal your identity, they’ll be on the move, burying all the evidence. Then, all you’ll see will be those whitewashed memorials, and all you’ll hear will be those empty words of praise.”
She paused, her tone becoming even more earnest: "Your Majesty, the reason the Gao family and that Prefect Wang dare to be so arrogant is because they are certain of the charge of 'adultery.' In their view, this is a 'family matter,' a 'issue of reputation.' As long as they can establish this charge, the law can't touch them. We currently have no witnesses or evidence. Even if you reveal your identity and forcibly intervene, you will only be accused of 'the emperor being jealous of a commoner' and 'forcibly taking a woman from the people,' and they will turn the tables on you!"
Upon hearing this, the anger in Xiao Che's eyes finally subsided somewhat.
He had to admit that Lin Wanwan was right.
He could use his status as emperor to forcibly kill people, but doing so would be tantamount to admitting that the "rules" were ineffective against local bullies like them, and that even the emperor had to resort to "underhanded tactics" to solve problems.
This is the greatest humiliation for him!
What he wants to do is to completely crush them within the very "rules" they are most proud of!
"Then what do you think should be done?" Xiao Che's voice finally regained some calmness.
Just then, a faint knock sounded on the door.
Lin Wanwan opened the door and saw the inn's waiter supporting Granny Liu, who had just woken up, standing outside.
It turned out that after waking up, Grandma Liu was worried about her daughter's safety, so she ignored the doctor's advice and struggled to find her.
"My benefactor! Madam!" As soon as Granny Liu saw the two of them, she was about to kneel down again, but Lin Wanwan quickly helped her up.
"Grandpa, you're still not well, please come in and sit down."
Lin Wanwan helped Granny Liu to a chair and looked at her desperate and aged face, feeling a pang of sorrow in her heart.
"Grandpa, don't be too sad. We will definitely find a way to save your daughter," Lin Wanwan comforted him softly.
"Is there...is there any hope?" Two lines of despairing tears streamed down Granny Liu's cloudy eyes. "The government doesn't care, what...what else can we do..."
As if remembering something, she suddenly grabbed Lin Wanwan's hand, her nails digging deep into the back of Lin Wanwan's hand with force.
"Madam! My daughter! My daughter would never do such a shameful thing!" she cried, her voice breaking with anguish. "She's a good girl! She willingly sold herself into servitude to the Gao family so that I could get medical treatment! How could she possibly commit adultery?"
“Just two days ago! That beastly second young master of the Gao family, Gao Changsheng! He even sent someone to propose marriage, saying he wanted to take my daughter as his eighteenth concubine! My daughter immediately threw the matchmaker out, saying that even if she died, she would never marry such a scumbag! Madam, tell me, how could such a strong-willed child possibly commit adultery!”
The second young master of the Gao family? Forced marriage? He'd rather die than comply?
A flash of lightning suddenly appeared in Lin Wanwan's mind!
She seemed to have grasped something crucial!
She suddenly raised her head, and her beautiful eyes shone with an unprecedented light of wisdom!
"Your Majesty!" She looked at Xiao Che, her voice trembling slightly with excitement, "I think... I might have found a way to break this deadlock!"
Xiao Che was taken aback and looked at her.
Lin Wanwan took a deep breath and, in an extremely calm, even cold, tone, proposed a groundbreaking hypothesis:
“Your Majesty, you said… if Miss Liu Yu didn’t commit suicide because of ‘adultery’ at all…”
"Or... was it 'murdered'?"
Murder?!
These two words struck Xiao Che and Granny Liu's hearts like two heavy hammer blows!
Grandma Liu was stunned, staring blankly at Lin Wanwan, unable to react for a moment.
Xiao Che's pupils shrank suddenly, and he instantly understood the deeper meaning behind Lin Wanwan's words!
"you mean……"
"Yes!" Lin Wanwan nodded heavily, her thoughts becoming incredibly clear at that moment!
"Gao Changsheng, the second young master of the Gao family, killed Liu Yu in a fit of rage after his advances were rejected! To cover up his crime, he bribed the so-called 'servant' to stage an adultery scene, and then falsely accused Liu Yu of hanging herself after her affair was exposed!"
"In this way, a 'murder case' becomes a 'moral offense'! A murder case under the jurisdiction of 'national law' becomes a 'family matter' that they can handle with 'clan rules'!"
"As long as we can prove that Miss Liu Yu was murdered, not committed suicide, then the prefect will have no excuse to use 'family matters' as an excuse! He will have to investigate according to the law! At that point, the initiative will be back in our hands!"
Lin Wanwan's analysis was clear, logical, and meticulous. Like a sharp scalpel, it instantly dissected the Gao family and Magistrate Wang's "muddying the waters" trick.
This is the key to eliminating the root cause of the problem!
As Xiao Che looked at the woman in front of him who always displayed astonishing wisdom at crucial moments, the coldness in his eyes was gradually replaced by a hint of admiration and warmth.
He knew she was right again.
Violence is a last resort. But before that, the true way to defeat them is to use their most prized "rules" to utterly crush them!
“Alright! We’ll do it your way!” Xiao Che decided immediately. “But she’s currently being held in the Gao family’s ancestral hall, heavily guarded, and is scheduled to be drowned tomorrow at noon. How…how can we prove she was murdered?”
Lin Wanwan's gaze became incredibly firm.
She looked at Xiao Che and said, word by word:
"Therefore, we must do it before the execution..."
"We found a 'corpse'!"
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