A piece of Japanese incense

"Your father raped my mother and caused her to become pregnant. In desperation, my mother took my brother and me to marry your father. That day, he got drunk and lost control again and tried to force my mother. My pregnant mother was unable to resist, and my eldest brother was brutally hit with a wine jug to protect my mother and died on the spot. Your father fled with the money and even took my mother's jewelry and dowry!"

Every word Zhou Song spoke was as cold as ice, shocking everyone present.

Sanniang's eyes were wide open, as if she wanted to swallow up all the unreasonable things in front of her. Her eyebrows were raised high, and her mouth was slightly open, unable to close for a long time, as if she was trying to resist this sudden impact with a silent shout.

"My mother's baby and my brother died tragically. She was afraid of disturbing you, so she ordered me to send you to your aunt's house for foster care for more than a month. We could have abandoned you and walked away, but my mother thought of you losing your mother at a young age, being alone and helpless, and enduring the abuse and slander of the world. How did she blind her eyes! That is the testimony of her tears day and night and extreme sorrow!"

Sanniang shook her head slowly, with a hint of despair: "I don't believe it... How is this possible?"

"When you were fifteen, your mother had already planned a marriage for you. We thought you had a unique vision, but we never expected that you had such a terrible idea in your mind!"

The mother-in-law burst into tears, was heartbroken, and kept punching Zhou Song's chest with her fists.

"That's not the case, Brother Song. You haven't married for so long. Aren't you waiting to become successful and famous before marrying me?"

"I hate your father so much, how can I love you!" Zhou Song's lips turned pale and his face was bloodless.

Yutuan gently stroked his forehead and wiped away the sweat for him.

Tears as big as beans flowed from Sanniang's eyes, and she walked slowly towards Zhou Song: "It's all because of you, it's all because of you! Brother Song changed after he came back from Sui Garden! He never goes home..."

"Shut up!" Zhou Song suddenly pushed Sanniang away with too much force, losing his balance and knocking over the table, causing the cakes to spill all over the floor.

Sanniang was pushed to the ground. She bit her lower lip tightly, breathing rapidly and irregularly. Every breath she took was accompanied by a slight sob, and every breath she exhaled was a silent sigh. Her face was pale, and the fine beads of sweat and tears on her forehead were indistinguishable.

I didn't want to delay any longer, so I asked her, "So even if you want Brother Zhou to spend the rest of his life in bed, you still want to restrain him?"

Sanniang didn't say anything, she just sat up straight stubbornly, not moving a muscle.

"Who gave you the money? Who gave you the cinnabar?"

"No one!" She raised her chin slightly, her mouth corners tightly pursed into a firm line, and her eyebrows raised slightly, forming a challenging arc.

"You are illiterate. I don't believe you understand the pharmacology of cinnabar and have so much money to buy clothes and jewelry!"

Sanniang still smiled without answering, sitting on the ground stubbornly, unwavering.

"Okay! Then you should be prepared. Before you die, watch our Yu Tuan and Brother Zhou get married with your own eyes." I brushed the dust off my skirt and stood up to leave.

"Bai!" she blurted out, "I only know that his last name is Bai."

"I knew it." I muttered.

"That day, Song Ge and the woman limped back, and I hid in a corner crying. A man with a mole on the corner of his eye found me, gave me a bag of money and a box of powder, and told me that Song Ge had offended Master Bai, and asked me to apply the powder to his injured area so that he could never get out of bed again."

"Where's the purse?" I asked hurriedly.

Sanniang's eyes kept wandering, avoiding eye contact with me, and she quickly lowered her eyelids and said, "My purse was made of high-quality material and embroidery. I sold it for a hundred coins, a total of thirty taels of silver, which I have already spent."

I let out a long sigh: "Now, I will give you a chance to redeem yourself from your crime. Are you willing to become a tainted witness and testify in court for your brother Song?"

"What's the meaning……"

"Tomorrow, you will find the man with the mole on the corner of his eye again, tell him that you have run out of cinnabar, and ask him to give you some more. At the moment when you two deliver the cinnabar, the government will arrest you, and then you will turn yourself in, confess the crime, explain the case, sign and seal it. Once the case is settled, I will give you the antidote and let you go."

"Really?" Sanniang's eyelashes trembled slightly, and her eyes revealed desire.

I imitated the way the prince hugged his uncle, helped her up, and said with a smile: "We are all family~"

After settling Zhou Song down, we drove back to the mansion.

"Ah He is indeed different now than he was before. He is calm and decisive in dealing with things. He also helped Brother Jinqi thoroughly investigate the Bai Yan case and obtained another piece of solid evidence." Yu Nian tapped the bridge of my nose.

I shook my head proudly, but Yutuan became depressed.

"Xiao Yutuan, the problem has been solved! As for your guard Zhou, I will test my maggots on him after they are grown! I guarantee that he will be alive and kicking in a few days!"

"When I think about having to face a sister-in-law who adores my husband every day, it makes me upset!"

"Tsk~ is that all?"

Yutuan lowered his head and sighed.

"Don't worry! I have taken care of all these trivial matters for you, your daughter! You can get married happily!" I promised, patting my chest.

Yu Tuan's eyes lit up and her face turned red with embarrassment.

Yuyi couldn't help but ask curiously, "Miss! Are you looking for a husband for Zhou Sanniang?"

I shook my index finger, crossed my legs, and sat leisurely in the seat.

In order to go home tonight to avoid being punished and also worried about not being able to go out tomorrow, we finally went to a house next to the Imperial Examination Hall to spend the night. We sent a message to my grandfather and waited until the matter was settled before going home to apologize.

On the second day, we successfully assisted Jingzhao Prefecture in arresting Sanniang and the man.

Lord Xin was sitting in the court to interrogate the case, and my cousin was watching quietly from the side.

Sanniang confessed according to the plan and put her fingerprints on the confession.

When we thought the case was going smoothly and would hopefully be tried together with the Bai Yan case, the man with the mole at the corner of his eye firmly denied it.

He claimed that he just couldn't stand Zhou Song's arrogant behavior, so he tried to take revenge.

The old woman who was cut in line that day also disappeared, and her money bag was redeemed by someone else. Although she was a subordinate of Bai Xuan, she could not prove that she was related to the incident. The two were temporarily detained and awaited further trial.

Before being taken away, Sanniang shouted at me at the top of her lungs to ask me to save her from the predicament, but I chose to turn a deaf ear to her.

"Girl, just... ignore her?" Yu Tuan's mouth twitched.

"I said that we need to close this case. The current situation is still inconclusive. She did something wrong and she should reflect on it in prison."

"Girl, you didn't...want to let her out from the beginning..." Yu Yi stared at me blankly, her eyes motionless, the muscles on her cheeks trembling faintly.

I stopped where I was, pursed my lips and shrugged.