Priceless: A widow with a baby asks the prince to marry again

After telling the story, Ruan Qing was already in tears, choking and saying: "I shouldn't have gone to find Liu Yi... If I hadn't gone to find her... maybe she wouldn't have been killed..."

"it's not your fault."

A gentle voice came from behind the screen again: "Even if there is no so-called curse to harm people, I think... sooner or later there will be other reasons for Madam Zhang to take ruthless action."

"You!" Madam Zhang was about to get angry, but she quickly calmed down and asked respectfully, "Why did Madam Liu say that to me?"

"There are now four people who have accused Zhang Shide of robbing a woman. Each of them has been hurt by you. Isn't that enough to judge your possible actions?"

Liu Rusi's words awakened the confused person. Ruan Qing came to his senses and realized that he had found the wrong reason.

Many people outside the hall pointed at Madam Zhang Er, muttering or shouting "jealous woman!"

Madam Zhang Er couldn't help but said excitedly: "They deserved it!"

"I think you've hurt more than just these four people, right? Did everyone deserve it?"

After she was speechless, Liu Rusi continued, "Let's go back to the previous question. Who told you about those women every time? Who told you that it was Yang Liuyi's curse that made your son sick?"

Mrs. Zhang Er turned her head in a daze and looked at the maid again, and the maid immediately turned her head and looked at the steward.

The steward who was under Zhang Shide's command had a pale face and wanted to look at Zhang Shide lying on the ground, but he held back and did not dare to point out his master. If a servant betrayed his master, no matter what the reason, he could be put to death according to the law after a public trial.

However, the answer is already obvious, and anyone who is a little smart has figured out the truth!

Ruan Qing's eyes were red with anger as he looked at Zhang Shide and asked angrily, "Did you do this on purpose?! Did you deliberately have someone instigate the evil woman to hurt Liu Yi?!"

"I'm not! I didn't. It's just that this evil woman is jealous!" Zhang Shide argued.

At this time, other family members also reacted and went to question the nanny, the housekeeper and Mrs. Zhang Er, wanting to know if it was the same everywhere!

After a lot of fuss, I finally found out that they are really the same!

Every time, the housekeeper would reveal the news that was unfavorable to those women to the nanny, and the nanny would tell Madam Zhang Er. Madam Zhang Er would sometimes endure it, but other news would come again to anger her, until Madam Zhang Er took ruthless measures to hurt those women and drive them away.

Mrs. Zhang was stunned for a long time before she understood what he said, but she couldn't figure it out. She looked at Zhang Shide blankly and asked, "Why? Why did you deliberately provoke me to hurt them?"

If it was just one case, he could still argue about it, but it was the same in several cases. Zhang Shide was speechless and lowered his head to the ground pretending to be dead.

"Mrs. Zhang, how is the money of your second house distributed? Who pays for the support of those women...and the money for their post-injury comfort?" Liu Rusi asked speculatively.

Speaking of money, Madam Zhang II opened her eyes wide as if awakened, and said clearly: "He has to pay for the concubine himself. The ten taels of silver from the monthly allowance will be given to Zhang Shide! Oh, because ten taels of silver is not enough for him to support multiple women! So, if he likes a new one, he has to drive the old one away! Let me drive her away ruthlessly, and I can still pay for the appeasement!"

But after saying that, Mrs. Zhang Er still couldn't figure it out, so she asked Zhang Shide again: "But why do you have to do this? If you don't like it, just drive it away yourself!"

"Maybe he doesn't want to be branded as someone who abandons his lover." Liu Rusi sighed.

"Why... Liu Yi is so nice, how can I not like her..."

"If you don't like her, why did you take her away?!" Ruan Qing didn't know where the strength came from his thin body, and suddenly shook off the yamen runners who were trying to stop him. He rushed forward, grabbed Zhang Shide by the back of his collar, and punched him in the face!

Ruan Qing burst into tears and asked almost screamingly: "Why did you take her away and don't want her anymore?! I really don't like her anymore, give her back to me!"

The bailiffs reacted and tried to stop them, but the other furious family members also rushed over and started punching and kicking Zhang Shide!

The people watching the trial outside were also outraged, with many shouting, "Beast!"

"You are worse than a beast!"

"Beat him to death! Such a wicked person doesn't deserve to live!"

"It's appalling! It's outrageous!"

"Just give her back to me! I want her! I want her back! Give her back to me!" Ruan Qing's gradually collapsing shouts were drowned out by the crowd.

"Give Liu Yi back to me..."

The court was in chaos for a long time. The magistrate first looked at the screen, undecided whether to call a halt.

After hesitating for a long time and seeing that Zhang Shide was about to be beaten to death if he didn't stop, the magistrate picked up the gavel.

"Crack!" "Crack!"

The clapping was repeated several times, but the angry people in the hall could not hear it. Seeing that there was no intention behind the screen to stop the clapping, the magistrate signaled to the bailiffs.

Then the bailiffs stood in two rows, each holding a stick and hitting the ground!

"Touch! Touch! Touch!"

The neat sound of sticks finally calmed everyone down.

"Mighty~"

The bailiffs shouted in unison.

The crowd dispersed, Ruan Qing stood up like a wandering soul, stood aside with the crowd, and said nothing.

Zhang Shide's face was bruised and swollen beyond recognition, his clothes were torn, and his hair was completely bald as someone had pulled it out. He lay on the ground, breathing but not breathing.

Normally this would be considered contempt of court, but the magistrate could more or less sense that although Prince Duan said he was watching him handle the case impartially, he was actually against the Zhang family, so he curled his lips and let Zhang Shide off the beating.

The trial of Yang Liuyi's case was not over yet, and the county magistrate continued the interrogation: "You are personally accused of robbing a woman. Although the scholar Ruan Qing is Yang Liuyi's fiancé, he is not considered a family member..."

"Your Excellency, I am Yang Xuefei, the younger sister of Yang Liuyi, and I am the victim in the lawsuit..."

Yang Xuefei knelt down, her small body seemed to tremble a little, but she spoke fluently: "There is another complaint, accusing the Zhang family of sending evil slaves to beat my father to death."

"Well, in that case, let's first sentence the case of the kidnapping of Yang Liuyi." The magistrate was just trying his best to pretend to be impartial in enforcing the law, and he didn't mean to make things difficult for the prosecutor.

"According to the law, those who forcibly abduct women will be punished with 100 strokes of the cane and sent to the local military household to perform corvée labor. Do the criminal Zhang Shide... and his relatives have any objection?"

Zhang Shide was already half dead, so naturally he would not object. The first wife had already said that she would not care about the second wife, and only the second wife hesitated for a moment before shaking her head.

If there were no objections, the execution would be carried out. However, in Zhang Shide's case, he might die after a hundred strokes of the cane. The magistrate paused and said, "Let's try all the other cases first. He still has a lot of cases to deal with. Let's punish him for all the crimes behind the scenes."

It was already past noon when the five cases of kidnapping women were all tried.

The magistrate asked someone behind the screen what the king meant, and then announced a recess for an hour before resuming the trial of another case.

Chu Shiyu and Liu Rusi walked out of the county government office and walked on the street. He asked softly, "Do you want to watch it again in the afternoon?"

She felt upset after watching the tragedy that happened this morning, but this was just part of the trial of the Zhang family. Liu Rusi thought about it and nodded, "I want to see their ending."

"The second branch of the Zhang family will have an ending, but the first branch..." Chu Shiyu turned to look at her and asked, "Do you hope that the entire Zhang family will be destroyed?"

Liu Rusi paused. What kind of question was this? Could it be that she was going to decide the life and death of the entire Zhang family based on her words? After being speechless for a while, she said seriously, "If they have committed a crime, I hope they will be dealt with fairly and punished by the law."

"You are really smart and sharp." Chu Shiyu suddenly chuckled and praised.

"I didn't expect that Zhang Shide would intentionally use this foolish woman to fan the flames of jealousy and get rid of the old person he disliked, so that he could easily snatch the new person. This is truly a sin that is condemned by both humans and gods."

"But even though you pointed it out, the law cannot punish him. He can only be held responsible for robbing a woman... I think that's a pity."

Liu Rusi understood that Chu Shiyu felt that she had found more crimes, and Zhang Shide alone was not enough to atone for the crime, so he wanted to implicate the entire Zhang family...

"I point this out just to let everyone know what the root of the evil is, and don't just blame women for being jealous... As for the Zhang family, I still hope they will be punished according to the law. It doesn't matter what the Zhang family does, it's not worth getting their hands dirty for this." Her almond eyes and phoenix eyes looked at each other seriously, and she knew he could understand.

Chu Shiyu suddenly smiled and narrowed his eyes. In fact, his usual style was to do things openly. He just wanted to make a secret move on the Zhang family so that Liu Rusi could see a happier ending. Unexpectedly, she liked his original approach more.

"Okay, I won't do anything more."

Chu Shiyu then explained the story in detail: "The first wife is much smarter than the second wife. They rarely mess with common people. Even if they know that Zhang Shiliang is corrupt and has committed crimes for his own benefit, it is difficult to find evidence. Moreover, Zhang Shiliang is dead now, and everything is over. Even if there is evidence of a crime, usually the family members will not be held accountable."

"Aren't those thirteen servants' bodies related to the first house?"

Liu Rusi was puzzled. In a wealthy family, apart from some servants of each room, many servants were public property. To execute thirteen servants in one go, the head of the family must have given his approval.

"I didn't arrange the thirteen slave corpses." Chu Shiyu said calmly, looking at the noodle restaurant on the street in the county town and asked, "How about this for lunch?"

Liu Rusi glanced at the guards outside and said helplessly, "You've already asked people to line up... so this is it."

"Those slave corpses don't have any conspiracy, right?" Liu Rusi didn't know much information and couldn't think of anything.

The guards who had reserved seats quickly walked out with their bowls and chopsticks, and some wiped the table first. Chu Shiyu asked her to sit down at the vacant table, and he sat opposite her, and the two of them sat down at one table.

"Whether there is a conspiracy or not, it can't harm us. We just need to wait and see... What do you want to eat?" Chu Shiyu gestured for her to look at the menu.

Liu Rusi looked at the menu, and after a few breaths of silence, she suddenly said quietly: "The dishes here don't seem to be very good at reducing internal heat..."

"Forehead…"

Chu Shiyu's face turned pale immediately. Her intention was discovered. Why was she so smart? He said with a somewhat embarrassed look, "We've already sat down. How about we just forget about this meal?"

Liu Rusi smiled, turned around and called to the store owner, "Can the store owner make a few green vegetables?"

The shop owner turned around and said in a friendly and apologetic manner: "We specialize in stewed noodles here, not stir-fried dishes. There is a small stir-fry restaurant next door, how about asking them to stir-fry a few dishes for us?"

"Then let's eat the stewed noodles. It shouldn't cause a sore throat if it's not spicy." Chu Shiyu argued in a low voice.

Liu Rusi turned a deaf ear to him and said to the shopkeeper, "You don't need to stir-fry the vegetables. Just blanch the green vegetables in water. How about ten times the price?"

"How many dishes do you want?" The shopkeeper was immediately tempted. Ten times the price was equivalent to thirty or forty cents per dish! It was just boiling water and blanching it. This was a lot of money!

"Look at how many dishes you have here. Bring me one plate of each." After Liu Rusi told the store owner, she turned to Chu Shiyu and said with a smile, "It's my treat."

Chu Shiyu had no choice but to accept his fate and shouted to the store owner, "Don't put too much food on one plate."

After he finished shouting, he immediately explained to Liu Rusi pitifully: "I really can't eat..."

As the sun was setting, Liu Rusi finished her stewed noodles and Chu Shiyu finished five plates of green vegetables, then returned to the county government office to wait for the afternoon trial.

When they entered the back of the screen, the magistrate who was trying the case was already waiting inside. When he saw them come in, he immediately knelt down and said, "Greetings, Your Highness Prince Duan!"

Chu Shiyu was full of anger, and his face was even colder at this moment. He asked in a cold voice, “What’s the matter?”

The magistrate was already uneasy, and when he heard the tone he broke out in a cold sweat, but since it was a matter of his life and property, he had to fight for it.

"In the past... I was blind and misjudged some cases. This time, I am trying the Zhang family... I don't know if I can..."

"Want to just pass it over?" Chu Shiyu asked in a calm voice.

"Yes, I know I was wrong! I beg Prince Duan to show some leniency. I will change my ways!" The magistrate kowtowed to the ground several times. The sweat on his forehead left marks on the bricks.

"Merits and demerits are nothing more than a few words when put into writing. From now on, you must enforce the law impartially." Chu Shiyu said in a cold tone, as if he did not take the county magistrate's affairs seriously.

The magistrate understood what he meant. He wanted to see how well he handled the Zhang family case this time. He immediately kowtowed and shouted, "Don't worry, Prince Duan! I will be strict with myself and handle cases impartially in the future!"

Many people had gathered outside the court to watch the excitement, while most of the Zhang family members and the victims were also waiting inside. They could hear the panicked voices and see the tall and petite figures sitting down behind the screen and the figure in the black gauze hat kneeling and swaying.

The figure in the black gauze hat stood up from the ground, walked backwards out of the screen, brushed the dust off his knees and forehead, and then the magistrate assumed the demeanor of an official appointed by the imperial court, walked in a square step to the official chair in the court, and sat down.

The victims and the common people felt relieved, but the Zhang family became more and more worried. The court began to try cases such as the Zhang family allowing slaves to commit crimes.

Behind the screen, Chu Shiyu asked quietly: "Do you think I condoned the corrupt official?"

After getting to know each other for so long, he more or less knew that Liu Rusi was a person with a strong sense of justice. Although she was not intolerant, she also yearned for fairness in her heart.

Looking at the shadow play-like scene outside the screen, Liu Rusi said softly: "I understand, when the water is too clear, there will be no fish."

Ruifeng's eyes were filled with tenderness, and she was filled with joy. Chu Shiyu said softly, "People yearn for a peaceful and prosperous world, but when they are in that position, they often become petty scheming and mean. However, sometimes people who are scheming and mean are better than those who are upright and honest. If we don't tighten the belt and use this person properly, it will delay important matters."

Why explain so much? Liu Rusi glanced at him slightly, and seeing that he was waiting for her reaction, she nodded slightly to indicate that she understood, and then turned back to continue watching the drama in the court.

She didn't get the recognition she wanted, but she didn't show any criticism either. Chu Shiyu also looked towards the hall, wondering what she was thinking.