Noble Lady

"Bang!" The gavel was banged, and the huge sound made everyone's ears buzz.

Lord Mei's ears also buzzed for a moment, and after a start, he quickly calmed himself down.

"He Hanlin, you're so arrogant! I invited you here after repeated requests, and now you come to court drunk. Don't you respect His Majesty and the law?"

He Minzhi came back to his senses and quickly saluted, "This subordinate greets Master Mei!"

"There's no need to pay your respects. You have honors and an official position, so just stand and listen." Lord Mei was very impatient with him, and then smiled at Xue Chenyu.

Then, he spread out the complaint Xue Chenyu had presented before him and said solemnly, "He Minzhi, your wife, Xue, is suing you for borrowing her dowry and not returning it, and for frequenting brothels and having sex with prostitutes. What do you have to say?"

"Nonsense! When did I borrow her dowry? Did I hang out in brothels and have sex with prostitutes for pleasure?" He Minzhi denied it without even thinking.

Xue Chenyu almost laughed out loud.

Regardless of whether he did it or not, it is impossible to admit it.

Master Mei's face turned green, and he slammed the gavel. "You said you didn't borrow your wife's dowry, so what about the IOU you signed, and the Zuixianju receipt you signed?"

"Master Chen, take the things over and let He Hanlin see them with his own eyes!"

"Yes, my lord."

Master Chen brought the things down diligently, but when He Minzhi heard the word "IOU", he suddenly looked at Xue Chenyu.

"Xue, you are so brave! You actually dare to..." Report to the authorities?!

"He Minzhi, please be careful with your words. This is in the lobby of Jingzhao Prefecture, not the backyard of your He family." Lord Mei said coldly.

Master Chen also reminded, "Master He, this is the physical evidence presented by Aunt Xue. Please take a look."

Hearing this, He Minzhi turned back reluctantly.

The IOUs and Zuixianju's payment receipts all had his signature.

But he just glanced at it lightly and pretended to be nothing: "Master Mei, I have never seen these things before. I don't know where they come from."

"Master He, what you're saying is that you didn't sign the IOU and the debt receipt?"

"No." He Minzhi said without changing his expression.

Lord Mei: "..."

Ah.

Xue Chenyu thought he was shameless, but she didn't expect him to be even more shameless than she imagined.

"Girl, he..." Yuzhu was so angry that she wanted to curse.

Fortunately, this was in the court of Jingzhao Prefecture, so she suppressed the urge to curse and glared at He Minzhi fiercely: "If you borrow 30,000 taels and don't pay it back, and then spend it on women for pleasure, your son will have no asshole."

"You are not allowed to roar in the court." Lord Mei knocked the gavel lightly.

Yuzhu immediately shrank back behind Xue Chenyu obediently.

This time, He Minzhi's face turned green. "Xue, is this how you discipline your servants?!"

"How I discipline my servants is not for He Hanlin to worry about. We don't spend a penny of your He family's money, so you have no right to comment."

"How outrageous! Is that how you talk to your husband?!"

Xue Chenyu sneered and didn't even bother to pay attention to him.

Master Mei couldn't stand it any longer and slammed the gavel loudly. "You are not allowed to roar in court. Knowing the law and breaking it is an even more serious crime."

He Minzhi was so angry that he wanted to curse, but when he met Lord Mei's gaze, he remained honest, "Lord Mei, in this world, men are the most important. I am the pillar of my family and bear the honor and disgrace of my family on my shoulders."

"And Mrs. Xue is just a woman in the backyard. After she married into the He family, she belonged to our He family. All her things should also belong to the He family. Even if I used a little, how can I talk about borrowing them?"

"She brought this official to court with such a ridiculous pretext. Doesn't she know that just like a citizen suing an official, or a wife suing her husband, she herself will be held guilty!"

Lord Mei was stunned for a moment.

There was no law in this dynasty that stipulated that a husband could not use a woman's dowry, and he didn't know how to refute it for a moment.

"Master Mei." Xue Chenyu slowly stood up and bowed to the seated Master Mei. "Although the laws of our dynasty don't explicitly stipulate who owns the dowry, a woman's dowry is clearly written in the marriage certificate."

"The founding empress once said, 'Dowry is a woman's private property.' I wonder if Lord Mei has ever heard of this?"

Lord Mei subconsciously glanced at Master Chen: Did the Empress who conquered the country together with Emperor Taizu say this?

Master Chen nodded solemnly.

Master Mei immediately felt confident, "Aunt Xue is right."

Xue Chenyu continued, "During the reign of the previous emperor, there were also criminals who stole wives' wealth. People at that time also condemned them, saying, 'If an unlawful person forcibly marries a wife, gives her wealth and then dies, and the wife cannot support herself, from now on he will be allowed to marry someone else.'"

"This is also a recognition of the wife's right to control and own private property."

Lord Mei nodded repeatedly.

"In the 138 years since the founding of the Great Sheng Dynasty, no man has ever embezzled his wife's private property and confidently claimed it as his own. In the case of He Hanlin, the dowry is his family's property. Lord Mei, please make a fair judgment."

Lord Mei was about to bang the gavel, but He Minzhi said, "Since there is no clear legal provision, then this is all one-sided."

Lord Mei, who had just become happy, became unhappy again.

"Sir, he is clearly making excuses!" Yuzhu was so anxious that she was about to rush forward.

Lord Mei wanted to say "No yelling in court" again, but Xue Chenyu gave him a look, and Yuzhu held back and retreated.

Master Chen was a man who could read people's expressions and reminded Master Mei, "Sir, Master He is such a learned man, he shouldn't be unaware of something that even the women in the harem know, and yet he even belittles the founding emperor's empress as worthless."

"He must have been drunk and talking nonsense, unable to distinguish right from wrong. It would be better to detain him first and retry him another day."

He Minzhi said angrily, "When did I ever devalue the founding emperor's empress? Master, you are clearly shielding her!"

"Yes, Master, what you said makes sense. He Hanlin drank too much and is confused. His speech is also incoherent. So let's take him into custody first."

Master Mei slammed the gavel down. "Come here, arrest the defendant He Minzhi."

Since he is so arrogant, let him go to jail and calm down for a few days to see if he can still be arrogant again.

"Sir Mei, I am an official appointed by the imperial court!" He Minzhi shouted anxiously as he saw the yamen runners surrounding him.

Lord Mei raised his eyelids. "He Minzhi, I think you've truly lost your temper. Based solely on these dozen Zuixianju debt receipts signed by you, I can report them to the Emperor and have you stripped of your official position!"

He Minzhi's legs went limp and he was immediately taken away by the yamen runners.

"Quit."

Yuzhu: It feels so good!

Qiuhua, who has always been introverted, couldn't help but smile: Let him stay in the government office of Jingzhao Prefecture for two days, and he will know why the world is so beautiful.

Xia He cursed silently: What bad luck!

After scolding him, he hurriedly helped Xue Chenyu up.

The yamen runners were not in a good mood towards He Minzhi: What decent man would be thinking about his wife's dowry? Not only did he take his wife's dowry money to drink and play with prostitutes, but he also said it so confidently. It's unlucky!

Isn't this ruining the reputation of these men and making it impossible for them to get married?! Such bad luck!

"Thank you, Lord Mei!" Xue Chenyu bowed again.

Lord Mei quickly stood up and said, "Grandma Xue, there's no need to be so polite. This is what I should do. It's really that He Minzhi is being too unreasonable."

"Lord Mei is a fair and impartial official. I believe that as a fair and just official who advocates for the people, Lord Mei will definitely give me justice."

"Don't dare, don't dare."

Jingzhao Yin Lord Mei was so pleased with Xue Chenyu's words that he smiled happily as if he had eaten candy.

Master Chen couldn't bear to watch it anymore.

My lord, I know you love your daughter, but it’s not necessary. It’s not necessary.

Out of courtesy, Xue Chenyu exchanged pleasantries with Lord Mei again, and also said that if Mei came to the store in person someday, she would definitely ask her mother to give him a discount. Lord Mei was even happier to hear this.

Only in this way was I able to escape.

……