Quick Wear: The Development of a Pure Cannon Fodder

He didn't see Yu Zinyin because she was hiding behind the screen. She told everyone to ask the farmer first. If the farmer insisted on biting her, she would run out and confront him.

The farmer saw that Concubine Liu was not there. Someone had asked him to set up a trap to frame Concubine Liu before and had shown him Concubine Liu's portrait. So when he saw that Concubine Liu was not there and there were only the prince and these farmers, he planned to put all the blame on Yu Zinyin. But he couldn't tell the truth without asking the other party, otherwise others would definitely think something was wrong.

Even at this time, the farmers did not think that their plan had been discovered by Yu Zinyin. Even if these common people did not report to Jingzhao Prefecture as they had expected, but instead went to the Prince's Mansion, the farmers did not think it was a big deal. After all, the person behind him just wanted to make Concubine Liu fall out of favor, so making this matter known in front of the Prince would also be a blow to Concubine Liu. As for Concubine Liu, she had nothing to do with these land transactions, and the person behind him had already taught him how to frame her.

At that moment, he only cautiously asked the Crown Prince who was sitting above him, "I greet His Royal Highness. I wonder why His Royal Highness ordered me to be brought here?"

Shao Lian lowered his eyes. "Why don't you know? I'm asking you, do you know the people sitting on your left and right?"

The farmer pretended to look at the old men and the young men around them, and met their angry gazes. He suppressed his panic and said, "Your Highness, I know them. I know them. I have done business with these people before, but it was all consensual!"

"Bullshit!" the young man shouted. "What do you mean by consensual? You're the one who forced us to pay the price and take our land! Do you realize that because of you, we won't have time to plant crops, and next spring we might not have any food. How long will we starve without food? How will our children and elderly survive?"

The farmer looked at the young man in panic and said, "This is not something I want to do."

Shao Lian asked, "Do you know that the amount of land and housing transactions between you and these people is so low that it violates the laws of our Great Shao? Now you are trying to shirk responsibility by saying it was not you who did it?"

The farmer kowtowed in fear, "I'm really not a commoner!"

Then, pretending to be unable to pretend any longer and having to tell the truth, he said, "Your Highness, Concubine Liu asked me to do all this!"

The old men sitting on the left and right and the young men beside them couldn't help but sneer in their hearts when they saw that the other party had indeed pronounced Yu Ziyin.

Shao Lian's face didn't show any anger, which made the farmer confused. But soon he heard Shao Lian ask, "Do you have evidence to prove that it was Concubine Liu who did it? You can't just say that Concubine Liu asked you to do it, so you are Concubine Liu, right?"

The farmer said, "Concubine Liu knew that what we did couldn't be known to outsiders, so she didn't give me any evidence, fearing that someone would catch me and report me to the Jingzhao Prefecture. But I am indeed Concubine Liu's man!"

Yu Ziyin stepped out from behind the screen and coldly looked at the farmer kneeling on the ground. "You bold and unruly person! How dare you attack me at this time! Since you say you are mine, then I ask you, when did I first come into contact with you?"

"Empress Concubine, how can you say that I am a nobody? You didn't contact me in person! Instead, you asked someone close to you to find me!" The farmer was not afraid when he saw Yu Zinyin, and answered.

"Okay, then who do you think I should let come into contact with you?"

"It's a girl named Xi Que! She's not very old, only about thirteen or fourteen years old." The farmer said seriously.

Yu Ziyin frowned, turned around and shouted outside, "Xi Que! Come in!"

A maid with a maid's bun walked in, "Your Highness, Your Majesty."

The farmer immediately pointed at the girl and said, "Yes! That's her!"

The people who asked him to accuse Yu Zinyin only showed him the portrait of Concubine Liu, and only mentioned Xi Que briefly. After all, the main person they wanted to accuse was Yu Zinyin, so they didn't say much about Xi Que, only saying that she was a little girl of thirteen or fourteen years old. So when the farmer saw that the age and name matched, he didn't think much about it and directly identified the other party.

Shao Lian sneered in the hall and asked the farmer, "Are you sure it's her?"

The farmer has not reacted yet and till now he has not realized that anything is wrong.

Then Yu Ziyin said coldly, "It's true that this person is called Xi Que, but she's not the Xi Que who was with me. Since you said it was the Xi Que who was with me who went to find you, how could you not recognize her?!"

The farmer's expression changed, and he immediately pointed at the maid's clothes in panic and said, "I only recognize this red dress! The magpie girl was wearing red at that time, so I just saw this red dress and thought it was the magpie girl! Now it seems that the person in front of me is definitely not the person I met that day!"

Yu Ziyin sneered, "You're lying! You don't know, do you? Without the master's reward, servants are not allowed to wear red clothes. This magpie in front of you was rewarded by me because she made delicious cakes. But I have never rewarded the magpies beside me with red clothes. How could she wear red clothes to see you!"

Let me be honest, it’s not that she didn’t want to reward Xi Magpie with red clothes, but that the little girl Xi Magpie didn’t like red clothes and thought they made her look old.

As for the trick of using real and fake magpies to deceive farmers, it was also the reason why Yu Zinyin had always been on guard. She knew that the person behind the farmer would definitely make preparations for both situations in order to drag her into these illegal activities. So before coming, she had already prepared a fake Rong Mama and a fake magpie, just in case. If the other party dragged people around Yu Zinyin to make trouble, she could also use the fake one to deceive the other party.

Now it seems that the precautions taken by Yu Zinyin were necessary.

The farmer's expression was unpredictable. Being stared at by Shao Lian, he broke out in a cold sweat and stammered, "That day, that day... I actually forgot whether it was Miss Magpie who came to see me..."

So when the farmer first saw Xi Que, who had the same name and surname and was about the same age, he had no suspicions. How could he have imagined that Yu Ziyin would use this trick to trick him into thinking something was wrong? He was panicked at the time, but he still didn't forget to bite Yu Ziyin.

However, not many people at the scene believed what the farmer said. They had already seen that something was wrong with the farmer. This was clearly an attempt to frame Concubine Liu!

Yu Ziyin said coldly, "You said at the beginning that you were someone close to me, but you couldn't recognize what the person next to me looked like. Even so, you still say you are mine?"

The farmer insisted, "I am indeed your concubine Liu's man!"

"Then let me ask you, why are the deeds to these fields and houses not in my name?" Yu Ziyin asked.

The farmer gave the same reason as the young man before, "Your Highness, Concubine, haven't had time to make a deal with me yet, so the deeds to the fields and house are in my hands! According to the time, I should have handed them over to you, Your Highness, in the next few days. I didn't expect to be discovered. It's my fault for not handling things properly! Please spare my life, Your Highness!"

He kept kowtowing as he spoke, as if Yu Ziyin was taking advantage of his power to bully others.