Marrying a concubine and swallowing her dowry? The mistress turns around and marries a high-ranking

Chapter 673

Shen Lingjun pulled her clothes up and turned to the crowd.

"I am completely innocent, and now I am being slandered out of thin air, forced to prove myself in public. This is truly outrageous. Everyone here can see clearly now; you are all my witnesses. I hope you will refute these rumors and protect my reputation. The Crown Prince will be eternally grateful!"

The female guests readily agreed.

Everyone present was a woman, and they all knew very well how terrible it would be if a random man jumped out and made up some unfounded description of their private parts, which could then tarnish their reputations.

If that man were to succeed, many others would likely follow suit, leading to widespread chaos. Therefore, this precedent must not be set.

Even those few who harbored ill intentions towards the Crown Princess knew they couldn't cause any trouble, since so many people had witnessed it, and it wouldn't be good to distort the truth.

The Crown Princess of the Duke of Li's Mansion opened the door and said to the crowd waiting outside, "We have all checked, and the Crown Princess has no birthmark on her back at all. This person is talking complete nonsense!"

The man was horrified and struggled desperately, shouting, "Impossible! She must have it!..."

The bodyguard holding him no longer needed to hold back; he punched him, knocking out all his teeth.

He shouted, "You fabricated rumors out of thin air, attempting to ruin the Crown Princess's reputation. You deserve to die!"

Shen Lingjun turned to the Princess Consort of the Duke of Li: "Princess Consort, this person disguised himself as a nanny from your household and infiltrated the family. I hope your household will investigate thoroughly and see if you can find out his background."

The Crown Princess of the Duke of Li was covered in cold sweat: "It was our negligence in guarding the Crown Princess that caused her such a fright. The Duke of Li's mansion will definitely give you an explanation!"

At this moment, Mo Zhonggui also arrived from the front yard.

He was seated on the men's side, which was farther away, so he only found out about the commotion a little later.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

Shen Lingjun told Mo Zhonggui what had just happened.

Mo Zhonggui's face immediately darkened.

He instructed his guards, "Take this man back. Make sure he doesn't die. We must get him to tell us who is behind him."

The guards had already pressed all the major acupoints on the man's body and searched his body, finding no poison hidden. They then left with their men.

The Duke and Duchess of Li also rushed over upon hearing the news, feeling extremely apprehensive and repeatedly apologizing to Shen Lingjun.

Shen Lingjun felt that the Duke of Li's mansion was probably unaware of this matter. The Duke of Li's mansion had a very good relationship with the Crown Prince's palace, and there were no eligible daughters who wanted to marry into the Crown Prince's palace, so they had no motive to harm the Crown Princess.

Besides, even if they did, they wouldn't do it in their own home; wouldn't that be asking for trouble?

Most likely, they were just unlucky enough to be the ones who let this man infiltrate their household and use their place to commit their crime.

After this incident, Shen Lingjun and Mo Zhonggui naturally could no longer attend the birthday banquet and returned to the East Palace.

The man who was taken back was interrogated severely overnight. He wasn't a tough nut to crack, and he confessed everything in no time.

However, what was brought up was not any useful information.

The man's name was Liu Gangzi. He made a living by performing martial arts and was considered a semi-江湖人 (jianghu person, a term referring to people in the martial arts world). His hometown was near the village where Cheng Wu used to live, so he was very familiar with that area and knew the real Cheng Wu, but that was all; there was no romantic relationship between them.

A few days ago, a mysterious person came to Liu Gangzi, kidnapped his family, and forced Liu Gangzi to disguise himself as a servant and infiltrate the Duke of Li's mansion.

Liu Gangzi knew some martial arts and also knew the art of bone shrinking, which allowed him to shrink his height. He disguised himself as an old woman and was bought into the Duke of Li's mansion to do odd jobs without anyone suspecting anything.