"Milord, I was forced into this!" cried Cow Two. "Young Master Han has always had a bad temper at the academy, and his family is extremely powerful. If I dared to disobey him, he could easily take my life with just a single word!"
Cow Two pointed at Han Wei and declared, "It was all Young Master Han who told me to do this! It has nothing to do with me! I was truly threatened into doing it."
Exposed by Cow Two, Han Wei flew into a rage. "Cow Two, when did I ever give you silver to frame Shen Zhang? Let me tell you, Cow Two, if you dare to spout nonsense, I'll make sure you never speak again!"
This time, Han Wei showed no sign of self - awareness after being exposed. His words were even more impolite, daring to directly threaten Cow Two in front of so many people.
Surprisingly, Cow Two was not intimidated by Han Wei's words. He stiffened his neck and stared back at Han Wei. Han Wei returned a warning look.
But Cow Two was completely unfazed. He turned to Lord Liang and said, "I'm not spouting nonsense at all. Every word I said is true. The silver that Young Master Han gave me is still at my home. Milord Liang, you can go and investigate anytime."
Cow Two's sudden change in attitude made everyone present suspicious of him.
"Cow Two, you claim that Young Master Han gave you the silver. Do you have any evidence?" Lord Liang asked.
"Well..." Cow Two hesitated for a moment. Then, recalling the night he met Han Wei, his eyes suddenly lit up. With excitement in his voice, he said, "I remember! That night when Young Master Han gave me the silver, his hand got dirty, so he wiped it with his handkerchief. Disgusted by the dirt on it, he just threw it to me. I thought the handkerchief was quite nice, so I took it home and kept it."
With that, Cow Two rummaged through his bosom and pulled out a crumpled white square handkerchief. "Here, milord. This is the one. It even has Young Master Han's name embroidered on it!"
The handkerchief as evidence quickly landed in Lord Liang's hands. Lord Liang held it up to the light and, sure enough, saw the character "Wei" embroidered in green silk thread. Besides that, there were also a few bamboo plants.
Shen Li also looked at the silk handkerchief. She noticed that the way the character "Wei" was embroidered seemed different from the ordinary way. But as she was not proficient in needlework, she couldn't tell exactly how.
"Other than this character, there's no other connection between this handkerchief and Young Master Han. How can you prove that it belongs to him?" Lord Liang suddenly flung the silk handkerchief onto the table carelessly and said without even looking at it again, "Don't tell me you deliberately found it to frame him!"
"Milord, I'm really not lying. This is truly Young Master Han's silk handkerchief! He gave it to me! It has his name embroidered on it. How could it be fake?" Cow Two pleaded urgently.
Seeing Lord Liang so obviously taking sides, Shen Li felt even more contemptuous. "Lord Liang, since Cow Two says this belongs to Young Master Han, why don't we just ask Young Master Han to take out his handkerchief and compare them?"
"Compare what? I didn't bring a handkerchief!" After hearing Shen Li's words, Han Wei covered his sleeve nervously.
"Young Master Han, you didn't bring a handkerchief?" Shen Li looked at Han Wei playfully and pointed at his sleeve. "But I just saw something in your sleeve. If you don't take it out now, are you feeling guilty?"
Han Wei stiffened his neck and said, "You're talking nonsense... I just didn't bring a handkerchief. I'm upright and have nothing to feel guilty about!"
"Since Young Master Han is so uncooperative, why don't we just search him?"
As Shen Li said this, Han Wei took a step back and looked at Shen Li warily. Ignoring him, Shen Li turned to Lord Liang and said, "Milord, Young Master Han is so uncooperative. Should we ask the constables to search him?"
Lord Liang was extremely reluctant to search Han Wei's body, but under everyone's watchful eyes, he had no choice. He could only wave his hand at two constables.
Sitting above, Lord Liang watched the two constables search Han Wei. He felt a splitting headache. This time, he had offended Minister Han.
Despite Han Wei's strong resistance, the two constables still found his handkerchief in his sleeve, a green silk handkerchief with the character "Wei" embroidered on it as well. This completely proved that Cow Two's handkerchief also belonged to Han Wei.
"Milord, now we can prove that both handkerchiefs belong to Han Wei. This also means that it was indeed Han Wei who bribed Cow Two to give false evidence to frame Shen Zhang!"
Minister Han's face turned as dark as ink. He glared at Shen Li with hatred.
"Han Wei, now confess your crimes honestly!"
Hearing the sound of the gavel, Han Wei turned pale. His legs trembled, and he slumped to the ground.
Shen Zhang, on the other hand, looked relieved.
Next, Han Wei told the story of that night. That night, Han Wei and his group went to the Flower Pavilion to drink and have fun.
During the feast, when everyone was in high spirits, Qin An leaned over to Han Wei and said that he needed Han Wei's help. Han Wei looked haughty.
Although Qin An had always flattered Han Wei, Han Wei still deliberately made things difficult for him. He told Qin An to jump into the water while he threw things at him. If Qin An could avoid being hit, he would agree to help him.
Qin An pleaded with Han Wei for a while, but Han Wei refused to give in. He even kicked Qin An into the water. The other young masters who were with them also joined in the fun and cheered. Han Wei then picked up fruits from the fruit plate and threw them at Qin An. At first, Qin An managed to dodge them, but later, Han Wei threw a small square table, which hit Qin An right on the head.
Han Wei lost his interest after that. Qin An was pulled out of the water by a servant. To everyone's surprise, as soon as Qin An got on the shore, he complained of a headache. Less than a cup of tea later, he suddenly fell to the ground and died.
Seeing Qin An lose his breath, Han Wei immediately sobered up. Realizing that he had made a big mistake, he quickly sent his servant home to call Minister Han.
When Minister Han arrived, he first warned those noble young masters who had been drinking with Han Wei not to tell anyone about what had happened that night. Then he had Qin An's clothes dried, dressed him properly, and staged the scene to make it look like he had been strangled.
He also found Cow Two to be a false witness and planned to frame Shen Zhang. He even spent a huge amount of money to bribe Lord Liang and promised to arrange a lucrative position for him in the future, which was why Lord Liang agreed.
Minister Han's plan was perfect, but he never expected that someone would suddenly step in and ruin it.