Xue Yusong quickly stepped forward, picked up the confession letter and sniffed it. He also looked up in disbelief. "This... was she tortured and forced to sign?"
If a criminal who had already confessed was found to have been forced, it would be a serious matter.
Shen Yuning frowned and glanced around, then sneered. "So, after the criminal was detained and taken to the capital, none of you adults even interrogated her?"
At this, even the always rigorous Xue Yusong blushed. He softly explained, "This matter is of great importance. You were the main person involved in this case, and that Miss Cen..."
"Since Miss Cen has confessed, she is either the main culprit or an accomplice. So you never even thought that she was wronged, or that I was wronged?"
Xue Yusong called out, "Second sister."
Shen Yuning showed a strange smile and lowered her eyes. "When the emperor visited Shen's Embroidery Workshop back then, I already said that I'm no longer a member of the Xue family. Prince Xue, I now bear the surname Shen."
Xue Yusong sighed helplessly, nodded, and bowed to the several adults sitting on the upper seats. "Your subordinate requests to interrogate Miss Cen."
Lord Yuan quickly waved his hand. "This is against the rules..."
Lord Chen frowned and asked, "Lord Yuan, the original intention of the Three Judicial Departments is to be loyal to their duties, solve problems that local authorities cannot, arrest criminals, and clear the names of the innocent. Since there are hidden details in this case, why do you keep obstructing it?"
Lord Yuan said, "That Miss Cen has already confessed and is only waiting to be punished. Just because the Lady of the Township, the owner of the workshop, says so, should we make an exception?"
Lord Chen sneered continuously and stared directly at Lord Yuan. "Lord Yuan, are you saying that we all have shown favoritism? Although Miss Cen has already confessed, there are so many people who were forced to confess under torture and are wronged. If even we can't clear the grievances on them, won't we leave them with nowhere to turn?"
Lord Yuan's face also turned cold. He stubbornly said, "Just because of a single word from the Lady of the Township, you've decided that Miss Cen was forced to confess under torture? Just as some officials have said, if this case is handed over to our Three Judicial Departments, there will be suspicions of favoritism. In my opinion, it would be more appropriate to hand this case over to the Magistrate of the Capital."
Hearing this, Shen Yuning didn't get angry but instead smiled. "According to Lord Yuan, even if we suspect that the criminal is wronged, once a person has been convicted, there is no room for change? Lord Yuan's words seem to be over - correcting. Or perhaps, as the Minister of the Supreme Court, Lord Yuan values his own lofty reputation more than the truth of the people's cases?"
These words made Lord Yuan's face turn red and white alternately. He didn't know how to reply.
Lord Chen waved his hand, signaling the jailers to bring the criminal, Miss Cen, up.
Miss Cen was wearing heavy shackles on her hands and feet. Her face was deathly pale without a trace of blood. In winter, she was only wearing a thin prison jacket, and even this thin jacket couldn't cover the wounds on her body. Blood kept seeping out. She staggered as she walked, and murmured to herself.
Seeing the brightly - lit courtroom, she knelt down and kowtowed without hesitation. Her hoarse voice strained as she said, "This common woman confesses. This common woman confesses. It has nothing to do with my employer. This matter was solely done by this common woman..."
Lord Yuan had originally thought that since the woman had already confessed, she wouldn't retract her confession. But seeing this scene, he couldn't utter the scolding words on his lips.
Seeing that Miss Cen had become like this in just a month or so, Shen Yuning's eyes instantly turned red. She took a step forward to help her up, but was stopped by a junior official beside her.
The junior official whispered, "My Lady, don't be impulsive."
Shen Yuning barely steadied herself and called out to Miss Cen, "Miss Cen, it's Yuning."
Miss Cen looked dazed. Her eyes were浑浊不堪. She looked in the direction of the voice and it took her a long time to recognize Shen Yuning. Then she was greatly shocked. "Why is the employer here?"
She turned around and kowtowed repeatedly to the several high - ranking officials sitting in the courtroom. "My Lords, my Lords, my employer didn't know about this. This matter was solely done by this common woman. Please, my Lords, distinguish the truth."
Before Lord Yuan could say anything, Lord Chen gently knocked the gavel. "Silence."
Miss Cen didn't dare to make a sound. She just tried to support herself and nervously turned to look at Shen Yuning. When she saw that there were no shackles on Shen Yuning, she felt a little relieved. Her heart was filled with uneasiness and sadness, and the tears that she couldn't shed before now poured out.
Shen Yuning tried hard to suppress her anger and said softly, "Miss Cen, do you think that by confessing voluntarily, the embroidery workshop will be safe? Those people's target isn't you. They're clearly after me. Even if you confess, they'll still find a way to shift the blame onto me."
By now, how could Miss Cen not understand? She just gritted her teeth tightly, feeling a sweet and fishy taste in her mouth.
Lord Yuan didn't dare to scold openly. He just turned to Lord Chen and asked, "Lord Chen, are you just going to let them collude like this?"
Xue Yusong raised his eyelids. "My Lord, your subordinate doesn't think they're colluding. Instead, your subordinate thinks that Miss Cen is very pitiful. It's only natural for the Lady of the Township to comfort her."
Lord Yuan used to be a favorite student of the old master of the Xue family, and Xue Yusong had always respected him. This was the first time he had resisted him like this. However, because of Xue Yusong's cold words, Lord Yuan suddenly woke up. He thought it wouldn't be good if the colleagues had a too - stiff relationship, so he stopped speaking.
Shen Yuning continued to say to Miss Cen, "Now, it's not just the matter in Bailuo Village. Three places in the northeast and several embroidery workshops in the west mountain area have all reported me. They all say that I secretly set up a women's brothel and forced women into prostitution."
Miss Cen looked up in disbelief. Suddenly, she didn't know where she got the strength. She shouted, "This is impossible. The employer hates this kind of thing of selling women into prostitution the most. She would never break the law knowingly. This is slander. My Lords, this must be slander."
Since she had retracted her confession, this case had to be carefully investigated. Lord Chen immediately wrote a memorial and reported tonight's events to the emperor. However, since it involved a large number of people and things, it might not be clear for a while.
Therefore, led by Lord Chen, Shen Yuning was allowed to go back first. But she couldn't leave the capital in the near future, and she had to come whenever there was an investigation.
Shen Yuning was worried about Miss Cen, but Lord Chen shook his head and only said that although there were hidden details in this case, Miss Cen was a key figure and couldn't be taken back by her.
It was the third watch when Shen Yuning finally left the Supreme Court. It wasn't the two junior officials who sent her home, but Prince Xue Yusong of the Marquis Mansion.
Xue Yusong walked with Shen Yuning along the main road of the Supreme Court towards the rented house of Shen Yuning. His heart was also filled with mixed feelings. After a long time, he gently said, "My Lady, don't worry about Miss Cen. Lord Chen has already given instructions that she won't be hurt again. But My Lady, have you offended someone? Why would someone go to such great lengths to frame you?"
Shen Yuning looked up at him with a smile. "Do you believe that I was framed?"
Xue Yusong really wanted to reach out and rub her head like he did when she was a child. But then he remembered that she was no longer his sister, so he had to put his hand down.
Shen Yuning shook her head. "I've been thinking about it since this happened, but I really can't figure it out. Could it be that my embroidery workshop has blocked someone's path? Since the name 'Rongchang' was bestowed by the emperor and I'm a Lady of the Township conferred by the emperor, the cloth business is doing quite well. Maybe some cloth merchants are jealous... But there are probably only a few people in the Great Zhou who can set up such a big game."
There weren't many well - known merchants doing the cloth business in the Great Zhou. Besides a few very famous families like the Qiao and Wan families, there were also some local merchants. Originally, Shen Yuning thought it was the cloth merchants in the northeast area. But since there were also people reporting in the west mountain area, it seemed like they were colluding.
But if it was the big commercial houses like the Qiao and Wan families, it didn't seem necessary at all. After all, those big commercial houses didn't rely solely on the cloth business for survival. Why would they suppress her, a Lady of the Township personally appointed by the emperor, for just one aspect of their family business?
Seeing this elder brother who had loved her the most in the past looking so worried, and seeing the furrow between his eyebrows even in the dim night light, Shen Yuning couldn't help but feel a little heart - ache. So she changed the topic to something more relaxed.
"Isn't Hao'er six years old now? In your letter before, you said that your wife was pregnant again. I wonder if it's a little prince or a little girl?"
Mentioning the children, Xue Yusong's eyebrows indeed relaxed. He nodded with a smile. "Hao'er will be seven years old soon. He's the eldest grandson of the direct line. Father has high hopes for him and has been carefully cultivating him without the slightest mistake. After him is a younger sister named Xi. She's four years old now. She's very smart and eager to learn. Father often says that she's like you when you were a child..."
At this point, his words got stuck. If he said that Xue Xi was like her aunt, but Shen Yuning couldn't really be considered her aunt. It would be inappropriate to say this.
Shen Yuning seemed not to hear. She just clapped her hands and smiled. "The prince has both a son and a daughter. It's really a great blessing. I wonder how the old lady of the Marquis Mansion is doing?"
Xue Yusong quickly said, "Don't worry. Grandmother is fine. But at the end of last year, Grandmother said that she missed Grandfather and took Yuxin back to our hometown. A few days ago, Father has already sent someone to pick them up."
Shen Yuning stopped in her tracks and looked at him in surprise. "Why did Grandmother take Eldest Sister back to our hometown? Eldest Sister is already twenty - one years old. She should have married into the Tang family long ago. Could it be that the prince of the Tang family has been in mourning and couldn't get married?"
In her eagerness, she didn't think about her current identity and directly called them Grandmother and Eldest Sister.
Xue Yusong looked a little embarrassed. He motioned for Shen Yuning to keep walking and then sighed slightly. "Yuxin should have gotten married a long time ago. But maybe there were some things that delayed the Tang family back then, and they never mentioned the marriage. Since they didn't take the initiative, we naturally couldn't force them. Later... Yuxin had an accident when she went out and ruined her reputation. So my father decided to break off this engagement."
Shen Yuning was in a daze for a long time before she reacted. What did it mean that the Tang family was delayed by something? Clearly, in those two years, because of the matter of her and Xiaorou being wrongly exchanged in the Xue family, it had caused quite a stir. I'm afraid the Tang family already had the intention to break off the engagement at that time, but they just didn't have a suitable opportunity.
So, two years ago, in the letter that Chen Wenwei wrote to her, he said that Xue Yuxin was abducted by kidnappers and lost her reputation. Could it have been the doing of the Tang family?
She looked up at Xue Yusong and saw that he looked a little depressed but didn't show any hatred. So she knew that this matter wasn't the doing of the Tang family. It seemed that it was really because Xue Yuxin had ruined her reputation that Marquis Xue took the initiative to break off the engagement, and the Tang family just went with the flow.