Chapter 123 Eunuch Cao Takes Action
As soon as they met, they told each other their true feelings, all kinds of unhappiness, and Yao's clever words instantly aroused You's hatred for the woman who saved Yang Wanqing. The two decided to use public opinion to defeat Shen Zhi, so You sent her maid to handle the matter.
The guards also found evidence that the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law harmed Yang Wanqing in the He Mansion.
Eunuch Cao is the feared Ninth Prince. When has anyone close to him ever been bullied like this? If he doesn't seek revenge, he is not worthy of the surname Cao.
He led his men to the county government office and handed all the evidence to Song Shijie. Song Shijie immediately led his men to arrest You and Yao. Eunuch Cao sent people to the streets and alleys to beat gongs and drums to call on everyone to go to the county government office to listen to the county magistrate's trial. When everyone found out that the person being tried was the rumormonger of the caesarean section incident that had been widely circulated recently, they all flocked to the county government office.
In the court, Youshi and Yaoshi knelt in front of the court. After all, they were both ladies of wealthy families. Now they were kneeling in public, and their faces suddenly turned red.
The Yang family and the He family also heard the news. At this moment, Madam Yang and Madam He were both in the court listening.
Song Shijie slammed the gavel, and the whole scene suddenly fell silent.
"You and Yao, someone has accused the two of attempting to murder He family's young mistress Yang Wanqing. Do you admit your guilt?" Song Shijie asked loudly.
The two shook their heads and denied it immediately. "Your Excellency is wise. I dare not lie. I have absolutely not done anything so outrageous."
Song Shijie already had the evidence. Seeing that they didn't cry until they saw the coffin, he shouted to the yamen runners below: "Come here, bring the witness."
Yu's face changed immediately. How come there is a witness?
Not long after, the bailiff came up with a woman, and the woman knelt down in the court on her own initiative.
When Youshi and Yaoshi saw her, their faces changed. This woman was originally a servant of Youshi, her surname was Zhuang, and everyone called her Zhuang Mama. Later, under Yaoshi's sweet talk, Youshi gave her to Yaoshi, and even the contract of selling her body was in her hands.
This Zhuang Madam was originally a servant girl of the You family. She had lived in the mansion all her life and was accustomed to all kinds of secrets in the inner house. She had quite a few tricks and had helped You deal with many secrets in the He family over the years.
"Who is kneeling in the hall?" Song Shijie asked.
"Your Excellency, I am Madam Zhuang, who served Madam He Er. Later, I was given to Madam Yao, the Second Young Master." Madam Zhuang replied.
"Mother Zhuang, where were you on the seventh day of the second month? What did you do? Tell the truth." Song Shijie asked sternly.
Mother Zhuang glanced at the two people kneeling beside her and said, "I followed the Second Young Master's wife's instructions and went to the medicine store in Heyang County next door to buy some labor-inducing drugs."
Song Shijie said, "Why did you buy the labor-inducing drug? Tell me the whole story and don't hide anything."
Madam Zhuang continued, "The Second Young Lady heard that if the First Young Lady was pregnant with a boy, the old man would pass the position of head of the family to the first wife, so she wanted to replace the baby. I was ordered to find a pregnant woman, whose due date was the same as the First Young Lady, but the woman gave birth to a girl on the 6th, while the First Young Lady was due at the end of the month. The Second Young Lady was afraid that the night would be long and dreams would be many, so she sent me to buy a labor-inducing drug and secretly put it in the First Young Lady's food, and deliberately bumped into her to make her give birth early so that she could secretly replace the baby. Unexpectedly, the midwife refused to listen to her and even reported the Second Young Lady's trick to the First Lady. This labor-inducing drug is extremely overbearing and can easily cause a pregnant woman to have a difficult delivery and cause hemorrhage and death. But no one expected that a Yixiangjun would appear out of nowhere and help the First Young Lady to give birth by caesarean section, thus avoiding a tragedy."
Song Shijie asked, "So they spread rumors that Yixiang Jun was possessed by a demon?"
Madam Zhuang sighed and confessed, "Yes, after the Second Young Master's wife was divorced, she found the Second Madam and wanted to teach Yixiang Jun a lesson, so she sent this servant to spread rumors. This servant disguised herself and went to the entrance of a restaurant close to Yixiang Jun's shop to chat with others and spread rumors. Many ladies and girls passing by heard it."
"So they were the ones who spread this rumor. It's so vicious. I thought Yixiang was a monster. I was wrong. I even threw rotten vegetable leaves into her shop. I will go to the shop to apologize to them later."
"Who said it wasn't true? We were all deceived by the rumors. I also want to apologize."
The people watching were talking to each other.
"Bang," Song Shijie slammed the gavel again. The hall was noisy just now, but now it was completely silent.
Youshi and Yaoshi's faces were pale at this moment. No matter how successful they were, they were just women in the inner palace before. They had never seen such a scene.
"People kneeling in the hall, do you know how the title of Yixiang Jun came about?" Song Shijie asked.
The three members of the You family remained silent.
Song Shijie asked sternly, "Then you should listen carefully. What kind of person is Yixiangjun, who you spread rumors and framed? I believe many people present have seen the notice posted at the city gate a few days ago. The King of Huainan colluded with the Japanese pirates and secretly captured many anti-Japanese soldiers and tortured them severely. It was Yixiangjun who found out where they were imprisoned and rescued them despite the danger. These people were seriously injured, and it was she who saved them with her medical skills. A total of seventeen heroes were snatched back from the hands of death by her. She was just a little girl of eleven or twelve years old, and she didn't care about life and death in the face of national justice. You two women in the inner house murdered people in order to compete for favor and family property, and even did not let go of Yixiangjun, who was personally appointed by the emperor. What crime should you be punished for?"
You and Yao's faces were pale, and Zhuang's mother looked even more ashen. The crowd also had different expressions. It turned out that Yixiangjun was such a righteous man, but they just followed the crowd, believed the rumors, and stepped on him behind his back.
Song Shijie then sentenced You and Yao to 20 years in prison for attempting to murder Yang Wanqing and the rumormonger Yixiangjun. Zhuang Mama was sentenced to 10 years in prison for carrying out their orders.
Madam Yang and Madam He both felt relieved after hearing this. Madam Yang had just heard that her daughter had suffered so much and almost had a hemorrhage, all because of these two women. She wanted to die and kill them to vent her anger, but compared to the slow torture in prison for twenty years, death was too easy for them.
After the trial, a large part of the onlookers went back to the Memory Photo Studio.
Shen Zhen saw a huge crowd outside again, thinking that they were here to cause trouble again, and she couldn't help but get nervous again. She bravely walked out, but unexpectedly, everyone apologized to her in unison. Wang Feng and others who heard the news in the backyard were also on guard, but they were confused by the attitude of the crowd. When they learned what happened in the county government today, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.