Free Web NovelChapter 247: Chapter 247: Just Deserts
"For your cumulative offenses, you are an affront to divine justice and unforgivable by national law! This court hereby passes judgment: The criminal, Qiu Tao, for privately forging the Emperor’s Seal, a crime equivalent to high treason, is sentenced to—immediate execution! The punishment for his other crimes, such as pirating official gazettes and forging official seals, will be carried out as one! His family property is to be seized, Hongyun Bookstore is to be sealed immediately, and all illegal gains are to be confiscated by the state!"
Qiu Tao’s eyes rolled back in his head, and he fainted on the spot.
Standing in the crowd, Feng Shuyu saw this and was at a loss for words.
’This man was so arrogant in front of me, yet he faints this easily.’
Meanwhile, Yang Yi and the others who had been brought in with Qiu Tao were already scared out of their wits.
Before Yang Yi could say a word, a household servant from the Qin Family beside him hastily began to beg for mercy, spilling everything he should and shouldn’t have said all at once.
"Your Honor, spare me! Spare my life! I was just following orders! I don’t even know this Qiu Tao! My master told me to leave the estate today and follow this man’s orders. I don’t know anything, and I didn’t do anything!"
"Your Honor, I’m just a household servant from the Huaihua General Mansion! I was only following Yang Yi’s orders to leave the mansion today. As for forging seals and whatnot, I’m completely in the dark!"
"Your Honor, please see things clearly!"
There in the courtroom, after Qiu Tao was sentenced, the group of men who had come from the General Mansion—arrested before they even had a chance to cause trouble at Liufang Bookstore—all turned pale with fright.
Yang Yi: "..."
’Even if I try to be stubborn and protect my lady’s honor, it seems impossible now.’
"Is that true? Where is the one in charge?" The moment Gongsun Liangce heard the words "Huaihua General Mansion," he felt a headache coming on.
’Have I, the Prefect of Jingzhao Mansion, somehow ended up on the wrong side of the General Mansion lately?’
’It really wasn’t on purpose.’
Yang Yi: "That would be me, Your Honor."
Gongsun Liangce: "How do you explain today’s events? On whose orders did you join Qiu Tao? Are you certain you weren’t in league with him?"
Yang Yi swallowed hard, a fine sweat beading on his forehead.
He was Hu Yuwan’s dowry guard; his indenture contract was in his lady’s hands.
’By all rights, I should be her most loyal dog.’
But now...
Yang Yi silently apologized to his lady in his heart, and then confessed everything, down to the last detail.
’Even if I don’t confess,’ he thought, ’the others have already revealed where they’re from. There’s no point in hiding it any longer.’
In the courtroom, Ming Lingyi and Feng Shuyu exchanged a look across the crowd.
Ming Lingyi found it rather comical. ’I only wanted to punish Hongyun Bookstore, but in the end, Hu Yuwan voluntarily jumped right into the trap.’
For a moment, she wasn’t sure if she should praise Hu Yuwan. ’Her form and timing for jumping into the trap were just too perfect.’
When Feng Shuyu heard Hu Yuwan’s name, she too was rendered speechless.
’She didn’t even know when she’d gotten on Hu Yuwan’s bad side; the woman had never seemed to like her. After leaving the Hu family, she’d never once provoked Hu Yuwan, yet the other woman seemed to delight in picking fights with her.’
’What happened today... she brought it on herself.’
After sending Yang Yi out, Hu Yuwan felt a persistent unease for reasons she couldn’t pinpoint.
Seeing her restlessness, her maid began to massage her temples while comforting her, "Young Madam, there’s no need to worry. Surely Yang Yi can handle a mere woman?"
’Deep down, I know Yang Yi is reliable,’ Hu Yuwan thought. ’The men with him will just pretend to be Qiu Tao’s people and cause some trouble. Feng Shuyu will have to swallow her grievances, and it can’t be traced back to me.’
But the incessant twitching of her eyelid left her feeling guilty and uneasy.
"Perhaps I’m just overthinking things," Hu Yuwan muttered to herself.
’So what if Feng Shuyu recognizes my men? Our statuses are worlds apart now.’
’The sister-in-law from an official’s family I once had to look up to is nothing compared to me now—the wife of a third-rank general.’
"I’ll go prepare a bowl of calming soup for you, Young Madam. You can have a nap, and by the time you wake up, you’ll hear good news," Hu Yuwan’s maid said with a smile.
However, what arrived before the calming soup were the government officials from Jingzhao Mansion and the Black Armor Guards sent there by Li Yun.
The General Mansion had seen a lot of "excitement" recently.
But the previous excitement had all been behind closed doors, a private matter.
Today, however, the excitement at the General Mansion started right at the front gate.
After all, the Black Armor Guards were a rare sight, and a scene where they came to arrest someone was even rarer. When the person being arrested was from the General Mansion—a frequent topic of gossip in Shangjing City lately—how could it not cause a stir?
"Young Madam, Young Madam, this is bad! There are a lot of government officials at the gate, and... and people from the Black Armor Guards! They say they’re here to see you!"
Hu Yuwan’s eyelid, which had been twitching uncontrollably all day, finally stopped.
She found that after the initial shock of hearing the news, she accepted the reality surprisingly quickly.
She had a sense that the inevitable had finally arrived.
Still, a sliver of horror ran through her. ’If it was just Yang Yi causing a scene and ratting me out, why would the Black Armor Guards get involved?’
Qin Shiqi was also at the mansion today. He had recently lost face because of Qin Lingzhi’s affairs and had no desire to go out and embarrass himself further. Who knew that even when one stays at home, trouble still finds a way to your door.
Upon hearing that his daughter-in-law was apparently involved in a case of forging the Emperor’s private seal, he was so shocked his vision went black.
Even a boorish man like him knew that if this crime were truly pinned on the Qin Family’s daughter-in-law, the entire family would be dragged down with her.
Qin Shiqi was seething with rage. When he saw Hu Yuwan being led out by the Black Armor Guards, he took a step forward and raised his hand to strike her.
However, a last shred of reason returned, stopping him from actually slapping his daughter-in-law in front of the many onlookers outside the gate. But even so, Qin Shiqi still gave Hu Yuwan a thorough tongue-lashing in front of everyone—
"I’ve said it all along! Our Old Qin Family needs a matriarch from a good, well-matched family! But instead, my son had to meet a vixen like you! You’re completely useless! It’s one thing that you can’t help the family at all, but now you have to go and implicate the entire Old Qin Family!"
He was one step away from sitting down at the gate to point a finger in her face and give her a dressing-down.
"What a jinx! Our Old Qin Family must have had eight generations of rotten luck to get someone like you! A jinx who’s good for nothing but causing trouble!"
Hearing this, Hu Yuwan’s face went deathly pale with anger.
Her maid simply couldn’t stand it any longer and couldn’t help but retort.
"Sir, the Young Madam is only being taken in for questioning. She would never do such things. Sir, please don’t convict her before we even know the facts..."
Hu Yuwan’s maid was thoroughly incensed.
But her words only infuriated Qin Shiqi further.
