Inside the Yamen
Xiao Wang sat upright, his sharp eyes fixed on Liang Jingzhuo, who was kneeling on the ground.
The Crown Prince, who always wore a poker face, now had obvious anger in his eyes.
"Liang Jingzhuo, I need a reasonable explanation."
Hearing this, Liang Jingzhuo immediately shouted, "Your Highness, I don't know why there were so many people in there!"
Ruan Jiu sneered, "You don't know? You were the one who imprisoned them, and you were the one who ordered the fire. Now you say you don't know? You might as well say that sows can climb trees!"
Liang Jingzhuo looked innocent, "Miss Shen, you can eat whatever you want, but you can't talk nonsense! Weren't you also in there out of the blue?"
"I was in there out of the blue?" Ruan Jiu was simply in awe of Liang Jingzhuo's ability to tell lies with a straight face. "I was clearly locked in there by you!"
"Miss Shen, I have no grudges against you. Why would I lock you in there?"
Ruan Jiu took a deep breath, trying hard to suppress her anger.
Knowing that Liang Jingzhuo wouldn't admit his crime easily, she said, "That night I went to the west of the city to look for my lost earrings. Unexpectedly, I ran into you. You were afraid that I would discover your secret, so you locked me in the west of the city to silence me."
"Then Miss Shen might as well tell His Highness what secret I have that would make me want to silence you."
Liang Jingzhuo was calm and composed, showing no sign of panic on his face.
Without much thought, Ruan Jiu directly exposed Liang Jingzhuo's evil deeds. "In order to portray yourself as a great philanthropist, you didn't hesitate to drug the land in Lingxi Village, causing the villagers there to have no harvest at all.
After being discovered by the villagers, you even locked them in the west of the city and wanted to burn them alive!"
Hearing this, Xiao Wang's cold eyes darkened even more.
What a great philanthropist of Shuozhou, what a Liang Jingzhuo! He dared to harm the common people like this!
Before Xiao Wang could say anything, Liang Jingzhuo immediately exclaimed, "You said they were the villagers of Lingxi Village?"
Ruan Jiu narrowed her eyes and looked at his shocked expression.
She thought to herself, What's this all about?
Liang Jingzhuo frowned and looked at Xiao Wang. "Your Highness, Lingxi Village is the poorest place in Shuozhou. The local villagers often go hungry.
For this reason, over the years, I have not only allocated relief silver to them but also used my meager salary to distribute porridge and grain to them every month.
But later I found that they were just lazy and trying to deceive the court's relief silver, so I stopped helping them."
Liang Jingzhuo let out a long sigh and then continued, "I'm sure they harbored hatred in their hearts. Knowing that I was going to burn down the west of the city, they deliberately sneaked in, hoping that His Highness would think I was disregarding human lives and convict me!"
"You're talking nonsense!" Ruan Jiu immediately roared.
He was really good at using sweet words to turn black into white.
"Your Highness, everyone in Shuozhou City knows about this. If Your Highness still doesn't believe it, you can send someone to Lingxi Village to investigate and see if the land has been drugged!"
After hearing this, Xiao Wang immediately sent someone to investigate.
But a sense of uneasiness welled up in Ruan Jiu's heart.
She thought to herself, Liang Jingzhuo is so calm. He must have destroyed the evidence in Lingxi Village.
No wonder he dared to burn the villagers of Lingxi Village alive when Xiao Wang was still in Shuozhou.
It turned out that he had already had a countermeasure.
She must not let Liang Jingzhuo get away with it!
It seemed that she had to think of a way quickly.
After a while, Xiao Wang's guard came back to report.
Just as Ruan Jiu had expected, there were no traces of drug use found in Lingxi Village.
The situation was extremely unfavorable now. Even if the villagers of Lingxi Village came out to testify,
With Liang Jingzhuo's words just now, he would say that the villagers were deliberately framing him.
Moreover, over the years, Liang Jingzhuo had disguised himself well, and all the people in Shuozhou City could be his strong witnesses.
So, Ruan Jiu had no choice but to speak in a deep voice. "Even if the matter of Lingxi Village can't be investigated for the time being, you can't deny the fact that you locked me in the west of the city."
She believed that everything that had happened had its reasons.
As long as she could convict Liang Jingzhuo first, once the truth about Lingxi Village was found out, justice would surely be served for the villagers.
Liang Jingzhuo spread his hands and said helplessly, "Miss Shen, I've already said that I have no grudges against you. Why would I lock you in the west of the city?"
"You also said that we have no grudges against each other. Why would I frame you for no reason?"
Ruan Jiu didn't care anymore. Since Liang Jingzhuo was shameless, she would be even more shameless.
After all, there was no evidence to prove that Liang Jingzhuo had locked her up. She could only insist on this.
If necessary, she would make a scene and ask Xiao Wang to uphold justice for her.
Anyway, she must not let Liang Jingzhuo escape. Otherwise, it would be even more difficult to find evidence in the future.
Just then, a soldier walked in, grabbing a man by the collar.
Then he threw the man heavily on the ground.
Ruan Jiu squinted her eyes and took a closer look. It turned out that this man was Uncle Fu.
The soldier knelt on the ground with his fists clasped. "Your Highness, the man who locked Miss Shen in the west of the city has been captured. It's Uncle Fu, the steward of the Shen Mansion."
After hearing this, Ruan Jiu frowned. "Impossible. How could it be Uncle Fu!"
Immediately afterwards, Uncle Fu kept kowtowing on the ground and crying for mercy. "Your Highness, I was temporarily muddled. Please spare my life, Your Highness! I just wanted to teach the eldest miss a lesson. I never thought of harming her life!"
Ruan Jiu knew that Uncle Fu was Liang Jingzhuo's man. She said in a deep voice, "Uncle Fu, I'll overlook your past mistakes as long as you're willing to tell the truth, considering that you've served the Shen family for many years."
After hearing this, Uncle Fu crawled to Ruan Jiu's feet crying and knelt on the ground, tightly grabbing the corner of Ruan Jiu's skirt.
He cried, "Eldest miss, I've managed the shops in Shuozhou for the Shen family for many years. When I saw you suddenly come to Shuozhou, I was afraid that you would take away my power, so I had a momentary evil thought.
I drugged you and bribed the guarding soldiers to throw you into the west of the city. I thought that as long as you caught the epidemic, you would immediately return to the capital. But I never thought that I almost killed you!
Please forgive this old servant, eldest miss!"
Every word was so perfectly fabricated that there was no flaw to be found.
Ruan Jiu closed her eyes. Her heart felt like it was covered by a dark cloud.
It was so heavy that she could hardly breathe.
At this moment, Xiao Wang also understood that Uncle Fu was just a scapegoat pushed out by Liang Jingzhuo.
But unfortunately, there was no evidence at hand.
The anger was boiling in his chest, but he couldn't vent it out.
He clenched his fists tightly, and his fingertips turned white.
Ruan Jiu took a deep breath and opened her eyes. There seemed to be unwillingness in her eyes.
Just as she was about to continue arguing, at this moment, Xie Jingchu, who had been silent for a long time, quietly grabbed her hand.
Ruan Jiu frowned and looked at Xie Jingchu.
She saw Xie Jingchu looking solemn as he gently shook his head.
She immediately understood what Xie Jingchu meant.
Arguing any more now would be useless. They could only plan things out in the long run.
She watched helplessly as Xiao Wang let the man go. She was so angry that she could hardly keep her teeth from grinding.
The uneasiness in her heart was like disgusting mucus, sticking to her whole body.
It was so disgusting!
Suddenly, it seemed like she remembered something.
Then her eyes lit up. She leaned over to Xie Jingchu's ear and whispered, "There's a man locked up in the dungeon!"