Chapter 22 Framed (4)
Upon hearing this, Chen Hui had to say that it was almost impossible for Li Youde to turn his fortune this time. Presumably, when the mastermind got so many information he would even wake up from laughing in his dreams. One by one, it looked like what Chen Pingzhi had said.
But Chen Hui had once heard from Gu Tianhe that the original was given by Chen Pingzhi to Li Youde. She somehow believed that unsmiling man. Moreover, in the letter sent to her by Chen Pingzhi before, he had repeatedly apologized for sending her forcibly, but the letter had been burned by her. Besides…grandmother knew about this matter on that day.
Grandmother Xu’s words caused the eyes of several people to fall on Chen Hui’s face. Chen Hui paused for a few second and only silently lifted up the bangs, revealing the scar that had not disappeared from her forehead completely yet.
Except for Li Youde, the others had smiles hidden in their eyes as if they already saw the moment Li Youde would be punished.
Li Youde seemed to be unwilling to entangle on this matter anymore and sneered, “Left Guard soldier Gu Tianhe, he can testify about me being drunk that day and that she was forcibly stuffed at me by Chen Pingzhi.”
Zheng Yong said laughingly, “This officer had already sent someone to go look for him, but that side said that soldier Gu had been transferred to the frontier a day ago to fight the enemy for the emperor!”
Chen Hui’s eyebrow jumped.
Two kinds of evidence; letter and person. They knew that the letter had been burned by her. The person had been transferred away…Li Youde was so miserable. He had been schemed like this. That person must have a deep hatred towards Li Youde!
Li Youde’s expression looked ugly. Under tension, his voice became shriller, “He is an important witness. Go tell him to come back first!”
Zheng Yong said unhurriedly, “Lord Li, that is not going to happen. This officer is jus an official of the Ministry of Justice and can’t control the affairs of the Ministry of War. Besides, there are already three important witness now. Since this is the case, you don’t have to argue anymore.”
Chen Hui looked once at Zheng Yong. Even if this sir was not one of the masterminds, he is one of Li Youde’s enemy. The bias was too obvious. He absolutely has not even a bit of the rule by law of the modern times. Witnesses were obviously the weakest evidence and could retract the testimony at any time and make a false confession, causing the whole case to go in a different direction. Don’t believe it? She would show it to them.
“This is framing!” Li Youde exclaimed due to being stirred up and from nervousness. Due to this nervousness, even tiny beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. If at first he only treated this interrogation as a joke, then after everything that had happened, it was like hammer hitting his head, smashing him.
At this moment, he suddenly remembered the look in Chen Hui’s eyes when she left the last time he saw her. If he had treated her better at that time, would she wash away his grievances for him at this moment?
The gleeful smile of Chen Hui not long ago happened to appear in his mind again. He suddenly became angry. He actually expected her to speak up for him? When she deliberately pleased him before with the kind of nonsense such as “I am lord’s woman”, he actually took them seriously after hearing it too much? At this time, she would probably beat the drowning dog!
- Beat the drowning dog: hit someone when he is down.
With a ‘pa’ sound the gavel was struck again. Zheng Yong said with a serious expression, “Li Youde, how do you dare to make an unreasonable scene right now? The evidence is conclusive and you still dare to quibble? I think that you are unwilling to accept it! People, beat. This officer wants to see if he will plead guilty or not?!”
“You dare!” Li Youde glared at Zheng Yong angrily. The voice was tone was broken because of panic.
Zheng Yong sneered and no longer put on his previous fake appearance, “This officer is the high official of the second rank from the Ministry of Justice. What kind of thing are you to dare to put on airs with this officer? People, beat!”
Ever since Li Youde was a child, he grew up in the imperial palace. When he was not sensible, he had also suffered a beating. He remembered that kind of pain for a lifetime. He once swore that he would never want to suffer it once again. Seeing the officers on both sides come at him, a trace of fear flashed in his eyes. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to bear it. If he was beaten into confession, he wouldn’t have any opportunity of changing his fortunes ever again!
Just when he tried to avoid it in panic, he suddenly detected a faint fragrance steaking across the tip of his nose. He lifted his line of sight and saw that Chen Hui seemed to have fallen backwards from the kneeling position due to being scared. However, her eyes were fixed on him. Her mouth moved slightly and said softly to him, “If you promise me to worship me like Buddha in the future, I will help you today.”
At first, Li Youde thought that he had misheard. Lady Chen originally didn’t want to go to his residence. After going, he made her suffer all kinds of suffering. It was just like what grandmother Xu said. He didn’t even let her have a good meal. She even went to the kitchen to steal a chicken…
The officers had already pressed his shoulders tightly. His heart hardened. He didn’t care whether he had misheard anymore and quickly said, “Okay!”
Before he could finish, he saw Chen Hui show him a sweet smile. Then, she turned her head, looked at Zheng Yong and said, “Sir, this commoner daughter has something to say!”
The hanging heart of Li Youde miraculously fell back to its place.
Zheng Yong looked puzzled at Chen Hui and motioned for his subordinates to stop first. He asked her, “Lady Chen, what else do you have to say?” He thought that she planned to add some more accusations. He naturally wouldn’t mind writing a few more ill-spoken words about Li Youde in the document. If convicted, it would be presented to the emperor. The crime of snatching a commoner girl was not deserving of death, but if the emperor got furious while reading the document, whether a eunuch dies or not, wasn’t it just a word from the emperor?
Chen Hui straightened her back and said in a melodious tone, “Sir, Lord Li has been wronged!”
Everyone was shocked when this remark was spoken.
Chen Hui had thought clearly about her choice.
Today was indeed a turning point in Chen Hui’s situation. She faced two choices. The first one was not saying anything and allow Chen Pingzhi to successfully frame Li Youde. Once Li Youde fell from power, she would be able to follow Chen Pingzhi home. Although, her reputation was not good after following Li Youde for a month, but Chen Pingzhi was rich after all. It would be easy to find a son-in-law. However, Chen Hui had no affection for Chen Pingzhi, the man who sold his daughter, let alone a trace of trust. If she follows him back to Chen household, she would presumably be sent out again with the turn of a head. Furthermore, she had already been with a eunuch. Who knew to what kind of thing she would be sent to the next time? At Li Youde’s, she only didn’t have a good meal. If it became another, what if that person not only doesn’t give her good food, but also looks down on her because she had followed a eunuch before and is a pervert who would torture her sexually?
Her second choice was naturally to do her best to help Li Youde get through this difficult situation. Like how she did before, she took advantage of someone’s difficulties and got a promise from Li Youde. A promise of living good days and do as she pleases in the future. Of course, her trust in Li Youde’s promise was also not high. He once promised her to let her eat well. In the end, he gave her some mince meat that was invisible! However, this time was different. This is the grace for saving his life. No matter how bad he is, he should still have a tiny bit of conscience, right? She already turned her back on her father to help him. He couldn’t not give her some benefits, right?
If Chen Hui was really allowed to choose, she doesn’t want to help anyone. But between the two evils, she chose the less evil one. Under the circumstances where one side has to be out of luck, she could only let Chen Pingzhi be out of luck and go help Li Youde. The worst case after helping Li Youde was go back to how it was…Oh, of course, how could she give Li Youde that kind of opportunity?!
“Lady Chen, what are you talking about? Are you scared of Lord Li? Don’t be afraid. Sir Zheng would get justice for you!” Chen Pingzhi hurriedly said.
He also felt uneasy when he was enticed to come frame and sue Li Youde. He was afraid that if there was a change in the matter, the one who would be out of luck would be him. However, that person gave him full confidence and promised him the timber business in the palace after the matter was completed. He was really reluctant to let go of such huge benefits, so, he took the risk. That person possessed remarkable power. He arranged the things one by one, even he (CP) felt that it was foolproof. He had already practiced countless of times in his head and succeeded countless of times. However, he never expected that it would be his daughter who would be the problem in the end. He previously thought that no problem could ever happen and she was the thing he was the least worried about. Although, at first he sent her to Li residence against her wishes, but now she had the opportunity to leave, how could she protect Lord Li? He couldn’t figure it out!
“Father, even if I have been scared, it is being scared by you, how could I be scared by Lord Li?” Chen Hui looked coldly at Chen Pingzhi and turned her head to look once at Li Youde. She smiled softly to him. Only now did she turn her head to look directly at Zheng Yong and say, “Sir, Lord Li treats this Lady Chen very well. This Lady Chen can’t watch him being framed.”
Zheng Yong stared at Chen Hui and slowly said, “Lady Chen, your father is right. You don’t have to be scared of Li Youde. He cannot retaliate against your Chen household.”
Cheng Hui smiled and said, “Sir Zheng, look at me. Do I look like I am scared?”
Although, she was kneeling, but her back was straight and there was a calm and confident smile on her face. Not to mention a woman who had been scared, even an ordinary woman wouldn’t have such a bearing like hers.
Zheng Yong was silent. Chen Hui was the most important and the least important witness. Originally, there was no need for her to say anything. As long as she showed up and just carelessly say a few words, she would be the most powerful witness. Who would’ve expected that she would withdraw a confession…?
Chen Hui didn’t care about Zheng Yong’s reaction. Nevertheless, she finished what she wanted to say, “Sir Zheng, a month ago, this Lady Chen was drugged by my father and sent to Lord Li’s residence. At that time, Lord Li was drunk and agreed muddleheadedly. Soldier Gu had once mentioned this matter to this Lady Chen. At first, this Lady Chen was unwilling. This scar was indeed left at that time. However, afterwards, this Lady Chen found out that Lord Li is a very good person and treated me even better than my father. Since my father sold me like an object, why should I patch up his lies? Asking sir Zheng to see the downy feathers of autumn clearly. My father begrudged Lord Li precisely because of the timber business. That was why he framed Lord Li. I am a daughter of Chen household and knows that the timber of my family is not as good as my father said. Lord Li had found out about this, was selfless and refused to let my father touch the timber that would be used in the palace. This is exactly the loyalty that Lord Li has towards the emperor. It would be revealed with the days! My father didn’t reflect on his mistakes and instead hated Lord Li for cutting off his financials. That was why today’s matter happened.”
- Seeing clearly the downy feathers of autumn: perceptive of even the finest detail.
The same matter could be interpreted from different angles. They could say that and she could naturally say this.
Chen Pingzhi was shocked and angry, “Lady Chen, what nonsense are you talking about?”
Chen Hui didn’t even look at him and just said loudly, “What others said is the truth and my words are nonsense? Asking sir Zheng to distinguish the right from the wrong and deal with this matter impartially. I am my father’s biological daughter. If it wasn’t because he did something against the heaven’s will, how would I help an outsider and not help him? No, I am not helping an outsider. I am safeguarding the law and the prestige, and to not let a good person be killed and also not let off a bad person!”
Chen Hui’s words sounded loudly and Zheng Yong’s expression gradually sank. He is the presiding judge. If he didn’t relent, even if this Lady Chen retracted the confession, she wouldn’t be able to get out of the hall of the Ministry of Justice. However, after he settled the case, the judicial officer would review it. The emperor might examine it again. After all, this was a case concerning one of the head of twelve departments. Among the twelve departments, although an inner supervisor wasn’t the one who had the most authority, but it was the most profitable one. If the emperor disliked Li Youde, he wouldn’t have put him in this position. If something happened to Li Youde, the emperor wouldn’t remain indifferent. He originally planned to act first and report later. Once the case is settled and the evidence were in place, he wouldn’t be afraid of Li Youde retracting his testimony. By then, he can also have an explanation for the emperor. But now, Lady Chen wanted to protect Li Youde, causing this matter to unable to pass muddly like this. This matter wasn’t schemed by him. He just turned a blind eye to it. After the event, he wouldn’t be blamed for the matter of Li Youde.
Zheng Yong looked at Chen Hui and said solemnly, “Lady Chen, you said that Lord Li treats you well, then what is Xu shi talking about?”
- Shi: clan
Chen Hui said, “This Lady Chen should be punished for doing something wrong. Lord Li is distinct in rewards and punishment. That should also be the case. This Lady Chen doesn’t have any complaints at all. Lord Li also said once privately that he wanted to use his salary to buy two shops and give them to this Lady Chen. When the punishment is over, he will fulfill his promise. This Lady Chen want to ask grandmother Xu, Lord Li treats this Lady Chen so well, what else do you want? Dug out his heart to let me look at it?”
Zheng Yong’s gradual easing expression also made Chen Hui certain that the current judicial system had not been corrupted enough to cover the sky with one hand after all. This sir Zheng has some concerns, so, she won. She had to thank Chen Pingzhi, thank grandmother Xu and thank the mastermind. Her good days are finally coming!
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”… No, I am not helping an outsider. I am safeguarding the law and the prestige, …”
XD…