Chapter 38

Yan Tongshu held Chen Sizhen's birth certificate in his hands, complete with the baby's footprint and handprint.

This was something Chen Sizhen could not deny.

Chen Sizhen could only nod. "Yes, I am Chen Sizhen."

Yan Tongshu said, "In that case, do you have any new evidence?"

Zhao Kuangzhi curled his lips into a smile. "Lord Yan, shouldn't we first ask the plaintiff herself?"

Zhao Kuangzhi walked over to Granny Chen. "Granny Chen, has Consort Chen contacted you at all during these seven years?"

Granny Chen kept her head lowered, her hands nervously clutching her sleeve. She stole a glance at Lady Qing out of the corner of her eye.

Lady Qing had once been impoverished and emaciated, her back bent from the weight of life, but she had still carried a spirited air about her.

Now, however, in just a few short days, Lady Qing had become haggard and stooped, a shadow of her former self.

Granny Chen then looked at Chen Sizhen.

Soft-skinned, fair, and well-fed.

But his leg was broken, and he sat in a wheelchair...

Her son. So pitiable.

A flood of images rushed through her mind: Lady Qing tending to her by the sickbed; her, Lady Qing, and the two children huddled together in a haystack, starving and freezing; Yingge selling herself; her nearly dying of illness, cold, and hunger; Lady Qing nearly violated by the landlord, chasing him off with a cleaver, and injuring herself with it in the process of driving the villain away.

In a daze, she recalled Chen Sizhen reading by lamplight.

She recalled little Chen Sizhen running circles around her.

She recalled the first time the clan elder discovered Chen Sizhen's gift for learning. Chen Sizhen had said to her, "Mother, the elder says I can become the top scholar someday. What does that mean? Does it mean I can make lots of money? When I become the top scholar, I'll buy Mother new clothes and meat."

Granny Chen opened her mouth. "I..."

Zhao Kuangzhi's chillingly rational voice sounded again. "Granny Chen, has your biological son, Chen Sizhen, contacted you during these seven years?"

The words "biological son" struck Granny Chen precisely.

She shuddered all over. "Yes."

Yan Tongshu leaned slightly forward.

Lady Qing was stunned as well. "Mother? Consort Chen contacted you?"

Granny Chen avoided Lady Qing's gaze and did not answer.

Zhao Kuangzhi asked again. "Granny Chen, during these seven years, has your biological son, Chen Sizhen, ever given you money?"

Granny Chen nodded again.

Now Lady Qing understood completely. She cried out, "Mother, you're lying! If Consort Chen gave you money, then why did you follow us, eating chaff and wild vegetables, nearly starving and freezing to death? If you had money, why didn't you use it?"

Yan Tongshu narrowed his eyes and sat up straight again, but he did not stop Zhao Kuangzhi.

Zhao Kuangzhi did not press Granny Chen further. Instead, he turned to Lady Qing. "Lady Qing, has Consort Chen given you any money during these seven years?"

Lady Qing said, "No."

Zhao Kuangzhi's tone turned fierce in an instant. "You're lying!"

Lady Qing instinctively protested. "I'm not!"

Zhao Kuangzhi pressed on. "If Consort Chen gave you no money in these seven years, then where did those two hundred taels of silver he gave you go?"

Lady Qing panicked. "That... that was... that was only given to me after I arrived in the capital and happened to meet him."

Zhao Kuangzhi advanced step by step. "That was Consort Chen paying seven years of support in a single lump sum. Since you already took the money, that means you accepted a settlement. So why are you falsely accusing Consort Chen? If those two hundred taels were not the seven years of maintenance, then it was extortion. Extorting a sitting consort merits thirty lashes and exile."

Lady Qing was frightened, but she was not the kind of woman who would crumple at a single scare.

Years of being threatened and intimidated by thugs and ruffians had forged in her an instinct to strike back fiercely the moment she sensed danger.

She burst into a torrent of curses: "You rotten bastard! I told you—he never gave me that money! Those two hundred taels were his own choice, given to me so I could take care of his mother and kids once I got back to Jiangzhou! You son of a bitch born without a hole—spouting nonsense left and right!"

The moment she finished, Lady Qing clapped a hand over her mouth.

The entire courtroom erupted.

Zhao Kuangzhi was a legal scholar, a man of letters—his insults were always veiled, oblique, cutting with innuendo. He had never faced such a direct, crude, village-style verbal lashing straight to the face. His face flushed crimson with fury: "You—you—you—"

Lady Qing's mouth ran faster than her mind: "You what? You black-hearted, swine-and-dog-bred maggot! Me cursing you is exactly what you deserve! I came back because that mongrel Chen Sizhen sent assassins to kill me, you blind fool with eyes planted on your arse!"

Yan Tongshu lowered his head and raised a hand to hide the lower half of his face, biting back a smile.

Earlier, Chen Sizhen had played the victim, sobbing about his grievances, and Lady Qing, being blunt and slower of thought, had fallen into his trap.

But Lady Qing was a tough woman forged through dealings with the lowest scum of the streets—when attacked, she lashed back by reflex.

The stronger the threat, the more vicious her counterattack.

She responded only to softness, never to force.

And that had just shattered Zhao Kuangzhi's scheme, which had relied on intimidation to make Lady Qing cave.

Yan Liangrong clapped his hands, turning to Zhao Kuangzhi. "So it seems the matter of the two hundred taels is resolved. Now then, Counselor Zhao, Consort Chen—might you explain the business of sending assassins to silence a witness?"

Zhao Kuangzhi shook with rage, his chest heaving violently.

Chen Sizhen's face was ashen: "She's lying! I never sent any assassin to kill anyone. If I had that kind of power, why would I be standing trial here?"

The matter of the assassin had no evidence—which was precisely why Yan Tongshu had not brought it up in the first place. Moreover, whether the assassin was even sent by Chen Sizhen was still uncertain.

So Yan Tongshu did not press the point, only turning to Granny Chen: "Granny Chen, why did you say that Consort Chen has given you money over these seven years?"

Granny Chen hung her head. "My A-si is a good boy. He did manage to contact this old woman, and he did send money. But I was afraid that if Qing Niang found out, she would go disturbing him and the princess's peaceful life, so… so I kept it from her."

If Granny Chen's words were true, then she had conspired with her son to deceive Lady Qing.

If they were false, then she was betraying her daughter-in-law's seven years of filial care, helping her son escape his crimes.

Either way—true or false—Granny Chen had betrayed Lady Qing.

Lady Qing's already swollen, tear-soaked eyes spilled fresh tears: "Mother, I never once thought… never once imagined… You told me you considered me your own daughter, and yet in the end, you still chose your son!"

Granny Chen trembled all over. She slowly clenched her withered hands, took a deep breath, and said: "Qing Niang, you will always be my good daughter-in-law… Let it go."

"No!" Lady Qing lifted her chin in stubborn defiance, grief and fury mixed: "I will not let it go! Mother, had you come to me gently, perhaps I might have already dropped this. But today, you, and all of you—"

Her trembling finger stabbed toward Granny Chen, then swung fiercely toward Chen Sizhen and Zhao Kuangzhi: "You all force me… you all want to drive me to my death. So I refuse—I refuse to stop! Even if I must fight with every last breath I have, I will stand against you to the bitter end."

When she finished speaking, Lady Qing wiped away her tears hard. "Mother, from this day on, you are no longer my mother. I am called Feng Qingniang, and I carry the surname Feng. You are the mother of someone surnamed Chen, not the mother of me, Feng Qingniang! My mother…"

Her throat tightened with sobs, every word dripping with blood: "My mother would never have treated me like this. On her deathbed, she was still muttering about sending me grain. She would never have done what you did to me. And I—I poured all the guilt I owed my own mother onto you, waiting on you hand and foot like you were my real mother. What a fool I was."

Granny Chen was torn apart by Lady Qing's words. Though she harbored resentment toward Lady Qing for treating her son badly, and though she wanted to protect her son, she also couldn't bear to lose this daughter-in-law.

Conflicted, anguished, her insides burning like fire.

She reached out toward Lady Qing: "Qingniang… Qingniang…"

Lady Qing turned her head away.

Once the words left her mouth, she, Feng Qingniang, would never take them back!

The sheer finality of Lady Qing's attitude sent a chill of panic through Granny Chen, as if a huge hole had been gouged out of her chest.

Yan Tongshu asked in a deep voice: "Consort Chen, you claim you contacted your mother, Granny Chen, and gave her money. Do you have proof?"

Chen Sizhen looked at Zhao Kuangzhi, who bowed with a smile: "Naturally, we do."

Zhao Kuangzhi brought forward a man—short in stature, with a black mole beside his mouth, and dull, lifeless eyes.

The man knelt on the ground: "Greetings to the Prefect."

Yan Tongshu asked: "Who are you?"

The man: "This humble one is Wu Bing, a native of the capital, thirty-six years old. I have spent years traveling to and fro, doing small trade. About six years ago, Consort Chen, hiding it from the Princess, privately sought me out and said he had relatives in Jiangzhou who had shown him kindness. Now that he was wealthy and honored, he asked me to carry a letter to Jiangzhou, with a hundred taels of silver enclosed."

Yan Tongshu: "And did you deliver it?"

Yan Tongshu's gaze was as clear as water, seemingly undisturbed by this sudden witness.

Wu Bing: "I did. I was originally heading from the capital to Kuizhou on business, and I passed by Jiangzhou on the way, so the round trip took considerable time—about four months and then some. When I arrived, Lady Qing had taken the two children back to her mother's home and was not at the Chen household, so both the letter and the bank draft were handed to Granny Chen herself."

Yan Tongshu: "Do you have proof?"

Wu Bing presented the document with both hands: "I have the travel permit from that time as evidence."

Xu Qiu took the travel permit and carried it to Yan Tongshu's desk. Li Fulin and Zhang Jiu also leaned in to examine it.

Yan Tongshu opened the travel permit, flipped through just two pages, and said: "This is a forgery."

A forgery?

Li Fulin and Zhang Jiu, who had been trying to keep their composure, immediately rose and came over to look.

After flipping through it, the two exchanged glances—how on earth had Lord Yan spotted it was fake?

Zhao Kuangzhi and Chen Sizhen were also shaken by Yan Tongshu's cool, offhand manner.

Zhao Kuangzhi said cautiously: "Lord Yan, you can't just say such things without basis."

Yan Tongshu replied with a calm expression: "I say this because I have my reasons."

Zhao Kuangzhi's eyes narrowed slightly. He did not easily accept Yan Tongshu's word, but bowed instead: "Please enlighten us, Lord Yan."

Yan Tongshu looked at Wu Bing: "This travel permit shows you left the capital on the sixth day of the twelfth month, heading south, arriving in Kuizhou on the nineteenth day of the second month the following year, passing through Jiangzhou on the way, and returning to the capital on the twenty-ninth day of the fourth month."

Wu Bing nodded.

That was right.

That was exactly what Attorney Zhao had told him to say.

Yan Tongshu said, "The travel permit also shows that your route from the capital to Kuizhou passed through Beizhou, Juzhou, Xi'an, and Luping before you reached Kuizhou. Moreover, your permit bears the official seals and recorded dates of each of these prefectures."

Wu Bing nodded again.

Yan Tongshu held up the permit: "This permit of yours is very old. I do not know how you aged it to look this way, but this permit is a forgery."

Zhao Kuangzhi fumed, "What makes you say that!"

Yan Tongshu's tone was calm and restrained to the extreme. In contrast, the more Zhao Kuangzhi raged, the more ridiculous he seemed.

Yan Tongshu said, "Wu Bing departed in the twelfth month of six years ago and returned in the fourth month of five years ago. He reached Luping on the third day of the second month and Xi'an on the fifteenth day of the first month. Five years ago was the Great Cold. Jiangzhou, being this far south, still suffered. Granny Chen nearly froze to death in Jiangzhou. In Xi'an and Luping, north of Jiangzhou, heavy snow fell continuously for an entire month, and disaster struck everywhere. A travel permit must be shown at city gates when entering and leaving, and it would inevitably be stained by wind and snow. Look at how clean this aged permit of yours is. There is not even a single trace of water damage or smudging."

Yan Tongshu raised her hand and threw the permit down in front of Wu Bing: "Confess on your own—who bribed you to give false testimony right under my nose!"

Wu Bing had never imagined that the moment he opened his mouth, Yan Tongshu would see through him. Cold sweat instantly poured down his back. He opened his mouth to speak, but a warning glare from Zhao Kuangzhi choked the words in his throat.

Zhao Kuangzhi's expression was unusually cold and sinister.

This Lord Yan, her eyes were truly sharp.

Yan Tongshu's voice sank, turning icy: "It seems you're not going to talk. Guards, drag him out and beat him until he speaks."

"No, no, no, no!"

The boards of the Kaifeng prefectural court were no ordinary boards—three strokes would surely break flesh and reveal bone.

Wu Bing immediately waved his hands in terror: "Prefect, it wasn't me, I…"

Wu Bing dared not expose Chen Sizhen, so he could only look at Zhao Kuangzhi. Zhao Kuangzhi's eyes were threatening: "Wu Bing, who are you trying to slander? Me? Or the Consort? Or perhaps Her Highness the Princess?"

Wu Bing instantly shrank back in fear.

Zhao Kuangzhi quickly signaled Chen Sizhen, who suddenly clutched his knee and cried out in pain, then closed his eyes and fainted.

Zhao Kuangzhi hurriedly said, "Lord Yan, the Consort's injury has suddenly worsened. Zhao requests that the trial be postponed to another day."

Yan Tongshu raised an eyebrow: "This case really is full of twists and turns—most uncooperative."

Zhao Kuangzhi thought Yan Tongshu would refuse and was about to plead again, when Yan Tongshu suddenly said, "When would you like to resume?"

Zhao Kuangzhi pressed his lips together, all the prepared arguments suddenly rendered useless.

He instinctively felt Yan Tongshu's attitude was suspicious, yet he could not guess her intent, so he could only say, "How does Lord Yan feel about five days from now?"

Yan Tongshu gave a faint smile: "Fine, that's a good date. We'll do it then."

That easy?

Not only Zhao Kuangzhi, but even the feigning-faint Chen Sizhen was alarmed.

Last time, his leg had to be broken before Yan Tongshu granted a two-day postponement. Now, just by fainting, she gave them five days?

There had to be a scheme!

After the court session ended and the crowd dispersed, the Kaifeng prefectural office fell back into silence.

Li Fulin spoke up worriedly, "Lord Yan, they are deliberately stalling for time. Before long, they will likely produce even more witnesses and testimonies."

"Mere underhanded tricks," Yan Tongshu said dismissively. "Let him stall. The longer he drags this out, the better for us."

Li Fulin was utterly perplexed and about to press further, but Zhang Jiu grabbed his arm and gave him a reassuring look. "Trust Lord Yan."

...

At the gate of the Kaifeng Prefecture, after the court session had been adjourned and the onlookers had dispersed, Yan Liangrong finally stepped out.

Zheng Chun and Yan Liangyu had been waiting at the entrance.

When Yan Liangyu saw Yan Liangrong, she hurried over, her eyes shining. "Sister, you were amazing."

Yan Liangrong's lips curled slightly, her chin lifted with quiet pride. "Just a routine performance."

Yan Liangyu linked her arm through Yan Liangrong's. "From now on, I'll study more laws and legal principles. Maybe one day I can help our elder brother and you, sister."

Yan Liangrong gave a gentle nod. "Alright."

The two of them chatted as they walked toward the carriage, but after a few steps, they realized Zheng Chun hadn't caught up. Yan Liangrong asked, "What's wrong?"

Zheng Chun withdrew his gaze from the side gate of the Kaifeng Prefecture, his expression grave. "Consort Chen didn't gain the upper hand in today's hearing. I'm afraid the Princess's household will seek retaliation."

Yan Liangrong's gaze turned cold in an instant, her presence sharp as a blade. "The Kaifeng Prefecture is, first and foremost, a place for adjudicating cases. Chen Sizhen has committed crimes. If Tongshu can't handle this case properly and give the Emperor a satisfactory answer, then his position as acting prefect is as good as gone—and the authority of the Kaifeng Prefecture will collapse entirely."

Her tone was decisive, each word landing like a stone on metal. "As for the Princess's household—we'll deal with whatever comes, shield against whatever strikes. We have no other choice."

Zheng Chun understood what Yan Liangrong meant.

He was Yan Tongshu's brother-in-law, and as long as that bond existed, he had no choice but to stand with Yan Tongshu.

Zheng Chun stepped forward to join them, then paused as a thought struck him. He lowered his voice. "By the way, I just saw people from the Princess's household enter through the side gate of the Kaifeng Prefecture. They had a sedan chair—probably here to pick up Granny Chen."

Yan Liangyu let out a gentle sigh, a hint of melancholy in her voice. "Granny Chen and Consort Chen are mother and son after all. As long as the son is willing to lower his head and admit his fault, a mother's heart always softens."

The bond of blood could not be severed—especially since Consort Chen had lost his father at a young age and was raised single-handedly by Granny Chen.

That bond of mutual dependence was anything but ordinary.

It was just a pity for Lady Qing. She had cared for Granny Chen meticulously for seven years, treating her like her own mother, and never once thought of abandoning her even in the hardest of times. Yet in the end, all she received was a betrayal that struck her from behind.

Yan Liangrong, recalling Lady Qing's grief-stricken appearance in the courtroom, couldn't help but sigh as well.

She let out a sigh and boarded the carriage.

The three had barely settled into the carriage when, moments later, the sedan chair from the Princess's household was carried out.

Four burly men bore an exceedingly ornate sedan chair, their steps steady.

As the sedan chair passed by the carriage, the curtain lifted slightly due to the bumpy ride.

Yan Liangrong lifted the carriage curtain and glanced over. Inside the sedan, Granny Chen was tightly clutching Chen Jiangge, her face pale with anxiety, sitting stiff and tense.

Yan Liangrong's heart sank.

In a single day, Lady Qing had lost the mother-in-law she regarded as her own mother, and the son she had raised with her own hands.

Yan Liangrong dared not imagine—if one day she, like Lady Qing, were forsaken by the husband, the mother-in-law, and the child she loved most, what would that pain be like? The kind that pierces the heart, the utter despair that leaves nothing behind.

In the rear courtyard of the Kaifeng Prefecture, dusk was deepening.

Yan Tongshu brought over some roasted chicken.

Lady Qing wiped away her tears and told Chen Yingge to eat first.

Yan Tongshu tore off a chicken leg and handed it to Chen Yingge. Chen Yingge glanced at Lady Qing, who nodded. Only then did she accept it with both hands and give a proper bow: "Thank you, Lord Yan."

Yan Tongshu patted her head. "Yingge is such a good girl."

Chen Yingge sat down and quietly took big bites of the chicken leg.

Lady Qing waited until she had composed herself, then walked over to pour tea for Yan Tongshu. Yan Tongshu handed her the other chicken leg. "I once heard a saying: when a person is full, their mood improves too."

Lady Qing nodded and sat down, holding the chicken leg in her hand, but she couldn't take even a single bite. "I really can't understand it. Was I not good to my mother-in-law, to Jiangge, to my husband? Is it really something wrong with me as a person? Why does everyone abandon me?"

Under the string of blows, Lady Qing fell back into self-doubt.

Yan Tongshu passed her the hot tea. "Your personality does have its issues."

Lady Qing's nose stung with tears. "I heard quite a few clerks and scribes saying the same thing just now. They said I never let things go when I'm in the right. They said I have a bad temper, that I curse like a fishwife, that I'm a shrew. They said no one could put up with a personality like mine—that Consort Chen didn't want me, and that no man would ever dare marry me in the future."

"Lady Qing." Yan Tongshu looked into her eyes. "In this world, no one has a perfect personality. The strong-willed are often stubborn, the independent are frequently untamed, the free-spirited rarely conform, and the talented tend to be arrogant. No one is perfect. The difference lies in this: some people are more willing to see the good in you, while others only fixate on your flaws."

Yan Tongshu beckoned to Chen Yingge. "Yingge, come here."

The little girl walked over, and Yan Tongshu smoothed the stray hairs on her forehead. "Yingge, when your mother hits you, do you get angry?"

Chen Yingge nodded, then shook her head.

Yan Tongshu asked, "Why?"

Chen Yingge: "When I do something wrong and Mother hits me, I'm not angry. But Mother has a quick temper—sometimes when I haven't done anything wrong and she still hits me, then I get very angry."

Yan Tongshu: "So do you hate your mother?"

Chen Yingge shook her head. "Mother takes care of me and works very hard. I don't hate Mother."

Yan Tongshu looked at Lady Qing. "See? Normal people will remember your good qualities. They won't be in such a hurry to take one or two of your flaws and use them to deny your entire person. You were mostly good to Granny Chen and the others. So what if there was a little imperfection here or there? As long as it doesn't cross the line, as long as it isn't a life-and-death grudge, normal people will always remember the good others have done.

If you're willing to look, you can find something improper in anyone's conduct. Using perfection as a demand, belittling others, and never mentioning your own selfishness and faults—that's essentially a way to exonerate yourself, to make your own conscience feel better. It's like saying: 'I committed crimes, I murdered and set fires, but it's all your fault, you forced me, society forced me, it's the whole world's fault.'"

Lady Qing's heart felt as if it were being cut. "But Jiangge... he's the son I carried for ten months and raised with my own hands. He actually... actually... doesn't want me anymore..."

That was the deepest pain.

Granny Chen and Chen Sizhen were her husband and mother-in-law—outsiders, in the end.

But Chen Jiangge was flesh of her flesh.

"Mother."

Seeing Lady Qing so grief-stricken, Chen Yingge felt her heart ache. She lost her appetite, tossed the half-eaten chicken leg back onto the table, and rushed over to throw her arms around Lady Qing. "Mother, don't cry. Yingge will always stay with you."

Lady Qing hugged her daughter tightly, tears and snot streaming down her face. "My Yingge... I only have you left..."

Earlier, people from the Princess's mansion had come to take away Granny Chen and the two children. They had tried their best to persuade Yingge as well, even tempting her with promises of beautiful clothes, jewelry, and plenty of meat—but Yingge had clung stubbornly to Lady Qing's sleeve the entire time, refusing to let go.

Lady Qing had already lost almost everything: her husband, her mother-in-law, her son, and her brother who had vanished without a trace.

If even Yingge abandoned her and left, she truly wouldn't be able to go on living.

After leaving Lady Qing's room, Yan Tongshu returned to the study.

Yuanbao ground the inkstick, and Pearl poured the tea.

Yan Tongshu held his brush but found himself unable to concentrate on reviewing official documents, his mind wandering for a long time.

A drop of ink fell from the brush tip, and Pearl quickly reached out to catch it in her hand.

Pearl called softly, "Young master?"

"Hm?" Yan Tongshu suddenly snapped back to attention. "What is it?"

Pearl took out a handkerchief and wiped the ink from her fingers. "Young master, what are you thinking about? You keep staring off into space."