Chapter 113

  Lu Xiaofeng had finished his business in Dengzhou and was looking for a day to leave.

  Severe winter is also with her.

  Just after leaving Dengzhou City, Lu Xiaofeng had Feng Si stop the horse carriage and called for Yan Dong.

  "Adult?"

  Lu Xiaofeng lifted the curtain and looked at him, "Yan Dong, first of all, you should address me according to the situation. In a situation like this, you can either call me 'Madam', or 'Miss', even 'Master' would be more appropriate than 'Sir'."

  "Yes."

  "You're a free spirit, so you naturally have the capital to be unrestrained and spontaneous. When you're with me, don't worry too much about formalities, just being yourself is fine."

  "Yes."

  "Now I'm going to Zhangzhou with Zhan Zhao, and since he's here, you don't need to follow me for protection. For the time being, why not go back to your family in Liaodong and take a look? I think it's been three years since you've gone back, and it would be good to explain your situation to your family."

  "Miss, this—"

  "Go ahead, I'm here, nothing will go wrong. Zhang has asked for a three-month leave of absence from Your Excellency, and after the three months are up, Brother Yan can come to Changzhou at the Zhang residence."

  "So, the severe winter will temporarily leave first, take care of yourself, Master Zhang, and take care of yourself, Miss."

  "Go."

  The husband and wife were in a carriage together, one riding a horse, with both pairs of eyes seeing Yan Dong off as he rode his horse away.

  Until they could no longer see Yan Dong's figure, Zhan Zhao turned his head to his wife in the car and said, "Let's get going too."

  "Good." Lu Xiaofeng put down the car window curtain and leaned comfortably against the soft cushion in the car.

  Now she has only one wish, that is, all the way to Changzhou, it's safe and smooth, and her life in Changzhou will be peaceful and calm.

  However, with a good friend like Nan Ke's Zhao in her side who would take up arms to right the wrongs, Little Phoenix Maiden couldn't help but feel some concern and could only pray that everything would go as wished.

  The road back to Changzhou was unexpectedly calm, so calm that it made Little Phoenix feel a bit unreal.

  No matter what, they returned safely and soundly to their home in Changzhou.

  But seeing the old steward Zhan Zhong, who had been waiting for his master's return, was laughing so hard that he couldn't close his mouth, because not only had the master returned, but also the mistress, and most importantly, the young master of the Zhan family, whom he had been longing to see for many years, had finally appeared.

  The white and chubby, beautiful and elegant Lu Ming easily captured the heart of Lao Guan Jia Zhan Zhong, who couldn't help but want to give his young master the best things in the world.

  "Zhong Shu likes Ming Er so much, I'm really worried about what he'll do when you leave."

  Lu Xiaofeng patted the infant in his arms and said faintly, "Is this your plan?"

  Zhan Zhao smiled and said, "You're thinking too much."

  "Hum, I wonder who it was that tricked me into coming to the Zhang family with a jade pendant in the first place."

  "Xiao Feng, you still remember the past so clearly? At that time, you were dull to what extent? It's really enough to make even gods jump with rage."

  "This is called a warning bell." Lu Xiaofeng said with a serious tone.

  Zhan Zhao said disbelievingly: "I think it's not that easy to deceive you."

  "Xiao Mao, are you gloating?"

  "I dare not be a husband."

  "Hmph."

  "The baby has fallen asleep." Zhan Zhao looked at his wife holding their young son and couldn't help but smile, "Let me hold him, you've been holding him for so long, your arms must be sore by now."

  Lu Xiaofeng nodded and handed his son over to him.

  "Zhan Zhao, this rare holiday, using it to accompany us mother and daughter, won't you feel it's a waste?"

  "Of course not, I'm just sorry that I couldn't accompany you and your mother more often, and still have to let you worry about me. Xiaofeng, I'm sorry."

  "You don't need to apologize to me, this is what I'm willing to do." Lu Xiao Feng suddenly changed the subject and said, "Because I won't be a good wife and mother either, we're just two halves of the same whole, no need to compare who's better or worse."

  Zhan Zhao was made to lose his smile by her words, "You..." The little bit of sentimental emotions he originally had also dissipated with her words.

  She doesn't need his apology and won't apologize to him either, that's her fairness.

  "The day after tomorrow, there is a big gathering in the county, do you want to go and take a look?"

  "What's going on?" Lu Xiaofeng's eyes lit up.

  "Uh-huh."

  "Alright, go take a look." Lu Xiao Feng looked at his son in his arms and said firmly, "When the time comes, you'll carry Lu Ming."

  Zhan Zhao smiled and said without hesitation: "Good."

  "This little meatball is getting more and more substantial..." A certain mother couldn't help but mutter to herself.

  "He just grew up." A certain father quickly defended his son.

  "You don't have to be so anxious about him, children should not be overindulged."

  Zhan Zhao couldn't help but laugh, looking at her with a good smile, and said somewhat helplessly: "Xiao Feng, Ming Er is only a few months old... You're being too cautious.

  "Nothing more to say, let's go to sleep with Lu Ming."

  Zhan Zhao then took his son to bed.

  As for Little Phoenix, she naturally took advantage of this rare leisure time to run to Linshui Xuan and flip through Xiaomao's hidden books.

  On the day of the grand assembly, early in the morning, the Zhang family's people harnessed the horses and prepared all the things for their master to go out.

  When they arrived at the county seat, they found an inn and stabled their horses. Then Zhan Zhao prepared to take his wife to stroll through the market.

  "What? Is Liu's wife really going to be executed?"

  "Of course, many people have already run out of town to take a look."

  "What a pity! She was indeed a virtuous and capable wife."

  "Who says it's not true? If she really had an affair with that laborer, how could her mother-in-law possibly keep pleading for her innocence until the day of her death?"

  "Alas, this world..."

  Zhan Zhao gripped his treasured sword tightly.

  Lu Xiaofeng slightly shook his head and said to him: "You go to the execution ground, I'll be right there."

  "Okay."

  Lu Xiaofeng took a look at the distance and thought, never mind, I'll just wait for the next big gathering to stroll around, human life is more important than anything!

  Feng Si didn't need Miss to say anything else, and after Miss got on the carriage, he drove the carriage hastily towards the execution ground.

  At the execution ground, Zhan Zhao arrived just in time and showed his token of authority as the governor of Kaifeng Prefecture, stopping the prefect from carrying out the execution.

  Cai Yuwan's mother-in-law fell at Zhan Zhao's feet and cried out for her daughter-in-law, shouting injustice.

  "The old man will get up, and Lord Feng will arrive immediately, at which time he will surely take charge of you."

  "Lord Feng?" Xuan Zhi Fu was surprised, why wasn't it Lord Bao? Isn't Zhang Zhao from Kaifeng Prefecture?

  "It's Lord Feng himself, Lord Feng who has been entrusted with the authority to handle all sorts of criminal cases."

  Soon after, Lu Xiaofeng's carriage arrived.

  As soon as the curtain of the carriage was lifted, Lu Xiaofeng got out of the carriage with his skirt raised. There was a moment of silence on the scene, followed by a buzzing discussion.

  This Lord Feng is actually a woman!

  "Proclamation."

  "Lord Feng."

  "This official is just passing through your honorable place and heard rumors of doubts about the case of Cai Yuanyuan, so he ordered the display of the law to stop the execution, hoping that Your Honor will understand."

  "Can Cai Yuanyuan's guilt be clearer than this? Is it possible that there has been a mistake?"

  Lu Xiaofeng smiled slightly and said: "Then why would Cai Yuyuan's mother-in-law still plead for her at this time?"

  "This..."

  "When in doubt, human life is at stake, so it's naturally better to be cautious."

  "Yes."

  "It is better to bring the case back for re-trial."

  "Yes, sir."

  The people watching the trial saw that things had changed and gradually dispersed.

  Lu Xiaofeng and his companions followed Xuan Daoren back to the prefectural yamen.

  Lu Xiaofeng went back and directly sat in the hall for interrogation, not wanting to waste any time. This is called "soldiers are precious and swift", hitting the opponent off guard.

  "I hope the great man will help the common people seek justice."

  "Speak slowly and carefully, if you have been wronged, I will naturally help you redress the grievance."

  "Thank you, sir."

  At this point, Cai Yuyuan recounted the entire case from start to finish. She had originally accused Lu Wencan of breaking into her home at night and killing her servant Liu Da in the backyard, but unexpectedly, when she arrived at the county yamen, the plaintiff became the defendant, and in the end, she was sentenced to beheading.

  Little Phoenix Maiden finally figured it out after hearing this, wasn't this case just "The Ancient Lute's Lament"? The upright and honest Magistrate Sir, being a huge lute enthusiast, ultimately disregarded the law for the sake of the legendary Focused Tail Lute, ignored the suspicious circumstances, and ended up with his head and body separated, truly making one sigh in dismay.

  As for that Lu Wencai, he's simply detestable. He sees someone who looks pretty and gets indecent thoughts, not caring if the person is a married woman, and even sends someone to be a matchmaker, seeking marriage but harboring evil intentions when it doesn't work out, basically a scoundrel.

  "You're being wronged, so why are you willing to sign a confession?"

  Cai Yuyuan's face suddenly showed a look of indignation, "If the woman hadn't signed her name to confess at that time, her mother-in-law would have been tortured to death."

  "Do you have a feud with Xuan Zhi Prefecture?"

  "No hatred."

  "Any complaints?"

  "No complaints."

  "Is he infatuated with your beauty?"

  "No."

  "Since neither of us has it, why must you insist on harming me?"

  Tsai Yu-wen said: "At first, ordinary people didn't understand what was going on, but later they did."

  "Understood?"

  "Yes."

  "What's going on?"

  "A commoner is innocent until he carries a jade tablet."

  "What rare and precious treasures do you have that make people covet?"

  "It's nothing rare or precious, just a family heirloom, a guqin with a burnt tail."

  "Is that Xuan Zhi Fu, the famous guqin player?"

  Cai Yuyuan nodded, "Yes, after my husband went to Beijing for the imperial examination that day, the magistrate had come to our mansion with a large sum of money to buy the qin, but I firmly refused."

  Then she talked about what happened that day.

  Lu Xiaofeng remained silent, and sometimes things in this world are just like that.

  It's likely that Lu Wencai dared to be so presumptuous because he had received some information from somewhere, knowing that the prefecture had a liking for the ancient zither in the Liu family, and thus dared to falsely accuse someone of a crime.

  And that Proclamation Office probably also responded to the right nap, someone handed over a pillow, two slaps and one pat, only then would today's wrongful case occur.

  The hearts of men...

  Soon after, Wang Po was also dragged back to the government office by Zhan Zhao and thrown directly at Lu Xiaofeng's feet.

  The old woman saw the young official sitting in the first place and kept kowtowing and begging for mercy.

  Lu Xiaofeng said: "Wang Po, you say that dead infant was born by Cai Yuyuan, is it?"

  "Yes, yes."

  Cai Yuyuan angrily said by the side: "You dare to insult people with your bloody mouth."

  "Cai Yuwan, you may rest assured for now."

  "Yes, sir."

  "Wang Po, don't try to deceive me, I also understand some medical principles. To determine whether a woman has given birth or not, just examine her pelvis and it will be clear. Are you asking me to conduct an examination on Cai Yuyuan?"

  The old woman was frightened and turned pale, "I don't dare, I don't dare."

  Lu Xiaofeng made another clever remark, looking at Wang Po's body and saying: "Wang Po, I don't need to examine you to know that you have never given birth."

  The old woman was so frightened that she shook all over.

  Zhan Zhao secretly smiled in his heart, Xiao Feng was really something, trying to scare people for fun?

  "Are you going to confess honestly now or should I have you tortured and then you can tell the truth?"

  "Old woman, come, come..." Then Wang Po told her everything from start to finish.

  A chorus of accusations and curses erupted outside the hall.

  "Someone come, go and pass on the message to Lu Wencai in the hall. If he suddenly falls seriously ill or something, don't be polite with him, just have him dragged here directly."

  "Yes."

  The people outside the hall couldn't help but burst out laughing.

  What made the people laugh the most was that when the yamen runner returned to report, he indeed said that Lu Wencai claimed to be seriously ill and unable to attend court, and then he was carried over by the yamen runner.

  Lu Wencai naturally denied his crimes at the time.

  "Are you being framed?"

  "The student was of course being wronged."

  "Don't call yourself a student, I think you're humiliating all bookworms."

  "Adult——"

  Lu Xiaofeng slapped the wooden table with a loud "pa" sound, "Do you still have the face to yell for injustice? You repeatedly accused Cai Yuyuan and the family's long-time servant Liu of having an affair and giving birth to a child, strangling the infant to death and burying its body.

  It's possible that Cai Yuyuan never had a child in the first place. Then isn't what you said about detecting fetal movement absurd?

  You also testified that on the night of the incident, you were delivering medicine to her at midnight and saw her beat Liu Da to death.

  Since there is no reason for you to enter someone's house in the middle of the night, how can you explain yourself?

  Tell the official: "

  Lu Wencai wanted to argue but found himself unable to refute anything.

  "This official summons you to the court for interrogation, yet you still dare to pretend to be seriously ill. Very well, this official can offer you a free medical examination to see what kind of illness you have contracted." Lu Xiaofeng slammed his hand on the wooden desk, his face filled with anger. "This official thinks that you are suffering from a guilty conscience. How did you murder Liu Da and frame Cai Yuyuan? You had better confess the truth to this official!"

  Lu Wencai originally wanted to continue quibbling, but fell silent after seeing Wang Po being brought up on the stage.

  With both human and physical evidence against him, Lu Wencai was left speechless and could only collapse onto the floor.

  Lu Xiaofeng lit a firework, threw it to the ground and loudly said: "Today is a good day, suitable for executing the death penalty. Come on, take Lu Wencai away and behead him."

  The official beside him said: "Lord Feng——"

  Lu Xiaofeng raised an eyebrow, his eyes gleaming with interest, and said: "Lord Xuan, Lu Wencan is a scholar who has inherited his family's traditional pharmacy, yet he doesn't use his knowledge to heal the world, but instead uses it to frame others. Isn't this kind of person unforgivable? If we let him go unpunished, who knows how many more people will suffer at his hands?"

  The prefectural government was silent.

  The bailiffs dragged him away for execution.

  After dealing with Lu Wencai, Lu Xiaofeng went to see Xuan Zhifu.

  "Master Xuan, are you going to send someone to search or admit it yourself?"

  "Your subordinate..."

  Lu Xiaofeng waited patiently for his answer.

  Finally, Xuan Zhi Fu knelt down on the floor with a flick of his official robe.

  Lu Xiaofeng let out a long sigh, "Life is infatuated with foolish desires, it's not necessarily about wealth and treasure, but being obsessed with something, alas..."

  "This humble official was momentarily confused, this humble official is willing to resign and return to his hometown, please Your Honor spare this humble official's life."

  "You were originally a clean official and capable officer, but because of your fondness for certain things, you committed this great mistake. Fortunately, the great mistake was not made, otherwise, you would have died with guilt."

  "Adult."

  Cai Yujuan.

  "The people's wife is here."

  "Would you choose to forgive Xuan Zhi Fu?"

  Cai Yuyuan looked at the white-haired governor who knelt on the hall, with a complex expression. After struggling for several times, she lowered her eyelids and said: "The commoner's wife forgives him."

  "Tsai Yu-yuan, you are innocent and should be released immediately. Lord Hsuan, return the 'Focus of the Ancients' guqin to its rightful owner, resign from your position, and retire to your hometown."

  "Thank you, sir."

  Cai Yuwan and Xuan Zhi Fu both kowtowed in gratitude.

  "Xuanzhang, you should thank Cai young lady instead."

  "Yes, I thank you for your magnanimity, young lady."

  Cai Yuyuan turned her face away and walked to one side, supporting her mother-in-law as she took her huqin (a type of Chinese violin) and left.

  Lu Xiaofeng silently gave a thumbs up in his heart. Although Cai Yuanyuan was kind, she wasn't a saint, and anyone else would have also secretly agreed with her. It's estimated that if it weren't for the fact that Xuan Zhi Prefecture had a good reputation in the past and treated its people kindly, Cai Yuanyuan wouldn't have let him off.

  Of course, Little Phoenix wouldn't let him off easily either.

  Punishment should always give people a chance to correct their mistakes, of course, on the premise that they still have room for correction!!!