Chapter 68: So The Adulterer Is You
“We’ll discuss this matter later.” Lord An had Dan Dajun place the date paste cakes on the long table nearby, and asked, “What did you find out at Yun Shui Zhai?”
Dan Dajun reported, “In response to Lord, it is indeed as Lu Xiucai Scholar said. There is a poem on the screen wall at Yun Shui Zhai that he co-authored with Qiao Xiucai Scholar, and the date matches. The shopkeeper and shop assistant at Yun Shui Zhai remember this matter and can all testify.”
At the same time, Xiao Huan gently tugged at Shang Wan’s sleeve and whispered, “Sis, I think those date paste cakes have a problem.”
Dan Dajun’s words just now reminded Xiao Huan of the orange cat that had run out several times to scratch people.
Shang Wan’s eyebrow twitched slightly as she glanced at Yuan Yuan, who was tilting her little head. “You think those are the date paste cakes from Lufeng Rice Shop that Yuan Yuan wouldn’t let you eat?”
Xiao Huan nodded and leaned close to Shang Wan to mutter a few words.
Shang Wan looked at her in surprise. “Well done.”
Xiao Huan pursed her lips and smiled. She had just done it casually.
Shang Wan stepped forward to the long table, picked up a piece of date paste cake, and sniffed it carefully at her nose.
Dan Dajun noticed Shang Wan’s action out of the corner of his eye and thought she wanted to eat it, so he hurried over to stop her.
“Lady Shang, those have all been scratched by the cat and are covered in mud. You can’t eat them.”
“The smell of the date paste cake is off.” Shang Wan shook the date paste cake in her hand and looked at Lord An. “Lord, could you please have the coroner examine these date paste cakes?”
Everyone was puzzled. Do these date paste cakes have anything to do with the case?
Everyone thought Lord An wouldn’t agree, but unexpectedly, Lord An really sent for the coroner to examine the date paste cakes.
Everyone: ???
Is Lord An really this agreeable?
Lord An indicated that since they still had to wait for Shen Qi to return anyway, finding something to do wasn’t out of the question.
Soon the results came back: the date paste cakes had been laced with sleeping potion.
Shopkeeper Ge’s cheek twitched imperceptibly twice.
Lord An became interested. “Shang, how did you discover something was wrong with the date paste cakes?”
“It was my younger sister who discovered it.” Shang Wan gave Xiao Huan a look, and Xiao Huan stepped forward to make up for that part of the story.
Of course, she didn’t mention Yuan Yuan stopping her, but said she was good at making food and smelled something off in the date paste cakes, so she didn’t dare eat them.
Xiao Huan’s meaning was very clear: she suspected that the date paste cakes Dan Dajun brought back were the ones from Lufeng Rice Shop that they had been served.
“Lord, please don’t listen to her nonsense,” Shopkeeper Ge said. “Date paste cakes can be bought anywhere. These date paste cakes are of unknown origin, so how can you determine they have anything to do with the rice shop? They are trying to frame us. Please investigate clearly, Lord.”
This did make some sense, just like with the silver earlier—things without markings were hard to use as evidence.
Xiao Huan said, “Lord, this common woman has evidence. Please order someone to break open those date paste cakes, Lord.”
Lord An nodded, and Dan Dajun and two constables stepped forward, breaking seven or eight pieces of date paste cake into bits. From two of them, they found two round glass beads.
Dan Dajun wiped the glass beads clean and presented them to Lord An.
At the sight of the glass beads, Shopkeeper Ge’s eyes widened noticeably.
“Shopkeeper Ge, you personally gave these two beads to Yuan Yuan,” Xiao Huan said, looking at Shopkeeper Ge. “There were four in total on the counter at the rice shop, a complete set. The cracks inside can be pieced together into a chrysanthemum flower. As long as the remaining two are brought over, the truth can be verified immediately.”
Instantly, Shopkeeper Ge’s face turned green.
After scheming so much, he never expected to be undone by two glass beads.
He tried to deflect, “I don’t know why there was sleeping potion in the date paste cakes. It must be someone framing me. I…”
“Ge Shunliang!” Lord An angrily slapped the gavel. “Are you taking this official for a fool?”
“This lowly one dares not,” Shopkeeper Ge immediately prostrated himself on the ground.
Lord An narrowed his eyes and scolded, “Putting sleeping potion in the date paste cakes—what exactly was your intention?”
“It wasn’t this lowly one.” Shopkeeper Ge’s eyes darted around as he struggled for words. “It was… it was…”
He hemmed and hawed for a long time without coming up with an excuse when Shen Qi returned with Shopkeeper Qi from Qing Feng Pavilion.
Shen Qi said to the person beside him, “Take a look and see if those two are here in the court hall.”
“Yes.” Shopkeeper Qi nodded, his gaze sweeping over everyone’s faces in the court hall one by one, finally landing on Fang Cailian and Shopkeeper Ge.
Shen Qi followed his line of sight and confirmed, “It’s those two?”
Shopkeeper Qi nodded firmly.
Only then did Shen Qi step forward to report.
It turned out that on the ninth day of last month, the one who went to Qing Feng Pavilion was not Lu Chengjing but Shopkeeper Ge. Shopkeeper Ge had booked a private room at Qing Feng Pavilion and ordered a table of wine and dishes.
Not long after, Fang Cailian arrived too, telling the shop assistant she was looking for Shopkeeper Ge, and the shop assistant led her to the private room.
The two stayed in the private room for nearly two hours before coming out. Shopkeeper Ge left first, and Fang Cailian left a while later.
Shopkeeper Qi remembered it because when Fang Cailian left, her face was pale, her eyes red and slightly swollen, as if she had just been crying.
He kindly asked Fang Cailian if she was unwell, noting there was a medical hall nearby and he could send someone to take her there.
But Fang Cailian treated him like a flood or fierce beast, leaving in a hurry without even replying, as if a dog were chasing her from behind, leaving Shopkeeper Qi quite speechless.
When Shen Qi went to Qing Feng Pavilion and asked, Shopkeeper Qi immediately recalled the incident. A check of the account book confirmed it was indeed that ninth day.
Although from his description the woman was undoubtedly Fang Cailian, for caution’s sake, Shen Qi brought the man back for an in-person identification.
After hearing Shen Qi’s report, everyone looked at Shopkeeper Ge. So the adulterer was you.
“Shopkeeper, it was really you?” Fang Bao looked at Shopkeeper Ge in disbelief, unable to accept this outcome.
The shopkeeper was such a good person—how could he bully Cailian?
No, this can’t be real!
Shopkeeper Ge’s face alternated between green and white as he forcibly explained, “We just had a meal together. Nothing happened…”
“Lord.” Fang Cailian suddenly kowtowed to Lord An and said hatefully, “The one who bullied this common woman is truly Ge Shunliang, and it has nothing to do with Lu Xiucai Scholar. Ge Shunliang used the pretext of an invitation from her brother to ask this common woman to meet at Qing Feng Pavilion, where he took the opportunity to bully this common woman, causing her to become pregnant with this illegitimate child. Please uphold justice for this common woman, Lord, and severely punish this beast!”
Fang Bao felt as if a thunderbolt had struck his forehead; the whole person was stunned.
It really… was the shopkeeper.
“I’ll kill you!”
Fang Bao’s eyes turned red as he smashed a fist into Shopkeeper Ge’s nose bridge. Shopkeeper Ge wailed, and two streams of nosebleed flowed down.
Xiao Fei stepped forward to stop him. “Brother Fang Bao, the shopkeeper isn’t that kind of person. Don’t…”
“Bro, don’t believe him.” Fang Cailian’s voice was shrill as she pointed at Xiao Fei. “It was him who helped Ge Shunliang trick me into going to Qing Feng Pavilion, and then used it to threaten me and force me to submit to him. He and Ge Shunliang are in cahoots; neither is any good!”
Her emotions were too agitated, and she felt waves of cramping pain from her lower abdomen.
“Blood!” Someone exclaimed, pointing at Fang Cailian’s skirt hem, which was gradually turning red.
Fang Cailian clutched her stomach, her face pale to near transparency. Another wave of cramping pain hit, her vision went black, and she collapsed to the ground.
