Lord Liang looked slightly angry. "Since you admit that you did it, why do you say you are innocent? You hurt your stepmother and stepsister for no reason. According to the law, you are guilty."
Zi'an said calmly: "Since you are asking, why don't you first ask me why I hurt them?"
Lord Liang said unhappily, "No matter what the reason is, you can't hurt others in private. Although your stepmother is not your mother, she is still your elder. Besides, you have seriously injured them, which is a violation of the law. In front of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and the Princess, you actually said that you are innocent? As the eldest daughter of the Xiangfu, how can you be so unkind and unfilial first, and then be so shameless?"
Murong Zhuangzhuang frowned slightly after hearing what Lord Liang said. How could this be a question? She didn't ask about the facts, but only accused him of being righteous. It seemed that she was wrong to tell Zi'an that neither she nor Old Seven could be partial to others, because someone had already been partial to others.
She was about to speak up to help, but Zi'an had already spoken, "Sir, my mother is the mistress of the prime minister's mansion. Although she has no title, she is the wife of the prime minister of the current dynasty. The wife of a first-rank official of the current dynasty was murdered and pushed off the carriage. How serious do you think this matter is?"
Lord Liang was startled, "Is there such a thing?"
"My mother was on her way back home from the palace when she was pushed off the carriage by my stepmother and stepsister. She was severely injured and blinded. As the eldest daughter of the prime minister's family, may I ask, sir, from the perspective of the laws and etiquette of our Great Zhou, do I have the power to punish the murderer who murdered my mother?"
Zi'an's sentences were powerful, starting with the law and then moving on to etiquette. Although his words were short, they were flawless, leaving Lord Liang almost without a chance to refute.
Lord Liang had no choice but to look at Madam Linglong. "Ms. Chen, Xia Zian accused you of pushing the mistress off the carriage, causing her to be seriously injured and blinded. What is your defense for this matter?"
Madam Linglong cried and shouted that it was unfair, "Sir, this is absolutely unfair. How could I do such a vicious thing?"
"What exactly happened? Tell me in detail." Although Lord Liang had a serious expression, his tone was very gentle.
Madam Linglong said, "My Lord, this is what happened. I went to the palace to attend a banquet last night. When I left the palace, it was already past midnight. The Prime Minister sent me and the others out of the palace, and said he wanted to have a drink with the Grand Tutor, and asked Madam and I to take Wan'er back home first. When we left the palace, everything was fine. Madam said she was tired and wanted to rest, and she didn't allow me to talk to Wan'er. Later, Wan'er accidentally said that she was worried about the prince, and Madam immediately got angry and cursed a lot of ugly words, saying that Wan'er was a slut and shameful, and shouldn't have gone to plead for the prince. I and her Wan'er didn't dare to say anything at first, knowing that she had always been in this temper in the mansion, and thought that it would be fine if she let her vent. Who knew that she would go too far and insulted me and Wan'er. I couldn't help it, so I said a few words to her. This time, the words were terrible. Madam hit me like crazy, slapping me on the face. Wan'er pulled her away and stood between me and her. Seeing that she couldn't hit me, she actually lifted the curtain and jumped down. Before jumping down, she also said that she would make me bear the crime of murdering the mistress. "
Madam Linglong spoke very vividly and vividly, even adding actions. The grief and indignation in her eyes could not be concealed, as if she had suffered a great injustice.
"And then?" Lord Liang continued to ask when he saw that Zi'an did not argue.
"Not long after she jumped off, a carriage came up to stop us. It was the princess's guards. They said we were involved in a wounding case and wanted to take us back for questioning. On the way back, we happened to meet the crown prince. When His Highness heard that we were involved in a wounding case, he wanted to go with us to take a look. When we arrived at the clinic, we found out that it was the princess and Xia Zian who rescued the lady. The princess asked about the reason, and before I could say anything, Xia Zian came forward and grabbed my hair and dragged me to the door. She was very strong, as if she wanted to put me to death. She grabbed my hair and slammed me towards the door. No matter how I begged for mercy, she was merciless. After dragging me against the wall, she still didn't let me go. She took out a sharp dagger and cut off my finger. Wan'er came forward to save me, but she was disfigured by the dagger. The blood splattered all over her face, but she was still sneering."
She described the process of Zi'an's violence in great detail, even describing his facial expressions like a sneer. If someone who didn't know the inside story heard it, they would only think that Xia Zi'an was extremely cruel and could be so cruel even to his own step-mother and sister.
Madam Linglong finished speaking and continued crying, "Sir, everything I said is true. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and the Princess are here watching. If you don't believe me, you can ask His Royal Highness and the Princess."
Lord Liang took a deep breath, looked at Zi'an and asked sternly, "How could you be so cruel? You are the eldest daughter of the Xiangfu. What else do you have to say now? Quickly take out the dagger you used to commit the crime."
Zi'an didn't take it, but stepped forward with a somewhat sarcastic look on his face, "Sir, you have been in charge of the security of the capital for many years, and you are well versed in the way of trying cases. You should also understand that to investigate a case and collect evidence, you need to listen to the statements of both parties. Now you only listened to her, without asking the witnesses, me, or my mother, and then you said that I was cruel and asked me to take out the so-called murder weapon. I really don't know how many of the cases you have tried over the years are false and wrongful convictions."
The old lady seemed to finally be unable to hold back her anger and shouted angrily, "You still dare to quibble? If you plead guilty quickly, we can let you off the hook. If you force yourself to quibble and refuse to admit your guilt, it will only increase your punishment. By then, even the Prime Minister's Mansion will not be able to protect you."
Zi'an said coldly, "Madam, I never dared to hope that the Prime Minister's Mansion would protect me. You set up this formation tonight, aren't you trying to get me into prison? Since you want to use this case as an excuse, let's talk about it."
She turned and looked at Madam Linglong, her eyes as cold as if they were quenched with broken ice, "You said that my mother insulted you and beat you in the carriage, and even jumped off the carriage to frame you for murdering the mistress. Not to mention that there were no witnesses, even if there were, when she jumped off, why didn't you stop the carriage to save her?"
Madam Linglong seemed to have expected her to ask this question, and said calmly: "When she jumped down, the carriage was not moving fast, it was very slow. Wan'er even lifted the curtain to take a look, and she was able to stand up when she jumped down."
"Well, even if she could stand up, you didn't stop the car and kept going forward. So, you were going to abandon her on this deserted street after 11 p.m. tonight, right?" Zi'an continued to question.
Madam Linglong's face changed. "No, no, I was a little dizzy after being hit by her, and I couldn't recover for a while. Besides, I didn't realize that the carriage didn't turn around. I thought the coachman would turn around."
It would be a big deal if the mistress of the prime minister's mansion was thrown out and spread out.
Zi'an took another step closer, "So the driver knew that my mother had fallen, right?"
"This, he should know. There was a loud noise when she jumped, and the street was quiet and deserted. He should..." Madam Linglong stuttered. She had not thought about these details at the time. She thought that with so many people present, there was no need to delve into these details.
She didn't realize at all that her thoughts had been drawn away by Zi'an.
(End of this chapter)