Xie Shangguang grew anxious. Why did Madam suddenly stop talking?
The back room was not brightly lit. Through the latticework door, light streamed into the room in small slits. Xie Yongxin was shrouded in shadow, while Xie Shangguang and Wu Qiu were backlit.
Behind the beaded curtain, sunlight streamed through a small window, casting a shimmering silver glow on Si Xitong's upright posture.
Her gaze was piercing: "It takes two to tango?"
Xie Yongxin thought they were trying to exonerate him, so he quickly said, "Madam, you know that sexual relations between men and women are always consensual. Since they are unwilling to testify, it means that I am innocent."
Si Xitong retorted, "You claim to be innocent?"
"I am innocent!"
"She doesn't want to testify?"
Xie Yongxin pointed out, "It means she has something to hide!"
Si Xitong quickly replied, "Is the belt yours?"
Xie Shangguang threw a belt on the ground. Xie Yongxin, with a sack over his head, could still see the belt on the ground through the gap in the sack when he looked down.
"This is definitely not mine. I've never been anywhere else except to the military camp," Xie Yongxin insisted, refusing to admit it.
His mother had said that the evidence had already been disposed of, fearing it might be a trap. He just needed to deny it to the death, and there was nothing anyone could do about it. All he needed to do was hold out until his seventh uncle came to rescue him.
Xie Shangguang gritted his teeth and reminded them, "After coming of age, all Xie family members will receive a special belt bestowed by the clan. Each person has words engraved on the main jade. You can find out by sending a letter to the Southern Region."
Xie Yongxin immediately felt guilty. But then he thought that even if they communicated by letter, his seventh uncle would arrive before the letter. By then, he would be fine. Even the mistress couldn't just decide what to do with him.
Si Xitong didn't waste any words from beginning to end: "Bring up the ID card."
Xie Yongxin was annoyed by her formulaic questioning. He retorted, "I already said that the servants of Hai Mansion are all in cahoots to frame me and make me take the blame."
Immediately, the servants in Xie Yongxin's mansion were dragged to the hall. The servants saw their young master being interrogated, and there were also guards quietly brandishing their knives as a warning.
Si Xitong asked, "Where did Xie Yongxin dine on the night of the incident?"
The servant said, "Young master ate outside, and then had a late-night snack at Madam's place when he came back."
The second servant came in and said, "Young Master had a late-night snack at the Old Madam's place before returning to his study."
After saying that, I asked another question.
Si Xitong asked, "What did you have for lunch at the manor that day?"
The servant was immediately bewildered: "I can't remember."
Shouldn't the question be, "What should we eat for a late-night snack?"
Two more servants came in after that, and they had the same problem.
The two answered respectively: "It's plum blossom fragrant duck, and it's drunken shrimp!"
After that, everyone who came in gave their own answers and almost recited the entire menu.
Even when asked separately, Xie Yongxin's mother's late-night snack menu was different.
When Xie Shangguang read out the old lady's menu: "Light porridge and braised pork knuckle."
Si Xitong said, "Untie it."
After Xie Shangguang untied Xie Yongxin, Si Xitong asked again, "What did you eat for supper on your first day in Beijing?"
Xie Yongxin replied without hesitation, "I only went to my mother's house and ate some New Year's cake; I didn't eat any pork knuckle at all."
She was trying to scam him! Luckily, he had already discussed it with his mother, telling her that the late-night snack was New Year's cake from her house. How could it possibly be his most disgusting pork knuckle?
There must be a trap here.
Upon hearing this, the room fell into a deathly silence.
Xie Shangguang looked at him like he was a fool. His mistress had only asked him casually, and he had already confessed without being asked.
He reminded Xie Yongxin: "The servants in your household must be in cahoots with you, so what just happened was just a formality. Besides, you don't even know what your own mother ate for her midnight snack."
"What an unfilial son!"
"No matter how many lies you and your mother weave, the more lies you tell, the bigger the flaws will be." Si Xitong checked the itinerary records of the Xie family members and skipped the interrogation of Xie Yongxin's mother, going directly to investigate Xie Yongxin's eldest brother, Xie Yongding. Xie Yongding's military camp was special, so his daily life was documented in detail.
One of the menu items was for the first day in Beijing.
For example, Xie Yongding would have a light bowl of porridge and eat pork knuckle with his mother alone.
Xie Yongxin's mother and her retainers conspired again, but they also overlooked their eldest son, who was away on official business.
Xie Yongxin had a strained relationship with his older brother since childhood and loathed pork knuckle, whereas his mother and older brother both enjoyed it. Once, his mother ate pork knuckle in front of him, and he was so disgusted that he didn't speak to her for a month.
So his mother dared not actually tell him the menu for the late-night snack that night. She was afraid of disgusting her son, that such pampering would turn him into a spoiled brat, and that it would create a loophole in their relationship.
Xie Yongxin's initial composure began to waver again.
He still argued, "It's been so many days, it's normal not to remember! My mother's eyesight is failing and her memory is poor. She often forgets things herself, how could she remember so clearly? The kitchen cooks different dishes every day, how could everyone remember?"
"You can't lie to me like this..."
Before he could finish speaking, his officers and colleagues in the military camp had already been summoned.
The leading general said, "Madam, on our first day following the Marshal into Tianjing, we didn't have a place to eat at the mansion. Even when we were assigned a mansion, the kitchen was mostly empty. So most of the Xie family members ate either at taverns or in the military camp."
Other colleagues chimed in, “We’ve been eating and living together ever since we arrived in Beijing. Xie Yongxin was just a lowly commander and didn’t dare leave the table. He’s always been eating with us, but that one night he went home drunk with a flushed face.”
"We didn't get back home until almost dawn that night, why bother with a midnight snack!"
Upon hearing this, Xie Yongxin immediately slumped down, unable to straighten up.
His mind was in a mess as he tried to come up with a solution from his retainers. He could just deny it to the death or follow the storybook, but he couldn't think of anything about the menu.
A mere woman dared to trick him with a late-night meal, but of course he continued to deny it to the death: "Since your superiors and colleagues do not know where I went, that is, they did not see me with their own eyes, then your words cannot be taken as testimony."
Xie Shangguang couldn't help but shake his head, feeling that he was struggling in his death throes.
Si Xitong asked, "Was everything he said and did just now recorded?"
Wu Qiu said, "I've noted it down."
After the interrogation process was completed, the guilty party's actions were riddled with loopholes, yet he still showed no remorse.
Si Xitong wasted no more time. She ordered Wu Qiu and Xie Shangguang: "Examine him immediately. Check the case statement for any wounds."
Xie Shangguang and his men dragged Xie Yongxin away.
Even as disaster loomed, Xie Yongxin tried to defend himself: "The wound on my leg was from scratching myself. There are a lot of mosquitoes in the military camp, so it's normal for me to scratch myself!"
Then he was dragged to a nearby woodshed, where Wu Qiu testified that Xie Shangguang and several soldiers roughly pulled down Xie Yongxin's pants, tearing them to shreds.
Several people stared at his inner thighs and kept pinching them with their hands.
"Ah!!! Don't touch me! You bastards, when my seventh uncle comes, he will definitely not let you off!" Xie Yongxin screamed like a pig being slaughtered.
Xie Shangguang said to the soldiers, "Don't be afraid, Grandmother and I will protect you!"
Finally, Xie Shangguang found it too troublesome, so he simply cut open the skin and carefully cut along the scratch mark on his right leg that was clearly from his right hand, until he drew blood. Then he used tweezers to pick out the needle that was deep inside his thigh.
Xie Shangguang finally found a broken embroidery needle. He stirred the cut flesh with his fingers and pulled out the needle in an instant. The needle was covered in blood. He wiped it and held it up to the sunlight, discovering that there were words engraved on the needle.
These are all custom-made items within the city, and there are records of them. We can trace the source by checking.
Furthermore, ordinary people dared not imitate the inscriptions on official items, nor did they have the money to do so. Moreover, imitation would result in legal repercussions from the government, so merchants dared not place large-scale orders. Thus, small-scale productions were easily traceable.
Xie Yongxin was now completely speechless. He was covered in cold sweat as he clutched his bleeding thigh wound.
"I really didn't...."
Before he could finish speaking, Xie Shangguang punched Xie Yongxin hard in the right eye: "You're about to die and you're still arguing. I've been putting up with you for a long time."
Xie Yongxin covered his eyes, writhing on the ground in pain.
“You cannot suppress your own people because of an outsider.”
Xie Shangguang was still not satisfied: "You bastard have completely disgraced the Xie family!!"
Xie Yongxin never expected that the needle would break after that bitch stabbed him in the thigh, even though he had pulled it out when he returned home. Half of it remained inside, with words carved on it! He had never seen an embroidery needle from Tianjing, nor did he know that the nobles of Tianjing consumed mostly custom-made items.
In particular, young women in Tianjing who were of marriageable age had a custom of using embroidery needles engraved with the character "闺" (gui, meaning maiden) to embroider mandarin duck headscarves when they got married. This was a beautiful wish, hoping that they would meet a good husband in the future and grow old together with him.
Even the most impoverished noble families would carve a few words on their belongings to show their social standing.
The case is now clear. Xie Yongxin has no chance of recanting his testimony.
The women outside were pointing and whispering about Xie Yongxin.
At this moment, a righteous and awe-inspiring voice rang out from behind the beaded curtain, echoing throughout the inner hall: "Xie Yongshi has wronged the noble lady of Tianjing, repeatedly colluding with others to fabricate evidence. Now, with witnesses and physical evidence at hand, he has nowhere to escape but remains unrepentant. His mother and retainers have aided and abetted his evil deeds and are considered accomplices. Therefore, his mother and retainers shall be handed over to the ancestral hall for severe punishment according to clan law."
"As for the guilty son Xie Yongxin, he will be punished first according to the Xie clan's ancestral law."
Wu Qiu reminded him at the right moment: "According to the clan law, serious offenses are punishable by beheading."
Si Xitong said, "The Si family will definitely punish those who violate the patriarchal system in order to uphold the patriarchal system, but the patriarchal system states that those who confess will be treated leniently, and those who resist will be treated severely."
Upon hearing this, Xie Yongxin, who was outside, cried out in panic as if grasping at a straw, "Mistress, I, I confess! I am willing to accept punishment according to the patriarchal system."
Xie Shangguang was so angry that he trembled. He didn't understand why his wife brought this up. What was this talk of leniency for those who confess and severity for those who resist? This patriarchal system sounded like utter nonsense.
Wu Qiu's eyes darted around, and he quickly echoed, "What you say is absolutely right, Madam."
Si Xitong said, "According to the clan law, Xie Yongxin, the guilty son, has confessed and will be treated leniently."
"Thank you, Madam! Thank you, Madam!" Xie Yongxin kept kowtowing, pressing on his thigh wound, only thinking about saving his life at this moment.
"Shang Guang, take him to Prince Dun's residence and hand him over to the elders of the imperial clan who are in the capital there."
Xie Shangguang gritted his teeth and remained motionless.
Wu Qiu went out and gave him a wink.
"Young General, why aren't you doing as I say?"
Xie Shangguang hesitated for a moment, clenched his fist, tightened it, and finally resigned himself to taking Xie Yongxin to Prince Dun's mansion.
On the way, Xie Yongxin couldn't be more relaxed. His life was spared, and who wouldn't be happy? Presumably, when he got to Prince Dun's mansion, the elders wouldn't beat him up because of his seventh uncle.
Sure enough, the mistress, haha, the mistress's power was given to her by Madam Xie. That woman was just afraid of offending Seventh Uncle. That's why she deliberately put on airs.
"Tch, that scared me to death. Turns out it was just a paper tiger."
Xie Shangguang listened to him gossiping about Si Xitong behind his back, and he fell silent. His adoration for the mistress began to waver.
Prince Dun's Mansion.