"He faked his death to frame Zuixianlou!" The guests glared at the middle-aged couple.
The middle-aged couple were surrounded and unable to escape. Seeing the imposing and unyielding constables, their bodies went limp, and they kept kowtowing, pleading, "Spare us! Spare us!"
The constables and soldiers were summoned by them, intending to use their fake deaths to shut down Zuixianlou. Little did they expect that their scheme would be seen through, and they were the ones who ended up in jail. Princess Anjun is indeed shrewd.
"Take them away!" The constable glanced at the two men coldly, his face ruthless and merciless.
"Who took advantage of the chaos to vandalize Zuixianlou just now?" Shen Lixue's cold gaze swept over the guests in the hall, pausing on a few young people before she smiled and said, "Those who confess will be treated leniently!"
The hall was quiet. People exchanged glances without saying a word. The culprits' expressions changed slightly, but they did not admit it. They all harbored a glimmer of hope: in such a chaotic situation, Princess Anjun must not have seen who made the move. They were not so stupid as to walk into a trap.
"None of you will admit it, what a pity. I was thinking that you could just say sorry and that would be enough!" Shen Lixue shook her head, her fair hand quickly pointing at the young men: "You, you, and you, you smashed the table just now, I saw it all clearly!"
The young man who was pointed at was shocked. In such a chaotic situation, how could Princess Anjun have seen it all so accurately!
The officers and soldiers stepped forward and helped them out. They were terrified and kept apologizing, saying, "I'm sorry, we didn't mean to!"
"Whether it was intentional or not, if they broke things, they have to pay for it!" Shen Lixue turned to the shopkeeper: "Shopkeeper, calculate the damage in the hall and have those people pay for it!"
"Yes!" The shopkeeper smiled slightly, his abacus clicking away as he muttered to himself, "One table, fifty taels; one set of chairs, fifty taels; one meal, one thousand taels..."
The men grew increasingly alarmed as they listened. How could they possibly afford to pay such a large sum of silver? They immediately knelt down and begged for mercy: "Spare us! Spare us! Princess Consort, we really didn't mean to!"
"Yes, Princess Consort, my husband and I really didn't mean to harm Zuixianlou!" the middle-aged couple shouted, clinging to the wall, refusing to be taken away.
"I see!" Shen Lixue pretended to hesitate for a moment before generously saying, "Seeing how sad you are, I won't make things difficult for you. As long as you tell me who the mastermind is and compensate for the losses at Zuixianlou, this matter will be wiped clean!"
---Aside---
(*^__^*) Hehe... Thank you so much for the flowers, diamonds, tips, and votes, everyone! Mwah!
Chapter 168 Seeking his own death, he moved his forces to Xiliang.
Zuixianlou is the number one restaurant in Qingyan Capital. It has been open for many years and its business is getting better and better. Even if people don't know who the owner is, they can guess that he must be rich and noble. If there is no one behind him, these people will definitely not dare to cause trouble here.
The middle-aged man was startled, but quickly regained his composure. He knelt down with a thud, his face contorted with grief, his voice choked with sobs, tears streaming down his face:
“We were not ordered by anyone, but we were short of money. Seeing that the Drunken Immortal Pavilion was bustling with people and doing good business, we had a wicked idea. We faked our deaths to trick the manager into giving us some money. We have an eighty-year-old grandmother to support and a newborn child to raise. We beg Your Highness to have mercy and spare our lives!”
The more people involved, the more complicated things become. If they admit that they simply wanted to scam money, it would be much simpler. In front of so many guests, Princess Anjun cannot punish them severely.
"Yes, yes, please, Princess Consort An, show mercy! We will be eternally grateful..." The ruffians exchanged glances, their eyes gleaming, and echoed the middle-aged man's words. It was just a scam, and no one had been hurt. If they stuck to this excuse, they probably wouldn't be severely punished.
Shen Lixue looked at the man with a half-smile. He was clever enough to take all the blame upon himself, but unfortunately, "The fake death pill you took was extremely effective; you couldn't buy it for less than a hundred taels of silver!"
In ordinary society, one hundred taels of silver is enough for a moderately well-off family to live on for several years. If he could take out one hundred taels to buy a fake death drug to deceive people, how could he not have money to live on? In other words, the drug was a family heirloom, and he could have easily sold it to a pharmacy for silver. There was no need for him to take it himself to deceive people.
The middle-aged man was suddenly startled. He truly had no idea that the fake death pill was worth so much silver. Caught completely off guard, their lie had been easily exposed by Princess Anjun. What should they do? If they didn't confess to being the mastermind, they would be thrown into jail and have to pay compensation. But if they did confess, they wouldn't have a good ending either…
The scammers exchanged awkward, stiff smiles, their expectant gazes landing on the middle-aged men as if to say, "Hurry up and think of a way to get out of this mess!"
Shen Lixue's gaze sharpened. These people were led by a middle-aged man, but this man was cunning and treacherous, and it wouldn't be easy to force him to tell the truth. She would have to find a breakthrough by talking to the others.
"I know you all have elderly parents and young children to support, and your finances are tight. How about this: the first person to confess will be spared imprisonment and will not have to compensate Zuixianlou for its losses. In addition, you will receive a resettlement allowance of one hundred taels of silver..."
Money makes the world go round. These people came to Zuixianlou to cause trouble simply because they had been paid by others to help them get rid of trouble. Since they wanted money, she would give them money, make them turn against her, and expose the mastermind behind it all.
A reward of one hundred taels! That's a windfall!
The men's eyes darted around, their small eyes gleaming. With this hundred taels of silver, they wouldn't have to worry about food and drink anymore. Their lips moved as they were about to speak when the middle-aged man's deep voice rang out first:
"Your Highness, one hundred taels of silver is indeed a great temptation for us, but we really did not have anyone instructing us. If we were to randomly name someone and wrong that person, and also lead you astray, we would be committing a serious crime. We really did not mean anything by this. Please forgive us!"
Shen Lixue was merely speculating without concrete evidence. She was trying to trick them with words and tempt them with money. As long as they remained tight-lipped and refused to divulge anything, Shen Lixue wouldn't dare to do anything to them in broad daylight and under the watchful eyes of everyone. But if they gave in, then they would truly be in trouble.
The henchmen exchanged glances, looking at each other in bewilderment. The middle-aged man had already made his position clear; even if they revealed the mastermind now, people would assume they were just making up names for money.
Whispers arose from the crowd: "Without a mastermind behind it all, forcing them to confess is indeed asking the impossible!"
"Yes, judging from their appearance, they don't seem to be lying!"
"The Princess Consort is a reasonable person and will not make things too difficult for them!"
Shen Lixue smiled. The middle-aged man had cleverly concealed the mastermind behind the scenes with just a few words and even pinned the fabricated charge of deliberately forcing her on her.
The whispers of the crowd lingered in her ears. Shen Lixue said generously, "Since there is no mastermind behind this, I will not force you. You all have families to take care of, so you don't need to go to jail. After receiving a hundred strokes of the cane, you can go home. However, you must remember to compensate Zuixianlou for its losses."
The group was shocked. A hundred strokes of the cane was indeed a light punishment compared to going to jail, but it was a full hundred strokes. If they were hit, they would either die or be seriously injured and paralyzed, becoming useless for the rest of their lives. There was also the huge amount of compensation. They were just ordinary people; how could they afford to pay it?
Those people did indeed fake their deaths and deceive people, and they even vandalized the Drunken Immortal Pavilion. Shen Lixue's punishment was reasonable, so no one said anything more. Several guards stepped forward, pulled those people down, and pressed them onto stools, preparing to beat them with a board.
Looking at the thick, long board, the men felt a chill run down their spines. One blow and their buttocks would be covered in welts. They watched as the guards raised the board high, a whooshing sound filling the air, as the board struck them hard. One man, terrified, wet himself and cried out in alarm:
"I confess, I confess everything! It was Young Master Li Fan from the Prime Minister's Mansion who sent us to smash up Zuixianlou. He also gave us the fake death drug and promised to give each of us fifty taels of silver after it was done!"
The guests were instantly shocked. Young Master Li of the Prime Minister's Mansion was a good person, so why would he bribe someone to vandalize Zuixianlou?
Shen Lixue raised an eyebrow. Li Fan, it was actually him! The Prime Minister's Mansion had great power and a good reputation in the capital. This person's one-sided statement was not enough to convict Li Fan.
Her gaze sharpened, and she feigned anger, saying, "Nonsense! Li Fan, as the eldest grandson of the Prime Minister, is upright and honest. How could he do such a despicable thing? You are in such a hurry to exonerate yourself, but you can't just falsely accuse someone!"
"We didn't wrong him!" The man pointed at the middle-aged man with trembling hands: "Young Master Li gave him a deposit of one hundred taels of silver, from Huitong Money Exchange..."
The guards stepped forward and took out a silver note from the middle-aged man's sleeve. Just as the man had said, it was a one-hundred-tael Huitong Bank silver note.
The middle-aged man glared at him fiercely, gritting his teeth, without saying a word!
The man lowered his head, not daring to meet the middle-aged man's angry gaze.