Poor Lady

"Who is kneeling in the hall?" Zhou Du asked with a pat on the wood.

"Qi's parent's daughter Surong." Qi Surong replied.

"Qi's daughter, someone has accused you of poisoning Cao Xiang, the second son of the Cao family, can you plead guilty?"

"My lord knows, the little girl definitely did not poison the young master of the Cao family." Qi Surong said calmly, "A few days ago, the little girl was invited by the Miss Su family and went to the Su mansion. The girl's girl followed the servant to fetch things, and there was only the little girl left in the room. At this moment, Mr. Cao suddenly broke in, intending to insult me, and the little girl looked him in the eyes in order to protect herself. A sprinkling of paprika."

"You said you sprinkled him with a handful of chili powder?"

"Exactly."

"Is your chili powder in this kit?" Zhou Du picked up a kit from the desk.

Qi Surong looked up and replied, "Exactly. The golden butterfly on the bag was embroidered by the little woman herself."

Zhou Du sneered: "Really? Then you dare to say that the package contains chili powder? This official asked someone to test it, and it is obviously scorpion poison powder."

Qi Surong's eyes narrowed, and she stared at the kit: "Scorpion poison powder?"

"That's right." Zhou Du said coldly, "This kind of poisonous powder can be deadly, and if it gets into the eyes, it can cause blindness."

"I've never seen any scorpion venom powder. The chili powder in the kit must have been replaced."

"This kit has been included in the yamen since the day of the accident. Do you suspect that this official is cheating?"

"Little girls don't dare." Qi Surong was silent for a moment, then asked, "Excuse me, sir, how is Young Master Cao's injury?"

"After being diagnosed by several doctors, he was diagnosed with blindness in both eyes." Zhou Du said, "The nature of this case is different. Qi's daughter, you deliberately poisoned Mr. Cao, the evidence is conclusive, and you still don't plead guilty?"

"What do you mean by the so-called conclusive evidence? Just by the bag in your hand?"

"Of course not more." Zhou Du said sharply, "In addition to Miss Su, there were also the daughter of Governor Li, the daughter of Supervisor Fang Yuan, the daughter of Wang Shilang, and their entourage servants, a total of twelve Everyone has provided powerful testimony. At that time, Mr. Cao’s eyes were red and the pain was not constant, and you admitted that his injury was indeed caused by you.”

"My lord, it is clear that Young Master Cao intends to be frivolous with me. The little girl sprinkled chili powder on him just to protect herself. She has never used any scorpion venom powder." Qi Surong defended himself.

Zhou Du asked: "Then do you have any evidence to prove that Young Master Cao is lighter than you, and do you have any evidence to prove that you only used chili powder at that time?"

"The little girl doesn't believe that Young Master Cao is really blind, and asked the adults to announce him to the court and examine his injuries on the spot." Qi Surong said without fear.

Zhou Du said: "It's okay to let him go to court, but he is the son of an official family, and you are just a flat girl. You hurt others first, and disrespect last, this official will punish you thirty big board first."

As soon as these words came out, Gu Jinyun in the crowd couldn't help but want to rush over, but was grabbed by the attendant beside him. Qi Shuo didn't care, he kicked off the yamen blocking the road, rushed into the court, and shouted, "Who dares to hurt my Qi's daughter!"

"Bold, dare to trespass the court! Come on, shoot this person out!" Zhou Du ordered.

"Zhou Pifu, you dare!" Qi Shuo glared at him with anger.

"Qi Shuo, you don't have an official title now, you are trespassing in the court, and you can't discipline. Do you really think this official is afraid that you won't succeed?"

Qi Surong secretly felt that something was wrong, and Zhou Du seemed to intend to anger his father. If he did it in court, his father would not be able to escape the guilt.

She hurriedly knelt down and said, "My lord, the flat girl is willing to be punished."

"Su Rong!" Qi's father shouted.

Qi Surong took his father's hand and persuaded in a low voice, "Father, don't be impulsive, the clearer is self-clearing, and your daughter will be fine."

"It's going to be okay?" Father Qi said angrily, "If you go down the thirty boards, will you still be okay?"

"Father, this matter is obviously framed by someone deliberately. If you conflict with the government, you will inevitably end up in jail, so who else can appeal for her daughter?" Qi Surong said earnestly, "Father, bear with me for now, thirty big boards, My daughter can take it."

Qi's father frowned, his fists clenched loudly, and finally retreated after being driven out by the yamen.

Zhou Du snorted coldly and ordered: "Come here, punish him."

Qi Surong was placed on the ground, and the two yamen raised their wooden sticks and hit her hard.

She bit her lip, not allowing herself to make any sound. It doesn't matter, what is this kind of pain compared to the suffering of the previous life?

Qi's father had blue veins on his forehead, his chest heaved violently, and he had the heart to kill. How has his daughter ever been insulted and beaten like this? It's just that he was useless and failed to keep the Qi family's position.

Gu Jinyun's eyes were cold, and the wooden stick fell on Su Rong again and again, as if it was hit hard in his heart. Looking at the gradually blood-stained clothes, he only felt a heart-wrenching pain. For the first time, I felt so incompetent that I couldn't even protect my own woman.

Thirty boards were passed, and the yamen retired to the side.

At this time, Cao Xiang slowly walked into the court with the help of two servants.

He bowed slightly: "Cao Xiang has seen Lord Zhou."

"Young Master Cao, you are injured, you can sit down and hear the trial. Come and watch."

"Thank you sir."

Qi Surong stood up with difficulty, turned to look at Cao Xiang, and saw that he was sitting on a chair with gauze covering his eyes and neatly dressed.

She straightened her back and said with a pale face, "Please send someone to examine your injuries."

Zhou Du ordered someone to invite a doctor, and the doctor helped Cao Xiang untie the gauze, revealing a pair of red and swollen eyes. After checking for a while, the doctor replied: "Sir Qi, this young man's eyes were injured by the scorpion poison powder, so he became blind."

"Is there a way to cure it?" Zhou Du asked.

"This poison is quite domineering and difficult to eradicate. Even if all the toxins are removed in the future, vision will be affected." , this son is afraid that he will be disabled in the future."

"Qi Surong, you're so cruel!" Cao Xiang slapped the armrest and said angrily, "Although I don't agree with you, I won't let you do such a cruel thing! Give me back my eyes!"

The people on the outside of the official government were quite sympathetic to Qi Surong, but after seeing Cao Xiang, they began to accuse Qi Surong of being too vicious.

When Qi Surong heard the doctor's diagnosis, she knew that she was powerless to recover. It was carefully planned from start to finish. The poisonous powder in the kit was exchanged, the doctor was bribed, Cao Xiang pretended to be blind, and Zhou Du cooperated in secret.

"Qi Surong, what else do you have to say now?" Zhou Du asked.

"The little girl has nothing to say." Qi Surong said expressionlessly.

"Then, can you plead guilty to poisoning Young Master Cao?"

"The little girl doesn't recognize it."

"With all the evidence and evidence, you still dare to argue?"

Qi Surong knew that this prison disaster was inevitable, and she had no intention of getting rid of the crime. She was willing to exchange a few years of prison disaster for the Qi family's future peace. But she must not take the initiative to admit this crime, otherwise it will definitely bring shame to the Qi family.

"You plead not guilty, is there any evidence to prove your innocence?"

"The little girl was framed." Qi Surong said firmly.

"Who framed you?"

"The little girl doesn't know."

Zhou Du said angrily: "Are you playing tricks on this official? Come on, get a stick, this official wants to see how hard you can be today?"

The yamen on both sides walked over fiercely with torture instruments.

"Ah!" Qi Surong's ankle was tightened by the clamp, and she couldn't help crying out in pain.

The yamen was unrelenting, almost pinching off her legs. Qi Surong was in extreme pain, and finally collapsed on the ground unable to hold on. Before she fell into a coma, she was secretly glad that it wasn't her hand...

Seeing her fainted, Zhou Du patted Xingmu and said loudly: "This official has pronounced the case that the Qi family daughter was suspected of poisoning Cao Gongzi, and Qi Surong cast scorpion poison powder on him because he was not angry with Cao Xiang's rhetoric/play. As a result of his blindness, he was too defensive. The guilty woman Qi Surong is now sentenced to five years in prison and fined 3,000 taels of silver."

As soon as the sentence came out, Qi's father didn't respond, but Cao Xiang refused to accept it: "My lord, this woman caused me to lose my sight. Five years' imprisonment is too light."

Zhou Du said displeasedly: "If you have any objection to the judge's judgment, you can appeal for a severe sentence, and you can't criticize it in court."

Only then did Cao Xiang stop.

"Master Zhou, the Qi family's daughter hasn't pleaded guilty yet, so how can the case be settled?" Gu Jinyun gestured to a servant beside him and asked.

"This officer will wait for the guilty woman to be drawn and detained, and then submit the verdict to the Ministry of Punishment." Zhou Du patted the wood and ordered, "Come here, take the guilty woman into custody and retire from the court."

Qi's father stood stiffly outside the mansion, staring coldly at the closed mansion door.

Gu Jinyun turned around resolutely and ordered his attendants to find the doctor. Surong told him not to see her or take risks for her. But why is she willing to go to jail, and what is it worth her five years of unjust imprisonment in exchange?

In any case, he couldn't ignore it. Su Rong, you wait. I and you will definitely return your innocence and take you out of that prison.

Ping'er brought the doctor to the prison.

After the doctor checked the pulse, he said to Ping'er: "Miss Qi mainly suffers from skin and flesh injuries. As long as she applies medicine regularly, it will be fine. But the environment in the prison is damp and cold, and it is easy to catch cold and cause other diseases. The old man gave her a prescription. Two prescriptions, one for external application to the wound, and one for body conditioning. You remember to take her on time."

"Understood, thank you doctor." Ping'er took the recipe and thanked him with tears.

She wiped Qi Surong's body, briefly treated the wound, and then helped her change into the prison uniform. The female prisoner's prison is relatively remote, with walls on three sides and no one around. If it weren't for this, Ping'er would not dare to help her clean her body, change her clothes, and apply medicine.

"Are you all right? It's time to visit the prison." There was an urging voice from the yamen outside.

"Okay, come out now." Ping'er covered Surong with a quilt and whispered, "Miss, you have a good rest, and Ping'er will see you tomorrow."

The next day, the story of the daughter of the Qi family poisoning the son of the Cao family was quickly heard in the streets. All kinds of rumors emerged one after another, some said that the Qi family girl was vicious, some said that Cao Xiang was misbehaving, and some were still speculating whether the two were really having an affair...

Yunrong Xiuzhuang's business also plummeted. The Qi family may also bear a fine of 3,000 taels of silver, and Qi Surong's reputation will be damaged. If you want to help her reverse the case, the key is to expose Cao Xiang's blind disguise. But Cao Xiang has been behind closed doors, and there is no chance to start.