Don't disturb me, I won't be a concubine

Minister Han took Zhou, Lu Wenchen and Mother Wang back to the Ministry of Justice.

As soon as Lord Cheng, the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, and Lord Wei, the Minister of the Supreme Court, arrived, the case began to be tried.

Other officials from the three offices also came to listen. Dong Jingtang, who felt that he was quite familiar with Lu Siheng, also sat aside.

Lu Siheng, Zhou, and Lu Wenchen stood in the hall, while Mother Wang knelt with her head bowed, trembling.

Han Shangshu, as the presiding judge, spoke first: "Ms. Zhou, do you admit that Lu Siheng has accused you of murdering his biological mother?"

"He is making a false accusation. Why should I admit to something I didn't do?" Zhou held her head high.

"You said you didn't do it, but I have a confession signed by your son Lu Wenchen. It says that he heard you say that when Marquis Lu left the capital to fight the enemy, you replaced Fu's medicine, leaving her sick and unable to be cured. You also verbally humiliated her at every turn and ordered her to do some dirty and tiring work, which eventually exhausted her physically and mentally and caused her to die of illness."

Minister Han asked someone to show them the paper with the confession.

Hearing this, Zhou looked at Lawrence Lu beside her in disbelief, “You, what did you do?!”

“No, it’s not me,” Lu Wenchen waved his hands quickly, “I didn’t say these words, this confession has nothing to do with me…”

When he saw the piece of paper with the confession, he said with absolute certainty: "This is definitely my handwriting."

Zhou, who had originally felt a little scared, turned around and said, "My three lords, this thing must have been forged by Lu Siheng! He has always been resentful of me because I opposed him entering the Lu family tree. Now that the Marquis has just left, he can't wait to frame us, an orphan and a widow."

"The confession does not need to be written by the person himself. What matters is the signature on it." Han Shangshu ordered, "Come here, bring a piece of paper for Lu Wenchen to sign."

Lu Wenchen subconsciously put his hands behind his back, “I don’t draw…”

"Since you suspect the confession is forged, check to see if it is your fingerprint, so as to prove your innocence."

Zhou was fearless as she believed her son was not stupid enough to do such a thing.

"Wen Chen, show them, let them know who is making trouble out of nothing and slandering maliciously."

For some reason, Lu Wenchen felt nervous and he pressed his fingerprints on the paper with trepidation.

Minister Han and the other two carefully compared the two handprints and finally nodded in unison.

"It has been confirmed that this confession was indeed signed by Lu Wenchen himself." Minister Han announced the result.

"Impossible, you must have seen it wrong." Zhou didn't believe it.

Lu Siheng said, "This was given to me by Qingyan."

"Qingyan..." Lu Wenchen murmured, his eyes unfocused.

Zhou glared at Lawrence Lu fiercely, and then said loudly: “That’s even more impossible. She disappeared before returning to Beijing. How could she have given it to you?”

"Who is this Qingyan?" asked Lord Cheng.

"Qingyan and I have known each other for many years, and I regard her as a confidant. She was poor when she was young and was sold to Baihua Tower. A few months ago, she was bought by Zhou and sent to my courtyard. During the time I was in Xizhou, someone saw Lu Wenchen having close contacts with her and even secretly went to my courtyard to see her." Lu Siheng suppressed his emotions and explained.

"You're talking nonsense! My son is of noble status and would never associate with such a lowly woman." Zhou believed that she had already handled everything and was not afraid.

"I have witnesses."

Minister Han slammed the gavel and said, "Bring the witness to the court."

Everyone's eyes turned to the door. When they saw Lin Zhong and four ragged young men and women coming in, Mother Wang, who was lying on the ground, trembled even more violently.

Lin Zhong and his men knelt in the hall. "I am Third Master's follower, Lin Zhong. We were originally servants in the Marquis' Mansion. We were driven out of the Mansion on the day Miss Yu Qingyan disappeared, and were drugged, which made us mute."

After hearing Lin Zhong's words, Zhou finally lost her composure and stared at the four servants. She had already guessed what was going on with them. She had asked Mother Wang to handle the matter, but she didn't expect such a big mistake to happen.

Lu Siheng did not miss Zhou's changing expression, and said to the three adults in the hall: "That confession was given to me by Lin Zhong the day before Qingyan disappeared."

"Yes, the things were handed to me personally by Miss Qingyan, and she told me to keep them well." Lin Zhong said immediately.

"What are the other four here to prove?"

"Except for the younger one, they have also seen the elder and Miss Qingyan together."

Lord Wei, who had been silent the whole time, spoke up: “Is it because they saw Lu Wenchen and Qingyan getting close that they were poisoned and driven out?”

"Yes sir."

"The four of you raise your heads," Han Shangshu continued to ask after the four servants raised their heads, "was what Lin Zhong said just now correct?"

The four of them nodded timidly.

"Let me ask you again, who poisoned you and made you mute?"

The four of them pointed at Mother Wang without hesitation.

"Mother Wang, you fed them mute potions and drove them out of the house. Were you under someone's orders?"

Mother Wang shook her head repeatedly. When she saw the few people, she had already thought of an excuse, "It's not like that, sir. They made a mistake, so I punished them. It has nothing to do with you, Master."

"What mistake did they make?"

"They stole the property in the mansion!"

"Ah ah ah..."

The four speechless people waved their hands anxiously.

Han Shangshu was also anxious, "Can you write?"

One of the boys raised his hand.

Mother Wang secretly regretted that she had made such a mistake and had not expected that there was someone who could read.

"Someone, give him paper and pen." Minister Han ordered.

The servant grabbed a pen and scribbled on the paper, "She is wrong, we didn't steal anything."

He originally wanted to write "she lied", but he didn't know how to write the word "lie", so he gave up after crossing it out twice. There were also mistakes in other words, but at least the meaning was clear.

After reading the contents of the paper, Han Shangshu gave it to the other two adults and asked, "How do you prove your words?"

The servant thought for a moment in distress, then leaned over and wrote, "She asked us that morning whether we had seen the master and Miss Qingyan together."

This connected the dots. Han Shangshu asked the other three people, "Mother Wang asked you this morning if you had seen Lawrence Lu and Qingyan together, and then she kicked you out that day on the grounds that you stole property?"

The remaining three were all girls. They nodded with tears in their eyes and opened their mouths to express their grievances, but they could only make "ah ah" sounds.

"On the same day, Qingyan disappeared and they were driven out by Du Ya. How could it be such a coincidence?" Han Shangshu slammed the gavel and asked, "Mother Wang, I order you to tell the truth. Was Qingyan's disappearance caused by you? Who instructed you to do so?"

If it can be proved that Qingyan disappeared because they discovered that she had an affair with Lu Wenchen, then the credibility of the confession will be higher.