Lin Yao headed straight for the main hall. Duke Lin was in the middle of receiving a guest; when he saw her, his brow furrowed instantly. “What are you doing here?”
“Father, you are a Duke, yet you allow a concubine to frame others. They say a man who cannot keep his own house in order cannot govern a nation. If word of this gets out, what will people think of you?” Lin Yao asked coldly.
“What nonsense are you spouting? Guards, drag her out!” He then turned to his guest. “My daughter has lost her mind, pay her no soul.”
Two servants moved to grab her, but Lin Yao shrugged them off with a sharp glare. “Father, do you really think you can bury the truth? Are you truly not afraid that I will take this to Prince Yu and have him demand justice for me?”
At the mention of Prince Yu, even the guest’s attention was piqued. Prince Yu—a top candidate for the throne—was a man of immense status.
Duke Lin wavered, his voice lacking conviction. “The Prince… why would the Prince concern himself with such trivial matters?”
“Fine. Even if the Prince won’t intervene, I shall go to the Court of Judicial Review and ask the lords there to judge this case for me.”
“Impudent girl! Lord Tang right here is the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review!” Duke Lin blurted out.
Lin Yao turned her gaze toward the guest. So, this was the famous Lord Tang.
“So this is Lord Tang. I have long heard of your legendary discernment and your reputation for being an upright, outspoken official. Seeing you today, you truly do radiate an aura of integrity,” Lin Yao praised.
Lord Tang, instantly flattered by the girl’s words, felt a bit more important. He cleared his throat and said, “Duke Lin, your daughter seems to have a genuine grievance. Why not hear her out?”
Forced into a corner, Duke Lin had to address the issue. “How was your mother framed? There was both physical evidence and eyewitness testimony.”
“Father, bring Madame Chen and those servants here. I want to re-examine them,” Lin Yao demanded.
Duke Lin was annoyed by his daughter’s “willfulness,” but with Lord Tang watching, he had no choice. “Bring Madame Chen and the servants from yesterday.” He then turned to Tang. “Brother Tang, this is a shameful family matter. Perhaps we should resume our discussion tomorrow?”
“Father, Lord Tang is a man of justice. Why not have him stay and act as a witness?” Lin Yao countered. She knew that with an outsider present, her father wouldn’t dare protect Madame Chen too blatantly.
As for Lord Tang, he had been disappointed at the prospect of missing out on the gossip. Lin Yao’s suggestion was exactly what he wanted. He sat back down, finding the girl more likable by the second.
A moment later, Madame Chen arrived, followed by the man in question, Li Da, and the servants who had testified against Concubine Zhao.
Lin Yao’s eyes narrowed into slits when she saw Li Da. This brute was an old acquaintance from her past life! She instantly understood why Madame Chen had conspired with him.
This Li Da was the younger brother of Gu Yulan’s mother—the “precious darling” of the Li family. He was a shiftless rogue, a lazy drunkard who spent his days leaching off his sister and his nights squandering money at brothels. Because of his reputation, no one would marry their daughter to him; he was an aging bachelor with a foul temper.
In her past life, after Lin Yao married into the Gu family, Li Da had been a constant nightmare. He frequently harassed her and would often steal the meager earnings she made from selling tofu. Worse, Gu Yulan’s mother doted on him; whenever Lin Yao complained, the older woman would throw a tantrum on the floor.
Even now, the memory of Gu Yulan’s wretched relatives made Lin Yao’s skin crawl. She felt a wave of relief that Lin Shu had married him instead of her.
She pieced it together: Lin Shu must have been pressured by her mother-in-law to find work for her uncle, so Lin Shu shoved the man into the Lin estate. Backed by Lin Shu and Madame Chen, Li Da acted as if he owned the place. When Concubine Zhao rejected his advances and beat him for it, he likely went back to complain. To appease him and save face, they framed Zhao for seduction.
Madame Chen also had her own motive. She was a miser who viewed the 1,000 taels Lin Yao had taken as a piece of her own flesh. She wanted to take her spite out on Zhao. She only spared Zhao’s life at the last second because she remembered Lin Yao’s threat before entering the Prince’s manor.
“Li Da,” Lin Yao questioned sharply. “You say Concubine Zhao seduced you. What exactly do you think she saw in you?”
“My good looks, obviously,” Li Da replied with sickening confidence.
Lord Tang looked at the man’s squat, ugly frame and did his best to stifle a laugh.
Lin Yao turned to the servants. “And all of you saw my mother pursuing Li Da?”
The servants stole nervous glances at Madame Chen before nodding guiltily.
“You had better not lie,” Lin Yao’s voice turned cold and heavy with pressure. “Lord Tang is from the Court of Judicial Review. He can see through a lie the moment it leaves your lips. Do you know the penalty for perjury and framing an innocent person? You will be beaten to death and your corpses left in the wilderness!”
Lord Tang thought to himself: Well, it’s not quite that severe… But he was impressed. This girl could lie with a straight face. If he didn’t know the law so well, he might have believed her.
“If you speak the truth now and atone for your crimes, I shall see to it your punishment is lightened,” Lord Tang added, playing along.
The servants broke instantly. “We… we didn’t see the Concubine seduce him! It was Li Da! He was the one harassing her!”
“Then why did you lie?” Lin Yao pressed.
“Yes,” Lord Tang added. “Why lie? Name the person behind this, and you shall not be prosecuted.”
The servants looked at Madame Chen, trembling and silent.
“Enough, enough,” Duke Lin cut in. “We know Zhao was framed. Let the matter end here.”
Madame Chen let out a visible sigh of relief. Lin Yao felt a chill in her heart. Her father clearly knew Madame Chen was the culprit, but he didn’t care. What did his concubine’s life or reputation matter to him? He only wanted to protect his favorite.
But today, Lin Yao was going to draw blood.
“Lord Tang, is this how cases are settled? You just stop halfway?”
Lord Tang shook his head. “A case must be seen to the end. The innocent must be cleared, and the guilty must be punished!”
Lin Yao looked at her father. “Father, you are so afraid to continue. Is it because you are the one behind this? My mother has served you faithfully for years—why would you want to destroy her?”
Duke Lin jumped as if stung. If word got out that he framed his own concubine for adultery, he’d look like a lunatic. “I am not! I did no such thing! Continue the inquiry! Find out who ordered this! You lot, speak—who told you to lie?”