bookcurios Chapter 1749 The Death of Liu Dalan
Chapter 1749 The Death of Liu Dalan
This note is enough to prove Cu Mei's alibi. It is precisely because Cu Mei was not present that she was framed for murder for money. It is clear that someone set this up and deliberately put her in this lawsuit.
After reading it, the prefect asked Cu Mei, "When did you write this note?"
Cu Mei was completely bewildered. "Sir, what kind of note are you talking about?"
"See for yourself!"
"Sir, I can't read! How am I supposed to read this?"
Upon hearing this, the prefect thought, "How could someone who can't read possibly write? Servants like Cu Mei, who do menial tasks, are almost all illiterate at this age." The prefect muttered to himself, "Then who wrote this note? The handwriting is crooked and messy, and doesn't look very good. It looks like it was written by someone who can't read much. It doesn't seem like it was written intentionally."
He lowered her head upon hearing this.
Having been starved for several days, Cu Mei's mind was exceptionally clear. Today, she was determined to get an explanation for the young mistress and herself. "My lord," she said, "this note must have been forged by He Bao. She had long planned to murder for money and then frame the young mistress. On the day the Crown Prince was taking a concubine, everyone from the Cheng family was going to the Prince's mansion, and the young mistress was going too. However, my wife, Liu Dalan, is paralyzed and cannot be left unattended. If I were kidnapped, the young mistress would be unable to attend the wedding banquet at the Prince's mansion and would have to stay home to serve Liu Dalan. That note was merely to prevent my young mistress from becoming suspicious. Everything He Bao did was to frame the young mistress for the crime of matricide."
He Bao was furious, as if someone had stepped on her tail. "These are all your guesses, without any evidence. You are framing me. Liu Dalan is my mother. If I were crazy, I would kill my mother. Your Excellency, drag her out and torture her. I don't have to worry about her not confessing."
"If you can get those two thugs to beat up your mother, what else wouldn't you do? Either you killed this person or those two thugs killed him. In any case, none of you can escape."
He Bao denied it, saying, "I don't know either of them!"
The two thugs also claimed not to know He Bao. Their testimonies were remarkably consistent.
Cu Mei had been beaten up by these two thugs a lot these past few days, and she hated them to the core. She was determined to bring them to justice today. "You guys hang out together every day and still say you don't know each other."
He Bao remained defiant, saying, "You say we were fooling around together? Show me the evidence."
"This?" To be honest, Cu Mei really didn't have any evidence.
He Bao smiled triumphantly, "Your Excellency, you see? She can't prove what she said."
“I can testify!” Everyone looked towards the door and saw He Ye, Chen Qingsheng, and Jin Feng. Even Xin He, that little girl, was there. He Ye said, “We can all testify that they know each other and that we’ve seen them fighting, robbing, scheming, and murdering.”
He Bao was completely dumbfounded. At first, she thought the yamen runners couldn't find the two hooligans. What surprised her even more was that He Ye, who had vowed never to see them again, actually came out to testify.
The lotus bud glared fiercely at the lotus leaf, its eyes filled with threat. "I advise you not to speak recklessly."
He Ye didn't even glance at He Bao. She looked straight ahead, then knelt on the ground and said to the prefect in the hall, "Your Excellency, I, He Ye, wish to file a lawsuit against He Bao!"
He Bao was completely dumbfounded. "You're going to sue me?! Are you crazy?!"
Lotus Leaf ignored Lotus Bud's words and took out a piece of paper, saying to the magistrate in the hall, "Your Honor, this is my complaint."
The prefect glanced at Cheng Feng, who was listening in, and saw Cheng Feng nod slightly. The prefect then had someone take the petition from He Ye's hand and present it to him. Upon inspection, it was discovered that He Ye was indeed a rare beast.
At this moment, the little girl Xinhe also knelt on the ground. She said to the magistrate, "Your Honor, I, Xinhe, also want to sue my aunt, but unfortunately I don't know many characters and can't write a complaint."
The prefect glanced at the little girl, who looked no more than three or four years old, and said, "Whose little child are you? This is not a place for you to play around."
“I’m from the Cheng family. Xinhe isn’t joking around. My friend saw my aunt feeding my grandma medicine. As soon as the medicine went down, my grandma started foaming at the mouth.”
Upon hearing this, the prefect exclaimed, "What a beast! Guards, give each of them thirty strokes of the rod!"
The two thugs initially denied knowing He Bao, but when they saw that they were about to be tortured, they immediately confessed: "Sir, can you please not beat us? It was that bitch He Bao who gave us money to kidnap Cu Mei, saying that Cu Mei's presence would ruin her plans."
The prefect said, "I gave you a chance earlier, but now that you've confessed, it's too late! Drag them out and beat them!"
He Bao was also scared: "Sir, can you not beat me? You'll paralyze me!"
"Too late! At such a young age, he's ignorant and incompetent, colluding with thugs, murdering his mother for money, and harming his family. Drag him out and beat him!"
When they were dragged out, He Bao still denied everything. But when they were dragged back, all three of them confessed. He Bao had fed Liu Dalan the bowl of arsenic; she didn't know it was arsenic when she drank it, and by the time the poison took effect, it was too late. He Bao had always seen her as a burden. Her mother's gold and silver had been given to Su Aixiu, and her only motivation to serve her mother was gone. She wanted to use her mother's death to get rid of Su Aixiu as well. With both of them dead, she would be the mistress of the house, and all that gold and silver would eventually end up in her hands anyway.
He Bao thought her plan was foolproof. She even fooled the prefect during her first court session. When she cried out in despair, no one would suspect that she, as the daughter, was the murderer.
But what goes around comes around, and retribution will come sooner or later. Sure enough, He Bao's retribution came. When she was taken away, neither her father nor her elder brother gave her a second glance, let alone showed her any pity. Her pleas for help were met with disgust by everyone present. It was just a pity that Su Aixiu suffered for several days in prison, her fingers were even crushed.
Liu Dalan was arrogant her whole life, and even in death she didn't have a peaceful end. When her body was brought back, it was already infested with maggots and stank, and no one dared to approach it. They could only hastily dig a hole and bury her. On the day of the burial, Cheng Tiezhu asked He Ye if she wanted to see her mother one last time. He Ye's attitude was very firm: no, she wouldn't go no matter who said so.
She went to testify that day not because she had once been a member of the Cheng family, but because Cheng Xinhe cried every day. At first, she thought the child was homesick and missed his parents. Later, when she saw that the child's eyes were dark circles, she realized that the child was frightened. When her grandmother was carried away, she glanced at her and saw that her death was not peaceful. She stared with a pair of terrifying eyes, her mouth was open in a ferocious manner, and there was a bunch of filth hanging from the corner of her mouth.
He Ye asked her if she had seen something, and Xin He told her what she had seen that day. Knowing the truth, He Ye quickly took Xin He to the yamen to record her statement. When they arrived, they learned that the day was the day the court was holding a hearing to try Liu Da Lan's murder case.