Perfect Encounter - Chapter 109.1

Chapter 109.1

Yao Kun was truly examining the case of Mrs. Duan stopping the carriage in the middle of the road. He sent a bunch of constables to the An Residence to bring An Zhifu over and surrounded the residence, not allowing anyone to go in and out. He questioned all the four courtyards and the steward of the residence. The An Residence immediately exploded, and only then did they realize what Mrs. Duan did.

An Ruoxi was even more like being hit by a bolt from the blue sky. Since she met Xue Xuran, she was filled with thoughts. It would be great if she could marry into the Xue family. Whenever she heard her parents mention ‘Master Qian,’ her heart trembled. Two days ago, Master Qian stayed with the An family for a night, and the smile on his face reminded An Ruoxi of the dagger he stuck in her ear.

She wanted to leave this place, leave this home. It would be good if she could marry Young Master Xue. The more she thought like this, the more she felt that Young Master Xue was good.

Her eldest sister said to leave this matter to her, but until today, there was no movement, and the Xue family has never come again. She had the cheek to run to the Xi Xiu Hall to pretend to buy jewelry that day, wanting to take the chance to meet Mrs. Xue or Young Master Xue again, but to no avail.

An Ruoxi was getting anxious day after day. It was not easy to have news of the eldest sister, yet the news came about Mrs. Duan trying to kidnap her.

An Ruoxi remembered that package of poison and shivered. But she also felt that this was strange. If Mrs. Duan dares to kidnap people like this, she should have long done it. The eldest sister only brought several maids with her and often went out alone. Everyone in the An Residence occasionally discussed this matter, and Mrs. Duan knew about it. Why wouldn’t she kidnap her at that time? Why wait for a group of guards to escort her and then kidnap her? Is she crazy?

Mrs. Duan indeed acted crazy. Yao Kun interrogated and asked her what her purpose was. She said that An Ruochen had abducted her daughter and killed her. Yao Kun then asked her where she got the information. She said that there was no need to ask. It was An Ruochen who killed her daughter. When he asked her whether she met her daughter, she said that An Ruochen had killed her daughter, so how could she have seen her? Then, he asked who told her that An Ruochen killed her daughter, and she said An Ruochen told her.

An Ruochen sat in the hall and couldn’t see any flaws in Mrs. Duan’s behavior. She looked like she was indeed insane. But An Ruochen naturally did not believe it.

Yao Kun was also not convinced. He asked Mrs. Duan who instigated her, who wrote the note for her, who sent her there, and who the accomplices were. Mrs. Duan’s face was confused, and she only said it was An Ruochen.

An Zhifu knelt on the side while listening to the trial, shivering with anger, and hurriedly shouted: “Lord, please investigate. I do not know what this stupid woman did. It was not on my instruction. Even if I had ten guts, I wouldn’t have dared to instigate my family to attack the General’s carriage. Those spies, I also do not know. I only realized now that something like this has happened.”

Yao Kun was worried that he could not find anyone to blame, so he angrily shouted, “Mrs. Duan is your concubine, a woman in the house. Without one abetting and instructing her, could she have done this? She can’t read, how did she write the note? How did she know where the Eldest Miss An was going? If you don’t know, who does?”

An Zhifu froze in horror. His expression was even more bewildered than Mrs. Duan’s. How could he know this? He didn’t know, ah.

An Zhifu couldn’t answer. He couldn’t even think of making up any clues to deliver to the Lord Governor.

If he couldn’t say it, he naturally had to be punished. Yao Kun pulled the sign from the table and threw it to the ground, shouting, “Each of you will be beaten ten times with a plank. Come back to talk afterward.”

Mrs. Duan cried out in fear. An Zhifu also cried out in vain. But the officers didn’t care about these, listened to the Lord’s order, and dragged the two people down to be tortured. Soon after receiving the ten-plank beating, Mrs. Duan fainted. An Zhifu also wanted to pretend to faint, but it was too late and he got dragged back to the hall.

An Zhifu crouched on the ground next to the unconscious Mrs. Duan. An Zhifu peeped at her tragic situation while shaking in fear.

Yao Kun asked all the questions again. An Zhifu was full of tears and snots, really did not know, and did not arrange anything, crying to beg forgiveness. Yao Kun saw the time was about right and ordered to imprison them. He would try again the next day.

An Ruochen quietly watched as Yao Kun examined the case, not interrupting or moving, only patiently watching. When the officer was dragging Mrs. Duan away, she opened her eyes. Once she opened her eyes, she was looking for An Ruochen. An Ruochen looked at her calmly, and Mrs. Duan suddenly smiled at her, as if she was confident of taking An Ruochen’s life.

Yao Kun also noticed this subtle glimpse. When the hall cleared, he asked An Ruochen, “What does Miss think?”

“That place is not far from the city gate.” An Ruochen said.

“Hmm.” Yao Kun nodded.

“There is a large number of soldiers and officials guarding the city gate. If something happens, they will arrive quickly. I yelled out to catch the spies, and it wasn’t long before some city gate soldiers did come over to check it out.” An Ruochen thought about the situation. “A team of guards escorted my carriage. Although the manpower is not much, it is more than those four people. Even though they mixed in the crowd to instigate mischief, my guards were still superior. Come to think of it, although I met with danger, the other side of the plan to kidnap people is not well thought out. The location chosen was also inappropriate.”

As a matter of fact, An Ruochen was already regretting it now that she had returned to her senses. She shouldn’t have yelled about finding spies and incited the people to think spies were kidnapping people. If the onlookers at the time went back to discuss it with each other, she feared that they would also realize this. This was unreasonable. The spy who chose this place and time to kidnap people was out of his mind. If someone else deliberately discusses it, then if she accuses the spy again in the future, her credibility would be greatly reduced. She had used this trick on An Zhifu.

Yao Kun didn’t say anything. He also felt that this matter was done in such a rough way. It’s different from Mr. Xie, Young Master Min, Liu Ze, and others’ style. So, someone deliberately used Mrs. Duan to do a stupid thing, but why?