Minglan is reborn, this time with no regrets!

Under severe torture, Caihuan confessed everything she knew.

Changbai looked at the confession and immediately realized the purpose of the Wang family's actions - Zhu Manniang was arrested and taken to Sheng Mansion in front of so many people. If she was lynched in Sheng Mansion, then the Wang family could find someone to sue Sheng Family for this reason. The Guochao ruled the world with "benevolence and filial piety". Changbai was guilty of lynching during his mourning period. Once it was implemented, it would be a disaster of losing his official position and being dismissed from his title!

After reading Caihuan's confession, the old lady came to the same conclusion as Changbai.

"But we have already abducted Caihuan. If we ask her to go out and report the news, I'm afraid the Wang family won't believe it." Hai Chaoyun frowned.

"What the Wang family wants is the news that we beat Zhu Manniang. As for whether the letter was sent by Caihuan, it is not that important." The old lady narrowed her eyes.

Changbai said anxiously, "No one can go! If the Wang family knew that we had carried out a lynching, wouldn't that make them happy?"

The old lady: "Who said we lynched Zhu Manniang?"

Changbai and Hai Chaoyun were both stunned - the woman's wailing last night was real and lasted all night! And the blood stains on the ground this morning that had not been wiped clean...

The old lady said: "Find a maid of similar age to howl all night, and then dye the whip and stick red with rouge. In the dark, who can tell whether the servant is real or fake?"

Changbai was shocked and said, "Grandma, are you trying to trick me into falling into a trap?"

The old lady said: "The Wang family dared to do such a big thing, could it be that they only rely on Caihuan as an informant? In addition to our family, there must be people outside who are keeping watch for them. I asked the maid to howl so that people outside could hear it, just to let the Wang family know the news, so that no matter whether the inner traitor can be caught or not, the Wang family will take the next step."

Sure enough, just as the morning hour arrived, soldiers from Kaifeng Prefecture came knocking on the Sheng family’s door.

Changbai had Zhu Manniang brought to the hall in good condition. The officers and soldiers were stunned. Changbai even took the initiative to mention Zhu Manniang's old leg injury, saying that his family had asked a doctor to apply medicine to her. The officers and soldiers wanted to leave, but Changbai stopped them and said, "Is this matter over?"

Several officers and soldiers looked at each other.

Changbai: "Someone has falsely accused an official of the imperial court. Will the Kaifeng Prefecture take care of this matter?"

The leading official had no choice but to bite the bullet and accept the complaint that Changbai had written in advance. The people who had sued the Sheng family to the government were also called to the government office.

After a round of torture and interrogation, the Wang family was indeed implicated.

Only then did Old Lady Wang realize that the Sheng family had set her up against a trick. She had no choice but to reluctantly sacrifice a loyal servant she had raised for many years, so as to prevent the fire from falling on her son.

The incident lasted for several days. After everything was settled, Old Lady Sheng invited Old Lady Wang to visit the Sheng family in her own name.

Uncle Wang: "Mom, why don't you not go? We had such an ugly quarrel with the Sheng family this time, who knows if they will hold a grudge and prepare a Hongmen Banquet for you?"

Old Lady Wang: "They wouldn't dare to do that. Now everyone in Bianjing is watching our two families. Even if they have a hundred guts, they wouldn't dare to attack me at this time."

Uncle Wang: "Then why did Old Lady Sheng invite you to come?"

Old Lady Wang: "Won't you know when you go there?"

At the beginning of the afternoon, Old Lady Wang arrived at the gate of the Sheng Mansion with a cart full of gifts and drums and gongs, saying that she wanted to apologize to the Sheng family.

The Sheng family opened the door and politely invited Old Lady Wang and Uncle Wang into the house.

Old Madam Sheng smiled and walked over to Old Madam Wang to hug her: "Mother-in-law, why are you so polite!"

Old Lady Wang: "Old sister, I am too ashamed to see you. My servant did so many things behind my back and I had no idea. I am so stupid!"

Old Madam Sheng said meaningfully: "It's all over. Fate plays tricks on us. We who survived have to continue living, right?"

"Who said it wasn't?" Old Mrs. Wang replied with a smile not quite reaching her eyes.

The two old ladies took their seats. Uncle Wang sat to the right of old lady Wang, keeping silent. Changbai sat opposite Uncle Wang, also without speaking.

Old Madam Sheng: "Actually, I asked my mother-in-law to come here this time because I have something to show you and Lord Wang."

Old Lady Wang: "Oh? I'd like to hear more about it."

Changbai stood up and took out several confessions from the box on the small table beside him. When Old Lady Wang took a look, she found that they were from Caihuan and Zhu Manniang.

Old Madam Sheng: "Cai Huan is a servant of our family, but she is a traitor and sells out her master for fame and fortune. It is reasonable and legal for our family to use some means to interrogate her as a traitor. Even if she is reported to Wende Palace, our family is not afraid."

The smile on Mrs. Wang’s face disappeared.

Old Lady Sheng: "As for this Zhu Manniang, she was originally a street singer. Feng Ge'er kept her outside without telling the family. He said she gave birth to a son and a daughter. It is hard to say who the father of these two children is. Such a shameless woman who forgets her principles for the sake of profit is cruel even to her own children, but obeys her brother's orders. No wonder you controlled her weak spot by holding her brother in your hands, and you were able to make her commit the crime of assassinating an official of the imperial court."

Uncle Wang lowered his head, while Old Lady Wang put on a smile again and looked at Old Lady Sheng: "Old sister, what do you want to say?"

Old Madam Sheng smiled and looked back at Old Madam Wang: "Although Zhu Manniang is a slave, her indenture is not in my family. It is impossible for my family to make her tell the truth. Therefore, the confession in your hand was obtained by the yamen runners of Kaifeng Prefecture. If it weren't for my grandson-in-law who suppressed this matter... Mother, I'm afraid our two families would have to go to court again."

Uncle Wang raised his head suddenly: "This..." If the crime of falsely accusing the court official could be solved by an old servant, then the crime of hiring a killer to assassinate an official could not be solved by just pushing out a servant! The court has always respected civil officials. When something like this happens, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Personnel, and the Dali Temple will all send officials to investigate. By then, I'm afraid that nothing the Wang family did behind the scenes can be concealed.

Old Mrs. Wang had previously thought that Zhu Manniang would take all the blame for her brother, but she didn't expect that this woman had already sold out the Wang family!

Old Lady Wang calmed down for a moment, then suddenly sneered and said, "A whore like that probably doesn't tell the truth in anything she says. Sister, don't be fooled by such a despicable person." What she meant was that if Zhu Manniang said anything that was detrimental to the Wang family, it must be slander.

Old Madam Sheng nodded and said, "My mother-in-law is right. Her one-sided statement alone will not cause any trouble. So, my family does not believe what she said about the eldest grandson of the Sheng family."

Old Mrs. Wang’s pupils suddenly contracted—so he was waiting here!

Old Madam Sheng: "What she said earlier about giving birth to a son and a daughter for my family was ridiculous. If she really had my grandson, why did she rob Lin's money and run away? Bringing my grandson to my house will bring you endless wealth and glory."

Old Madam Wang was about to speak when Old Madam Sheng interrupted her and continued, "If she wanted to live a carefree life, then she could have lived a life of ease and comfort with the land and shops she stole. But why did she suddenly come back and show herself to my door? Could it be that because the Wang family kidnapped her brother, she was forced to come and kill people for the Wang family?"

Uncle Wang said quickly, "This is ridiculous! Our two families are relatives by marriage, how could we hire someone to kill someone at the Sheng family?"

Old Lady Sheng: "That's right. So, her words are not credible at all, and what she said about the eldest grandson of the Sheng family is naturally nonsense. Don't you think so, my dear sister?"

Old Mrs. Wang's expression was quite interesting.

She thought that she could slowly settle accounts with the Sheng family by holding the "eldest grandson of the Sheng family" as a pawn, but she didn't expect that Old Lady Sheng would directly use the future of the Wang family to shut her up. If she said that the "eldest grandson of the Sheng family" was real, then she would have admitted that she had hired someone to kill someone; if she didn't want to admit that she had hired someone to kill someone, then she would have to admit that the "eldest grandson of the Sheng family" in her hand was fake.

In fact, the Sheng family no longer needs to be so serious about bloodline. Changbai's lineage has grown up, and Changdong now has a title. The Sheng family has successors, so there is no need to waste words on a child whose origins are unclear. The matter of bloodline is ultimately just for a clear explanation when the family is divided or when someone is convicted.

In the current situation, if the Sheng family says yes, then he is the blood of the Sheng family; if the Sheng family says no, then even if he grows up to be named "Sheng", he cannot enter the Sheng family. The key lies in how the Sheng family views this child and his origin.

It was obvious that Zhu Manniang was not upright. Not to mention the clean civil servants of the Sheng family, even ordinary civilians would not want such a person to enter the house. As long as everyone believed that Zhu Manniang was full of lies, it would be difficult for her to establish her claim of being the "eldest grandson of the Sheng family". Even if the Wang family wanted to stir up trouble on this, they would have to invest a lot of money in fabrication.

Originally, Mrs. Wang was planning to use this chess piece to slowly torture the Sheng family, but she didn't expect that Mrs. Sheng had predicted her prediction and directly tied this chess piece to the future of the Wang family.

If the Wang family dares to use the "eldest grandson of the Sheng family" to trick the Sheng family, then the evidence of the Wang family's crime of hiring someone to kill an imperial official will be immediately submitted to the government.

The two old ladies exchanged glances and said a thousand words. Suddenly, Mrs. Wang stood up with a smile and said to Mrs. Sheng, "What's the point of talking about the eldest grandson or not? I only know that Quan Ge'er from Changbai is the eldest grandson of the Sheng family."

Old Lady Sheng: "That's right. By the way, I heard that your family has taken in two people, one big and one small, recently? In my opinion, it is better to kick people of unknown origin out of the house as soon as possible, so as not to pollute the Wang family's land and leave endless troubles." She wanted to find the Wang family and bring Zhu Manniang's brother and Chang Ge'er over.

Old Lady Wang sighed and said, "There were no one, big or small, but there was indeed a gambler who came. I heard that he took a bunch of land deeds to the casino to gamble, and when he lost all of them, he made trouble and was almost beaten to death. My family took him in and gave him food because we felt sorry for him, but I didn't expect him to be a liar who talked nonsense. Well, let's not talk about it. I will have him driven away when I get back."

The astute old lady Sheng naturally knew that this was referring to Zhu Manniang's brother. She asked in confusion, "How come there is no younger one?"

Old Lady Wang: "He died of illness. If my family hadn't given him money, I'm afraid he wouldn't even have a coffin to bury him."

This was consistent with Zhu Manniang's confession, but Mrs. Sheng didn't believe it: "My family is short of a servant. If the person you took in has nowhere to go, why not send him to my house and let my grandson teach him a good lesson. Maybe he will correct his lying habit." She wanted to arrest Zhu Manniang's brother and interrogate him personally. As long as the brother and sister both said that Changger was dead, then no matter what the facts were, she could completely cut off any possibility of the Wang family making trouble in this matter.

Old Lady Wang held the confession in her hand and said, "How can I not respond to your request, elder sister? But this man has been eating and drinking lavishly in my house and has cost me a lot of money. If you are willing, why not use these two pieces of paper as payment to redeem him?" This meant that she wanted to make an exchange with Old Lady Sheng.

Old Lady Sheng: "They are just two fictitious notebooks. If you don't mind, I would naturally agree. But, I'm afraid this man's contract is not in your hands, right? Trafficking in people is a crime." She would not leave another handle for the Wang family.

Old Lady Wang: "Don't worry, old sister. He will definitely sign the contract. After all, he has eaten so much food in my house. There is no such thing as free food and free drinks in this world."

Old Lady Sheng: "Then wait for good news. I hope that from now on, our two families can reconcile, put the past behind us, and live together."

Old Lady Wang: "Old sister, there has never been any grudge between our two families. In my heart, we have always been hand in hand."

Old Madam Sheng: "I feel relieved when you say that. Yesterday, my farm sent a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables. If my sister and nephew don't mind, can you have dinner at my house?"

Old Mrs. Wang: "No, no, my wife has already prepared the meal at home, and the whole family is waiting, so we won't bother my elder sister at her house."

Old Lady Sheng waved to Changbai to take the wooden box, put the two testimonies in front of Old Lady Wang into it, locked it, and handed it to Old Lady Wang personally: "In that case, I won't keep you two any longer. I'll let Bai'er send someone to go back with you, and we'll bring the people back ourselves." She didn't want someone to suddenly run away or die on the way.

Old Mrs. Wang said a few words "no problem" with a gloomy face, and then quickly left the Sheng family with the help of Uncle Wang.

At dinner time, Dongrong brought Zhu Manniang's brother back to the Sheng family. His life was in danger, but Brother Zhu voluntarily revealed the whereabouts of Chang Ge'er without being tortured - the man was really dead, and his remains were buried in a mass grave in the southeast of the capital.

Dong Rong rushed to the mass grave overnight and found an unmarked grave according to the description of the Zhu brothers and sisters. He bowed three times to the grave, and then led people to dig the grave, where they found the body of a boy of considerable size.

All witnesses are available.

From then on, the whereabouts of Changfeng's orphan was determined, and Ayan, who was far away in Youyang, became his only flesh and blood left in the world.