Chapter 255: What is Gou Lan?

Chapter 255: What is Gou Lan?

With a wave of his hand, the old Taoist priest swept his sleeve over Yi Wen's shoulder, causing her to stagger and regain her ability to move.

But now, her eyes darted even more erratically as she hurriedly thought about how to respond.

"Miss?" The old Taoist priest, with a benevolent expression, called out to her. "Can you explain this?"

Huai Geer looked at her in astonishment.

The Yu family members were also dumbfounded, unsure of what to say.

Naturally, they believed the old Taoist priest. So, it was Yi Wen who had deceived them?!

Even the magistrate furrowed his brows and looked at Yi Wen, clearly waiting for her to give an explanation.

"The notion of the Virgin Boy Technique is completely ridiculous..." Yi Wen stammered, "This old Taoist priest must have made it up... why should we believe him?"

In contrast to the old Taoist priest's well-supported claims, Yi Wen's words carried no weight.

Moreover, although Yi Wen's acting had been impressive before, she was caught off guard by the old Taoist priest, and her behavior naturally revealed some telltale signs.

Now that suspicion had taken root, her every move only fueled their doubts.

"Additionally, there is one more matter," the old Taoist priest, with a kind and gentle expression, said, "Just now, I overheard a few words spoken by someone in the crowd, and I found them quite puzzling."

With that, the old Taoist priest looked directly at Meng Yunchang.

Meng Yunchang's face had already turned pale. He hadn't expected that his revenge was about to succeed, only to have an unexpected rural old Taoist priest expose the whole scheme!

Seeing the old Taoist priest staring at him, fury turned to dread as a bad feeling crept over him.

"That gentleman in the sapphire blue robe," the old Taoist priest said, making a vague gesture with his hand, "Would you mind stepping forward and telling us what you said to the lady beside you?"

Meng Yunchang's face changed immediately!

But he quickly calmed himself and forced a smile. "You old Taoist priest with a cow nose, are you talking about me?"

The old Taoist priest nodded. "Yes, you."

Meng Yunchang then shouted towards the court, "Brother-in-law, this old Taoist priest is clearly here to stir up trouble. Why bother with him?"

The magistrate felt a headache coming on, mixed with some anger. It was bad enough that his brother-in-law had come to watch the spectacle, but now, exposing their relationship in court was an obvious attempt to make him take sides.

As the magistrate hesitated, the old Taoist priest laughed heartily. "Ah, so he's the young brother-in-law of the magistrate! No wonder he acts so high and mighty!"

The magistrate's expression changed, and he was about to reprimand him when the old Taoist priest changed his tone. "...Your love interest is marrying a cheap woman from the brothel. Are you happy? He'd rather marry a lowly woman than you. Aren't you even lower than her?"

He mimicked Meng Yunchang's tone perfectly, down to the last detail!

It was unmistakably Meng Yunchang's voice from moments ago!

Everyone in the courtroom, from the officials to the spectators, was shocked into silence!

Even Meng Yunchang looked stunned!

He had just whispered those words next to Li Xuefeng, making sure no one else could hear them!

So how did this old Taoist priest hear it, and then perfectly imitate it word for word?

In the quiet, Xingxing quietly asked, "Grandma, what does 'yao zi' mean?"

Since it was so quiet both in the courtroom and outside, where even the sound of a needle dropping could be heard, Xingxing's question clearly reached everyone's ears.

Wei Pozi had been stunned into silence by the news, but Xingxing's question finally brought her back to her senses. Wei Pozi realized their family had been played by a prostitute, her grandson framed and imprisoned by this woman, and they had almost married her off as the eldest grandson's wife!

Her face contorted with rage!

She glared hatefully at Yi Wen but didn't forget to answer Xingxing. Wei Pozi's voice was a bit hoarse: "Sweetie, you're too young to understand now. You'll get it when you're older."

Meng Yunchang also snapped back to reality and shouted hoarsely: "That's ridiculous! Just because you can mimic my voice doesn't mean you can slander me—"

Before he could finish, Xingxing suddenly exclaimed, "Ah!" with excitement, unable to help raising her voice: "I remember now! I know where I saw that older sister before!"

No wonder she looked so familiar!

Xingxing pointed her small finger at Yi Wen, whose face had turned pale and whose panic could no longer be concealed, and innocently said, "When we visited Third Aunt’s house in the prefectural city during the New Year, I saw this older sister there! Back then, a stern old woman threw her out, calling her a fox spirit from a brothel who dared to dream of becoming a concubine in their family!"

After finishing, she curiously asked Wei Pozi, "Grandma, what is 'gou lan'?"

Xingxing's question caused a huge uproar!

No one would suspect a four or five-year-old child of lying about such things!

She didn't even know what 'gou lan' meant!

Wei Pozi, excited and barely able to speak, said, "You’re right! I remember where that house is. We’ll find out soon enough!"

She wanted to hug Xingxing as if she were her lifeblood!

Her dear grandson was truly their little lucky star!

The old Taoist priest gave Xingxing an approving look: "Looks like we’ve figured out her background too. She must be from the prefectural city. Send someone with her portrait, and we’ll confirm it quickly—"

With everything said, it was only a matter of time before Yi Wen's background was uncovered.

Outside the courtroom, many citizens were discussing among themselves: "So she’s a prostitute!"

"No wonder she wasn’t a virgin. It’s absurd to think a prostitute could stay pure! Might as well say I’m the reincarnation of Confucius!"

"This is way over the line. Was this some kind of plot to embarrass the Yujia family? Marrying off a courtesan to them? Even if they found out later, the Yujia name would be ruined forever!"

The citizens were buzzing with discussions.

Yi Wen's legs gave out, and she collapsed to the ground.

In despair, she looked at Meng Yunchang: "—Meng Lang, you said it would be fine..."

This statement made the Magistrate so angry his nose almost twisted!

When he heard the old Taoist priest imitating his brother-in-law's voice earlier, he had a bad premonition.

Now, it had developed to this point, and he was clear about the situation!

It was most likely a scheme set up by his brother-in-law!

The Magistrate felt like his head was about to explode from frustration!

"You—!"

The Magistrate glared at Meng Yunchang, at a loss for words!

Meng Yunchang quickly pulled himself together. How could things get any worse?

Meng Yunchang remained defiant: "Brother-in-law, they're setting me up!"

Meng Yunchang was quite optimistic. As long as he kept denying it, there'd be a delay for retrial. By then, with his sister pulling some strings and whispering in your ear, it wouldn't be long before he was released without charge.

What was there to be afraid of?

As long as he refused to confess.

The Magistrate laughed in sheer anger and threw down his token, ordering: "Lock Meng Yunchang up for now! I will investigate Yi Wen's identity before proceeding with the trial!"

It was pretty clear by now that Huai Geer had been set up.

Thinking about the mess his brother-in-law had caused made the Magistrate feel sick to his stomach.

With a grim look, the Magistrate ignored everything else and promptly declared Huai Geer innocent and set him free.