Chapter 718: You Should Be Fed to the Dogs!

Chapter 718: You Should Have Been Fed to the Dogs!

The rest of the Zou family suffered greatly as well.

The third miss of the Zou family was brutally assaulted by those bandits, slashed twice, and thrown into the fire. When she was rescued by the Sun family, she was naked. She was still breathing, but it took the young lady of the Sun family more than half an hour to pull her back from the brink of death.

The master of the Zou family was stabbed three times. Though he narrowly avoided vital organs, he had inhaled too much smoke, leaving his condition precarious.

Among them, the least injured was Lady Zou Wanshi, who had only inhaled excessive smoke and fainted. When she was rescued from the fire by the Sun family and woke up, upon hearing that her two sons had died tragically, she let out a heart-wrenching scream, collapsed, and fainted again.

When Lady Zou Wanshi came to again, her eyes were almost bleeding with tears, and she insisted that this disaster was the doing of the Princess Fusu!

—This is the reason why the Shun Heaven Manor dispatched individuals to investigate the matter.

Xingxing, honored as a princess personally bestowed by the Emperor, beloved by Emperor Jiakang and Empress Nie, how could the Shun Prefecture possibly dare to arrest Princess Fusu based on mere words from others?

Xingxing was momentarily speechless upon hearing of the Zou family's tragedy.

The constables of Shun Prefecture bowed respectfully: "Princess, our visit is purely procedural, and we have no intention of being disrespectful..."

Before he could finish, Xingxing said, "I will go with you."

The constables were almost flabbergasted: "No, no, that's not necessary..."

Xingxing shook her head: "It's fine, I want to see for myself."

The constables treated Xingxing as if she were a revered lady, escorting her to the Shun Mansion.

Sun Qiyi was talking to the coroner when he turned around and saw Xingxing approaching. Slightly surprised, he stepped forward to greet her, shielding the charred bodies behind him to avoid frightening Xingxing. He asked, "Why has the Princess come?"

Judging from Sun Qiyi's expression, she must have already heard about Zou Wan Shi's accusation against Xingxing. She softly reminded with disapproval, "If Your Highness were to take every baseless accusation seriously like this, wouldn't it invite endless trouble in the future?"

Xingxing shook her head. "It's fine. There's more to it, so I came here for this matter."

Sun Qiyi didn't press further.

Xingxing had already looked past Sun Qiyi.

The bodies, though referred to as charred bodies, weren't completely. The servants of the Sun family had been remarkably efficient, rescuing the bodies from the fire, and these were still somewhat identifiable.

One corpse was curled into a fetal position, its hair completely singed off. Yet, the servants of the Zou household recognized it as Old Madam Zou from the half-burned, blackened face.

Another corpse was small in stature, still a child, its features unrecognizable from the burns. However, the presence of six fingers confirmed it to be the frail six-year-old young master of the Zou family.

Yet another corpse had a back that was largely charred, but the earlier wounds were still discernible. Combined with the partially recognizable blackened face, it was confirmed to be Zou Wan Shi's beloved son, Zou Minglei.

There were two more bodies, both servants of the Zou household.

Xingxing looked at each one carefully.

At some point, Zou Wan Shi had come to and burst into the magistrate's office, her eyes bloodshot. Brandishing a knife she'd gotten hold of, she charged at Xingxing with both hands gripping the blade, screaming, "You damnable bitch! I'll kill you—"

Xingxing was accompanied by guards, who wouldn't let some madwoman near their mistress. They swiftly drew their swords to block her wild attack and, seizing the opportunity, kicked her away.

The constables of the Shuntian Prefecture quickly surrounded the fallen Zou Wan Shi, disarmed her, and reacted as if under attack.

This was a major lapse in their duty.

Had Zou Wan Shi actually harmed the princess within the Shuntian Prefecture, they would undoubtedly be in deep trouble with no mercy shown.

Zou Wan Shi was knocked to the ground but, like a madwoman, ignored the constables' attempts to restrain her, lunging wildly toward Xingxing: "I'll kill you! I'll kill you!"

Her voice was raw from smoke.

Xingxing frowned.

The constables wouldn’t let Zou Wan Shi near Xingxing again. They forcefully subdued her, and as she struggled in vain, she let out a shrill scream: "It's her! It must be her who had my Ming Lei killed! It's her!"

None of the constables took Zou Wan Shi's words seriously—some even rolled their eyes.

However, the sheer brutality of the crime—murder followed by arson, clearly intended to wipe out an entire family—had shocked the entire capital, especially since it occurred in the heart of the capital.

The Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture took the case very seriously.

Before long, the court was convened for a preliminary hearing to investigate the case.

Zou Wan Shi bowed so hard her forehead bled, sobbing so hard she almost passed out: "Your Honor, please give us justice! Princess Fusui killed my entire family!"

Both her sons had perished in the fire, leaving her no reason to go on.

The Prefect banged his gavel: "Outrageous! Princess Fusui was personally honored by His Majesty—how dare you wildly accuse her like this?! If you insist that this atrocity was committed by the Princess, where is your evidence?"

As he spoke, the Prefect shot a glance at Xingxing.

As an Imperial Princess, Xingxing naturally did not kneel before the tribunal awaiting summons.

She sat calmly in an observer’s seat to the side.

Zou Wan Shi, kneeling below with her forehead smeared with blood, cried, "Your Honor, you don’t understand—that wretched—"

"Outrageous!" The Prefect slammed the gavel down again, shouting, "Unless His Majesty strips her of her title, the Princess remains a noble of this court! How dare you insult her with such language! Zou Wan Shi, given your recent tragedy and evident derangement, I will overlook this offense for now. But if you repeat it, you will first receive ten strokes of the rod!"

Zou Wan Shi bit back her rage, taking a deep breath: "Yes, Your Honor. This lowly one will be mindful."

The Prefect gave a curt nod. "Now, you previously claimed that the Princess ordered the extermination of your family. Do you have any evidence?"

Her eyes blazing with hate, Zou Wan Shi cried urgently, "Your Honor! My son spoke out of turn yesterday and offended the Princess—that very night, our family was slaughtered! Your Honor, our Zou family only recently arrived in the capital. Aside from the Princess, we have no enemies, past or present! Who else would do this to us?! It must have been Princess Fusui!"

Bloody tears ran down her face.

The Prefect pressed, "Beyond that, do you have any witnesses or physical evidence?"

Zou Wan Shi shrieked, "My son, who offended Princess Fusui, is now a burnt body, dead in that fire—isn’t that evidence enough?"

The Prefect turned to Xingxing with some unease. "Princess, did you truly have a conflict with the Zou family?"

Xingxing replied calmly, "I wouldn’t call it a conflict. They were the ones who provoked me. I ignored them and left."

Before the Prefect could respond, Zou Wan Shi shrieked hysterically, "Your Honor, see?! She admitted it herself! She said my son offended her! My son had just suffered twenty strokes of the rod because of her—how could he possibly offend her again?!"

The Prefect hesitated.

After all, based on the crime scene investigation, the Zou family did appear to have been victims of a vendetta.

The only problem was that when the Sun family's servants arrived to help, their priority had been rescue. The assailants, believing the Zou family had all perished, fled if they could.

Two stragglers had died in the fire during a struggle with the Sun family's servants.

Given the circumstances, revenge was the only possible motive.

Zou Wanshi said they had just arrived in the capital, and the Prefect of Shuntian had previously checked the records of those who entered the city through the gates. Indeed, as Zou Wanshi claimed, they had not been in the capital for long. This made it less likely that they had an enemy capable of such a brutal massacre.

The Prefect of Shuntian was taken aback, could it really be that Princess Fusui had someone do this?

He glanced at Xingxing with some difficulty.

Sun Qiyi stepped forward and bowed: "Your Excellency, I have a different perspective."

The Prefect of Shuntian knew that Sun Qiyi was a man of considerable skill, and his eyes lit up: "Doctor Sun, what is your insight?"

Sun Qiyi pointed to the wounds on the bodies: "These victims all suffered injuries before their deaths, to varying degrees. The wounds are of a special shape, with some flaps of skin and flesh torn out when the weapon was pulled out. Such wounds are likely caused by a broad-bladed weapon with barbs. Due to its cruel nature, such weapons were banned early in our dynasty. It's puzzling where these people obtained such weapons... Additionally, I examined the weapons used by the guards from the Princess's household; they were ordinary swords and knives, which do not match the wounds on the bodies."

The Prefect of Shuntian listened thoughtfully, nodding repeatedly.

However, Zou Wanshi disagreed and shouted: "They might have deliberately changed their weapons to avoid being recognized! Who would use such bizarre weapons unless they were trying to mislead others! This must be her plot!"

Sun Qiyi raised an eyebrow and smiled, but did not argue with Zou Wanshi. Instead, he looked at the Prefect of Shuntian, bowed, and stepped back, indicating he had finished speaking.

Zou Wanshi grew anxious and shouted directly at Xingxing: "Do you... do you already know! That's why you prepared such men and weapons to kill us in revenge?!"

The Prefect of Shuntian was confused: "Zou Wanshi! What nonsense are you spouting again?!"

Xingxing looked at Zou Wanshi calmly: "You are too aware of what you did to me back then, which is why you think I would seek revenge on you, isn't it?"

Zou Wanshi shivered!

She realized that this wretch had indeed known all along!

"It's her, it's her!" Zou Wanshi screamed, "She remembers everything! She even pretended not to recognize us! It's her!"

Zou Wanshi shrieked repeatedly.

This time, it was Li Chunhua and Bai Xiaofeng, the two sisters-in-law who managed the household finances, who accompanied Xingxing.

Due to Wei Pozi having gone to bed rather late last night, she woke up a bit late this morning. When the bailiffs arrived, Wei Pozi had yet to rise.

Thinking of letting their mother-in-law sleep a bit longer, but also fearing that Xingxing might be at a disadvantage, Li Chunhua and Bai Xiaofeng decided to come along without telling Wei Pozi.

At this moment, hearing the back-and-forth between Xingxing and Zou Wanshi, they were both somewhat dazed.

Not to mention the Prefect of Shuntian, who was even more bewildered. The disjointed conversation made no sense to him at all!

Just then, another person staggered out from the side, fell to their knees, with half their face wrapped in bandages and visible burn ointment on their body, looking extremely pitiful.

The bailiffs were startled as well, allowing this person to rush into the court and kneel down.

By the time they recovered from their shock and tried to pull the person away, the individual had already hoarsely identified themselves: "Your Honor, I am the third miss of the Zou family, Zou Pingping. I have also come to accuse Princess Fusu of first defiling my honor and then ordering the murder of my entire family!"

She raised her head, the exposed half of her face blackened from smoke, and said mournfully, "… When those bandits were assaulting me, I heard them say…"

Zou Pingping wept, "They said that the mastermind behind this was truly ruthless, not only defiling this woman's honor but also ordering arson and murder. I don't know what they did to offend such a mastermind! … They, they are the same bandits who dragged me into the forest and assaulted me on the mountain path outside Baima Temple!"

Xingxing's eyes darkened slightly upon hearing this.

Zou Wanshi lunged forward again to attack Xingxing, crying and shouting, "I'll beat you to death! I shouldn't have been so soft-hearted, I should have thrown you into the river to feed the dogs instead of just leaving you there! How could you be so evil!"

The Prefect of Shuntian was utterly stunned!

What on earth is going on!

At the sound of this, Li Chunhua and Bai Xiaofeng felt their blood run cold!

Thrown into the river?! Fed to dogs?!

Could it be that these were the heartless parents who had thrown Xingxing into the river?

Li Chunhua and Bai Xiaofeng glared at Zou Wanshi with such intensity that they could have devoured her alive!

But Xingxing said, "Since you know it was you who threw me into the river, you think I've come for revenge. Fine, then let me ask you, why would I go out of my way to ruin Zou Pingping before killing your entire family? Before that, I didn't even know Zou Pingping. Why would I, in such a critical moment, risk alerting others by harming Zou Pingping?"

The Prefect of Shuntian felt as though he had stumbled upon a major scandal.

But he also found some logic in Xingxing's words.

Just as he was about to question her further, someone rushed in to report that the old couple from the Marquis of Xin's household had arrived.

The old couple from the Marquis of Xin's household were legendary figures in the capital. The Prefect of Shuntian was taken aback. Though he did not understand why these two venerable elders had come, he knew he could not afford to be disrespectful and hurriedly rose to greet them.

The old couple from the Marquis of Xin's household almost ran, taking three steps at a time, in their great anxiety.

—They had heard from their spies that something horrifying had happened in the Zou family.

Just as they were about to inquire further, they were shocked to learn that Zou Wanshi had been accusing Xingxing, claiming that Xingxing had orchestrated the whole thing!

And when they heard this, Xingxing had already been taken away by the officials of Shuntian Prefecture!

The old couple was heartbroken beyond measure, and without a second thought, they rushed to Shuntian Prefecture.

Half of the Zou family was dead, and the rest were uncertain if they would survive. Although the old Marquis of Xin knew there was still the matter of the infant switch to resolve, he could not think of anything else at the moment!

As they hurried over, the old couple cursed the Zou family a thousand times in their hearts!

These despicable Zou people!