Chapter 13: False Accusation

Chapter 13: False Accusation

The man lay sprawled on the ground like a dead dog as a basin of cold water was dumped over his head.

He came to quickly, but the next second he was clutching his snapped wrist and howling in agony.

Cheng Yi watched with cold eyes, waiting for Wang Shuci to give an explanation.

Wang Shuci gestured for the guards to drag the man closer, and only then did they report.

"My Lord, we found this man outside the window of the small ancestral hall. We've confirmed he's not part of the Minister's household."

"His clothes are covered in burn marks, and he's got burns on him too. He was out cold when we found him, like he'd just crawled out of the fire."

"I think he's the one who set the fire."

"No, it wasn't... wasn't me! You can't frame me for this!"

The Brute-faced Man panicked and denied it, but the pain from his broken hand twisted his face and made his words slur.

Wang Shuci barked:

"If you didn't start the fire, then why were you near the small ancestral hall? And why do you look like this?"

"Who the hell are you, and what were you doing at the Minister's residence? Spill it now!"

Wang Shuci's word was law in the Minister's household. He was the undisputed master, and his voice carried weight.

At his shout, the Brute-faced Man's eyes darted around nervously, and he started stammering.

Cheng Yi let out a cold snicker.

As if bored of watching their little act, he cut straight to the chase.

"He was definitely in the ancestral hall just now—I threw him out myself."

"When I got there, I saw this thug trying to drag Young Master Shen into the fire."

"Isn't that attempted murder?"

At that, everyone's face changed, especially the Brute-faced Man, who flailed in panic, waving his hands like crazy.

"It wasn't murder, I didn't kill anyone!"

Killing the Minister's legitimate son? That was a crime he couldn't admit to even if they tortured him.

The Brute-faced Man, named Zhu Dazhuang, was a butcher from the northern part of the city.

According to him, he and the Minister's eldest son were head over heels for each other and had been intimate for a while. He'd snuck into the residence just to meet Young Master Shen in secret.

The small ancestral hall was their secret meeting spot.

But today, when he snuck into the hall, Young Master Shen mistook him for a thief and hit him with an incense burner, knocking him out cold.

Zhu Dazhuang even showed everyone the gash on his head to prove his story.

When he came to, he was surrounded by flames.

He didn't know who started the fire, but in his panic, he just happened to see Young Master Shen climbing out the window.

Driven by survival instinct, he rushed over and tried to yank him down so he could get out first.

In his version of events, that was only natural—and besides, he hadn't succeeded. Instead, Cheng Yi grabbed his wrist, snapped it, and flung him out of the hall, where he passed out on the spot.

He'd only just woken up moments ago, and now, being accused of murder, he actually had the nerve to act like the victim.

In short, he had no intention of killing anyone and didn't start the fire. He came to the Minister's residence because Young Master Shen invited him.

Cheng Yi's already dark, brooding eyes grew even darker.

How touching—"head over heels"!

When he got to the ancestral hall, the door was clearly locked from the outside. Did this guy have the ability to walk through walls?

Wen Wanning's brow furrowed more and more with each word.

Rumors said Shen Yichen was wild in private and often fooled around with men, but looking at the thin, pale figure on the bed, she couldn't connect him with someone so debauched and dissolute.

She looked at Cheng Yi with concern, only to see his face dark as a storm and his icy gaze murderous. She decided to keep her mouth shut.

Wang Shuci, meanwhile, put on a look of regret and heartache.

"That boy... how foolish..."

He didn't doubt the story one bit, taking the word of a complete stranger as gospel.

Cheng Yi nearly laughed out of pure fury.

The legitimate son of the Minister of Rites—unmatched in beauty—was supposedly in love with a nearly forty-year-old, ugly, crude, greasy butcher?

How absurd. How ridiculous.

Yet no one found it strange. Instead, they all acted like it was perfectly normal. The servants' eyes were full of undisguised contempt, mockery, or disgust—as if they'd personally seen Shen Yichen hooking up with this guy.

Of course. The rumors said Young Master Shen was a dissolute, wanton person, so it was only natural for him to meet a man in broad daylight, even hook up in the ancestral hall.

Even on the very day his fiancé had come to formally propose marriage.

This was the message today's little show was meant to send to Cheng Yi.

Cheng Yi couldn't help but think of his past life—how Shen Yichen had defied the whole world to publicly accuse his own father of murdering his husband and child, standing alone against everyone.

And in the end, he was the one left bloodied and broken.

Years later, when Cheng Yi wept over his corpse, he was haggard, gaunt, still utterly alone.

So that was it. From start to finish, there was no one standing behind him.

Look at the monsters around him.

What a vicious smear.

Wang Shuci had been watching the mother and son's reactions the whole time. Seeing their faces grow uglier by the second, he finally curled his lips into a subtle smile.

What did it matter if something went wrong?

No matter how much that little bastard struggled, he was still right where Wang Shuci wanted him.

Who cared who started the fire now? Everyone's attention was fixed solely on Shen Yichen's supposed secret hookup with a man.

Wang Shuci kept his cool on the inside, but his face twisted into a vicious scowl.

"You filthy commoner, how dare you?! The Minister's own legitimate son—how dare you even dream of laying a finger on him? You've got some serious nerve, huh?"

"Guards! Drag him out and haul him to the magistrate's office."

Zhu Dazhuang shrieked in terror, but the guards slapped a hand over his mouth.

Just as they were about to drag him out, Cheng Yi—who hadn't said a word the whole time—finally spoke up.

"Hold on."

The crowd was momentarily stunned.

His voice was low and unhurried. "Why bother with all that? I'll take care of it myself."

Before anyone could blink, Cheng Yi was already standing next to Zhu Dazhuang.

The two guards, cowed by his presence, instinctively let go of the man and backed off.

Zhu Dazhuang felt a bone-chilling aura wash over him, like being dropped into an ice pit. For a second, he even forgot the agony in his hand.

He looked up and met a pair of pitch-black eyes so cold they could crush him to dust.

Zhu Dazhuang's heart nearly stopped.

The next second, pain slammed into him.

A bloodcurdling scream made everyone in the room flinch.

Cheng Yi was standing right on Zhu Dazhuang's broken hand.

He ground his heel back and forth, slow and deliberate, until the broken hand twisted into a sickening shape that made everyone's stomach turn.

Zhu Dazhuang screamed bloody murder, bawling for his mom and dad, sweat pouring down his face in sheets—but his hand couldn't move an inch.

The screaming didn't let up.

Cheng Yi, face completely blank, bent down until his face was right in front of Zhu Dazhuang's.

"You probably didn't know this, but I hate being lied to."

His voice was calm, unhurried—but it hit so hard that everyone in the room instinctively held their breath, a cold shiver crawling down their backs.

Even Wen Wanning went pale.

She wanted to step forward and tell Cheng Yi to cool it—this wasn't the Marquis's estate, after all—but Nanny Zhang grabbed her arm.

Nanny Zhang was a longtime servant of the Duke's household, and her son had told her Cheng Yi could be trusted.

Now, Nanny Zhang gave her a look that said "wait and see"—the Second Young Master knew what he was doing.

Wen Wanning was worried sick, but in the end, she chose to trust her son.

Wang Shuci, on the other hand, couldn't sit still anymore. Once the shock wore off, he immediately laid into Cheng Yi.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Second Young Master Cheng? You think my Minister's residence has no one in charge?"

Cheng Yi didn't move his foot. He just turned his head and sneered, "What's the rush, Madam Shen? I just want to clear up a little confusion."

"What confusion? Didn't he just spell it all out for you?"

Wang Shuci was grinding his teeth in fury. He'd never met anyone so arrogant and disrespectful in his life.

Cheng Yi let out a sneering laugh.

"Madam Shen won't let me ask—could there be something shady going on here?"

Wang Shuci's chest was heaving. He ground his teeth and spat, "Don't you dare slander me!" He took a deep breath and went on, "If you have real doubts, the magistrate will look into it. If they can't, there's the Grand Court. And this is my Minister's residence's business—what gives you the right to act like this?"

By now, Zhu Dazhuang had passed out from the pain, but Cheng Yi showed no sign of moving his foot.

"I'm just curious—this guy says Young Master Shen called him to the ancestral hall for a private meeting, but I clearly remember that door was locked. So I gotta ask, Madam Shen: if the door was locked, how'd he get in?"

"And if they were so lovey-dovey, where did those scratches on Young Master's arm come from?"

"And are the guards at the Minister's residence just for show? In broad daylight, they let some random butcher sneak in, slip into the ancestral hall—a restricted area—and try to assault the legitimate son of the house. Tsk, tsk, I really worry about the young masters of this household."

That barrage of sarcastic questions nearly drove Wang Shuci up the wall. But then Cheng Yi suddenly changed his tone:

"Surely the Minister's residence is more capable than this. So I suspect someone set a trap—deliberately locking this scumbag in the ancestral hall to go after my fiancé!"

"If we don't find this vicious bastard, I won't be able to sleep at night."

"Bullshit!"

Wang Shuci had completely lost his cool by now.

Damn that little bastard!

Everyone in the capital said Duke Zhenguo spoiled this brat rotten, so he was afraid of nothing.

Wang Shuci had brushed it off, figuring the kid was just a spoiled, arrogant good-for-nothing—just like that precious gem of the Wang family, Wang Weisheng, the Old Duke's pet.

It wasn't until this very moment that he realized how wrong he'd been.

He never imagined the kid could be this completely lawless and this hard to handle.

"Fine, then I'll get to the bottom of it myself. You—"

"If Madam Shen keeps blocking me, that's basically protecting the culprit. Or maybe Madam Shen already knows who this sick bastard is?"

"You—!"

Wang Shuci was completely stuck.

As he talked, Cheng Yi somehow managed to wake Zhu Dazhuang back up.

The second Zhu Dazhuang opened his eyes and saw Cheng Yi's face, he almost passed out again from sheer terror.

It was a ridiculously handsome face, but to Zhu Dazhuang, it might as well have been a demon's.

Cheng Yi flashed him a grin, then lifted his foot and stomped it down on Zhu Dazhuang's other wrist.

"I prefer to hear the truth."

Zhu Dazhuang screamed in agony, drenched in cold sweat, his whole body convulsing uncontrollably from the pain, yet he still refused to back down.

"Ahhh... what I said earlier... ahh... every word is true."

Cheng Yi's expression turned icy, and a crisp crack rang out.

Accompanied by Zhu Dazhuang's scream, his other hand was also stomped and broken.

Wen Wanning was too scared to watch, so she simply lowered her head and sipped her tea, forcing herself to appear composed.

Wang Shuci, however, was so furious his breathing grew ragged.

"Lawless! Absolutely lawless!"

To act so brazenly right under his nose—wasn't that a direct slap to his face? And besides, how could he let this madman get wind of the truth?

"Stop him! You useless bunch of idiots, stop him now!"

Wang Shuci shouted, but none of the servants dared to move.

A few guards did surround him, but Cheng Yi, quick as lightning, whipped a sword from a guard's waist and pressed it straight against Zhu Dazhuang's neck.

The sight nearly made Wang Shuci faint with rage.

"Madam Shen is so desperate to stop me—could it be that the vicious culprit behind this is none other than you?"

"Nonsense!"

He was practically dying of rage, his body trembling uncontrollably.

"Lies! Pure fabrication! Madam Cheng Er, are you just going to let him do whatever he wants?"

Madam Cheng Er calmly sipped her tea, acting as if she hadn't heard a thing.

Her son had instructed her to keep her mouth shut and stay quiet.

Wang Shuci was left speechless with fury. What a bunch of weirdos! The son's a madman, and the mother's just as nuts.

Cheng Yi ignored him, merely jabbing the sword tip at Zhu Dazhuang's neck.

"Still not telling the truth?"

The icy blade grazed his neck, as if to say, "If you don't spill the truth, this is what gets snapped next."

Blood dripped down the sword tip, and Zhu Dazhuang, already scared out of his wits, was about to speak when, at that moment, a furious roar suddenly came from outside the door.

"You insolent brat, how dare you!!!"

Cheng Yi looked up and saw several people approaching quickly.

The one at the lead glared with fury, his official robes exuding an imposing authority.

Who else could it be but Shen Yunhe, the Minister of Personnel?

==========Author's Note:==========

Wang Shuci: No one told me that Cheng Er from the Cheng family was a madman.