Don't Ask Where People Go After Time Travel

Chapter 1897 Invasion
"With Mr. Xie present in court, how can I be the one to make the decision?" Fang Zilan said, glancing at Xie Chen, clearly reminding him that as the presiding judge, he should not show favoritism.

Xie Chen glanced at Fang Zilan, then turned his gaze to Xiahou Yunzhao, asking the head of the Wu family, "Lord Wu, according to Madam Fu, the contraband drugs came from the Wu family. Is this true?"

The head of the Wu family lowered his head and spoke after a long while, "Although my Wu family is a prominent family in Lingnan, and does have some business in cordyceps, but..."

He didn't continue, but Xiahou Yunzhao, who was standing to the side, asked with a half-smile, "But what?"

“But that’s Lingnan! Even a fly can’t escape the Xiahou family’s notice. How could I possibly evade the Xiahou family’s control over some illegal drugs?” The Wu family head seemed more and more aggrieved as he spoke, and he knelt down on the ground with a thud. “Please, Mr. Xie, do me justice! You mustn’t wrong my Wu family for no reason!”

"Injustice?" Xiahou Yunzhao repeated the two words meaningfully, and said with a smile, "That's right, everything requires evidence. It seems you won't shed tears until you see the coffin."

"General Xiahou, what do you mean?" The head of the Wu family looked up at Xiahou Yunzhao and said angrily, "Don't try to slander my Wu family just because you have a private relationship with Mr. Xie!"

"Who do you take me for, Xiahou Yunzhao?" Xiahou Yunzhao said coldly, "If I hadn't caught the person who was illegally trading contraband drugs, why would I have entered the pass alone, disregarding the safety of the entire Xiahou family?"

"May I ask who General Xiahou has captured?" The head of the Wu family clenched his fists and roared at Xiahou Yunzhao, "That is Aying, my own sister, your lawfully wedded wife, head of the Xiahou family! If I don't risk my life to bring her back to the Wu family, General Xiahou will torture her into confessing, using her blood as bait, and the corpses of my entire Wu family as stepping stones, so that your Xiahou family can rise to prominence?"

Xiahou Yunzhao pursed her lips and said calmly, "Do I need to?"

However, the more nonchalant she appeared, the more the Wu family head pressed her for an answer. "General Xiahou, you've harbored resentment ever since Prince Rong'an overpowered you. Later, Fang Zilan forced you to relinquish your power and step down, taking away your title of Duke of Yue, which only fueled your resentment. If you had known this would happen, why did you surrender in the first place and even send Consort Yu to him..."

"Shut up." Xiahou Yunzhao looked down at the head of the Wu family and said, word by word, "Consort Yu is the birth mother of the current emperor. You are not worthy to mention her."

"I am not worthy?" The head of the Wu family sneered. "General Xiahou, if you and Xie Chen had not been so determined to surrender, how could the Baiyue region have fallen to this state? How could the Xiahou family have fallen to this state?"

"This is a matter for the Xiahou family, and it has nothing to do with you." Xiahou Yunzhao's face was ashen. "Now that Xie Chen is in court, I only have one question—does your Wu family admit to the crime of privately trading prohibited drugs?"

“I admit it.” The head of the Wu family nodded readily. “I was instructed by the Xiahou family to trade in prohibited drugs and sell Wu Kui to the steward of the Rong’an Prince’s mansion, which poisoned the Rong’an Prince’s life.”

Before he finished speaking, an uproar erupted both inside and outside the hall.

Xie Chen slammed his gavel and asked loudly, "Why would the Xiahou family instruct you to do this?"

"Why?" A sinister smile appeared on the face of the Wu family head. "Haven't I made myself clear enough? General Xiahou has harbored resentment for a long time. Moreover, considering the pirate invasion and the epidemic in the southeast, how could she not hate what Prince Rong'an did?"

Xie Chen took a deep breath. "If what you say is true, why didn't General Xiahou take action back then, but instead waited all these years?"

"Mr. Xie, others may not know the reason, but do you not know it either?" The head of the Wu family chuckled. "Who in the southeast doesn't know that General Xiahou and Prince Rong'an are at odds? At that critical juncture, even if she had her own intentions, Mr. Xie, you wouldn't have let her act recklessly, would you?"

"Cheng Zhiming isn't worth much money..." the boy stammered, but Fang Zilan interrupted him, "That's like trying to hide something." As soon as she finished speaking, the woman from the private room on the south side came out again, "Coincidentally, my master also thinks that Cheng Zhiming isn't worth much money."

As she spoke, she placed three silver notes on the gambling table. "These are my master's chips—three hundred thousand taels."

"What does your master mean by this?" The boy's eyes widened. "Three hundred thousand taels! How could Cheng Zhiming be worth so much?"

"It's only three hundred thousand taels," the woman said casually. "Cheng Zhiming once served as the head of two prefectures, just a step away from the capital. Even if he's not worth much silver, he should still be more valuable than Fu Congnan, shouldn't he?"

"That was then," the boy said aggressively. "Right now, Cheng Zhiming is just a commoner, and he's even implicated by Cheng Zhiyan. Whether he'll live or die is another matter entirely..."

He stopped abruptly halfway through his sentence, his face turning pale and then red, clearly realizing he had made a slip of the tongue.

"Why did you stop talking?" Fang Zilan looked at the boy with great interest, but her eyes seemed to be covered with frost. "You think 300,000 taels is too much, but do you think 100,000 taels is too little? You always talk about tens of thousands of taels. Do you know that an ordinary person may not even be able to earn a thousand taels in his whole life, let alone tens of thousands of taels?"

"Since you're sitting here, why pretend to be so friendly?" the boy said indignantly. "The so-called high and low social status is something ordinary people can't even dream of..."

"You're just a fox borrowing the tiger's might." Fang Zilan said without any politeness, "If today's bet wasn't Cheng Zhiming, but you, how much silver do you think your master would be willing to put up as a wager?"

The boy turned completely pale. The maid who was in charge of the gambling quickly tried to smooth things over, saying, "Now that the game is about to begin, are there any other guests who would like to join?"

Upon hearing this, Fang Zilan glanced at Dugu Linxiu, who stood in front of the gambling table, hesitant to make a move.

"They're just using someone else's power; they're not using their own money," Fang Zilan said calmly. "Or do you think Cheng Zhiming is worth 510,000 taels?"

Dugu Linxiu glanced sideways at her, "Miss Zhen, do you think it's worth it?"

Fang Zilan composed herself and casually pointed at Dugu Ming, "Do you think he's worth 510,000 taels?"

Dugu Ming frowned, about to say something, when he saw Fang Zilan's gaze fall on him, and then she changed her finger and pointed at Dugu Linxiu, "Do you think she's worth 510,000 taels?"

"Why must a perfectly good person be valued in terms of silver?" Dugu Ming said in a deep voice, "If I like him, he is priceless. If I don't like him..." He paused, his hands clenching into fists.

Fang Zilan curled her lips into a smile. "Is she as worthless as grass?"

Dugu Ming remained silent. Dugu Linxiu pursed her lips and reached out to take back the 510,000 taels of silver from the gambling table.

“It seems it’s not worth it.” As soon as Fang Zilan spoke, she saw Dugu Linxiu’s hand pause for a moment, but she didn’t care and continued, “Then I have no need to get involved.”