After being jilted, the entire neighboring village was filled with deep regret.

"You're spouting nonsense!" Old Mo trembled with rage, gritting his teeth. "Mrs. Su, I never expected a woman like you to be so vicious, slandering us without any evidence!"

"You know you can't slander someone without evidence! Isn't that exactly what you're doing? Why is it that only officials are allowed to set fires while ordinary people are forbidden to light lamps? How shameless!" Su Tai retorted, her sharp tongue drawing admiring glances from the onlookers.

The magistrate took a deep breath and glared angrily at Mo Laotian. "Silence! Mo Laotian, what the Su family said is reasonable and justified. You can't make things up without evidence. If you can't produce any evidence to accuse Shen Yi, you will be charged with contempt of court!"

The gavel slammed down, and the three members of the Mo family were so frightened they almost wet themselves, kowtowing and begging for mercy.

There's always a reason why someone is pitiful. Su Tai remained unmoved, coldly looking at Mo Chunxiang, who was cowering in a ball, and sneered, "Sir, the Mo family can't produce evidence that we killed them, but I can produce their motive. I request that you have a doctor or a woman examine Mo Chunxiang carefully. Whether she was beaten by Xiong Kai will be clear at a glance. Whether the Mo family hates Xiong Kai or not is not up to us to decide. Let's look at the evidence!"

Su Tai spoke with absolute certainty and her expression was resolute, so everyone believed her completely.

Mo Laotian and Guan Shi protected Mo Chunxiang fiercely, preventing the constables from harming her.

The magistrate roared in fury, "Old Tian Mo, Guan Shi! If you disrupt the court again, give them twenty strokes of the cane!"

If the twenty strokes of the cane were really delivered, Old Man Mo and his wife would be crippled if not killed. The two of them let go of each other with tears streaming down their faces, crying miserably.

After examining Mo Chunxiang in the inner room, the doctor and several midwives came out with extremely grave expressions.

The magistrate could tell at a glance that there was a problem, and a very serious one at that. "Midwives, you speak first, how is Madam Mo?"

The two midwives exchanged glances and stepped forward respectfully, saying, "Your Excellency, there isn't a single unscathed spot on Madam Mo's body, from her neck to her feet. She's covered in whip marks, and some areas have been repeatedly injured and have become infected. However, she hasn't been beaten recently, as the wounds have all scabbed over. But her husband is inhuman; he not only beats her with whips and sticks but also burns her with fire. The skin on her stomach is completely ruined, covered in scars."

Having delivered babies for so many years, the two men had seen all sorts of women's bodies, but they had never seen a body as shocking as Mo's.

Upon hearing this, Mo Chunxiang immediately garnered sympathy from many people, and some even vented their anger by cursing Xiong Kai, saying that he deserved to die and that the murderer had rid the people of a scourge.

The magistrate frowned, patted the gavel, and looked at the doctor, "What do you say?"

The doctor pondered for a moment before slowly saying, "Sir, in principle, a doctor should not disclose the patient's privacy. However, Madam Mo's situation is quite special, and I dare not hide it. Madam Mo's body is severely weakened, and she also has some hidden gynecological ailments. In addition, she must have suffered inhuman abuse, and I'm afraid she will be unable to conceive again in the future."

"Hiss!" A series of gasps came from outside the courtroom.

Guan hugged Mo Chunxiang tightly and wailed, cursing Xiong Kai's ancestors for eighteen generations. Her behavior confirmed what Su Tai had said.

The county magistrate began to suspect the three members of the Mo family. "Old Tian Mo, when did the Mo family leave the Xiong family? And how did they get back?"

Mo Laotian's heart skipped a beat. He knew the magistrate suspected them. He kowtowed frantically and said in a panic, "Your Honor, we are truly innocent. We didn't kill Xiong Kai. It was... he beat my daughter every day. My wife and I were worried that he would beat her to death, so we went to check on her every day at dawn."

Xiong Kai is inhuman. He only beats my daughter and doesn't give her any food. My daughter has only survived this long because we secretly bring her food. The windows of Xiong's house are so small and narrow that you can't even fit a bowl in them. I can only bring my daughter pancakes. I bring her two pancakes a day, which is barely enough to fill her stomach.

On February 17th, I went to deliver food to my daughter as usual, but found that Xiong Kai was not there. I went again in the evening and asked my daughter if Xiong Kai had hit her. She said he hadn't hit her that day, so I didn't think much of it. The next day, I delivered food to her as usual, but she said Xiong Kai was not there. The third day, the situation was the same, so we guessed that Xiong Kai wouldn't be back so soon.

My wife and I forced our son to break the lock, which is how we rescued our daughter. I originally had two sons, one died in battle, and the other separated from us because his wife left us. We had no one to help us. My wife and I had already struggled to take care of our daughter, so how could we possibly go and kill Xiong Kai!

We've never seen him from the beginning! If you don't believe me, you can ask our neighbors. We cook and live in our house every day, and there's always someone at home. It's impossible for him to have gone to Shenjiazhuang to commit murder!
Xiong Kai only had his uncle from Liu Family Village and his deceased aunt near Daxun River, but they'd cut off all contact with him. He couldn't possibly go looking for relatives; the only possibility was that he was seeking revenge against Shen Yi! How could a cripple like him possibly defeat a able-bodied, battle-hardened man like Shen Yi? Shen Yi must have killed him!

Mo Laotian became more and more certain as he spoke, as if it were really true.

Shen Yi remained calm and respectfully bowed to the magistrate. "Your Honor, these are all Mo Laotian's one-sided statements. He has no evidence. I am upright and not afraid of being doubted. However, I also hope that Your Honor can catch the real culprit as soon as possible. Before the case makes any progress, I can stay in the county office and be available whenever I am summoned."

Since Shen Yi had said so, the people didn't really doubt him. After all, Shen Yi was the victim from the beginning, while Xiong Kai was the villain. Even if Shen Yi really did kill him, they could understand. Such a villain deserved to die.

Seeing that everyone sympathized with the Mo family, Su Tai was displeased. She turned around and walked towards the onlookers, saying crisply, "We are not afraid of people making accusations, but I don't want you to be misled. Mo was not innocent at all when Xiong Kai beat her. She was lazy and vain when she was with her husband's family. Everyone in Ximen Village knows that."

Her in-laws were very tolerant of her because she had given birth to a son, but this only emboldened her and made her think it was all justified. When the Xiong family went to the Mo family to reason with them, Mo's parents protected their daughter. Later, when Xiong Kai got into trouble, Mo packed her things and went back to her parents' home overnight, abandoning her mother-in-law and children.

She not only let the elderly and children struggle to survive, but she also went even further.

"You wretch, how dare you frame my children! My lord, she's talking nonsense, give her a beating!" Guan was extremely agitated, shouting incessantly, her angry eyes filled with a desire to devour Su Tai alive.

Su Tai sneered, "My Su family swears to heaven that if I tell a single lie, may I be struck by lightning and die a horrible death! Do you dare to swear that?"

Guan was so angry she couldn't speak, her eyes rolling back as if she were about to faint. (End of Chapter)