With a warehouse full of supplies, I stood alone as king in this chaotic world, gun in hand.

The judges in the main seats changed their expressions repeatedly when they saw how badly the Crown Prince's men had beaten Shi Shengqing.

The three of them tacitly agreed to have Shi Shengqing beaten ten times first, in order to test the Crown Prince's attitude.

After all, Shi Shengqing's backer is the Wan family, and with Empress Wan protecting him, he might be reinstated one day and certainly won't let them off the hook.

But now, seeing Shi Shengqing's miserable state, they knew what to do.

This Shi Shengqing is doomed. They absolutely cannot let him have a chance to turn things around, otherwise! With his ruthlessness, he will definitely take revenge on them.

"Shi Shengqing, do you accept these twenty strokes of the cane?" Minister Gu asked.

If he dares to disagree, then give him another twenty lashes; we'll definitely cripple him first.

Shi Shengqing felt a burning pain in his buttocks and struggled to get up, wincing in pain.

He looked up at the three people seated above him. They were all third-rank officials, one rank lower than him. In the past, they would come up to him and be extremely respectful. Now, however, they had become prisoners to be interrogated.

"Silence means you're not convinced." Minister Gu slammed his gavel down again. "Then drag him out and give him another twenty strokes of the cane."

"I admit it..." Shi Shengqing gritted his teeth.

If he gets another twenty lashes, he'll be ruined!

Nangong Wu stepped forward and continued to complain, "My lord, I want to accuse Shi Shengqing. In order to curry favor with the Wan family, he had an affair with Wan Shuhua twenty years ago, and she became pregnant."

In order to seize the Fan family's property, they secretly hired someone to pose as bandits and murder my maternal grandfather. When my mother learned of the terrible news, she went into premature labor due to excessive grief. That very night, Shi Shengqing forced poison into my mother's body, resulting in the deaths of both mother and child.

"I didn't do any of that! You wicked woman, how dare you slander me!" Shi Shengqing shouted.

The faces of several officials darkened.

"No?" Nangong Wu pointed at Wan Shuhua and sneered:

"Shi Peiqiong is only a little over a year younger than me. My mother had only been dead for seven days when you were already marrying Wan Shuhua. Less than four months later, she gave birth to Shi Peiqiong. Do you dare say you didn't have an affair with this woman? Then whose child is Shi Peiqiong?"

Shi Shengqing blushed with embarrassment after hearing her words, but he knew he absolutely could not admit to hiring someone to commit murder.

"My relationship with Shuhua was just an accident. Since ancient times, men have always had three wives and four concubines. Even if I married Shuhua, it would be legal and reasonable. Shuhua is now my wife and your stepmother. How can you say such hurtful things?"

"What? You dare to do such shameless things, and now you won't even let me speak? Shi Shengqing, you hired someone to murder my maternal grandfather and poisoned my mother. I will make you pay for this in blood!"

After Nangong Wu finished speaking, she handed over some prepared evidence and a written complaint.

A yamen runner stepped forward and placed the items on the table of the three adults.

The Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, Vice Minister Gu, and the Imperial Censor opened the petition and evidence and examined them carefully.

Shi Shengqing and Wan Shuhua both turned pale.

But then he thought that they had erased all traces and dealt with all the people who needed to be dealt with, and he felt a sense of relief.

After a quarter of an hour, the three presiding judges finished reading what Nangong Wu had submitted and began to discuss the complaint and evidence in hushed tones.

After a while, Minister Gu asked Nangong Wu again, "Miss Fan, besides these secret letters, do you have any other witnesses?"

"Yes, we do." Nangong Wu looked at Zhang Qing. "Bring up the witnesses."

"Bring your ID!" Zhang Qing shouted towards the door.

"Go in."

Several palace guards escorted six people in: two men and four women, aged between forty and sixty, but dressed fairly neatly. One of the women had a limp.

When Shi Shengqing and Wan Shuhua saw these six people, their faces turned ashen. The last bit of hope they had just had vanished in an instant.

They knew they were done for this time, and just hoped that the two people wouldn't say anything.

The six men walked to the center of the hall and knelt down.

"Who is below?" Minister Gu asked.

The lame woman kneeling on the far right was the first to state her name, "Your Excellency, I am Bao Shi, originally a servant of the Fan family, and the wet nurse of Miss Fan Wuyou..."

The next five then introduced themselves one by one.

After listening, Vice Minister Gu asked Madam Bao, "Madam Bao, since you were Miss Fan's wet nurse, why did you lie to Shi Shengqing about Fan Wuyou's death?"

"I did this to protect the young lady," Bao said, kowtowing to the three men. "The young lady has a hard life. She was only five years old when she was sent to the estate. Wan Shuhua wanted the young lady dead. She threatened me with my son's life, demanding that I kill the young lady."

But the young lady had been incredibly kind to us, and I couldn't do anything against my conscience. So I secretly took the young lady away from the farm and gave her to a childless couple to raise, hoping she could grow up safely. Then I would return to the capital and tell Shi Shengqing and Madam Wan that the young lady was gone.

More than eight years ago, the young lady accidentally learned about her background and secretly ran back to the Fan family mansion, wanting to ask Shi Shengqing to help her, but she fell into the hands of Wan Shuhua.

At that time, the woman and her husband were still on the farm when an old friend suddenly ran over and told us to leave quickly, saying that her son had been beaten to death at the Shi family's house, and that Wan Shuhua had even sent people to try to kill us.

We didn't know what our son had done wrong, but we had no choice but to leave the farm and hide. Later we found out that the young lady had secretly returned to the Shi family mansion and was caught by Wan Shuhua, who wanted to sell her to a brothel for five hundred taels of silver.

"The young lady didn't die. Wan Shuhua knew that the woman had deceived them, so she took her anger out on the woman's son and beat him to death. Waaah..." Bao Shi cried as she spoke of her son's death.

"My poor son died such a tragic death! I beg you, Your Honor, to seek justice for my son!"

Upon hearing this, Minister Gu slammed his gavel in anger again, "Guards! Seize Wan Shuhua!"

"Yes!" Two constables came out and were about to seize Wan Shuhua.

"Stop!" The Grand Tutor Wan finally couldn't sit still any longer. "Let's see who dares to touch my daughter!"

The two constables dared not move!

"Father-in-law Wan, what are you doing?" the Imperial Censor exclaimed. "Even princes are subject to the law. Wan Shuhua is accused of murder and forcing women into prostitution. Are you trying to use your status to intimidate people and protect your daughter by preventing the authorities from arresting her?"

"So what if I killed his son?" Wan Shuhua said righteously. "Their whole family were slaves, bound by a death contract. I have the right to kill them."

"Wan Shuhua, they are servants of my Fan family, and have nothing to do with your Wan family or Shi family. Who do you think you are to dare to touch them?" Nangong Wu showed her fierce side, pointing at the yamen runners, "What are you all standing there for? Go and arrest her."

"Let's see who dares!" Wan Guozhang slammed his cane heavily into the ground.

The constables were intimidated and took two steps back.

Seeing that the constables dared not act, Zhang Qing had no choice but to arrest Wan Shuhua himself. "The government is handling a case; let's see who dares to stop us!"