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

Madam Hu continued, "Just then, the maid who delivered the medicine came out of the room. Fearing that she would be killed if she was discovered, I hid behind a pillar in the eaves."

The woman was hiding right under Miss Fan's window, so the sounds inside were clearer. She could hear Miss Fan calling for help intermittently.

The woman approached the window and, through a tear in the window paper, saw that Lord Shi and his wife were standing in front of Miss Fan's bed. Lady Shi's belly was swollen, indicating that she was about five months pregnant.

Lord Shi grabbed Miss Fan's hair with one hand and used the soup bowl in the other to pour soup into her mouth, while Madam Shi helped hold Miss Fan down.

Lord Shi also said... he also said...

"What else is there to say? Tell me everything you saw truthfully," said Minister Gu.

"Lord Shi said that he has passed the imperial examination and will be pursuing an official career. His status is no longer the same as before. He cannot have a wife from a merchant family, let alone a child with the lowly blood of a merchant!"

Lord Shi held Madam Shi and said that only a noble woman like Shuhua was worthy to be his wife. He also told Miss Fan to die in peace, and that he would take good care of the Fan family's business.

Miss Fan vomited a lot of blood. Before she died, she grabbed Lord Shi's sleeve and begged him to treat Miss Fan Wuyou well!

"My lord, more than twenty years have passed, but I still cannot forget the tragic appearance of Miss Fan Zhaodi before her death. Miss Fan was murdered by Lord Shi and Madam Shi. Everything I have said today is true. If even half of it is false, may I be struck by lightning and die a horrible death," Madam Hu swore.

"I didn't do any of these things!" Wan Shuhua roared at Hu Shi, her voice sharp but her eyes filled with malice. "You vile woman, you're talking nonsense! Who sent you to slander us?"

Shi Shengqing was terrified. He thought he had done a perfect job of killing Fan Zhaodi, but he never expected that he would still be discovered.

"Lord Shi, Madam Shi, Heaven is watching what people do. You know best what evil deeds you have committed." Madam Hu was extremely indignant.

"Miss Fan died a tragic death. I will never forget the scene when you killed her with your own hands. Miss Fan was unlucky to have such a heartless person like you. I thought at the time that evil people would get their comeuppance one day. Now, God has truly opened his eyes."

Nangong Wu was secretly alarmed. If Hu dared to speak like that, she would probably face retaliation from the Wan family. And these witnesses would likely end up dead in the streets after they left here.

Standing next to Bei Chenyan, she sent him a private message: "Have you arranged backup plans for all these witnesses?"

Bei Chenyan nodded slightly. "Don't worry, everything's arranged. I've been raising these people for years, just waiting for this day."

So that's how it is. No wonder Mrs. Hu dared to speak like that.

You've already played your part in this historical game!

Bei Chenyan glanced at her and said, "More than six years ago, Shi Peiqiong sent me to Chunfeng Ferry, which sealed the fate of the Shi family today."

That's when I started researching the history of the family. That's when I discovered that the deaths of the entire Fan family were suspicious. I followed the clues and investigated for several years before I found these witnesses.

Last night, we found those secret letters again in Shi Shengqing's secret room. This time, I want Shi Shengqing and Wan Shuhua dead.

Anyone who dares to poison him or scheme against him will only face death.

Opposite them, Empress Wan and her family looked extremely grim.

They took every precaution, openly and secretly fighting against the Jingwang faction to protect Beichen Yan's position as crown prince, but they never expected to be stabbed in the back by the very people they supported, catching them completely off guard.

"Slander! You people must have been bribed to slander me. I am innocent..." Shi Shengqing shouted.

"Silence!" Vice Minister Gu slammed the gavel again. "A person who makes a disturbance in the courtroom shall be punished with ten strokes of the cane."

Shi Shengqing shuddered, feeling an even greater pain in his buttocks, and shut his mouth.

"Xu Jing, you are the murderer who killed Master Fan." Minister Gu interrogated the third person.

"Yes!" The man called Xu Jing, who was in his fifties, kowtowed. "This humble subject is guilty and is willing to confess everything."

"Then tell me, why did you kill Master Fan, and how did you kill him?" Minister Gu asked.

Xu Jing hurriedly told the whole story: "We were originally from the Nine Netherworld Sect, specializing in killing. It was Shi Shengqing's steward who came to us. He gave us a deposit of 50,000 taels of silver to kill the old master of the Fan family. He promised to give us another 100,000 taels of silver after we succeeded."

Shi Shengqing also told us where Old Master Fan had gone and which road he would take. We then ambushed him halfway there and killed all twenty members of the Fan family!

"Men, immediately arrest the steward of the Shi family," Minister Gu ordered.

"There's no need to look for him anymore. That butler died a few years ago. The current butler is his son, but take him down too," Bei Chenyan ordered.

Many of Shi Shengqing's evil deeds were committed by this father and son stewards, and they deserve to die!

"Yes!" The palace guards immediately seized the steward of the Shi family and tied him up.

Four witnesses, along with some secret letters from Shi Shengqing, proved that Shi Shengqing hired the Nine Nether Sect to murder the old master of the Fan family and personally killed Fan Zhaodi, resulting in the deaths of both mother and child.

"Bring them in!" Zhang Qing suddenly shouted towards the door.

Two guards dragged an old woman in.

Nangong Wu looked up and saw that the person who had been brought in was none other than Granny Ma.

Because she fed him the medicine, he looked like he had aged ten years.

"Wet nurse!" Shi Peiqiong exclaimed in surprise, looking at Bei Chenyan. "Cousin Crown Prince, that's my wet nurse! Why did you arrest her too?"

Bei Chenyan didn't say anything, and didn't even glance at her.

"Who is below?" Vice Minister Gu asked in a dignified voice.

Granny Ma shuddered in fright and quickly replied, "This old servant, Ma, is Miss Shi Peiqiong's wet nurse."

Nangong Wu stepped forward and said, "My lords, it was this Ma woman who suggested to Wan Shuhua that we sell my daughter to a brothel."

Minister Gu shouted, "Madam Ma, confess to the evil deeds you have committed!"

"This old servant only made a suggestion to Madam, and did not do anything else wrong. Please forgive me!" Granny Ma argued.

Suddenly an old woman pointed at her: "Sir, it was the safflower and musk that the madam asked her to buy. These are medicinal herbs that can cause postpartum hemorrhage. She also personally brewed that bowl of herbal soup."

"Since she won't confess, then put her in the finger-crushing torture and see how stubborn she can be!" Vice Minister Gu slammed his gavel.

Two constables stepped forward with finger-crushing clamps. One grabbed Granny Ma's hands, and the other swiftly applied the clamps to her.

Granny Ma turned pale with fright at the sight of the torture. "No! I haven't done anything wrong! You can't do this to me..."

The constables had already strung a small log with a rope and slipped it onto her fingers, and the two of them pulled hard.

The ten fingers are connected to the heart; Granny Ma was pinched so hard that she let out a pig-like scream, "Ah~~"