Chapter 142: Brought to Justice

Soon, the servant led the government bailiffs over.

"Your Lordship, Your Ladyship..."

Before he could finish, Shen Xiao interrupted him: "I have already said this: because of this woman's vicious mind, I have cast her aside. She is no longer the Heir's Consort. You may simply address her by her name."

The incoming bailiffs looked at each other in dismay. After a moment, one of them changed his tune: "Tan Yunge, the Prince of Duan has accused you of bribing the Prince of Duan's servants to poison the Consort of Duan. With human witnesses and physical evidence both present, will you come with us?"

Tan Yunge shook her head hurriedly: "No, I am not going. I have done nothing wrong. I have done nothing wrong."

The bailiffs were somewhat at a loss, but Shen Xiao spoke up lightly from the side: "What is there to fear? She is merely a commoner now, not some extraordinary noblewoman. If she refuses to go, just drag her away."

"What? Still feeling tender toward her? Heh..."

Hearing Shen Xiao put it that way, and recalling that the plaintiff accusing Tan Yunge was a figure one dared not cross, the bailiffs exchanged glances, hardened their hearts, and stepped forward to seize Tan Yunge: "Miss Tan, let us go."

The moment the bailiffs grabbed her, Tan Yunge felt a pain throughout her body as if she were being pierced by needles, and she let out a loud, startled scream: "Ah, ah, ah! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts! What are you doing? Let go of me! Get away!"

Tan Yunge struggled violently.

"Oh, still putting on an act?"

"Resisting the bailiffs as well? What are we waiting for?"

The bailiffs' expressions changed: "Men, take the criminal into custody!"

"Understood!"

The bailiffs swarmed forward, quickly grabbing Tan Yunge and shoving her directly to the ground.

"Ah, ah, ah!" Tan Yunge tilted her head back, screaming heart-rendingly.

Yet no one paid her any heed. The bailiffs jerked her up by her arms and dragged her straight outside.

Tan Yunge's face was twisted in agony, the veins on her forehead bulging, and her face drenched in cold sweat.

The bailiffs dragged Tan Yunge directly out of the Heir's Manor, outside of which a crowd of townspeople had already gathered.

Seeing the bailiffs drag Tan Yunge out, everyone outside began to point and gesture at her: "I thought the rumors were false, but are they actually true?"

"Tan Yunge has genuinely been cast aside by the Heir of the Prince of Ding's Manor?"

"And she actually poisoned her own son, just to use him as a tool to poison the Consort of Duan? Such a vicious mind! Even a ferocious tiger will not devour its own cubs, yet she actually..."

"Hah, regarding this matter, I heard a rumor that the Heir of the Prince of Ding's Consort's son was not even born of her."

"Really? Is there some hidden story behind this?"

"Of course! I have a relative who works in the Prince of Ding's Manor, and this is what she said. Six years ago, wasn't Tan Qingjiu thrown into the river for being defiled and becoming pregnant before marriage? I heard that back then, because the Heir's Consort could not conceive a child of her own, she rescued Tan Qingjiu, who was carrying a wild seed, and kept her hidden in a detached courtyard."

"Then, after Tan Qingjiu gave birth to the child, she snatched the baby away. Word has it that after stealing the child, she even wanted to silence her by murdering her, but she never expected Tan Qingjiu's life to be tenacious enough for someone to rescue her."

"My relative said that previously, Tan Qingjiu went to make a scene at the Prince of Duan's Manor and even performed a blood-test paternity check on the spot, proving that the child was not born to Tan Yunge at all."

The bystanders outside had not known about this twist and were left gaping, finding it somewhat hard to believe.

"There was such a twist as well? If that's the case, then the child wasn't the Heir of the Prince of Ding's either? Why didn't the Heir of the Prince of Ding simply make this public? Wasn't he raising someone else's child for nothing?"

"No wonder, no wonder Tan Yunge never treated that child as her own, and even went so far as to poison him. Terrifying."

Someone chuckled: "It's true, but family scandals shouldn't be aired in public, so the matter was suppressed. Besides, wasn't that child sent to the Prince of Duan's Manor recently?"

"That child was born to Tan Qingjiu, and her only certain living relative is Tan Qingjiu. It's impossible for the Heir of the Prince of Ding to foolishly raise another man's child, so they took this opportunity to send the boy back to Tan Qingjiu's side."

"Ah... Is that how it was? But is the Prince of Duan willing? Isn't the Prince of Duan also raising another man's child?"

"Can't Tan Qingjiu cure the Prince of Duan's strange affliction? The Prince of Duan isn't a fool either; he simply wants Tan Qingjiu to treat his illness. The Prince of Duan has been tormented by that strange affliction for so many years, and now that there is finally hope, never mind raising someone else's child—he would agree to anything."

While the crowd was in the midst of a heated discussion, Tan Yunge paused her steps and looked with disbelief at the person speaking in the crowd: "What nonsense are you spouting?"

Tan Yunge rebuked sternly. Perhaps because she had served as the Heir's Consort for so many years, her voice carried a certain dignified authority when reprimanding others.

The people in the crowd involuntarily stepped back a few paces, not daring to speak further.

"What are you doing?"

The bailiff behind her hastily yanked Tan Yunge back. Unprepared, Tan Yunge stumbled and fell heavily to the ground.

"Ah, ah!" A near-shattering scream rang out. Tan Yunge's expression twisted further as she gritted her teeth and shouted fiercely, "What do you think you're doing? Have you got a death wish?"

A bailiff nearby sneered: "Miss Tan, do you still think you are the Heir's Consort? The Heir of the Prince of Ding just said it himself—you have been cast aside by him. You are merely an ordinary commoner now, so stop putting on the airs of an Heir's Consort here!"

"And do you even know who the person accusing you is? Do you know who you tried to poison?"

"That is none other than the Prince and Consort of Duan."

As soon as the bailiff said this, the murmurs that had just subsided erupted once more.

"Look at her, why is her expression so ferocious?"

"I had heard rumors before that Tan Yunge's gentle and virtuous demeanor was entirely an act. I didn't believe it then, but now I do."

"No wonder the Consort of Duan said earlier that she had always bullied her back at the Tan residence. Tsk, a true scorpion in human skin."

Tan Yunge clenched her teeth in bitter hatred. These cheap commoners!

These fickle, worthless grass-on-the-wall wretches!

When she had power and influence, they fawned over her and elevated her. Now that she had fallen from grace and Tan Qingjiu had latched onto the Prince of Duan, they came to trample her into the dirt just to praise Tan Qingjiu.

The Prince of Duan?

He was nothing more than a raving madman.

He could never become the emperor.

Tan Yunge gritted her teeth, her heart consumed by extreme hatred.

As the bailiffs escorted her toward the magistrate's office, Tan Yunge suddenly caught sight of two very familiar figures in the crowd.

Tan Yunge's eyes lit up, her face suffused with joy: "Father! Mother!"

"You've come to rescue me, haven't you? I knew you would come to save me."

Following Tan Yunge's gaze, the onlookers saw Tan Yun and Chen Yueru standing not far away.