Zhen Shicheng stroked his beard. “So, you’re saying you have a husband elsewhere?”
The woman softly answered in the affirmative.
The yamen runners immediately looked at the woman with utter contempt.
To have a husband and still accompany another man, this woman had no virtue.
“If that’s the case, how are you certain the child in your womb belongs to someone else?” Zhen Shicheng asked.
The yamen runners looked at Zhen Shicheng with admiration.
As expected, the magistrate had cut right to the heart of the matter.
The woman bit her lip and said, “I have been married for many years without bearing a child. After accompanying that noble gentleman, I discovered I was with a child. If the child isn’t his, whose could it be?”
A yamen runner muttered, “That’s hard to say. If she could accompany a nobleman, couldn’t she have accompanied others?”
Several people chuckled.
The woman’s gaze turned sharp as knives as she looked at the person who had spoken, her face flushing red. “This woman is not that kind of fickle person. It was my husband who accepted silver from that nobleman—”
She could say no more and covered her face, weeping.
The yamen runners were stunned.
There were such men?
Zhen Shicheng coughed lightly. “Do you know the identity of that man?”
“This humble woman knows, but I cannot find him. That’s why I’m begging the great magistrate for help.”
“Uh, who is he?”
The woman was silent for a moment, then said in a trembling voice, “That noble gentleman… is the Crown Prince.”
With these words, the entire hall was shocked.
Zhen Shicheng’s expression twisted for a moment as he looked at the few beard hairs he had pulled out in his shock, wincing in pain.
He was getting older, and his beard was already thinning. If he kept pulling it out, he’d soon be bald.
The next moment, Zhen Shicheng’s head began to throb.
This woman claimed the child in her womb was the Crown Prince’s. Although it seemed absurd and far-fetched, when he thought about how the Crown Prince had dared to sleep with even the Emperor’s consorts, he suddenly didn’t find it surprising at all.
“Do you know the punishment for falsely implicating the Crown Prince?”
The woman trembled. “This humble woman wouldn’t dare. I have evidence!”
“Where is this evidence?”
The woman hesitated for a moment, then took out an object from her bosom and presented it to Zhen Shicheng.
It was a jade pendant.
Seeing the four-clawed dragon pattern on the jade pendant, Zhen Shicheng’s eyes narrowed.
The woman lowered her head and said, “This jade pendant was given to me by the noble gentleman.”
Zhen Shicheng fell silent for a moment.
The Crown Prince had gone to comfort the disaster victims on behalf of the Emperor and ended up paying to sleep with a victim’s wife. That was bad enough, but to leave behind such a token—was he afraid people wouldn’t have evidence?
Thinking about how the Great Zhou had such an heir apparent, Zhen Shicheng felt utterly exhausted.
Seeing Zhen Shicheng’s silence, the woman kowtowed with a loud thud. “Your Honor, this woman truly has no way out. After the noble gentleman left, my husband accused me of losing my chastity and quickly took a concubine, indulging in pleasure. By the time he discovered I was with child, he had already squandered all the silver he had received. Now he’s forcing me to come to the capital to ask the noble gentleman for more silver. If I don’t comply, he threatens to beat me to death…”
Several days later, Zhen Shicheng entered the palace to report to the Emperor.