Why My Domineering Prince Regretted Filing for Divorce?-Chapter 556 - 463 Testimony and Evidence

"I—?"

Song Yu was startled, and Ma Xu beside him also looked at him with a horrified expression.

But at this moment, he seemed to realize that the more he said, the more mistakes he would make. So he didn’t immediately say anything, instead quickly recalling what he had said, but he could never remember mentioning anything.

So, he coldly said, "I don’t remember saying any ’testimony.’

Shang Ruyi said, "It seems that Lord Song has done too many things and said too many words, forgetting them all. But it doesn’t matter, fortunately, I remembered."

"..."

"Just last night, when the tung oil from those twenty or so water carts was released, what did you say?"

"..."

"You said—no wonder you couldn’t find the tung oil."

Song Yu’s complexion suddenly changed.

He was about to say something, but Shang Ruyi smiled and said, "Lord Song, you must not easily deny it. After all, there were many people standing next to you at that time, and they all heard those words."

Song Yu thought for a moment and immediately sneered, "What is there to deny about this?"

"..."

"We couldn’t find tung oil, so what?"

"..."

"Who knows what you did with so much tung oil. Is it a crime not to find tung oil?"

Shang Ruyi said, "Not finding tung oil is not a crime."

"..."

"But using tung oil to set fires is a crime!"

Song Yu frowned, just about to say something, when Shang Ruyi already coldly said, "A few days ago, when the Great General just fell ill, I discussed with Lord Dai that although we must defend the city firmly, the general’s order included four words about digging trenches deeply, which clearly showed that he did not just want us to defend Fufeng."

"..."

"So, Lord Dai and I formulated today’s strategy, and for this plan, we gathered all the tung oil in the city."

"That’s right,"

Next to her, Dai Junliang nodded and continued, "However, this plan was risky, and had to be kept secret. To prevent people from finding out, we even prepared the official office’s oil in advance until the end of the month, ensuring no one knew we had collected the city’s tung oil."

"In other words," Shang Ruyi continued, "if there were no other uses, you shouldn’t ’need’ to find tung oil normally."

Here, she looked coldly at Song Yu and Ma Xu: "So, I would like to ask you two."

"..."

"What were you going to do with the tung oil?"

Song Yu’s expression grew increasingly panicked.

At this moment, Ma Xu suddenly turned pale, stiffened his neck, and said, "General’s wife, do you also want to meddle in how many tung oil candles we use?"

"..."

"Even if we’re just burning it for fun, as long as you don’t have evidence, you can’t accuse us!"

Upon hearing this, almost everyone present frowned.

This person was clearly pushed into a corner and started to speak recklessly, his reason already on the verge of collapse.

Shang Ruyi sneered and said, "Burning for fun, that’s fine."

"..."

"But if it burns near my husband, that would be harming a court official, which is—rebellion!"

Ma Xu’s face suddenly turned deathly pale.

Meanwhile, Song Yu bit his teeth and glared at him, seemingly annoyed by his thoughtless words, pondered for a moment, then sneered, "General’s wife, please don’t alarmist, saying murder, rebellion, is adding accusations!"

"..."

"I just ask you, since you collected all the tung oil, and considering what I just said, we couldn’t find tung oil, how could that fire, even if it was set, be related to us?"

Hearing this, Ma Xu, who was somewhat panicked beside him, suddenly brightened his eyes.

He hurriedly said, "That’s right!"

Shang Ruyi looked at them and was not flustered, only nodded faintly, "Lord Song, you are indeed sober."

"Then—"

"However, I just mentioned that after collecting all the tung oil in the city, we also prepared enough tung oil candles for the official office staff to use until the end of the month. This means, under normal use, you should still have enough tung oil to last until the end of the month in your room."

As she finished speaking, footsteps sounded outside the door.

Everyone turned to look, and it was two personal soldiers under Mu Xian who came over. They whispered a few words to him, and after listening, Mu Xian immediately said to everyone in the hall, "Madam, Lords, I just had them search Lord Song’s and Lord Ma’s rooms. There is not a drop of tung oil left in their rooms."

Upon hearing this, everyone’s eyes grew even heavier as they all looked at Ma and Song.

Song Yu’s face stiffened, and he immediately roared, "You—you have a lot of nerve, daring to—"

As he spoke, he was about to rush forward to act, but at this moment, before the other personal soldiers could step forward, Dai Junliang and Yin Changyue had already said, "Lord Song, please calm down."

"Please explain clearly, what did you and General Ma use the tung oil in your rooms for?"

...

At this point, the two of them were silenced.

Ma Xu’s eyes, which had been somewhat lively, were now completely frozen, as if they would never move again, only trembling continuously, sweating like rain.

At this moment, when Song Yu looked at him again, it was as if he had found a lifeline in his panicked eyes.

He suddenly let out a cold laugh and said, "Spilled."

"What?!"

Dai Junliang was stunned, his eyes widening as he looked at him, as if he couldn’t believe his ears.

Song Yu sneered and said, "I said, those tung oil barrels accidentally spilled."

"..."

"What, Young Madam, gentlemen, are you even going to hold us accountable for accidentally spilling tung oil?"

Dai Junliang gritted his teeth hard, and even the usually good-natured Yin Changyue couldn’t help but blow out a heavy breath from his nose.

While everyone was furious because of his brazen rascal behavior, Shang Ruyi instead looked at him with a very calm gaze, her expression even more relaxed.

After all, when a person starts to play tricks, it proves he doesn’t have many cards left to play.

So, Shang Ruyi smiled faintly and said, "Indeed, I can’t hold that against you."

"..."

"Since you say it spilled, then let it be spilled."

Dai Junliang was taken aback and looked at her, "Madam?"

Shang Ruyi gently shook her head at him.

Song Yu also seemed to understand that his previous actions had been extremely dangerous, and now could only quickly end the farce before him. Thus, he said, "So, Young Madam, do you still have any more evidence? If not, we won’t keep you company any longer."

Shang Ruyi shook her head, "The testimony is no longer available."

"..."

"However, you should both remember, I just said that to reach a conclusion on a matter, besides testimony, there is also evidence and witnesses."

"..."

"Don’t you both want to see the remaining two items?"

Song Yu at this moment had no desire to see those two items, after all, with the conversation going this far, he knew there was no foothold for him here, and further words might lead to mistakes, giving others the handle against him, making this matter difficult to resolve.

However, when they hurriedly returned to the office just now, only two guards followed them, and both of these individuals were novices, unaware of the situation, and at this moment were still standing on the side. On the contrary, the few people under Shang Ruyi’s command had already surrounded the hall so tightly that there was no chance for them to leave.

Song Yu bit his teeth and could only look back at Shang Ruyi.

He said coldly, "I don’t know where the Young Madam found any material evidence or witnesses. Didn’t Mr. Yin just say that you found nothing?"

Shang Ruyi smiled faintly.

She said, "But I also said earlier, if there really was nothing, I would have taken revenge myself."

"..."

"Since you are all still standing here alive——"

Though she spoke with a smile, the cold and vicious undertone within her words sent a chill down the spines of everyone around. Yin Changyue looked at her for a moment, seeming to recognize this General’s wife for the first time.

He thought for a while, then stepped forward and said, "If Madam has evidence or witnesses, please feel free to present them."

"..."

"As a supervisor, if there really is an incident of plotting against court officials during a confrontation between armies, I will never be lenient!"

"Alright,"

Shang Ruyi nodded and then looked at him and said, "Does Mr. Yin still remember that outside the scene of the fire that day, my maid once said that our herbs used for the fumigation that day had been mixed with Hook Vine, which causes people to fall into a coma? The arsonists wanted to knock us out first and then set fire outside, thus ensuring our demise."

"I remember," Yin Changyue said, "But we later sent people to search, and all those herbs were burned, weren’t they?"

"Yes."

"Then——"

"The culprits in the herbs did indeed burn all the other herbs used for fumigation, along with the box where we stored the herbs, to avoid leaving evidence. However, they forgot one thing."

"Forgot what?"

"It was the half-burned paper roll we extinguished that day."

"Half-burned?" 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

"Indeed, at that time, the fumigation paper roll was only half burned when we smelled something wrong, so we extinguished it immediately. But, the person who cleared the evidence obviously didn’t expect this, so while they burned the box, they forgot the half paper roll we had left on the ground."

Hearing these words, Song Yu and Ma Xu exchanged a glance, and their faces suddenly turned pale.

And Shang Ruyi had already lifted her head and said, "Nie Chong, go call Wo—"

Her words were not yet finished when she heard Wo Xue’s voice coming from outside the door, softly saying, "Young Madam, the servant has brought the evidence."

Shang Ruyi looked up and saw Wo Xue entering from outside.

In her hands, she held a handkerchief, on which lay the half-burned paper roll that Shang Ruyi had instructed her to retrieve from the scene of the fire that night after all other evidence had been destroyed during the night.

But upon seeing her, Shang Ruyi frowned slightly.

She said softly, "Why have you come yourself?"

Wo Xue lifted her head and gently said, "Young Madam, it was the Eldest Young Master who asked this servant to come."

"... What?"