Chapter 527
Chapter 527
"I... I want to save my father!" Zhao Donglai said without a second thought, nervously lifting his head to look at Li Zhiwei.
He didn't want anything to happen to his father.
"Those words you just said — who told you to say them?" Li Zhiwei looked at Zhao Donglai and asked, word by word.
Those words must have been instigated by someone else.
Zhao Donglai lowered his head, darting a sidelong glance at Niu Shi beside him.
Those words came from what his stepmother had said.
But he didn't dare tell Li Zhiwei that.
"Auntie, I was wrong!" Zhao Donglai kept his head down, uttering only that one sentence.
Hearing Zhao Donglai say this, Niu Shi let out a quiet sigh of relief.
Still, thinking about Li Zhiwei's mention of implicating nine generations of family, Niu Shi couldn't help but feel a flutter of panic.
"How can this woman be like this? Why does she have to argue with a child?" Niu Shi watched Li Zhiwei interrogating Zhao Donglai like this and couldn't help feeling anxious.
She absolutely must not let Zhao Donglai reveal that those words had come from her mouth.
Otherwise, she couldn't bear to imagine the consequences.
"Auntie, Zhao Donglai already said it — those words came from his stepmother." Xie Yanzhi, who had stayed silent all along, stepped forward and said.
"I never said any such thing! You child, don't go spouting nonsense!" Niu Shi pointed at Xie Yanzhi's nose and scolded him, a guilty look flashing in her eyes.
"What's this? You can say those words, but no one else is allowed to repeat them?" Lin Ziyi stepped forward in dissatisfaction, pointing at Niu Shi.
She knew her child, though a bit willful at times, would never fabricate something out of thin air.
"Just because you say so, it's true? Are you trying to bully me with numbers?" Niu Shi, seeing she was outmatched in this argument, quickly replied.
All she wanted now was to find an excuse to slip away.
Still, there was a lingering resentment in her heart.
That woman had so much money, yet was so stingy she wouldn't even pay for a single piece of clothing.
If she had just paid up earlier, none of this would have happened.
Now, with everyone gathered here, she could neither leave nor stay.
Worst of all — these two people were threatening her with the execution of her entire family!
"Zhao Donglai, are you causing trouble again? How many times have I told you not to keep adding to your mother's burdens? Why won't you ever listen?" Zhao Shangjie rushed over in a hurry, his voice arriving before he did.
Yet every word he spoke was a rebuke aimed at Zhao Donglai.
Li Zhiwei and Lin Ziyi exchanged a glance.
Who would have thought that this father didn't even ask what had happened before immediately blaming the child? No wonder that boy just now had been afraid to reveal who had put those words in his mouth.
He must suffer quite a lot of grievance in his daily life.
"Since the lady says our child tore your child's clothes, we can certainly compensate him. But those words your child spoke — we will also be holding someone accountable for them." Li Zhiwei looked with a sneer at the smug Niu Shi and said.
"Princess Consort of An, I have no idea what you're talking about. Those words were never taught by me!" Niu Shi was baffled as to why Li Zhiwei kept butting heads with her.
She hadn't done anything to provoke the woman.
Niu Shi thought to herself — those words were said by Zhao Donglai, not by her.
Sure, they had come from her, but what proof did Li Zhiwei have?
Everyone had seen with their own eyes that their child had ripped the clothes off of hers.
So they had to pay her silver.
At that thought, a sense of triumph crept back into Niu Shi's heart.
Once she got the compensation money, she would make several pretty new outfits for little Baobao.
"Husband, just look at this child! These clothes I had just made for him, and they're already torn after only a few wears." Niu Shi pretended to look upset and said to Zhao Shangjie.
She put on the air of a magnanimous stepmother.
"Wife, it's not your fault. It's this little brat — never knowing when to behave." Zhao Shangjie couldn't bear to see his wife's red-rimmed eyes and quickly moved to comfort her.
"Sigh, being a stepmother is so hard!" Niu Shi feigned difficulty in saying this, casting a subtle glance toward Li Zhiwei as she spoke.
If I'm a stepmother, you're a stepmother too, aren't you?
Niu Shi even suspected that Li Zhiwei was standing up for Xu Qingshi right now simply to put on a show.
"Uncle Zhao, Zhao Donglai slandered my mother! If he won't say who put him up to it, we'll take this straight to the magistrate's office!" Xu Qingshi planted her hands on her hips and said to Zhao Shangjie with fierce indignation.
"Zhao Donglai! What did you say about them? Apologize this instant!" Zhao Shangjie kicked Zhao Donglai at the back of his leg and barked.
With a thud, Zhao Donglai tumbled to the ground, his eyes full of hurt and grievance.
"Father, those words — Stepmother told me to say them." Zhao Donglai glanced miserably at Niu Shi and whispered.
"What? Those words came from Niu Shi — telling a child to say all that?"
"That Niu Shi clearly isn't a decent person. Making a child say such things — what on earth is she plotting?"
"Exactly! If those words reached Prince An's ears, wouldn't that invite a death sentence upon their whole family?"
"Good heavens — is Niu Shi trying to use Prince An's hands to deal with that child?"
The words of the onlookers fell into Zhao Shangjie's ears, one by one.
His face darkened, then darkened further. He shot a displeased glare at Zhao Donglai on the ground.
Cursing inwardly, all of this was the fault of this good-for-nothing troublemaker of a son.
"Husband, I never said such things." Niu Shi looked at Zhao Shangjie with a hurt expression, tears welling in her eyes.
She looked so pitiful, like she had been subjected to some great injustice.
"Wife, I know for certain this isn't your fault. It must be this brat, causing trouble and making others misunderstand you." Zhao Shangjie quickly tried to console Niu Shi.
"You little wretch! If you're going to talk nonsense, fine — but dragging your mother into it too? What are you thinking? Are you simply jealous that your mother looks after your little brother more? Think about it — how old is your brother, and how old are you?" After saying this, Zhao Shangjie kicked Zhao Donglai again.
"Father, I'm not lying! It really was Stepmother who told me to say it!" Zhao Donglai cried in desperation, but he still insisted.
"Donglai, Mother knows you don't like me, but you can't slander me like this." Niu Shi naturally refused to admit any such thing.
At this moment, in front of everyone, she put on an even more aggrieved face.
"In that case, let's take this to the Court of Judicial Review." Lin Ziyi, who had been observing, also saw that Niu Shi was nothing but trouble.
Whether it was the An Estate or the Wei family, neither could be easily pushed around.
Since they had slandered their child, there was no way this matter would be let off so easily.
"Oh dear, this is just a little squabble between children. Surely there's no need to bother the officials?" Zhao Shangjie panicked at the mention of the Court of Judicial Review.
Whether it was his family or Zhao Donglai, getting tangled up with the authorities was never a good thing.
"If this isn't cleared up properly, your wife will go on thinking we're trying to swindle your family." Lin Ziyi said with a mock laugh.