The days when I fished in Daming

"Please wait, my lord."

Um, this kind of plot is inexplicably making me feel a little uncomfortable.

Seeing Kong Xisi arrive at the destination right on time, Zheng Xiongqiang suppressed his anger.

"Who is coming?"

"My name is Kong Xisi, and I greet Your Excellency."

After glancing at the two of them, Zheng Xiong asked.

What is the relationship between the two of you?

"He is my father."

Kong Xisi nodded to Kong Xi.

“He is my worthless son.”

"Is he/she their biological child?"

The sudden question, somewhat presumptuous, startled the two of them.

Then he gritted his teeth and said.

"Please show some respect, Your Excellency."

Zheng Xiong replied with a slightly relaxed tone.

"Don't be angry. Your son committed adultery, and now that it's been discovered, if it hadn't been discovered, and your son had a son in the future, do you think he would know whether his son was his own or not!"

"This is purely speculation. What does it have to do with my son? Besides, my son didn't do this. Your Excellency has gone too far!"

Yo ho.

They came prepared!
"If it wasn't your son who did it, then who was? Like father, like son. Your Kong family had a previous affair with Yuan Ting. I heard Yuan Ting had a dispute over virginity. I wonder if you were involved..."

Not a son of man.

A few words made Kong Xisi's veins bulge.

“I respect you as a marquis. If you continue to slander me, I will definitely report it to His Majesty.”

"Don't rush me, what did you mean by that?"

After a few lighthearted banter, Zheng Xiong got down to business.

“This matter was done by someone else, a steward from a side branch of my Kong family. He was the one who committed adultery, the one who beat people, and the one who seized other people’s property. It has nothing to do with my son.”

Before Zheng Xiong could speak, the somewhat portly man asked first.

"I don't care if it's him or not, I just want my family property back."

"I will explain this matter to the Duke of Yansheng and investigate it thoroughly. If there are no major discrepancies, it will be returned."

"really!"

"It's true."

With Kong Xisi's assurance, the somewhat portly man smiled and relaxed.

The other person didn't smile and kept squeezing with both hands.

Having dealt with one person, Kong Xisi then addressed the other.

"The affair between your wife and my son is a complete misunderstanding."

"It was the steward who went to your residence that day. My Kong family knew nothing about the despicable things he did. My son, unable to find the steward, went to your house after being directed by someone else. He happened to run into you and was inexplicably made the scapegoat for the steward."

"I know that the family's inadequate supervision has caused you a lot of harm, so on behalf of the Kong family, I apologize to you. The Kong family will cover all your losses and also give you a mansion in the capital as a token of our apology. Is that acceptable?"

The hatred for killing his father, the hatred for taking away his wife.

Although Kong Xisi suffered a great loss, it did not extinguish the young man's hatred; on the contrary, it fueled his anger.

"You said yes?"

“I saw your son come out of my bedroom that day. The housekeeper you mentioned was pulling at me outside. Your son kicked me when I wasn’t paying attention. Then the housekeeper you mentioned beat me until I vomited blood.”

"That's the truth. You're distorting the facts and making unfounded arguments. Is there no justice left?"

"Calm down, calm down."

Seeing that the young man was in a bad mood, Kong Xisi quickly comforted him.

"It's normal for you to be angry, but you must have misjudged the situation."

"No one knows better than your wife who the adulterer is. I think we should call him over for a face-to-face confrontation."

Oh wow.

Kill people and kill your heart.

Such confrontation is utterly unconvincing and only serves to rub salt into the victim's wounds.

Zheng Xiong had intended to refuse, but the person involved had lost their mind. "Let's confront her then. I want to see what that harlot has to say!"

Having said all that, Zheng Xiong no longer cared.

"It is said that she is an adulteress."

The Kong family was well-prepared, and almost without waiting, a young woman, still charming and attractive, walked in.

Actually, judging from Zheng Xiong's experience, he's only about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, in the prime of his life.

"Your Excellency, I pay my respects."

"You call yourself 'this concubine,' but whose concubine are you?"

"Uh, of course..."

The young woman glanced at her husband, then at Kong Xisi, and turned away in silence.

"Why aren't you talking about it? Do you know what the law says about adultery?"

"I..."

"My lord, shouldn't we first ask who you've been having an affair with?"

Zheng Xiong glanced at Kong Xisi sideways but ignored him.

"Whether or not there are other matters can be asked later, but the crime of adultery has been confirmed. According to the law, he should be paraded through the streets for three days and flogged thirty times as a warning to others."

"I take into consideration that you are a woman and have had many difficulties. If you can tell the truth, I may be able to treat you leniently."

"Next, you need to recount the events one by one."

Explaining the consequences also gave them hope.

Parading someone through the streets is a blatant humiliation, while being flogged thirty times is a death sentence.

Even if a woman doesn't care about chastity, she still wants to live.

He immediately recounted the whole story in detail.

There was a pause when she mentioned Kong Xi, but after looking at Kong Xisi, she decisively recounted the process of her affair with the butler and how they met.

And how do you get things done?

"Alright, it's just a matter of three seconds. It doesn't matter who you commit adultery with, just admit to it."

"This prefecture hereby declares that Lady You Lü has failed in her duties as a woman. She shall be paraded through the streets for three days on a chosen day, but shall be exempted from corporal punishment. She shall be selected to enter the Jiaofangsi (Imperial Music Bureau) to observe her future conduct."

Upon hearing this, Lady Youlu was clearly flustered, but after seeing a slightly reassuring look in Kong Xisi's eyes, she calmed down, obviously regarding Kong Xisi as a pillar of stability.

In her opinion, the Kong family should still have room to maneuver here.

"My lord, is this not against the rules?"

As soon as Zheng Xiong announced the verdict against You Lushi, Kong Xisi immediately raised objections, questioning whether the procedure was correct.

"You should think about yourselves!"

Although he made a harsh statement, Zheng Xiong knew that since Kong Xisi had arranged for someone to talk back, there was not much he could do to get rid of him. At most, he could only kill the scapegoat butler.

What can be done?

Although You Lüshi had been punished, Xiao You was still unwilling to accept it.

"My lord, this adulterous couple is turning black into white, calling a deer a horse, and lying to your very face. You must see through their deception!"

You know, I know, and he knows too.

But there's just no way around it.

What evidence do you have?

When it came to evidence, Xiao You fell silent, hanging her head and saying nothing.

Just when Zheng Xiong thought the matter was over, a figure suddenly appeared in the lobby.

"My lord, I have something to say."

Zheng Xiong was slightly taken aback, then looked at the person who had come.

"What do you have to say?"

“I am Xiao You’s neighbor. I happened to see what happened that day. It was Kong Xi who was having an affair with You Lüshi. The steward was keeping watch outside. It was just as Xiao You said. I am willing to be a witness and ask Your Excellency to uphold justice.”

Looking at this man, Zheng Xiong's eyes were filled with surprise and uncertainty.

What a coincidence! Just when I was feeling sleepy, someone brought me a pillow.

Zheng Xiong does not deny the existence of good people, and he has met kind-hearted neighbors.

But it's really rare to find someone who knows about another's power and influence and still dares to come forward to testify.

If he really wanted to testify, he would have done so long ago. Why now? This made Zheng Xiong suspicious. (End of Chapter)