She accidentally flirted with the villain and was fiercely criticized as the regent for forcibly mar

Jiang Ruining shrugged, clearly refusing to give her that face.

Madam Xie gradually grew desperate and wanted to plead again, but then she heard a rough, deep rebuke behind her and someone fell to the ground beside her.

The two sounds overlapped, like a summer thunderclap and a bolt of lightning suddenly striking her, earth-shattering, startling her so much that she shuddered, pulling at her chin and feeling a heart-wrenching pain!

"Kneel down!"

"Repeat what you just said carefully in front of all these distinguished guests!"

Madam Xie glanced over instinctively, and the face beside her suddenly came into view, like a bolt of lightning striking her brain.

She turned around abruptly.

It was discovered that she had bribed the guards who were plotting against Zheng Lingyi, but they had disappeared without a trace.

She finally realized that the one kneeling beside her... was it!

While the guards were forced to prove their innocence, their interrogation was already over!

Seeing this, they must have already gotten the answer they wanted.

Her breath was being choked by invisible hands, and Madam Xie could barely breathe, her face turning blue: "No... he's lying..."

Jiang Ruining laughed: "You already know he's lying before he's even said a word?"

Madam Xie clearly realized that these people wouldn't let her go, so she decided to throw off all pretense and said through gritted teeth, "You set a trap for me, so of course you had everything planned out!"

Jiang Ruining's raised eyebrows held a clear provocation in their loneliness: "Too bad, you have no evidence!"

Madam Xie was so angry that she felt a pain in her chest.

Looking around, she wanted to find someone who could help her and the Xie family.

But all I saw were countless disdainful glances.

Jiang Ruining waved his hand: "Hurry up and finish the process. Convict those who should be convicted, and strip those who should have their titles revoked! It's late, and if we finish this, everyone will have to go back to sleep!"

Everyone nodded: "That's right, enough with the nonsense!"

The guard, who was also a member of the group, was kicked again and lay on the ground, stammering, "I... when I was having an affair with a palace maid, Madam Xie found out. She threatened to make me do things for her or she would report me to the Emperor."

The palace rules were strict, and palace servants and guards were not allowed to have any private desires. Once discovered, they would be executed for the crime of disrupting the palace.

Even outside the palace, it's the same.

"She told me to throw sleeping incense into the brazier in front of Miss Zheng's tent during the night patrol. When we patrolled there again the second time, the old woman guarding Miss Zheng's tent would be asleep, so we would throw sleeping incense into the tent again."

"After the third patrol, sneak into the tent, undress Miss Zheng, leave marks on her body, and then deliberately make a commotion... to lure others into discovering us!"

"When I went inside, I found only a masked man in the tent. He held a knife to my neck and forbade me to make a sound. When Madam Xie saw that I hadn't made any noise after entering the tent, she led the patrolling imperial guards in to catch me in the act and came to check on me herself."

"Then she was also captured by that masked man. He ripped off her outer garment and tore off her inner garment. After kicking over the stove, he sprinkled some kind of powder on us. We didn't have the strength to run, so we were trapped inside."

Madam Xie was taken aback and panicked.

They didn't even hide the parts that designed her!

Because they are not afraid of others knowing what they did!

Their fearlessness only makes others believe them more!

"You're talking nonsense! You've been bribed to deliberately slander me!"

The imperial guards interrogating the guards presented a jade pendant, slowly walking past everyone to let them see it clearly: "This is something Madam Xie used to bribe the guards. We have already questioned Madam Xie's personal maid, and this item is indeed Madam Xie's private property!"

"The maidservant who accompanied Madam Xie has confessed that she was the one who threatened and bribed the guards on Madam Xie's behalf!"

"The old woman also said that she was originally supposed to come and check on things for Madam Xie, but her rhinitis flared up and she kept sneezing. She didn't want too many people to know about such a dirty matter, so Madam Xie had no choice but to come in person!"

Besides Madam Xie's nanny, even Xie Qinghe's maid was brought in and made to kneel before the guards.

Xie Qinghe's maid had no obvious external injuries, but her face was as white as paper, and she trembled like a leaf: "Miss overheard Madam and Granny discussing something, and knows they're plotting against Miss Zheng!"

"But this matter wasn't clean, and she was afraid that the madam would make her do something and drag her into it, so she pretended to be asleep all night. Only after the madam left did she get out of bed and hide behind the curtains to peek."

"Because she didn't see the lady being dragged into the tent, the young lady assumed that it was Miss Zheng trapped in the fire! She even happily said, 'Once Miss Zheng is disgraced, let's see how she acts like a duke's daughter!'"

Madam Xie's nanny, kneeling on the ground, stammered, "The young lady spoke recklessly outside and offended the county princess. The county princess declared that she would no longer interfere in the Xie family's affairs, and Madam has since harbored resentment towards the county princess."

"But with the prince and Grand Secretary Jiang protecting her, the county princess dared not plot against them. Resentful that the Zheng family didn't help, she threatened to ruin her and make Young Master Heng's life a grave sacrifice!"

The two of them, one after the other, completely exposed the Xie family mother and daughter!

Everyone understood what was going on.

"The Xie family is selfish. They insist that everyone do things their way. If anyone is slightly dissatisfied, they curse and sulk. If they offend the county princess, she won't help them anymore. Do you think the regent will help them? Not punishing them is already an act of leniency!"

"Instead of showing any remorse and begging for mercy, they actually dared to commit such a vile scheme! I even suspect that the mother and daughter have had their heads cracked open; they seem to have contracted some serious illness!"

"Now that their scheme has been exposed, they're reaping what they sowed—they deserve it!"

……

"It can only be said that even Heaven couldn't bear to see it, so it made Lingyi see through the Xie family's rottenness before marriage, to prevent her from falling into a fire pit!"

"It should be considered a happy occasion!"

……

Zheng Lingyi was unhappy to see her once beloved elders and best friends turn out like this.

But the word "happy event" was like a cool and powerful breeze, blowing away the gloom in her mind and making her feel relaxed.

Yes!

It's a good thing to see your future in-laws' character before marriage and cut your losses in time.

Jiang Ruining squatted down in front of Madam Xie, making no attempt to conceal her voice, but just then a gust of night wind suddenly swept in.

The chill seeped into my bones.

Countless torches were blown about, making a "wind" sound.

Her voice was muffled, and only Madam Xie, who was standing close by, heard clearly: "Everyone in your Xie family is too hypocritical and selfish, and they are not worthy of Lingyi's goodness. I don't like them, so your guess is correct. I never intended to help you from the beginning."

"Or, going back even further, Xie Lanheng's murders were my doing!"

Madam Xie's pupils suddenly contracted.

My intuition tells me that this beautiful face carries the shadow of a demon—insidious! Terrifying!

Jiang Ruining continued, "But don't worry, I don't intend to kill Xie Lanheng. He'll only be released when the Xie family obediently returns Lingyi's birth certificate. However, from the moment we return to the capital, he won't just be locked up anymore."

"And your eldest son, your youngest son, and your husband will all start to have bad luck!"

"Madam Xie, I'm truly grateful that you and your daughter have gone to such lengths! If you had continued to pretend to be respectable people, Lingyi wouldn't have believed me, and getting her to completely sever ties with you would have been incredibly difficult!"

In the last two sentences, the smile is mischievous, as if a naughty child has finally destroyed something that someone else cherishes, and is very proud of it!