She Holds the World After Being Reborn
Chapter 71: She Killed, Not Me

Chapter 71: Chapter 71: She Killed, Not Me

Yan Wanqing’s complexion was pale, her expression cold and rigid, her eyes red yet exceptionally resolute.

She raised her hand, signaling someone to bring a stool and place it in the room, then she looked at Yan An.

Yan An’s heart skipped a beat, but he didn’t move.

"As the only family member holding a fourth-rank official position at court, this matter is of great importance. If uncle cannot make a decision, then we’ll have no choice but to turn it over to the Dali Temple. Uncle surely understands what that would mean for the Yan Family," Yan Wanqing said, enunciating each word with precision.

Regarding the case of Yan Minsheng having killed eight people, at this moment, no one was more suitable to judge than Yan An.

Traditionally in Dawei, women do not involve themselves in court affairs, and Yan Wanqing was already being quite audacious. This was not a matter for her to lead.

Yan An’s hands clenched into fists, his eyes bloodshot, and he couldn’t help but let out a choked sound from his throat.

"...You, oh you, are you trying to roast your uncle over a fire!" Making him personally interrogate his own son, how cruel!

During his hesitation, he just heard Yan Wanqing let out a cold laugh, "Then I won’t make things difficult for uncle. Someone, go report to the officials!"

"Wait!" Yan An cried out urgently, "What are you trying to do? Yan Wanqing, can you truly be so heartless? Do you have no regard for the lives of the hundred-odd people in the Yan Family?!"

If this matter were brought before the Dali Temple, it could very well reach the Emperor’s ears. No matter the truth, the Yan Family would not escape calamity, and it was certain his son could not be saved.

Yan An covered his face, his complexion ashen as he walked toward the chair.

At that moment, Yan Minsheng seemed to come to his senses. His hands covered in blood, he grabbed at the trouser leg of Yan An passing by.

"Father! Father save me, Father!" he shouted loudly, "It wasn’t your son who did it, Father, not your son!"

Yan An was furious, kicking away his hand with a shout, "If not you, then who! With such undeniable evidence of witnesses and physical proof, there’s no point in causing chaos and strife here!"

Yan Minsheng lay on the ground, in full view of everyone, feeling their gazes laden with malice upon him, eyes suddenly moistening.

He no longer cared about the pain, desperate to cling to the final straw that might save his life.

Looking around frantically, he suddenly made a ferocious expression, pointing towards the doorway.

"It was her, she did it, she killed them all! It was not I!"

Yan Wanqing followed his pointing hand and saw the ashen-faced, utterly shocked Madam Liu of the Yan Family.

Her lips quivered like a winter sausage, reaching into the air with trembling hands toward Yan Minsheng.

"...Minsheng, ah..."

However, Yan Minsheng ignored his mother’s call, crawling and kneeling again before Yan An.

"Father, it was all her doing, not your son. Father, you must save me. I am still young, I don’t want to die..."

Yan An looked down at Yan Minsheng as if he were looking at a monster.

"Do you realize what you are saying?"

Yan Minsheng, having lost all reason, focused solely on survival: "It was mother who did it, all her doing. Your son is innocent. Father, you’ve watched me grow since I was a child, don’t you know what kind of person I am? Father, save me, I don’t want to die, Father! I beg you!"

By this time, Yan Wanqing could not listen anymore. She picked up a long sword beside her, sneering, "It seems crippling you was too light a punishment—"

"It was I!" A shrill female voice instantly overpowered Yan Wanqing’s, and there was Madam Liu stepping over the threshold, walking unsteadily inside. What were just a few short steps made her look like she had aged from a robust middle-aged woman to an old crone.

"It was all my doing, it has nothing to do with him, if anyone is to be interrogated, let it be me." Yan Liu repeated again. She walked to a place five steps away from Yan An, knelt down, and her gaze became much more serene than before.

One could not know what she had thought about, separated by a mere threshold.

After Yan Liu had spoken these words, Yan Minsheng was visibly overjoyed as he shouted at Yan An, "Father, look, she has admitted it, she is the killer!"

"Shut up—!" The response he received was a heavy slap from Yan An, which sounded very dull. Yan Minsheng’s face immediately swelled up.

Yet he seemed as if he could not feel it, repeating continuously, "She did it, not me. She did it, not me..."

"...Have you thought this through?" Yan An looked at Yan Liu and uttered these words.

Yan Liu’s eyes were moist as she knelt on the ground and performed a deep bow, a gesture between husband and wife, not quite correct but clearly with all her efforts.

She pressed her forehead against the cold ground and was reluctant to get up for a long time. Yan An could only hear her suddenly shouting loudly,

"Please, husband, grant me a divorce decree!"

Yan Liu was actually asking Yan An for a divorce!

A woman would only be divorced by her husband’s family if she committed one of the seven unpardonable sins. Yet Yan Liu was actively seeking a divorce, which meant that even in death, she could not be buried in the Yan Family’s cemetery.

Yan An stepped back two steps and after a long, long while, he looked at Yan Minsheng, who was in a daze on the ground, and then at Yan Liu who was prostrate and would not rise. His eyes were full of fatigue.

"Since it is your wish, then so be it." He hoarsely shouted to the servants, "Bring writing materials."

The writing materials were brought, and Yan An quickly wrote a divorce decree and then pressed his red clay seal onto it.

After Yan Liu received the divorce decree, her stiff body relaxed with a sigh. She turned in a different direction and looked at Yan Wanqing, whose face was cold and stern.

"The dagger was bought in the market on my orders, and it was I who killed the maids and Aunt Song with it, and then ordered the servants to dispose of them in the deserted well in the backyard. Everything was done by me, it has nothing to do with my child. Commandery Princess, could you, considering you once called me ’second auntie’, please not pursue this matter further."

Yan Wanqing’s lips formed a line, and she did not immediately respond.

She gazed at the pleading eyes of the woman before her.

After a long time, Yan An seeing this, spoke up, "If people can be spared, spare them, this is the best outcome!"

This indeed was the best outcome, to have a woman already discarded by the Yan Family take the blame, bearing the weight of eight lives on her back, thus saving Yan Minsheng and completely exonerating the Yan Family. This storm could be said to have dissipated invisibly.

Yan Liu, no, she should now be called Liu, had finally played a clever move, at the last moment of her life.

Yan Wanqing made no sound, but she slowly nodded, the bloodshot in her eyes, however, could not be entirely hidden.

"My lord, there’s one last thing," Liu said.

Yan An looked at her.

Liu slowly crawled to Yan Minsheng, extended her arms to embrace him, and looking at the fresh blood on his body, she said to Yan An, "Please find a doctor for our Minsheng."

Yan An stiffened, then slowly nodded, "Alright."

"With this said... that guilty woman can die with her eyes closed." Liu stroked Yan Minsheng’s head in her arms again and again.

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