After being reborn, I stole the female lead's cheat ability and raised the empress.

Chapter 173 Imprisoned

Zhao Jihua was stopped as soon as he stepped out the door.

Sun Dingguo stopped her carriage, his face filled with anxiety: "Jihua, Jihua, come with me to Shuntian Prefecture quickly, your aunt has been sued!"

Zhao Jihua: ...

What does this have to do with me?

However, before she could speak, she had already been taken to Shuntian Prefecture.

The case is currently under trial.

The main reason was that a man sued his mother, who had gone through so much hardship to visit him.

Because the mother poisoned the father.

The man kneeling on the ground was named Qi He. He presented eyewitness testimonies from relevant personnel and a series of seemingly irrefutable indirect clues.

Kneeling beside him was Zhao Jihua's third aunt, whose eyes were filled with sorrow and anger.

“Son, it’s not like that. Your mother has her reasons. You’ve misunderstood me.”

“What hardship could you possibly have? You poisoned my father when I was young and ran away. You’re living a happy and fulfilling life as a wife and mother in another family,” he angrily pointed at his third aunt. “Did you poison my father because you were having an affair with someone else? You were! You vicious and wicked woman!”

The onlookers also began to criticize the third aunt.

"How could this woman do this? She's so heartless."

"But didn't she say she had her reasons? What if she really did have her reasons?"

"What hardship could there be? No matter how great the hardship, you can't abandon your child!"

"She gave birth to me but didn't raise me; she doesn't deserve to be a mother!"

Hearing these words, Auntie turned pale and wept uncontrollably: "How could this be? You are also a piece of my flesh, I love you..."

Third Uncle Sun Dingguo was so angry that his veins bulged. He pointed at Qi He and said, "You ungrateful wretch! Your mother worries about you all the time. When she learned that you were getting married, she even brought a quilt embroidered by the luckiest woman in the village to congratulate you. But you cursed her and even reported her to the authorities! You have no conscience at all!"

To everyone's surprise, Qi He remained unmoved: "Her? She doesn't even deserve to be my mother!"

Her eyes were filled with shock: "You don't recognize me? All these years, even if your father was a terrible person, I never took my anger out on you. I've never wronged you. Just consider it as if I raised you for nothing..."

Qi He stiffened his neck and said, "In all these years, you have never once come to look at me. I was raised by my grandmother."

"When have I ever missed a visit? I've come to see you every year, every month. It's clearly you who don't want to see me..."

Old Madam Qi interrupted her, roaring at the officers, "Are you all stupid?! Take this murderer away immediately!"

Zhao Jihua stepped forward and mocked, "The prefect hasn't even said anything, yet you're in such a hurry to convict her. Anyone who knows the situation would think you're trying to make her take the blame. Anyone who doesn't would think you want to replace the prefect!"

Madam Qi hesitated for a moment, then said, "That's not what I meant. All the evidence is here. Put her in jail immediately."

Zhao Jihua said, "The evidence you're referring to is the testimonies of these villagers, but what about the actual physical evidence?"

"How can you find something from over a decade ago? Besides, so many people have said it, how could it be fake?"

Zhao Jihua pressed on: "But the problem is that these people are all from your village and are on good terms with you. So, can I say that you bribed them to tell these lies and deliberately slander my third aunt?"

"you!"

"I can easily call a group of people right now and say that you deliberately killed your son and then framed my third aunt! Do you admit your guilt or not?"

Zhao Jihua yelled at her.

"what!"

Madam Qi was so frightened that she fell to the ground.

Qi He hurriedly went to help the old lady up, his eyes filled with anxiety: "Grandma, are you alright?"

He angrily said to Zhao Jihua, "You ungrateful woman! What right do you have to bully my grandmother?"

"Then why is this old woman bullying my third aunt?"

“I’m doing this based on evidence. I’m the one who’s going to sue her. It has nothing to do with my grandma. If you have a problem with her, come at me.”

"Oh? So you admit that you slandered my third aunt?"

"You! You need to be evidence-based in your words and actions."

Just then, someone hurriedly walked towards Zhao Jihua and placed a stack of documents in her hands.

Zhao Jihua glanced at it and laughed, "The evidence... here it is!"

She glanced at the things on the paper, her eyes filled with pity and condescension as she looked at Qi He.

"Qi He, I'll give you a chance before I release this evidence."

Qi He asked, puzzled, "What opportunity?"

"An opportunity to apologize to my third aunt."

"I don't need this opportunity!"

"Think it through before you tell me. Have you really never thought about why your mother killed your father and ran away from home? Why did your grandmother send you here to sue your mother? If she knew all along that she had caused your mother's death, why did she wait until now to send you to sue her?"

"This..." Qi He was immediately lost in thought and confusion.

Old Madam Qi quickly interrupted her: "She is your third maternal aunt, of course you should stand on her side. Don't try to mislead my grandson."

She turned around and pulled Qi He, saying, "She definitely did it on purpose, trying to make you think it was a misunderstanding, so that you would change your story and release her third aunt. My dear grandson, we won't listen to her."

Hearing her say that, Qi He immediately became firm: "Yes! You did it on purpose."

"He's completely unyielding!" Zhao Jihua was too lazy to waste words with him. Let him regret it after he knows the truth!

She had already instructed the people from Baixiaolou to collect evidence on the way here.

Now, she handed over the evidence and said:

“I also have evidence to prove that my third aunt had her own difficulties. Qi He’s father was an alcoholic gambler who would threaten to kill my third aunt at the slightest provocation. When the family was short of money, he would even use Qi He as leverage to force my third aunt to sell herself to get money for his gambling. My third aunt could no longer bear it, so one night she killed Qi He’s father and fled.”

"Fortunately, we met my third uncle later, which was a relief after all the hardship. My third aunt confessed Qi He's existence, and my third uncle felt very sorry for him. Every month, he would accompany her to visit Qi He with a lot of clothes, supplies, and money. But Old Mrs. Qi would always send them away on the grounds that the child did not want to see him. Even so, my third aunt has been doing this for more than ten years without interruption. Almost everything in the house where Qi He and his family live now is provided by my third aunt. Here are the purchase records of the Sun family, as well as witnesses and passersby who knew about it when they delivered it."

As she spoke, Zhao Jihua raised an eyebrow and looked at Qi He and Old Madam Qi: "Even the clothes they are wearing now were provided by my third aunt. The purchase records and evidence of the gifts are all here."

Qi He was shocked; the items listed on the purchase documents were indeed in their home.

Was my mother really wronged?

With a grim expression, he asked Old Madam Qi, "Grandma, is what they said true?"

Of course, Madam Qi wouldn't admit it: "No, dear grandson, those are all fake."

Hearing his grandmother's answer, Qi He immediately felt guilty.

How could he doubt his grandmother?

Qi He immediately retorted angrily to Zhao Jihua: "You're talking nonsense! These are clearly the fruits of my grandmother's hard work, day and night. I was raised by my grandmother with great difficulty!"

He shouted very loudly, as if trying to convince himself.

Zhao Jihua looked at him like he was an idiot: "Your grandmother works day and night? Do you know what kind of fabric you're wearing and how much it's worth? Go out and ask around. Your grandmother probably couldn't earn this one piece of clothing even if she worked tirelessly washing and mending clothes for others her whole life."

After reviewing the evidence, the Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture slammed his fist on the table and declared: "This evidence, after my investigation, is all true and complete. Although the woman of the Sun family had her reasons, the fact of murder still exists. She may be spared the death penalty, but she cannot escape punishment. I sentence you to ten years in prison."

Immediately, yamen runners took the third aunt to the jail and imprisoned her.

Auntie San squatted in her cell, lost in thought. She couldn't understand why her own son harbored such resentment towards her.

"Jingle bells!"

Someone is coming.

The third aunt looked over and was surprised to find that the first person to visit her was actually Old Madam Qi.

Madam Qi smiled smugly: "How is it? Does it hurt? The moment you killed my child, I was utterly devastated and swore I would make you suffer ten or a hundred times more than I did. If we weren't still keeping you around to provide for us, we would have killed you long ago."

Fortunately, revenge is a dish best served cold. You were finally sent in by your own son!

You must be wondering why he hates you so much, right? I was the one who told him. I told him you poisoned your husband for some other man, I told him you were heartless enough to abandon your own son, I told him you've never come to see him all these years..."

"No, it was you who wouldn't let me take him away in the first place. I came here often, but you said he was being stubborn and didn't want to see me. You..."

At this point, what didn't the third aunt understand?

"Hahaha, yes, you love your child, but I won't let you take him away. The money, cloth, and food you send every month are, in his eyes, the reward for my hard work, day and night. He knows nothing of what you, his own mother, have done. He only knows how hard it has been for this old woman, and he only thinks about how to take care of me in my old age. It's a pity he's grown up now and doesn't need you anymore. You can just die in this prison, hahaha..."

In the shadows, Zhao Jihua said to Qi He, "See? I knew something was off. If your grandmother hated her for killing her son, why wait until now? Turns out she wanted to use her to support you. She's hypocritical and shameless! Truly despicable."

"This……"

Qi He was stunned into silence as if struck by lightning; his faith of many years collapsed in an instant.

In a flash, some long-forgotten memories came rushing back.

He vaguely remembered that when he was a child, his father was addicted to gambling and would beat his mother and him at the slightest provocation. Every time his father beat him, his mother would rush to protect him. Later, his father even tried to sell her body to get money for gambling. His mother refused, but his father forced her to comply by threatening her with his body... His mother had treated him very well when he was a child, but how could he have forgotten that?

Thinking of the quilt his mother brought him and the smile on her face, he felt overwhelmed by the deep maternal love.

He should hate his father, so why would he hate his mother?

That's right, it's Grandma!

His grandmother told him, both openly and subtly, that his mother had abandoned him and run away with another man.

It was Grandma's various hints that led her to raise me with great difficulty, while my mother was having an affair with someone else without any suspicion.

It was also because I was ignorant when I was young, and my hatred for my mother was deeply rooted under my grandmother's brainwashing, so I never went to my mother to ask her for an explanation.

He is so unfilial!

At the prison cell door,

Not long after Madam Qi left, Sun Dingguo arrived.

Through the cell door, he gripped the other woman's hand tightly: "Madam, you've suffered so much."

Third Aunt also looked at him with teary eyes, but pulled her hand back, turned her back to him, and said:

"You go."

"lady!"

"I may not die, but I'll be stuck here for ten years. How can a man as good as you endure that?"

"You underestimate me. Don't even mention ten years, I'll wait for you for a lifetime. In this life, you are the only woman I want."

"You will meet a more wonderful woman."

"If I meet a more beautiful and better woman, then naturally there will be a more beautiful and better man to match her. What does it have to do with me?"

Zhao Jihua was moved to tears; she really touched me.

She decided to believe in love for three seconds.

……

Zhao Jihua originally intended to support the Ninth Prince to ascend the throne, thereby climbing to the pinnacle of power. However, this sudden arranged marriage disrupted all her plans.

Upon hearing that the eldest prince had returned to the capital, she immediately went to consult with someone.

……

The atmosphere in the Crown Prince's residence was as heavy as the sky before a storm.

Facing the eldest prince, who was frowning, Zhao Jihua cut to the chase: "Your Highness, this arranged marriage is too sudden. I didn't know you had someone you liked. This is not a good thing for either of us. You have a wide network of connections and are knowledgeable; let's work together to find a way to cancel this marriage."

She could solve the problem on her own, but since this matter involved the Crown Prince, she wanted to ask for his opinion first, and only if that didn't work would she reveal her own thoughts.

To avoid offending people.

The eldest prince and Xing Beiluo were in a cold war because of Zhao Jihua, so naturally he didn't give him a good look: "Do you think I don't want to? But Luo'er told me that a woman's reputation is the most important thing, and asked me to consider your reputations."

"...Thank you, Your Highness... Consort?" Zhao Jihua observed the Crown Prince's expression and tentatively asked.

The First Prince: She said Luo'er is my wife!

That was awesome!

Consequently, he didn't find Zhao Jihua so annoying anymore.

Her tone of voice was much gentler when she spoke to the other party: "It's okay, I'll handle it."

The eldest prince walked to the window, looked at the sky outside that was enclosed by high walls, and after a moment of silence, said, "I understand your thoughts. This marriage is suspicious, and I don't want to be arranged like this either. I will go to the palace now and have a good talk with my father. Perhaps we can find a way to change things by citing the current situation in the court."

Zhao Jihua, still worried, said, "I'll go with you."

"...Alright."

The two went to the Imperial Study together.

Zhao Jihua first bowed respectfully to the emperor, and then cautiously said, "Your Majesty, we have come here today because we have something to ask of you."

The emperor slightly raised his eyes, looking at them expressionlessly without saying a word.

Seeing this, she mustered her courage and continued, "Your Majesty, regarding the marriage you previously bestowed, we have given it much thought and believe that this may not be the best course of action."

The eldest prince quickly chimed in, "Yes, Father, I've never even seen her before. Why bestow a marriage upon her? Besides, I already have a girl I absolutely must marry in this lifetime. If you're going to bestow a marriage upon someone, it should be between me and Luo'er. Why bestow it upon her? Aren't you just being ridiculous?..."

Zhao Jihua quickly grabbed him and continued:

"Your Majesty," we said, "we believe this marriage requires careful consideration. If it comes to fruition, it could significantly impact the balance of power among the various factions in the court. Moreover, it might trigger a series of potential problems..."

At this point, Zhao Jihua paused, secretly observing the emperor's expression.

The eldest prince cupped his hands and said, “Your Majesty, I have already chosen someone else, and I will marry no one but her. I beg you to rescind your decree!”

The emperor remained expressionless and motionless, like a statue.

After a long while, he slowly spoke, his voice so cold it seemed capable of freezing anyone instantly:

"no!"