Upon hearing Ji Youzhi’s words, everyone present understood at once.
At this moment, only two words flashed through Li San’s mind: ’It’s over.’
"Shall I continue?" Ji Youzhi stared intently at Li San, his eyes filled with understanding.
"I... I didn’t mean to do it. I... everything was going well, Your Majesty... Your Majesty..."
Li San began to panic, his words becoming jumbled.
However, it wasn’t long before he found the right way to tell his story.
"Your Majesty was scheduled to stay in Xun’an County, which should have been my opportunity. But it’s all because of that woman—so arrogant, with her nose in the air, and utterly undiscerning! A child merely bumped into her, yet, leveraging her status as the mother of her own precious little one, she demanded that child kneel to her.
When the child refused, she tried to force the child to kneel. Head Constable Wang can testify to this."
At this point, Li San quickly turned to look at Head Constable Wang.
By now, Head Constable Wang’s head was completely bald. Huo Xing’Er watched him sympathetically, silently shedding tears for him in her heart.
"That’s right!"
He was originally supposed to make that child kneel. He should have cherished that child, so he didn’t act. He never expected that child to be the Princess!
"What happened next?" Ji Youzhi continued to ask. "And what did you do after that?"
"What did I do?" Li San laughed dryly.
"After the Emperor arrived, it turned out that child was the newly titled Chang Rong Princess Shunhe! That village woman deserved to die! How dare she demand a royal princess kneel to her? Such audacity!"
As he spoke, a flicker of hatred flashed in Li San’s eyes.
Everyone was baffled, unable to understand the source of the hatred in his eyes.
"After the Emperor arrived, what exactly did you do?"
"After the Emperor arrived, he entrusted the punishment of the village woman to the Princess. The Princess had her dragged to a pit dug next to the toilet behind the County Yamen, intending to bury her alive."
At this, Li San paused. "Oh, right. I was the one who found the shovel to dig the pit."
Everyone: ...
"After the Princess finished burying the woman, what did you do?"
"After the Princess buried her, His Majesty left with her. The County Magistrate also fled, and the men at the County Yamen were all scared, so they ran off too.
Because I wanted to help the Princess dig the pit, His Majesty kicked me. I was out of it for a long time. By the time I came to my senses, they were all gone.
The more I thought about it, the angrier I got. It was all because that venomous woman ruined me, causing me to offend the Princess and His Majesty! So, I dug her up.
I figured that since the Princess had buried her alive, she must be dead. I thought digging her up to flog her corpse wouldn’t matter much, so I did."
"You... you scoundrel! I’ll kill you!"
When Li San mentioned digging up Zhao Chunxiang to flog her corpse, Li Yanyan flew into a rage, rushed over, and started pummeling him with her fists and feet.
Ji Youzhi gave a look to the yamen runners standing by, and they quickly stepped forward to pull her away.
"Tell us, why did you gouge out her eyes? And where are the eyeballs now?"
"After I dug her up, I found she still had qi; she was alive. She begged me to save her. When I saw her face, I remembered His Majesty kicking me in disgust."
"What does that have to do with you gouging out her eyes?"
"Why did I gouge out her eyes?" He chuckled dryly.
"That stupid woman! Not only was her heart venomous, but she also had absolutely no perception. The Princess was right: she was blind! She couldn’t even recognize the Princess and dared to make a grand Princess like her kneel? What use were her eyes to her?"
"Wait!" Zhu Xiuxiu suddenly shot up from her chair and rushed towards Li San. "What did you just say? What did the Princess say about her?"