Chapter 429: Chapter 429 The Plot Exposed Chapter 429: Chapter 429 The Plot Exposed Although Su Yunjin disapproved of Wan Ruyan, she found it hard to believe that Wan Ruyan would have seduced Gu Changshun today.
Setting everything else aside, just looking at Wan Ruyan’s torn and tattered clothes was enough to suggest that what happened was not consensual.
If it had been consensual, Wan Ruyan’s clothes would not have been ripped to such an extent, the strips of fabric dangling from her body were testament to Gu Changshun’s rough handling.
It was very likely that Gu Changshun was lying; Wan Ruyan must have been forced by him. What puzzled Su Yunjin, however, was how Wan Ruyan could have been lured by Gu Changshun into this secluded little grove.
This indeed made Su Yunjin curious!
The Magistrate was not one to be easily fooled. Without some ability, one could not become the village leader. Gu Changshun and his mother, Mrs. Zhang, tried to blame everything on Wan Ruyan with a few words. However, the Magistrate was not so easily deceived by Zhang and Gu Changshun.
Seeing Wan Ruyan’s clothes in tatters and her being too upset to speak, the Magistrate turned to Gu Changshun and asked, “What happened to her clothes? Did you tear them?”
“This…” Wan Ruyan’s clothes had indeed all been torn by Gu Changshun, but now Gu Changshun cowered. When the Magistrate asked, Gu Changshun did not dare to admit it immediately.
Wan Ruyan was not a fool.
As soon as the topic of clothes came up,
Wan Ruyan immediately pointed at Gu Changshun and, with a hoarse cry, exclaimed, “Magistrate, Magistrate, my clothes were all ripped by Gu Changshun! Gu Changshun wanted to force himself on me, I did not agree, and then he assaulted me, tearing the clothes off my body !”
The Magistrate did not speak.
Wan Ruyan continued crying and said, “Magistrate, if I were the one seducing Gu Changshun, how would my clothes have ended up torn by him? It’s because I didn’t agree. Seeing my refusal, Gu Changshun shamelessly disregarded my resistance and tore my clothes.”
The onlookers, although they all believed Wan Ruyan and Gu Changshun’s actions were indecent and neither was innocent, felt that a man and woman alone in the grove at night were not being proper.
Decent women wouldn’t go out late at night, yet Wan Ruyan not only ventured out but was also caught in adultery in the woods, which made her someone who couldn’t stay out of trouble.
But now, with what Wan Ruyan was saying, the people in the crowd began to feel that she made sense.
“I think what the woman is saying is true. If she had seduced Gu Changshun, how do you explain her torn clothes?”
“That scoundrel Gu Changshun was already punished with the pig cage immersion before. I believe this time it was mostly Gu Changshun forcing himself on her.”
The onlookers all pointed their fingers at Gu Changshun, convinced that he was to blame for the day’s events, and the Magistrate also believed that Gu Changshun must have forced Wan Ruyan.
Seeing the situation turn against them, Mrs. Zhang and her son Baofu panicked. “Magistrate, Magistrate, my son is innocent. Don’t listen to that woman’s nonsense! Although my son made a foolish mistake last time, he has learned his lesson from the incident. How could he possibly repeat it?”
Fearing punishment and the prospect of being put in the pig cage again, Gu Changshun, driven into a corner, yelled at Wan Ruyan.
“Wan, stop pretending to be so innocent here. You are shameless. Do you believe that I will reveal right now what went on between you and my third uncle, letting everyone know how you tried to seduce him?”