No, she still had questions to ask!

They said heaven’s net had wide meshes but nothing escaped—she had to make one last attempt!

Pei Fengji’s eyebrows slanted upward as he stared at Mochou, his lips curling slightly, then narrowed his eyes to look at her with a sardonic smile. Mochou let out a low hiss and was about to lunge at him, but Xie Sheng, shackled in iron chains, staggered over to half-embrace her.

Suzhen suddenly looked toward the crowd, only to see Lian Yu’s eyes sweep toward Quan Feitong.

Suzhen was startled and instantly understood. She walked separately to Yan and Wei, then to Prince Zhennan, bowing deeply before each. “To show Great Zhou’s fair case handling and Great Wei’s magnanimous spirit, please allow Huaisu one final question.”

Yan Da’s face showed gravity. Suzhen knew this old prime minister still had room for negotiation, but Wei Chenghui, who had always maintained a moderate stance, disagreed. As for Prince Zhennan, needless to say—this prince finally revealed his true attitude. He smiled and said, “Minister Li, if my son is guilty, this prince and I will not shield him—he shall share the same punishment as commoners. But if my son is innocent, then this prince will absolutely not yield one step!”

Suzhen smiled, not taking offense, then walked before Quan Feitong, bowed, and said the same words.

Xiaozhou, Leng Xue, and the others lowered their heads, unable to bear seeing her bow and scrape in all directions yet still maintain a smiling face.

All the people outside the hall fell completely silent, stunned.

Quan Feitong gave a light laugh, suddenly feeling bored, and ignored her. But when this Li Huaisu rose from his bow, he saw her mouth silently: “Your magnanimity is nothing more than this.”

Quan Feitong’s gaze darkened slightly, then he mouthed back: “Provocation tactics are useless on me.”

Suzhen smiled and stepped back, but Quan Feitong suddenly said, “Your Highness, ministers, the retrial is also to let the world know Wei’s style and Zhou’s justice. Let Chief Justice Li ask one more time.”

The three exchanged glances. Finally, Prince Zhennan looked at Quan Feitong and said, “Very well, for Prime Minister Quan’s sake.”

Suzhen’s heart lifted. Looking back at Quan Feitong, she mouthed again: “Elder Brother Mu, thank you!”

This time Quan Feitong didn’t look at her, slowly sitting down.

He was bored—what harm in watching the excitement? The result would be the same regardless.

This Li Huaisu’s constant vitality—he truly wanted to crush it all, make him cry out in pain and distress.

Under everyone’s gaze, Suzhen suddenly turned and returned to the platform, writing the same question on several white sheets. Xiaozhou didn’t lag behind—seeing this, he pulled up his sleeve and began copying her writing.

Suzhen whispered a few words to him.

He nodded in surprise. When finished, he and the other four collected the papers and whispered something to them.

Inside and outside the hall, everyone was quite curious. They watched as these five young men walked separately to Pei Fengji and the witnesses, handing them papers but not leaving—they stood beside these people, thus separating the group into twos and threes.

After everyone finished writing, Suzhen took them to review, closed her eyes deeply, and when she opened them, commanded sternly: “Display everyone’s answers on the ground in the center of the court, so all the ministers and the townspeople listening outside can see.”

Quan Feitong’s gaze moved slightly. He Sai looked at Suzhen and secretly sneered.

No matter what question this Li Huaisu asked or how she separated these people, they couldn’t possibly fail to answer.

Previously, when he first tried this case, he had only mentioned in the court records that Pei Fengji dined and drank with everyone at Hongtu Restaurant at the time of the incident, and bribed the manager and waiters for false testimony.

But since Li Huaisu was retrying this case, he and the Ministers of Personnel and Justice didn’t slack off. Standing in Li Huaisu’s position to think about problems, they personally studied all the arrangements in that southern private room, even fabricated dishes and refreshments, and wrote down everyone’s clothing that night. From the manager and waiters to the Wei merchants, they had everyone memorize every detail until they could recite it completely. The testimonies obtained were naturally all consistent and unafraid of being unable to correspond or being defeated one by one.

As he was thinking, he suddenly heard a gasp, followed by many people’s low exclamations. He shuddered and looked toward Quan Feitong, only to see Quan Feitong’s eyes filled with dark light.

He immediately looked at the papers on the ground, seeing they all had the same question written at the top: Looking out from the southern private room window that night, what colors were roughly seen in the fireworks on the river? Please randomly list two or three kinds.

But each person’s answer clearly differed.

Most papers wrote red, green, some yellow, purple… Though the answers weren’t identical, since each person chose different colors and the question itself didn’t require fixed answers but allowed random selection.

However, what shocked him was that three papers had completely different answers from these.

Though the wording on these three papers varied, the meaning was the same: From inside the southern private room, no fireworks could be seen!

Thus, the previously perfectly matching testimony finally had its first flaw—and the most fatal contradiction.

After thinking briefly, as sweat soaked his temples, he understood the key point.

At the same time, he indeed heard Li Huaisu declare loudly: “Ministers, townspeople outside, this sufficiently proves these witnesses themselves have problems. The southern private room’s window position doesn’t face the river—opposite are other shops. Unlike the eastern private room, it cannot see the fireworks on the river. Three papers here give the correct answer, precisely because these three respondents are the three from Hongtu Restaurant—they naturally know this clearly. Everyone can see the names on the papers. Those who specifically described firework colors are exactly Prince Pei and his merchant group. At the time of the incident, they never went to Hongtu Restaurant at all. Their memory of the fireworks was recorded from seeing them earlier at the trade exhibition. The trade exhibition was near the riverbank—those beautiful fireworks, those fireworks specifically to welcome the Great Wei merchant group, were naturally seen crystal clear.”

“Minister He, your follow-up work was thorough—you could copy down all the restaurant’s details. Unfortunately, you missed this fleeting beautiful thing. You’re right—heaven’s net has wide meshes but nothing escapes.”

Suzhen slowly looked toward He Sai. Where her gaze passed, Prince and Princess Zhennan and Pei Fengji showed changed expressions for the first time in this Chief Justice Yamen, while the entire venue erupted in thunderous cheers.