642 One Wrong Step, One Wrong Step

Tu Yujiao was imprisoned, and the Tu family was not spared either.

The head of the Tu family and the young masters and ladies of the Tu family were all brought back to the government office by the bailiffs.

Master Tu and the others were puzzled. What law had they broken?

On the way, Master Tu was still thinking about how he could not admit that Xiao Hanzheng had framed the Tu family, or how he could get out of the situation.

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But when they arrived at the government office, Xiao Hanzheng sat in the seat of honor with a cold face.

“Master Tu, your daughter colluded with the Ge people to ambush King Yi and tried to rescue the Northern King and the princess of the previous dynasty. Do you know about this?”

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Master Tu was stunned. “How is that possible? Did Lord Xiao misunderstand?”

Xiao Hanzheng sneered. “I went to help King Yi personally. I was asked by King Yi to bring Miss Tu back for interrogation.”

“She suddenly appeared and stopped King Yi on his way to the capital. She said that she met some refugees and they wanted to snatch her away.”

“And after she stopped King Yi’s team, those refugees all turned into Ge Kingdom’s elites and tried to rob the prison carriages with their sabers.”

“King Yi personally saw your daughter colluding with those Ge Kingdom elites who were disguised as refugees. This is irrefutable evidence.”

“And do you believe that this is a coincidence, Master Tu?”

Master Tu had been so busy recently because of the suppression that he really didn’t know about this.

If Xiao Hanzheng was telling the truth, even a fool would not believe that it was a coincidence.

He turned to look at Madam Tu.

His wife’s face was pale and she looked very anxious.

He immediately guessed that his wife should know something about his daughter going to King Yi.

“What’s going on?” he asked Madam Tu.

He felt a little panic in his heart. If she was convicted of this crime, his family would be finished.

Madam Tu shook her head. “I don’t know.”

She then turned to Xiao Hanzheng. “My lord, words are not proof. Can you bring my daughter here and explain everything?”

She actually didn’t know what was going on between her daughter and the refugees.

She only knew that his daughter had taken a fancy to King Yi and had been going to find him frequently recently, trying to attract his attention.

She was supportive of this. If her daughter could marry King Yi, not only would her status rise, but the Tu family would also benefit. They would no longer have to decline like they had recently.

However, she did not expect her daughter would be accused of colluding with the people of Ge Kingdom as a spy. This was absolutely impossible.

At this moment, she was also extremely flustered, so she desperately wanted to see her daughter.

Xiao Hanzheng did not object and asked someone to bring Tu Yujiao up.

Her eyes were swollen from crying. When she saw her family, she wanted to pounce on them. “Father, Mother, please save me!”

However, she was pulled back by the bailiffs and forced to kneel down.

Xiao Hanzheng interrogated her on the spot. At first, Tu Yujiao refused to admit anything and insisted that she had met King Yi by coincidence.

Then Xiao Hanzheng found evidence that she had asked the servant girl to send the letter to the refugees.

With both witnesses and evidence, Tu Yujiao could no longer deny it.

She could only admit that she did this because she hoped that King Yi would save her.

But Xiao Hanzheng insisted that those refugees were Ge people and Tu Yujiao could not find any other evidence to clear her name.

In the end, she was sentenced to exile.

The Tu family members were also thrown into prison for two days. They were only released after they were interrogated and confirmed that they were not involved in this matter.

However, this did not mean that the Tu family was fine. Because the eldest daughter of the family head was involved with the Ge Kingdom, all the people in the Tu family who had official positions were dismissed and could not participate in the imperial examination for three generations.

The news of the Tu family had also spread throughout Northern City.

Many people believed that Tu Yujiao’s motive was to seduce King Yi.

However, she had chosen the wrong time and person and was used by those Ge Kingdom people, almost ruining King Yi and the imperial court’s business.

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In the northern borders, most people hated the Ge kingdom.

Regardless of whether Tu Yujiao had done it intentionally or not, she had indeed caused the Northern King to almost be successfully captured by the Ge Kingdom. She had also become a shameless woman in everyone’s eyes.

A spy who had colluded with Ge Kingdom had appeared in the Tu family. After the other members of the Tu family were released, they lost their reputation.

Not only did the Tu family’s reputation plummet, the Tu family head and the others lost their official positions, and the family business suffered a setback.

Everyone knew that the Tu family was finished.

After returning home, Madam Tu cried and begged Master Tu, “Think of a way to save your daughter.”

Master Tu turned around and gave her a slap. He said with a ferocious expression, “I wish I could strangle her to death right now.”

“She can’t wash away the crime of colluding with Ge Kingdom’s spies. Not only did she implicate her family, but if I save her again, I’ll also be exiled.”

He gave a sarcastic look. “And do you think that anyone would still buy my words now that Northern City is under the control of King Yi and Xiao Hanzheng?”

“Yujiao’s actions were all because you spoiled her and let her act recklessly. Even Jin Wang feared Yi Wang. How could your daughter, someone of her status, be able to scheme against him?”

“Do you think that since King Yi has fallen for a divorced woman, it won’t be difficult for Yu Jiao to make him like her?”

Madam Tu didn’t know what to say.

She and her daughter really thought that way.

If a village woman from the Kong family could do it, why couldn’t her beautiful and smart daughter?

...

But she did not expect King Yi to be so cruel as to ask Xiao Hanzheng to bring her back and punish her as a spy.

Master Tu looked at her expression and sneered, “Naive. If King Yi was so easily toyed with by a woman, he wouldn’t have been put in such an important position by the Emperor and feared by King Jin.”

He felt a little sad. “The Tu family was harmed by you two ignorant women. Not only were we stripped of our official positions, but we are also not allowed to take the imperial examinations for three generations. How am I going to explain this to my ancestors underground?”

If his wife hadn’t gone to provoke and offend Shi Qingluo, there wouldn’t have been a deliberate confrontation between the Fang family’s winery and the Tu family.

His daughter was even more hot-headed to do such a thing. King Jin was crippled, and he had lost his official position. How could he protect this family in the future?

Madam Tu was also anxious now. “But Yu Jiao has never suffered. If she’s exiled, how much will she have to suffer?”

Seeing her husband’s increasingly cold gaze, she could only give up on the idea of saving her. “I’ll prepare more money for her.”

He wanted to see if he could find more people to escort her.

“Prepare what money?” Master Tu said coldly. “You’re not allowed to.”

“She has already caused our Tu family to suffer. How can she be qualified to enjoy? She deserves to be exiled.”

He had doted on his daughter in the past, but compared to the interests of the family, his daughter was nothing.

...

He had to give an explanation to the rest of the family.

Madam Tu wanted to say something, but Young Master Tu and Tu Lihuan also spoke up, “Mother, this time, sister has really gone too far. Not only has she implicated the entire clan, but she has also implicated us.”

“If she doesn’t suffer a little, Father won’t be able to explain it to the rest of the family.”

Young Master Tu’s official position had also been stripped. He could not help but vent his anger on his sister, who he had once loved dearly.

Tu Lihuan was the same. He had originally wanted to participate in next year’s examination, but now that he had a spy sister, he was not even qualified to take part.

Madam Tu was also regretful. She should have stopped his daughter from the beginning.

Her heart ached.

Master Tu then instructed the butler, “Send Madam back to the courtyard. From today onwards, Madam has fallen ill. Leave all the social events to Eldest’s wife.”

Madam Tu looked at her in disbelief. “You want to put me under house arrest?”

Master Tu snorted coldly. “You and your daughter have caused the Tu family to be in such a state. It’s already good enough that I didn’t divorce you. You’re not qualified to continue managing the household.”

After saying that, he left.

This time, even the Tu brothers didn’t help Madam Tu.

Madam Tu fell to the ground and cried silently. She regretted helping Ruan Songling to deal with Shi Qingluo.

It was really a mistake.

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