The queen is spoiling the king and madly criticizing him for spoiling her

Chapter 407 Ranran, please plead for mercy on your mother

At this moment, Dou Cong stepped forward and said, "How could the Empress be so sensible? The Empress is the most sensible. She always considers the people and solves their problems. She is definitely not what they say."

The assistant minister of the Ministry of Justice who was standing nearby did not expect Dou Cong to be so good at flattering, and he immediately stood up and echoed a few words.

The Empress's anger only eased slightly. Xie Ci'an looked at the others again and said, "How dare you slander the Empress like this? Come on, each of you should slap yourselves in the face twenty times. How can the Empress be slandered by villains like you?"

Madam Zhang and Mr. Zhang were surprised to receive twenty slaps on the face for just a few wrong words. They kowtowed repeatedly, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, please forgive us. We absolutely did not mean to falsely accuse the Empress or scold her."

Without giving the two too much time to argue, Cheng Song immediately arranged for palace servants to come forward, some to hold their arms, and some to carry out the execution.

The whole room was filled with the sound of slapping, so loud that it could be heard in the corridor. The diners passing by avoided it and the owner of Zuixianju who came to deliver the food did not dare to enter. He could only take his people back and deliver the food after it was over.

If the emperor gets angry, millions of people will die. They dare not provoke the emperor at this time.

Zhang Ran looked at the four people being slapped in front of him and felt happy.

Originally, a few people were still struggling to explain, but gradually the sound of their struggle became weaker and weaker.

After the execution, the four men's faces quickly swelled up like pig heads. Probably because they were beaten too many times, the slap marks were not so obvious anymore.

"In the buying and selling of women, both the buyer and the seller bear responsibility. In addition, Mr. Zhang was also involved in drugging and rape. Madam Zhang executed Zhang Ran for no reason. Even the housekeeper in Mr. Zhang's mansion wanted to humiliate Zhang Ran, but it was an unsuccessful attempt. What kind of punishment does the emperor think should be given?" Gu Jianchu turned to look at Xie Ci'an who was sitting nearby.

When it comes to matters of law, we cannot act on emotion. It would be bad if we were too lenient or too severe. We can only leave it to the emperor to punish.

Dou Cong and the assistant minister of the Ministry of Justice stood aside and did not dare to interrupt. The emperor would make the final decision on such matters, and there was no need for them to step out and try to be clever, which would only lead to failure.

Xie Ci'an tapped the tabletop lightly, his eyes tinged with frost as he looked at the others. A cold voice echoed through the room, "Master Zhang and his wife have committed a serious crime of trafficking women. Master Zhang shall be stripped of his official position, fined thirty times with lashes, and exiled three thousand miles. His wife is also guilty. As for his family, they shall be handed over to the Dali Temple for a thorough investigation. Anyone involved in this shall be punished with flogging, to be carried out in the vegetable market, so that everyone can see the crime of trafficking women."

"As for Mr. Zhang and his wife, they were also involved in the trafficking of women. They were also involved in rape and beating young girls without cause. They were each sentenced to 100 lashes and exile for 3,000 miles. Mr. Zhang also committed rape and was castrated. His housekeeper was convicted of attempted rape and received 50 lashes and imprisonment. Both sentences were served in the market."

Dou Cong understood that the emperor wanted to kill the chicken to scare the monkeys, so that some people would not disregard the court laws.

"This matter will be handed over to the Dali Temple Minister and the Ministry of Justice Vice Minister to carry out together." Xie Ci'an's eyes were deep, and his fingers naturally rested on Gu Jianchu's waist, stroking it gently.

After the emperor handed down the punishment, several people collapsed to the ground in an instant. Zhang Ran, who was standing aside, looked at the murderers and tears fell down her face, as if all the grievances were released at this moment. Her hands in her sleeves trembled with excitement.

Without giving them a chance to react, Wen Zhu immediately brought people in to take them away.

Madam Zhang, as if she had grabbed a lifeline, quickly crawled to Zhang Ran and grabbed the corner of Zhang Ran's clothes tightly. "Ranran, I know I was wrong in this matter. I really know I was wrong. I apologize to you and tell you I'm sorry. But if you are flogged thirty times and exiled three thousand miles away, I will really die. Ranran, for the sake of giving birth to you and raising you, can you help me plead with the Emperor and the Empress for mercy? I know you have a good relationship with the Empress."

"We are mother and daughter. You have your mother's blood in you. You can't just watch your mother get into trouble, right? Mother Ranran really regrets it. Mother should have treated you well in the beginning. She shouldn't have treated you like that, and she shouldn't have listened to your father's suggestion and sold you to someone else to have a child."

"RanRan's mother can kowtow to you, but you can't ignore her."

Gu Jianchu couldn't help but look at Zhang Ran, with a hint of heartache in his eyes.

It is true that belated affection is cheaper than grass.

Now that his life is hanging by a thread, he thinks of his daughter who has been ignored and exploited by him everywhere.

Family affection and blood ties are the hardest things to give up. Even if life is not going well, even if you are being sucked dry and bullied by your own parents, you cannot give them up completely.

Zhang Ran must have accumulated a lot of disappointment and mustered up all her courage to be able to sue her parents. However, when she saw her mother kneeling and begging in front of her, all her courage and accumulated disappointment would be weakened. Regardless of whether she was saved or not, Zhang Ran would be immersed in dense pain and dragged into a deeper abyss.

It would be better to let Zhang Ran live with hatred like this. Hatred is far better than living in such a tangle. After all, once Zhang Ran is moved by her parents, she will definitely regret her behavior of suing. If this goes on and on, her life will be ruined.

However, since it is Zhang Ran's life, others have no right to help her choose and can only watch her make her own choice.

After all, she has to walk the rest of the way by herself.

This is her life, her parents, whether good or bad, she needs to face it on her own.

They can do nothing but feel sad.

Except for Gu Jianchu, everyone else in the room looked at Zhang Ran. After all, they also knew the whole story, and they also wanted to know what choice Zhang Ran would make and how she would face her parents.

Everything was going well. Zhang Ran had never expected that at the last moment, her mother would desperately ask for help from her. She looked up at the beams of the house and held back the tears in her eyes. The moment she looked into her mother's eyes, she knew that her mother did not really regret it. She was afraid that she had never regretted treating her like this. She was just afraid, afraid of death, afraid of punishment, and afraid of being exiled three thousand miles away.

They were afraid that if they were caught, no one would take care of their precious son.

If it weren't for the severe punishment from the emperor and empress, she would never have regretted it.

Looking at her mother like this, Zhang Ran's eyes revealed disappointment, relief, and understanding, but she had no regrets at all.

How could her mother regret it? She would only make things worse.

She knew her mother too well, just as her mother knew her too well. She felt that as long as she knelt before her and begged for mercy, she would definitely soften her heart. Just like the Zhang Ran of the past would definitely soften her heart, but she was killed by them the moment they accepted Mr. Zhang's money.