"Y-you! What do you take the Qiao family for, arresting one of our people without a shred of evidence?"
Even someone as composed as the old master could not bear to see his own child in such a state.
Steward Qiao's injuries had yet to heal. His severed hand was still wrapped in bandages, and the bruises on his face had not faded at all, covering that fat face of his.
Despite being in such a wretched state, he had been roughly dragged into court to stand trial!
Old Master Qiao was worried, yet dared not ask another question. He could only vent his anger on Xia Wanwan.
Xia Qianhui slowly stepped forward and said,
"I did not arrest a member of your Qiao family without cause. While traveling incognito, I happened to hear grievances among the common people. One family had waited years before finally being blessed with a daughter, only for the Qiao family, the local authorities, to forcibly abduct her as a child bride because she was pretty."
"That family had three sons in succession before finally having a single daughter. She should have enjoyed all the love her family could lavish on her, but she was seized by force. Those villains used their authority as local officials to crush any resistance. Then, a few days ago, their daughter's corpse was sent home. Her grandmother was so grief-stricken that she died on her sickbed. With nowhere to seek justice, the family set out for the capital to submit a petition and encountered me along the way."
"I began investigating the matter and called on personnel from the Government Office to look into the Qiao family. To my surprise, we caught Steward Qiao attempting to murder two young girls and several others, so we arrested him and brought