Before Ying Sinan could finish his sentence, he suddenly bit his tongue, his entire face twisting into a grimace.
Yet even as the little one enjoyed the drama, she kept her eyes and ears open in every direction, lifting her head and zeroing in on him.
[Huh? What was Uncle Ying going to say about this shopkeeper?]
Drawing on his precious years of experience surviving under the rod, Ying Sinan's mind raced as he stammered, "This man, this man..."
Halfway through, inspiration suddenly struck. "When judging a person, you can't just look at the surface!"
His voice rang out, impassioned and forceful, without the slightest hint of a guilty conscience.
Jiang Lifeng: "..."
The guards following behind the little one: "..."
Zou Cailiang jumped at the sudden outburst, but after taking a closer look, he let out a long sigh of relief.
He had already made inquiries. Apart from the guards concealed out of sight, everyone accompanying Emperor Mingze on this tour stood at the pinnacle of power. There was, however, one exception-
The son of County Magistrate Tuobi had neither scholarly honors nor an official post. He had merely stumbled into a stroke of dumb luck, caught the Little Princess's eye, and been brought along as her playmate. The boy was not yet on his list of people to flatter, so he showed him somewhat less deference.
"Silence!!"
The court block struck the desk heavily, finally quieting the room again.
"Do either of you have evidence proving that this Bluish-White Jade Rectangular Ding belongs to you?"
The question sounded fair and impartial, but everyone present clearly heard the bias and hostility lurking beneath it.
The eyes of the woman claiming to have lost her family heirloom lit up, and she hurriedly replied, "Yes, yes!"
"Although my husband's family has