Everyone in the courtroom had already been watching what was happening outside. The moment the trafficker who had been hauled in spoke, he successfully drew everyone's attention.
Especially-
Wang Qizhi, who had met his eyes.
Already unsettled by the news the prefect had delivered, Wang Qizhi nearly jumped out of his skin at that cry of "Young Master." "What nonsense are you shouting?!"
But who knew what had come over the man? His previously dazed eyes suddenly blazed with renewed life the instant he saw Wang Qizhi, as though... he had caught hold of a life-saving straw.
The man who had spoken slammed into the constable escorting him, knocking him aside, and raced toward Wang Qizhi, crying out with heart-rending desperation as he ran, "Young Master, please save us! Young Master!!"
Wang Qizhi was utterly shocked. "He's lying! I don't know this man at all!!"
Chu Zian's scrutinizing gaze settled quietly on Wang Qizhi, trying to judge the truth of his words from the subtle shifts in his expression.
But the longer he watched, the more he felt that an empty-headed fool like this could hardly put on such a convincing performance.
His eyes trembled, his expression was shocked, and his face was full of the indignation of someone falsely accused. Yet there was none of the panic that came from having such an important secret exposed.
What was going on?!
Could someone really be so outrageously bold as to bribe Human Traffickers to frame one of the city's powerful families?!
Chu Zian suppressed his doubts and waited impassively for the other side's response.
Having broken free of the constable, the trafficker ran behind Wang Qizhi and dropped heavily to his knees with a thud, kowtowing without pause. "Young Master, I still have a sixty-year-old mother at home to support.