Xiangzhou Chapter: Soul Transmigration to Another World Chapter 16: A True Scoundrel Through and Through

Page (1/3)

Then Ye Qiaoqiao asked Han Xiang to present the financial records for the past three years. These documents contained every record of gold and silver entering and leaving the household. However, after Zhang Shu was dismissed following Xiang Ling’er’s elevation to the main hall, the ledgers ceased to be updated.

Dong Feiguang took the records again and examined them. The more he looked, the more he despised this Chen Tan Hua. Over three years, nearly five thousand taels of gold were spent on Ye Qiaoqiao. This was no ordinary household’s expenditure.

With a heavy bang of the gavel, Dong Feiguang’s expression darkened. “Chen Bailai, what do you have to say for yourself?”

Seeing the situation had turned against him, Chen Bailai could only fall to his knees, bowing his head repeatedly as he begged for mercy. “Your Honor, Your Highness, please judge with fairness! I, Chen Bailai, am truly wronged—I did not bury Ye Qiaoqiao alive!”

“Putting aside the matter of live burial, is it true that you embezzled the family assets?” Dong Feiguang’s gaze fixed on the trembling Chen Bailai kneeling in the courtroom.

Chen Bailai stammered, unsure how to respond.

Ye Qiaoqiao, seeing that the case had been steered back on course, said, “Your Honor, all the servants in my household can testify that Chen Bailai transferred assets from the family treasury.”

“Chen Tan Hua, I’m asking you!” Dong Feiguang banged the gavel again.

Chen Bailai shrank back nervously but reluctantly nodded. “Yes, I transferred the family assets.”

Still unwilling to admit defeat, he tried to justify himself: “But I thought that by then Qiaoqiao was no longer here. Xiangzhou is a place full of sorrow, so I wanted to leave and transferred the assets to the capital.”

“If you truly wished to leave this sorrowful place, why, when I first set foot in the Chen family mansion, did you have your new wife in your left arm and curse me without cease with your right hand, showing no remorse on your face?” Ye Qiaoqiao retorted coldly.

Hearing this, Chen Bailai recalled how Ye Qiaoqiao was once a gentle girl. Whatever troubles came, a little coaxing would suffice. But now, she was like a madwoman, relentlessly pressing him and speaking sharply, clearly not someone to be trifled with.

Inwardly, he cursed his fate. If he had known this earlier, would he have acted differently?

He stammered, “I, Chen Bailai, have not... broken the vows I made to you.”

Ye Qiaoqiao smiled faintly—was this what a scoundrel’s sweet talk sounded like?

But the matter was settled as long as he admitted to transferring the assets. Now, the real drama was about to begin.

“Your Honor, a man lacking in virtue, who would bury me alive and embezzle our marital assets, is unworthy of being my husband. Therefore, I, Ye Qiaoqiao, formally request a divorce!”

Page (2/3)

“Ah, this...” Dong Feiguang was dumbfounded.

He had not expected Ye Qiaoqiao’s plan to be this from the start.

Kneeling on the ground, Chen Bailai began to understand. When he said he would give her the divorce papers, but she insisted on beating the drum to accuse him, it was because she intended to divorce him...

Sitting nearby, Shen Jianzhou raised an eyebrow slightly at her words.

This woman was indeed intriguing.

She actually wanted to divorce her husband.

Divorce was not unheard of in Nanli, but it came at a heavy price for the woman. A woman seeking divorce had to endure twenty lashes of the cane before it was officially granted.

A trace of amusement flickered in Shen Jianzhou’s eyes. His voice carried a commanding tone as he said lightly, “Do you wish to endure the cane punishment?”

Hearing the Crown Prince’s voice from the left side of the courtroom, cold and sharp from years of wielding power, Ye Qiaoqiao looked at him deeply once more.

His lips were tightly pressed, his eyebrows stern. Though purple energy clearly radiated from him, a dark aura lingered around him.

Ye Qiaoqiao could only surmise that his life fate had been switched.

But now was about her divorce request. After a moment’s thought, she calmly replied, “I am willing.”

She added quietly, “I am prepared to endure the punishment, but I fear some are not prepared to bear the consequences afterward.”

Ye Qiaoqiao was a woman who never left a grudge unavenged.

Fortunes turn like the flowing river: thirty years on one side, thirty years on the other. She refused to believe these damnable people would escape the punishment they deserved.

The smile in Shen Jianzhou’s eyes deepened, his gaze upon her laden with meaning.

Kneeling on the floor, Chen Bailai, realizing he was about to be divorced, threatened Ye Qiaoqiao: “Ye Qiaoqiao, if you are wise, leave the assets to me and I will give you the papers. Otherwise, even if you have plenty of money, you won’t live to enjoy it!”

He meant that after twenty lashes, very few survived.

“I don’t need your instructions. I’m divorcing you so that you, the faithless man, get the punishment you deserve!” Ye Qiaoqiao frowned deeply, her tone icy and merciless.

Page (3/3)

Seeing that no matter what he said, Ye Qiaoqiao remained unmoved, Chen Bailai could only sneer maliciously. “Then prepare to endure your lashes, and we’ll talk about divorce afterward!”

Ye Qiaoqiao’s expression changed sharply, but she quickly replaced it with a radiant smile and said slowly, “No need. Do you really think I will be whipped? Chen Bailai, don’t forget, in the three years we were married, we never lived together. A marriage in name only—what’s wrong with a normal divorce?”

Did she really think she hadn’t left herself a way out? Of course not.

Chen Bailai suddenly realized that for the past three years, he had indeed never consummated the marriage with Ye Qiaoqiao.

During those years, he had been making excuses to go to the capital, constantly writing to her to ask for travel expenses. And all his spending had been provided by Ye Qiaoqiao.

Now, they were truly a marriage in name only.

This meant that Ye Qiaoqiao would not have to endure the cane punishment and could still take the family assets and divorce him!

At this thought, Chen Bailai kowtowed repeatedly, pleading, “I beg Your Highness to see clearly. Ye Qiaoqiao and I are truly in love and do not wish to divorce!”

The scoundrel only realized he didn’t want a divorce now?

Fortunately, the original Ye Qiaoqiao had died early. Had she lived with such a scoundrel, who knew how miserable her life would have been!

Ye Qiaoqiao sighed inwardly—he was indeed a scoundrel to the core!

Yet on the surface, she showed unprecedented coldness and reluctantly bowed again. This time, she petitioned the Crown Prince: “I humbly ask Your Highness to rule in my favor. Even if divorce is impossible, I hope Chen Bailai returns the assets he transferred and grants me a separation.”

Shen Jianzhou narrowed his sharp eyes and pursed his thin lips, seemingly pondering something.

Beside him, Dong Feiguang spoke, “Chen Tan Hua, with matters having reached this point, what is your decision?”

Chen Bailai was reluctant to part with the mountains of gold and silver amassed over three years. But those who live by the sword must eventually pay the price.

Still, with one last shred of resistance, he said, “A separation is fine, but can I keep the assets?”

Page (3/3)