Yu Mingyue nodded. "Lying to me would bring me no benefit. I can save you, but only if you help yourself."
Madam Li's eyes dimmed again. She shook her head. "There's no way. My mother-in-law won't admit it."
"Admit what?" Yu Mingyue sensed the crux of the matter.
Madam Li suddenly knelt down. "Your Honor, I beg you, save my child. Send the child to the orphanage. Just a bit of food to survive is enough. I beg you, Your Honor, I beg you."
Madam Li kowtowed incessantly. Yu Mingyue tried to help her up, but she wouldn't rise.
Yu Mingyue gave up. She took a step back. "Madam Li, this is not within my jurisdiction. Even you are giving up on your child, let alone a stranger like me. Since you refuse to say anything, the original verdict will stand. Six months after you give birth... you will be executed."
After speaking, Yu Mingyue turned to leave. Madam Li, in a panic, crawled forward a step and grabbed the hem of Yu Mingyue's robe. "Your Honor, can you truly save me?"
Yu Mingyue paused, but did not turn around, maintaining an air of readiness to depart. "Madam Li, your case is just one of many I'm handling. It will have no significant impact on my future, but for you and the child in your womb, it's two lives. Think carefully if you want to cooperate. Tell the yamen runners once you've thought it through, and they will inform me. If you still refuse to say anything, the case will stand, and I will depart tomorrow."
"Your Honor, I'll tell you, I'll tell you everything..." Madam Li clutched her abdomen, sobbing uncontrollably.
Yu Mingyue turned and helped her up. "Get up and speak. Kneeling is not good for the fetus."
Madam Li sat half-kneeling on the ground. "Because the child in my womb is not my husband's..."
Madam Li was originally a widow. She and her late husband ran a tofu shop in Furong Town. Because their tofu was excellent and Madam Li was beautiful, she was nicknamed "Tofu Xi Shi."
A ruffian took a liking to Madam Li. One day, when the back of the shop was empty, he tried to molest her. Her late husband happened to return and got into a fight with the ruffian. He sustained internal injuries and, coupled with a cold, he passed away.
Her current husband, Zhang Changsheng, was the blacksmith next door. The two families were on good terms. Before his death, her late husband entrusted her to Zhang Changsheng. After her husband's death, she discovered she was pregnant.
Madam Li wiped away her tears. "Brother Zhang feared the gossip of the townspeople, so he took me back to his hometown, saying he would treat my unborn child as his own. He was truly good to me. But somehow, my mother-in-law found out. She called me a promiscuous jinx, saying I wasn't content with causing her husband's death, but I also wanted to harm her son. That poison was meant for me and the child in my womb."
She went to the Granny Temple outside the city to burn incense on the first and fifteenth of every month. Zhang Changsheng accompanied her, saying it would bless her and the child for a safe birth.
That day was the first of the month. Zhang Changsheng was about to accompany her as usual, but his mother stopped him.
His mother kindly packed some pastries for her, telling her to save them for the journey. Madam Li found the pastries exquisite and gave one to Zhang Changsheng.
She took the rest with her. On the road, she wanted to eat a pastry a few times, but she felt terribly unwell and felt nauseous at the smell. She didn't taste any until after she finished burning incense.
As she sat resting in a pavilion, she was apprehended by yamen runners, accused of harming her husband. Later, she guessed the pastries were the problem.
Her mother-in-law wanted to harm her, but inadvertently harmed her own son. She poured all her hatred onto Madam Li, wishing her dead.