She was really treating it as if everyone else were all fools. That was her money, did Madam Wu really expect anyone to believe that if she found out it was missing she would have stayed silent? If she had really lost her money then she would have obviously made a scene a long time ago.
"I remember that my mother gave me a copper coin to buy candy that day." Su Nuan said from the side. Sujia Village was not far from Qinghe Town so occasionally peddlers would come over to sell their wares and many people from the village would all come out to buy things.
Coincidentally, the last time a peddler entered the village was the day Su Tang and her brother were being sacrificed to the River God.
When Su Tang mentioned this issue, Madam Wu remembered that had really happened and she slowly realized that she would not be able to touch Su Tang today. She could only say, "Huh, really? I almost forgot about it. But now thinking it over it seems that everything was still fine that day."
When she heard Madam Wu admit that, Su Tang smirked sarcastically and went on to say, "It seems my nephew's wife just remembered now."
Madam Wu's face changed colors, from blue to white and back again, but Su Tang ignored her. "The day I found out that you were going to sacrifice my brother and I to the River God I knelt down all night and begged you to let us go. However, no one paid any attention to that."
"Then, the next day, I was helpless and couldn't think of anything else to do so I smashed myself into the wall. And after that, because your family was afraid of another accident, you all took turns standing watch over my brother and me from then on."
"You kept keeping watch until the day we were personally pushed into the Qing River by you two, Madam Wu and Su Yonggui, and neither of us siblings have been to your house since then."
"So I would like to ask, Madam Zhao, Madam Wu, Madam Sun, Madam Zhang, what exactly are you relying on to accuse Xiao Nuo and I of being thieves?"
Su Tang's words were reaching a sonorous crescendo. "You have no proof, no evidence, no time when the crime could have been committed, and no motive. So, tell me, what exactly is your reason for accusing us of being thieves?"
"Patriarch, I ask that the Family Rules give my brother and I a fair verdict, and return to us our family's reputation."
"Barely any time at all has passed since my father passed away and everyone knows that my father was always a righteous man from the time he was born. He had good intentions, never quarreled with anyone, was known to be kind and reasonable, and the righteous reputation he worked hard to build cannot be allowed to be tarnished by just anyone's empty words!"
Su Tang didn't exaggerate with her words. Su Laochuan had a good reputation before he died, or else he would not have gone to Su Yongqiang and begged him to find a successor while he was on his deathbed. And Su Yongqiang had only agreed to take on the difficult task of finding a successor for an empty household because, after all, Su Laochuan had always been a righteous man who had always been willing to help others.
Su Yongqiang had personally experienced Su Laochuan's great kindness when the other man had saved his life. Of course, now he still remembered that kindness and wanted to help. After all, Su Tang had brought out the reputation of her whole household, so he wanted nothing more than to declare her innocent.
Su Tang had also made it clear with her words that she was no longer the easy-to-bully Su Dani from before, and anyone who wanted to try to step on her should be ready to be stabbed in return.
Su Yongqiang and Su Yongshun were really dumbfounded when they saw Su Tang completely calm the audience with her words. She slowly and carefully worked through the scenario from the very beginning, first asking why they suspected that she and her brother were thieves.
After confirming that Madam Zhao was only suspicious because of the clothes they were wearing, she began to logically dismantle her opponent's arguments one by one, proving her own innocence and also expressing her tough attitude to the outside world at the same time.
She established that she and her brother were already an independent family. She talked about how they lived only so that other people would not talk so much nonsense in the future. Even though in actuality, how she made money, how much money she made, and how she spent it, all those things weren't anyone's business but her own.
Moreover, she warned those people that this time she would nicely come out and explain things to them but if there was a next time she wouldn't just put up with their suspicions. She told them that if they had an issue they should directly report it to the officials to deal with, fully showing off her strong and firm attitude, while also expressing that she and her brother were completely unafraid of scrutiny.
Up to that point, all the false accusations had already been explained clearly, but she did not stop. Instead, she questioned Madam Wu and others about their intentions before finally making her final goal clear directly to Su Yongqiang.