Elder Zhao Jiang just looked at Zhao Yao with a blank face.
"But how? You said Zhao Ping gave you aphrodisiac." Uncle Su asked.
"Yes, Uncle Su. When the aphrodisiac was about to take control, I used all my will power to stop myself because how can I bring disgrace to you and my father. How can I disappoint Su Ruo?
You know how weak I am, so I had to knock myself unconscious to save myself from the treacherous drug." Zhao Yao lied with a pitiful look. He couldn't tell anyone that he got kicked 'there.' Also, it sounded cooler this way.
'Cough." He heard his Master's sound.
'You might say we are one, but this part of me wasn't there when it happened. So this is fine and I can change the story. You are not going to tell anyone, right?' Zhao Yao believed that his Master, the only person who can tell the secret, won't diverge it, and Merry was in no condition to talk.
"You did Great. You didn't disappoint me. I believe you now. Let's get these trash to tell the truth." Uncle Su patted Zhao Yao's shoulder as he reassured. There was a dangerous glint in his eyes.
The fact that he was a virgin was his easiest escape plan. Regardless of whatever the clan throws at him, he can convince his innocence with it. But, to catch Zhao Ping and the Elders, he had to stay patient and take whatever they throw at him and catch them with the errors they made.
Even if his plan failed, he knew he could convince Uncle Su with this. But, the more he suffers, the more the clan made trouble for him, the more Uncle Su will support him, and trust him.
Now, it was time to destroy Elder Zhao Jiang.
"So Elder Zhao Jiang, you have no reply?" Zhao Yao asked the stunned Elder.
"What reply? I am just a lower Golden Core realm cultivator, how could I check that like these respected Martial Lords?" Elder Zhao Jiang took the courage to speak out.
"That's right, he can't check it like us." Grand Elder Zhao Liang supported.
"Oh. So on what basis did you believe that I committed the heinous deed?" Zhao Yao asked with a smile.
"I have enough evidence from the scene to believe that." Elder Zhao Jiang gained more courage with Grand Elder Zhao Liang's support.
"Why don't you explain the situation in detail? Don't lie, if you do, I will also ask you to be added to the requested list." Zhao Yao folded his hands, ready to listen.
When Elder Zhao Huamin and other Grand Elders tried to reject this, Grand Elder Zhao Chengjiao raised his hands to stop them.
"Go on and explain." Grand Elder Zhao Chengjiao reiterated Zhao Yao's request.
"This... I will explain then." Elder Zhao Jiang nodded after some thinking.
Zhao Yao grinned as he observed his prey. This elder may be thinking that he didn't do anything else wrong.
"I was tasked to help Young Lady Su Ruo's visiting party, and after getting news..."
"Skip that. Just say from when you found me." Zhao Yao insisted.
"I heard a commotion from a shed in the Eastside and saw that young Lady Su Ruo was crying near the entrance. With the Young Lady's servant, I entered the shed." Elder Zhao Jiang looked at Uncle Su, who nodded.
"I saw Zhao Yao naked inside, lying on the floor with a Merp. There was fur all over the floor, and Merp's blood and fur traces were found on Zhao Yao's fingers. The way you are found, the layout of the shed, and blood traces found in your fingernails all point that you are guilty."
"Let me ask some questions, so you can further explain." Zhao Yao took a couple of steps forward to get closer to the Elder, and Uncle Su followed him.
"So when you saw me, how was my condition?"
"You were Nak..." Before Elder Zhao Jiang finish Zhao Yao interrupted him.
"Other than that. Was I responsive to your questions?" Zhao Yao hated hearing 'naked' again and again.
"No. You didn't respond to my questions. You just laid on the floor without moving." Elder Zhao Jiang answered, but it was evident from his face that he felt something was amiss.
"Had it ever crossed your mind that I was drugged? Or you already knew it and played it along?" Zhao Yao questioned with a smirk.
"No, I didn't know." Elder Zhao Jiang immediately shook his head.
"Tell me whether it's normal for someone to not respond to you. If you don't want to answer I will get some of the guards and clan members present at that time. They will surely remember how I was when you proclaimed my verdict." Zhao Yao didn't give Elder Zhao Jiang a chance and threatened him.
"You didn't respond or say anything. You looked lifeless. It was not normal, but I thought you acted strangely due to your embarrassment of getting caught." Elder Zhao Jiang replied while showing signs of panic. The threatening shadow of Uncle Su behind Zhao Yao made it worse for the Elder.
"Okay, let me ask another question then. Do you remember what happened to the shed's door?" Zhao Yao proceeded to ask the good points he jotted down in his mind when he plotted the entire plan earlier. It was time to nail Elder Zhao Jiang's coffin.
"I believe Young Master Zhao Ping destroyed it to get inside."
"Why do you think he had to destroy it?" Zhao Yao immediately asked.
"He said it's locked from inside. So to get inside he had to force through."
"Oh, is it? Hahaha." Zhao Yao erupted in laughter.
"Why are you laughing?" Elder Zhao Jiang questioned.
"You don't know, or you pretend to not know. You ask why? Let's ask the crowd itself." Zhao Yao turned to the people and asked. "My fellow clan members, DOES OUR EASTSIDE STORAGE SHEDS HAVE LOCKS FROM INSIDE?"
"NOOOO."
Zhao Yao heard scattered but the same replies.
"Now, do you understand? Eastside storage sheds are made without inside locks. Because they never needed inside locks." Zhao Yao sounded like it was common knowledge, but he didn't know about it until he studied more about the shed. Even the all-knowing Elders could miss that small detail.
"Did it ever cross your mind, Elder Zhao Jiang?"
"I..I..didn't kn..."
"Let me ask you another question."
Zhao Yao didn't care whether this Elder knows about it or not. He had already decided to get this Elder punished for helping Zhao Ping to frame him. "You said I was found naked. When Zhao Ping dragged me outside, how was I clothed?"
"Young Master wanted to expose you just like that. It was me who made Zhao Bo get a robe for you to wear." Elder Zhao Jiang said it like he did a great thing that Zhao Yao has to be grateful for.
"Haha. Why did I need Zhao Bo to get a robe for me? What happened to my clothes?"
"That..." Elder Zhao Jiang hesitated, but Uncle Su stood before him pressurizing him. "You didn't have any."
"I didn't have any clothes? Grand Elders you heard that? Elder Zhao Jiang saw fur on the floor, but he never questioned why there were no clothes on the floor. What did he assume, that I walked from my house naked, all the way?"
"Pftuu."
Zhao Yao spat on the floor.
"What do you think of this as? If he didn't assist Zhao Ping in framing me, how did this happen?
Can any Idiot become the Ancient Zhao clan's Elder nowadays?"
This Elder saw me naked in a shed and believed what Zhao Ping told him, but he never questioned why I was unresponsive or consider the possibility that I was drugged.
This Elder believed completely when Zhao Ping told him that the lockless shed was 'locked' from inside, but he never observed the shed door properly or wondered how I got inside a shed that's locked 'from outside.'
This Elder found some fur on the floor and assumed I committed the crime but he never wondered where my clothes went.
Do clothes just disappear?
Tell me Grand Elders, tell me, my fellow clan members, if he wasn't LYING AND SUPPORTING ZHAO PING IN FRAMING ME, what is he?
If you say that he wasn't, then I will proclaim to the world that IDIOCY AND INCOMPETENCE ARE THE NEW ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA TO BE ANCIENT ZHAO CLAN'S ELDER."