74 Chapter 74

◎Suit II◎

"Suspect Huang Yaozu, I want to ask you, why did you order people to beat Ma Dan to death after he paid off his debts?" Seeing that he didn't speak, Jiang Jingyun repeated the question coldly.

"I have never done this." Huang Yaozu denied, insisting, "Ma Dan was the one who sneaked into my house again to steal on the night when he paid off his debt, but was discovered and beaten to death by the servants."

"So, Ma Dan left the Huang family that day?"

"Yes."

"When did you leave and where did you go?"

"Wei Shi, Casino."

"Then when did he break into a house and get beaten to death?"

"It's about midnight."

"Sure?"

"Sure."

Someone had already discussed his testimony with him in private yesterday. Now, facing Jiang Jingyun's continuous questioning, Huang Yaozu was not at all flustered and responded calmly.

"Very good," Jiang Jingyun sneered and said loudly, "Come here, call the coroner!"

As the coroner came in, Huang Yaozu, who had been calm and composed just now, became visibly flustered, but then he remembered the man's instructions yesterday and secretly felt relieved.

"Coroner, can you estimate when the deceased died?" Jiang Jingyun asked.

The coroner bowed and replied, "Your Excellency, judging from the body, the deceased died about three days ago, between 5 p.m. and 3 p.m.."

When these words were spoken, everyone was shocked.

Jiang Jingyun looked at him coldly: "What else do you have to say?"

"Sir, I am innocent," Huang Yaozu cried out, his mind in disarray, "He is not right!"

"The best time to perform an autopsy is within two days. The autopsy was just conducted today and the body has already rotted and stank. How can he accurately determine the time of Ma Dan's death?"

"Yes, that's right." Huang Yaozu looked up proudly, as if he was convinced by his own reasoning. "Sir, this coroner is talking nonsense and trying to deceive you."

Unexpectedly, Jiang Jingyun just calmly said: "Who told you that the coroner performed the autopsy today?"

"And who told you that the best time for an autopsy is two days?"

Huang Yaozu's face turned red due to nervousness, beads of sweat rolled down his forehead, and he did not answer.

Jiang Jingyun said coldly: "Why don't you say anything? Do you really think I can't do anything to you? Come on, bring him up!"

He looked hurriedly and saw the man from yesterday being escorted by the bailiffs and kneeling beside him.

"Why, we just met yesterday, but you don't recognize me today?" Jiang Jingyun's lips curled slightly, with a hint of amusement, "You didn't even say hello to each other, how rude."

The two of them lowered their heads and dared not speak.

Since they didn't speak, Jiang Jingyun called them directly: "Fangshan, you speak."

"Yes," Fangshan was the yamen runner who reported yesterday. Now that the truth had been revealed, he dared not hide it any more and answered honestly, "Some people said that he was near the Huang family that day, but he only saw two people go in at 9 o'clock and never saw them come out."

"Gamblers in various casinos also said that they had never seen Madan that day."

After that, he presented two pieces of bamboo paper with both hands, "These are what we found in the Huang family, Sun's indenture and Ma Dan's IOU."

"No more?" Jiang Jingyun asked.

Fangshan shook his head.

"Then can you explain why what you said in class today is different from what you said to me yesterday?"

"Yes... yes..." Fang Shan glanced at Huang Yaozu hesitantly, then said quickly, "It's because the Huang family promised me ten taels of gold if I changed his confession."

"I was just seduced and bewildered for a moment. I hope you can forgive me this time. I won't dare to do it again next time." Fang Shan knelt down and begged.

next time?

Oh.

"Accepting bribes, deceiving superiors and subordinates, and neglecting duties." Jiang Jingyun sneered. If he really let him go, these people would dare to climb over his head tomorrow. "Confiscate the stolen money, remove the position, and give him fifty strokes of the cane. Drag him away!"

After dealing with the bailiff, he turned his attention back to Huang Yaozu, only to find that he was pale and kneeling there, almost fainted.

Jiang Jingyun was calm as he slammed the gavel and read out the verdict word by word.

"The criminal Huang Yaozu committed intentional homicide. The evidence is conclusive. He should be beheaded according to the law. The execution will be carried out in three days." After saying this, he was about to throw the warrant in his hand down.

"Wait a minute, sir!"

Suddenly, there was an exclamation from the crowd.

A ferocious-looking man stood out from the crowd and said, "I was the only one who killed Ma Dan that day. It had nothing to do with anyone else."

"Please be fair and clear the rest of the people's name." He bowed and raised his head with a determined look, "Killing someone means paying with your life, blood debts must be paid with blood, I will pay it back now."

"Oh no! Stop him quickly!" Jiang Jingyun said anxiously.

It happened so quickly that before he could finish his words, the man had already cut his throat with the knife, and blood splattered on the spot.

When the bailiffs came forward to check, the man had already died.

“Murder must be paid with a life… pay with a life…” Huang Yaozu repeated in a low voice, his face splattered with blood, twisted with fear, his eyes wide open.

Suddenly, he seemed to realize something, stood up and shouted, "Yes! After Ma Dan paid off his debts, I let him go. He killed him without my knowledge. I had no idea about this!"

"The murderer has committed suicide out of fear of punishment. I am innocent, please let me go!"

"The real murderer has been executed, but the innocent people have been wrongly accused. Do you want to be the corrupt official who takes people's lives lightly?"

The people are ignorant and easily led by the nose.

Huang Yaozu just shouted loudly and gave a few words of guidance, and the people, who were just filled with righteous indignation and wanted to get rid of him as soon as possible, began to waver again.

"Looking at him, he really doesn't know, right?"

"If he is really innocent, then it is just that the judge made a mistake in the Book of Life and Death and became a confused ghost!"

"Bah! Don't talk nonsense. Our county magistrate is an honest official and will never wrongly accuse any good person!"

"That's right, let's see what the adults say."

The people were talking about it. The yamen runner looked at Jiang Jingyun and asked in a low voice, "Sir, what should we do now?"

Jiang Jingyun laughed out of anger, his mouth curled up: "The death penalty can be avoided, but the living crime cannot be escaped."

If the murderer today can walk out of this door safely, he might as well not wear this official hat.

"Bang", the gavel slammed down, and the whole audience fell silent.

Jiang Jingyun slowly announced:

"The criminal Huang Yaozu has the following crimes."

"The first crime: Gambling is strictly prohibited in our dynasty. Anyone who violates it will have his hands chopped off. For the gambling ringleader, all his property will be confiscated, he will be exiled a thousand miles away, and he will be forced to work for three years."

"The second crime: The law stipulates that anyone who lends money privately cannot pay more than three percent interest per month. Violators will have their stolen money confiscated and be caned 100 times."

"The third crime: falsely accusing Sun of conspiracy to commit theft, which was untrue, and punishable by 50 strokes of the cane for 'false accusation'."

"Three crimes together for punishment," Jiang Jingyun said as he quickly threw down three warrants and shouted, "Drag him away and execute him immediately!"

Immediately, the bailiffs obeyed the order and came forward, dragging Huang Yaozu away, howling like a ghost, and gave him 150 beatings with the cane.

Amid a burst of howling, Ma, who had avenged her great vengeance, kowtowed in gratitude and said with tears of gratitude: "Thank you, sir, for giving justice to my son. You are wise!"

Unexpectedly, Jiang Jingyun only looked at her coldly and said in a cold tone: "Madam Ma, falsely accused Sun of adultery, and was also 'falsely accused and punished'. According to the law, you will be punished with 80 strokes of the cane, but I will concede that you are old and have lost your child, so the punishment will be reduced by half."

Another order was thrown down, "Drag him away."

In the end, the only person with the least presence was left in the hall, still kneeling there.

Jiang Jingyun ordered his men to return the indenture to her. "The criminal has been executed. I pity you for being innocent and implicated. I will set you free and let you go home."

Looking at the fluttering piece of thin paper in front of her that had bound her for her entire life, the dead and hopeless person finally showed some movement.

Sun's eyes were red and tears were welling up in her eyes, but she bit her lower lip tightly to prevent herself from sobbing.

The long-term beatings have made her body remember that she is not allowed to cry out loud at any time, otherwise a series of curses such as "unlucky star", "money-losing thing", "crying funeral", "plague god", etc. will befall her, and she is often beaten with a stick for no reason, leaving her skin and flesh torn.

Now, I am finally free.

But where can she go?

After tearing the indenture into pieces, Sun kowtowed three times to Jiang Jingyun before slowly standing up.

Just when everyone thought that Sun was going to leave, she suddenly turned around and bumped into a pillar in the hall.

"Ah!" the people exclaimed, "She committed suicide!"

"She doesn't want to live anymore?"

"The mother-in-law treated her harshly for a long time, the husband was incompetent, and she was sold to pay off the debts," someone shook her head reluctantly, "A good and innocent girl was accused of adultery. No one can stand it."

"It's better to die, so you don't have to suffer anymore."

"Oh, what a sin. I hope she can be born into a good family in her next life."

Everyone stood there pointing and sighing for Sun, but no one was willing to go forward to check on her condition.

Jiang Jingyun got angry just by looking at her. He took two steps forward and reached out to feel Sun's breath. "She's still breathing. We can save her."

Turning around, he saw the yamen runner still standing there motionless, and he scolded him, "What are you standing there for? Go get a doctor!"

The bailiff finally reacted as if awakened from a dream and ran out.

Jiang Jingyun pressed a handkerchief to the bleeding wound on Sun's forehead to stop the bleeding. He wanted to carry her directly to the back hall, but he was afraid of being in public and considering the difference between men and women, so he had no choice but to send someone to the backyard to call out two maids and then carry the person to the back.

Sun was determined to die, and he did not use any strength when he hit the pillar, and blood gushed out from the bowl-sized wound.

Fortunately, the doctor arrived quickly.

After carefully feeling her skull and cervical vertebrae, the doctor breathed a sigh of relief: "The bones are fine, but I don't know whether there is any brain concussion." There are people who have become fools because of hitting their heads.

As it concerns the brain, even if Hua Tuo were alive again, he might not be able to guarantee a cure. The doctor can only treat her wounds and prescribe some medicine. "We need to wait until she wakes up to see the specific situation. I can't do anything now. It all depends on whether she still has a will to survive and get through this difficult time."

Jiang Jingyun nodded, "That's the only way. Thank you for taking this trip."

The doctor hurriedly returned the greeting, saying, "I don't deserve it. It's just my job as a doctor."

He ordered the servants to take good care of the injured and personally sent the doctor out before returning to the lobby to deal with the follow-up matters.