broker

Ni Liu cried out in protest, "My lord, I don't know her at all! I'm innocent!"

Wei Ji slammed his gavel: "Ni Liu, I did not ask you to answer. I will only hold this against you this time. If there is a next time, I will certainly slap you without mercy!" He then looked at Huai Xu and said, "Huai Xu, stand up and answer. What makes you so sure that Ni Liu is the person you are looking for?"

I helped Huai Xu up, and Huai Xu pointed at Ni Liu and said, "Sir, there are teeth marks on the web of his right hand, which I bit ten years ago!"

Ni Liu shuddered as he lay on the ground. Wu, the squad leader, grabbed his right hand and examined it, saying, "Sir, there are indeed teeth marks."

Wei Ji said, "Ni Liu, where have you lived and what have you been doing for the past ten years? Tell me in detail."

Ni Liuhan said with a trembling voice, "Ten years ago, I lived in Junlian and worked in a brokerage firm in town. Later, my wife fell ill, so I moved to my uncle's house in Mahu to take care of her. Last year, my wife passed away, and I moved back. Now, I work as a helper at Tao's sewing shop."

Wei Ji then asked, "Tell me, how did you get the teeth marks on your right hand?"

Ni Liu wiped his sweat and said, "It was bitten by a child."

When and where were you bitten?

"Ten years ago, the brokerage firm."

Wei Ji then asked Huai Xu, "Huai Xu, who took you to the brokerage firm ten years ago, and what happened afterward? Tell me in detail."

Huai Xu sobbed uncontrollably: "Ten years ago, my father died, and my mother and I were driven out of our home. My mother had nowhere to go, so she took me to a brokerage. This Ni Liu and his wife sold my mother to Changchun Pharmacy and then sold me to Yuqiong Courtyard. When my mother found out, she committed suicide at the entrance of Yuqiong Courtyard in order to find me!"

Wei Ji threw out two summoning slips: "Summon the manager of Changchun Pharmacy and the madam of Yuqiong Courtyard to the hall."

Wu, the squad leader, picked up the order and left.

The first to arrive was the owner of the Changchun Pharmacy. The old man was trembling and about to kneel, but Wei Ji ordered someone to help him up and said, "Old man, no need for formalities. I have a few questions to ask you."

"Thank you, Your Excellency. I will speak frankly and without reservation."

"Did Changchun Pharmacy buy a foreign woman as a maid ten years ago?"

Yes, that is true.

Who is the broker who facilitates the transaction?

"Ni Liu".

"Do you know that this barbarian woman who sold herself into servitude has a young daughter?"

"I truly didn't know this when we made the transaction, and the broker never mentioned it either. About three or five days later, a young woman from Qingcheng, fluent in the local language, came to the shop to deliver some medicine. Only then did I learn that this woman had an eight-year-old daughter, and that she thought I had bought her daughter along with the money. She begged me, tears streaming down her face, to give her a day off so she could go out and look for her daughter. How could I refuse? Alas—"

The old shopkeeper sighed and said, "Miss Qingcheng went with her, and she never came back. She never returned."

Wei Ji turned to me and asked, "Qingcheng, where did you accompany Huai Xu's birth mother, and what happened?"

Huai Xu gripped my hand tightly. Her face was strikingly similar to her birth mother's, and in that instant, my thoughts seemed to push me back into that blood-red morning.

“I accompanied her to the brokerage first, but Ni Liu and his wife searched everywhere without success. A kind neighbor quietly told us that the child had been taken away by people from Yuqiong Courtyard. We chased after them to Yuqiong Courtyard, but the madam there refused to release the child.” I gritted my teeth, my voice gradually becoming hoarse. “She even said, ‘You’ve already swallowed it all, how can you vomit it up?’ Huai Xu’s birth mother said, ‘I can,’ and then she drew her knife and committed suicide on the spot.”

Huai Xu cried his heart out, and the old manager of Changchun Pharmacy was also wiping away tears.

Wei Ji said gently, "Old man, please go back first."

As the old manager was helped away by the yamen runners, Wei Ji's expression suddenly turned cold and stern. He patted the gavel and said, "Bring up the madam of Yuqiong Courtyard!"

"Jiang Ping, a commoner, kowtows to Your Excellency the Prefect."

Wei Ji struck the gavel again: "Jiang Ping, do you know your crime?"

Jiang Ping kowtowed, crying, "This humble woman, this humble woman, does not know! Please, Your Excellency, enlighten me!"

"The Criminal Code stipulates that anyone who abducts and sells a person into slavery shall be hanged; if the person sells the person into a servant, the person shall be exiled three thousand li; if a person seduces a child under the age of ten, the same law applies. If a person knowingly buys such a child, the crime is reduced by one degree. Ten years ago, you bought an eight-year-old girl as a maid. According to the law, you should be exiled three thousand li."

"My lord! I'm innocent! I'm innocent!" Jiang Ping cried, tears streaming down her face.

"It wasn't a sale, nor was it an enticement. That girl was brought by Granny Ni Liu. She said she was her own daughter, but her family had too many children to support, so she sold herself, she sold herself, sir!"

She pointed at Ni Liu, who was slumped to the side, and cursed, "Ni Liu, you barbarian from Mahu! Back then, your wife insisted that the child was her biological child, which is why I bought it. The written agreement is still there, so don't even think about denying it!"

Wei Ji asked, "Ni Liu, is what Jiang Ping said true?"

Ni Liu shrank back and replied, "My lord, the matter of Yuqiong Courtyard has nothing to do with me. It was all done by my wife without my knowledge. I knew nothing about it, my lord!"

"Ni Liu, you brain-crusher!" Jiang Ping cursed, "You push all the blame onto your wife when something goes wrong, are you even a man?!"

"Silence!" Wei Ji struck the gavel and said, "Jiang Ping, even if you were deceived by the broker during the transaction, why didn't you report it to the authorities when the girl's birth mother came looking for you? Instead, you made outrageous remarks and verbally abused her."

Jiang Ping grasped at a straw: "Sir, ten years ago, bandits occupied the prefectural government office in Junlian, and the prefect was frightened away. I am just an ordinary commoner, and I do low-class business. I suffered a loss, but I had nowhere to seek redress."

“That barbarian woman was too temperamental, which I did not expect. After she stabbed herself, I immediately sent someone to call a doctor; before she died, she wanted to entrust her child to the Qingcheng girl who came with her, and I did so.”

"Please, Your Honor, have mercy and spare this woman this time!"

"You may escape the death penalty, but you cannot escape punishment. Jiang Ping, according to the Criminal Code, insults that cause death or injury are punishable by three years of penal servitude. This official sentences you to eleven strokes of the cane with broken back." Wei Ji threw out a punishment warrant. "Take her away and carry out the execution!"

Jiang Ping's screams were incessant, and Ni Liu's face was ashen.

Wei Ji said, "Ni Liu, there is still one thing I don't understand. How did you trick that mother into leaving her child with you and going to Changchun Pharmacy first?"

"I didn't lie to her! She... she did it voluntarily..."

"It seems you're determined to force me to use torture." Wei Ji threw down the torture warrant. "Drag him out and give him thirty strokes of the cane."

"Sir, spare your life!"

After being beaten six or seven times, Ni Liu could no longer bear it and cried out, "My lord, this...this humble subject..."

Wei Ji lowered his eyes and remained silent. The executioner swiftly pulled out a rag and stuffed it into Ni Liu's mouth. After the thirty strokes were delivered solidly, Ni Liu was carried back into the hall.

"Ni Liu, will you confess or not?"

“Confess, confess, confess! The commoner woman gave the child medicine to make him feverish. The child’s mother had no money to find a doctor and was so anxious that she didn’t know what to do. So the commoner woman advised her to go to the pharmacy to work and use the money she earned from selling herself to give to…” At this point, Ni Liu glanced at Huai Xu and dared not continue.

Huai Xu's eyes widened in fury as she lunged at Ni Liu, but I quickly caught her around the waist.

Wei Ji continued, "So you took the money the child's mother earned from selling herself, lied that you were going to pay for the child's medical treatment, and tricked her into thinking that once the child recovered, you would reunite the mother and daughter. Ni Liu, you really are a heartless person who eats people alive."

Ni Liu wailed, "My lord, spare my life! I am not an evil person. I was instigated by my wife. Please, my lord, show mercy!"

"Shut up!" Wei Ji shouted. "Husband and wife are one body. You two are accomplices, there is no question of master and servant. Ni Liu, according to the Criminal Code, you are guilty of hanging. Guards, take Ni Liu into custody. He will be sent to the Criminal Division for review in the autumn."