Released from prison (revision)
Niu Wenyuan glanced at Liang Zhengyuan, who stood firmly in the courtroom, then looked down at the case file. Since the Censorate had intervened in the case, a thorough review of the key aspects of the previous trial was necessary before a decision could be made.
He glanced discreetly at Jiang Heng, who appeared completely composed, and the letter Jiang Heng had left behind after his departure the previous night flashed through his mind.
However, those few words kept him awake all night.
"My lord... shall we summon the witnesses to the hall?"
Realizing that Niu Wenyuan was somewhat lost in thought, the clerk beside him couldn't help but whisper a reminder. Niu Wenyuan snapped out of his reverie and quickly nodded in acknowledgment.
In a short while, the witnesses in the case were brought to the courtroom one by one.
Ma Fu, dressed in a plain long robe, remained composed. When he reached Liang Zhengyuan's side, he seemed to casually look away, not glancing at Liang Zhengyuan once.
Niu Wenyuan said, "Witness Ma Fu, you said during the last court hearing that the suspect Liang Zhengyuan was most skilled with a sword, but he concealed this when he practiced at the school's martial arts field. Is this true?"
Upon hearing this, Ma Fu clasped his hands in a fist and said, "Yes, sir, that is indeed the case."
Niu Wenyuan continued, "You once said that you accidentally saw Liang Zhengyuan practicing swordsmanship at night. Then I ask you, did you see what kind of swordsmanship Liang Zhengyuan was practicing at that time?"
Ma Fu nodded again, “Your Excellency, although it was dark and windy, I could still see clearly that Liang Zhengyuan was practicing a set of Twelve Linked Cities Techniques, among which the leaping over the ravine and the hooking point were particularly noteworthy. I would never mistake him for someone else.”
Upon hearing this, Niu Wenyuan stroked his beard, his brows unconsciously furrowing slightly.
The body of An Zhuangren, who was discovered along with Liang Zhengyuan, had already been carefully examined by the coroner. The cause of his death was several sword wounds all over his body. Only someone proficient in martial arts could discern that those dozens of sword techniques were not randomly applied, but rather came from the Hunyuan Sword Technique. Only someone who had devoted themselves to practicing this sword technique could move so swiftly.
Even though this had already been confirmed, he kept it a secret. Only the coroner who examined the body and key officials from the Ministry of Justice who were involved in the case knew about it.
Thinking of this, Niu Wenyuan couldn't help but raise his head and carefully examine Ma Fu standing below the hall.
Ma Fu remained calm and composed, his every move seemingly confident and composed.
Jiang Heng had been sitting calmly to the side, slowly fiddling with the lid of the white jade cup, skimming away the floating leaves inside, and raising one eyebrow:
"Oh? It seems Mr. Ma has a keen eye. Even in the dead of night, when it's dark all around, he can be so sure that he's not mistaken, and he can even clearly identify every move the suspect makes. It's truly enviable."
Jiang Heng's few words caused another stir among the crowd.
Upon hearing this, Ma Fu's face flashed with a hint of embarrassment, but he quickly composed himself, clasped his hands in a fist salute, and nodded to Jiang Heng and Niu Wenyuan, saying:
"I have been learning swordsmanship with my uncle since I was a child. My uncle is most skilled in the Twelve Linked Cities Technique. Even though many years have passed, I can still recognize its style even from a distance. I hope you can see for yourself."
A cold glint flashed in Niu Wenyuan's eyes. He nodded to the clerk beside him and then said in a deep voice, "Although Ma Fu's testimony is convincing, I cannot simply listen to one person's words. Bring up the witness statements collected the other day!"
A moment later, a minor official entered from a side hall, carrying a thick volume of documents. Niu Wenyuan glanced at it quickly and then gestured for the official to hand the testimony to Jiang Heng and the other two chief justices of the Court of Judicial Review.
But after examining it closely, the expressions on the faces of the group changed.
Niu Wenyuan then continued:
"The news that Liang Zhengyuan has been detained by the Ministry of Justice for his involvement in the case has already spread throughout Mujing. Furthermore, the professors teaching at the martial arts school, his classmates, and the guards on duty have all given statements. Many of them testified that they rarely saw Liang Zhengyuan practice swordsmanship, and had never seen him use the Twelve Linked City Technique. The testimonies of these people are here—Ma Fu, why were you so lucky to witness Liang Zhengyuan practicing swordsmanship on a dark and windy night, and even to be able to imitate his moves so readily? I ask you, do you remember that day, what year and what month?!"
Niu Wenyuan, who had been calm and composed, suddenly changed his expression. His thick eyebrows stood on end, and with his loud rebuke, a loud "smack" rang out as the gavel slammed down. It was Niu Yanwang revealing his true colors!
The onlookers were all jolted by the sound of the gavel, and a few beads of sweat appeared on Ma Fu's forehead. He then hesitated and said:
"Your Excellency... After all, quite some time has passed. I can only vaguely recall that it was some night in the middle of last summer, but I can't remember the exact date."
A year has passed, so it's understandable that he might not remember the crucial dates. Seeing Ma Fu gradually regain his composure, Niu Wenyuan sneered, looked at the minor official beside him, and said:
"Bring forth what you obtained earlier!"
But then the clerk hurriedly pulled out a booklet and presented the already folded inner pages to Niu Wenyuan with both hands.
Niu Wenyuan stared intently at Ma Fu, and said:
"I sent someone to check the martial arts field duty roster. You just said it was in the middle of last summer? But the middle of last summer was when your school's martial arts field changed instructors, and the students had a holiday that month, so the martial arts field was closed for half a month. How could you and Liang Zhengyuan have been able to sneak in to practice martial arts under the cover of night?!"
Ma Fu hurriedly said, "Sir, perhaps I've remembered wrong. If it's not the middle of the month, it might be the beginning..."
Niu Wenyuan's eyes widened, his expression serious: "How dare you! In court, how can you lie and recant your testimony so easily! Do you think I can fool you so easily? You should think carefully about what year, month, and day that was, otherwise, I will accuse you of perjury right here in court!"
Ma Fu was so frightened that his face turned pale, and he stammered for a long time but could not answer.
The minor official picked up the booklet again, flipped through it for a long time, and said:
"Your Excellency, the martial arts training ground duty log records in detail the number and names of the guards on duty each day. If there are any late-night martial arts practice sessions, the person on duty that day will record the names of the students practicing in the log. However, I just carefully reviewed the roster for the entire month of August last year, and I did not find any record of Ma Fu and Liang Zhengyuan returning home to practice martial arts on the same night..."
Upon hearing this, Niu Wenyuan became even more enraged and immediately rebuked:
"Outrageous! There's no record of this, so how could you have witnessed Liang Zhengyuan practicing swordsmanship late at night? Ma Fu, how dare you! I now order you to confess the truth immediately! Why are you giving false testimony and deceiving me and Lord Jiang!"
Upon hearing this, Jiang Heng calmly took a sip of tea.
Sweating profusely, Ma Fu clenched his fists repeatedly. He glanced at Liang Zhengyuan, who remained silent with his head bowed, and finally sighed softly. As if making a decision, Ma Fu raised his head, looked at Niu Wenyuan, and said, word by word:
"My lord, I have absolutely no intention of giving false testimony to frame anyone. It's just... I did witness this incident at the martial arts training ground, but perhaps I was just seeing things and mistook the person for Brother Liang. I apologize for the inconvenience my testimony has caused Brother Liang. I am willing to accept the punishment myself and ask for your judgment."
Niu Wenyuan was prepared to deny everything and put up a stubborn resistance, but he was taken aback when Ma Fu immediately changed his tune and became unusually sincere.
Throughout history, anyone who committed perjury was to be dealt with according to the laws of the time, and in the most severe cases, they would be sentenced to imprisonment.
However, Ma Fu suddenly changed his story, saying that he had misread it and that at most he would be punished for disturbing court order and given a beating.
Niu Wenyuan hesitated slightly, but Jiang Heng put down his teacup and said with a smile:
"He's certainly clever in this life. He absolves himself of responsibility with just a few words. I wonder if he received guidance from a wise man behind the scenes?"
If someone were to suddenly recant their testimony, they wouldn't be able to remain so calm and composed unless someone was instigating them from behind the scenes.
Having handled cases for years, Niu Wenyuan was naturally well aware of this, but it was Jiang Heng who had spoken of it first, which made him somewhat dissatisfied. In the end, it was the Censorate that stole the limelight in the Ministry of Justice's trials. Before Niu Wenyuan could even continue his internal grumbling, he could only chuckle and say, "Lord Jiang is quite right."
He then struck the gavel again, signaling the bailiffs on both sides to firmly hold down the horse's bridle, and loudly proclaimed:
"Ma Fu, who exactly instructed you?"
But upon hearing this, Ma Fu showed no fear whatsoever; instead, he relaxed even more. He smiled calmly and said gently:
"To be honest, there's more to the story than meets the eye. It's nothing more than my own selfish desire. Although I was a classmate of Brother Liang, he quickly rose to prominence after only half a year of study, becoming the most sought-after candidate among all the doctoral students. I, on the other hand, have practiced diligently for many years but have never been able to catch up. It was because I was momentarily unbalanced and jealous of Brother Liang's enlistment in the 14th Division that I fabricated this story after learning about it, all to slander Brother Liang and hinder his career advancement."
—The student acknowledges his ordeal.
After Ma Fu finished speaking slowly, he looked at Liang Zhengyuan, who was also under house arrest, and his smile deepened:
"Brother Liang, I'm sorry."
When Niu Wenyuan saw that Ma Fu refused to change his story, he cursed inwardly and was about to continue the trial when he noticed a strange look on Ma Fu's face.
Before he could think it through, a thought flashed through his mind, and he hurriedly shouted, "Someone come here—"
But it was too late. In just a moment, a look of pain appeared on Ma Fu's face.
His already pale face, illuminated by the lamplight, gave him an expression that seemed almost liberated. A trickle of blood slowly dripped from the corner of his mouth.
The guards who rushed to the scene carefully examined Ma Fu, who was lying on the ground, pried open his tightly closed mouth, and after examining him for a while, they whispered their report:
"Your Honor, witness Ma Fu, he—he just bit his tongue and committed suicide."
.
The rain grew heavier and heavier, threatening to pour, and pedestrians on the street hurried along.
Qin Ziyuan, dressed in a purple robe, rode a reddish-brown horse at breakneck speed through a sparsely populated, dark alley in the old city of Mujing. He rode swiftly, and the reddish-brown horse, whipped several times, became defiant, rearing up at the alley entrance and refusing to go any further.
Seeing this, Qin Ziyuan had no choice but to dismount, but the horse's hooves splashed mud all over his face. He cursed under his breath, then, ignoring his soaked and disheveled state, grabbed his knife and galloped forward.
The old city was already narrow and cramped, and the former capital of five dynasties was now filled with peddlers and laborers. Moss covered everything, making it even more slippery in the downpour. He was filled with anxiety, constantly looking back.
They were afraid that their whereabouts would be discovered.
Finally, panting, he reached the gate of a courtyard in an alley. He looked up and carefully examined the gate before a smile appeared on his face. Without catching his breath, he stood up and kicked open the rickety wooden door.
With a bang, the wooden door crashed to the ground. Qin Ziyuan gripped the knife in his hand, gritted his teeth, and wiped the rain from his face.
"Is anyone there? Is anyone there?!"
The torrential rain washed away the mud and dust in the courtyard, which was overgrown with waist-high weeds that looked eerily green after the rain.
Several piles of bricks, tiles, and rubble lay on the ground, and apart from the sound of rain, there was no other sound.
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