The next day.
County government office, study.
Mr. Wen sat behind his desk, handling official business.
"Master!" A bailiff walked in and knelt down in front of the master.
Logically, they didn't need to kneel down like the legal advisor, but the legal advisor had great authority and the yamen runners all knew his style, so they had no choice but to follow his style.
The yamen runners were very dissatisfied, but there was nothing they could do. After all, his sister was the county magistrate's favorite concubine. The county magistrate listened to him, and if they offended him, they would lose their jobs as yamen runners.
Like Lao Zeng, he was assigned to night duty just because he said something too much in court. How miserable.
The lawyer didn't shout, so the yamen runner had to kneel down and answer.
"Master, I, following your orders, have gone to Yaoshui Town to investigate the case of the prisoner, Wei Qing. He comes from a simple family background, originally from Lijia Village. Both his parents are deceased, and he has an older sister. He and his wife have three children, one of whom is currently attending academy, and two are younger. His wife owns a rouge shop in town."
"Oh? That arrogant woman is just a small shop owner?"
Among the four classes of people, scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans, businessmen are the lowest in the eyes of Master Wen.
How dare this lowly woman challenge him? She said she was going to Qinghe County to find the County Magistrate, but she probably wouldn't even be able to see him.
"What is the background of this woman?" asked Master Wen.
"By the way, Master, she is close to Madam Mu from Yaoshui Town and they are good friends."
"Mrs. Mu?"
"It's the young lady of the Jiang family."
"Young lady from the Jiang family?" Master Wen gave a cold smile. He and the Jiang family had always been at odds with each other. Now that she had run into him, he would definitely not let her go easily.
Master Wen stood up suddenly and said, "Call a few yamen runners and follow me to the prison."
Mr. Wen, accompanied by several yamen runners, walked towards the prison in a menacing manner.
The group went straight into the prison. At a command from Master Wen, bailiffs immediately went to bring Wei Qing out.
"Prisoner Wei Qing, after my investigation, there is solid evidence that you colluded with the bandits. If you are willing to plead guilty, I will give you a lenient sentence. If you refuse to admit it, I will have no choice but to torture you!" Master Wen said coldly as he sat on the chair.
Wei Qing's eyebrows knitted together. He hadn't been allowed to confess in the court yesterday, so now he was being lynched?!
Wei Qing didn't want to offend the government, so he had been very cooperative. But now he realized that these people just wanted to use him as a scapegoat.
Wei Qing's expression was not good. He shouted in a hoarse voice, "How can I admit that I'm not guilty?! Are you investigating cases with your feet? And what you're investigating is the truth? Bullshit truth!"
Master Wen was almost mad with anger. No one had ever dared to scold him like that!
"Alright! Start the torture!" Master Wen glanced at the torture instruments and said viciously, "First, use the branding iron. Burn him to death! Burn his face! Burn his face to pieces!"
The yamen runners heated the branding iron until it was red, and the other two yamen runners grabbed Wei Qing and tried to force him to kneel down.
However, Wei Qing stood straight and didn't even kneel. How could those two yamen runners be his match?
"You guys come on too!"
Four yamen runners came up and still did not let Wei Qing kneel down.
"Okay, you still don't listen to my orders, are you trying to rebel?" Master Wen was so angry that he jumped up and down.
"Resisting you is rebellion? You think too highly of yourself! You are just a shameless villain!" Wei Qing said coldly.
Master Wen was almost furious: "Go and call all the yamen runners!"
He just wouldn't believe it! He would make this stubborn guy confess today and then execute him tomorrow!
"Why are so many yamen runners called here?" At this moment, a voice suddenly sounded.
A man in his forties walked in.
When Master Wen saw the man, he immediately bent down and said flatteringly, "Master, you're back? This prison is so dirty and messy, how can you be here? Go back to the main hall and rest. Leave this to me."
This man was the county magistrate, whose surname was Zhu.
"You haven't answered my question yet. Why did you call so many yamen runners here?" asked Lord Zhu.
"Sir, this bandit refused to plead guilty and even tried to attack me. I had no choice but to call in more people to subdue him," said Mr. Wen, seemingly seeking credit. "Sir, look, this is the bandit I captured while you were away from the county office. When Magistrate Wen asks about it, you can report it to him."
Lord Zhu glanced at Wei Qing and slapped him on the head: "I see you're not trying to help me, you're trying to harm me!"
Lord Zhu slapped Master Wen several times in a row, forcing him to kneel on the ground and beg for mercy.
"Master Wen, even if you want to complete the task, you shouldn't do it to an innocent civilian, right?" The speaker was the man behind Lord Zhu.
Behind Lord Zhu were two people, a man and a woman. The woman was Madam Mu, and the man was Madam Mu’s brother Jiang Zifeng.
Jiang Zifeng had always favored his only sister, who was always strong-willed and rarely asked him for help. But when his sister asked him for help, Jiang Zifeng put down his business and started running around.
Jiang Zifeng was friends with Lord Zhu. After learning that Lord Zhu was not at the county government office, he asked about his whereabouts and learned that he had gone to attend a discussion among literati. So he went there again, found Lord Zhu, and invited him back.
"Sir, his name is Wei Qing. My sister is very familiar with him. She knows that he works for the Xie family. He is an honest citizen and there is no way he could be a bandit. If innocent people are treated as bandits and good people are given meritorious deeds, if the newly appointed Wen County Magistrate knew..."
Lord Zhu became angry again and slapped Master Wen on the head several times.
"You're trying to kill me! County Magistrate Wen is an upright man, how could he be so easily fooled?!"
"Sir, fortunately, no serious mistake has been made yet. Let's release this innocent citizen, okay?" Jiang Zifeng took the opportunity to say.
"Let them go! Let them go! We must let them go!" Lord Zhu looked at Wei Qing, "You can go now!"
"Master Zhu, what should we do about this legal advisor who slandered innocent people?" Mrs. Mu asked.
"Resign from your position as legal advisor and expel him from the county government office!"
When Lord Zhu said this, Master Wen was so scared that he sat on the ground.
It’s over…
His poisonous eyes fell on the Jiang brothers and sisters. It was these two people who harmed him!
Wei Qing looked at Madam Mu: "Madam Mu, my wife..."
"Xiaotang is waiting for you at the door."
Hearing that his wife was fine, Wei Qing breathed a sigh of relief: "I'll go get some things and be right back."
Wei Qing entered the prison where he stayed for five days. Old Man Yin was looking at him eagerly.
"Brother, are you leaving?"
Wei Qing nodded.
"It's good that you can walk. Go back quickly. Your family is waiting for you." said Old Man Yin.
Wei Qing took out a piece of clothing and a pot of wine from the corner and handed the pot of wine to Old Man Yin.
Old Man Yin chuckled and took it, but suddenly grabbed Wei Qing's hand and didn't let go.
"Brother, let me tell you something."
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