Bai Nuo frowned immediately at Lord Li's anxious demeanor. What was wrong with Lord Li? Did he want them to be guilty? His words were clearly inconsistent; could they really be taken as evidence?
"My lord!" Hu Mingmei immediately interrupted the plaintiff just as he was about to speak again, "The plaintiff's testimonies are inconsistent and cannot be used as evidence. This constitutes a recantation, and we do not accept it!"
"Yes, I'm not convinced either!" In the silent hall, besides Hu Mingmei's voice, a woman's voice suddenly broke in, startling everyone. They looked towards the source of the voice and saw Li Jinyu running out.
Li Jinyu brought Cui'er to the main hall and hurriedly knelt down. Not afraid of her father, she stubbornly said, "Father, this person's words are inconsistent. How can they be used as testimony? Father, this person's words cannot be trusted. I even suspect that this person has a grudge against Bai Nuo and the others and is deliberately trying to frame them!"
Lord Li was at his wits' end looking at his daughter. Why was this girl always around?
Everyone in the hall was looking at her, and at him too. Lord Li felt his old face burning with embarrassment. This brat had completely disgraced him. If his colleagues found out that his daughter had also disrupted the court proceedings, what prestige would he have left? How could he face his colleagues?
"Master, Master, take this girl away, quickly! What kind of behavior is this? How can we allow idlers to come up in the courtroom?" Lord Li pointed at his daughter, feeling very annoyed.
The clerk nodded and ran downstairs in a flash. He bent down and said to Li Jinyu, who was kneeling, "Jinyu, listen to me, you go down first. Your father is judging a case here, you can't come here!"
"Why can't I come?" Li Jinyu retorted with an air of entitlement. "I'm here to testify now! Aren't you allowing witnesses to appear in court?"
The clerk looked at Li Jinyu with a troubled expression, "You have no evidence. What are you going to do in court to provide any evidence?"
"Why can't I come up if there's no evidence?" Li Jinyu retorted again. "I say they're innocent, so they're innocent. I say they didn't kill anyone, so they didn't kill anyone. A person who's spouting nonsense can stand here, so why can't I? Dad, do you think I can't testify just because I'm your daughter?"
Lord Li's face turned red when Li Jinyu questioned him, and he repeatedly said, "Take him away! Take him away!"
The clerk immediately dragged Li Jinyu up. As Li Jinyu was being dragged away, he was still shouting, "Father, this man is talking nonsense. If you believe him and wrong the Master of Duobao Pavilion, you are not fit to be an official!"
"Cui'er, keep an eye on Miss!" Lord Li shouted.
When he turned his head and looked back at the main hall, he saw that Hu Mingmei and the others had all stood up. He immediately said angrily, "What are you doing, Nongmen? Who told you to get up?"
“My lord!” Hu Mingmei said in a deep voice, “There are five of us here, three men and two women, one of whom is pregnant. You brought us all here, and we spent the night in that cold prison. If there is concrete evidence that we did indeed harbor a killer, we will accept it. But now, the plaintiff’s statements are inconsistent. How can he be the plaintiff? If you believe him, then we don’t need to kneel. Your daughter is right, you are indeed not a good official!”
"You!" Lord Li had never imagined that one day a prisoner would openly mock him in court. He was so angry that his face turned red. If it weren't for his wretched girl, how could he have been ridiculed by this person?
Hu Mingmei flicked his long robe and said in a deep voice, "If the officials are corrupt, the people will surely rebel. Unless you kill me today, I will not submit!"
Lord Li really wanted to beat Hu Mingmei to death.
The clerk escorted Li Jinyu back to the inner hall and then rushed back. Upon returning, he witnessed this scene: his master was furious, while several prisoners were stubbornly defying him. Seeing that Master Li was about to erupt in anger, the clerk quickly ran over and whispered in his ear, "Sir, Miss is right. The plaintiff's words can no longer be trusted. Why don't we put them back in their cells and, once we find solid evidence, conduct another trial?"
Lord Li nodded with a gloomy face.
The clerk quickly gave Constable Cheng a wink, "Take him back, take him back!"
Chief Constable Cheng understood and remained silent. He called a few men to take Hu Mingmei and the others away. Seeing that his goal had been achieved, Hu Mingmei did not resist and followed them away.
Since Hu Mingmei stopped resisting, Bai Nuo naturally didn't resist either, and followed her.
"Sir, what about these people?" The prisoners have all left, but there are still a bunch of witnesses left at the scene. The clerk looked at the people kneeling below and asked in a low voice.
Lord Li was in a very bad mood. He had lost face and dignity today, and his tone was extremely harsh. "Go, go, let them go back!"
"Yes!" the clerk said respectfully, then said to the witnesses in a deep voice, "You may go back now. We will call you back if needed!"
The witnesses took their leave after hearing this. Lord Li was sulking in the courtroom. The clerk, who was actually quite perceptive, did not want to offend Lord Li, but the matter was not yet over, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and ask Lord Li, "Sir, shall we continue to search the Treasure Pavilion?"
"Search!" Lord Li felt extremely disgusted by Hu Mingmei's manner. How could Hu Mingmei be so disrespectful to him? He showed absolutely no respect. "Although the plaintiff's statements are inconsistent, every word spoken by others in a case needs to be taken seriously and investigated. Otherwise, it's easy to miss some important clues. So, after Cheng Hu returns, take him with you to personally search every detail in the Treasure Pavilion!"
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