Chapter 88 is unoriginal.
Liu Jingchang's shout of "You're lying!" echoed in the courtroom, causing Li Gou to shudder violently.
He hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed, his voice trembling but refusing to admit it: "My lord... I really didn't lie!"
During yesterday's patrol, I only glanced at the cell from afar and saw that Xu Dalang was lying there peacefully. I didn't even get close to the cell door!
This morning, as usual, I took a walk around the area. At that time, Xu Dalang was still reading a book.
I never spoke a word to him, nor did I ever enter his cell. How could there possibly be my footprints inside?
He paused suddenly, turned to look at Wang Wu, and said, "Sir, I understand."
Liu Jingchang: "What do you understand?"
"I know why this young lady insists that the footprints are mine, even though I've never been in Xu Dalang's cell," he said, looking at Pei Zhiwei.
“My lord, my feet are about the same size as Wang Wu’s. We often wear the same pair of official boots. This young lady is still young and must not be very skilled, which is why she mistook Wang Wu’s footprints for mine.”
Remembering how the two of them usually swapped shoes, Wang Wu quickly chimed in, "Lord Liu, what Li Gou said is true!"
Our shoe sizes are indeed similar, and whenever either of us forgets to wear boots, we just wear the other's.
The other day he forgot his official boots and wore my shoes for three days.
Last month, my son stepped on my shoes and got them dirty, so I wore his shoes to work.
"Perhaps I panicked when I found Xu Dalang unconscious and took a few extra steps, leaving this behind, which Madam Pei mistook for something else!"
The murmurs below immediately rose up again.
A commoner standing in the front row peeked at the rubbing in Liu Jingchang's hand on tiptoe, and as if on purpose, shouted to the person next to him, "That's right!"
If shoes are the same size, how can the footprints they leave be different?
This young woman looks so young, she's probably only been learning her craft for a few days, yet she's already pointing fingers at people!
"that is!
You're so young and yet you have no sense of propriety. Is this the place where you can talk nonsense?
This is blatant disregard for human life.
"That's right, she's not a government official, so why is she interfering in the investigation in court?"
I think the authorities can't find the real culprit; they're just trying to get a jailer to take the blame and shut us up!
The Xu family was in an uproar.
The elderly man with gray hair, leaning on his cane, called out shakily, "Lord Liu!"
You mustn't just listen to one side of the story!
If Xu Li gets into trouble again, the Xu family will be finished!
You can't listen to that young lady! She's probably just making things up because she's not very skilled, just like the jailer said. You have to stand up for us!
Some even glared at Pei Zhiwei, muttering, "What does this little brat know about investigating cases?"
"It's likely that they received a bribe from the Wang family and are deliberately causing trouble."
Pei Zhiwei felt a little impatient as she listened to these words.
She's heard these excuses so many times she's sick of them. Can't they come up with something new?
She didn't even think about defending herself, since the evidence was right in front of her, what was there to defend?
Liu Jingchang was already annoyed by them blocking the entrance of the county government office.
Seeing the argument below getting more and more outrageous, the anger that had just been suppressed suddenly surged up again.
He gritted his teeth and said, "How dare you be so insolent in the courtroom!"
"Li Gou, if you don't confess, don't blame me for using torture!"
He then reached for the execution warrant on the table.
“My lord!” Pei Zhiwei suddenly spoke, his voice clear and bright.
She came to Li Gou's side and knelt down in front of Liu Jingchang, saying, "I can testify that this footprint was left by Li Gou."
Liu Jingchang's hand froze in mid-air, and he hesitated for a moment before withdrawing it, his eyes full of surprise as he looked at Pei Zhiwei.
Then she recalled the previous rope mark examination and determination of the murderer's height and arm length; Pei Zhiwei had never made a mistake.
Since she dares to say this in court, she must be quite confident.
He nodded: "Okay! Stand up and speak."
Pei Zhiwei stood up, her gaze sweeping over the now quiet crowd and the Xu family members, finally settling on Liu Jingchang.
"Sir, may I have the opportunity to use the rubbings of Wang Wu and Li Gou's footprints?"
Liu Jingchang immediately had two rubbings handed over.
Pei Zhiwei took the stools, walked to the open space in the middle of the courtroom, and had someone bring over a low stool. He took one in each hand and stood on it so that everyone could see clearly.
She picked up the rubbings, her voice steady yet clear: "Please look, everyone. These two rubbings were made by the uniform boots issued by the county government."
They look about the same length, but upon closer inspection, there are two differences.
“The first point is the width of the foot when applying force.” She raised the rubbing on the left a little.
"The one on the left looks a little wider than the one on the right. Although the difference is not significant, upon closer inspection, you can see that the edge on the left is more spread out."
This indicates that the person wearing these shoes has wider feet than the person on the right.
This is easy to verify. Just have Wang Wu and Li Gou take off their shoes and socks, dip their feet in ink, and step onto the paper. A comparison will reveal the difference.
Several people below craned their necks, squinted for a long time, and whispered to the people next to them, "It really is!"
The left one has more scattered edges, while the right one is more compact!
“But we can’t identify Li Gou just by the width of his feet.”
"Yeah, what if someone else has the same width of feet as him?"
Pei Zhiwei then pointed to the outer side of the rubbing: "So we need to combine it with the second point, the position where the force is applied."
The one on the left has almost no marks on the outer side, especially on the little toe and ring finger, where there isn't even a faint mark.
The one on the right, although overlapping, clearly shows the entire shoe sole print.
When Li Gou entered the courtroom just now, I noticed that he walked without any difficulty, and the prison guards would never hire people with disabilities.
This means he wasn't born with a toe problem; it was a recent injury, but not serious. He can avoid the painful area by simply putting pressure on the inside of his toes when standing.
No sooner had he said that than Wang Wu suddenly shouted, "Madam Pei is right!"
A few days ago, Li Gou developed a fleshy thorn on his left ring toe, which was so painful that he could hardly walk. He even went to the county government's doctor to have it removed!
It's getting better recently.
We prison guards all know about this, and the medical officer even has a record of it!
Li Gou's face turned pale instantly, his lips trembled, and he couldn't speak.
The discussion below shifted again, with someone pointing at Li Gou and saying, "No wonder he was leaning to the right when he was standing, and his left foot also tucked in when he knelt."
I thought he was scared, but it turns out his foot hurt!
Liu Jingchang picked up the gavel and slammed it down heavily, the force so great that the inkstone on the table jumped.
"Li Gou! The evidence is irrefutable, and you still want to deny it? If you don't confess the truth, I will not let you off easily!"
Li Gou was startled by the gavel and trembled again. Then he kowtowed several times in a row.
"I'll confess, I'll confess everything."
Tears and snot streamed down his face as he pointed at a man in the Xu family and shouted, "It's him! It's Xu Qingwen!"
He gave me the gold ingot and told me to put the medicine in Xu Li's water!
All eyes immediately turned to the man.
The man, dressed in a long, white robe, had been standing among the Xu family members. Now, being stared at by so many people, his face turned deathly pale. He instinctively shrank back, trying to hide in the crowd.
The constables wouldn't give him a chance. They rushed over, grabbed his collar, dragged him out of the crowd, and forced him to kneel in the center of the hall.
Liu Jingchang stared at him and said in a deep voice, "Who is kneeling? State your name!"
The man trembled like a leaf, and could not speak properly, "I...I am Xu Qingwen, a member of the Xu family...Sir, I am innocent!"
I don't know Li Gou at all; he's framing me!
"Framing you?" Li Gou, who had been lying on the ground, suddenly sat up straight. If the yamen runners hadn't been holding him down, he would have rushed over and hit him.
"I have no past grudges or recent hatred towards Xu Li, so why would I harm him?"
Today, when I was on duty, you stopped me outside the prison and forced a bag of gold ingots and a small packet of medicine on my hand!
You said that the medicine would make someone unconscious for a few days, but their life wouldn't be in danger. After it was done, you'd give me a big bag of gold ingots!
I agreed in a moment of confusion, and now you want to renege on your promise?
Xu Qingwen shouted, "You're spouting nonsense! When have I ever seen you?"
You've definitely been bribed by the Wang family, yes... you're trying to frame me!
"I have evidence!" Li Gou suddenly shouted, reaching into his shirt.
The constable quickly stepped forward, took a jade pendant from his hand, and presented it to Liu Jingchang.
Liu Jingchang picked up the jade pendant and examined it against the light.
The jade pendant was round with a hollow center, and the character "庆" (qing) was wrapped in bamboo patterns. It looked quite old.
Xu Qingwen glanced at the jade pendant, his face instantly turned as white as paper, and he subconsciously touched his waist.
The place was empty; the jade pendant that used to hang there was long gone.
He stood there with his mouth agape, unable to speak for a long time, his eyes filled with disbelief.
Some members of the Xu family recognized it. A middle-aged man pointed at the jade pendant and shouted, "Isn't that Wu Lang's jade pendant?"
He'd worn it since he was a child, never taking it off. How could it be in Li Gou's hands?
“Yes! I saw him wearing it yesterday!” another tribesman nodded in agreement.
Xu Qingwen slowly turned to Li Gou, his voice trembling: "You...when did you..."
Li Gou sneered, "I've been in prison for over ten years, what kind of filth haven't I seen?"
You suddenly approached me and asked me to do this dirty work. How could I not have some evidence to protect myself?
A few years ago, I had a thief locked up in jail, and I learned a couple of tricks for petty theft from him.
Today, when you slipped me the gold ingot, I deliberately brushed past you and, taking advantage of your inattention, swiped the jade pendant from your waist.
He kowtowed to Liu Jingchang again, his voice urgent: "My lord! Every word I have said is true!"
The bag of gold ingots is still in the cell, in the cabinet where the brothers keep their things. I wrapped it in my own quilt, intending to take it home after my shift.
If you don't believe me, have someone search for it right now, and you're sure to find it!
Liu Jingchang then held the jade pendant up to his chest, making sure everyone could see it clearly.
When he looked at Xu Qingwen again, his eyes were full of authority: "Xu Qingwen!"
There is witness testimony from Li Gou, and physical evidence from this jade pendant.
"Why don't you tell the truth? Who ordered you to harm Xu Li? Why did you do it?"
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