While everyone was waiting, Chuanwen also uncovered the true story behind the Tu Sandao stabbing incident.
[Tu Sandao didn't kill anyone; Zheng San was killed by his wife's lover. However, Zheng San was afraid of losing face if word got out about his wife's affair, so he pinned the blame on Tu Sandao. After all, he had argued with Tu Sandao at the market earlier that day because he wouldn't buy vegetables from him, and Tu Sandao has a bad reputation, so no one would doubt that he was killed by Tu Sandao.]
They didn't just disbelieve it, they practically believed it to be true!
Zhang De looked at Tu Sandao with a heavy expression. Tu Sandao's face was already fat, and he had just been slapped many times by Li Feng and the constables. Now it was red and swollen, looking even more like a pig's head, the kind that had been boiled with soy sauce.
[When Tu Sandao heard about this, he was going to confront Zheng San, but seeing that others were even more afraid of him because of it, he didn't go. Not only did he not go, he also admitted that if someone resisted when he was stealing their vegetables, he would yell, "Watch out, or I'll slash you three times too!" Tsk tsk tsk, we're all just ordinary people, who wants to get involved in this kind of trouble? Between vegetables and life, of course, you'd choose life!]
Chuanwen glanced at Tu Sandao as he sighed. "You might think he looks pathetic now, but didn't he bring this on himself?"
Li Feng couldn't help but glance at Tu Sandao's thoughts. He was speechless. He had seen people steal credit, but he had never seen anyone take the blame for a crime. Was he just bored?
As he was speechless, he felt a gaze fall on him. Following his senses, he met the emperor's angry gaze and immediately shuddered.
Tu Sandao wasn't acting out of boredom; he only dared to be so arrogant because he felt he had the Li family's backing!
However, Li Feng felt somewhat aggrieved. He really didn't know that Tu Sandao was going around bragging that he was the emperor's brother-in-law. If he had known, he would have beaten him senseless!
The emperor cherished his reputation above all else, wishing the whole world would praise him as a wise and benevolent ruler. Indeed, he was a rare and wise ruler; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to govern the Great Jin so well. But the Great Jin was too large, and there were always shadows around it.
Unfortunately, the Emperor happened to witness the shadow of Tu Sandao! Li Feng felt that although his family had been spared from being beheaded, he, who had unwittingly become Tu Sandao's protector, was definitely going to be in trouble!
The interaction between Li Feng and the emperor was unclear, and they didn't even see the emperor and his entourage hiding behind the crowd, engrossed in digging up Zheng San's melons.
[Holy crap! Zheng San killed his wife and her lover! He stabbed each of them more than a dozen times, each blow fatal. He was even afraid their bodies would be discovered, so he bricked them into the wall!]
Chuan Wen was completely shocked, forgetting to hide his expression. But for the emperor and others, it seemed that it didn't matter whether you hid it or not; the key was that they had to hide it well!
Who understands the pain of being shocked but having to pretend nothing's wrong?
Zhang De and Li Feng were enduring the hardship, but the emperor and his entourage at the back of the crowd didn't have to. Since Chuanwen's attention wasn't on them anymore, they were all shocked, their mouths slightly agape, thinking the same thing Chuanwen: "I'm speechless! Murder! They even bricked the body into the wall! This is too ruthless!"
Just then, the man who had run to call Zheng San led Zheng San, panting as they hurried over. They lived nearby, so they arrived relatively quickly.
"Make way! Make way! We're here!"
The man ran and shouted, and the crowd excitedly parted to make way for the two of them. The people in the courtroom also turned to look.
Looking up, Chuanwen spotted a familiar face halfway through the crowd. "Hey? Isn't that the emperor? What's he doing here?"
The emperor, whose gaze was fixed on Zheng San: ...
They've been discovered...
The emperor felt a little uneasy, but pretended not to have heard anything and focused his gaze on Zheng San. At this moment, the messenger announced the names of the three people beside the emperor: [Old Shen! Old Cheng! Old Dong!]
The three of them shivered inexplicably. Although they knew that the gossip was not about them, being called by name by Chuanwen, uh... although "Lao" wasn't their name either, a chill ran down their spines as if they had been called out by the King of Hell!
Fortunately, Chuanwen was not interested in them at the moment. When he saw Zheng San come into the hall, he quickly turned his attention to Zheng San. The emperor and the others secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and the chill in their hearts subsided.
Zheng San looked to be around thirty years old, with a fair and clean face. When he arrived at the courtroom, a hint of panic flashed in his eyes, but he quickly concealed it.
"This humble citizen, Zheng San, greets Your Excellency!"
Zheng San bowed down. He was grinding tofu at home when his neighbor rushed in in a panic, grabbed him, and ran this way, saying that Tu Sandao had been arrested and that someone was taking care of the matter of him being slashed by Tu Sandao!
When he heard about it, he almost stumbled and fell. He didn't want to come, but his neighbor dragged him over.
However, since everyone had already been brought here, he had no choice but to pretend to be calm and decided to insist that he was the one who was killed by Tu Sandao.
Zheng San was unaware that Chuanwen had already broadcast his story, and remained relatively calm.
But Zhang De couldn't look him in the eye, and was even a little scared. Wow, what a ruthless guy!
"Tu Sandao attacked you?"
Although he already knew what Zheng San had done, Zhang De still had to pretend he knew nothing and ask.
Zheng San glanced at Tu Sandao, who was beaten to a pulp, and nodded, saying, "Sir, I only exchanged a few words with him, and he took advantage of the fact that no one was around to stab me three times with his knife!"
Zheng San was still a little scared as he spoke. If Zhang De and the others hadn't known that he had been attacked by his wife's lover, they would have believed him.
Zhang De looked at Tu Sandao and saw Tu Sandao sobbing, glaring at Zheng San who was lying through his teeth, but his mouth was tightly shut.
Zhang De wanted to lend him his mouth, thinking, "Why don't you refute me? You were so loud just now, why are you silent now!"
"Tu Sandao! When, where, and with what did you kill people? Confess now!"
Tu Sandao remained silent, so Zhang De had no choice but to ask him.
But Tu Sandao dared not speak out, only his tears of grievance flowed even more fiercely. Zhang De was furious. If it weren't for the emperor being there, he wouldn't have bothered with Tu Sandao's matter. If he didn't speak up, he would have just let the matter drop.
"Speak up now! Hmph! Otherwise, I'll slap you!"
Zhang De snorted twice and slammed the gavel down. Tu Sandao shuddered, his face burning with pain as he recalled the series of slaps he had just received.
"I...I killed him with a kitchen knife on the fifteenth of July last year, at the hour of Hai (9-11 PM) in a small alley."
Tu Sandao stammered as he spoke, but his words were an admission of guilt!
They admitted it?!
Zhang De was stunned. How was he supposed to interrogate her now?
Tu Sandao was clearly afraid of Zhang De's slap, but Zhang De was still oblivious and shouted, "Guards! If he doesn't tell the truth, beat him!"
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