Zhang De ordered his men to beat Tu Sandao, leaving the onlookers puzzled. What was going on? Tu Sandao had already confessed, so why was he saying he wasn't telling the truth? If it weren't for the truly loud slaps delivered to Tu Sandao, they would have suspected that the county magistrate was intentionally protecting him!
[Does this guy only know how to use torture to extract confessions during interrogations?]
Chuanwen raised a question, and Li Feng, who was next to him, was also stunned by Zhang De's actions. "Yeah, all you can do is beat people up to solve cases?"
Hearing Chuanwen's thoughts and hearing the pointing and whispering of the crowd, Zhang De panicked and hesitantly shouted, "Stop, stop!"
The constables stopped. Hmm... my hand is a little numb!
Tu Sandao was sobbing, his cheeks were swollen like steamed buns.
Zhang De was a little flustered. Even with the emperor watching, he felt uneasy sitting there hearing the case, as if an examiner was standing behind him watching him during an exam.
Now, being questioned by rumors is like getting a question wrong and being scolded by the proctor – it's enough to make you sweat profusely.
"Hit him! Hit him!"
He pointed at Zheng San, and the more flustered he became, the more mistakes he made, and he gave the wrong order to hit Zheng San.
However, the constable didn't care whether his orders were right or wrong. Anyway, this was how his master treated ordinary people with no connections: just beat them. Eventually, someone would break down and tell the truth!
The burly constable slapped Zheng San across the face several times, leaving Zheng San stunned and bewildered. He was also filled with panic and fear. Had his murder been discovered? Impossible! No one saw him kill anyone, and he had cleaned up all the traces afterward!
"My lord! I'm innocent, my lord!"
The crisp sound of slaps mixed with cries of injustice echoed in the courtroom. Everyone was dumbfounded, not understanding what was going on. Why was a fight breaking out and someone getting slashed?
Are they really going to cover up for Tu Sandao?!
Faced with everyone's questioning gazes, Zhang De panicked even more. It wasn't that he didn't have it; he just wanted to find out the truth!
Li Feng covered his face. If it weren't for the need to avoid suspicion due to his relationship with Tu Sandao, he really wanted to kick Zhang De off his seat and interrogate him himself! As the Chief Justice of the Court of Judicial Review, he had seen many trial scenes, but it was rare to see someone like Zhang De who started by talking about beating people!
The emperor outside also frowned. Even though he had no experience in handling cases, he knew there were many things he could ask in this situation, such as which alley Tu Sandao had mentioned, and what specific part of the body had been cut. But Zhang De only knew how to use torture to extract confessions; he seemed completely brainless. The emperor even questioned how this man had been promoted to an official position in the capital!
Sigh... looks like I'll have to save the world after all! Oh well, what can I do? I was born extraordinary!
Chuan Wen is overly confident, or in short, narcissistic!
The emperor and his companions' lips twitched for a moment; they couldn't bear to look, it was too offensive!
However, after glancing at the unreliable Zhang De, they still placed their hopes on Chuanwen. Although Chuanwen wasn't always so reliable, she was quite clever, and might actually come up with something useful.
Chuanwen stopped Zhang De from slapping Zheng San, walked up to Tu Sandao, and smiled innocently and mysteriously, "You lied just now."
Everyone looked at Chuanwen and Tu Sandao, and then Chuanwen continued, "The fifteenth of the seventh lunar month is the Ghost Festival, and as far as I know, on that day, every household will pay respects to their ancestors. Besides burning paper money and incense, they will also light a lamp at their door to guide their ancestors home. Usually, one person will stay up to guard the lamp until midnight. If you killed Zheng San on that day, someone should have seen it, right? Even if that alley was abandoned and uninhabited, his screams would still have been heard, right? So, who heard it?"
Chuanwen looked at the crowd, and everyone looked at each other and shook their heads. The man who had gone to call Zheng San thought for a moment and said, "I kept watch over our house light until midnight that day, but I didn't hear any screams. Oh! Right."
The neighbor, reminded by Chuanwen, suddenly remembered, "I remember Zheng San seemed to have been attacked that day and had been lying at home recovering. He used to be the one who kept watch over the lanterns every year during the Ghost Festival, but that time it was his wife who did it!"
[Wuhu! The first bug has been found!]
Chuan Wen smiled slyly, which made Tu Sandao shudder.
Shen Congliang and the others smiled, quite pleased, as Chuanwen was indeed reliable at times.
But when I turned around, why did the emperor not seem pleased at all? Instead, he looked quite melancholy.
The three looked puzzled.
The emperor ignored them, feeling a little uneasy. He knew that Chuanwen usually went from serious to quite unserious. Although he had placed some hope in Chuanwen, he hadn't expected such a serious and reasonable analysis, making him worried about what outrageous things Chuanwen might say next.
Chuanwen, unaware of the emperor's thoughts, was still gloating when Tu Sandao stammered, "I...I remembered wrong, it was...it was July 14th when I killed him!"
Chuanwen frowned slightly. [I've never seen anyone try so hard to take the blame for the attack!]
Li Feng: ...He too, I've never seen him before!
Tu Sandao: Waaaaah! My face hurts, I don't want to get slapped again!
Chuanwen simply ignored Tu Sandao and turned to ask Zheng San, "Did he kill you on July 14th?"
Zheng San glanced at Chuanwen and, seeing that she was just a young girl, became less flustered. After thinking for a moment, he replied, "No, I was chopped by him on the fifth day of the seventh month!"
"Oh? How do you remember something from a year ago so clearly?"
Chuanwen looked at Zheng San curiously. A hint of panic flashed in Zheng San's eyes, but he quickly calmed down and coughed, saying, "Of course I remember it clearly. I was stabbed three times that day!"
"Really?" Chuanwen smiled and said, "Unfortunately, I remember that day quite clearly too, because when I was passing by a small bridge, I heard someone screaming under the bridge. I thought I had encountered a ghost, but when I secretly went down to take a look, I found someone was using a butcher knife to kill people!"
As Chuanwen spoke, he approached Zheng San and gestured towards Zheng San's neck, which startled Zheng San so much that he shrank back and looked at Chuanwen with a panicked expression.
She can't reveal the plot, but she'll make things up. Zheng San was indeed attacked in an alley, but it wasn't a kitchen knife that killed him; it was a butcher's knife. She made up a story about someone being attacked under a bridge, and just casually mentioned a butcher's knife—how can that be considered leaking the plot? Haha!
However, the mention of the butcher's knife was enough to throw Zheng San into a panic, making him wonder if someone had actually seen him being stabbed that day!
"So what?"
Although Zheng San tried to remain calm, his voice was already a little flustered.
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