Chapter 042: Traitorous Minister 42
Fang Heming looks very quiet, well-behaved and not noisy. He has a fair and clean face. Compared with his tough and noisy peers, he is so well-behaved that it makes people feel distressed.
His biological father is a scumbag, his grandparents are not good people either, and his biological mother is suspected of murder. He was raised to be so timid, and the bodyguards took good care of him.
After a few days, Fang Qin returned, but the groom was imprisoned, saying that he was the culprit of Fang Yuchang's murder.
It is said that people from the yamen found spices that could attract snakes in Fang Yuchang's sachet. The groom had several jobs and had the opportunity to get close to Fang Yuchang. On the night of the incident, a servant saw him leave.
Without an alibi, and given that he had been beaten and scolded by Fang Yuchang, if the killing was out of anger, that could be considered a motive. But Xiao Yan was puzzled. As a servant of the Fang family, he could have acted at any time, so why did he have to do it outside? And how had he managed to hide the venomous snake in the carriage without being noticed?
No matter how confused Xiao Yan was, the groom's confession had already overturned his previous inferences about Qin and Heming.
He originally thought that Fang Heming and the groom were conspiring to murder Fang Yuchang, but now it seems that he was overthinking it.
"It's said that he once had a daughter who worked in a teahouse. She was of clean origin, but Fang Yuchang took a fancy to her and even made advances on her. When the teahouse staff tried to stop him, he became enraged and humiliated her and brutally murdered her on her way home."
"Because the place was relatively remote, no one saw it, and there was no evidence to prove that Fang Yuchang was the murderer, so this matter became an unsolved case."
"But how did he know that the person who killed his daughter was Fang Yuchang?" Xiao Yan was a little confused.
If this is true, then the groom did have a motive. But why did he choose to kill someone outside? Shouldn't the murder of a relative be dealt with as soon as possible?
The escort shook his head. "He must have heard it from somewhere? Or maybe it was something Fang Yuchang said when he was drunk?"
Fang Yuchang does have an alcohol problem, so that's possible.
But there are also doubts. First of all, the reason why the groom entered the Fang family was to seek revenge. This proves that from the moment he became a servant of the Fang family, he had already suspected Fang Yuchang of being the murderer. Why did he wait until now to seek revenge? This does not conform to the mentality of a revenger under normal circumstances!
When Xiao Yan expressed his doubts, the escort looked at him with a hint of pity.
"The government officials also questioned him about this suspicion. The groom said that after his daughter's death, his wife became ill and mad with grief, believing that their daughter was still alive. So even though he eventually found the real murderer, he kept it a secret because he thought his wife still needed care."
"It wasn't until shortly before his departure, when his wife passed away from illness, that he decided to take action. Unexpectedly, he encountered the opportunity to go to Beijing for the imperial examination, and he took the opportunity to follow."
Xiao Yan nodded. If that was the case, it could indeed be justified, but he always felt something was wrong.
Suddenly, Xiao Yan remembered something - since it was not Fang Qinshi's fault, then why did she not defend herself when facing the injustice of Master Fang and Madam Fang?
Could it be that she thought it was Fang Heming who did it, so she didn't say anything?
Now they have physical evidence, the time of the crime, and the motive for the crime. With the help of the groom, the authorities found a box used to hold poisonous snakes. There were insect residues inside. Although the poisonous snakes were nowhere to be found, it was proved that there were indeed traces of snakes living inside, as well as herbs that had not yet been ground into powder.
All the signs indicate that Ma Fu was indeed the murderer behind Fang Yuchang's death.
Although the real culprit behind the scenes was found and the case was submitted to the higher authorities, if nothing unexpected happened, according to the current laws, the murderer would be sentenced to death by hanging. However, Mr. Fang and Mrs. Fang were still very dissatisfied with this, as if they would not give up unless Fang Qin was involved.
They pressed the issue relentlessly, using various anecdotes to demonstrate Fang Qin's complicity in the crime. The county magistrate, though seemingly easygoing, was not someone to be manipulated. He offered a similar account to Xiao Yan's, demonstrating that false accusation was a serious crime.
Mr. and Mrs. Fang finally calmed down for a while, but then they started arguing again about divorcing their son's wife. They said their son wouldn't have died if she hadn't taken good care of him. She was unvirtuous! They even said they had seen servants sneak into Fang Qin's room at night, as if they had seen it with their own eyes while hiding under the bed, and accused Fang Qin of being unfaithful to her husband.
However, there is no however.
Perhaps it was God's will that one day, when someone else couldn't stand it anymore and spoke up for them, Mr. Fang and Mrs. Fang were arguing with someone. They both suffered a stroke out of anger and have been paralyzed in bed ever since, unable to speak.
Now, Fang Qinshi can finally say that all the hard work has paid off.
Her scumbag husband is dead, and her evil parents-in-law have suffered a stroke and are bedridden. In the huge Fang family, she is the only daughter-in-law who can be the head of the household, and her son is filial and sensible. It is truly a great joy that can only be found in the world.
Although it was a bit unkind to say so, everyone did share this sentiment. The reason was simple: the Fang family was truly odious, disgusting to the core. Except, of course, for Fang Qinshi and Fang Heming.
Now that Fang Yuchang was dead, there was naturally no need to continue going to the capital. Although the weather was not too hot, the journey was long and the body could not be kept for too long. Fang Qin bought a piece of land here, buried Fang Yuchang hastily, and then prepared to return home with Fang Heming.
Now that the case has been clarified, Xiao Yan and his group naturally have to continue on their journey.
Before leaving, Xiao Yan leaned on the carriage and inadvertently looked into the Fang family carriage through the window. Fang Heming seemed to be saying something to Master Fang at this time. Master Fang stared at him in shock and anger, but unfortunately he could not speak and could only make loud noises. He could vaguely make out the words "you, you little beast", and it was obvious that he was extremely angry.
As if he noticed Xiao Yan's gaze, Fang Heming paused for a moment, and then returned to his usual state. He even took out a handkerchief and tried to wipe the medicine that had spilled from Mr. Fang's mouth, ignoring his struggle.
"Brother, what are you looking at? Do you want a cushion?" Xiao Chen asked.
Xiao Yan retracted his gaze and shook his head, "No, it's already soft enough."
He was already sitting on three cushions, with two more placed behind him. In contrast, Xiao Chen only used one of each, making him look like some fragile porcelain in comparison.
Xiao Chen followed Xiao Yan's gaze and happened to see the "loving father and filial son" scene between Fang Heming and Master Fang. The corners of his mouth twitched slightly.
As the carriage was moving, he suddenly neighed loudly and whispered, "This is not right!"
Xiao Yan gave him a puzzled look.
"Big brother, you saw the interaction between Fang Heming and Old Master Fang just now, didn't you? Logically speaking, after Fang Yuchang's death, Fang Heming is the 'root' of the Fang family. The Fang family will rely on him from now on. Even now that he is bedridden, it would be fine if they didn't think about winning over Fang Heming, but why are they giving him the cold shoulder?"
To say he gave him a cold face was an understatement. He had seen it clearly just now. Master Fang's eyes looked as if he wanted to eat Fang Heming!
From the fact that Master Fang didn't dare to slander them after Xiao Yan revealed his identity, it can be seen that Master Fang is not someone who doesn't understand the situation. Now is different from the past, with the identity changed, why did Master Fang offend Fang Heming?
Xiao Yan looked at the scenery outside the window and said, "Perhaps Mr. Fang's temperament has become worse after his sudden attack."
Xiao Chen: “???”
"Brother, why don't you listen to what you've said? This has been going on for a few days now, and it didn't flare up earlier or later, but it just happened when we were in this empty carriage. To put it bluntly, Fang Heming is the future head of the Fang family, and even he and his family have to live under his thumb. How stupid does he have to be to be so clueless?"
"Besides, Fang Heming is just a child. Even if he is angry, he should take it out on Fang Qinshi. How could he be angry with Fang Heming?"
As he spoke, he seemed to remember something, and his eyes showed some understanding. "Could it be that he was also involved in that matter?"
"Yes, if it weren't for this, Mr. Fang wouldn't be so furious and wouldn't be willing to vent his anger on his precious grandson."
Since he could think of this, there was no reason why Xiao Yan couldn't think of it.
As expected, Xiao Chen looked up. A seven-year-old child, apparently involved in a murder, would be incredulous or even surprising to anyone who heard of it. But his brother? He treated his words with astonishment, as if he'd just heard something as insignificant as "the weather was wonderful today." What did this mean? It meant his brother had already thought of this!
"Brother, have you known this for a long time?" Xiao Chen's tone contained a hint of grievance, as if his elder brother had secretly eaten something delicious behind his back.
Xiao Yan: “…”
Xiao Yan finally turned his head to look at him, "What good does it do to know? There's no evidence, right?"
This is the fact. Although they suspected that Fang Heming was involved in the case, they had no evidence to prove it. It can only be regarded as subjective conjecture and cannot be used as evidence to support their judgment.
"So even though you knew he might be involved, there was nothing you could do, brother?"
Xiao Yan: “…”
Xiao Yan really wanted to know what made Xiao Chen think that he could do anything?
Solving a case requires empirical evidence. Even he cannot determine whether a person is guilty or not based on subjective conjecture alone.
All we can say is that, assuming their inference is true and Fang Heming was indeed involved, then he performed too perfectly and left no evidence that was harmful to him. Of course, it is not ruled out that the groom intended to protect him.
Such cases of lack of evidence have existed since ancient times. Knowing that a person might be involved, but simply lacking any evidence to bring them to justice, is a very frustrating situation and also a sign of a flaw in the law.
In today's world, there is still the principle of presumption of innocence, let alone in today's society?
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