Chapter 148 The evidence I've been waiting for, here she comes
As the chief judge Zhou Cheng announced the opening of the court session, the "mighty" beating of water and fire sticks in the surrounding area stopped, and the sound of drums also quieted down.
Outside the open hall of the court, officials from various government offices who were invited to watch the grand event also flocked in.
A majestic and solemn atmosphere immediately filled the entire venue.
Even Zhao Duan couldn't help but feel his shoulders droop as he sensed the invisible pressure coming. Following the sensation, he saw that the pressure came from the plaque with the words "A Bright Mirror Hangs High" in the courtroom.
Is this a magical tool? A talisman?
It seems to have the effect of deterring the criminals' minds... Zhao Duan still has time to think about this.
"Bang!"
On the high hall, Zhou Cheng, who was wearing a crimson robe and a black veil on his head, frowned and slammed the gavel:
"Zhao Duan, today is the day of the three judges' joint trial. How dare you disrespect the court? Come, remove the prisoner's seat and make him kneel down!"
Zhao Duan raised his eyebrows.
So impatient? As soon as he came up, he couldn't wait to show off his power...
If not for so many people paying attention, he would have no doubt:
Zhou Cheng would draw the harshest red-headed lot from the four lot boxes in the courtroom, which had "enforcement", "law", "strictness" and "clarity" written on them, and give him ten killing blows with the stick first.
"Wait a minute!"
In the jury box, Ma Yan raised his eyelids with a stern face and said in a deep voice:
"Tingwei Zhou, the case has not yet been concluded. At least at this moment, Zhao Duan is still my Zhaoya Jisi and the White Horse Supervisor."
Zhou Cheng still remembered the grudge from last time, and scowled coldly at him, saying in a cold voice:
"Master Ma, today is the trial, and I am the presiding judge. It is not the place of the Imperial Court to dictate how the Dali Temple handles the case."
As soon as the court opened, tension emanated from the two yamen.
When they were refusing to give in, Yuan Li, who was also sitting in the hall beside them, said calmly:
"The trial is urgent. You two may both step aside and remove your chairs. As for kneeling, please do not bother."
The Minister of Justice next to him also echoed:
"Mr. Yuan is right."
Zhou Cheng frowned. During the trial today, he could ignore Ma Yan, but he could not neglect the other two judges.
At that moment, an officer came forward and took the chair away.
Zhao Duan stood up, somewhat reluctantly, and his chair wasn't even warm yet...
Outside the hall.
The people watching the trial looked at each other. The imperial guards from Lihua Hall stood at the back, unable to hide their worries - Zhou Cheng's opening was very aggressive.
…
The trial continues.
Zhou Cheng said coldly:
"Today, the Sansi Yamen will hold a joint trial for the rape and murder of Su Hongyu, a civilian woman, by military officer Zhao Duan. The case will now be read out."
On the left jury seat, He Zheng, the Dali Temple official in a blue robe, stood up and read the file:
"A few days ago, a commoner named Su Hongyu, her uncle and aunt, beat drums to protest their grievances..."
Su Hongyu? When Zhao Duan heard this name, he vaguely recalled a woman in his mind.
There had been singing and dancing at the Wang family banquet in the past, but he had a vague impression of it. He only remembered that the girl was young, had graceful dancing moves, and had worked hard to achieve it.
When he was drunk and pushed into the room, the other party tried to tease him, but was tied up and thrown aside by "himself", who was a bootlicker.
After leaving Wang's house, he no longer paid attention to her, and he didn't know that this woman who danced well was actually the one that Wang Shan got angry at just because "he" didn't touch her. Not only was she violently abused, she was also expelled from Wang's house and died soon after.
Today, one year after his death, Zhou Cheng pulled him out again and used him as a tool in order to deal with him.
Human life is worthless...
At this time, He Zheng finished reading, and Zhou Cheng shouted:
"Bring the plaintiff!"
Outside, an official led a middle-aged couple into the courtroom. The man was dressed like a businessman, and the woman had a mean look on her face.
At this moment, he entered the hall and knelt on the ground with a frightened "thump". Zhou Cheng said with a pleasant face:
"Please tell me the whole story in detail."
The man responded, as if he had memorized the lines long ago:
"I am Hongyu's uncle. Her parents passed away when she was young, so we raised her. We later sent her to learn singing and dancing, and she became a singing girl... By chance, she was spotted by the wealthy man Wang Shan, who took her in as his concubine..."
Outside the hall, many people frowned slightly when they heard this.
In Dayu, Kabuki were not "prostitutes" but women who really sold their art.
But despite this, it is still a low-class profession. Judging from the way the couple is dressed, they are not poor, but they sent their own niece to be a singing girl... It can be seen that their family affection is extremely weak.
The man continued:
"Last August, Hongyu was suddenly sent back by the Wang family's servants, saying that she had divorced Mr. Wang Shan.
At the time, his body was covered in wounds, clearly showing signs of being defiled, and he looked haggard... My husband and I sought medical treatment, and his condition had improved, but he later died inexplicably.
When saying this, Zhao Duan noticed that he felt a little guilty, perhaps because of the pressure from the plaque.
In fact, when Su Hongyu was sent back, she was indeed covered with bruises, but he and his wife were afraid that she would offend Mr. Wang Shan, so they did not seek medical treatment at all and were too lazy to even give her food and drink.
Su Hongyu died of illness, pain and hunger.
Zhou Cheng asked two more questions and said:
"Summon the doctor and the coroner."
The officer brought two more people into the courtroom. One of them claimed to be the doctor who had diagnosed Su Hongyu, and the other was the coroner who had dug up Su Hongyu's body and examined her autopsy in the past two days.
The former pointed out that Su Hongyu's illness was not serious and her death was suspicious, while the latter said that the cause of death was suspected to be suffocation.
The implication of his words was that Su Hongyu was silenced.
"Send Qin Qu," Zhou Cheng said again.
At this time, Qin Qu, who was short in stature and wore wrinkled silk clothes, but the injuries from torture could not be concealed, was brought up.
As soon as he entered the courtroom, his two small eyes were blank and terrified. When he saw Zhao Duan, he cried out and fell to his knees, about to pounce on him, but was pulled back by the official, tears streaming down his face.
"Brother, save me..."
Zhao Duan was somewhat moved. He had not expected that his lackey would become like this.
"Qin Qu! I'm asking you, did you have a banquet with Zhao Duan at Wang's house that day and saw him go to the bedroom with Wang Shan?" Zhou Cheng said coldly.
Qin Qu knelt on the ground, trembling, squinting his eyes and looking at the high officials one by one, trembling with fear:
"Yes...but I didn't see Envoy Zhao..."
Zhou Cheng interrupted sharply: "You just need to answer, right?"
"yes……"
"I would like to ask you again, did Zhao Duan stay overnight at the Wang residence?"
"Yes...but Envoy Zhao didn't..."
"Take him away!" Zhou Cheng waved his hand.
Qin Qu's eyes widened, as if he had just come to his senses. He wanted to say something, but was secretly punched by the officer, and immediately lost the ability to speak in pain.
At this time, as three consecutive rounds of witnesses came on stage, the crowd outside the hall became slightly agitated.
Obviously, these pieces of evidence overlap with each other and are extremely unfavorable to Zhao Duan.
Many people looked at Zhao Duan, but found that as a criminal, his expression was extremely calm from beginning to end, and no emotional changes could be seen.
"Bring Wang Shan!" Zhou Cheng slammed the gavel again.
This time, Wang Shan, who was overweight, had slightly red eyes, and looked like he had albinism, walked into the classroom.
He was originally imprisoned in the imperial prison, but after the three courts held a joint trial, Zhou Cheng had him taken away on the grounds that he was a key witness, and even Ma Yan could not stop him.
But now he was not frightened at all like in the imperial prison, but was calm and composed. When he glanced at Zhao Duan from the corner of his eye, the corner of his mouth raised slightly:
"Master Zhao, I didn't expect we would meet here."
Zhao Duan looked at him strangely, thinking, I hope you can still laugh after this.
"Wang Shan, what do you have to say about Su Hongyu's death?" Zhou Cheng asked.
Wang Shan immediately pointed the finger, saying that he had hosted a banquet that day, and Zhao Duan was attracted by her beauty and hinted at him to send his concubine to serve him.
Wang Shan was afraid and ordered his concubine to stay with him for one night, but he didn't expect that Su Hongyu was covered with bruises and became mentally ill.
"Seeing this, I didn't want to keep her. So I ordered people to send her back to the Su family, but I didn't expect that she would die." Wang Shan said.
The loop is closed.
At this moment, everyone's testimony, plus the "evidence" read out by He Zheng before the court opened, corroborated each other, like nails, nailing Zhao Duan to the pillar of murder.
The commotion in the hall grew louder. In the crowd at Lihua Hall, Old Man Zheng squinted his eyes and whispered:
"You came prepared. The dead have no evidence, and the living are all saying the same thing. Your Excellency is in a difficult situation."
Secretary Qian Kerou bit her lip:
"These people must be framing you, sir!"
She has a certain beautifying filter for Zhao Duan without realizing it.
Hou Renmeng and Shen Juan said nothing. Emotionally, they were unwilling to believe it.
But rationally speaking... well, considering the way my master behaves, even if Zhao Duan really did something like this, it doesn't seem surprising...
Even Ma Yan frowned slightly.
I'm not sure if Zhou Cheng is framing me or if Zhao Duan really did something like this...
He turned to look at Sun Lianying and found that she was expressionless as always.
"Bang! Silence!"
Zhou Cheng slammed the gavel, spoke harshly, and looked down at Zhao Duan:
"Prisoner, do you have anything to say about the above accusations?"
In an instant, countless eyes converged.
However, what surprised everyone was that in the face of such an unfavorable situation, Zhao Duan just remained silent and did not say a word.
"Do you have anything to say?" the Minister of Justice also shouted.
Zhao Duan still turned a deaf ear.
Zhou Cheng smiled: "So, you have nothing to say?"
Zhao Duan still kept his mouth shut.
In the court, the commotion reached an unprecedented level, and people's expressions changed.
In their view, although the situation was extremely unfavorable, they still had to make a few arguments.
What does silence mean?
Everyone started talking, their faces looking strange, and the same thought came to everyone's mind:
Could it be that the case is true?
It's not a false accusation, but he really did it?
He was now faced with the accusations, speechless and unable to refute them?
Or maybe, even if he didn't do it, he already knew it, and he couldn't provide strong evidence, so... he just accepted his fate?
"Why isn't the adult saying anything? Has he been controlled? Why isn't he speaking up to defend himself?" Qian Kerou's face flushed with anxiety.
"Your Excellency may be thinking about the evidence." Chen Juan spoke, but his tone was full of lack of confidence.
"Speak up, at least explain a few words. At least there's a chance you can convey your voice to His Majesty in the palace..."
The imperial guards in Lihua Hall became anxious.
If the situation did not allow it, they would all want to shout loudly to remind Zhao Duan to refute.
More onlookers shook their heads, thinking that Zhao Duan had given up resistance.
"Alas, you are still too naive after all... Do you really think that the Chief Justice is easy to mess with?"
"Oh, he also knows that His Majesty no longer trusts him, otherwise there would not be this trial."
"But if we keep fighting, there's still a chance. But since he gave up, there's no suspense."
The crowd was talking.
Ma Yan looked anxious. He wanted to remind Zhao Duan that there was still a lot of room for debate in the case.
For example, why would someone suddenly report the crime after such a long time of death?
Or request another autopsy...
Even Yuan Li, one of the chief judges in the court, looked doubtful, not understanding what he was planning.
But Zhao Duan seemed to ignore everyone's gaze, with no expression on his face. He just stared at the plaque in the hall in a daze.
In the court, Zhou Cheng could no longer conceal the joy on his face. Although he also had doubts, he knew better that as long as the case was confirmed, no matter what other means Zhao Duan used, it would be meaningless.
He immediately raised the gavel and pronounced the verdict:
"Since the criminal has not refuted his defense, it is equivalent to admitting his guilt. Now, I hereby pronounce the verdict on the case of Zhao Duan's rape and murder of Su Hongyun..."
Suddenly, in the solemn atmosphere, a slightly disembodied girl's voice echoed in the courtroom.
"Wait a minute."
Inside the hall, a cluster of starlight suddenly rushed in from afar, swirling around like a tornado, and condensed into a petite figure:
A priest's robe with a black base and gold lines, boots of the same color, long hair with slightly curled ends, delicate facial features that are slightly pale, and eyes that seem to be out of focus when looking at people.
The direct disciple of the old Heavenly Master, the Zhudian Priest, and the Golden Tablet!
Zhao Duan, who had been keeping his mouth shut and staring at the plaque in a trance, finally withdrew his gaze and raised the corners of his mouth slightly.
He addressed the three judges in the courtroom and said loudly:
"The evidence I've been waiting for is here."
(End of this chapter)
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