Chapter 72 In the Court

The two arrived at the yamen at noon, and because they had brought the complaint, they went directly to the court.

Jiang Ning had always thought that the county magistrate was an old man, like in many TV dramas, with green bean eyes, a mustache, and a strange way of speaking. He was partial to one side when judging cases, could not distinguish right from wrong, was incompetent, and was greedy for money.

When he really saw Song Ming, who was wearing a dark red official uniform, standing straight and handsome, Jiang Ning knew that he had been misled. It turned out that the county magistrate was so young.

Tang Shuli presented Liu Mingan's petition. Song Ming took a look at it and praised him without any context: "Liu Xiucai's handwriting is really good." Liu Mingan

was stunned and was about to say "Your Excellency, thank you for your compliment" politely, but Song Ming lowered his head and began to read the petition carefully. He had to give up.

"Are you going to accuse Zhao Qiang of drugging, stealing, and setting fire with others to commit murder? These are the three major crimes?" After a moment, Song Ming put down the petition and asked Liu Mingan.

Liu Ming'an walked to the bottom of the case and stood still. He bowed to Song Ming and said, "That's right. I beg the county magistrate to make the decision for me."

Song Ming said "hmm", and then said, "Then let's go to court."

Jiang Ning had seen the scenes of courts going to court many times in various movies and TV shows. They were all a group of officials holding sticks and pounding the ground, shouting "Awesome~" in a long tone, and then the official took a hall stick and slammed it heavily on the table, puffing his beard and glaring, and shouted, "Who is in the court? Tell me your name!"

Now that he was in the same situation, Jiang Ning felt like laughing for some reason.

In the blink of an eye, two rows of officials had already stood on both sides of the court, all with stern faces, looking very serious. Zhao Qiang, with handcuffs on his hands, was also brought up and knelt beside Liu Ming'an.

Jiang Ning stood at the door waiting to be summoned. Her eyes moved around Liu Ming'an and Zhao Qiang, and then looked at the Tang clerk sitting on the right side of the case with a pen in hand, preparing to write. She roughly understood that the position of clerk should be equivalent to "teacher".

However, this dynasty was better than the TV shows, that is, the plaintiff did not have to kneel, so Liu Ming'an and she were standing upright.

"Is your surname Zhao Qiang?" Song Ming asked.

Zhao Qiang answered "Yes", and Song Ming said again: "The person next to you is suing you. Do you want me to ask you one by one, or do you want to speak for yourself?" "

The criminal speaks for himself." Zhao Qiang answered, and then he told the story of his acquaintance with Monkey, the debt owed by Jinyufang, and the theft of drugs in Lotus Village. Liu Ming'an and Jiang Ning were shocked.

Both of them thought that Zhao Qiang would deny his guilt because of Tang Shuli, and even turn around and accuse Jiang Ning of framing him. They thought that they would have to spend a lot of effort to argue with each other, but they never thought that this man would admit it so easily.

Especially Jiang Ning, she was even prepared to kill someone again after Zhao Qiang was acquitted, but the result was far beyond her expectations.

Jiang Ning looked at the Tang Shuli again and found that when Zhao Qiang stated his crimes, his eyebrows were tightly wrinkled, with a deep wrinkle squeezed between his eyebrows. He shook his head and sighed, while writing something on the paper.

Could it be that this clerk was not going to save his nephew? Is he really so selfless? Jiang Ning wondered puzzled.

This was the second time Song Ming had heard Zhao Qiang's words. His expression remained calm. He only concluded, "According to what you said, you were instigated to do evil?"

Zhao Qiang leaned over and kowtowed to Song Ming with his forehead touching. He said, "What the criminal said is absolutely true. I hope Lord Song will judge!"

Song Ming turned his eyes away from Zhao Qiang. Jiang Ning thought he was going to ask about Liu Ming'an, but he never thought he was looking at her.

"This girl, come down to the hall. I have something to ask you." Jiang Ning heard Song Ming order.

Jiang Ning followed his instructions and walked to stand beside Liu Ming'an. Then he heard Song Ming ask, "What's your name?"

"Jiang Ning."

Tang Shuli, who was standing beside him, stopped writing and raised his head. Song Ming saw it out of the corner of his eye and asked, "What are the two characters?"

"Jiang in the character of Jiang Gui, and Ning in the character of focused eyes and heart."

Tang Shuli heard it and wrote the two characters "Jiang Ning" on the paper.

Song Ming looked at Jiang Ning standing upright in the hall. Although she was wearing a plain veil, the coldness between her eyebrows and her stern temperament had confirmed his guess yesterday.

Song Ming asked as a matter of routine: "I just want to ask you, have you ever had a grudge with Hu Laoliu, Monkey and others from Jinyufang?"

Jiang Ning's eyes flickered. She didn't expect that this county official was quite smart. Then she raised her eyes and looked directly at Song Ming without avoiding or avoiding: "Yes."

"How did you have a grudge? Tell the truth."

Although she didn't like others speaking to her in an imperative tone, this county magistrate seemed to be quite capable, so Jiang Ning didn't care and told her experience in Jinyufang in detail. As for the fact that Monkey was almost killed by her because he followed her, Jiang Ning naturally didn't mention it at all.

This was the first time that Liu Mingan heard Jiang Ning talk about this experience. Before, he only knew that Jiang Ning went to Jinyufang and won money, but he didn't expect that there were so many ups and downs in the process.

When Jiang Ning said that she beat Hu Laoliu with fifty dice, Tang Shuli couldn't help but raise his head, first looking at Jiang Ning, then looking at Song Ming, with a questioning look in his eyes. Song

Ming received Tang Shuli's gaze and signaled him with his eyes to speak frankly.

Tang Shuli leaned towards the case and asked in a low voice: "Sir Song, this is obviously nonsense. Should it be included in the evidence presented in court?"

Song Ming tapped his chin lightly. Indeed, fifty dice shook out three hundred and ninety points, which was too incredible.

"It's true, I testify that what she said is true." Zhao Qiang, who was kneeling on the ground, suddenly spoke.

Although Tang Shuli deliberately lowered his voice, the court was so large that the three people in the hall could still hear his words clearly.

Song Ming and Tang Shuli did not believe Jiang Ning's words, but Zhao Qiang remembered what Hu Laoliu said after he went upstairs that day.

Hu Laoliu said: "I can't even get 300 points with 50 dice, how can she get 390 points?"

Zhao Qiang was very worried at that time and didn't think much about it. Now he thought that the "she" in Hu Laoliu's mouth should refer to this woman named Jiang Ning.

Song Ming and Tang Shuli looked at each other after hearing this, and Song Ming nodded slightly to Tang Shuli, who had no objection and continued to write with his head down.

After Jiang Ning finished speaking, Song Ming suddenly realized: "So that's how it is! You embarrassed Hu Laoliu in front of so many people, and walked out with more than 100 taels of silver. It's reasonable for him to hate you."

"Pah!" Song Ming picked up the shocking wood and slapped it, shouting, "Someone come!"

The first officer in the left row walked to the hall and saluted: "I am here."

"Take people to Jinyufang now to bring the boss Hu Laoliu and the thug Monkey for questioning."

"Yes."

After the officer took the order and left, the place was quiet for a while.

Jiang Ning lowered his eyes, deducing in his mind what might happen next and how to deal with it. When he was concentrating, someone touched the back of his hand lightly.

Turning his head, Liu Mingan curled his lips slightly. After all, he didn't dare to be too reckless in the court, but the bright smile in his eyes was not concealed. His eyes were sparkling, as if there were tiny stars falling into them.

Jiang Ning looked at him for a while, then looked away. Something in his heart broke through the shackles and burst out.