"Sir, I have never seen this person!" Shen Qinghe said.
But the county magistrate would never listen to him. "If you make any more noise in the court, don't blame me for punishing you according to the law!" Shen Qinghe naturally couldn't speak anymore after he said that. The man continued, "I saw the young master of the Shen family enter the Nanfeng Pavilion and leave again not long after. After following him, I found that he was hanging out with a young prostitute in the men's pavilion. The two were talking and laughing, but then they talked about something and the young master Shen suddenly got furious and strangled him to death and pushed him into the river!"
"You are talking nonsense!" Shen's mother was so angry that she wanted to go up and beat the witness.
But he was soon restrained by the constables in the court.
The man was frightened by Shen's mother and quickly said to the county magistrate: "Sir, I didn't testify recklessly. I saw it with my own eyes! And the two of them were entangled that day. I saw him entangled with Master Shen and frightened him by pulling a piece of Master Shen's clothes!"
After he finished speaking, someone forcibly opened the corpse's stiff palm and found a piece of silk inside.
Soon the constable presented the piece of silk as evidence to the county magistrate's court, "Sir, please take a look."
The county magistrate pretended to look at it for a while, then said, "Come here, search Shen Qinghe's room!"
The Shen family was quite far from the county government office, but it only took the police two incense sticks of time to go to the Shen family and come back, which was almost a round trip. There was no time to search at all, but when they came back, they took out a robe, "Sir, this robe was found under Shen Qinghe's bed, look!"
The county magistrate took the clothes and took a look at them, then slammed the gavel fiercely, "Shen Qinghe, the evidence is here, what else do you have to say!"
The clothes were thrown down by the county magistrate and landed in front of Shen Qinghe.
He knew without looking that the clothes were indeed his, but a piece of it had been torn off at some point in time, and the missing piece of clothes was found in the dead man's hand.
The crime is clear enough that no one can deny it.
Shen Qinghe smiled coldly, "If you want to accuse someone of a crime, you can always find a pretext. I will never plead guilty!"
"You don't admit your guilt!" The county magistrate sneered, "How can I let you do that?" He looked around again, "Come on, torture him, and make him tell the truth!!"
The constable went down with the torture instruments, while the chief clerk nearby had already written Shen Qinghe's confession.
The county magistrate took a look and thought there was no problem, so he asked the chief clerk to take it down and put it under Shen Qinghe. After he had endured all these punishments in the county government, there was always a time when he could not bear it anymore, and then he would naturally sign the confession.
"Sir, it's so lively here!" A rough voice came from outside the door.
Everyone looked over and saw a person who was much taller than an ordinary figure standing at the door. Looking up, the person was not only tall, but also had very brave features, which made people feel a little scared.
"Who are you? How dare you trespass into the court?!"
The county magistrate was naturally not afraid of a scholar like Shen Qinghe, but the man below looked like he could beat ten of them. The county magistrate's gavel was no longer loud.
This person is Tu Jiu.
He curled his lips, took two steps instead of three, and walked up, shaking the gold medal on his waist in front of the county magistrate. "Does your Excellency recognize this thing?"
The thing flashed by, but the county magistrate saw it clearly.
He stared at the man in front of him with eyes wide open and mouth wide open in disbelief: "Imperial Envoy - Imperial Envoy?"
Tu Jiu made a shushing gesture, "Sir, please don't let anything slip. My master is on a secret visit and just asked me to come here to listen." He looked to the side and said, "Sir, do you think there is a place for me here?"
The county magistrate stood up quickly and shouted, "Come on, bring a chair up!"
The detectives hurriedly brought a chair to Tu Jiu, and he sat on it with a majestic look, "Sir, let's begin the interrogation."
The county magistrate wiped his sweat and said, "This... this has already been examined."
"Is the interrogation over?" Tu Jiu asked.
The county magistrate thought that he had arrived too late and had not seen clearly what was asked earlier, so he just repeated what the witness had just said and added: "Now that there is evidence and witnesses, he cannot deny anything!" At this point, he felt like a great official.
Fortunately, we just followed the chief clerk's idea, and now we are following the rules.
So, in the officialdom, luck is still the key. He has good luck. First, he hooked up with the King of Jin, and now the imperial envoy has suddenly arrived. He has handled this case so well. Once this matter is over, he will have no worries about promotion and wealth! The more the county magistrate thought about it, the happier he was.
But he didn't notice that Tu Jiu's eyes were getting colder and colder. "Sir, handle the case according to the rules. Who brought out this evidence and where did you find it? You have to interrogate it." Tu Jiu's question made the county magistrate's eyes widen in confusion. Fortunately, the chief clerk behind him poked him and said, "Sir, bring it to trial quickly!"
"Who of you found this piece of clothing just now?" the county magistrate asked hurriedly.
The detectives below looked at each other, none of them had ever been right about this before.
After a long while, the captain saw that no one else came forward, so he stepped forward himself, cupped his hands, and said, "Your Excellency, I dug it out from under Shen Qinghe's bed."
"Oh?" Without waiting for the county magistrate to speak, Tu Jiu asked, "What kind of bed is his? What kind of wood is it made of? What kind of sheets and quilts are he covered with today?"
How could the captain of the police answer this question?
They went to Shen's house for nothing but a formality. After they got there, they drank a cup of tea, and someone gave them clothes, and they left! "It's... sour pear wood, the mattress is red..." Aren't there only a few colors of quilts these days? Most of the wood used by wealthy families is sour pear wood.
Tu Jiu said, "Think it over before you speak. If what the people I sent find out is not true as you said, and you are talking nonsense in court, I will drag you out and chop you off immediately!" Tu Jiu was born a ferocious man. Beheading was scary to others, but he almost lost his soul to this loud shout.
The captain's legs went weak. How could he be sure when he hadn't even looked at the bed? He could only tremble and say, "Your Excellency, I didn't notice it. I just took the clothes from under the bed. I..."
"How dare you!" Tu Jiu slammed his chair, the sound was even louder than the county magistrate's gavel. "You, a dozen police officers, went to the prisoner's home to search for evidence, and you clearly said that you took it from under his bed, but you can't even tell me what kind of bed it is. Do you think a fool would believe such a thing?"
,
The county magistrate in the hall shuddered and looked in the direction of Tu Jiu, only to see him looking at him with cold eyes.
The county magistrate knew that the matter could not be resolved peacefully.
He has the ability to rise from a gangster to his current position. The King of Jin is capable and a relative, but he is no longer in the capital. This unknown imperial envoy is accompanying the emperor, and he may lose his head if he says a word!
"All of you, why don't you confess the truth now!"
There is no other way. If I offend the Shen family and King Jin, then I will offend them! I have to save my head first!
Seeing the county magistrate's expression, the others all knelt on the ground. The head constable had followed the county magistrate for some time and understood what he meant. He immediately cried, "Please forgive me, sir. After we arrived at the Shen family, it was the Shen family's servant who brought the clothes to us and said that they found them under Shen Qinghe's bed. We were in a hurry to go back and report to you, sir, so we didn't check Shen Qinghe's room."
"How can this be possible!!" the county magistrate was about to show his power.
Tu Jiu coughed, and quickly retracted his hand that was patting the table, licking his smiling face, "Master...Master...you say, you say..."
"Since the clothes were taken out by the Shen family servant, shouldn't we interrogate the Shen family servant now?" Tu Jiu asked. Although it was a questioning tone, the meaning behind his words was not to be laughed at.
If we allow this mediocre county magistrate to drag the case on with a few words, there's no telling how long this case will take to be tried.
The county magistrate immediately gave Tu Jiu a thumbs up and said, "You are right, sir!" He turned around and shouted, "Go and bring the servants of the Shen family to the hall!"
Soon the servant of the Shen family was brought up. He knelt on the ground with a plop and was about to explain how he got the blood-stained clothes according to what he had said before.
But before he could open his mouth to speak, Tu Jiu asked, "How dare you, a servant, search your master's room for no reason? The county magistrate hasn't sent anyone to search yet, and you dared to go. It's considered theft. County magistrate, how should theft be charged?"
The county magistrate was stunned for a moment, his mouth open and saying "ah".
Tu Jiu said, "The case hasn't even started yet, but this person knew that you were going to solve the case, found the clothes, and waited for the detectives to come and search. Don't you think it's strange?"
The county magistrate tried hard to keep smiling, "Weird, very weird—" How could it not be weird?
Anyway, it has come to this, I would rather die than let my friend die. The county magistrate thought to himself, after all, he just accepted the silver, and now he hasn't done anything, now in order to save his life, he must return the silver.
It would be better to behave as an honest official in front of the imperial envoy.
"Come on, beat this fool for me. I must beat him until he tells the truth!"
No one stopped the constable at this moment, so they dragged the servant of the Shen family out and beat him up. The servant was bribed, so he would never resist. After being beaten ten times, he could not stand it anymore and told everything he knew.
"Yes, my eldest wife, my eldest wife asked me to steal the young master's clothes. Everything was ordered by my eldest wife!"
Tu Jiu asked again: "Who is your first wife?"
The servant explained, "She is the wife of Shen Bin, the prefect Shen, Ms. Song."
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