Chapter 360 Night Trial
The spring breeze is getting warmer, and the flowers in the garden are blooming.
Walking through the garden of Xiao He's mansion at night, I fell into a sweet dream of peony flowers.
He Jinglan walked alone, without a lantern and without a maid following her.
Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes were drooping and a smile was on the corners of her lips. No one knew what she was thinking, but she was obviously in a good mood.
Just as she reached the pavilion, a voice called her, "Jinglan."
He Jinglan was startled, looked up, and a hint of guilt flashed across her face.
"Brother, why are you here?"
"I should ask you," He Jinghui looked inquiringly, "Why are you running to the garden so late at night?"
He looked behind He Jinglan and said, "You are coming from the corner gate. Are you going out tonight?"
He Jinglan's heartbeat quickened, but she forced herself to remain calm, "No, it's just that the flower viewing party is coming up soon, and during dinner I heard Lian Xing say that the peonies and bauhinias have started to bloom, so I came to take a look."
He Jinghui nodded.
They are brothers and sisters who depend on each other, and their trust and tacit understanding with each other are beyond doubt.
But for some reason, he always felt vaguely uneasy tonight.
He Jinghui glanced at the door again and said with a smile, "Aren't you inseparable from Boss Gu? Why didn't you invite her to come and see the flowers?"
He Jinglan naturally noticed He Jinghui's little movements.
She glanced at him and said, "Brother, don't ask about girls' affairs!"
Then he turned the tables and said, "You came here to stop me, if you don't have something to say, are you afraid that I will become like the talented scholar and beautiful woman in the popular reading books, with the moon on the treetops and the date outside the garden?"
After saying that, He Jinglan deliberately put on a stern face and pretended to be unhappy.
He Jinghui laughed and begged for mercy, "Alright, alright, you have been smart and sensible since you were young. How could my sister, He Jinghui, learn such low-brow practices?"
He Jinglan certainly didn't do anything low-brow. She said with a smile, "Brother, what do you want to say to me?"
The brother and sister walked back slowly.
He Jinghui told about what he saw, how Gu Xixi poisoned and killed many kidnappers by herself, with a complicated expression.
He Jinglan chuckled.
"Brother is so knowledgeable and yet he was so surprised. I really want to see how scared Dou Rongshan was at that time."
He Jinghui was surprised, "How come you also know Boss Gu's ability?"
He Jinglan disagreed, "Not only do I know, but I also worked with her to deal with a fierce killer in Huachidu Village."
"It was Master Liu who took care of the body. How come brother didn't know?"
He Jinghui gnashed his teeth and said, "Mu Qixiu is such a jerk. He even kept it a secret from his own people!"
He Jinglan patted her brother sympathetically and consoled him, "He may have considered that the fewer people who know, the more likely Xixi will be able to protect herself in a critical moment. Plus, Xixi herself doesn't want anyone to know..."
He Jinglan smiled and said, "In fact, long before Mu Nanzhao had yet to cure the poison, he and Xixi were left alone at the border and were chased by Beili soldiers. In the end, they escaped death, relying not only on Mu Nanzhao's soft sword."
He Jinghui was stunned.
It turned out that Gu Xixi had started using poison as early as that time.
He Jinglan continued, "At that time, Mu Nanzhao was in danger of death due to the poison. Xixi must have killed a Beili crossbowman hiding in the dark. After that, she took Mu Nanzhao and hid in the snow ditch to avoid the search of Beili soldiers."
"I also heard about this story later..."
She paused, avoiding Meng Chengping's name, and said, "I heard from the Northwest Army personnel who went to deal with the aftermath."
He Jinghui looked solemn.
At first, he just thought that Mu Nanzhao was moved by emotion when he was in trouble.
Later, when he met Gu Xixi in person, he felt that this woman was quite capable and her personality was different from that of ordinary women, so it was normal for Mu Nanzhao to be attracted to her.
But now...
He Jinghui sighed, "The love of taking me in, the grace of saving my life, and the bond of sharing life and death."
"It is a blessing to have a woman like this."
"Let alone Mu Qixiu, anyone should not let her down."
He Jinglan teased, "Brother, didn't you say in the past that he was confused by love? What do you mean, he went to the northwest and he is no longer the same as before."
He Jinghui was embarrassed, "I am biased, I shouldn't have done that."
Return to Yuzhuyuan.
He Jinglan dismissed his attendants and said to Gu Xixi, "That matter has been settled."
"But if we come forward and the news gets out, it will easily give people something to talk about, and it will make what is fair seem unfair."
"Let Miss Lu come forward herself tomorrow."
This was something the two of them had already discussed.
Gu Xixi didn't comment and said, "I just don't know how the trial is going over there?"
"Did Lord He reveal anything to you?"
He Jinglan shook her head, "My brother is busy killing locusts and hasn't been to the palace today."
"But I guess, with Mu Nanzhao's efficiency, there should be results."
In the Regent's residence, the dungeon was brightly lit.
A man, all wet, was dragged away by the jailer.
There was a stack of fresh confessions on the table, and the red fingerprints on the top one were not yet dry.
Two jailers carried another one in, "Your Majesty, this is the last one."
The prisoners being tried today are all from Nanyi County.
There was a family named Fan who had many slaves and a housekeeper.
There were also constables, captains of police, and the county magistrate from Nanyi County.
The person who had just been dragged away was the county magistrate of Nanyi County.
Although the county magistrate was not of high rank, he was also an official appointed by the imperial court through the imperial examination.
Logically speaking, without solid evidence, even the Ministry of Justice could not punish him.
Unfortunately, this time the Regent is interrogating him personally.
From yesterday morning when we sent people to Nanyi County to arrest people, to the opening of the trial tonight, the situation was as swift as thunder.
The magistrate of Nanyi County got no news of the incident and was arrested and taken to the capital while taking a nap.
On the way, he was still wondering what he had done wrong and who dared to arrest him directly.
But just now, the county magistrate had already pleaded guilty and signed the contract, officially becoming a prisoner.
As for the last suspect, he had just been watching the interrogation process and was so scared that his crotch was wet.
Mu Nanzhao sat behind the desk.
He picked up the teacup, smelled the blood around him, frowned, and put it down again.
The official in charge of the trial shouted, "How dare you, Fan Dongping! Everyone in the Nanyi County government office has confirmed that you bribed the county government and bought off the county magistrate for many years to cover up your crimes. And according to your instructions, you have silenced the victims several times."
"Murder, robbery, occupation of land, abduction of women, smuggling tea, why don't you confess to these crimes!"
Fan Dongping was in a trance and was suddenly awakened.
No matter how stupid he was, he knew that if he confessed to the crimes mentioned above, he would be punished with death several times.
The desire to survive forced him to muster up courage.
"I didn't! I didn't do it at all!"
The presiding judge was about to get angry, but Mu Nanzhao said calmly, "No rush."
"Let's go through the process first."
The presiding judge understood and winked.
Two jailers swiftly lifted Fan Dongping up, hung him on the slowly rotating roller, and tied him up with iron chains.
As the roller turned, Fan Dongping hung upside down with his head submerged in the water.
In addition to the feeling of suffocation after entering the water, he found something crawling and entangled on his face.
Cold and slippery...
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