After being yelled at by Constable Huang, the two dared not say another word and could only silently follow behind him toward the yamen.
The group quickly arrived at the yamen. Magistrate Li sat upright in the hall, slammed his gavel, and addressed the three kneeling men below in a deep voice:
"Niu Da, Niu Er, why are you two brothers following Jiang Shi?"
Niu Da and Niu Er, kneeling below, exchanged a glance and stammered:
"We didn't follow her, we weren't tailing her."
"Yes, yes, we just happened to be passing by."
Jiang Yuwei frowned as she looked at the two people who were twisting the truth, and said in a deep voice:
"Are you really going to lie in front of the adults? Have you forgotten who brought you to the yamen?"
Upon hearing this, Niu Da glanced at Constable Huang, who was staring intently at him, and wiped the cold sweat from his brow, whispering:
"We did follow her, but I didn't do anything to hurt her. You have to do justice for us, sir."
"Yes, sir, we are the victims. Look how badly this damned woman has injured our eyes!"
Magistrate Li, seeing the two men's swollen eyes, found it rather unbearable to look at, and asked in a deep voice:
"Jiang, did you injure their eyes?"
Jiang Yuwei looked up at Magistrate Li with red eyes and said:
"Yes, Your Excellency, as a woman, I had no choice but to resort to this tactic to protect myself in the face of these two strong men. I did not intend to hurt anyone; I was only trying to protect my own safety."
Seeing Jiang Yuwei's expression, Magistrate Li pondered for a moment, then nodded and said:
"That's understandable, since you were given permission to follow Jiang. Tell me, why were you following Jiang?"
Niu Da trembled with fear when Magistrate Li shouted at him. It was Magistrate Li who had interrogated him last time he came to the yamen, and he still vividly remembered those torture instruments.
He spoke softly:
"We were following the Jiang family... there was someone..."
Before Niu Da could finish speaking, Niu Er interrupted:
"Sir, we just saw her on the road and thought she was pretty, so we followed her. However, we didn't do anything improper to her. Officer Huang can vouch for us!"
Upon hearing Niu Er's words, Officer Huang's brow twitched slightly:
"That's true, but if I hadn't happened to be patrolling there, you two brothers wouldn't have let Jiang Shi off the hook, would you?"
Seeing this, Jiang Yuwei quickly chimed in:
"Yes, I just happened to run out of the alley and met Officer Huang, who saved my life. After they were arrested, they saw me and threatened me, saying that even if they didn't take the money, they would still kill me. How could a weak woman like me withstand such intimidation? Please, sir, do me justice."
As she spoke, Jiang Yuwei picked up a handkerchief and began to sob.
After hearing Jiang Yuwei's words, Magistrate Li had already made his own conclusion:
"Niu Da and Niu Er, who ordered you to commit this crime?"
Upon hearing this, the two exchanged a glance, both breaking out in a cold sweat. Niu Er quickly shook his head and said:
"No, sir, no one really ordered us to do this, I..."
Magistrate Li slammed his gavel and roared:
"I see you two won't shed a tear until you see the coffin. Guards, bring the torture instruments!"
Niu Da was so frightened by the slam of the gavel that he wet his pants, and the stench of urine instantly filled the entire hall. He trembled as he said:
“I, I said, please, please don’t torture me. It was Manager Lin of Zuixianlou who ordered us to teach Jiang a lesson.”
Upon hearing this, Jiang Yuwei's expression changed immediately. This Manager Lin was still holding a grudge against her for selling the recipe last time. Her original intention in selling the recipe to him was to teach him a lesson for his snobbish attitude, but now he was retaliating against her instead.
It seems that bringing down Zuixianlou is an urgent matter. Since they dared to use such dirty tricks to frame me, then don't blame me for showing no mercy.
Upon hearing that others were involved in the case, Magistrate Li exclaimed:
"Go and bring Manager Lin to me!"
The constables received the order and went down to arrest Manager Lin. At that moment, Manager Lin was checking the accounts with his boss, Lin Zhengtang, and was wondering when Niu Da and Niu Er would return to bring him good news.
To his surprise, the constables arrived to arrest him. Shopkeeper Lin asked in a terrified tone:
"What have I done that you want to arrest me?"
The lead constable said in a deep voice:
"You know perfectly well what's going on. Stop talking nonsense and save your energy for the courtroom. Men, tie him up."
Without saying a word, the constables tied up Manager Lin.
Seeing this, the owner, Lin Zhengtang, hurriedly went up to the leading constable and slipped some loose silver into his hand, smiling as he said:
"May I ask, constable, what crime has he committed?"
After taking the silver, the head constable's anger lessened somewhat, and he said to Lin Zhengtang:
"He hired someone to commit murder. If you want to know, just go with him to the yamen."
Upon hearing the constable's words, Manager Lin was startled and cursed inwardly:
"Those Niu Da and Niu Er are just good-for-nothings, and they wasted their taels of silver."
When Manager Lin was brought to the yamen, he saw the three people kneeling in the hall. Seeing the way Jiang Yuwei looked at him, he was filled with rage and glared at Jiang Yuwei fiercely.
Jiang Yuwei turned to Magistrate Li, who was sitting in the hall, and said:
"Sir, this is the man! He bought a prescription from me before, but he didn't manage his business well and started to hold a grudge against me. Now, he even dares to hire someone to kill me! Sir, you must do justice for this humble citizen!"
Upon hearing this, Manager Lin immediately knelt on the ground and kowtowed, saying:
"My lord, it's not like that. My lord, you must be discerning and not be blinded by that Jiang woman."
Upon hearing Manager Lin's words, Magistrate Li immediately felt a surge of anger:
"How dare you! I am of keen insight and will not let a bad person go unpunished, nor will I wrongly kill an innocent person. How can I be blinded by a woman!"
After speaking, Magistrate Li stared at Jiang Yuwei and asked:
"Jiang, do you have any evidence for what you just said?"
Jiang Yuwei had already used her consciousness to enter the space and retrieve the document signed by the seller, so now she simply pretended to rummage through her sleeve a few times before taking out the document:
"Sir, please look at this document. It was signed between Manager Lin and me when he bought my recipe. The money and goods were settled. After he got my recipe, he blamed me for his poor management of his restaurant. He even threatened me a few days ago. Manager Xu of Lianxiang Restaurant can testify to this. You can send someone to inquire about it and you will know."
Constable Huang hurriedly took the document from Jiang Yuwei and presented it to Magistrate Li. Magistrate Li nodded to Constable Huang and said:
"Go and ask Manager Xu if this is true?"
Officer Huang accepted the order and left.
Magistrate Li carefully examined the document in his hand, then stared at Manager Lin and said:
"There's nothing wrong with this document. Now that the money and goods have been settled, why are you still bothering Jiang?"
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