Chapter 158 Justice

Chapter 158: Justice

Jin Gu had killed someone in full view of everyone—this was undeniable, and she had neither the means to argue nor the intention to plead innocence.

"I... I once learned about medicinal herbs from a witch doctor in the stockade village. There's a plant called naoyanghua (a poisonous flower), its flowers are toxic. I put it in the food, and the Huang family members fell to the ground, unable to move, so I could..."

"Given that you have a weak nature, accustomed to their abuse, and under their tight watch so you couldn't leave the village, you still shouldn't have acted so foolishly!" Meng Wan interrupted her just in time, bringing Huang Ye along a detour through the front gate of the courtroom.

Xue Sheng, who had been following him, was nowhere to be seen now, apparently sent elsewhere by Meng Wan.

The clerk taking notes at the side of the courtroom paused his brush and cautiously glanced at the young and dignified county magistrate seated above.

How could the county magistrate's husband interfere in court proceedings? The magistrate was so strict in conduct; he would surely give his husband a stern rebuke for this.

He thought as much, but to his surprise, Lord Song, who usually wore a cold face toward them, softened his expression and instructed the court bailiffs standing below in a gentle tone, "Fetch a chair for my husband."

The bailiff moved quickly to bring the chair. Meng Wan sat down comfortably, though it was unclear what position he held in addressing the court below. Yet, with the magistrate at the head remaining silent, who dared to question it?

"Jin Gu accidentally killed Huang Erzhuang. That is indeed a serious crime, but she had reason..."

"Good heavens! Murder must be paid with life. This poisonous woman killed my second son and also wounded my eldest son like this! If the bailiffs hadn't subdued her, she would have killed my eldest son too!" Before Meng Wan could finish, the Huang family erupted. Huang Ye's grandmother wailed in the court, crying endlessly for justice, insisting that Jin Gu must pay with her life.

Meng Wan wasn't angered by the interruption. He only waited until they had finished wailing and then continued, "Jin Gu did kill Huang Erzhuang, that is true. But she had no intention of killing Huang Dazhuang. After accidentally killing Huang Erzhuang, she became terrified, and then, intimidated by your family's verbal threats, she lost her senses and tried to subdue Huang Dazhuang, whom she saw as the greatest threat to her."

Meng Wan turned his gaze to Jin Gu, "Isn't that right, Jin Gu? Jin Gu?"

Ever since Meng Wan entered, Jin Gu's eyes had been fixed on her son, as if by stealing a glance now she feared she might never see him again. Meng Wan called her twice before she came back to her senses. "Ah? Yes."

She didn't even know who he was, replying purely on instinct.

The Huang family didn't understand the law and couldn't argue against Meng Wan, but they clung to a single principle: murder demands a life. They sat on the ground, weeping and throwing tantrums, insisting that if the county magistrate hadn't brought the person to the yamen, Jin Gu would have been strangled to death in the village for killing her husband.

The headman of Shuihe Village had also come by oxcart by now, echoing the same argument. Despite his age, he spoke with conviction, "Your Honor, newly appointed as you are, may not know this. In villages like ours, family matters are always handled within the village itself; we never report to the authorities. Please, spare yourself the trouble. We'll take this poisonous woman back to the village and punish her ourselves."

"Family matters?"

Song Tingzhou repeated these three words, then suddenly slammed the wooden gavel. The hard board made a dull, solemn sound that buzzed in people's ears. His voice was icy cold, "When it involves a homicide case, how can you dare to impose private punishment? Are you disregarding the national law? Or are you questioning His Majesty the Emperor?"

The heavens were far and the emperor distant. These people didn't understand national law or the emperor, but they could see that the county magistrate was angry. They immediately became docile, kneeling on the ground without daring to utter a word.

Meng Wan had never seen Song Tingzhou in court before; he nearly got stars in his eyes. As expected of his man, he was handsome and imposing in every way. How could a single word "handsome" describe it? He was both handsome and charismatic!

The clerk couldn't help but remind Song Tingzhou, "Your Honor, your husband's argument may be reasonable, but even the single crime of killing a husband carries the penalty of decapitation!"

The laws of the Yu Kingdom clearly stated: a wife or concubine who murders her husband is guilty of a serious crime; if she kills her husband due to adultery, she is to be executed by slow slicing, and the adulterer is to be sentenced to be beheaded. If the adulterer kills the husband, even if the wife or concubine is unaware, she is to be sentenced to death by strangulation. Even without adultery, murdering a husband is still a capital offense.

This was common knowledge among those who worked in the yamen, even if they weren't well-versed in the law, let alone for Song Tingzhou and Meng Wan, who had thoroughly studied the legal code.

Some knowledgeable citizens outside the court also knew that killing a husband required the penalty of beheading. Discussions arose, and the Huang family couldn't help but feel triumphant, believing that Jin Gu's execution was a foregone conclusion.

Jin Gu herself felt sorrow for leaving her son and a faint trace of regret. If only she had waited a little longer, just a little longer... Now she could only resign herself to her fate.

"Your Honor, I..."

"Who said Jin Gu killed her husband?" Meng Wan suddenly interjected with a question.

The old woman of the Huang family shrieked in a hoarse voice, like a broken gong, "There's no justice! So many households in Shuihe Village witnessed this poisonous woman kill her husband. What right does this young master have to speak up for this slut!"

Not only did she swear foully, but she also reached out to tear at Jin Gu.

The court bailiffs maintaining order quickly stepped forward to pull her away, shouting, "Silence! If you don't behave, you'll be beaten and thrown in jail!"

This infuriated the Shuihe villagers who had come at the headman's call to back him up. A crowd of them shouted and argued, refusing to obey orders.

"The county magistrate's husband ought to be embroidering in the inner courtyard, not making wild accusations in court. Why don't you cane him? Can't we speak the truth?"

"Exactly! Why beat us?"

"What kind of useless county magistrate is this, who can't even interfere in village affairs!"

"Who dares to touch a single person from Shuihe Village? Do you think we have no men in our village?"

Chaotic objections arose from the crowd. The local people of Heshan County, sensing trouble, squeezed to the other side, unwilling to get involved.

Meng Wan didn't panic at all. He snuck a glance up at Song Tingzhou under the "Upright and Impartial" plaque. The other man stared straight ahead at the commotion in the court, completely composed.

Oh, so the tension wasn't high enough yet.

Though they exchanged no words, a certain silent understanding had already formed.

From the moment Meng Wan had instructed Xue Sheng and Huang Ye to take a detour and file a formal complaint through the main gate of the yamen, he had been determined that, no matter how this matter developed, it would be tried publicly. The bigger the uproar, the better.

Meng Wan winked at Xue Sheng, who was hiding at the back of the crowd. The latter moved, silently squeezing into the throng, and shouted, turning sideways, "Who cares about the county magistrate! Let's snatch this poisonous woman back and drown her in the village pond!" His shout was clear and loud, heard by everyone inside and outside the yamen.

The headman was old but not confused. Although he was unhappy with official intervention, he wasn't foolish enough to fight the government. But the young hotheads, stirred up, didn't care about that. Seeing someone take the lead, they joined in out of a misguided sense of loyalty. Pushing and shoving, the court bailiffs on duty couldn't hold them back, and the crowd stormed in.

Song Tingzhou had already risen from his seat and come down to protect Meng Wan. When the headman was shoved in front of him, the old man panicked.

"Your Honor, listen to an old man. These lads are young and hot-tempered; they didn't mean to offend."

Standing in front of Meng Wan, Song Tingzhou said sternly, "Inspector Huang!"

Inspector Huang, who had been hiding in the back hall, rushed in with his bailiffs to restore order.

"How dare you! Disturbing the court and interfering with His Honor's trial of a suspect! No one move!"

About forty men from Shuihe Village had come. Thinking they had numbers on their side, they disregarded the yamen personnel. In the scuffle, several bailiffs sustained minor injuries.

The farce went on for a while until Qin Jiao brought another group of men and, one by one, tied up the Shuihe villagers. Even then, they continued to shout arrogantly, unaware of their recklessness.

Only when Song Tingzhou casually announced, "The four leaders who injured the bailiffs will receive eighty strokes of the cane and three years of hard labor," did they finally realize the seriousness of the situation.

How had it come to beatings and labor service?

As the leader, the headman could not escape blame, but Song Tingzhou deliberately did not punish him.

"This official spares you due to your advanced age and inability to withstand heavy punishment. Your sons or grandsons will bear the penalty in your stead. Choose for yourself: which one will it be?"

The headman knelt in the court, staring at his own hands, unable to decide. Both were his flesh and blood!

"Your Honor should punish me instead. This old man failed to control the villagers."

Song Tingzhou said coldly, "Control? What authority do you have to control the villagers? In the Jiang-Zhe region, Village Heads are elected by the villagers and appointed by the local county magistrate. Their duties include investigating household registrations, overseeing agriculture, inspecting illegal activities, collecting taxes, mediating village disputes. What do you think you are? And what qualifications do you have to instigate the villagers? Or does Shuihe Village truly belong to the Huang family?"

Inspector Huang coughed uncomfortably.

Song Tingzhou shifted his gaze to him. "Since he cannot decide, pick one of his descendants at random and bring them to the yamen for punishment."

"Yes, Your Honor!" Inspector Huang didn't need to use much force. Simply threatening those villagers who hadn't participated was enough to get the information that the headman's third son was apprenticed to a carpenter in the county town.

The third son knew nothing and took his father's punishment. The ignorant villagers didn't understand the weight of the government, but the third son of the village head did. He was beaten until his skin was flayed open, but he couldn't curse his father in the courtroom. However, when he learned he still had to serve hard labor, he couldn't hold back.

"Father, say something! You can have me beaten in your place, but am I supposed to do the labor for you too? I've been serving tea and water to my master's whole family, enduring scoldings and beatings, saving dozens of copper coins to give to you for the household expenses. Which of your sons is as filial as me? Can't you wish me well for once?" The third son spilled all his grievances. He had heard of sons screwing over their fathers, but when did it become fathers screwing over their sons?

The old man couldn't bear his son's reproach. He knelt on the ground, tears streaming down his aged face. "Your Honor, it's my fault. I am not worthy to be the village head of Watershore Village. Please spare my son."

County Magistrate Song personally placed Meng Wan's chair between his own seat and the clerk's desk, then returned to his seat behind the desk. He addressed the village head, who seemed to have aged considerably: "Enough. You are old and indeed unfit to continue as village head. I see that your son has a good sense of right and wrong. From now on, let him be the first ward chief of Watershore Village and also the first ward chief in Hexian County."

Huang Laosan never expected such a turn of events. He had leapfrogged over his elder brother to succeed his father as village head.

No! It was even greater than village head—he had been officially recognized by the government. The county magistrate said he was the first-ever ward chief in Hexian County!

For a moment, he even forgot the pain in his backside, feeling that this beating was well worth it.

Of course, the other villagers were not so lucky. The rest were left to Constable Zhang. He carefully observed County Magistrate Song's expression and quickly handled the villagers of Watershore Village—some were taken outside for beatings, others were detained.

There weren't enough benches, so in the courtyard between the inner gate and the courtroom, over thirty men lay sprawled, their screams echoed one after another.

The people of Hexian County had already witnessed County Magistrate Song's iron hand, but this scene still made their hearts tremble, deepening their fear of the magistrate.

Huang Ye's grandparents and uncle's family were so terrified by this turn of events that they seemed to lose their voices, shrinking back, afraid that one wrong word would have them dragged out too.

Meng Wan fanned himself with his round fan with satisfaction. "Much quieter now."

He flipped through the clerk's desk copy of the Yu Kingdom's legal code, then stood up from his seat. "I'd better not be present for the rest. I'm going home to find my mother. She said she recently learned a new recipe for pig trotter soup."

County Magistrate Song watched him leave from the back of the courtroom. The clerk, stunned, presented the legal code. On the page was a line in bright red.

"Whoever kidnaps or sells people, or commits the crime of excising and mutilating living beings (a form of extreme cruelty), shall be sentenced to death by slicing."

Song's eyes flickered. He turned to question Jin Gu, who had been silent all along. "Jin Gu, how was your leg injured?" He had noticed her limp when bringing her into the city. Meng Wan must have noticed it too.

"It was my hus—" Jin Gu started but caught Song's sharp gaze.

"It was Huang Erzhuang's family. They feared I would escape and kept me under constant watch. At night, they would chain me to the head of the bed..." Jin Gu is human. She had resisted, struggled, and been injured. Huang Ye's father had deliberately injured her foot, leaving her permanently lame.

County Magistrate Song instructed the clerk: "Write this down. 'The young woman, Jin Gu, for the purpose of bearing children, was subjected to countless abuses and beatings. To prevent her escape, they tied a rope around her ankle as if she were an animal, struck her with sticks, and shattered her foot bones, leaving her permanently lame.'"

The clerk wrote down Song's words swiftly, marveling inwardly. No wonder the man had passed the imperial examinations while he himself remained just a mere candidate in the local exams. This skill for embellishment—tsk!

Addressing the watching townsfolk, the Huang family who had filed false accusations, and Jin Gu, who had taken a wrong step in confusion and regret, Song pronounced his judgment: "Since ancient times, killing one's husband has been a grave crime, and a wife would face death. But Jin Gu was a victim trafficked into the Huang family. In a life-or-death moment, she killed her captor in self-defense. How can that be considered wrong?"

Seeing that some townsfolk were indifferent, some showed pity, and others were indignant, Song continued: "Jin Gu is lame in one foot. Huang Erzhuang's crimes are not limited to abduction and human trafficking, but also the crime of cruelty and mutilation. He should have been executed by slicing. However, since Jin Gu did indeed injure him, she cannot be released without consequence. I, the magistrate, will submit this case to the Ministry of Punishments. Justice will be done for the victim!"