Chapter 23: The Dark Invitation

  Xiao Jiading looked at the painting rolled up in his hand and knocked on the door. A voice came from inside, "Come in!"

  Xiao Jiading stepped forward and bowed: "Your subordinate has seen County Magistrate Deng."

  Deng Quansheng's face lit up with a smile as soon as he saw him, and he stood up from the couch, warmly patting his shoulder, saying: "You're here, great! I've already spoken to County Magistrate Kang, and he has agreed to strongly recommend you. He has promised to arrange for you to work in the Criminal Department. How's that?"

  Xiao Jiading bowed and said: "Thank you, County Magistrate Deng, for your cultivation. I will definitely work hard and not disappoint the kindness you have shown me."

  "Uh, did you bring your road guide?"

  Xiao Jiading quickly took out the letter of introduction. Deng Quansheng took it over without looking at it, called the attendant outside the door, and instructed him to take this letter of introduction to the chief clerk's office to help Xiao Jiading register and receive a official token. This way, he officially became an official scribe in the government office.

  Having made arrangements, Deng Quansheng said to Xiao Jiading: "Let's go, I'll take you to meet the colleagues in the prison."

  Xiao Jiading followed Deng Quansheng out and arrived at the prison.

  The prison was divided into two suites, the inner one being smaller and serving as the judicial office of the head of the prison, while the outer one was a large room with rows of desks where the prison clerks sat, numbering around six or seven.

  Xu Houde, the judicial officer of the prison, heard that the county lieutenant had arrived and hurriedly came out from the inner room, bowing his hands in greeting. The law assistant (equivalent to a deputy court president) and other clerks outside the prison had already stood up to pay their respects. Zhu Haisilver, the fat man, was smiling and winking at Xiao Jiading from the corner of a table, but Xiao Jiading pretended not to see him.

  County Magistrate Deng said: "Today, our prison has a new colleague, his name is Xiao Jiading."

  The name of Xiao Jia Ding has now spread throughout the literary circle in Yizhou, which is not surprising. In ancient times, communication media was not developed, and apart from gossiping, there were few things that could be used as entertainment. So, any news would spread quickly within the city, not inferior to modern media. Moreover, after defeating the famous Zhong Wenbo, known as the number one scholar in Yizhou, the news spread even faster. These clerks in the prison naturally knew about it, but since ancient media relied mainly on word of mouth, they only knew Xiao Jia Ding's name and had never seen him before. Now that they saw him, they were all staring at him in surprise, with various expressions on their faces.

  County Magistrate Deng introduced Xu Houdé and his assistant, Dong Zhong, who was standing behind him. Xiao Jiading stepped forward to pay his respects, while Dong Zhong had a smile all over his face. However, Xu Houdé's expression remained stern as he returned the courtesy without saying anything.

  Deng County Wei said: "Xu Sifa, this Xiao brother is not only a talented writer but also an expert in criminal law. He's a rare talent indeed! Let him handle the case of Jiang Zhongyuan's intentional homicide. Our court believes he'll do a great job. Please guide him."

  As soon as this was said, Xiao Jia Ding immediately noticed that the expressions of Xu Houdé and the group of clerks behind him had changed. Xu Houdé was shocked, while most of the clerks were gloating, except for Zhu Haisheng, who looked astonished and anxious. He immediately understood that this case was a tough nut to crack! County Magistrate Deng really wanted to deal with himself!

  His face didn't show any fluctuation of emotions, and he bowed his head saying: "Yes! I will definitely do my best to handle the case."

  "Hmm! Good good look, great prospects ahead!" After saying that, he warmly patted Xiao Jiading's shoulder and turned to leave.

  Xu Houdé had already received the news that a book official was coming to the prison, so he had already prepared a desk for him, which happened to be right next to Zhu Haishan's table.

  Xu Houde pointed out his case to him, then had the clerk in charge of receiving and sending cases hand over all the files of Jiang Zhongyuan's intentional homicide case. After that, he went into the inner room. The clerks also sat back in their own seats, occasionally stealing a glance at him, whispering a few words to each other, and from time to time accompanied by laughter, which was clearly schadenfreude.

  Scholars have always been light on each other, it has been so since ancient times. Xiao Jia Ding had already understood the kind of environment he was in. He didn't speak to Zhu Haiyin, and instead picked up the case files to read them.

  The file was very thin, and he finished reading it in less than the time it took to eat a meal. The case was also extremely simple: Jiang Zhongyuan, accompanied by his servants, had stabbed two men to death with a knife on the street more than half a year ago, injuring several others. Many people witnessed it.

  What's difficult to handle in a case like this, with so many eyewitnesses and clear evidence? Will they let these people look at themselves with that kind of gaze? Moreover, it has been more than half a year since the case occurred, but there has been no processing. There must be some ulterior motives. It is worth noting that ancient yamen were equivalent to modern procuratorates and courts, not just courts. The trial period stipulated in ancient times was much shorter than today's. For such a homicide case, the trial should have concluded within one month. If it exceeded the time limit without conclusion, the official in charge of the yamen and the supervising officer (i.e., the person directly responsible) would be punished with a stick. This case has been delayed for more than half a year without a verdict, which is really strange!

  No way, I must figure it out right now, can't just be used by others without knowing what's going on.

  Xiao Jiading stood up, looked at Zhu Haisheng beside him, and muttered: "Damn it, my stomach hurts, didn't I eat something bad?"

  After speaking, he quickly walked out and asked the doorman for the direction of the toilet. He went straight there. When he arrived at the toilet, he looked around to make sure no one was there, then went in to urinate. As he came out, he saw Zhu Haisheng approaching. In a low voice, he said: "What's going on with this case? You should know, shouldn't you?"

  "This case has a big background, who in the yamen doesn't know? Zhu Haixin looked around and saw no one, then said in a low voice, "This Jiang Zhongyuan, who killed someone on the street, is the younger brother-in-law of the county magistrate's secretary! In other words, his sister is the wife of the secretary. The reason for the killing on the street was that this young master and the deceased were both spoiled sons of wealthy families, they both had their eyes on a certain woman, and in a fit of jealousy, they got into a fight. After returning home, Jiang Zhongyuan felt wronged and resentful, so he planned his revenge, brought some people to wait on the street, saw the victim come out, and personally wielded the knife, stabbing him to death, as well as killing one servant who rushed up, and injuring several others. Although the deceased's family was also a wealthy household, they didn't have any officials, just some money, so although they went around filing complaints everywhere, the Jiang family still managed to drag this case down, and it has been dragged on until now."

  The chief historian of the provincial government, ranking above the fifth grade, half a level higher than the administrator, second only to the governor and deputy governor in the provincial government. Equivalent to a standing committee member of the provincial party committee, who dares to provoke?

  Xiao Jiading said in doubt, "What's the point of dragging it out? He'll be executed sooner or later. He killed someone on the street, it's a capital offense. So many people saw it, can he escape? What's the use of dragging it out?"

  "What's wrong with it? Wait for the imperial amnesty!"

  Xiao Jiading suddenly realized that in ancient times, emperors liked to grant amnesties to the whole world. Whenever the emperor's mother or wife was ill, a grand amnesty would be declared, and even on birthdays and festivals, some kind of amnesty would be granted. There were many excuses for this. Almost every few years, there would be one. Once an amnesty was declared, as long as it wasn't a serious crime punishable by the ten worst penalties, serious crimes would be reduced in severity, and minor crimes would be pardoned. It turned out that they had been planning this all along. If this case were to be tried, it would definitely result in a death sentence, but if they delayed the trial until an amnesty was declared, they wouldn't have to lose their heads.

  Such a case, obviously seriously overdue for detention, yet no one dares to intervene, no one dares to take it on, isn't it because his brother-in-law is a provincial committee standing member! Now this Deng County Magistrate lets himself take on this rotten burden, making it clear he wants to frame himself to death, if a provincial committee standing member wants to crush him, wouldn't that be done in the blink of an eye?

  Xiao Jiading's anger rose from the bottom of his heart. No wonder Deng County Wei, that dog, refused to accept his own gift last night. It turned out he wanted to get rid of him, so he pretended to be honest and let him off guard, cheating him. Luckily, before crossing over, he had learned countless such sinister tricks. Otherwise, he would have thought he had gained the leader's attention, handing over such an important death penalty case for him to handle, and he would have hurried to conclude it in order to show off his abilities. At that time, he might not even know how he died. How ruthless!

  The plaintiff Jiang Zhongyuan and the deceased were not good people, and there was no need to uphold justice for them. Why bother getting involved in this muddy water?

  "Big brother, what do you plan to do?"

  Xiao Jia Ding smiled slyly and said, "Cold mixed tofu with scrambled eggs!"

  Zhu Haishan stared at him with a puzzled expression.

  "Go back!" Xiao Jiading walked back, came to the door of Deng County Wei's house, took out the calligraphy and painting of Tang Lin, the governor of Zhoufu, and stepped into the signing room of Deng County Wei.

  County Magistrate Deng saw him come in, was taken aback for a moment, and said: "What's wrong? Is there something?"

  "It's like this," said Xiao Jiading with a smile, nodding and bowing, "Yesterday I was drinking at the Cuiyu Building when I met Tang Lin, the magistrate of the prefecture. He had also heard about how I won against Zhong Wenbo in the poetry contest the other day, and he was particularly friendly towards me, inviting me to drink with him and asking me some questions about poetry. He was very satisfied with my answers, and before we parted ways, he drew a painting for me and told me that I could visit his residence anytime to discuss poetry..."

  Just as he said that, Deng County's old face was already full of surprise, and his originally narrowed small green bean eyes were also opened wide, staring blankly at Xiao Jia Ding.

  Xiao Jiading saw that it had an effect, and he couldn't help but secretly rejoice. He continued: "At the time, I took over the painting and looked at it, only to find that there was no inscription or seal. Taking advantage of the wine excitement, I said why didn't you sign your name? Otherwise, who would know that it's the handwriting of Governor Sima? Tang Sima burst out laughing, saying that he had already written it in the painting, and asked me to find it myself. I looked for half a day but couldn't find it. I heard that County Magistrate Deng is an expert in calligraphy, so I wanted to ask for his guidance. Can you take a look at where Tang Sima wrote this inscription?" He then spread out the painting on County Magistrate Deng's desk.

  Xiao Jiading fabricated this lie, and he wasn't worried that Deng County Magistrate would go to Tang Lin to verify it. For something like this, a seasoned official like Deng County Magistrate would rather believe in its existence.