Chapter 44: Turning Himself In

  The next morning, the county magistrate was going to hold a trial for the case of Zhao's murder in Huangyan Village, which had been returned by the prefecture for retrial. Xiao Jiading had never seen an ancient trial before, except in movies and TV shows, so he got up early and arrived at the main hall to take a look around, which was similar to what he saw in the movies and TV shows. Since no one had arrived yet, he thought of asking questions but there was no one to ask. So, he decided to go have breakfast first.

  The yamen's dining hall does not serve breakfast, so one has to go outside to eat.

  He went to Loulan girl's snack shop.

  Arriving at the entrance of the snack shop, I saw that a long line had formed, with many people waiting to buy breakfast. Those who managed to buy breakfast were beaming with joy as they walked out, and surprisingly, they were holding skewers of roasted lamb!

  Can this thing be used for breakfast? Xiao Jiading, a person from modern society, of course, did not want to eat such greasy things early in the morning. However, he could understand that when people in the Tang Dynasty ate cumin lamb for the first time, they must have been very curious, so they all came to buy it, even eating it for breakfast. Seeing that the cumin lamb he taught Loulan girl was so popular, Xiao Jiading felt very happy.

  At the door, Loulan girl who was roasting mutton skewers saw him and quickly put down the mutton skewers, came out and said with joy: "Xiao brother, you're here!"

  "Uh, I'll have some breakfast, but I won't have mutton skewers. I'll just have baozi and congee."

  "Good, please come in! The lamb skewers you taught me are very popular. Yesterday was busy until midnight and many people came to eat. Today, early in the morning, there were already queues buying..."

  Just as he said that, the people in line impatiently shouted: "Hey! Hurry up with the lamb skewers! We're still waiting!"

  "Coming!" Loulan responded with a voice, first welcoming Xiao Jia Ding into the house, then continued to roast lamb skewers.

  Yu Gui came over from inside the house, bowing and nodding to welcome Xiao Jia Ding into the inner room, personally serving him a package of steamed buns and millet porridge.

  Xiao Jiading just came to fill his stomach, after eating, he took out his wallet to pay the bill, but Yu Gui refused to accept it, saying that Xiao Jiading had taught them how to roast lamb skewers and made a lot of money, this was a way for them to get rich, how could they ask him for money? However, Xiao Jiading insisted that if you open a business, you can't give freebies, otherwise, what's the point of making money? If he didn't collect the payment, then next time he wouldn't come. So Yu Gui had no choice but to accept the payment.

  Xiao Jia Ding left when he saw Lou Lan busy at the door, only smiled and waved to her before leaving.

  Back at the yamen, the clerks had already arrived. The clerk in charge of recording for the Criminal Section saw Xiao Jiading and hastily came over to pay his respects.

  Xiao Jiading then asked him about some things related to the promotion ceremony. The clerk told him that as the county magistrate, he had to participate in the entire process, but during the whole promotion ceremony, he only served as a consultant for the county magistrate and helped deal with some legal issues.

  Xiao Jiading understood and went to the signing room to wait for County Magistrate Kang.

  After a while, Deng County came and said that all the witnesses, the victim's family members, and the defendants had arrived. There were many onlookers in the crowd. Just as they were talking, Kang County Magistrate arrived. Deng County reported to him. Kang County Magistrate nodded and ordered the court to be convened.

  Xiao Jiading followed the County Magistrate to the back door of the main hall, bypassed the screen, and entered the main hall. The yamen attendants shouted in unison "Wei Wu!" while beating the ground with their water-fire clubs, making a loud noise, quite majestic.

  County Magistrate Kang sat down behind several cases in the warm pavilion, and the noise finally stopped. Xiao Jiading stood at the side of County Magistrate Kang, curiously looking at the situation on the main hall. Many ordinary people stood outside the empty space of the main hall, watching the commotion, and no one dared to speak casually.

  The county magistrate said: "Bring in the defendant!"

  Several yamen runners brought Zhao, who was wearing heavy cangues, up to the main hall and made him kneel before several officials.

  Xiao Jiading took a closer look and couldn't help but be taken aback by the sight before him. This Zhao girl was actually a little beauty, possibly due to years of hard work, her physique was more robust, but not in a rough, peasant-like way, rather it was very proportionate and athletic, with full breasts and a slender waist, her eyebrows were like paintings, her skin was a bit dark, but it radiated a healthy glow. Wearing those heavy shackles, she looked especially pitiful.

  County Magistrate Kang had already interrogated her once before, but since the case had been remanded for retrial, he had to question her again. He spoke in a deep voice: "Criminal Zhao, do you know your crime?"

  Something unexpected happened, and the kneeling Zhao family suddenly wailed: "The people's wives are wronged! That child was not killed by the people's wives, the people's wives were wronged, please ask the master to take charge!"

  The county magistrate did not expect that after the retrial, the prisoner would actually change his statement. He was furious and slammed the shock wood heavily, shouting: "You're a good woman! The previous confession, this time again changed, it's clear that you want to escape responsibility, tease this county, come on! Punishment!"

  Soon, the yamen runners came up and put Zhao's fingers in a finger press, also known as a wooden stick device made of several pieces of wood, which was clamped on the joints of the defendant's fingers, with force applied to both sides, pinching the defendant's finger joints, and severe cases could even crush the finger joints!

  The severe punishment was too much for Zhao's wife to bear, and amidst her wails of pain she cried out: "Your humble servant confesses..."

  The county magistrate waved his hand and stopped him, saying: "You tell me in detail about the process of killing someone!"

  Mr. Zhao recounted what had happened, roughly the same as his previous statement.

  When Zhao finished telling what had happened, County Magistrate Kang nodded and did not ask any more questions. He said: "Take the guilty woman away and summon the mother of the deceased, Tongshi!"

  Soon, Tong Shi, the mother of the victim, was brought up to the main hall and knelt on the ground.

  The county magistrate said: "Tell me about your son being killed and what you know!"

  Tong's answer shocked Xiao Jia Ding again, she only talked about her son disappearing and finding the corpse, but didn't mention anything like last time about Zhao's affair with someone. The county magistrate also found it strange, so he asked: "Do you know why Zhao killed your child?"

  "The common woman does not know."

  "Didn't you say before that Zhao's family had an affair with someone, I guess she has been holding a grudge?"

  Tong lowered his head, hesitated for a moment, and said: "It was very dark at the time, I couldn't see clearly either... last time it was just my guess..."

  "What's your guess?" County Magistrate Kang frowned and asked: "How did you guess it?"

  "I saw a black shadow moving, and I didn't know if it was a person. After passing by, I saw her and guessed that she was secretly meeting with someone. Actually, at the time, I didn't see clearly whether the black shadow was a person or not."

  The county magistrate slapped the wooden table heavily and said: "Then why did you say last time that you saw a man? It's just that you didn't see clearly who it was?"

  "The woman thought carefully and felt it didn't seem like a person, but rather like the shadow of a tree."

  "Tree shadow?"

  "Uh-huh, and then there are a few trees next to it."

  The county magistrate asked repeatedly, and Tong Shi insisted that he had made a mistake earlier. He hadn't thought it through before speaking last time, so now he told the truth.

  The county magistrate's face was very unsightly, because of the matter of Tongshi breaking Zhao Shi's private communication, although it was not confirmed in the end, but at least it had a great impact on his inner confirmation. However, now Tongshi actually said that he couldn't confirm whether it was a human shadow or possibly just the shadow of a big tree, which made him confused and caused a great disturbance to his inner confirmation.

  Xiao Jiading also found it strange, because he had carefully read the transcript of Tong's testimony, which clearly stated that at the time, Tong saw a man and Zhao in the wilderness, and she even shouted. The man ran away with his lower body exposed. She didn't see clearly who it was. From this testimony, it is certain that there was a man. But now she says she didn't see clearly if it was a person or not. It's possible that it was just the shadow of a tree!

  County Magistrate Kang picked up the wooden mallet, and Xiao Jia Ding knew he was going to order the witness Tong Shi to be taken away. However, there was an important detail that he had not yet asked about, so he lightly cleared his throat. This was a pre-arranged signal with Xi Yi, indicating that Xi Yi had something to remind the county magistrate of. Thus, County Magistrate Kang turned around and looked at him.

  Xiao Jiading took a step forward and whispered in his ear: "Why is Zhao's family alone in the wilderness, not wearing a skirt?"

  The county magistrate's eyes lit up, and he immediately turned to ask Tong Shi: "You said last time that after you saw the man run away, you went over and saw Zhao Shi's son with his lower body exposed, putting on his pants, is that right?"

  Tong said: "No, when I passed by her earlier, she was pulling up her pants and fastening her belt, probably because she had just squatted down to take a dump."

  Take a crap?

  Previously it was said that he was naked from the waist down and looking for pants, but now it's said that he was holding his pants and tying his belt! This is completely different!

  The county magistrate stared at Tong Shi in shock, then turned his head to look at Xiao Jia Ding. Xiao Jia Ding was also stunned, unable to believe that Tong Shi's son had completely denied the fact that he had seen Zhao Shi having an affair with someone earlier, and instead said that he had only seen Zhao Shi pulling up her pants after defecating. If this were true, then a crucial piece of evidence for the murder motive would be erased! And it would also thoroughly shake his inner conviction!

  The county magistrate was stunned for half a day before ordering the Tong family to be taken away. The villager Li Lao San, who had seen Zhao's wife squatting by the stinky ditch where the human head was found, was called up.

  Li Lao San knelt down, and County Magistrate Kang said: "Tell me again what you saw when Zhao's head was hidden in the water ditch!"

  Li Lao San wiped a cold sweat from his forehead and said: "I... I didn't get a clear look at that person, whether he was of the Zhao family or not."

  The county magistrate's eyes widened immediately, and he slapped the table with a loud noise, shouting: "How dare you! Didn't you say last time that you saw that person was Zhao Shi? You even called out to her, but she didn't respond and hurried away. Now you're saying it wasn't her?"

  Li Lao San hastily bowed and said: "Last time I said that, it was just because the person's clothes looked a bit like Zhao's, but actually I didn't see her face clearly. I was blindly guessing. These past few days I thought about it carefully, and I should have guessed wrong, otherwise why would she not respond to me? A lowly person like myself relied on speculation last time and spoke recklessly, it was my mistake, please forgive me, sir."