Chapter 116
Chapter 116
The people below carried in his wife’s corpse.
The sight was one of pure terror. Every inch of skin had been flayed from her body, leaving the bloody muscles exposed.
“My lord, this is all your fault!” Cui Niu shouted furiously. “Because of you, my wife died such a terrible death! If you don’t give me an explanation today, I’ll go to Jingcheng and accuse you before the imperial court!”
“Exactly. If the magistrate hadn’t forbidden sacrifices to the River God, the Cui family’s wife would never have met this fate.”
“What a sin! Girls aren’t worth anything. What’s wrong with killing one?”
“That’s right. This magistrate can’t be a good man. He must be corrupt.”
“He is! I saw him secretly taking someone else’s money.”
“Really? I’ve done that too?” Liu Ye asked in amazement, munching sunflower seeds.
“Of course it’s true. I saw it with my own eyes. How could it be-”
The speaker abruptly realized something was wrong. He turned and found Liu Ye watching the discussion with avid interest.
The man fell silent.
We’re talking about you. Why are you listening like this is the most entertaining gossip you’ve ever heard?
“Magistrate Liu, come back!” Eunuch Wu called helplessly. “We’re hearing a case.”
“Oh, right!”
Liu Ye tossed away the seed shells, dusted off his hands, and returned to his seat.
The court runners were looking at him differently now.
Once the seed of suspicion had been planted, it no longer mattered whether the accusation was true. People believed what they had already decided.
Even if it was false, so what? Could anyone guarantee Liu Ye was completely innocent? Had he truly never done anything wrong?
Watching from the shadows, Wuxinzi could not help admiring his master’s methods. As the saying went, enough voices could melt metal, while accumulated slander could strip flesh from bone. Let Liu Ye try to explain his way out of this.
Liu Ye looked down at Cui Niu.
“Cui Niu, you made a mistake just now. Your wife didn’t die because of me. I killed her. The River God had nothing to do with it. Since you demand an explanation, I’ll give you one. I’ve decided to reunite you with your wife!”
Cui Niu fell silent.
So did Wuxinzi.
So did the onlookers.
This man wasn’t following the script at all!
“Perfect timing. The magistrate’s office is holding a special promotion today. Since you were the first person to sign in two days in a row, we’ve prepared a selection of exclusive instruments of punishment. Advisor Qi…”
Liu Ye paused.
“Oh, sorry. I forgot Advisor Qi isn’t here. Eunuch Wu, please fetch the instruments from the back and let Mr. Cui choose how he’d like to die.”
“M-my lord!”
“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure your funeral arrangements are handled properly. Brother Guiwa once told me the most romantic way to die is to have your body cremated and the ashes scattered across the sea. If you don’t like that, we can turn you into fireworks or a chamber pot… Huh? Why is everyone kneeling?”
The crowd had nothing to say.
Even “vicious beyond redemption” could not describe this man.
The ancients said that death extinguished a person like a lamp, and all old grievances should be laid to rest. They had never imagined anyone could devise so many things to do with a corpse.
Grinding the bones and scattering the ashes had already been unbearable. When Liu Ye mentioned turning the remains into a chamber pot, their knees gave out.
He was the living King of Hell!
“Why are you still standing around? I’ve confessed. I killed her. Didn’t I tell you yesterday that I was going to rebel? If I’m already a rebel, what’s wrong with killing one or two people? Come on, there’s no need to doubt me. I did it.
“As for those of you accusing me of stealing money, I really do need to clarify something. You’ve wronged me there. The entirety of Nine Worlds County is my territory, which means your money is my money. How could taking my own money count as theft? Actually, don’t any of you leave later. Bring me my money. I’m a little short at the moment.”
The crowd fell silent.
They had forgotten about that little detail.
“My lord, please wait!” A man dressed as a scholar suddenly stepped forward.
“Huh? What is it?” Liu Ye asked in surprise.
“My lord, let us wind the clock back a little. Everyone, please find your previous positions.”
The crowd jumped up and hurried back to where they had been standing.
The scholar walked over to Cui Niu.
“Repeat what you said just now.”
Cui Niu stared blankly and answered on instinct.
“I said it was all because of His Lordship that my wife died so horribly…”
The scholar slapped Cui Niu across the face. Then he clasped his hands toward Liu Ye and declared sternly,
“How dare you! His Lordship is the clear sky above Nine Worlds County, a man of unbending integrity, utter selflessness, and noble character who regards money as no more valuable than dirt. Who are you to slander him?”
He dropped to his knees with a smack.
“My lord! I could not contain my righteous anger when I heard this man defame you! Please punish me. Of course, even if given another chance, I would still strike this monstrously wicked criminal!”
The others stared at him.
Could you leave a few flattering phrases for the rest of us?
Another scholar thumped to his knees.
“My lord! This man is despicable and incapable of speaking a single honest word. I believe there must be hidden circumstances behind this case!”
“No, there aren’t. I really did-”
Before Liu Ye could finish, a constable appeared beside the corpse as though he had been there all along.
“My lord, please observe. The victim died with a hideous expression of disbelief. Based on my more than thirty years of investigative experience, the killer must have been someone she knew well!”
“You don’t need to observe anything. I did it. Stop making things up.”
“My lord, the only person who knew Madam Cui well was Cui Niu. The rest of us merely recognized her!”
“My lord, I saw Cui Niu sneaking around yesterday! He must have been up to no good!”
Cui Niu was dumbfounded. For the first time, he realized human beings could be this shameless.
Admittedly, he really had killed her. But these people were framing him without the slightest regard for right and wrong. That was going too far!
“Exactly! They lived under the same roof. How could he fail to notice his wife was dead? My lord, he’s the prime suspect!” someone else shouted.
“My lord, I have evidence! Cui Niu once complained to me that his wife was useless because she only gave him daughters!”
“Yes, yes! His wife always opposed the sacrifices to the River God. She secretly sent their first five daughters away. They must have quarreled over that, and Cui Niu killed her in a rage!”
“Precisely! This deranged villain even tried to frame His Lordship. But heaven’s law sees all. Do we not know what kind of man His Lordship is? Bah! Cui Niu is utterly shameless.”
Eunuch Wu said nothing.
It feels as though none of you are much better.
Someone else came running in from outside, holding an object above his head.
“My lord, I found the murder weapon in his well!”
“My lord, I found his diary too! It describes the entire crime in meticulous detail!”
Wuxinzi stared at them.
This is too much! Who writes down every detail of his own crime for someone else to read?
And the page was covered in tiny, immaculate script. If Cui Niu could write like that, why would he be a fisherman?