Black Lotus Concubine's Case-solving Notes

Chapter 153 Not asking for trouble

"Not only that, you also asked your mother and wife to give false testimony on your behalf."

"How is that possible! Madam, there is no evidence, please don't slander me!" Jiang Huaichuan's heart was pounding.

"Brother Jiang, you..." Zhou Gongyi pointed at his nose in surprise.

Jiang Huaichuan subconsciously raised his sleeve and wiped his nose. The originally white cuff immediately turned scarlet. He was so anxious that he had a nosebleed.

Jiang Huaichuan became more and more worried. He took out a handkerchief from his sleeve and was about to cover his nose, but his hand was held down hard by a piece of steel. He was startled and looked down. It was not a piece of steel, but a woman's slender hand.

Jiang Huaichuan wanted to break free, but those hands locked him tightly like shackles, and he couldn't move at all.

His white robe fell back along his wrist, revealing a pale left hand with distinct knuckles, a hand that could hold a pen. However, the little finger on such a beautiful hand had been cut in half and was wrapped haphazardly with white gauze, and bloodstains could be faintly seen.

"You, what are you doing! There shouldn't be physical contact between men and women!" Jiang Huaichuan blocked the severed finger with his right hand, his face flushed, not knowing whether he was embarrassed or afraid, and he coughed twice.

Feng Jia's eyes stopped at his face: "You have sores in your mouth and tongue, a dry cough without phlegm, and your nose bleeds when you get excited. Mr. Jiang, has something happened at home recently that has you so anxious and angry?"

"What does it have to do with you!" Jiang Huaichuan became angry and embarrassed.

"Catch him for me." Shi Xun glanced at Li Yunyu, and then spoke lightly.

Two strong officials lifted Jiang Huaichuan up from the left and right. One kicked him on the knee and the other pressed his arm to make him unable to move. Jiang Huaichuan fell to the ground in embarrassment and screamed, "Sir! How can you arrest people without knowing the truth?"

"Without distinguishing right from wrong?" This was said by Feng Jia.

Her eyebrows were curved, and her tone was gentle, but Jiang Huaichuan suddenly felt a little scared, and goose bumps almost fell to the ground. After a while, he stiffened his neck in dissatisfaction: "I'm going to beat the drum to report to the emperor! I'm going to file a complaint! Is the Dali Temple so great? Can it just exploit the common people for no reason!"

"Sir, is there any misunderstanding here?" Zhou Gongyi spoke up for his friend.

Jiang Yun tilted his head and whispered in Feng Jia's ear, "This scholar is so weak that he can't even tie a chicken. It's impossible for him to have the strength to push the dead into the water tank. Ninth Miss, is there really a misunderstanding?"

"I'm not treating him for murder."

"Ah?" Jiang Yun was even more confused. "Then what you are treating is..."

"Theft."

Jiang Huaichuan's body shook violently, but he still held on, "Unfair! Unfair!"

Feng Jia squatted down and looked him in the eye: "I'll give you one more chance. If you confess, it will still be considered surrendering, and the punishment from Jingzhao Prefecture will be lighter. If you don't confess now, and wait for me to tell you, then your crime will be even more serious. Mr. Jiang, think it over carefully, and don't regret it later."

Jiang Huaichuan was stunned, but a voice told him that he couldn't do that. If he confessed, it would leave a criminal record. Not only would he be stripped of his title, but he would also no longer be eligible to enter the Hanlin Academy. All his ten years of hard work would be wasted!

No, this is absolutely not allowed!

"I am..." He bit his lip and shouted with determination: "I am innocent!"

Unjust? Feng Jia's eyes dimmed.

He brushed the dust off his knees and stood up. His voice seemed to be a thousand pounds of force pressing down on Jiang Huaichuan's head. He said without any emotion, "Your family is poor. You finally passed the exam to become a scholar. On weekdays, you studied and sold calligraphy and paintings to supplement your family income. But your classmates always laughed at you. You were always unwilling to give up. You accidentally discovered that gambling can make money very quickly. You can put in one tael of silver and make a hundred taels in half a day. So you indulged in gambling and couldn't extricate yourself. In the end, when you realized it, you had lost everything."

Jiang Huaichuan's pupils shrank, and he wanted to ask how did you know that, but he swallowed the words back when they came to his lips.

"Your stall was smashed a few days ago. It wasn't because of some bad guys. It was because someone came to collect a debt from you. The debt collector was someone from the gambling house. Because you owed the money first, you didn't dare to report it to the police!"

"Empty words!"

Feng Jia curled her lips and said, "Your little finger is the best evidence. Someone, take off the gauze for me!"

One of the yamen runners who was originally escorting Jiang Huaichuan immediately stepped forward and removed the gauze. They saw that the cut on Jiang Huaichuan's little finger was bleeding continuously, and two words were tattooed on the remaining half of the little finger.

"What is this word?" Jiang Yun squinted his eyes and debated for a long time before saying, "Thousand... Thousand gold?"

"That's right, Qianjin," Feng Jia looked at him coldly, "Qianjin Casino is your creditor. You couldn't pay back the money, so they cut off a part of your little finger and tattooed something on your hand. This is the best evidence that you are a gambler."

"You said you hadn't left your house since last night until noon today, but why are there bruises on your back?"

Jiang Huaichuan subconsciously reached out to touch his back, his fingers slightly stiff.

"That's because you hid behind that door this morning. The shadow that Aunt Wu saw was yours. You waited for Aunt Wu to leave and came out of the door, but you panicked and didn't even notice that your back had rubbed against the moss on the crack of the door."

"There is one more point, and it is the most important point. Lord Shi specifically asked you to call your yamen runners, so you only know that Wang Dun drowned at home, but do you remember what you said when you came in?"

Jiang Yun suddenly realized something and murmured, "He's talking about the murderer who killed someone and cut off his hand..."

"Jiang Huaichuan, Wang Dun's body was clearly covered with a white cloth. How did you know that Wang Dun had a broken hand? It's obvious that you are confessing!" Feng Jia said.

Jiang Huaichuan said nothing, his lips trembling.

"And when I asked you where you were and what you had been doing, you answered without hesitation, as if you had already figured out the answer in your mind and were waiting for us to ask... Jiang Xiucai, do you need me to continue?"

Jiang Huaichuan's face turned paler than paper and he knelt down dejectedly.

"Is what this lady said true? You went to gamble again?!"

Zhou Gongyi shook Jiang Huaichuan's shoulders, crying, "Old Jiang, what did you promise me and Wang Dun a month ago? Didn't you say you would borrow our money to pay off your gambling debts and quit gambling? Speak up! Speak up!"

"I just don't want to give up! I don't want to give up!" Jiang Huaichuan didn't know where he got the strength from, he pushed Zhou Gongyi's chest and pushed him to the ground, not knowing whether to cry or laugh, "That day I took the money you borrowed to pay off my gambling debts, but the boss of Qianjin Casino insisted that I play a game, who knew..."

"Who knew I won! It's three times as much!" Jiang Huaichuan gestured, his eyes shining, "I was itching to try my luck, so I played another round, and guess what, I won again!"

Jiang Huaichuan was so excited that his whole body was shaking. Even the yamen runner who was holding him down could hardly hold him up. "One hundred taels! It's increased tenfold! I should have stopped here, but what if I can win the next round? Wouldn't that mean I've turned the tables?"

"So you got carried away and went to gamble again?!" Zhou Gongyi's eyes were burning with anger and he shouted in disapproval.

Jiang Huaichuan was completely defeated. "I, I didn't expect... I didn't expect that I would lose! By the time I realized what was happening, I had already lost more than ten rounds in a row. Not only did I lose all the money I borrowed, but my gambling debts also increased several times. Three hundred taels... That's a full three hundred taels. I can't pay it back even if you sell me!"

"So you broke into the house and were caught by Wang Dun, so you killed him! Jiang Xiucai, Jiang Huaichuan, you are so brave!"

Jiang Yun said as he kicked Jiang Huaichuan in the chest, knocking him to the ground. Jiang Huaichuan felt a bursting pain in his chest, as if he was going to cough out his lungs, but he didn't care and kept kowtowing: "I didn't! Sir! Please believe me!"

Seeing that no one reacted, Jiang Huaichuan turned around again and knelt down in front of Feng Jia. Just as he was about to reach out to hug her knees and beg for mercy, he saw the woman who was standing only an inch away from him being pulled away by someone by the arm.

The man was wearing a ragged shirt, had a hunched back, and had gray hair hanging on both sides of his cheeks. He had a white towel used by coroners for autopsies on his face, so his features could not be seen clearly, but the exposed skin was dark and wrinkled. He must be a man in his fifties.

Li Yunyu said: "Just talk, don't do anything."