Chapter 170 Settling a Case in Uproar
The situation changed too fast and there was no time for Chen Gong to think much. He immediately took advantage of an opportunity and said, “I don’t think it is right to close the case in a hurry. Since both Lord Sang and Lord Wei have this willingness, I will continue to interrogate!”
Su Zipei was battered out of her senses. She knelt next to Su Li, but she was like a rag that was forgotten in the corner and no one looked at her at all. It seemed that only Cui Ziliang heard what she just said and that everyone else turned a deaf ear.
Why?!
Su Zipei’s eyes flashed with much unwillingness. She tightly clenched the tips of her hands hidden in sleeves. Her whole body trembled slightly. She looked extremely bitter and a little scared!
She had done so many things, but… she still couldn’t defeat Su Li, could she?
The witch who had died once said Su Li was such a survivor. Her words turned out to be true.
At this time, Chen Gong picked up an old piece of wood on the table and handed it to Sang He to show it to the public. Then he pondered deeply and said in a very calm voice, “In fact, I have a clear understanding of the case and am seventy percent sure to catch the real murderer. The Su Family is not the murderer, but the victim!”
When ordinary people heard Chen Gong’s words, they were all in uproar!
Cui Ziliang felt shocked and the expressions of others changed slightly. Even Ling Qinglan’s expression also changed a lot. He glanced at Ling Li furtively, but Ling Li frowned slightly and seemed to know nothing about it.
Didn’t Ling Li help? What could Chen Gong, a loner, find out?
Ling Qinglan blinked and didn’t make a sound. Then he took the piece of wood and looked at it carefully. He soon saw a trace of burning in the middle of the slightly burnt block. The trace was a new one.
“Lord Chen, can you let me see it?”
Ma Weiming also had a heavy breath. He didn’t have much expectation, but Chen Gong’s performance gave him a little confidence.
“Lord Ma, do as you please.”
Chen Gong stood up and handed the wooden block to Ma Weiming’s hand, and then he said in a loud voice, “After the medical examiner examined the corpse of Ma Ling, many new clues were found! The poison of Ma Ling and the three other people shares the same origin with the poison of other guests in the Baiwei Building, but the two poisons are different!”
When Chen Gong said, the medical examiner standing on one side immediately presented a piece of paper to Sang He and Ling Qinglan.
The medical examiner of the Ministry of Penalty was just an ordinary person. Ling Qinglan took the paper unconcernedly. After he saw the words on the paper, his expression immediately changed.
Three poisons were mixed and caused violent death at once!
How could this be found out by a common medical examiner?
Ling Qinglan looked up to look at Chen Gong. Then he meditated for a while and thought there were still capable persons around Chen Gong.
Ling Li lazily scrabbled around his ears and easily knew that Su Li tested the poison. That ordinary medical examiner couldn’t find out the Deadly Powder.
Ma Weiming’s hands trembled. He looked at the autopsy results. The results were very clear. The rest of the guests in the Baiwei Building were poisoned by the mixture of two poisons while his son was poisoned by the mixture of three poisons which caused violent death of his son!
Although he was not a person in the martial arts circle, he knew that an ordinary winery couldn’t make such unpredictable means. Undoubtedly, the extraordinary person with special abilities in Jianghu was involved!
Chen Gong sat back in the original position and talked frankly with a.s.surance, “I cut this piece of wood from the square table in the Baiwei Building personally. The burning trace is linear. It is left by the sandalwood. It can be speculated from the trace that it occurred on the day of the crime. The waiters said that the incision was made from the position where Ma Ling sat before his death. Therefore, I speculate that it was Ma Ling that burned the sandalwood!
“What?”
Ma Weiming immediately stood up and looked angry. He said loudly, “Impossible! How can my son be a murderer? I spoiled him a bit, but he didn’t dare to kill anyone.”
“I also think it is impossible!”
Cui Ziliang finally found a chance to intervene and said, “Lord Chen, you said that Ma Ling was killed by the mixed poison. Such a strange poison couldn’t be mastered by the ordinary people. Remember: Su Li is the apprentice of the miracle-working doctor Qi Xianqing. Doctors have a very good command of the property of a medicine. It is easy for them to poison. Therefore, Su Li is most likely to commit a crime. Why does Lord Chen argue for her again?”
Chen Gong smiled coldly and said, “Lord Cui repeatedly wants to let an innocent person plead guilty. What’s your purpose? Have I touched on the raw? The flunky around someone can’t stand it. Right?”
Cui Ziliang’s expression changed greatly. He became shocked and angry. Then he said, “Chen Gong, what do you mean? Don’t slander me venomously!”
Seeing that the situation was getting more and more tense, Sang He immediately stood up and persuaded them. He said, “Lord Chen and Lord Cui, calm your anger. There are three divisions jointly trying the case, and ordinary people are watching. If someone intentionally creates a rumor, it might make the emperor angry.”
Cui Ziliang stopped breathing temporarily. He turned his head and saw that a large number of people of the Yunjing City were talking about it in the doorway. He had to temporarily calm his anger and sit back.
Chen Gong saw the scene and didn’t challenge Cui Ziliang anymore. He continued to say, “Lord Wei, hold your horse. I did say that Ma Ling poisoned, but he was not the murderer.”
Hearing Chen Gong’s words, Ma Weiming felt astonished. Chen Gong shouted at this moment, “Call Tang Lei into the trial hall!”
Tang Lei?
Which Tang Lei?
Ma Jintian looked out in surprise and immediately saw that a fat man who was paunchy came here. He looked back and glanced at Ling Li, who was distracted. Then he couldn’t help but smooth his lips.
He didn’t expect that the “Three Useless Persons in Yunjing” actually got together on this occasion.
Ma Weiming was astonished too. He said inwardly, “Isn’t he the eldest son of Lord Tang? What is he doing here?”
Tang Lei came to such an occasion for the first time and looked slightly nervous. But he had an extraordinary origin and had good manners. He said, “Tang Lei is here to meet Lord Chen.”
Chen Gong slightly nodded and said, “Tang Lei, tell us in detail what happened to you and Ma Ling.”
Tang Lei immediately made his dialogue with Ma Ling public. He was a very simple person. When he spoke, he did not expect that his words would affect the situation to what extent and that he represented not only himself but also the entire Prime Minister Tang’s Mansion in the eyes of some evil men.
Cui Ziliang finally became extremely pale, and he even had a grudge against Wu Jin and the Eldest Prince.
Was this the flawless case mentioned by them?
The case was clearly full of flaws!
Ma Weiming looked furious and said, “So, my son was instigated to poison and then killed?”
“That’s true!”
Chen Gong said in a sterner voice, “The origin of the third poison is unclear. I speculate that when Ma Ling contacted the real murderer, he was poisoned by the murderer furtively with the first poison. That’s the start of this tragedy!!”
“Darned! Who was so crazy?!”
Ma Weiming looked furious. He pounded the table and stood up!
He stayed at home last night, and instantly an arrow shot from hiding hit his bed and scared him to death. The arrow was tied with a piece of scrip. When he opened it, there was only one line. It said that the case of the Baiwei Building was controlled by the Eldest Prince on the sly.
He thought hard all night and was dubious, but he did not want his son to die in vain. Today, he came to sit in on it and to prove it. If even Chen Gong said that the Su Family was behind the case, then he would persuade himself that he had never seen the scrip.
But what he had seen and heard today let him believe the content of the scrip.
“So much evidence is enough to prove that the Su Family is not guilty. The family is actually the victim. Lord Chen. Who is the real murderer in your opinion?”
Sang He asked with a smile, as if he was not surprised by what Chen Gong said at all.
The result was certain. Chen Gong smiled and said in a low voice, “The mixing of three poisons is extremely difficult. It cannot be mastered by the ordinary people. In view of this, I have not hesitated to contact people in the martial arts circle these days and finally find out that the poison in Ma Ling’s body is the famous Deadly Powder of the Hehuan Sect!”
Hehuan Sect!
Deadly Powder!
Chen Gong said loudly. Both everyone in the trial hall and the people who watched the scene of bustle outside heard it clearly.
Cui Ziliang’s expression changed greatly and he immediately sneered.
Both Ling Li and Ling Qinglan felt shocked. Chen Gong… dared to say it.
Su Li lowered her head and frowned slightly. She thought it was not a joke to annoy a ninth-grade sect.
It was conceivable that after this public trial, no one would pay attention to the Su Family. Chen Gong would be in the spotlight. At this moment, he was like an open fire in the darkness. He could only obediently wait for the claws in the dark to catch him!
Did Chen Gong court death?
When she thought of Chen Gong’s home without anything valuable and the house which was full of festive lanterns, she had a mixed feeling.
“Su Zipei!”
Chen Gong, who was stern-eyed, did not seem to know that he was in danger. He suddenly looked at Su Zipei, who knelt on the side, and said in a cold voice, “Under the circ.u.mstances, do you still want to give false testimony and kill you sister? If you don’t tell the truth again, I can only regard you as an accomplice in this case and put you in jail!”
When Su Zipei heard Chen Gong’s words like demons to attack her, she was almost scared to pee. She immediately climbed up and kotowed hard. She said,
“Lord, please spare my life! I was deceived by someone. In fact, a masked man found me that day. He told me to say in this way and gave me ten thousand of taels of silver. I thought that it was very easy to just say what he told me. So, I couldn’t help… Then he found me again and said that if I didn’t do what he said, he would put me in jail. I was afraid.”
“Do you betray your father and sister for only ten thousand of taels? You are mortally afraid of death and heartless. How can Su Li have such a vicious and mercenary sister like you?”
When Chen Gong heard the words, he felt furious and couldn’t help but scorn. In Su Li’s family, there weren’t good persons expect Su Qingtan and Su Li.
“I dare not do that anymore!”
Su Zipei cried with tears and mucus flowing down rapidly. It was very disgusting. A group of waiters who knew that they had got rid of their crimes were relaxed. They couldn’t help but move their bodies, and their eyes were full of disgust.
They thought inwardly that even if they married an ugly girl, they would never marry such a vicious miss like Su Zipei.
Bang!
The attention-catching block made a sound.
Chen Gong stood in front of the hall and looked dignified. His voice was like a large bell. He said, “After eight days of hard investigation, I have found out that the real murderer of the case of the Baiwei Building is the Hehuan Sect, a power of the Jianghu. I will report it to the imperial court and ask the Hehuan Sect for an explanation!”
Chen Gong looked at Su Li at this moment. He became kind and said, “Acquit the Su Family!”
Clamor—
The crowd was in uproar and the news of the public trial was quickly spread throughout the Yunjing City, as if it had wings.
Chapter 170 Settling a Case in Uproar
The situation changed too fast and there was no time for Chen Gong to think much. He immediately took advantage of an opportunity and said, “I don’t think it is right to close the case in a hurry. Since both Lord Sang and Lord Wei have this willingness, I will continue to interrogate!”
Su Zipei was battered out of her senses. She knelt next to Su Li, but she was like a rag that was forgotten in the corner and no one looked at her at all. It seemed that only Cui Ziliang heard what she just said and that everyone else turned a deaf ear.
Why?!
Su Zipei’s eyes flashed with much unwillingness. She tightly clenched the tips of her hands hidden in sleeves. Her whole body trembled slightly. She looked extremely bitter and a little scared!
She had done so many things, but… she still couldn’t defeat Su Li, could she?
The witch who had died once said Su Li was such a survivor. Her words turned out to be true.
At this time, Chen Gong picked up an old piece of wood on the table and handed it to Sang He to show it to the public. Then he pondered deeply and said in a very calm voice, “In fact, I have a clear understanding of the case and am seventy percent sure to catch the real murderer. The Su Family is not the murderer, but the victim!”
When ordinary people heard Chen Gong’s words, they were all in uproar!
Cui Ziliang felt shocked and the expressions of others changed slightly. Even Ling Qinglan’s expression also changed a lot. He glanced at Ling Li furtively, but Ling Li frowned slightly and seemed to know nothing about it.
Didn’t Ling Li help? What could Chen Gong, a loner, find out?
Ling Qinglan blinked and didn’t make a sound. Then he took the piece of wood and looked at it carefully. He soon saw a trace of burning in the middle of the slightly burnt block. The trace was a new one.
“Lord Chen, can you let me see it?”
Ma Weiming also had a heavy breath. He didn’t have much expectation, but Chen Gong’s performance gave him a little confidence.
“Lord Ma, do as you please.”
Chen Gong stood up and handed the wooden block to Ma Weiming’s hand, and then he said in a loud voice, “After the medical examiner examined the corpse of Ma Ling, many new clues were found! The poison of Ma Ling and the three other people shares the same origin with the poison of other guests in the Baiwei Building, but the two poisons are different!”
When Chen Gong said, the medical examiner standing on one side immediately presented a piece of paper to Sang He and Ling Qinglan.
The medical examiner of the Ministry of Penalty was just an ordinary person. Ling Qinglan took the paper unconcernedly. After he saw the words on the paper, his expression immediately changed.
Three poisons were mixed and caused violent death at once!
How could this be found out by a common medical examiner?
Ling Qinglan looked up to look at Chen Gong. Then he meditated for a while and thought there were still capable persons around Chen Gong.
Ling Li lazily scrabbled around his ears and easily knew that Su Li tested the poison. That ordinary medical examiner couldn’t find out the Deadly Powder.
Ma Weiming’s hands trembled. He looked at the autopsy results. The results were very clear. The rest of the guests in the Baiwei Building were poisoned by the mixture of two poisons while his son was poisoned by the mixture of three poisons which caused violent death of his son!
Although he was not a person in the martial arts circle, he knew that an ordinary winery couldn’t make such unpredictable means. Undoubtedly, the extraordinary person with special abilities in Jianghu was involved!
Chen Gong sat back in the original position and talked frankly with a.s.surance, “I cut this piece of wood from the square table in the Baiwei Building personally. The burning trace is linear. It is left by the sandalwood. It can be speculated from the trace that it occurred on the day of the crime. The waiters said that the incision was made from the position where Ma Ling sat before his death. Therefore, I speculate that it was Ma Ling that burned the sandalwood!
“What?”
Ma Weiming immediately stood up and looked angry. He said loudly, “Impossible! How can my son be a murderer? I spoiled him a bit, but he didn’t dare to kill anyone.”
“I also think it is impossible!”
Cui Ziliang finally found a chance to intervene and said, “Lord Chen, you said that Ma Ling was killed by the mixed poison. Such a strange poison couldn’t be mastered by the ordinary people. Remember: Su Li is the apprentice of the miracle-working doctor Qi Xianqing. Doctors have a very good command of the property of a medicine. It is easy for them to poison. Therefore, Su Li is most likely to commit a crime. Why does Lord Chen argue for her again?”
Chen Gong smiled coldly and said, “Lord Cui repeatedly wants to let an innocent person plead guilty. What’s your purpose? Have I touched on the raw? The flunky around someone can’t stand it. Right?”
Cui Ziliang’s expression changed greatly. He became shocked and angry. Then he said, “Chen Gong, what do you mean? Don’t slander me venomously!”
Seeing that the situation was getting more and more tense, Sang He immediately stood up and persuaded them. He said, “Lord Chen and Lord Cui, calm your anger. There are three divisions jointly trying the case, and ordinary people are watching. If someone intentionally creates a rumor, it might make the emperor angry.”
Cui Ziliang stopped breathing temporarily. He turned his head and saw that a large number of people of the Yunjing City were talking about it in the doorway. He had to temporarily calm his anger and sit back.
Chen Gong saw the scene and didn’t challenge Cui Ziliang anymore. He continued to say, “Lord Wei, hold your horse. I did say that Ma Ling poisoned, but he was not the murderer.”
Hearing Chen Gong’s words, Ma Weiming felt astonished. Chen Gong shouted at this moment, “Call Tang Lei into the trial hall!”
Tang Lei?
Which Tang Lei?
Ma Jintian looked out in surprise and immediately saw that a fat man who was paunchy came here. He looked back and glanced at Ling Li, who was distracted. Then he couldn’t help but smooth his lips.
He didn’t expect that the “Three Useless Persons in Yunjing” actually got together on this occasion.
Ma Weiming was astonished too. He said inwardly, “Isn’t he the eldest son of Lord Tang? What is he doing here?”
Tang Lei came to such an occasion for the first time and looked slightly nervous. But he had an extraordinary origin and had good manners. He said, “Tang Lei is here to meet Lord Chen.”
Chen Gong slightly nodded and said, “Tang Lei, tell us in detail what happened to you and Ma Ling.”
Tang Lei immediately made his dialogue with Ma Ling public. He was a very simple person. When he spoke, he did not expect that his words would affect the situation to what extent and that he represented not only himself but also the entire Prime Minister Tang’s Mansion in the eyes of some evil men.
Cui Ziliang finally became extremely pale, and he even had a grudge against Wu Jin and the Eldest Prince.
Was this the flawless case mentioned by them?
The case was clearly full of flaws!
Ma Weiming looked furious and said, “So, my son was instigated to poison and then killed?”
“That’s true!”
Chen Gong said in a sterner voice, “The origin of the third poison is unclear. I speculate that when Ma Ling contacted the real murderer, he was poisoned by the murderer furtively with the first poison. That’s the start of this tragedy!!”
“Darned! Who was so crazy?!”
Ma Weiming looked furious. He pounded the table and stood up!
He stayed at home last night, and instantly an arrow shot from hiding hit his bed and scared him to death. The arrow was tied with a piece of scrip. When he opened it, there was only one line. It said that the case of the Baiwei Building was controlled by the Eldest Prince on the sly.
He thought hard all night and was dubious, but he did not want his son to die in vain. Today, he came to sit in on it and to prove it. If even Chen Gong said that the Su Family was behind the case, then he would persuade himself that he had never seen the scrip.
But what he had seen and heard today let him believe the content of the scrip.
“So much evidence is enough to prove that the Su Family is not guilty. The family is actually the victim. Lord Chen. Who is the real murderer in your opinion?”
Sang He asked with a smile, as if he was not surprised by what Chen Gong said at all.
The result was certain. Chen Gong smiled and said in a low voice, “The mixing of three poisons is extremely difficult. It cannot be mastered by the ordinary people. In view of this, I have not hesitated to contact people in the martial arts circle these days and finally find out that the poison in Ma Ling’s body is the famous Deadly Powder of the Hehuan Sect!”
Hehuan Sect!
Deadly Powder!
Chen Gong said loudly. Both everyone in the trial hall and the people who watched the scene of bustle outside heard it clearly.
Cui Ziliang’s expression changed greatly and he immediately sneered.
Both Ling Li and Ling Qinglan felt shocked. Chen Gong… dared to say it.
Su Li lowered her head and frowned slightly. She thought it was not a joke to annoy a ninth-grade sect.
It was conceivable that after this public trial, no one would pay attention to the Su Family. Chen Gong would be in the spotlight. At this moment, he was like an open fire in the darkness. He could only obediently wait for the claws in the dark to catch him!
Did Chen Gong court death?
When she thought of Chen Gong’s home without anything valuable and the house which was full of festive lanterns, she had a mixed feeling.
“Su Zipei!”
Chen Gong, who was stern-eyed, did not seem to know that he was in danger. He suddenly looked at Su Zipei, who knelt on the side, and said in a cold voice, “Under the circ.u.mstances, do you still want to give false testimony and kill you sister? If you don’t tell the truth again, I can only regard you as an accomplice in this case and put you in jail!”
When Su Zipei heard Chen Gong’s words like demons to attack her, she was almost scared to pee. She immediately climbed up and kotowed hard. She said,
“Lord, please spare my life! I was deceived by someone. In fact, a masked man found me that day. He told me to say in this way and gave me ten thousand of taels of silver. I thought that it was very easy to just say what he told me. So, I couldn’t help… Then he found me again and said that if I didn’t do what he said, he would put me in jail. I was afraid.”
“Do you betray your father and sister for only ten thousand of taels? You are mortally afraid of death and heartless. How can Su Li have such a vicious and mercenary sister like you?”
When Chen Gong heard the words, he felt furious and couldn’t help but scorn. In Su Li’s family, there weren’t good persons expect Su Qingtan and Su Li.
“I dare not do that anymore!”
Su Zipei cried with tears and mucus flowing down rapidly. It was very disgusting. A group of waiters who knew that they had got rid of their crimes were relaxed. They couldn’t help but move their bodies, and their eyes were full of disgust.
They thought inwardly that even if they married an ugly girl, they would never marry such a vicious miss like Su Zipei.
Bang!
The attention-catching block made a sound.
Chen Gong stood in front of the hall and looked dignified. His voice was like a large bell. He said, “After eight days of hard investigation, I have found out that the real murderer of the case of the Baiwei Building is the Hehuan Sect, a power of the Jianghu. I will report it to the imperial court and ask the Hehuan Sect for an explanation!”
Chen Gong looked at Su Li at this moment. He became kind and said, “Acquit the Su Family!”
Clamor—
The crowd was in uproar and the news of the public trial was quickly spread throughout the Yunjing City, as if it had wings.