Chapter 169 Cui Ziliang’s Confusion
It was silent in the trial hall and the sound of a falling pin could be heard. The atmosphere was weird.
Everyone had a different expression, but they all stared at Cui Ziliang and Su Li.
Cui Ziliang said loudly. His voice pa.s.sed through the courtyard and people who looked at the scene outside could hear him. It immediately caused a commotion.
“It was Su Li who had done it!”
“It’s terrible. Su Huanli is her father. Even if he is selfish, did she have to kill the innocent people in revenge?”
“The young girl is so vicious and must be killed!”
“She doesn’t deserve the t.i.tle of the ‘most talented girl in Yunjing City’. Some people preached that she is not only innocent and kind, but also versatile. I almost believe them.”
“Su Xiuxiu looks down upon the civilians, but she is not so vicious. After this incident, it seems that the t.i.tle of ‘the most talented girl in Yunjing’ will be back to Miss Su…”
“The killer must pay for the crimes and it’s just right!”
“Ha-ha-ha-ha. The master of the Ma Family is not a good person and he deserves to die! It’s nice to kill a vicious girl due to the death of the master!”
“…”
The soldiers who stopped the people were expressionless and there weren’t waves of emotions in their hearts. They were the most crack lurkers of the Yinmo Cult hidden in the Ministry of Penalty. No matter Su Li was great or merciless, they would carry out the order of the Hierarch unconditionally.
“I’m wronged, please make it clear, lord… Filial piety is the foundation of all virtues. My father and mother brought me up. That is already a immerse grace. The Baiwei Building is also our self-run industry. How can I make such a horrible thing to the Baiwei Building?”
Su Li knelt on the ground with her weak body trembled. Her tone was slightly fl.u.s.tered under Cui Ziliang’s influence but her reb.u.t.tal was extremely clear without any flaws.
Chen Gong breathed a sigh of relief, and if Su Li was really scared and talked nonsense, it would be hard for him to deal with the scene.
“Cui Ziliang, watch your tone of interrogation. Can the people of the Supervisory Ministry be so unbearable? How could you say such words to induce the interrogation?”
Ling Qinglan patted the folding fan and said. His tone was calm but with a bit of aggressiveness.
Cui Ziliang looked slightly pale for a moment and then he returned to normal. He gave a fist and palm salute and said with a smile, “Lord Chen and Lord Ling, I’m anxious and abrupt. Pardon me, please.”
The prisoner was most confused at the beginning of the trial. He wanted to intimidate Su Li and made her confess her guilt. Even if he didn’t succeed, he won’t lose anything. If he succeeded… then he would make a great contribution! So, he definitely had a try.
Chen Gong saw through his tricks and sneered inwardly. Then he said in a stern voice, “The trial is not a trifling matter. Cui Ziliang, if there is another time, I will ask you to go out. Do you understand?”
Cui Ziliang was pale at once and thought that Chen Gong was really as stupid and picky as how people described him in the rumor. He was not pleasant at all.
Sang He watched them with a smile, and did not mean to help Cui Ziliang at all. Although both of them were senior officials of the Supervisory Ministry, they did not follow the same road.
Chen Gong put in order the testimony that he had prepared in the past seven days, then he looked up and asked, “Sang He, will you make an interrogation?”
Sang He immediately got up and respectfully replied, “Please start your testimony and I sit in on it. If I have any questions, I will ask you.”
“Alright.”
Feeling the kindness of Sang He, Chen Gong felt relieved slightly and did not pay attention to Ling Qinglan at all. Then he said in a loud voice, “Su Li, don’t care what Lord Cui just said. Now I ask you, where were you when the case happened?”
“I was going to the Affiliated School of the National Academy as usual. Before I went out, I was stopped by my Third Sister who came in from the outside, and she told me that father let me go to the Baiwei Building to help. So, I went there hurriedly. When I came to the Baiwei Building, my father told me that several boilers were broken and I went to the back room to repair them. You all knew what happened next…”
Su Li said vividly and the logic of the occurrence of the incident was extremely clear. Hearing what Su Li said, Chen Gong frequently nodded, and Cui Ziliang looked gloomier.
When Su Huanli heard Su Li’ words, he felt astounded. He turned around and asked, “Is it Zipei who told you that I was looking for you to go to the Baiwei Building?”
There weren’t waves of emotions in Su Li’s heart, but she pretended to be confused and said, “Yeah, what’s wrong, father?”
When Su Huanli thought of what Su Zipei and her mother had done with Mam. Su-Cui in the Dasu Town, he became furious at once.
It must be done by Zhu Yan again!
Thinking of this, he kowtowed to Chen Gong and said excitedly, “Lord! I had never seen my Third Daughter, Su Zipei, that day. She is stubborn and stupid and she loves to make troubles to our family since she was a little girl… This time… she definitely had done something privately!”
Su Huanli spared no effort to speak ill of Su Zipei, and his grievance that he was imprisoned for so many days were almost completely vented.
Chen Gong still looked stern and he said to the soldiers who were waiting outside, “Call Su Zipei into the trial hall!”
Chen Gong, who knew what happened clearly, knew Su Zipei, but the person with a mask Su Zipei met was arranged by Wu Jin. She could do nothing at all even if she came here.
However, he couldn’t explain the origin of the clue and had to do like that with patience.
After a while, Su Zipei was taken to the trail hall. She was pale but not fl.u.s.tered at all. She seemed to have known that she would be summoned.
“I am Su Zipei, lord!”
Bang!
The attention-catching block was immediately patted. Su Zipei was so scared that her heartbeat was out of order when she heard the bang.
“Su Zipei, let me ask you, why did you lure Su Li into the Baiwei Building in the name of Su Huan Li that day when the incident happened?”
Chen Gong said in a cold voice, and he was in a completely different manner than the way when he interrogated Su Li. He said, “If you dare to lie, you will get severe punishment!”
Su Zipei gritted her teeth and said in a sweet voice under great pressure, “I dare not to say nonsense! I did not go out at all that morning and just went around the house, and then I went back to talk to my Second Sister. In fact, the Second Sister told me all those words at the night before, and we said that to our Eldest Brother so as to make evidence!”
When hearing Su Zipei’s words, all people in the hall changed their expressions. Even Su Li felt shocked and her expression changed slightly.
The more Su Zipei said, the calmer she became. She was completely immersed in the scene in the end and said calmly, “She said as long as I did what she said, she would help me to restore my relations.h.i.+p with my Eldest Brother. I didn’t think much about it and agreed. But I didn’t expect my Second Sister would be so mad and made such a conscienceless thing!”
When Cui Ziliang heard Su Zipei’s words, he felt stupefied and immediately became happy slightly. Then he almost burst into laughter.
He did not expect that Su Zipei could come up with such an excellent plan and s.h.i.+fted the blame onto Su Li. In this way, Su Li was inexcusable.
“Sheer nonsense!”
Chen Gong was shocked and furious. He struck the table in anger. He stared at Su Zipei and said, “Su Zipei, do you know what kind of punishment you will receive for falsifying evidence according to the laws of Dahan Country?”
A hint of panic flashed through Su Zipei’s eyes, but when she thought of what the woman had said, she became bold. She straightened her crouching body up and said in a loud voice, “Lord! What I said is true. If there is one word that is not true, I’m willing to be struck by lightning!”
Chen Gong looked completely gloomy, and Cui Ziliang instantly laughed,
“Why are you angry, Lord Chen? Su Zipei has made such a serious oath, and she has no conflict of interest with this case. Her words are worth believing! Therefore, Su Li must have told a lie. The case is so clear, and so as the evidence. Lord Chen, aren’t you going to wind up the case? A half day has pa.s.sed, we can go back to report on our mission.”
For a while, there was full of silence in the trial hall. The outside of the Ministry of Penalty became noisier.
“What are you saying? Wind up the case?!”
“Has Su Li been convicted?”
“With such bad sins, she is supposed to be beheaded in public at 12:45. Only in this way can common people who are furious be appeased!”
“What happened? There is no final conviction about her guilt. Chen Gong is an upright and cruel official, why is he so indecisive…”
Chen Gong was in sweat, and he felt so helpless.
He was careless!
Su Zipei made a false testimony and forced Su Li into a dead end. He could not find any reason to continue the interrogation. He pinched the paper and sighed inwardly. he prepared a pile of case paper, but not one piece of it was used!
Seeing that Chen Gong with a stern expression didn’t speak, Gong Ziliang instantly smiled and said, “It seems that Lord Chen has no objection. If so, I sentence…”
Su Zipei couldn’t help but look up and stare at Cui Ziliang excitedly with expectations.
“Wait a minute!”
Cui Ziliang looked at Sang He who had never spoken beside him. Sang He interrupted him and said, “Why are you so impatient, Lord Cui? I think it is rare to have a joint trial of three divisions. It is necessary to pay more attention to the details. If the case is settled in such a cursory way, it doesn’t make sense.”
Cui Ziliang became furious at once. Then he pointed to Sang He and said angrily, “Sang He, what do you mean?”
Sang He was slim, and he looked tired because of great vicissitudes he had experienced, but he smiled still. He spread out his hand and said, “Why are you angry, Lord Cui? I only consider the thing as it stands. How can you be convinced to settle the case with a testimony that no one knows whether it is true or false?”
“… You!”
Cui Ziliang’s eyes widened and he did not finish what he said. Then he was interrupted by another person.
The one who spoke was actually Ma Weiming, the victim Ma Ling’s father.
Su Li and Su Huanli were in front of him. Ma Weiming glanced at them with no hatred in his eyes. Instead, he said angrily, “Lord Cui, I also think that there are many flaws in the case. My son can’t die in vain and I can’t let the real killer get away after the murder. The case still needs to be examined again. Don’t wind up the case at will!”
Ma Jintian looked at Ma Weiming in surprise. He wondered where Ma Weiming got the news. Fortunately, the Seventh Lord was wise and what he said had no conflict with Ma Weiming. Then Ma Jintian immediately smiled and said,
“I agree with Lord Ma. Lord Cui, the Supervisory Ministry tries a case in such a rough way, I guess that there must be many unjust and misjudged cases these years. In my opinion, Lord Cui can hand over the cases of these years to the Ministry of Penalty and try them all over again. Maybe you can find more.”
“Hey, it’s interesting… Little Ma talked in a shrewd way just like me!”
Ma Jintian originally felt that he was high-spirited and vigorous, but when he heard Ling Li’s words, he instantly became gloomy. Then he said angrily, “Who’s Little Ma?!”
The situation took a sudden turn and became worse rapidly. Cui Ziliang stared at something blankly and felt cold.
Sang He suddenly changed his tune and he could understand that. But why didn’t Ma Weiming support him, and let Chen Gong continue the trial? This was totally different from what he expected!
There were also two young childes who came from the Ma and Ling families separately and who he must not provoke. They even helped Ma Weiming.
Cui Ziliang saw that Chen Gong smiled weirdly, and he suddenly came to his sense. Only then did he realize that in this trial hall, it’s only him who wanted to punish the Su Family, and other people actually didn’t want that?!
Man, what the h.e.l.l was going on?