Chapter 296: Breaking the Deadlock (III)

Zhou Wenchang knew well that many people, who usually pushed others around and threw their weight about with a show of toughness, would find their hard bones softening along with their knees and tongues once they stepped into the courtroom and saw the rows of stern-faced yamen runners holding court staves.

However, the moment Zhong Piaoping spoke, Zhou Wenchang realized this man was a master.

He neither used flattering words nor launched into a torrent of self-defense. He stayed within his bounds, answering only what was asked.

"Where are you from?"

"From Nanting."

"What did you do before?"

"Ran errands, escorted boats, delivered messages—whatever odd jobs came my way to make a living."

"Why did you come to Dansui?"

"To run errands for other people, Your Honor."

"Why did you kill my yamen runner's attendant?"

"Your Honor, this humble one did not kill anyone. It was self-defense. The runner, A Shun, suddenly sprang up, seized a knife, and went to kill. When I came to report the case, I had already presented the ox-ear dagger before the court."

Zhou Wenchang raised a blood-soaked knife: "Is this the one?"

Zhong Piaoping lifted his eyes.

The blade gleamed coldly, crisscrossed with bloodstains, wrapped in cloth torn from his own clothes—almost identical to how he had handed it over.

Yet he did not hastily confirm as an ordinary person would. Instead, he said respectfully, "Bring the knife closer, Your Honor. This humble one cannot see it clearly."

Zhou Wenchang lowered his eyelids and told the clerk to pass the knife to him.

After examining it carefully, Zhong Piaoping returned it exactly as it was: "Your Honor, this is not the same knife."

The clerk, working in seamless coordination with Zhou Wenchang, immediately scowled and barked, "How dare you! Are you accusing our Dansui yamen of tampering with the evidence?!"

Zhong Piaoping replied calmly, "I have no such intention. I merely said it is not the same knife."

The clerk dropped his fierce scowl and glanced sidelong at Zhou Wenchang on the dais, silently applauding him.

In the clerk's eyes, it was quite necessary for the magistrate to stage this test.

If the man had a guilty conscience and was eager to grasp at anything, why would he bother to examine it closely?

The magistrate was truly brilliant!

But Zhou Wenchang felt no relief whatsoever.

He knew that ordinary folk who came to court were, nine times out of ten, quaking in their boots, terrified of offending the authorities. Those who dared to ask for the evidence to examine closely were few and far between.

His feint with the knife just now was precisely to lure Zhong Piaoping into a trap.

If he had seen it was roughly the same shape and hastily agreed, he'd have a stain on his record he couldn't explain.

But Zhou Wenchang was not flustered: "How are you so certain it is not the same one?"

Zhong Piaoping: "I took this knife from A Shun's hands. At the time, he first tried to kill me. I snatched the knife and stabbed him once in the shoulder, trying to restrain him. But then he went for the survivor's throat. In desperation, I stabbed repeatedly at his wrist and hacked at the backs of his fingers. The force was too great, and the edge chipped in one spot. This knife is intact, so it is not the original."

Zhou Wenchang brought out the true murder weapon: "You mean to say this dagger belonged to A Shun?"

"Yes."

"His knife—you handled it pretty smoothly, huh?"

"Your Honor, it's not a matter of convenience. Circumstances forced my hand."

"I went through your luggage. You made such a long journey from the capital without carrying any weapon for self-defense? Were you not afraid of bandits and highwaymen?"

Zhong Piaoping said mildly, "The world is peaceful, the land is tranquil. Under the sage emperor's rule, all corners of the land are harmonious. I carry nothing of value and am accustomed to traveling by day. How many bandits and thieves can there really be? Besides, I have heard that Magistrate Zhou rules his county well and is praised by the people. I figured that under your administration, there would be no need to carry a blade."

Zhou Wenchang was speechless.

Was he supposed to say that under the emperor's rule, bandits were everywhere?

Or that his reputation was hollow?

"You've got a sharp tongue and a knack for flattery." Zhou Wenchang gazed at him steadily. "...To remain so composed after such an ordeal—it's as if you had it all rehearsed."

This was an attempt to impugn his motives.

Zhong Piaoping offered no defense: "Your Honor, this is simply my nature. I don't panic when things happen."

Even as he said it, he surprised even himself.

He had been a pushover, a doormat, for nearly twenty years, and had only followed the master for a few years—yet here he was, saying such words without batting an eye.

Zhou Wenchang was indeed stuck again.

Matters of temperament were impossible to verify.

He had no choice but to press on with the questioning: "You say you don't panic. Then tell me, how exactly did you wound A Shun? Tell me in detail, and don't hold anything back."

Zhong Piaoping repeated the contents of his testimony, adding details: "I stabbed him three times and chopped the backs of his fingers five times. Because I used too much force, I accidentally injured someone else. Please examine carefully, Your Honor: besides the handprint on the victim's neck, which differs in size from mine, there is also a scrape mark from a blade on his chin. You can check all of these."

Seeing how smoothly he answered, Zhou Wenchang ordered him to be held for now, and summoned Ji Zhun instead.

Ji Zhun, after all, hailed from the Changmen Guard. Though he was green as grass in front of Le Wuya and his plan to get close to him had fallen through, he wasn't about to be so scared of a seventh-rank official that he couldn't speak.

Moreover, if he failed to explain himself clearly and got himself stuck in Dansui alongside Zhong Piaoping, that would be a bad trade.

What he said was what he had personally witnessed, so naturally it dovetailed perfectly with Zhong Piaoping's account.

Zhou Wenchang pondered for a moment: "Then why did you not turn yourself in immediately? Why did you wait a full day and night before coming?"

"He tied me up!" Just thinking about it made Ji Zhun furious. "He suspected that my being there meant I was in cahoots with that runner to harm him! I went back and forth with him for a long time before he believed me!"

Ji Zhun raised his wrist high, where the chafing marks of rope binding were still visible, and said plaintively, "Look at what he did to me!"

Zhou Wenchang kept his face neutral: "Didn't you come together?"

"Who came with him?" This question had already been asked by Le Wuya out on the prairie, so Ji Zhun answered without hesitation, "I left the capital ages ago!"

Ji Zhun wasn't given much grief before being led away.

He thought to himself that this Magistrate Zhou was pretty weak. His presence was worlds apart from that fellow named Wen Ren.

Unbeknownst to him, Zhou Wenchang had already seen through this man—his attitude was downright arrogant, with none of the fear or respect a commoner should have for an official.

Unless he was plainly an idiot, his identity was out of the ordinary, and he had his own backing.

Judging by how clearly and logically he spoke, the former possibility wasn't likely.

Once he saw that, Zhou Wenchang naturally treated him with courtesy.

But as for Zhong Piaoping, he could never quite get a read on him.

Before he opened court, he made a point of calling in Clerk Lin to ask around.

Clerk Lin was the one who'd commandeered Zhong Piaoping's horse.

Upon hearing that A Shun had killed the surviving miner, Clerk Lin was stunned and flat-out refused to believe it.

But in his view, Zhong Piaoping was just a passerby—plain-faced and timid-looking; all it took was a little firmness and he'd handed over his horse without a fuss. He didn't seem like the type to kill anyone in cold blood.

And from what Wen Huan said, this guy had never set foot in Dansui County with the four capital travelers, but had gone straight for Xiaolian Mountain.

Yet this bunch from the capital had all shown up in Dansui practically at the same time, which naturally made people suspicious.

Once Ji Zhun was led off, Zhong Piaoping was brought back into the court.

Before he could even get his footing, Zhou Wenchang slammed the gavel down, a rare show of harshness from him: "Zhong Piaoping, kneel!"

Zhong Piaoping flinched, then knelt without a moment's pause.

The way he knelt was so smooth and obedient—nothing like the quiet confidence and pride Ji Zhun had shown.

Zhou Wenchang barked coldly: "Do you know why I've ordered you to kneel?!"

Zhong Piaoping's eyes flickered slightly.

When Master Zhou had him taken away earlier, the magistrate had been fairly pleasant; but after interrogating Ji Zhun, the magistrate's demeanor had changed completely. Anyone with half a brain would figure out that Ji Zhun must have revealed something he shouldn't have.

Zhou Wenchang kept pressing: "Are you still not going to tell the truth?!"

Unexpectedly, Zhong Piaoping remained quite calm: "I'm not sure what Your Honor wants me to confess to."

"You won't quit until you've hit rock bottom." Zhou Wenchang reached for the torture slips on the table. "If you still won't talk, don't blame me for being harsh!"

Hearing this, the legal advisor, who'd been playing along with Zhou Wenchang's act, hesitated and shot him a questioning look:

Why's His Honor acting so unlike himself today?

Even if he's just trying to scare a confession out of him, he wouldn't really use torture.

His Honor had always been known for his kindness—he never hurt the people or abused his power to punish, with a reputation that reached even the neighboring counties.

Even if His Honor was upset about the constable getting hurt and that miner dying after barely surviving the mudslide, why does he have to be so harsh?

This was bordering on... entrapment.

But Zhou Wenchang was genuinely at the end of his rope.

The good reputation he'd built up had now become a huge weight on him.

He could also see Deputy Magistrate Jian, who was watching the trial, and the legal advisor, who was writing up the case, both giving him weird looks.

But the arrow was already drawn and had to be let fly.

In fact, once Zhou Wenchang had read through the case files and put the whole story together, he realized A Shun wasn't stupid at all—he was fiercely loyal and ruthless.

His main job had been to kill the surviving miner on the road.

Once he was forced to travel with Zhong Piaoping, scared he might fail his mission, he'd planned to kill Zhong Piaoping out on the big meadow, dump the body there, then go back and claim Zhong Piaoping had run off halfway, scared of being drafted for forced labor.

No one would be the wiser.

But after failing to kill Zhong Piaoping, he'd grabbed the last chance to finish the job on the miner, and even after the tables turned, he had the nerve to yell "Murder!" out in the middle of nowhere, just to provoke and taunt Zhong Piaoping.

If Zhong Piaoping had flown into a rage and killed A Shun right there, he'd have been done for.

Unlike Zhong Piaoping, who was traveling solo, A Shun was a yamen man with the job of escorting the surviving miner. If he went missing, the yamen would definitely send someone to look into it.

And Zhong Piaoping had given his name when Clerk Lin took his horse, and people had remembered his face.

If they dug into it, within three days his face and name would be all over a wanted poster, sent out everywhere.

But Zhong Piaoping had held himself back.

At this point, whether Zhong Piaoping was a spy sent by the censor or not, Zhou Wenchang had no choice but to shove the murder blame onto him as hard as he could—bluffing him, baiting him, hoping he'd show even one crack, one slip.

Even the tiniest bit would do.

That way, he might still save A Shun's life.

Otherwise, he'd have no choice but to throw A Shun under the bus.

A thousand thoughts were churning and screaming in Zhou Wenchang's head, yet on the outside, he kept up the perfect act of being furious, trying to get Zhong Piaoping to slip up and confess something else.

Zhong Piaoping stared blankly at him, thinking: how pathetic.

Not as handsome as His Excellency, and not as scary either.

A Shun had gambled his own life to trap him and failed, so Zhou Wenchang didn't stand a chance.

Thinking of Le Wuya, Zhong Piaoping suddenly had a whim—what would His Excellency do in this spot?

The second that thought hit him, a look of utter grief and despair flooded his face, and he wailed hoarsely: "Your Honor! If you're going to wrong an innocent man like this and beat a confession out of him, how am I supposed to survive?!"

Before the words even died out, he suddenly lunged headfirst at Zhou Wenchang's desk!

He bruised his forehead, rolled his eyes back, went limp, and crumpled to the floor, out cold.

Zhou Wenchang: "..."

Outside, a bunch of folks had gathered to watch the trial. Seeing Zhong Piaoping knock himself out in court, some troublemaker immediately yelled: "His Honor just drove a man to his death in court!"

Zhou Wenchang gripped the bamboo slip holder and shut his eyes.

...He'd done all he could.

A Shun really couldn't be saved.