Chapter 214: Trial (II)
Cui Zhuangyuan was so angry that his head was heavy, "What's wrong with you?"
Su Jiang came to the hall calmly and knelt down, "May I ask you two gentlemen, what do you mean by 'roaring'?"
Cui Zhuangyuan was interested in this question. He twirled his beard and said, "Liu Yuxi's "Song of the Warrior" says, 'The cold wind shakes the cold suburbs, and the tiger is roaring.' So the word roar means the roar of a beast. And Ge Hong's "Baopuzi" says, 'The roarer is not necessarily brave, and the honest and simple are not necessarily cowardly.' So roar also means the angry shouting of a person. And Li Bai's poem "Gongyuan Crossing the River" says..."
Wang Bangyan was completely convinced!
"Choi Champion!"
Cui Zhuangyuan coughed twice, stopped his explanation, and asked Su Jiang : "What do you mean?"
Su Jiang said, "Listen to the master's explanation just now, 'roaring' means to roar or shout. I am not well educated, and from the words , I think 'roaring in court' means to roar loudly in court. But Liu Chengxuan spoke softly and there was no suspicion of roaring, so why did you interpret it as 'roaring in court'?"
In fact, roaring in court is just an exaggeration. Speaking loudly or being disrespectful to officials in court can be defined as "roaring in court." Su Jiang was just nitpicking about words, but unexpectedly, Cui Zhuangyuan not only did not stop her, but also helped her to nitpick.
Looking at Liu Chengxuan and Su Jiang singing in unison, Su Luo was a little confused. It didn't seem like there was any clue.
The other adults in the court all frowned, but since they were not the chief judges, they did not speak easily. Wang Bangyan was so angry that he was fuming. He slammed the gavel several times, "Take them away, all of you, take them away. We will discuss your matters later. Let's finish the important case first!"
Liu Chengxuan kept clapping his fan and looking out of the hall, which made Su Luo's heart move. The runners on both sides came closer. Su Jiang stood up and said, "I think that no matter how big or small the case is, officials must treat it equally. Otherwise, the officials will have their own opinions on the importance of the case, so how can they be fair when judging it? I'm afraid that serious cases will be severely punished, and minor cases will be lightly punished. If the law is judged like this, where is the law of our Ming Dynasty?"
The smoke above Wang Bangyan's head was even more intense. Liu Chengxuan glanced at Su Jiang with a smile, "What a twisted logic, what a twisted logic."
Su Jiang turned around and said seriously, "You have been delaying for so long, you should explain clearly who you are waiting for, right?"
"It's been so long since I came back." Liu Chengxuan scratched his head with the handle of his fan, looking troubled. He paced twice in the hall, closed his fan, and said with a smile on his face: "I remember now, I'm waiting for the emperor."
The shadow of this excuse was too obvious, and everyone in the hall had black lines on their foreheads.
The first to speak was Censor Ning. The sinister old man angrily said, "Liu Chengxuan, if you keep talking nonsense... you are just lying..." Why did he stutter? Because he seemed to see a familiar head squeezed among the people watching the excitement outside the hall.
"Cough! Cough cough!" Someone outside the hall coughed, followed by a shrill voice: "The Emperor has arrived—"
Wang Bangyan was startled and was about to shout "No yelling in the court".
So the people outside the hall bowed and everyone inside the hall stood up to welcome the emperor.
When Wanli passed by Liu Chengxuan, he whispered, "How did you know I was outside?"
Liu Chengxuan said that at critical moments, a big shot has to come and help delay time. You don’t want your sister to be a widow, do you?
Wanli said that I cannot take the lead in breaking the law.
Liu Chengxuan said you don't have to break the law, just help delay the time. Doesn't Concubine Zheng like the crystal thousand-arm Guanyin in the Queen Mother's Palace? I'll get her one tomorrow.
"How long will it take?"
Liu Chengxuan looked at the sky and said, "I don't know, it will take at least an hour or two, right?"
Wanli was unhappy and said that it was already dark and he had to go back to play hide-and-seek for an hour at most.
The two men started to murmur as soon as they met. Wanli did not shout, and everyone in the room just knelt. After the two of them finished murmuring, Wanli waved his hand and said, "Everyone, get up."
No one could get up; their legs were numb.
So everyone rested for fifteen minutes, and Wanli had completed one eighth of the task. Then Wanli asked, "Who can tell me about the case?"
Wang Bangyan immediately demonstrated his superb summarizing ability. From the time he received the complaint to Zhou Chongwen signing the military order, it took less than ten minutes for him to explain everything clearly without any hindrance.
Why isn't he stuttering? Wanli said "hmm" slowly, thinking, what else am I doing? Glancing at the silent interaction between Su Luo and Qin Huai, he really couldn't bear it. The key is what is he doing now?
As Wanli was pondering, Zhou Chongwen stood up and knelt down, "Your Majesty, there are still doubts in this case."
"Soon..." He wanted to say "Tell me quickly", but after thinking for a while, he said, "Tell me slowly."
Zhou Chongwen was also very eloquent. He quickly told the story of the new witness. Wang Bangyan jumped out and said, "None of the servants in the Wan Mansion can prove that this person had examined Zhang Tie."
Wanli asked, who said this person treated Zhang Tie? Everyone answered that the person who said this was in a coma at home and was frightened.
Su Luo finally understood the current situation. Liu Chengxuan's attitude clearly showed that things were turning around, but where was the turning point?
While Zhou Chongwen and Wang Bangyan were arguing, Wanli asked Liu Chengxuan, "What evidence do you have? Are you going to bring it over?"
Liu Chengxuan was also very anxious. This was the key. He was not sure whether he could find evidence in the end. Otherwise, as long as Wanli said to wait, who would dare to disobey? The main thing was that he didn't know whether the evidence would come or not, so he could only delay it.
An hour was about to pass, and Ning Yushi's face never improved as he listened to Zhou Chongwen and Wang Bangyan talking back and forth. He was counting the time, and if the emperor didn't stop in another quarter of an hour, he would protest to the emperor.
"Cough!" Censor Ning coughed first. Wanli knew that this old guy's patience was almost exhausted.
"Your Majesty..." Censor Ning had just come down to the hall when he heard the sound of horse hooves approaching from far away. Liu Chengxuan heaved a sigh of relief with a look of joy on his face, "Here they come!"
Everyone's eyes were focused outside the hall. A tall figure appeared in front of the yamen gate against the sunlight. The onlookers consciously made way for him. When the man arrived in front of the hall, Su Luo couldn't help but be stunned.
Li Rusong? Didn’t he leave?
Li Rusong was carrying a half-grown old man, who was panting and saying incoherently, "Hero, put me down."
Li Rusong put the old man down, went into the hall and greeted Wanli, then said: "This man is an important witness in this case. He felt Zhang Tie's pulse when he vomited blood."
Wang Bangyan immediately sent for the servants of the Wan Mansion to identify the person. After the servants confirmed it, he applied to Wanli for a retrial of the case.
No one had time to criticize him now. Su Luo stared at Li Rusong with an unspeakable look in her eyes. However, Li Rusong did not look at her. He stared at the old man and said, "Tell me the truth!"
The old man looked at Wan Yangui, then at Li Rusong, and nodded, "Yes, yes."
