Chapter 328: A Good Judge Cannot Judge a Foolish Case
The tenth day of April is the day for releasing the deceased.
According to the laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty, local prefectures and counties opened courts every five days to accept various civil lawsuits.
As for criminal cases, they are all tried immediately after being reported - otherwise, if a murder happened on the first day of the lunar year, and the government didn't investigate until the fifth day, wouldn't that be a big mistake?
Of course, there are also some murder cases where all the facts are there but there is no urgency, and these cases will also be postponed to the day of the release of the complaint for trial.
For example, today's case:
"Wuwuwu... Sir, I just had a private affair with that woman, but I never thought of killing anyone. Please judge for me, sir!"
"Reporting to the master, after a careful examination by the coroner, the deceased did indeed accidentally slip and hit the pillar and died, and it was not caused by external force."
At first glance, this seems to be a case where an affair led to the accidental death of her husband.
But if this were true, Sun Shaozong would not have to worry - although there was indeed an element of adultery in this case, the one who died was not the woman's husband, but her son!
The general course of the case is as follows:
Li had been a widow for four years and had only one seventeen-year-old son.
In the past, she took care of her son all day long and didn't think it was a big deal. But since her son found a job last year, he went out early and came back late every day, and rarely communicated with his mother when he came back. Li suddenly lost her spiritual sustenance.
At this time, Wang the cobbler who lived at the end of the street took advantage of the situation and flirted with her.
If this cobbler Wang had a family and a business, and had indeed been having an affair with Li, the case would be relatively easy to handle.
Unfortunately, Wang the cobbler was also a widower, and he had some genuine feelings for Li. He even asked someone to propose to Li - Li naturally had no objection, but her son was angry. He beat the matchmaker out on the spot and ordered his mother not to have any contact with Wang the cobbler anymore.
Li agreed verbally, but she did not sever her relationship with Wang the cobbler in private and was still hooking up with him half-heartedly.
The neighbors, knowing the whole story, turned a blind eye to it. They did not regard it as something immoral. They just lamented that Li was unlucky to have such an unreasonable son.
But three days ago, Wang the cobbler went to have a secret affair with Li again, but Li's son came home early and blocked him inside.
Li had no choice but to let Wang the cobbler hide in the closet.
Unexpectedly, not long after Li's son entered the house, he smelled the stinky feet of Wang the cobbler, so he followed the clues, pulled Wang the cobbler out, and beat him up.
Seeing that Wang the cobbler was beaten with a bloody head, Li was afraid that someone would be killed, so she rushed over to hug her son and told Wang the cobbler to run away quickly.
Unexpectedly, her son broke free from her restraints, chased after her in a rage, and actually caused a death - but the person who lost his life was not Wang the cobbler, but Li's son!
It would have been fine if Wang the cobbler had resisted, but Li's son fell to his death by himself, and Wang the cobbler didn't dare to touch him at all.
If such a foolish matter were to be quietly resolved, the government would certainly not pursue the matter.
Although Li was passionate about the adulterer, she turned against her son immediately after seeing him lose his life, and filed a complaint all the way from Daxing County to Shuntian Prefecture.
And she didn't know who advised her, but she insisted that her son died when she was caught adultering. According to the laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Wang the Pijiang should be punished more severely!
"Li."
Sun Shaozong reminded him with a headache: "If you punish Wang Laoshi for adultery, then he will be punished more severely, and I'm afraid you can't escape responsibility either."
"Reporting to the great master!"
Li knocked her head to the ground and said without hesitation: "As long as I can avenge my son, I am willing to accompany Old Wang to reincarnate together!"
"Bah~!"
She was willing to die with him, but Wang the Cobbler didn't think about paying for her life. He spat angrily and cursed, "It was you who called me over that day, but now that something happened you insisted on killing me. Did I owe you that in my last life?!"
"No."
Li did not argue with him and just insisted: "So I will die with you, and I will work like a cow or a horse for you in the next life to pay off my debt."
"You...you you you...you woman..."
Wang the cobbler was so angry that he was almost exasperated, but he really didn't know what to do. He could only kneel down and cry for justice from the Lord of Heaven.
But Sun Shaozong was really in a dilemma.
In this day and age, people believe in "obeying your husband after marriage and obeying your son after your husband's death", so according to superficial logic, Li's son is indeed qualified to catch his mother committing adultery with Wang the cobbler.
According to the laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty, if the victim dies on the spot when an adulterer is caught, regardless of whether he died at the hands of the adulterer or not, the adulterer must be severely punished - the minimum punishment is a prison sentence of 2,000 miles, and the more severe punishments are castration and beheading.
In fact, when he first received this case, Sun Shaozong had thought that if it really didn't work, he could just exile Wang Pijiang two thousand miles away. At most, he could choose a good place where he would not suffer too much.
only……
"Dad, Dad!"
"I want daddy! I want daddy!"
“Dad~~~~!”
The trio of "crying dad" outside the door, the oldest is only nine years old, the youngest is only four years old, if Wang the cobbler is really sentenced to exile two thousand miles away, how will these three children survive? !
or……
Castrate him?
However, not to mention that for most men this is something more painful than death, the survival rate of adult men after castration is only about 70% these days.
Wang the cobbler is so unlucky that he seems to be one of the "Three Percents".
Solving a case is much more troublesome than investigating it!
Sun Shaozong was so embarrassed that he wanted to scratch his head, but he had to consider his image as a great judge, especially since people praised him as a star descended from the earth or the reincarnation of Lord Bao. He couldn't...
Wait~
Sun Shaozong suddenly came up with a crooked idea. Although this method was not in line with the rules of the king, he had never been a principled person. Especially in the current emergency, he could not care about so many taboos.
Since he had made up his mind, Sun Shaozong immediately said, "This case is complicated, and it is difficult for me to make a decision at the moment. In order to avoid delaying other lawsuits, I will postpone this case for five days!"
"grown ups!"
How could Li be willing to agree? She kowtowed loudly and continued to protest her injustice.
Pah~
Sun Shaozong slammed the gavel without hesitation and ordered: "Adjourn the court!"
"Awesome!"
The bailiffs on both sides started shouting threats in the hall. Wang the cobbler quickly retreated, and Sun Shaozong followed him to the back hall. Li grumbled a few times in dissatisfaction, but had to go home and wait for trial.
Sun Shaozong returned to the back hall and immediately called Zhao Wuwei to give him some instructions. Finally, he said, "Tell Wang Laoshi that I have given him a chance to escape punishment. If he doesn't live up to his promise and reveals his true colors, don't blame me for sentencing him to castration!"
