Fix Smile Order Chapter 28
Pure: I think I’m sick, might take a break for a little bit. Not sure yet…
Chapter 28: Court Hearing
When the magistrate is holding a court hearing in the grand lobby, the common people are allowed to watch. Today was Tang Tianyuan's first court trial since he took over as county magistrate, and it was a murder case. There were many people who came to watch, and the county government was surrounded. Some business owners even chose to not open today and made a special trip to see how the county magistrate handled the case. There were also women standing on tiptoes in the back of the crowd, wanting to see how handsome the county magistrate was.
Tan Qingchen seized the business opportunity, set up a table outside the lobby, and asked his shop assistant to sell herbal tea and cut watermelon, and the business was booming. Holding a half-old fan, he stood outside and smiled at Tan Lingyin, who was writing in a serious manner.
Tan Lingyin couldn't recognize Tan Qingchen from such a distance.
Sun Bufan still kept his oiran hairstyle, and although he had to kneel on the defendant's stone, he remained calm.
Tan Lingyin cleared her throat, got up, and read the opening statement. Her voice was clear and melodious, very pleasant to the ears. She described the entire process of the incident, pointing out two middeads of Sun Bufan: abduction of a woman and murdering her.
There was low uproar from the crowd. Many people pointed at Official Qi's back. Elopement was a major offense, it went against women's virtues and morality, in the past, those girls would be drowned to death. Of course, in this dynasty, due to historical reasons, the folk customs were relatively open, but elopement was gossip that could be the topic of entertainment for quite a while.
Official Qi and his wife were flushed with shame, and they bowed their heads and dared not speak.
Tan Lingyin couldn't help but angrily slammed the table, "Settle down!"
Her voice was full of momentum, and the crowd suddenly stopped. Tan Lingyin pointed at Sun Bufan and said to the crowd, "He is the murderer! Qi Hui is clearly the victim, you don't speak for the victim, but instead accuse her?! Do you want to be an accomplice of the murderer?!"
This hat was big, no one dared to take it, so they all started to scold Sun Bufan.
"Silence!" Tang Tianyuan slammed the gavel again. He glanced in Tan Lingyin's direction and saw that she was indeed rubbing her right hand from hitting the table too hard. He was unsure who could stand her violent temper in the future. Tang Tianyuan shook his head slightly, holding back his laughter.
"Sun Bufan, do you plead guilty?" Tang Tianyuan asked.
Sun Bufan replied, "This humble one does not, this humble one is wronged. All the allegations are false, my lord, please make a clear decision."
"Are you saying that you didn't write to Qi Hui, and you never asked her to elope? In addition, you didn't see her on the night of the crime?"
"Yes."
Tang Tianyuan continued, "The autopsy results showed that Qi Hui was taken advantage of before she was murdered, and the first thing she did after being taken kissed was to slap the perpentrator."
The people outside started to talk again: tsk tsk tsk, girl was taken advantage of!
Tan Lingyin stared at them with fiery eyes. Her eyes were already big, so when she stared like that, it looked as if she was about to pounce at them, and it was terrifying to look at. Although she could not see the onlookers clearly, they saw her clearly, so the crowd quickly changed subjects: "Burn the murderer to death!"
Tang Tianyuan asked them to be silent again, and then asked, "Sun Bufan, since you denied seeing Qi Hui that night, why are there nail scratches on your face?"translat ed by pure tl. com / do not re post
Sun Bufan unconsciously covered his face, and just as he was about to speak, Tang Tianyuan interrupted him, "Guards, check his face."
Two bailiffs stepped forward to hold him, and one of them looked at his face carefully and said, "In response to the magistrate, Sun Bufan indeed has scratch marks on the side of his face. It seems to be about three days old, the scab has already started to peel off."
Tang Tianyuan nodded and concluded, "So since you were scratched by Qi Hui that night, you changed your hairstyle to cover up the wound, am I incorrect?"
Sun Bufan’s mind turned as he replied, "My lord is over thinking. It is true that I thought of this method to cover up the injury on my face, but this scratch was originally caused by accidentally provoking a wild cat. It has nothing to do with Young Lady Qi. A human life is at stake, and it is too sloppy for my lord to convict this humble one base of a single scratch mark. This humble one feels this is unfair."
"This official will not easily convict you on just the mere basis of a wound. Guards, bring out Yuhuan."
Yuhuan was brought up to the lobby. She barely slept last night, and was frightened again. She looked very haggard, with a dark circle under her eyes, like a ghost. She came in and gave Tang Tianyuan a kowtow, then kept her head down and explained everything she knew, without daring to look at Sun Bufan.
When Official Qi heard that his residence’s own maid had done such a thing, he angrily scolded her, and wanted to come up to kick and beat her, but was held down by a bailiff.
After Yuhuan finished speaking, Tang Tianyuan looked at Sun Bufan, "What else do you have to say?"
Sun Bufan seemed to have known that this would happen, and he replied calmly, "Yuhuan is perjuring, and has joined forces with Wei Zitong to frame me."
"You said she committed perjury, is there any evidence?"
"Yes. This person has a crush on me and I didn’t reciprocate. Her love for me has turned into hate."
This was too narcissistic, Tan Lingyin stopped writing, shook her head, looked at Sun Bufan and then at Yuhuan. She found that Yuhuan kept crying and shaking her head, but not answering. This... Sun Bufan didn’t hit a bullseye, did he?
While talking, Sun Bufan took out a purse and a handful of silk thread from his sleeve, "This is the purse and five-color thread that Yuhuan took the initiative to give me during the Dragon Boat Festival. I never responded to Yuhuan’s love, so Yuhuan is holding a grudge on me and thought of a way to deliberately frame me."
"Yuhuan, this official asks you, is this really what you gave to Sun Bufan?"
Yuhuan did not speak, but nodded with tears in her eyes.
It turned out that the magistrate wasn’t wrong, Yuhuan really was hiding something else. Tan Lingyin understood Yuhuan's difficulty, but if this matter was used by Sun Bufan at a critical moment, it would put them in a predicament.
"Sir," Yuhuan wiped away her tears, "I did give Sun gongzi these things, but I guarantee that what I have just said is the truth. This Sun Bufan deliberately deceived our Young Lady and borrowed another’s identity to kill her! May the lord please settle our Young Lady’s grievances!"
