Chapter 42: The Too Clever Murderer

  The murderer was too clever, when Hualang thought that the murderer was too clever, he suddenly felt that things were starting to become clear.

  What is the most desired outcome for a person who has killed someone?

  Of course, he can survive, avoid being discovered, and avoid paying with his life. What will he do for this purpose?

  Rather than give up a thousand taels of silver, I'd kill again!

  Now that everything is clear, all they need to do is bring the murderer to justice.

  The rain is still falling, with occasional bursts of thunder.

  Bao Zheng ascended the court again, and two bailiffs brought Zhu Yougui over. After a few stern warnings, Bao Zheng slapped down a wooden block and coldly said: "Zhu Yougui, quickly tell the truth about how you killed Dong Cheng, or else you'll be asking for a beating."

  Zhu Yougui knelt on the ground, hastily kowtowing and begging for mercy: "Your Honor is wronged! I only stole that IOU, I didn't kill Dong Cheng. I hope Your Honor will investigate clearly."

  Jade saw Zhu Yougui still quibbling, Hualang smiled faintly and said: "Is that so?"

  Zhu Yougui saw that Hualang was a flower, and his heart sank, but he still insisted on saying: "That's right, I just stole the IOU, and I didn't kill Dong Cheng. If you must frame me for killing Dong Cheng, I have no choice. Who made your two mouths officials? However, even so, you must produce evidence."

  Zhu Yougui was indeed very clever, and his eloquence was impressive. Hualang listened to him and smiled coldly, saying: "You want evidence? It's actually quite simple. If you didn't know that Dong Cheng was dead, how dare you steal that IOU? And if Dong Cheng wasn't dead, what use would stealing the IOU be?"

  Everyone who heard this suddenly understood that if Zhu Yougui didn't know that Dong Cheng was already dead, he would really dare to steal the IOU. Even if he stole the IOU, Dong Cheng still had the jade pendant as evidence, and when they arrived at the county government office, Zhu Yougui would still owe Dong Cheng money.

  A single sentence from Hualang left Zhu Yougui speechless.

  After a long time, Zhu Yougui suddenly shouted injustice and said: "Injustice! How could I possibly kill Dong Cheng for just 1,000 taels of silver? Moreover, if I really killed Dong Cheng for that 1,000 taels of silver, how could I not take away the more than 1,000 taels of silver left by Dong Cheng? Am I stupid?"

  This problem had always been troubling Huā Láng and his friends, but now this problem was no longer a problem.

  "This is not because you are foolish, but because you are too clever. Your purpose was to kill Dong Cheng without having to repay the debt of over a thousand taels, and you didn't really want the one thousand taels of silver in Dong Cheng's possession. You were well aware that if you took the silver from Dong Cheng, it would necessarily expose your motive for killing him. If you didn't take the silver, then you could confuse everyone and make it impossible for the authorities to figure out why the killer killed Dong Cheng. What you did was just to protect yourself. Giving up one thousand taels of silver in order to save your own life is something that anyone would do."

  Hualang finished speaking, and Zhu Yougui's face suddenly turned iron-green. He almost didn't dare to lift his head to look at Hualang, because he thought Hualang was too terrifying. He had thought that his intention of not wanting a thousand taels of silver would not be guessed by anyone, but now it had been said out loud by Hualang.

  Zhu Yougui was silent when he saw Bao Zheng. Bao Zheng shouted loudly, "Zhu Yougui, quickly tell me in detail about the murder!"

  Several yamen runners were again a fierce and intimidating sight, and Zhu Yougui saw that things had already been exposed, so he could only say: "Your Honor, it is true that I killed Dong Cheng."

  Bao Zheng glared at him and said: "Why do you want to kill him?"

  Zhu Yougui sighed and said, "Half a month ago, I borrowed 1,000 taels of silver from Dong Cheng to purchase a batch of silk in Hangzhou. If this batch of silk could be transported back, I would have made a large sum of money. However, unexpectedly, when we were transporting the silk, we encountered robbers and that batch of silk worth over 1,000 taels was looted by those robbers. Without the silk, I had no way to recover my losses or repay Dong Cheng's silver. If Dong Cheng demands repayment from me, my silk shop may also be forced to close down. In the end, with no other options, I came up with this plan to kill someone."

  As soon as he mentioned killing someone, everyone was suddenly excited, and they looked at Zhu Yougui, hoping that he would continue speaking quickly.

  "After inquiring, I learned that Dong Cheng was going to purchase goods. After receiving this news, I felt that it would be best to take action against him on the outskirts of the city. At that time, Dong Cheng had left the city gate and walked for about half an hour when I suddenly rushed out from behind and stabbed him to death there. Originally, after killing Dong Cheng, I was prepared to take his silver and then go purchase another batch of silk. However, thinking it over later, if I took the silver, I would inevitably arouse suspicion. Leaving the silver behind could instead confuse the officials. Thinking this way, I gave up on taking more than a thousand taels of silver and quickly escaped the scene."

  "After killing someone, you can't be at peace, right?"

  Zhu Yougui nodded: "Of course, I couldn't be at ease, because Dong Cheng still had an IOU in his hand. If it was discovered by his wife, she would definitely not let it go. At that time, the consequences I faced were the same. Therefore, I found an opportunity to enter Dong Cheng's grain store and found the IOU from the account book. However, at that time, I was too excited and overlooked that I still had a jade pendant pawned in Dong Cheng's hand. If it weren't for your reminder that day, I would have really forgotten about it."

  Bao Zheng sneered coldly: "If it weren't for that jade pendant, we wouldn't have been able to catch you with any evidence!"

  The case of Dong Cheng's murder has been thoroughly resolved. Zhu Yougui was guilty of murder and should pay with his life. The accountant, being greedy for wealth, was beaten a few times before being released. Meanwhile, Dong's wife and Feng Ji, the pair of wicked men and women, were beaten once and then sentenced to several years in prison. Ma Xiao Liu, who rented out the horse carriage, was acquitted and released without charge, and was even compensated with some of Dong Cheng's silver for his lost labor over the past few days.

  Bao Zheng's verdict was even more popular with the people, and everyone praised him without end.

  Furthermore, Bao Zheng re-examined the unjust cases in prison and released a large number of innocent people. The people of Tianchang County sang even more praises for Bao Zheng.

  That evening, the sky was clear and the clouds were light. A gentle breeze carried a hint of warmth. A scholar-like man held a petition and beat the drum in front of the county government office, shouting for justice. Two bailiffs saw the scholar and their faces immediately changed. The last time Wu Jun came to the county government to file a complaint, Zhou Si-ping had him beaten without asking any questions and then chased him away. It was these two bailiffs who carried him out at that time.

  Now Wu Jun has come to report again, should they inform Bai Butong about this matter?

  Just as the two bailiffs were hesitating, a man walked out of the county government office. He saw Wu Jun and suddenly became angry, saying: "You, this poor scholar, want to come and accuse me again? I'll tell you, don't even think about it. If you don't want to be beaten with a board again, hurry up and leave!"