Chapter One Hundred: Framed

  There is a sentence in the Four Commandments of Fa Yin, which says: "Power cannot be used to the fullest, and if it is used to the fullest, disaster will surely come." The meaning of this sentence is that everything needs to leave some room for maneuver, otherwise it will lead to backlash and bring trouble to oneself.

  Jiang Xia's Jiuyang Feifeng Medicine Shop was doing business so well that it was astonishing, and the speed at which he was making money even surprised Jiang Xia himself. Originally, Jiang Xia had been a bit worried that his medicine shop was too high-profile, and might attract envy and trouble for himself. But yesterday, Zhu Houzhao came running over again, shamelessly asking Jiang Xia to let him invest in the medicine shop.

  With Zhu Houzhao's shares in it, Jiang Xia naturally had no worries at all. Would anyone dare to play tricks on the emperor's business?

  It seemed to be giving Jiang Xia an answer, today just opened the shop not long ago, suddenly a person rushed out from the queue, he shouted loudly: "Poisonous, Jiuyang Dan is poisonous!"

  Standing in the store, Jiang Xia furrowed his brow. He was very clear about his own elixir and it was impossible for it to be poisonous. Jiang Xia shouted loudly: "Hey, don't talk nonsense..."

  Before the word "say" of "nonsense" had left Jiang Xia's mouth, the man who ran out suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood and fell to the ground. Then white foam kept coming out from his nostrils and mouth, obviously showing symptoms of poisoning.

  The crowd waiting in line to buy medicine immediately surrounded the man, and one of them even found that the man was still holding a delicate small porcelain bottle with three large characters written on red paper - Jiuyang Dan.

  Jiang Xia's eyebrows furrowed tightly, and he suddenly felt that something was unusual about this matter.

  "Someone's been killed, someone's been killed......"

  "Jiuyang Dan has killed someone."

  The long queue that had just been waiting in line suddenly dispersed, and everyone surrounded the corpse, talking one after another.

  Before long, the soldiers of Wucheng Bingsi patrolled by and, after learning about this, carried the man's body on a stretcher and took Jiang Xia to the Shuntian Prefecture government office together.

  This was the first time Jiang Xia came to Shuntian House, simply explaining the situation of the case, and then Shuntian House let him go.

  When Jiang Xia returned to the Jiuyang Feifeng Pharmacy, he found that there were many people outside the store making a ruckus. After listening carefully, Jiang Xia finally understood that it was those who had bought the Jiuyang Dan and heard that the medicine had killed someone, so they came to return the goods.

  Han Mufeng, who had been helping out in the store all along, saw Jiang Xia arrive and immediately felt relieved. After Jiang Xia walked into the store, he simply said one sentence: "Collect the medicine, return the silver."

  Several doctors who were hired checked whether those Jiuyang Dan were genuine while returning the silver.

  After about two hours, the people who came to return the Dan medicine finally left.

  Jiang Xia let the several apprentices in the shop close the door and instructed them to temporarily suspend business for a few days, then he left with Han Mu Feng.

  Back at the Xiangyang Mountain Villa, Jiang Xia had just sat down in the courtyard for a short while when Li Dongyang arrived with Jun Yang. Upon seeing Jiang Xia, Li Dongyang's first words were to ask: "What happened?"

  Jiang Xia's eyebrows furrowed slightly, it hadn't been long since the incident occurred, so why did Master already know about it?

  Jiang Xia nodded: "Yes, there is a person who allegedly died from eating the Nine Suns Pill. The coroner in Shun Tian Fu is currently performing an autopsy and I am still waiting for news. Master, how did you know?"

  Li Dongyang said, "Outside, people have already started spreading the news about this matter, and it's spreading very quickly. I don't know if someone is intentionally stirring up trouble or if your Nine Yang Pill has too great of an impact, but as soon as there's a problem, so many people start discussing it."

  "Maybe it's both," said Jiang Xia with a faint smile.

  "Be careful yourself." Li Dongyang reminded.

  Jiang Xia nodded, "Don't worry, Master, I'll be careful."

  "Uh-huh."

  There was no news that day. On the second morning, Jiang Xia had just gotten out of bed and washed up when a guard came to report that there were officials from Shuntian Prefecture looking for him.

  Jiang Xia immediately went to the front yard and saw those officials. One of them was very polite and said to Jiang Xia: "Young Master Jiang, this is what happened. The deceased was Mr. He Yunlai, a wealthy man from the south city's He Manor. This morning, Mrs. He came to identify the body and confirmed Mr. He's identity, then decided to sue you."

  "The letter has already been delivered to Magistrate Zhong, so I'll trouble you, Master Jiang, to accompany me on a trip."

  Jiang Xia nodded and said, "I should go."

  Jiang Xia followed those several yamen runners to the Shun Tian Fu government office.

  Since it's a dead person, it's a criminal case.

  In Shuntian Prefecture, the governor-general of all cases is the prefectural magistrate, and the assistant to the prefectural magistrate is the prefectural lieutenant. The person in charge of criminal cases is the zhongzheng, a fifth-grade official position.

  Shuntian Prefecture's Governor Wang Baosheng had previously met Jiang Xia when he bought the Jiuyang Dan at the Jiuyang Feifeng.

  They arrived at the main hall of the government office, where seven or eight women were already kneeling on the floor. They were obviously the wives and concubines brought by He Yun. The women wore mourning clothes and wept together in a heap.

  As soon as Jiang Xia came in, Wang Baosheng slapped the shock-absorbing wood and said: "The public hall is not allowed to be noisy. Now that both parties of the case are present, this case will officially start its trial."

  "Slow." A middle-aged woman, looking around thirty years old, with a gentle face and a hint of mature charm. She looked at Jiang Xia and calmly said: "In the court, as the defendant, why doesn't he kneel?"

  Jiang Xia slightly bowed and said: "I am a student of the Imperial Academy, belonging to the emperor's school, so I can be exempt from kneeling in the public hall."

  "It's indeed necessary, not only to avoid kneeling, but also to prepare a chair." Wang Baosheng said with a smile, then gestured for the bailiffs in the hall to bring over a stool for Jiang Xia.

  Jiang Xia glanced at the stool, feeling that sitting down seemed somewhat inappropriate, but not sitting would also offend Wang Baosheng's good intentions. So Jiang Xia made a fist and bowed to Wang Baosheng, said "Thank you, sir" and then sat down with a flourish.

  "Wang Baosheng said: 'Alright, now the case begins its trial. Master, read out the indictment.'"

  "Yes, sir." The master on the hall read the indictment paper once, and its content was nothing more than that Jiang Xia's Jiuyang Dan contained highly toxic substances. Her husband, He Yunlai, took it and died of poisoning, so she demanded that Jiang Xia be put to death.

  After finishing reading, Wang Baosheng directly did not interrogate, but opened his mouth and said: "It's simply a pack of lies. The Jiuyang Dan was also taken by the adults themselves, and there is no discomfort in the body. You are purely framing."

  After finishing speaking, Wang Baosheng directly sentenced He Lishi and others to ten big boards, and then retreated from the court.

  This is really strange, Jiang Xia furrowed his brow, it's clear that Wang Baosheng was helping himself, and could even be said to be biased towards himself. But why did he help himself when they had no prior relationship? Why did he want to favor himself? Moreover, he actually said that he had taken the Jiuyang Dan, for a man to take such medicine is absolutely not something to be proud of, he helped himself and even brought up this matter, do they have such a good relationship?

  Jiang Xia walked out of the court in a daze, and as soon as he stepped onto the main street outside the court, he heard a loud cry from behind: "Murderer, you colluded with corrupt officials and killed my husband, return my husband's life to me!"

  Jiang Xia turned his head and saw that it was one of He Yun's concubines who had pulled out a hairpin from her hair and was rushing towards him.

  Jiang Xia sidestepped and with one hand pushed the concubine away.

  Just then, Jiang Xia heard a breaking sound coming from behind him, and a strong sense of unease suddenly rose up in his heart. Jiang Xia dodged to the side, and when he stood up again, he found that the concubine was staring at him with an unbelievable expression on her face. Then she looked down at her own chest, and Jiang Xia saw that there was a dagger stuck in it.

  The concubine pointed at Jiang Xia, wanting to speak, but couldn't get the words out. She suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood and then fell to the ground.

  Jiang Xia was startled for a moment, then immediately turned around, but the people on the street who had seen this matter had already gathered around, and Jiang Xia could no longer distinguish who it was that shot a dagger from behind.

  This is a trap!

  Jiang Xia was suddenly startled in his heart. At this moment, he thought that the dagger had flown towards the direction of the concubine, not towards him at all.

  All this happened in the blink of an eye, so it looked as if Concubine had rushed over and stabbed Jiang Xia with a hairpin, and then Jiang Xia had stabbed Concubine to death with his dagger.

  "Xiao Bi!" He Yun's legitimate wife rushed over and picked up the body of the little concubine, wailing loudly. Then she glared fiercely at Jiang Xia and said: "It was you! You're the murderer! Everyone here saw you kill Xiao Bi. I'll see how that corrupt official can protect you this time. Come on! Follow me to see the official."

  As she spoke, He Yunlai's wife pulled Jiang Xia back outside the Shuntian Prefecture government office. She took out a drumstick and started beating it, and soon several bailiffs ran out. After understanding what had happened, several bailiffs carried Xiao Bi's body into the Shuntian Prefecture government office, while also calling in several so-called "eyewitnesses" to go together.

  Mrs. He held the body of Xiao Bi and wept bitterly, Wang Baosheng returned to the main hall once again.

  Wang Baosheng inquired about the case again and asked several passersby about what they had seen, but he did not ask about Jiang Xia's situation.

  Finally, Wang Baosheng slammed his gavel and declared: "Woman Huang Xiaobi, holding a hairpin, committed murder in Jiangxia. Jiangxia, seeking self-protection, had no choice but to counterattack, and unfortunately mistakenly killed Huang Xiaobi. This matter was caused by Huang Xiaobi's own evil intentions, and she brought it upon herself. It has nothing to do with Jiangxia. Dismissed..."

  "Shameless corrupt official!" Madam He seemed to be stunned for a moment, and after two breaths of silence, she burst out in a loud, shrill voice.

  Wang Baosheng furrowed his brow and shouted angrily, "In the court, if you continue to make a racket, don't blame this official for punishing you for disturbing the peace of the court."

  "Corrupt officials, you are in cahoots with each other, killing my husband was not enough, now you've also killed my good sister... I will appeal to the emperor, appeal to the emperor..."

  "Bring him here, drag him away, thirty slaps on the mouth!" Wang Baosheng shouted angrily.

  Two bailiffs immediately came out and dragged Mrs. He to the outer hall for execution, "slap slap slap" the sound of slapping ears was endless, showing that the force used was not light.

  At this point, Jiang Xia's eyebrows furrowed even tighter. His gaze towards Wang Baosheng also became increasingly cold.