Unparalleled Double Harmony

Chapter 453 The Plaintiff Becomes the Defendant

Yin time, in the back hall of the government office.

Mr. Wei put on some casual clothes, took a cup of hot tea, and came into the house and sat down.

Judging from his half-dead expression, being woken up at this time, he is not only irritable, but also has high blood pressure...

Of course this was normal. He had never gotten up so early since he took office in Shanghai County. Many years ago, when he was an official in the capital, he had to get up at this time when there were early court sessions. However, this was the first time in the local area.

"Hmm..." After Master Wei sat down, he took a sip of hot tea. After finishing it, he let out a long sigh, then half closed his eyelids and said in a deep voice to the master beside him, "What's the matter? Are you in such a hurry that you can't even wait until dawn?"

This lawyer is the master's personal man, so he doesn't beat around the bush when talking in private: "Master, it was Liu Li who insisted that I wake you up, saying that there is something you need to interrogate immediately, and it must be done in the back hall."

"Hey! When did Liu Li start to boss me around?" Master Wei looked unhappy and glanced at his master with a complaining look. "You too, you do whatever he says? You don't even help me block it."

"Oh... I blocked it." The master also looked helpless and said in a long voice, "When he came to me, I told him that it was not appropriate to wake the master in the middle of the night, and asked him to wait for another hour or two, and talk about it after daybreak... But Liu Li pulled me aside and said that this matter was of great importance and neither he nor I could bear it, so there was nothing I could do."

"Oh... okay, okay, where is the person now?" Master Wei asked in an impatient tone while rubbing his forehead.

"He's waiting outside." After the lawyer finished his reply, he paused for half a second and added, "In addition to the yamen runners, there were about 20 other people who came with him."

"So many people?" Upon hearing this, Master Wei's expression changed slightly, and he asked suspiciously, "What is this Liu Li up to?"

"I asked that too, but he said he would inform you personally and refused to tell me." As the lawyer said this, he frowned, looking quite dissatisfied with Captain Liu's actions.

"Okay, then let him in alone first." Master Wei thought for a moment and then said, "I want to hear what he is doing."

Since the master had given such instructions, the lawyer did not say anything more and went out immediately to report.

After a while, Captain Liu walked into the room and closed the door.

"Greetings, sir. There was an emergency tonight and I disturbed you. I hope you can forgive me." Captain Liu is a veteran and has served more than one master. So he knows what to say to different people.

When Mr. Wei saw the other party coming in, he knelt down first, and then bowed, explained, and admitted his mistake in a whole process, and his anger was mostly subsided.

"Hey~ Captain Liu has been running around for the people all night, eliminating violence and protecting the good, what crime has he committed?" Although Mr. Wei is a corrupt official, he is not incompetent. Now he has recovered a little from his half-asleep state and calmed down. He thought calmly: Liu Li is a man who has always been experienced in doing things. If he was not really in a hurry, he would not have rashly disturbed me in the middle of the night. I'd better put on some posture, sing a high-sounding tone, and listen to what he has to say. If there is really nothing wrong, I will settle the score with him later.

"Thank you for your kindness, sir! You are considerate of your subordinates and love the people like your own children. I am so grateful!" On the other side, Liu Li also had a lot of words to say. After all, flattery is free.

"Uh...Captain Liu." After listening to a few words, Master Wei felt annoyed and wanted to get to the point. "So what is it that makes you so anxious?"

"My Lord, it is like this..."

Then, Liu Li recounted in detail what he had seen and heard tonight and what he had deduced.

"Hmm..." After listening to it, Master Wei summarized it in his mind and continued, "According to what you said, this matter is roughly like this... a few hours ago, Jin Yu led a group of men, pretending to be Cao Le to rob a family, and then ran away to frame three outsiders who had clashed with him during the day, and these three people were friends of Boss Ding."

"Yes." Captain Liu replied confidently.

"Are you sure that what you found is true? Are these three people really Boss Ding's friends?" Mr. Wei confirmed again cautiously.

The focus of this confirmation is obviously not whether Jin Yu pretended to be Cao Le to rob. After all, Jin Yu's character can only be said to be known by those who know him... The key point is, are the three people who were framed really Ding Buzhu's friends? The answer to this question determines how to handle this case.

"Master, don't you know what my subordinates are doing?" Liu Li replied, "On the way back with them, I sent someone to Xinghui Building to check it out. Guess what happened?" Of course, Liu Li didn't really want the master to guess. He wasn't that bold. This sentence was just a condiment. After he finished speaking, he immediately answered his own question. "According to some guests over there, these three people were not only received by Boss Ding himself, but later they were able to get the top girl Miss Qian to come to the house and have dinner with them. This is not the end... I don't know how Miss Qian offended them at the dinner, and in the end they scolded her so much that she was bloody. After that, the meal was paid by Miss Qian. The three of them just turned around and left."

"What?" Upon hearing this, Master Wei almost dropped the cup in his hand in shock, "Are you...are you serious?"

"It's absolutely true. Many people can prove it." Liu Li replied, "Even the guys at Xinghui Building who were reluctant to say too much have all evasively acquiesced."

"Hiss——" Master Wei took a deep breath, and said in his heart: Jin Yu, Jin Yu, you are going to die if you don't mess with the ones on the ground but mess with the ones in the sky!

"So now... where are they?" Master Wei asked again.

"They are all outside." Liu Li replied, "Jin Yu, his mob of subordinates, and the three people he framed are all here. In addition, the stolen goods found in the three people's rooms and their luggage have also been brought here."

"What did you say?" Master Wei instinctively yelled, then immediately lowered his voice, leaned forward, and said to Liu Li, "Are you crazy? Since you know how powerful these three are, why are you still making trouble with Jin Yu? You really brought the things and people here, and you want me to interrogate them? Aren't you putting me on the spot?"

"Master, you are wronging me." Liu Li also hurriedly explained, "I originally wanted to suppress this matter directly, but it turned out that not only did Jin Yu refuse to accept it, but he also clamored to come to the county government... Even the three people who were framed also clamored to come, and their attitudes were even tougher than Jin Yu's. I couldn't persuade them..." Liu Li's words were sincere, and it was obvious that he really tried to persuade them, "And they also said that they must let you try the case carefully and distinguish right from wrong for them."

Hearing this, Master Wei's hands holding the teacup almost shook like percussion instruments: "Could it be... that Jin Yu said something?"

At this moment, he quickly thought of... During the years in office, he had accepted a lot of benefits from Jin Yu and helped the latter settle many cases of corruption; although in his opinion, these actions were just the basic operations of a corrupt official, and did not mean that he and Jin Yu had any personal relationship at all, at most they were just polite to each other on the surface, but this did not mean that Jin Yu thought so... What if Jin Yu boasted in front of those three people that he and the county magistrate were as close as brothers, and the three on the opposite sides believed it, then wouldn't this wave of trouble be coming to his door?
"Uh... this..." Liu Li observed the master's expression and immediately understood what the master was worried about. He thought for a moment and said, "Anyway, Jin Yu didn't say anything wrong after I arrived, but before I arrived... I don't know what he said."

"Ouch..." Upon hearing this, Master Wei slapped his thigh and thought to himself, "You are such a 'worm attached to your bones', you want to drag me down with you even if you want to die... Just wait and see how I'm going to interrogate you today!"

At the same time, outside the hall.

Jin Yu, who had no idea what was happening in the room, was standing with his hands on his hips, looking up at Sun, Huang and Hu with a sneer.

According to Jin Yu's idea, Captain Liu went into the house to help him greet the master, so that when the master called them in later, the rest would be his one-sided performance.

As for Shuang Xie, who was standing on the other side, they were not panicking either; because they knew very well that with their current reputation and connections in both the black and white worlds, a small situation like tonight's could be easily resolved without even considering the use of any force.

babble--

After a while, there was a sound of door hinges. Everyone looked and saw Captain Liu coming out of the house.

"The master has summoned Mr. Jin, Mr. Sun, Mr. Huang, Mr. Hu... to the back hall for questioning." When Captain Liu said this, his face was expressionless and his tone was calm.

After Lang finished speaking, he walked out of the door and stepped aside to make way.

"Hmph!" The next second, Jin Yu glared at Sun Huanghu with a sneer, then took the lead and walked towards the house with an arrogant look.

Looking at his state, it was as if he was telling the other party, "Get ready to come in and get punished."

Sun Yixie, Huang Donglai and Hu Wenzhi didn't say anything either. They all understood that the more arrogant Jin Yu was now, the funnier his embarrassed appearance would be later. So the three of them followed him inside without making a sound.

After they all entered the house, Captain Liu called his master and several experienced constables to come in to take orders, while the other constables stayed outside and continued to watch the group of Jin Yu's men.

The door closed again and he looked inside the hall.

Jin Yu, who was surrounded by people outside, knelt down as soon as he saw the master in the back hall: "Jin Yu kowtows to the great master!"

According to his idea, given his friendship with the county magistrate, after this great gift, the master should at least give him a seat.

Unexpectedly, Mr. Wei just sat there with a stern face and said coldly: "Jin Yu, I heard that you want to tell someone?"

"Hmm?" Jin Yu felt something was wrong when he heard the tone of the words. Why did the master treat me like this today? In the past, whether I came here to falsely accuse someone or someone sued me, Master Wei would help me a little and his attitude towards me was not this cold. Why is he like this today?

But then he changed his mind and said: Oh... I understand. The master blames me for waking him up in the middle of the night and is angry about getting up. Yes, yes, I almost forgot what time it is. Now it's my turn to be woken up in the middle of the night, and I would be angry too.

"Reporting to the master..." Jin Yu thought he had figured it out, so he organized his words and said, "It's not that I want to sue anyone, but I found the wanted criminal, so I dare not delay, so I brought him to you overnight for your punishment."

What he said was similar to what he said when he first met Captain Liu, which was to "characterize" the matter first, without any distinction between plaintiff and defendant, and directly label the other party as a criminal suspect before moving on.

"Wanted criminals?" Master Wei repeated the words, and his eyes moved accordingly. "You mean... these three?"

"Yes, they are the thief Cao Le whom you want to catch!" Jin Yu said as he straightened up, turned his arm and pointed behind him.

At this moment, he was surprised to find that Sun, Huang and Hu were still standing, and the yamen runners beside them did not try to stop them.

"Hey! Look, sir, these three are totally lawless. When they see you, sir, they dare to stand instead of kneeling!" Jin Yu hurriedly said his discovery out loud, as if he was afraid that the sir hadn't noticed.

"Well...you...are right." Master Wei also has a temper. Not to mention that the other party is Boss Ding's friend, even if Boss Ding himself came, in such an occasion with many people around, he would pretend to kneel down, and then the master would come up to help and stop him. But the three people in front of him didn't even show any gesture, which was a bit too much.

So, Master Wei immediately showed off his authority and said to Shuang Xie and Lao Hu: "I want to ask you, who are you? Why don't you kneel when you see me?"

There are two questions in this sentence, which are both a warning and a test.

"Heh..." At this time, it was Brother Sun, a famous person in the Jiangnan area, who answered, "I am Sun Yixie from Hangzhou. I wonder if you have heard of my name?"

When Mr. Wei heard the name, he was stunned for about five seconds, and then his expression changed a little.

"Liu Li..." He called Captain Liu closer and whispered in his ear, "You just said that one of these three is surnamed Sun, one is surnamed Huang, and one is surnamed Hu, right?"

"Yes." Captain Liu replied softly, "The one with the surname Huang said his name was Huang Donglai, and the other two only gave their surnames, but not their given names."

At this point, Mr. Wei broke out in a cold sweat.

Shanghai County is so close to Hangzhou Prefecture, how could he not have heard of Sun Yixie's name? He had even heard of his appearance, but he had never seen him before.

More importantly, he had also heard of Huang Donglai's name...

As we said before, Master Wei was also an official in the capital in the past. Although he has been transferred to the countryside now, he must have had good colleagues in the capital. In those days, it was very common for friends in the officialdom to exchange letters, and the content of the letters, in addition to polite greetings, also included a lot of casual words.

Two years ago, Mr. Wei saw the same gossip in the letters of several colleagues in the capital. It basically said that there was a young man named Huang Donglai in the martial arts world who did a very shocking thing in Zhoukou... I think all of you readers are very clear about this matter, so I will not repeat it.

Now Master Wei heard the names of these two people at the same time, then looked at their appearances, combined with the series of rumors he knew, and what he had just heard about their situation in Xinghui Building... this thought all made sense.

“Hehehe…” Two seconds later, Master Wei’s official majesty instantly disappeared. Then he smiled widely, stood up and bowed, saying, “It turns out to be my nephew Sun. The flood has flushed the Dragon King Temple… Come on, come on, all of you, quickly give the three of you a seat!”

Looking at Jin Yu kneeling on the ground now, he looked like a frozen fish, his eyes were wide open, his body was stiff and motionless, and even his brain almost stopped thinking in fear.

Let's not talk about him. The yamen runners standing there on standby were stunned for several seconds when they saw the master's attitude. Then, at the urging of Captain Liu's eyes and gestures, they quickly moved the stool over.

After Sun, Huang and Hu were seated, Master Wei took the initiative to step forward and said with a smile, "My dear nephew, I am an old acquaintance of Master Lu from Hangzhou Prefecture. He praised you a lot in his letters to me."

This is half true and half false. Lu Wen is indeed an old acquaintance of Mr. Wei, and he did mention Sun Yixie in his letter, but it was not a compliment... You can figure it out for yourselves.

"Oh... excuse me, sir. Those are just empty reputations." Sun Yixie also spoke up. "But I have heard a lot about your reputation as a loyal, patriotic, just and honest person, sir Wei."

Anyway, it was just a way to get close to each other and brag, so Sun Yixie was not afraid of blurting out his tongue. In fact, he even learned the fact that the other person's surname was Wei from overhearing the conversation of the detectives on the road, let alone his reputation.

Of course, it doesn’t matter how he brags, as long as it works.

"Oh! How dare I, how dare I, say that... I feel unworthy of it, unworthy of it..." Master Wei's response was also the truth. He really did not deserve that eight-word evaluation.

However, this is not important...

The important thing is that everyone in this room can see at this moment: in today's case, when Lord Wei took sides, he was not on Jin Yu's side.

"Oh, by the way, let me introduce these two. They are both my friends... This is Huang Donglai, the young master of the Huangmen in Shu, and this is Mr. Hu Wenzhi." Then, Sun Yixie took the opportunity to report the names of the other two to Master Wei.

Mr. Wei, who had already been mentally prepared, quickly exchanged greetings with the two men and exchanged a few words.

During this whole process, Jin Yu, who was forced to kneel there as punishment, was numb from many angles... What he was thinking about now was no longer how to falsely accuse others, but how to get out of this situation.

"Oh... So you guys just returned to the Central Plains from Japan not long ago. What are you talking about? 'Cao Le' is definitely not you. Someone is framing you!" After chatting for a few more sentences, Mr. Wei immediately seized the key point and turned the spearhead, "Jin Yu! Tell me, are you the one behind this!"

"My Lord! I am innocent!" Jin Yu would not sit still and wait for death. He had to struggle a little. "I just...just saw that the three of them did not look like locals, and were wandering around in the middle of the night, which was suspicious...so I suspected them..." He was also making up stories while he was speaking, relying on his quick wit to come up with excuses. "Besides...besides, the stories about Japan and the West...are all their one-sided stories. Who can prove that they really just arrived in Shanghai a few days ago?"

It must be said that Jin Yu's move was actually quite powerful: he knew that if he questioned the alibi of these three people tonight, he would probably be able to find a witness immediately, but if he questioned the fact that they had just returned to Central Plains from Japan a few days ago, it would be difficult to find anyone to testify for the time being... As long as this matter was delayed until dawn, his delaying tactic would work, and he would have room to mediate afterwards.

But Sun Yixie just snorted when he heard this, and said, "Huh...Mr. Jin, this question is very good..." He deliberately said in a pretentious tone, "Then if I say that the two people who can prove this are a eunuch from the East Factory and the general flag of the Jinyiwei, and both of them are no longer in Shanghai County, I wonder..." He looked at Mr. Wei again, "Mr. Wei, are you still interested in verifying it?"

When Master Wei heard this, he almost cursed. He thought to himself, "I am a local official, and a corrupt one at that... For a small theft case that was probably a false accusation, I went to question the people from the East Factory and the Jinyiwei at the same time? Who is asking whom? I might as well go to the King of Hell to ask when I should die."

"Hey, this... what are you saying, nephew? How can I not believe you?" Two seconds later, Lord Wei immediately raised his voice and comforted Sun Yixie.

Then, he turned around and pointed at Jin Yu and started to curse: "Jin Yu! You are a maggot! You are a villain, a scoundrel, a bully, and a beast! Do you know what you are saying? I have tolerated you for a long time!"

To be honest, his words were somewhat personal. After all, Jin Yu usually did too many bad things. If it weren't for the money, even Master Wei couldn't stand this guy.

"Captain Liu!"

"My subordinate is here."

"Slap him in the face!"

"Yes!"

Captain Liu received the order and picked up a board on the table in the back hall and was about to go up.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, someone shouted: "Wait a minute!"

(End of this chapter)