So what if I traveled through time? I'll continue to roll in another place

The head of the Dali Temple is equivalent to the modern Supreme Court. He is in charge of reviewing serious criminal cases in various places, and does not directly judge cases.

Because the case involved the life and death of the imperial official Deng Wenkai, Shou Jun had someone bring Huang Fu back to Fengtian Prefecture, directly skipping the preliminary trial at the county government under Fengtian Prefecture, and waiting for the Fengtian Prefecture Governor Liang Ji to preside over the trial in person tomorrow morning.

Liang Ji is experienced, mature, and well versed in the ways of being an official. He can sit firmly on the position of prefect in the capital city where nobles are numerous. He is the person chosen by Duke Dingguo to escort his son.

All prefects, states and county magistrates preferred to try cases in the second or third hall, as the inner hall was more comfortable and convenient for trial.

But this man did the opposite when trying cases. He liked to hear cases in the hall, and there were often hundreds of people watching and listening in the hall.

Liang Ji was born with a handsome appearance and a dignified manner. He had his own rules for questioning and making fair judgments, and he spoke clearly and logically. He looked very dignified and convincing.

Early in the morning, the Fengtian government office opened.

Ji Shu and Zhou Yao were not in a position to sit in the court as observers as officials, so they mingled with Xiao Yueshan among the onlookers and watched Liang Ji judge the case.

The hall servant struck the hall drum three times, and the three shifts of yamen servants stood on both sides and shouted "court opening" in unison.

Liang Ji came in from the east gate of the warm room in official uniform and sat upright in the hall.

The bailiff brought Huang Fu into the hall and made him kneel down on the defendant's stone.

It was a pity that Deng Wenkai's entire family was killed, and there was not even a plaintiff who could speak out. Only four corpses were left. Shou Junwu stood aside as the plaintiff and cross-examined Deng Wenkai's family.

"Who is kneeling?" Liang Ji asked.

"I am Huang Fu from Yonghe Lane." Huang Fu kowtowed and replied.

"What's the grievance?"

"I have no grievances. I came here to..." He hesitated for a long time but still didn't say it out loud.

"What have you done? Tell the truth!" Liang Ji slammed the gavel.

"I...I..." Huang Fu was reluctant to say it, but Shou Junwu's patience had reached its limit, so he interrupted him and said, "Your Excellency, a few days ago, four bodies were found in the stone wall of Li Laosan's house in Yonghe Lane. After comparing with the household registration, they were the family of Deng Wenkai, the former head of the Household Department.

I have sent people to stake out Yonghe Lane for many days, and yesterday I caught a civilian named Huang Fu, who left his home in the middle of the night. He was suspected of fleeing from the crime, so I brought him back to the government office for trial."

"I just had something happen back home... I just wanted to go back to visit! Please understand, sir!" Huang Fu kowtowed and protested his innocence.

"What happened in your hometown? How did you know? Where is the evidence? Why didn't you go back in broad daylight, but had to wait until the middle of the night to set out?" Shou Junwu asked questions one after another.

"This...this...my mother is seriously ill and I want to go back to my hometown to see her." Huang Fu replied hesitantly.

"You are talking nonsense! Your ancestral home is in Canghuai County, Yunzhou, Pingyi Prefecture, and your surname is Deng. There was a drought in Canghuai in those early years, and you were sold to the Huang family. You followed the Huang family all the way to their relatives in Fengtian Prefecture. Your hometown was devastated by the disaster and no one was left there. How could you say that your mother in your hometown was seriously ill?" Shou Junwu had done his homework. He had already verified the relationship between Huang Fu and Deng Wenkai.

"I...I have a lover and I want to meet her in the middle of the night," Huang Fu came up with another plan after his first plan failed. "I was afraid that my wife would find out, so I climbed over the wall to go out."

"What's your lover's name and where does he live? Tell me and the government will look for him immediately and bring him to court for confrontation." Shou Junwu replied angrily.

"You are still not honest at the Fengtian government office! Stop your nonsense!" Liang Ji, who was sitting on the seat, scolded, "If you still don't confess, you will be punished with twenty strokes of the cane."

The bailiffs responded by beating the ground in unison with their killing sticks. It sounded very shocking, and Huang Fu collapsed to the ground, shaking like a sieve.

"What's the plaintiff's fault? Please state your grievances first." Liang Ji turned to Shou Junwu and said.

"I am suing Huang Fu of Yonghe Lane for beating and killing his nephew, the imperial official Deng Wenkai, and his family, taking away his house title deed, and building up his family's remains in the stone wall outside the house."

It was just a murder, so the curiosity of the onlookers was reduced a lot. They thought the assassin of the prime minister had been found! Everyone wanted to see who would get the 20,000 yuan and the fifth-rank official position.

But since we were already here, we still had to watch the excitement. The entrance to the government office was still crowded with people. Outside, there were many vendors carrying loads on their shoulders, doing business while watching the excitement.

"Last year, someone reported that Deng Wenkai, the Chief Censor of the Ministry of Revenue, was missing, and the case was later closed as 'stealing food and money and absconding with the money.' Now the magistrate says that the corpses in the hall belong to Deng Wenkai's family? Is there any evidence?" Liang Ji asked.

"I have evidence." Shou Junwu methodically took out the documents prepared by Ji Shu one by one.

"First, the household registration records of this family are consistent with the records of Deng Wenkai's Jiali period. The old man's surname is You, and he is Deng Wenkai's father-in-law. The young woman is his wife You.

Second, after the coroner's examination, the young male corpse's skeletal features matched the body shape and facial features of Deng Wenkai in the Jia calendar, and his age was also the same;

Third, the tattered official uniforms found in the stone wall where the bodies were buried were consistent with the rank of Deng Wenkai, the eighth-rank official in the Ministry of Revenue. Therefore, it was determined that the bodies hidden in the stone wall were Deng Wenkai’s family.

Liang Ji reviewed the evidence presented by Shou Junwu one by one.

"Your Excellency, when Deng Wenkai's parents-in-law and his wife You moved out of Yonghe Lane, it was Huang Fu who drove the car. There are testimonies from many civilians. Huang Fu had the time to commit the crime and he cannot deny it!" Shou Junwu said indignantly, pointing at Huang Fu.

"Yes, my original surname was Deng, and I was adopted by the Huang family when we fled famine. But so what? Even if, as you said, Lord Deng is my nephew, why should I kill him?" Huang Fu asked aggrievedly.

Hearing Huang Fu's question, the people at the door began to whisper to each other. Yes, even if they could prove that they were relatives, it could not directly prove that Huang Fu was the murderer.

"Because of this." Shou Junwu was well prepared. He asked the yamen runners to present the clothes sewn by Yan Niang that they found in Changji Clothing Store to the hall.

"These are clothes that were hand-sewn by Deng Wenkai's wife and mother-in-law. When the You family moved away, Lao Cui, who collected second-hand goods, bought them from the You family and later resold them to Changji Clothing Store in Xishi. The testimony and signatures of Lao Cui and the shopkeeper who handled the purchase are all available.

I have obtained handwritten notes from Deng Wenkai and his relatives from these clothes, and learned that they had verified the corruption in Jiangzhou and that Shen Xin, the head of the Ministry of Revenue, had bribed Deng Wenkai many times.

Some corruption accounts written by Deng Wenkai himself, showing the embezzlement of funds between Shen Xin and others and the Huainan Prefecture, were also obtained from the interlayer of the official uniform.

The handwriting is consistent with the memorial submitted by Deng Wenkai before. Please ask Mr. Clerk to check it again."

"What does this have to do with me!" Huang Fu shouted, "These are high-ranking officials. How can a commoner have the chance to meet them? The officials must be trying to use me, a commoner, to take the blame!"

He screamed so miserably that even the people watching at the door were shaken. Just based on the fact that Huang Fu was Deng Wenkai's uncle, it was impossible to determine that he was the murderer.

"Don't be impatient, I haven't finished yet." Today, Shou Junwu had a great time.