My subjects are too rebellious!

After listening to the statements of the wealthy businessman and the scholar, Bao Xiren found that each of them had his own opinion and it was difficult to immediately determine who was right and who was wrong.

In cases like this, it is often difficult to get the truth based on confessions alone, so they decided to use a special method to test their psychological reactions.

He ordered the yamen runners to quickly catch a rooster and place it in front of the hall. Then he looked at the scholar with a sharp gaze and said in a deep voice: "I want to use this rooster as a test. If you can kill it with your own hands, it may prove that you have a clear conscience and what you said is true."

When these words were spoken, everyone in the hall was surprised and cast astonished looks.

When the scholar heard this, his face suddenly changed. He had never thought that he would be asked to kill a chicken with his own hands, let alone in court.

He took the knife handed to him by the bailiff with trembling hands, but was afraid to take action.

Seeing this, Bao Xiren did not speak immediately, but quietly observed the scholar's reaction.

Time passed minute by minute, and the scholar still couldn't make up his mind.

Even when Bao Xiren deliberately put the knife to his neck and made a coercive gesture, he still just trembled and did not dare to move.

Seeing this, Bao Xiren made some judgment in his mind.

He slowly put away the knife, looked at the scholar with deep eyes, and said in a deep voice: "You dare not kill it, is it because you feel guilty, or because you can't bear to kill it?"

Seeing the rich businessman sneering at the side, Bao Xiren decided to let the rich businessman slaughter the rooster himself.

When the rich businessman heard this, a look of disgust immediately appeared on his face, and he was obviously disdainful and dissatisfied with such rough work.

However, he was in the court after all, so he had to reluctantly take the knife and complete the task.

With a wave of his hand and a slash of the knife, the rooster fell to the ground, and the blood dyed the ground red.

Unexpectedly, the scholar suddenly widened his eyes, stared at the pool of bright red chicken blood, and his face instantly turned pale as paper.

Immediately afterwards, his body began to shake, and eventually he could not hold on and fainted on the ground.

This sudden change shocked everyone.

The coroner came to examine the scholar and said that he had just fainted.

When Bao Xiren heard the coroner's examination results, his brows slightly frowned.

He really felt strange. How could a man who didn't even dare to kill a chicken and would faint at the sight of chicken blood have the courage or strength to kill his own wife?

His gaze then turned to the rich businessman. His eyes were sharp. The rich businessman felt uncomfortable being stared at by Bao Xiren like this. His eyes began to flicker and he looked left and right from time to time.

Seeing this, Bao Xiren became more certain of his guess.

A person's words and actions often reveal his true thoughts.

The rich businessman's reaction at this time undoubtedly told Bao Xiren that he had something to hide.

So Bao Xiren took the yamen runners and the scholar to the rich businessman's house.

The onlookers also followed behind.

The rich businessman's wives, concubines and maids were summoned to the courtyard one by one. Bao Xiren glanced at each of them, trying to catch a hint of abnormality from their expressions.

However, after a careful search, the yamen runners did not find any obvious abnormalities.

Every corner of the house was turned upside down, but apart from daily belongings and daily necessities, no evidence directly related to the case was found.

Faced with this result, Bao Xiren did not show any disappointment or discouragement.

At this time, Bao Xiren found a puppy in the yard, so he came up with an idea. He let the puppy smell the scholar's wife's clothes, and then smiled and said, "Little guy, take me to find her?"

The puppy seemed very smart, as if it really understood what Bao Xiren said. It wagged its tail and ran towards the rich businessman's bedroom.

When the rich businessman saw this, his face suddenly changed and he was so angry that he wanted to rush forward and beat the puppy to death.

However, the rich businessman's actions were stopped in time by the quick-eyed and quick-handed yamen runners, who firmly subdued the rich businessman.

Seeing this, Bao Xiren curled up a meaningful smile.

He and the yamen runners followed closely behind the puppy. As the puppy ran into the rich businessman's bedroom, Bao Xiren's heartbeat accelerated.

In the bedroom, the puppy stopped in front of a seemingly ordinary painting or calligraphy and began to sniff it vigorously. After sniffing for a while, it began to bark wildly.

Bao Xiren keenly realized that there must be something fishy going on, so he immediately ordered the bailiffs to move the calligraphy and paintings away and prepare to find out what was going on.

However, there seemed to be nothing unusual on the wall, which made Bao Xiren frown slightly.

His eyes fell on the candlesticks on both sides of the wall.

These two candlesticks looked like ordinary decorations, but Bao Xiren felt that their position and arrangement were somewhat unusual.

He pulled the candlestick hard, and the wall made a slight sound. Then, a hidden mechanism was triggered, and the wall slowly opened to both sides, revealing a staircase leading to the back of the wall.

As the wall opened, a woman's voice was heard from inside.

The woman said with some excitement in her tone: "Master, you are back. I missed you so much."

The sudden female voice instantly broke the tense atmosphere at the scene.

Bao Xiren, the yamen runners and the scholar present were all stunned.

The rich businessman's face instantly turned extremely ugly. He tried to deny it, but his voice trembled a little: "No, it's not me, you heard it wrong!"

But the bailiff didn't care about that and grabbed the woman out of the secret room.

When she came out, everyone was surprised. Isn't this the scholar's wife?

Bao Xiren immediately realized that since the scholar's wife was still alive, the female corpse found by the river must be someone else.

He turned to the rich businessman, his eyes sharp, and began to interrogate him harshly.

Under Bao Xiren's questioning, the rich businessman finally stammered and told him what had happened.

It turned out that the female corpse was a concubine he bought. Because of her strong temper, she was unwilling to obey him.

During a fierce scuffle, the rich businessman lost control of his rage and accidentally beat her to death.

In order to cover up his crime, he carefully planned a conspiracy.

The scholar's wife despised his poverty and voluntarily followed the rich businessman.

It was only after she discussed it with the two wealthy businessmen that she hid here in order to frame the scholar.

Bao Xiren frowned and looked at the couple in front of him again.

Faced with such truth, the scholar seemed particularly painful and desperate.

He couldn't accept that his beloved wife would betray him.

He stood there in a daze, his eyes empty, as if he had lost all his strength.

Faced with irrefutable evidence, Bao Xiren did not hesitate at all. He decisively ordered the arrest of the wealthy businessman and the scholar's wife, and put them in jail, awaiting execution in the autumn.

When the people learned the final result, they shouted "Judge Bao".

In the crowd, Qin Chuan stood quietly, with a thoughtful smile on his lips, looking at Bao Xiren's receding back.