A piece of Japanese incense

"According to what you said, you only had a dispute with the Huang father and son?" asked the cousin carefully.

Bai Xian straightened his chest and said without hesitation: "That's right!"

Lord Xin raised his eyebrows slightly, glanced quickly to the right, and then looked away as if nothing had happened.

The man surnamed Bai, who was kneeling beside Bai Xuan, raised his head slightly and spoke passionately: "Your Excellency! My son has been wronged in this matter! Our family has already found out that the death of the four Huang family members was caused by the servants' negligence. They have admitted their guilt and are now waiting for trial outside the government office. I beg you to make a judgment according to the law!"

(Oh! You’re playing this game again, right?)

Two men, dressed in tight dark blue suits with white words embroidered on their robes and thick-soled soft boots, with iron-faced and burly figures, walked into the courtroom.

One claimed that he used too much force and strangled Xiaozhu's mother, Yang, to death; the other claimed that he just wanted to teach her a lesson, so he acted on his own initiative and wielded the knife alone, but he did not expect that this would result in the death of three people.

"What a fallacy! I witnessed with my own eyes that the bully took my father's life with a knife in his hand. Now he dares to tamper with the facts and let you take the blame for him!" Xiao Zhu was emotional, pointing his finger at Bai Yan, extremely angry.

"The girl was unconscious at the time, and my young master was kind-hearted and took the girl away. It was because I insisted on standing up for the young master that I hurt her." The man named Yan Er stated.

Xiao Zhu burst into tears: "When he killed someone, I was conscious and I saw it with my own eyes..."

The uncle slammed his hand on the table, his expression serious: "Silence! Yan Er, you said you killed those three people, tell me in detail how you committed the crime?"

"It's just a matter of stabbing with a knife. Simple and direct." Yan Er gestured with a relaxed tone.

My cousin raised his eyebrows slightly, and three yamen runners stepped forward. My cousin ordered Yan Er to reenact the scene of that day.

Yan Er put his hand on the shoulder of one of them and simulated a stabbing action, looking very serious.

My uncle smiled and sneered, then suddenly slammed the gavel: "How dare you! The victims were all stabbed in the lower abdomen. The tallest victim was no more than six feet tall, and you are two feet taller. You stabbed straight down with the knife, and the blade must have been stabbing downwards. Tell me now! Who ordered you to take the blame for someone else?"

Upon hearing this, Yan Er immediately knelt down, his head touching the ground, and said tremblingly: "I am... I am..."

The uncle didn't allow any explanation and said sternly, "Take him away and give him thirty strokes of the cane first! Beat him until he confesses!"

Yan Er was crying and wailing as he was dragged to the torture chamber. As he screamed heart-wrenchingly, the air was filled with a strong smell of blood.

The man named Liu Quan covered his ears with his hands, unable to bear the shrill shouting, and huddled aside, trembling.

The Bai man clenched his fists, his eyes flashing with complex emotions. After hesitating for a moment, he changed his words and said, "Sir, they have a deep brotherly love and have worked together for a long time. They may indeed be scapegoats. It is our negligence..."

"No need to say more. All those who traveled with Bai Xuan that night will be brought to the court for interrogation!" The cousin gave the order in a stern and cold tone.

In just a cup of tea's time, six tall and mighty men came forward one after another in the hall. During this time, Yan Er was dragged out of the torture room in an unconscious state by the aid of the yamen runners. He was covered in blood and his arms hung limply.

Several people spoke incoherently and took the blame on themselves, but their uncle refuted them one by one.

As time passed, Bai Xian became restless. From his initial calmness, his fingers unconsciously touched his arms, like rapid drum beats, his legs seemed to be burned by invisible flames, and every slight movement seemed to challenge the constraints of stillness.

The man surnamed Bai kept wiping the sweat off his face until the last person was dragged into the torture room. Bai Xun even took off his outer shirt.

(I secretly rejoiced in my heart. Hum! You must be sweating profusely!)

"Sir! Why do we need to retrial? It is undoubtedly that evil man. The knife he used was his beloved jade knife. He even carried it with him every day after the incident!" Xiao Zhu said anxiously.

The uncle finally turned his gaze to Bai Yan: "Is what Miss Huang said true?"

Bai Xuan had already collapsed on the ground, took off his boots, and stepped on the ground barefoot: "You vicious woman, when has this young master ever had a knife? Stop slandering me!"

Xiao Zhu replied awkwardly, "You obviously have it! You said it was a birthday gift from the young marquis, and you always keep it with you."

"Nonsense! Who has seen it? Who can prove it?!" Bai Fan pulled his collar and retorted irritably.

"But what about this knife?"

A yamen runner presented a bloody dagger to the hall.

The dagger handle is made of green jade, inlaid with gold thread, and filled with red, emerald and pearl floral patterns. The sheath is covered with gold and engraved with diamond-shaped floral patterns.

"It has been verified that the wounds on the body are surprisingly consistent with the dagger. What is your explanation?"

My cousin tapped the table top with his right index finger leisurely, waiting for Bai Xuan's answer.

Bai Xian smiled contemptuously: "Oh my! So it is this dagger, it is indeed my lost property, but it has been away from me for a long time, sir! It must be that evil woman who stole my dagger and used it to kill her own relatives!"

"Nonsense! Don't even think about framing me!" Xiao Zhu accused angrily.

"We can testify for Miss Huang that this dagger was worn by this evil man in early March. Could it be that Miss Huang stole your dagger to commit the crime and then returned it to you?!" The words pierced through the noisy crowd, and everyone's eyes were like a magnet attracting iron, all cast towards the center of the team.

He Jiaojiao supported the limping Li Ru into the hall and said solemnly, "On the third day of March, the two of us went to Taiping Mountain for an outing. Due to the thick fog in the mountains, we got separated from our attendants and ran into this bully. He tricked us under the pretext of guiding us, but in fact he wanted to do something bad. In desperation, the two of us pulled out a dagger from his arms and stabbed him in the chest!"

Li Ru added, "However, he had many men under his command, and they beat us both severely. The wounds on my legs and Jiaojiao's face were both caused by that dagger. You can compare them with the wounds on his chest. We were later captured by him and imprisoned in his private jail, and our wounds have not healed for months."

"This dagger is made of hundred-year-old cold iron from Changyun Mountain. After stabbing someone, the wound will be difficult to heal." The cousin said confidently, holding the dagger in his hand.

"That's why the wounds of these two girls didn't heal for several months, and my family members died from excessive blood loss! Sir! Please give justice to my grandparents! Sir!" Xiao Zhu knelt on the ground, heartbroken.

"How dare you! For your own selfish desires, you have caused the death of four people, set up a private prison, and raped a young girl. You are simply insane! Someone, come here!"

"Master Jin!" Master Xin interrupted, "It's just a dagger. How can it be enough to determine Bai Dalang's guilt?"