Being an emperor is not something he can do, so he can only rely on his connections.

The next day.

Constable Lin Kuo urgently reported: "Sir, a murder has occurred in Huzhuang Village!"

Huzhuang Village is a well-known prosperous place in Gaoyang County. Most of the villagers are surnamed Hu and have always been known for their tradition of farming and studying, as well as their harmonious neighborly relations.

Zhang Jingwei ordered Zhao Peixin to immediately drop everything and rush there with his men. The scene was bloody and chaotic; Hu Sheng, the owner of the coal leaching plant, lay in a pool of blood, stabbed multiple times.

The murderer turned out to be Hu Hai—a name that he remembered quite well.

At this moment, in the courtroom, sunlight streaming through the window illuminated Hu Hai's pale and unusually calm face. He wore a faded blue robe, the proper attire of a scholar, now stained with a jarring dark red. He knelt upright, his eyes staring blankly at the ground.

Zhang Jingwei took a deep breath, his voice sounding particularly heavy in the empty hall, even carrying a hint of disbelief and regret: "Hu Hai? How could it be you?! You are the top student in Gaoyang, and the government's monthly allowance for outstanding scholars has never been lacking. I even hoped that you would do better in next year's autumn examination... Why did you commit such a cruel act and ruin your future?!"

Upon hearing this, Hu Hai's shoulders trembled almost imperceptibly. He slowly raised his head, his eyes bloodshot, his lips moving, and finally he could only utter a few dry words: "My lord... I... have failed your cultivation, have failed the teachings of the sages..." His voice was low and hoarse, filled with the deathly silence after despair.

"Hu Hai!" Zhang Jingwei leaned forward slightly, his sharp gaze trying to see into his heart. "What secrets do you have? Tell me now. If in the heat of the moment, you accidentally kill someone during the argument, the law has its exceptions. Don't make a mistake!"

“It wasn’t an accident.” Hu Hai’s voice suddenly rose, but then quickly plummeted back down, carrying a kind of resolute numbness. “The student committed premeditated murder. There’s no need to argue, the student… confesses.”

"Hu Hai! Calm down!" Zhang Jingwei's tone hardened, and the gavel slammed lightly on the table. "The man you killed was Hu Sheng, the owner of the Hu Zhuang coal leaching workshop. I have already investigated, and you two are distant relatives beyond the fifth degree of kinship. What deep-seated hatred could a scholar like you have for him that would drive you to this? Is it some business dispute over the coal leaching workshop?"

Coal washing and desulfurization is a traditional coal washing and desulfurization technique inherited by Hedong Coal Industry. It can remove most of the sulfur and impurities from coal and prevent coal poisoning. Hu Sheng's coal washing workshop is the first of its kind in the village.

Mentioning the coal leaching workshop, a ripple finally stirred in Hu Hai's empty eyes—a pain and resentment that ran deep in his bones. "That coal leaching workshop..." his voice trembled, "was originally a family business passed down through my ancestors!" He abruptly raised his head, staring directly at Zhang Jingwei, his eyes red-rimmed. "My parents died young, because they spent years making coal briquettes (mixing washed coal powder with yellow mud to form briquettes for easier burning and storage), inhaling too much of the still-toxic coal smoke, which choked their lungs... They died! I was still young then, and my uncle's family raised me. But the family's workers were incompetent, and the coal workshop was a complete mess. Later... later, my uncle and aunt also followed in my parents' footsteps, dying from that damned coal smoke!"

His words were like sobs of blood, and the courtroom fell silent except for his heavy breathing. "My family was so poor... we couldn't even afford two simple coffins, so my uncle and aunt had to share one! My younger brother and sister were even younger, and they cried from hunger. I... I had no other choice but to sell the family coal mine to my cousin Hu Sheng for a pittance. I took my younger siblings and worked odd jobs and did copying in the village, barely managing to earn a living." As he spoke, tears finally streamed down his face, but he wiped them away fiercely with his sleeve.

Zhang Jingwei listened silently, his heart filled with even greater regret. He knew Hu Hai came from a poor background, but he had no idea that his life had been so full of hardship. "You are quick-witted and hardworking. You passed the county-level imperial examination and I remember your essays were quite brilliant. If you had studied diligently for a few more years, passing the provincial-level examination would not have been out of the question... Why, why did you have to choose this moment to take such a desperate path?"

"Why?" Hu Hai smiled bitterly, a smile more painful than tears. "Since the beginning of the year, the magistrate has taken pity on us poor students, increasing the number of places and raising our allowances. I am deeply grateful. I found a clerical job in the kiln camp, the salary is good, and life has finally improved. My younger siblings can finally have enough to eat. In the kiln camp, I also secretly learned some techniques to improve the coal-leaving and cake-making skills, and I was thinking... thinking that one day I could redeem the family business."

His gaze gradually sharpened and turned cold: "I went to discuss with Hu Sheng, and out of consideration for our shared kinship, I was willing to redeem him at the market price. But unexpectedly... he raised the price on the spot, demanding more than ten times the original selling price! When I argued with him, he actually insulted me, calling me a 'jinx who brought death to my parents and aunts,' and a 'poor scholar with wild fantasies'! I tolerated all of that..." Hu Hai's voice suddenly rose, filled with barely suppressed rage, "But he shouldn't have, he shouldn't have dared to insult the spirits of my parents and aunts in heaven! His words were filthy and unbearable to hear! Sir, at that time... I immediately started fighting with him, but the villagers pulled us apart."

Zhang Jingwei pressed further: "During the struggle, did you accidentally injure his vital organs?"

“No.” Hu Hai shook his head, his expression regaining that chilling calm. “It was at night. The more I thought about it, the more I hated it, and my blood rushed to my head. So I took the boning knife I usually use to cut ropes and climbed over the wall into his yard under cover of night… He was drinking in the main room, his back to me. I… I just…” He didn’t finish his sentence, but his trembling hands and the words “three fatal stab wounds to the back and ribs” on the autopsy report in court said it all.

"Did someone instigate you? Or did you have accomplices assisting you?" Zhang Jingwei was still not convinced. He felt that the scholar's confession was too straightforward and thorough, as if he wanted to die.

“It was all done by the student alone,” Hu Hai answered without hesitation. “Climbing over the wall, killing, and being discovered and subdued by villagers who heard the commotion—it was all done by me alone. No one knew about it, and no one helped me.”

"Hu Hai!" Zhang Jingwei said in a deep voice, "Do you know that this is a courtroom? Every word you say will be used as evidence in court, recorded, and will determine your life or death!"

“The student’s words are all true, and he is willing to bear all responsibility.” Hu Hai bowed his head again, his forehead touching the ground.

Zhang Jingwei stared at him for a long time before squeezing out a few words through gritted teeth: "Every word is true... You will die. According to the law, intentional homicide with conclusive evidence and a clear confession warrants execution."

Hu Hai's body stiffened for a moment, but he still didn't raise his head. Instead, he lay down on the ground even more heavily, and his voice came out in a muffled tone: "Student... has no regrets in dying."

"..." Zhang Jingwei closed his eyes, his chest heaving. In the courtroom, the law was strictly enforced, and everyone was watching. Even if he wanted to show favoritism, faced with such a clear (even overly clear) confession, there was little room for maneuver. Moreover, Hu Hai himself showed no will to live.

After a long while, he opened his eyes, his gaze filled with a deep, melancholy depth. He picked up the gavel, but it felt as heavy as a thousand pounds.

A soft "snap!" rang out, less imposing than usual, yet carrying a sense of decisiveness.

"The culprit, Hu Hai, has confessed without hesitation. He is ordered to sign and affix his fingerprint in court, and then imprisoned in the death row. The case file will be compiled in detail, and a date will be set..." He paused, and finally uttered those two words, "Report to higher authorities."

When the two bailiffs grabbed Hu Hai by the arms, he was unusually obedient. He glanced one last time at Zhang Jingwei, whose face was pale in the courtroom, his lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he said nothing. He just bowed deeply, then turned around, dragging his heavy shackles, and walked step by step towards the darkness behind the courtroom that symbolized despair.

Zhang Jingwei did not leave immediately. He sat alone in the empty courtroom, his brows furrowed into a deep frown, his gaze fixed on the spot where Hu Hai had knelt, where the resolute yet desperate aura of that young scholar still seemed to linger. A murder case that seemed to have irrefutable evidence and a confession weighed heavily on his heart, like a wet coal briquette, filled with an inexplicable sense of unease and doubt.

Hu Hai's "no regrets in death" gaze kept flashing through his mind.

Was it really just a crime of passion triggered by an argument that insulted one's ancestors? This case was resolved too quickly, and... too smoothly.