Chapter 30: Your Tragedy, Your Trial

Thump! Thump!

Heavy, urgent pounding on the door echoed through the Wang family courtyard. Before a servant could even open the gate a crack, it was violently shoved wide.

Chen Sanxiu, the head of the bailiffs, brandished a warrant and declared in a sharp voice, "By order of the Magistrate, we are here to take the head of the Wang household, Wang Fugui, for questioning."

The servant stood frozen in confusion.

Wang Fugui was in the middle of drinking tea when he saw the head bailiff and his men storm in. He bolted upright, his teacup slipping from his hand and shattering on the floor with a crisp crack.

"Wang Fugui, the county office summons you." Chen Sanxiu flashed the warrant, then gestured outward. "Please."

Wang Fugui’s face turned deathly pale. Ever since Gu Pei’s body had been discovered at dusk the previous day, he had been overcome with unease. To think that in just one night, the county office had traced the matter back to him!

*There is no evidence. They have no evidence!*

Five years had passed, and all traces had been destroyed. As long as he stubbornly insisted on his ignorance, even the Magistrate could do nothing to him!

In the county courtroom, amid cries of "Might!" from the guards, the bailiffs rhythmically struck the floor with their heavy staves. Li Yi, wearing the black gauze cap and blue circular-collared robe of his office, sat with solemn authority. He struck the gavel. "Bring in the plaintiff."

Gu Zhengchen stepped forward from the crowd of onlookers, cupping his hands in a salute. "My father, Gu Pei, was murdered without cause and his body submerged in a pond for years. I implore the Magistrate to apprehend the true culprit and secure justice for the Gu family!"

Under the regulations of the Great Ming, scholars and degree holders were not required to kneel before officials. Li Yi nodded slightly and struck the gavel again. "Bring in Gu Pei’s remains!"

The bailiffs carried the skeletal remains into the hall. The coroner presented his findings on the cause of death, pointing directly toward a "grudge-fueled murder." Li Yi then turned to Gu Zhengchen to ask who had held a grudge against his father. After hearing the response, he shouted, "Bring in Wang Fugui!"

Though many facts were already clear, Li Yi had to follow the proper procedures. Furthermore, he could not ask Gu Zhengchen directly who might have killed his father; if Gu Zhengchen named someone who was later proven innocent, it would constitute false accusation, which was a crime in itself. Besides, every trial was observed by the local populace—a method used by the imperial court to educate and deter the people. If the matter were not laid out clearly from beginning to end, the public would not be convinced.

Wang Fugui entered the hall, knelt, and saluted. "This humble commoner greets the Magistrate."

Li Yi scrutinized Wang Fugui, glanced at the registrar and the assistant magistrate, and said in a deep voice, "Wang Fugui, Gu Pei was murdered and submerged in a pond years ago. According to Gu Zhengchen, you once had a land dispute with Gu Pei. Is this true?"

Wang Fugui nodded readily. "In reply to the Magistrate, that is indeed true."

Li Yi’s gaze sharpened.

Wang Fugui continued calmly, "However, after the government later allocated another plot of land to the Wang family, we never bothered the Gu family again. When Scholar Gu earned his degree last year, our family even went to his home to offer our apologies and provided forty strings of cash to support his journey to the capital for the examinations. The relationship between our families has been quite good."

Gu Zhengchen looked at Wang Fugui, feeling a surge of admiration for the man’s sheer shamelessness; truly, there was no one more invincible than a scoundrel without a conscience.

Li Yi’s mouth twitched. He had witnessed the Wang family forcing the Gu family to repay debts; he knew exactly what kind of people they were. *Quite good, my foot.*

Li Yi cleared his throat. "So, you are saying you would not have harmed Gu Pei over a land dispute?"

Wang Fugui looked innocent. "Magistrate, the Wang family are law-abiding citizens. How could we possibly kill a man over ten acres of land?"

Li Yi nodded and looked toward the entrance. "Bring in the witness!"

Deng Quan walked into the hall and knelt. Li Yi took a long look at Gu Zhengchen, sighing inwardly: *Gu Zhengchen, your capabilities are not to be underestimated. To identify the man who played the 'rabbit wearing an official's hat' within half a day shows that you are meticulous and highly talented. This tragedy involving your father is both a sorrow and a trial for you. You must open your eyes and see clearly the hypocrisy behind human masks, the cunning of the human heart, and the ugliness of human nature! Greed, treachery, framing, and shamelessness—all of these will play out here. In the future, you must hold fast to your integrity and become a truly upright official!*

Li Yi turned his gaze to Deng Quan. "After Gu Pei’s body was discovered, you reported to the authorities, claiming you saw the scene of the crime and the perpetrator that day."

Wang Fugui glanced at Deng Quan, a flicker of panic crossing his face.

"That is correct!" Deng Quan replied firmly.

*Crack!*

Li Yi struck the gavel and demanded sternly, "Since you saw it back then, why did you not report it to the authorities? Withholding information is a serious crime under the law! Do you confess your guilt?"

Gu Zhengchen looked at Li Yi. *That is quite a display of official authority, but is it appropriate to intimidate my witness like that?*

Deng Quan knelt lower. "Magistrate, it was not that this humble man was unwilling to report it, but that at the time, Teng County had no Magistrate..."

"Er..." Li Yi felt deflated, but what Deng Quan said was the truth.

When the Great Ming was first established, there were very few civil officials; even the capital was short-staffed, let alone the provinces. It was common for some counties to go years without a Magistrate. Of course, the lack of a Magistrate did not mean the absence of clerks, registrars, or assistant magistrates, who often acted in the Magistrate’s stead during the early years of the dynasty.

Before Li Yi could question him further, Deng Quan spoke up. "I dared not report it because officials in the yamen were involved. Had I spoken up, my life would have been forfeit. Only now, knowing you are a clean and upright Magistrate, have I dared to testify."

"Are you saying that officials in this yamen were involved in the murder of Gu Pei? Explain the situation in detail!" Li Yi suppressed his anger.

Recalling the events of that year, Deng Quan spoke softly. "It was an evening in the tenth month of the first year of the Hongwu reign..."

Gu Zhengchen clenched his fists, his anger and desire for retribution surging. His father, Gu Pei, had returned to Teng County two months after General Xu Da’s army captured Dadu. Because of a leg injury sustained on the journey, he had been delayed and had not returned with the others.

Later, as Gu Pei entered the city of Teng at dusk, Deng Quan—who had worked alongside him pushing carts and hauling grain—saw him. Just as he was about to greet him, Wang Fugui approached Gu Pei and dragged him away to his home.

Deng Quan, grateful to Gu Pei for teaching him Confucian classics while they hauled grain, had waited in hopes of catching up once Gu Pei left the Wang residence. Instead, he witnessed the murder.

Wang Fugui had bludgeoned Gu Pei to death with a stone by the pond and ordered his men to sink the body into the deepest part of the water, weighing it down with stones. However, while disposing of the blood-stained wooden boat, they encountered the clerk, Huang Lin.

Deng Quan, hiding in the distance, did not hear what Huang Lin said to Wang Fugui, but he saw Huang Lin watch as Wang Fugui cleaned the blood from the boat and disposed of the evidence, only to walk away as if nothing had happened.

Li Yi then summoned Huang Lin.

Huang Lin confessed in the hall that he had discovered Wang Fugui’s crime and, motivated by greed and the desire to eliminate a potential liability, had accepted half of the Wang family’s property in exchange for adding Gu Pei’s name to the registry of the deceased.

Li Yi looked at the ashen-faced Wang Fugui. "What else do you have to say for yourself?"

Wang Fugui gritted his teeth. "They are all framing me! There is no evidence! On what grounds do you say I killed Gu Pei?"

Gu Zhengchen stared coldly at Wang Fugui, wishing he could reach out and strangle him. "You want evidence, do you? I can give it to you!"