Playing bad and eating melons: The whole court is laughing? No, no

Chapter 207 Deciding the Case

Not long after, the bailiffs brought up Zhou Daqiang, who had a bruised face and was limping.

Zhou Daqiang was surprised to see that the person sitting in the court was a noble young girl, with Governor Yan and County Magistrate Zhu standing respectfully on both sides of her.

However, despite his surprise, he still knelt down tremblingly and said, "I, Zhou Daqiang, greet all the gentlemen."

"Zhou Daqiang, Mr. Tao is accusing you of theft and assault. Do you plead guilty?"

"I deny it. I didn't steal his things, nor did I hit him. He framed me. I am innocent!"

"Oh?" Jiang Yueyang pretended to be curious, "Then tell me about what happened that day."

"That day, Master Tao asked me to move some things for him. After I left, the servants of the Tao family took me to a room and told me to wait there for a while.

I waited for a long time but no one came, so I wanted to go out and ask someone. But at that moment, I heard a noise from the inner room.

I thought there was a thief, so I went in to see what was happening.

Then, I saw a box fall to the ground, and the gold, silver and jewelry inside were scattered all over the floor.

I immediately realized that this was a trap and turned around to leave, but at this time, Master Tao rushed in with his men.

He didn't ask any questions, but accused me of stealing and beat me to death when he caught me."

Jiang Yueyang raised her chin towards Mr. Tao, "Mr. Tao, what do you say?"

"He's lying. We caught him stealing and he tried to run away when he saw the situation was getting worse!"

"I didn't! I didn't even touch those things!"

"Then how did the box end up on the ground? You were the only one in the room at that time. Who else could it be if not you?"

"I don't know. The box was already on the ground when I went in!" Zhou Daqiang suddenly remembered something. "The window! The window was open at the time. Someone must have gone in!"

"Nonsense! My room is full of valuables, and the windows are always closed!"

“It’s open!”

For a moment, the two men quarreled in the court.

Governor Yan opened his mouth to scold, but unexpectedly Jiang Yueyang was one step ahead of him and picked up the gavel and slammed it.

"How dare you! You are not allowed to make noise in the court!"

The two of them immediately shut their mouths and didn't notice that Qingming had quietly left.

Jiang Yueyang glanced at both of them and said, "Since you both insist on your own opinions, I will make the final decision for you."

"Mr. Tao, your Tao family is a wealthy family in Luoyang. You must have countless servants. Why did you ask Zhou Daqiang to move things?"

Young Master Tao was stunned for a moment, but quickly replied calmly, "That's because the things we need to move are a bit heavy, and Zhou Daqiang is famous for his great strength."

Jiang Yueyang nodded, "Just now you said that there were a lot of valuables in your room and the windows were always closed, so why did you leave Zhou Daqiang alone there?

If you do this, it will be hard for this princess not to suspect that you are deliberately setting a trap for Zhou Daqiang."

"Fuck...I just trust Zhou Daqiang."

Jiang Yueyang nodded slightly again, "What you said makes sense. Then this princess asks you again, you asked the servants to bring Zhou Daqiang to your room, does that mean that the thing that needs to be moved is in your room? I wonder what it is?"

"It is... a vase as tall as a person."

"Where is the vase? I want to see it."

Jiang Yueyang's questions came one after another, and Master Tao was visibly panicking.

"The vase...the vase was broken by Zhou Daqiang."

"I didn't, I didn't even see a vase that big in the room!"

Jiang Yueyang looked at Zhou Daqiang with cold eyes, and said in a dignified manner, "Just listen quietly without asking any questions."

Hearing this, Zhou Daqiang shuddered all over and shrank his neck, not daring to speak again.

Jiang Yueyang turned his gaze to Master Tao and continued to ask, "Where are the fragments?"

"lost."

"Where did you lose it?"

"A servant threw it away. I don't know much about it."

"You should know which servant is missing, right?" Jiang Yueyang didn't give them time to think with every question.

Young Master Tao swallowed his saliva. When he plotted against Zhou Daqiang, he didn't think too much about it. After all, he could bribe County Magistrate Zhu.

But... he never expected that a princess would suddenly come and interfere in this matter.

Seeing that Master Tao hadn't answered yet, Jiang Yueyang pounded the table with her fist, "Mr. Tao, this princess is asking you a question!"

"The princess asked who lost the fragments, why don't you answer quickly!" Young Master Tao turned around and said to several servants.

One of the servants, receiving the hint, immediately replied, "Yes, it was I who lost it."

"Where did you lose it?"

"Lost...lost it in the river."

"Which river?"

"White... White Sand River."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yueyang turned to look at Governor Yan, "Sir Yan, I wonder how deep the Baisha River is, and how fast the current is flowing. It might have washed away a man-high vase fragment."

Hearing this, the servant didn't wait for Governor Yan to reply and quickly changed his words, "No...it's not Baisha River. I remembered it wrongly. It was Bilian Lake. I took a boat to the center of the lake and lost it."

Jiang Yueyang sneered, "You can even mistakenly remember a lake and a river. Are they really that similar? Besides, it's only been a few days. Your memory is too bad."

After hearing this, everyone knew what was clear to them. The so-called theft was undoubtedly planned by Young Master Tao.

"Well," Jiang Yueyang said nonchalantly, "You said it was a lake, so I'll just treat it as a lake for now. Now, let me ask you, whose boat were you on?"

This question stumped the servant again. After hesitating for a moment, he changed his words again: "I didn't take a boat. I rowed the boat myself."

"You just said you took a boat. Could it be that you remembered it wrong again?"

The servant's face was pale. At this point, he could only grit his teeth and respond with a "yes".

"Do you think this princess and Magistrate Zhu are so easy to fool?" Jiang Yueyang slammed the gavel angrily!

At this time, Qingming returned.

He placed what he found in front of Jiang Yueyang and whispered a few words in her ear.

Jiang Yueyang picked up the finger-sized navy blue scrap of cloth in front of her and said, "This is the scrap of cloth that my people found on the window of Mr. Tao's room. Judging from the material, it is the cloth that the Tao family used to make clothes for their servants."

She put down the cloth and picked up the paper beside her. "This is a footprint rubbing from under the window. Someone, have Zhou Daqiang step on it for comparison."

As soon as he finished speaking, a yamen runner immediately took a piece of paper and asked Zhou Daqiang to step hard on it.

Comparing the two footprints, Zhou Daqiang's footprint is obviously much larger than the other one.

Jiang Yueyang threw the two pieces of paper down and said angrily, "Mr. Tao, why don't you tell me the truth!"