Author: Fat Bird Goes First

Xiong Yue is dead.

In Su Ze's house, there was still tea given by Xiong Yue when they first met at the county school that day.

Su Ze thought about that day in the county school dormitory, when everyone was talking about "returning to the original intention", Xiong Yue bluntly said that his goal in studying was "to seek fame".

As a classmate of the county school, Xiong Yue is a tea farmer in Wuyi Mountain, and he is considered to be the best-off among the four. He brings some small gifts to everyone every time he goes to the city, and he studies very hard.

But such a person died suddenly.

A sad expression flashed across Su Ze's face, and he immediately asked Lin Qingcai to sit down and asked, "How did Xiong Yue die?"

Lin Qingcai's face showed a sad and angry expression: "The county government said that he slipped and fell into the water."

When Su Ze heard Lin Qingcai's tone, he knew there was something inside. He asked, "How could Xiong Yue lose his footing and fall into the water?"

Lin Qingcai said slowly: "Brother Chen said that there is a hidden secret behind this case. The Xiong family filed a lawsuit, but it was suppressed."

Su Ze understood immediately. No wonder Lin Qingcai hurried over. He stood up and said, "Let's go to Xiong's house!"

It was almost evening when the two of them set off from Changningwei and arrived at the Xiongjia Tea Garden at the foot of Wuyi Mountain.

It is taboo not to pay condolences at a funeral after noon. At this time, a white cloth was tied on the door of Xiong's house. The door was deserted and only bursts of sobbing could be heard.

Su Ze didn't care about these taboos. He straightened his clothes, stepped into the gate of Xiong's house with Lin Qingcai, and saw the mourning hall at a glance.

Why are there two coffins?

Su Ze and Lin Qingcai walked over quickly and saw Xiong Yue's mother, dressed in mourning clothes, sitting on the ground crying and burning paper money.

Chen Chaoyuan was wearing guest clothes and was helping the earthworkers. He saw Su Ze and Lin Qingcai and immediately came up to them.

"Brother Su, you are finally here."

Su Ze and Chen Chaoyuan saluted and quickly asked: "What happened to Brother Xiong?"

Chen Chaoyuan pointed at Xiong Yue's mother who was burning paper money and said, "Brother Su, you'd better pay your respects to the old lady first."

When the Japanese rebellion was not serious last time, Hai Rui said that Xiong Yue's mother was ill and he temporarily dropped out of school to take care of her.

Su Ze and Chen Lin also bought some health-replenishing medicine and went to visit Xiong Yue, whose mother they had met before.

Unexpectedly, only one month later, Xiong Yue was already dead.

Xiong Yue's mother's hair was all white and she was so haggard that she was no longer human. Su Ze said quickly: "Old madam, Su Ze has come to pay homage to Brother Xiong."

Xiong Yue's mother turned around and stood up quickly when she saw Su Ze. Su Ze supported her and said, "Old madam, wait until I pay my respects to Brother Xiong first."

Su Ze walked to the coffin, and Chen Chaoyuan, who was in charge of the guests, shouted: "Condolences!"

Su Ze paid homage to the coffin according to the etiquette, and was shocked again when he saw the tablet on the other coffin next to it said "The spirit of my late husband, Xiong Gong Maocheng".

After paying his respects to the two coffins, Su Ze walked up to Xiong Yue's mother and asked:

"Old lady, Mr. Xiong?"

The Mr. Xiong that Su Ze asked was naturally Xiong Yue's father. Xiong Yue was not married yet, so the "predecessor" on the coffin just now was naturally named by Mrs. Xiong.

Xiong Yue's mother shed tears and said: "After Yue'er died, his father was also stimulated. The county government could not file a lawsuit. After the body was brought back, his father invited Yue'er to have a local ritual ceremony and made arrangements for Yue'er.

I just took medicine and left after the funeral."

Lin Qingcai said quickly: "My condolences, Madam."

Su Ze looked at the two coffins in the mourning hall. The Xiong family was originally a relatively well-off family, but father and son died one after another. He asked Lin Qingcai to tell him that there was something hidden in the case. Su Ze felt an aura of injustice.

Su Ze raised his hands and said, "Old madam, is the county government going to file a lawsuit?"

Xiong Yue's mother took Su Ze's hand and said, "Ms. Su, Yue'er often mentioned you when he was studying at the county school, saying that you are a capable scholar!"

After saying this, Mother Xiong took out a lawsuit from her body, handed it to Su Ze and said, "This is the lawsuit written by Yueer's father after he died."

Su Ze took it over and saw that the lawsuit was an indictment against the county government. The reason for the lawsuit was written on it. Su Ze quickly saw that the lawsuit was against a gambling shop in the county government.

Flying Tiger Casino?

Su Ze has never heard Xiong Yue talk about this gambling house, nor has he heard that Xiong Yue has a bad habit of gambling?

The contents of the lawsuit are very clear. Xiong Yue went to Feihu Casino to argue with the casino on the afternoon of October 2, but he did not leave Feihu Casino that day. After sunrise the next day, Xiong Yue's body appeared in Fujian.

Beside the tributaries of the river.

Su Ze closed the paper and asked, "Brother Xiong, why do you want to go to Feihu Casino?"

Xiong Yue's mother sobbed and said: "This is all his father's fault. If he hadn't contracted the bad habit of gambling, Yue'er would not have gone to the gambling house to argue and risked his life!"

Xiong Yue's mother was about to collapse mentally. At this time, Chen Chaoyuan came over and said:

"This petition was written by my brother who is a lawyer. Let me tell you the reason."

It turns out that Xiong Yue's father, Xiong Maocheng, got into the bad habit of gambling in the county town. He owed hundreds of taels of silver in a gambling house, and he returned from loan sharking nine times.

When Father Xiong was trying to raise money, he happened to encounter the issue of Wuyi Mountain converting tribute into silver.

During the meeting to discuss the share of the silver, Cai Yuanwai, who was presiding over the meeting, took out a loan shark loan from a gambling house.

It turns out that the Flying Tiger Gambling House is the property of Cai Yuanwai's family. Cai Yuanwai took the IOU and negotiated with Xiong's father to set an annual tribute of fifty taels of silver from his family's tea garden, so that the usury loan could be written off in one go.

Moreover, Cai Yuanwai also said that the amount of tribute silver could be renegotiated after five years, and then it would be shared according to the amount of tea produced by each family.

Father Xiong was also desperate, so he agreed to Cai Yuanwai's suggestion on the spot, signed the deed for sharing the tribute, got the loan shark's IOU, and burned it on the spot.

But two months ago, the lender from Feihu Casino came to visit again and presented the same IOU again, demanding that Father Xiong repay the money.

Father Bear was being pressed for debt, so he had to confess to his wife and son that he owed money from gambling and the reason why he had to pay fifty taels of silver a year. Mother Bear was so angry that she fell ill.

However, it was clear that he had to bear more tribute silver, so this debt should be written off in one go. The gambling house sent people to collect debts, and Xiong Yue first came to argue with Cai Yuanwai.

However, since Mr. Cai saw no visitors, Xiong Yue had no choice but to find Feihu Gambling House, and then what happened on the paper happened.

Su Ze's "Criminal Law" skill also has Level 1, and he also understands the judicial procedures of the Ming Dynasty. The government must accept lawsuits involving human lives. He asked: "Human lives are at stake. Isn't there no trial in Baizhi County?"

Mother Xiong said: "The county government took the warrant and the shopkeeper of the gambling house, but soon let it go. The county government said that Yue'er slipped and fell into the water, and asked us not to make false accusations at will. They returned Yue'er's body and let

Let's bury him as soon as possible."

Su Ze was furious and asked: "Is there a county government official?"

Mother Xiong took out another document with the county government's seal. Ganjie was the county government's notice of closing the case. Su Ze saw the Ganjie document written by Baizhi County himself.

The result was that the Xiong family decided that the accusation was false and the case was abandoned. However, Xiong's family lost their son and would not be held accountable.

However, it was also determined that the IOU in the hands of the gambling house was invalid, and Feihu Gambling House was not allowed to continue to collect debts from the Xiong family.

Seeing this method of dealing with fifty big hits each, Su Ze already made a preliminary judgment in his mind.

Baizhi County's judgment is a typical Ming Dynasty-style judgment. Both sides fight fifty-fifty and try not to allow vicious criminal cases to occur in their own jurisdictions.

Homicide is a major case, and the trial procedures for homicide cases are complicated, and both parties may appeal to the government for retrial.

Judgments in murder cases must be reported to the Imperial Court's Criminal Department Yamen and the provincial Procuratorate Si Yamen. If the criminal is to be executed, the emperor and even the Cabinet Department's instructions are required.

Therefore, when making judgments on these cases, Ming officials hoped to reduce major issues to trivial matters and never turn them into homicide lawsuits.

When Su Ze saw the signature of Xiong's father, Xiong Maocheng, on the Ganjie document, he knew that the result of the settlement was negotiated between the county government and Xiong's father.

A knot is a document that closes a case, and must be signed by both the prosecution and the defendant before it can be completed.

Baizhi County must have persuaded Father Xiong to write off the loan shark at the gambling house, and the case was ended with a mistake and drowning.

After Father Xiong finished handling the case, he felt ashamed of his family and his wife, and committed suicide after arranging his son's funeral arrangements.

Su Ze finished reading Gan Jie, pulled Chen Chaoyuan and said:

"Brother Chen, what's the inside story of this case?"

Chen Chaoyuan's elder brother was a litigant who helped write the petition, so naturally he also helped the Xiong family in the court case.

Chen Chaoyuan took Su Ze outside the mourning hall and said:

"My brother is helping the Xiong family with the lawsuit. This case is actually two cases."

"The first is Father Xiong's IOU. The officials in the execution room determined that the IOU held by Feihu Gambling House was written by Mao Chenggong himself, which means it is genuine."

"What about the IOU that Cai Yuanwai took out at the tribute meeting?"

Chen Chaoyuan whispered: "It should be fake, but Father Xiong burned it on the spot."

Su Ze understood now.

What happened should be like this:

Father Xiong became addicted to gambling and owed usury at Feihu Casino.

At the meeting to discuss the distribution of tribute silver, Cai Yuanwai took a fake IOU and asked Xiong's father to sign the deed. The Xiong Family Tea Garden distributed more tribute silver and the gambling house's debt was written off.

Father Xiong agreed to Cai Yuanwai's suggestion and burned the fake IOU on the spot.

The gambling house brought real IOUs to collect debts, so Xiong Yue went to the gambling house to argue with the Cai family. Mr. Cai did not see anyone outside, so Xiong Yue went to the gambling house and lost his life.

The Xiong family sued the gambling house, and Baizhi County made such a conciliatory judgment that it canceled Father Xiong's debt, but refused to let the Xiong family pursue a life lawsuit again.

Su Ze took the case and stood up: "Human life is at stake! The county government ended the case so hastily!"
To be continued...