The old lady looked at Fang Dashan's face and continued to speak smugly: "My Lord, I really regret not drowning this rebellious son when he was born. It would be so unfilial..."
The prefect heard the old lady talking for a long time but didn't say how unfilial Fang Dashan was. The prefect was a little impatient: "Shut up, tell me the details, how exactly is he unfilial?"
The old lady was startled and suddenly said, "He talked back to me and ordered his daughter to bully the elderly. Go and sue the official. He bullies our family because his daughter is the apprentice of the official's wife. It's unfair."
The prefect looked at Mu Yexiao and said, "County Magistrate Mu, is what this old woman said true?"
Mu Yexiao smiled and said, "It is true that I have reported the case to the authorities..."
Before he could finish his words, the prefect knocked on the table and said, "Very good, since this is the case, come, take Fang Dashan away and give him thirty lashes. When you go back, you must obey your mother's words..."
Fang Dashan frowned and said, "Sir, even if you beat me to death, I still have my own judgment. I should listen to what my mother says, but I should never listen to what I shouldn't."
How could he accept that the prefect was refuted by a small commoner? Just as he was about to say something, he heard Mu Yexiao speak again.
"So this is how the prefect judges cases. It's really informative. He doesn't even let us finish our words, but just lets us come and have a sense of participation?"
The prefect was very angry when he heard this. "What are you talking about? I don't need you to say anything about how I judged the case. I haven't said anything about you yet! As a county magistrate, you judged the case unfairly and favored your own apprentice. Do you know your crime?"
Mu Yexiao raised his eyebrows: "Your humble servant does not know, your humble servant has always judged cases based on the facts, and has never been partial. But you, sir, only believed one side of the story and did not even give people a chance to explain. This is called partiality."
The prefect felt humiliated by what Mu Yexiao said, and snorted angrily, "How dare you! County Magistrate Mu, are you planning to commit a crime?"
Mu Yexiao laughed: "Your Excellency is really good at joking. Is it a violation of your superiors to express your own opinions? I know that the laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty are based on evidence and facts. It is inappropriate for your Excellency to be so biased."
"Or do you intend to use your high rank to crush people, disregard the etiquette and laws of the Great Zhou court, and make arbitrary judgments? If so, I have nothing to say."
The prefect looked at Mu Yexiao angrily and said, "County Magistrate Mu, please be careful with your words. You said that I have no evidence, but aren't there witnesses here? They can prove that what the old lady said is true."
Mu Yexiao was a little confused: "Where are the witnesses? Don't tell me, the witnesses you are talking about are the two people next to the old lady, right? Family members cannot be witnesses, don't you know that, sir?"
The prefect really didn't expect that Mu Yexiao would be so bold. He looked at Mu Yexiao sinisterly and said, "County Magistrate Mu, are you sure you don't want your future?"
Mu Yexiao looked at the prefect fearlessly: "Prefect, are you openly threatening me in court?"
The atmosphere in the entire court suddenly became heavy. The prefect waved his hand and ordered someone to take Fang Dashan down to be beaten with a stick: "Beat him."
Mu Yexiao couldn't take it, so he didn't believe that a country boy couldn't be beaten. Just as the yamen runner was about to come up and beat him, Mu Yexiao stood up and said, "Sir, the county magistrate wants you to re-examine the case. You can't just listen to one side's story."
"Your Excellency represents the imperial court. Don't let people think that the imperial court is full of incompetent officials. At least there needs to be witnesses and physical evidence when beating someone up."
The prefect was very angry. This county magistrate Mu did not take him seriously at all. Otherwise, how could he dare to do that
"Take him away and beat him! You are just a small county magistrate, you have no right to ask me to do anything!"
Seeing such a stupid prefect, Mu Yexiao was so angry that he snorted, "Oh, really? I, a county magistrate, am not qualified. Do others have the qualifications?"
He couldn't just watch Fang Dashan get beaten. After all, he was Fang Xiaoxi's father, and he did nothing wrong. If he really got beaten, wouldn't that mean that he was biased towards one side
Fang Xiaoxi and others were also worried. After all, they really didn’t know whether their father’s body could hold on after so many dozens of beatings!
The prefect was angry in his heart, and naturally his face was not in a good mood: "Anyone with a higher official position than me can do it, but it's a pity that it's not you. And you can't find someone with a higher official position than me here. Even if you are lucky and find someone, he may not necessarily stand up for you."
Mu Yexiao understood that this was to bully him. He really didn't expect that being a small county magistrate would actually encounter such an interesting thing.
He smiled and looked at the prefect: "What if I say that there are such people at the scene? Your Excellency's words are still too early. What's more, there are people at the scene who are feared by everyone."
The prefect laughed out loud, "Really? He's on the scene. Fine, then, ask him to come out. I want to see who has the guts to come out and meddle in other people's business. You're so scared, do you think there's another imperial envoy here?"
As for the imperial envoy sent by the emperor, he absolutely did not believe that the imperial envoy would come to such a small place.
"It seems that the prefect is looking for me?"
Originally, Mu Yexiao was thinking that if he asked one of the guards beside him to step forward, he would be able to give the prefect a hard time. However, he did not expect that before he could do so, another person stepped forward.
Everyone in the hall looked in the direction the voice came from, and saw three people coming in from the door. One of them was holding a gold medal, which he waved to show the prefect.
"How is it? Is my status higher than yours? If not, there are others with higher status."
Nan Nan was one of the three people. She looked at Mu Yexiao and walked towards him: "Dad, Mom, this is the imperial envoy, Bai Yuan."
Bai Yuan is from the Bai family, and he is also a new generation of powerful young people who have emerged in recent years. Qian Jiujiu raised his eyebrows and looked at Bai Yuan: "I didn't expect that you have grown up too."
Hearing this, Bai Yuan politely bowed to Mu Yexiao and Qian Jiujiu and said, "Hello Uncle Mu, Aunt Mu, you have grown up."
Qian Jiujiu nodded and looked at Gu Yong again. Nan Nan began to introduce him: "This is Old Ancestor Gu. This is the first time that mother has met him."
Ancestor Gu? It seems that there is no one else who came during this time except Gu Yong. I didn't expect that he came with Bai Yuan.
"Meet Mr. Gu."
She couldn't call out "Ancestor Gu". Gu Yong knew Qian Jiujiu, so he just smiled and said, "Don't worry about me, let's try the case first."
The prefect looked at the gold medal and was completely dumbfounded. There actually was an imperial envoy here, and he was from the Bai family.
The Bai family is very powerful. Among the countless imperial envoys sent by the emperor, only the Bai family is the most powerful. They are like a cavalry, and will not wrongly accuse any official, nor will they let go of any official who made a mistake.
The reputation of the Bai family alone is scary enough. Moreover, the Bai family is deeply trusted by the emperor.
Of course, he has great power. The Shi family, who gave him the order, is nothing in front of the Bai family, okay
If he had known that this County Magistrate Mu had a connection with the Bai family, he would never have dared to offend him. And this County Magistrate Mu, is he crazy? He has a connection with the Bai family, but he actually ran to such a small place to be the county magistrate.
He quickly got down from his seat and looked at Bai Yuan: "Master Bai, please take a seat."
Bai Yuan naturally refused: "You are still the presiding judge, why should I sit there? It's just that I have been listening to you since you started the trial. It does seem like you are biased. Shouldn't you re-examine the case?"
What else could the prefect say? A higher-ranking official can crush a person to death. Just now, Mu Yexiao felt so happy, but now he is so miserable.
He could only nod with tears in his eyes: "Yes, I will review the case right away. Come on, bring a chair over for the Imperial Envoy and this noble lady."
Although I don't know who Gu Yong is, I can tell at a glance that he is not an ordinary person. Of course I have to curry favor with him, because he must be an important figure.
The bailiff quickly brought up a chair and asked the two to sit beside him and listen. The prefect sat down again and said, "Go to court. Just now you said that Fang Dashan was unfilial, right? Tell me how he was unfilial, exactly?"
"Fang Dashan, I'll give you a chance. As long as you can refute what is said here and have witnesses to prove it, I'll give you thirty strokes of the cane. I'll remember it for you."
The old lady didn't understand this. She only saw that the person who should be beaten didn't get beaten. She was a little angry: "This new sir, my son is really unfilial. He won't listen to anything you say."
Bai Yuan knew that Fang Xiaoxi was Qian Jiujiu's apprentice. Based on this alone, this girl would have a bright future. How could her father have a bad reputation
Besides, if this person is really unfilial, not to mention others, even Qian Jiujiu will not let him go. Thinking of this, he was full of confidence: "Oh? Then tell me one thing at random. How is he unfilial? Have you separated the family?"
The old lady was stunned, Fang Dashan had already spoken: "To answer your question, we separated ten years ago. At that time, my family was poor, so we separated."
Mainly because he disliked that he had too many sons and his daughter was sick, and that he was a burden to the whole family, so he simply kicked him out. Bai Yuan said, "After the family was divided, he still said that you were unfilial, old lady, did he not give you filial money?"
The old lady was speechless, so Fang Dashan continued, "The filial piety money was agreed upon when the family was divided. Every year, the two elders received a set of clothes and 500 coins as filial piety money. They have never given it up over the years."