The body was quickly carried to the hall, but the man was no longer in good condition. His face had turned black, and blood was oozing from his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. He looked a bit horrible...
However, Yan Liqiang still had a vague impression of that face. When they had a conflict with Xu Lang and others at the door of the tavern that day, that person was among Xu Lang's group. It seemed that he did not have a high status and was just a small follower.
The coroner and the prison warden of the Dali Temple were also brought to the hall at the same time. The prison warden had a sad face and knelt down as soon as he entered the hall. As the prison warden of the Dali Temple, he naturally knew what kind of responsibility he would have to bear if the person he was watching made a mistake and dies in such a grand occasion where the three courts held a trial that even the emperor was concerned about. He might even be dragged down to take the blame.
“Sir, I am innocent. This man was detained by our company two days ago. No outsiders came to visit him during these two days, and we did not use any means against him. We carefully watched him every day and provided him with good food and drink. I don’t know why he died at this time…” The prison warden of the Dali Temple cried out his injustice directly in the court.
"Don't say anything yet. I will make the judgment on right and wrong!" In a short time, Xu Taiyi's anger had subsided a lot. He looked at the wrinkled and thin coroner, pointing at the corpse carried to the center of the hall by several yamen runners, "The corpse is right here. In front of you gentlemen, take a close look at it and check it out..."
"Yes!" The coroner bowed to several senior officials in the hall, then came directly to the corpse, squatted down, took out a set of fancy things such as small hooks, small spoons, small knives, medicine bottles, etc. from his body, and began to examine it carefully.
There were only men in the hall. The coroner turned the corpse over and stripped off almost all of its clothes, not even leaving out the hair. He carefully checked the ears, nostrils, mouth, nail crevices, armpits, buttocks, and even the gaps between toes...
Yan Liqiang was watching from the side, secretly amazed at the professionalism of the coroner. There was no doubt that the coroner who could perform in court at this time was definitely a top figure in the Dali Temple, or even in the entire Imperial Capital City.
Finally, the filthy man pinched the mouth of the corpse, used a small pair of pliers to pick up a little thing from the man's mouth, put it in front of his nose and sniffed it, and then dripped a few drops of liquid from the bottles and jars he carried with him, and dropped them on the thing. Yan Liqiang saw that the color of the thing on the small clip changed slightly when the liquid dripped by the coroner fell on it.
The coroner quickly put away his belongings, covered the body with a white cloth, and then stood up and bowed to the three people in the hall and reported, "Your Excellency, I have already found out the cause of this person's death!"
"Speak!" Xu Taiyi said.
"This man had poison hidden in his teeth. The cause of his death was that he bit his teeth and released the poison, killing him instantly. The poison he hid in his teeth is very powerful, it will kill you as soon as it enters your mouth..." The old coroner's voice echoed in the lobby.
"How did this person hide poison in his teeth?"
"One of the teeth in his mouth is a denture. It's made of porcelain, not real. The middle of the denture is empty. The poison is hidden in the tooth, but it looks a bit like the real thing, so it's not easy to be found. It will break if you bite it hard. There are still fragments of the broken denture in his mouth..."
"You mean the dentures and poison in his mouth were already prepared before he was taken into custody? It was suicide!"
"Yes!" the coroner nodded.
Xu Taiyi rubbed his forehead and waved his hand, "Okay, carry the body down! You two can go down too..."
"yes… "
In the blink of an eye, the corpse that was carried up, as well as the coroner and prison warden, all left the hall. Only the prison warden was a little uneasy when he left, but not as scared as before. Since the man committed suicide, even if he was responsible, it would be much lighter.
"Your Excellencies, the plaintiff's witness has committed suicide. I wonder what you two adults have to say about this..."
"Sir Xu, although the plaintiff witness is dead, his previous testimony and complaint are still valid. His suicide can be handled separately and does not affect the trial of our current case. We just need to follow the procedure..." Pei Daoyuan said calmly.
Xu Tai looked at Gu Chunyi, who nodded with a gloomy face. At the same time, a thought was churning in her mind, and she glanced at Yan Liqiang.
—Those idiots finally did something that didn’t go wrong, but that Lin Zhe was too cruel. I don’t know what means he used to make this person willing to die here. Not only did he get rid of the trouble, but he also let this person bite Yan Liqiang again before he died. That Lin Zhe must be guarded against. However, this time Lin Zhe made such a big mistake that even I was implicated. Fortunately, the Prime Minister has asked him to return to Haizhou. If he continues to stay in the Imperial Capital, I don’t know what kind of trouble he will cause. And this Yan Liqiang, he is so troublesome at such a young age. Since he is not on our side, we must find a way to get rid of him in the future. We can’t let him slowly make a name for himself in the Imperial Capital...
Yan Liqiang watched from the side from beginning to end, with no expression on his face. His main concern was the Minister of Justice Gu Chunyi. When Gu Chunyi nodded, Yan Liqiang's mind quickly caught the thought in Gu Chunyi's mind.
As the saying goes, people's hearts are hidden in their stomachs. If Yan Liqiang didn't have a snake in his head, how could he have imagined that this big shot of the court, the Minister of Justice, who was sitting in the court to interrogate him, had already wanted to kill him at this time.
The dangers of mountains and rivers are not as dangerous as the dangers of human hearts.
Yan Liqiang was secretly alert.
"Since both of you have no objection, let's continue the interrogation!" Xu Taiyi turned his gaze to Yan Liqiang's face again, frowned, and began to ask, "Did you come to the Imperial Capital City on the night of July 4th, which was four days ago?"
"came!"
"Did you see Xu Tao and others that day?"
"Never seen it!" Yan Liqiang shook his head.
"When did you enter the Imperial Capital City that day, what were you doing there, where did you go, how long did you stay there, and are there any witnesses?" Xu Taiyi asked Yan Liqiang five questions in a row.
Yan Liqiang calmly recounted the dinner that day, all the way to the moment he left Lu Peien’s carriage…
"What happened after leaving the carriage?" Xu Taiyi continued to ask.
"Then I walked out of the city gate on foot and returned to the Deer Park!"
"Do you remember the time you returned to Deer Park?"
"I'm not sure, probably around 3:45 a.m., when the Imperial Capital should have been under curfew..."
"Do you two have anything else you would like to ask?" Xu Taiyi looked at the two senior officials on his left and right, and both of them shook their heads.
"Since both of you have no objection to what Yan Liqiang said, then let's ask the witness Yan Liqiang just mentioned to come to the court for questioning!" After Xu Taiyi said this, he suddenly raised his voice, "Bring the witness to the court..."
There were two witnesses who came to court first. One was a worker at Tianwaitian, and the other was a shopkeeper at Tianwaitian. These two people certainly did not dare to lie at this time. Their testimonies confirmed the time when Yan Liqiang arrived at and left Tianwaitian.
After the two men finished speaking, Xu Taiyi waved his hand again, and then two more witnesses were brought up. One of the two witnesses was Lu Peien, and the other was Manager Yao from the Imperial Capital Branch of the Lingshan Sect. Manager Yao not only testified to Yan Liqiang that Yan Liqiang did not leave the dining room of Liulitian that night, but also brought a testimony written by Zhang Yourong...
What Yan Liqiang said was confirmed once again.
The third wave of witnesses were several guards at the Deer Garden that night. They could all testify that Yan Liqiang returned to the Deer Garden at around 3:15 am that night.
After three groups of witnesses left the hall, the thing that Xu Taiyi brought to the stage for the fourth time was not a witness, but a piece of evidence. The evidence was like a crystal ball, but there seemed to be clouds and mist rolling inside, which felt a bit mysterious. A bailiff from the Dali Temple carefully carried it up on a tray.
"This is a spiritual energy stone, which is used to detect a person's cultivation level. You said that your cultivation level is that of a dragon-tiger warrior, but unfortunately no one can prove it. Now you inject the internal energy you have cultivated into this spiritual energy stone, and we will be able to know what level your cultivation level is!" Xu Taiyi said to Yan Liqiang.
Yan Liqiang glanced at the spirit stone, nodded, and injected a bit of his internal energy into it. Then, in just a moment, the spirit stone was like a neon light that was lit up. The whole ball emitted a soft golden halo. It took a full ten seconds for it to completely disappear...
Xu Taiyi gave a signal, and the bailiff took away the spiritual energy stone.
"On the night of July 4th, Yan Liqiang came to the Imperial Capital City and met friends for dinner in the Heavenly World. He stayed there until the Heavenly World was finished. During this period, many people can testify that Yan Liqiang returned to Luyuan at about 3:30 am. The city gates were closed and a curfew was in effect. That night, a murder occurred in the Imperial Capital City. Xu Lang and others were killed at home. Yan Liqiang's cultivation level was Dragon and Tiger Guard. Among those who were killed, there was a Dragon and Tiger Warrior, two martial artists, and two great martial artists. In summary, I believe that Yan Liqiang did not have the time or ability to commit murder in the Imperial Capital City on the night of July 4th!" Xu Taiyi said with a serious face. After he finished speaking, he turned his head and looked at the two senior officials sitting on both sides. "Do you have any objections, gentlemen?"
"I agree with Lord Xu!" Pei Daoyuan also had a serious face. "I also think it is impossible for Yan Liqiang to kill people in the city on the night of July 4th. A dragon-tiger warrior killed two great martial artists at the same time. Two martial artists and a dragon-tiger warrior did not make any noise. It is simply ridiculous. Although Xu Lang and others had some conflicts with Yan Liqiang before, they were obviously killed by other people. This incident has nothing to do with Yan Liqiang. This official suggests that the Ministry of Justice immediately handle the murder of Xu Lang and others separately and catch the real culprit as soon as possible!"
"I... have no objection!" The Minister of Justice looked up at Yan Liqiang and then lowered his eyelids, saying sullenly.
"In that case, I hereby declare that the murder committed by Yan Liqiang in the capital city on the night of July 4th is completely false. He was framed. In view that the person who framed him has committed suicide out of fear of punishment, this case is closed and we may adjourn the court!" With just one sentence, the Chief Justice of the Dali Temple not only cleared Yan Liqiang's name, but also found the cause of the death of the dead man - suicide out of fear of punishment. It was obvious that he did not intend to let anyone make a fuss about this matter anymore, and everything ended here. He was extremely tactful and well versed in the ways of being an official.
"Thank you, sir!" Yan Liqiang pondered the meaning behind Xu Taiyi's words before bowing to him.
"Okay, Captain Yan, you can leave now!" Xu Taiyi nodded at Yan Liqiang, stood up from behind the main desk, and left the lobby.
Just after the morning, Yan Liqiang was cleared of all charges.
When Yan Liqiang walked out of the Dali Temple, a bunch of familiar faces suddenly surrounded him, all of them smiling and happy for Yan Liqiang...
"Can we have lunch at Tianwaitian?" Yan Liqiang asked before Hu Haihe and others could speak.
"certainly!"
"Let's go, everyone is here, I'll treat you today..." Yan Liqiang touched his stomach and looked at the sun in the sky, "My stomach is growling with hunger..."
(End of this chapter)