Ni Xian was only fifteen or sixteen years old. He had heard legends about Fang Yun almost every day in the past two years. In his heart, Fang Yun was no longer the young man of the same age, but an unparalleled genius with strong talent and literary skills. He had a great chance of being crowned a semi-saint in the future. He was a rare talent among men.
Now, this dragon among men was in front of him, and his tone was obviously unfriendly. Ni Xian was so scared that his legs went weak and he knelt on the ground, shouting: "I am innocent! I am innocent! Although I was wrong to fight, it takes two hands to clap in such a matter. If he had not repeatedly provoked me, how could I have used such a heavy hand! Sir, I am innocent! I admit that I have a personal grudge against Tian Lu, but I am definitely not as shameless as he said!"
The Tian family father and son were so angry that they were shaking all over. This was the same as the previous rhetoric, just trying to turn bullying into an ordinary fight.
Fang Yun nodded and stared at Ni Xian. His eyes became particularly bright because of his talent and literary courage, just like the bright moon at night. Then he slowly said: "Ni Xian, you must know that in court, if you tell even a lie, your crime will be even more serious! Once I confirm that there is something untrue in your words, I will punish you severely!"
Ni Xian's eyes flashed and he instinctively looked at his father Ni Kuo.
Ni Kuo stepped forward and said, "Sir, may I speak?"
Fang Yun said: "Well, you are the father of the defendant, and the defendant is young. If the defendant does not know how to answer, you can answer on his behalf."
Ni Kuo was overjoyed and said hurriedly, "My son is very competitive by nature. He became enemies with Tian Lu mainly because of a dispute over the ranking of the academy. That day, my son mocked him a few times, and Tian Lu blamed my son. My son felt that he was being humiliated in public, so he took action. Tian Lu, tell me the truth, did you blame my son that day?"
Tian Lu said angrily: "Ni Xian is doing evil things in the academy, I..."
Ni Kuo suddenly interrupted Tian Lu and said, "I just want to ask you, are you blaming my son?"
Tian Lu's momentum weakened, and he said, "He mocked me first, so I naturally fought back."
Ni Kuo immediately looked at Fang Yun and said, "Sir, you heard it too. But what you don't know is that my son didn't do it that day. Instead, he heard someone secretly slandering him a few days later. In addition, someone said that it was Tian Lu who slandered him, so he led people to beat Tian Lu!"
Fang Yun asked: "Tian Lu, did you slander Ni Xian afterwards?"
Tian Lu hurriedly shook his head and said, "It's impossible. After I refuted Ni Xian that day, I was worried that Ni Xian would retaliate, and I have been hesitating whether to confess to him. How could he continue to slander me!"
"Oh? Are you worried that Ni Xian will take revenge? Ni Xian has done many bad things before? Tell us everything you have seen with your own eyes." Fang Yun said.
Ni Kuo's eyes showed anxiety and he wanted to refute, but remembering the slap he had received before, he dared not speak. The other defendants, father and son, also remained silent, not daring to go against this vigorous and decisive county magistrate.
Tian Lu immediately said, "I have personally seen Ni Xian blocking classmates in the academy or on the road and beating them three times. I have also seen Ni Xian molesting female students at least four times. As for the cases where I personally heard Ni Xian bully someone, there are too many to count. It is really too many."
"Oh. Have those people reported it to the authorities?" Fang Yun asked.
"Ni Xian is very smart. He only bullies poor kids like us. No one would report us to the authorities. As for those female students, although their family backgrounds are good, they are not much different from Ni Xian. Ni Xian was just frivolous with words. By the way, I heard that last year Ni Xian had..."
Ni Xian suddenly glared at Tian Lu and shouted, "Tian Lu! Are you looking for death?"
Tian Lu's body trembled, and panic appeared in his eyes. He didn't dare to continue speaking.
"How dare you!" Fang Yun slammed the gavel, and his courage burst forth, creating a violent storm that swept in all directions.
Everyone's clothes were blown up, book pages were flying, and many people exclaimed instinctively, looking at Fang Yun with awe.
"I know I was wrong! I know I was wrong!" Ni Xian quickly lowered his head and begged for mercy.
Fang Yun snorted coldly and said, "You dare to threaten the plaintiff in court, which shows how domineering you are in your daily life! What you just said has been recorded and will be dealt with later. If you dare to roar in court again, don't blame me for severely punishing you! Tian Lu, please continue."
Tian Lu lowered his head and said, "That was a rumor I heard, not something I saw with my own eyes. It is not appropriate to talk about it in court."
Fang Yun said, "That's wrong. If this rumor has no effect on you, you don't have to tell anyone. But if it does, it involves whether you are afraid of Ni Xian. I'd like to ask, what effect does the rumor have on you?"
Tian Lu was silent for a long time, then slowly said: "After hearing the rumor, I became even more afraid."
"Then tell me about the rumor in detail." When Fang Yun spoke, he looked at Ni Kuo and Ni Xian, father and son. The two wanted to explain themselves but did not dare to open their mouths.
Tian Lu was silent for a moment, and then said, "Everyone in the academy knows about this. Ni Xian met a girl by chance and was very fond of her beauty. When he learned that she was a commoner, he wanted to buy her into the Ni family as a maid. A maid is not even as good as a concubine, and the family disagreed. Who doesn't want their daughter to be the legal wife? Up to this point, the rumors are all the same, but after that, there is no consensus. Some say that Ni Xian raped the girl, and the girl committed suicide out of shame. Some say that Ni Xian abandoned her after having an affair, and wanted to marry into a famous family but was afraid that the girl would ruin his reputation, so he killed her. In short, the girl died after all, and there are still many different opinions about why she died."
Fang turned his head and looked at the chief secretary of the torture room and asked, "Does the torture room have any records of this girl's death?"
The chief secretary of the criminal department was stunned and said hurriedly: "Ning'an is a large county, and the number of deaths each year is difficult to estimate. I don't know."
Fang Yun nodded and asked, "Tian Lu, do you know the girl's name?"
Tian Lu shook his head, but his father Tian Fusheng said, "Your Excellency, I remember that the girl's surname was Lu, her maiden name was Ping'er, and she lived in the west of the city, I think in Laohuai Lane."
"Ni Xian, have you ever heard of this girl?" Fang Yun looked directly at Ni Xian.
Ni Xian looked strange, as if he was struggling with something. His father Ni Kuo hurriedly said, "Sir, my son and Lu Ping did have a relationship, and my son wanted to marry her, but later they broke up because of the relationship, and the woman hanged herself. I went to the Lu family in person to apologize and obtained the forgiveness of the Lu family."
Fang Yun nodded and said, "This woman's matter involves whether Ni Xian has behaved improperly in his daily life and where is the chief secretary of the criminal department!" As he spoke, Fang Yun took out a stick from the stick tube.
"I'm here." The chief secretary of the criminal department hurried forward and said.
"Send two people to the Lu family and bring the Lu family to the county government office."
"Yes!" The chief secretary of the criminal department stepped forward to take the order and left the lobby to find someone.
Fang Yun saw from the corner of his eye that Ni Xian's legs were shaking slightly and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.
Fang Yun said, "Let's get back to the case. The first fight between the two of you was due to a verbal dispute. Then why did Ni Xian beat him up repeatedly and even burned and cut him?"
Ni Kuo bowed and said, "After my son beat Tian Lu, he wanted to stop, but he could always hear Tian Lu cursing and slandering him behind his back, so he kept hitting him! Sir, my son and I have been influenced by you and decided to plead guilty and obey the law. Not only will we pay the Tian family a thousand taels of silver, but I will also make him apologize in public in the academy and be whipped thirty times, and be imprisoned for a year to serve as a warning to others!"
The Tian family father and son were stunned. If Ni Kuo had made this punishment earlier, they would never have continued to sue the officials. Making Ni Xian admit his fault in public and being whipped was beyond their expectations. This case might be closed.
The Tian family father and son looked at Fang Yun with gratitude. (To be continued...)