Old Ma, the criminal officer of the Criminal Justice Division, was chubby, smiling, and beaming from top to bottom, and was known as the most amiable person in the Criminal Justice Division.
With a bone scraper in his right hand and a skinning blade in his left, he spent ten hours a day meeting the prisoners in the prison sincerely.
No one who saw him didn’t burst into tears, roar and call him “Dad,” and regretfully confess everything they had done.
Zhang Qing was so honored to receive Old Ma’s personal greetings, wailing and howling as he poured out his heart and soul.
Chu Zhi looked at Old Ma, who was wearing a blood-stained leather apron and had a smiling face as kind as a neighbor’s uncle, and thought that this person was a bit of a pervert.
“He said that he was ordered by Madam Chu to go to the black market to buy something that could kill people from a hundred steps away without seeing blood. He knew that the spice shop was the territory of the Black Robe Sect.
He also bought arsenic there before, and he heard that the shop also sold evil things like witchcraft.
So today, when Madam Chu made this request, he thought of those evil things. And he judged that Madam Chu probably wanted to kill Chu Zheng’s newly acquired concubine.”
Old Ma was very fair in saying this, and he was also worried that his words would be biased and displease the Duke’s wife.
Who would have thought that Chu Zhi would shake her head, “I’m afraid it’s not just to harm Qu Wannang, I’m also in the target.”
Old Ma was stunned, what did this mean?
Lan Huaiyu understood, and looked down at her, “How do you want to handle this matter?”
“Handle it according to the law!”
“Okay.”
All the officials who had bought evil medicine were ‘invited’ to the Criminal Justice Division, and those who didn’t want to come were carried in by the Suning Guard.
‘Respect the old and love the young.’
There were those in their prime, and those with white hair and beards. It was unknown how much these pillars of the country had done for the country during the day.
But they all paid great attention to their nightlife, and did not hesitate to spend a lot of money to buy medicine to support their bodies to achieve the purpose of excited output.
At first, some people cursed, but in the end, as Lan Huaiyu appeared, they all shut up and closed their mouths.
Chu Zhi could see clearly from the window that Lan Huaiyu could achieve the effect of silencing the audience whenever he appeared in her previous life.
Men, women, old and young, all dared not speak, for fear of saying too much and being caught.
It was just that today’s situation was obviously going to be lenient, and it was impossible to confiscate their homes like Tang Baixin.
That’s right, if so many officials were confiscated, the court would be paralyzed tomorrow.
So the final result was, a fine!
They had to hand over a large amount of silver to redeem people, otherwise they would go to the Criminal Justice Division’s prison and have a cordial meeting with Old Ma.
After all, everyone had a face, how could they enter the Criminal Justice Division’s prison? Although they were extremely resentful and cursed Lan Huaiyu fiercely in their hearts, they still honestly ordered people to go home and get money.
At night, a long queue formed at the gate of the Criminal Justice Division.
The silver that each family brought in carriages was extremely heavy, to redeem their adults, but it was not the usual hundreds or thousands of taels.
It started at ten thousand taels.
Only cash was accepted, no bargaining.
When Liu Shi was caught by the Suning Guard and arrived at the Criminal Justice Division, she encountered this scene, and she had no time to think about it, her legs were weak.
When she was dragged into the hall, she saw the Duke, and she didn’t know why she knelt down.
Lan Huaiyu’s face was indifferent, and the pressure came from his brown eyes, even with a hint of gloom.
When Zhao Xi and others saw the Duke’s attitude, they understood that it was a sign of anger.
It seemed that he didn’t intend to give his mother-in-law favoritism!
“Madam Chu, Zhang Qing is the manager under your command, right! He was ordered by you to go to the black market to buy witchcraft and evil things to kill people, who does Madam Chu want to kill?”
When Liu Shi heard this, she shook her head in a panic, “Your Excellency, there is no such thing! This humble woman is a woman, living peacefully in the inner house, and her daughter is married to a satisfactory husband, and her life is so smooth, how can she kill people?”
“A while ago, Zhang Qing also bought you a bottle of arsenic, what did Madam Chu use the arsenic for?”
Arsenic?
The arsenic was originally to poison Chu Zhi, that wild girl.
But the dowry Liu Mama and others were dead, so where did she know where the arsenic went in the end.
This was also considered dead without proof, and Liu Shi gritted her teeth and denied it.
“It must be that Zhang Qing embezzled money to buy illegal things to harm people. Now that he has been caught by the Duke, he wants to escape his crime and frame this humble woman.
This humble woman’s biological daughter has just returned to her side, and she hasn’t had time to spend more time with her.
This humble woman’s heart and eyes are full of her daughter, and she also wants to chant scriptures and pray for her, so she will never harm people!
Please, Your Excellency, make a clear judgment and make the decision for this humble woman!”
She called her daughter one after another, wasn’t it just to remind Lan Huaiyu that she was his mother-in-law?
Chu Zhi heard clearly in the back and couldn’t help but sneer.
She was really good at acting.
Lan Huaiyu looked coldly at the woman who was acting even though her legs were weak and afraid, and a cold light flashed in his eyes.
“Then is it also false that Madam Chu asked Zhang Qing to dispose of the dead maids before?
The maids who died in the Chu Mansion were all quite beautiful, could it be that they felt that they had been seen by Lord Chu and had no way to live, so they committed suicide?”
Liu Shi didn’t expect Zhang Qing to say even these things.
Naturally, she still denied it, “There is no such thing. Which family hasn’t had a few servants die? They died because they didn’t have time to treat them when they got sick.
Asking Zhang Qing to handle the funeral for the dead servants was also because this humble woman didn’t want to publicize it and be known by others, which was detrimental to my master’s reputation.”
She could think of a way to deny everything.
But this place was the Criminal Justice Division, not the Shuntian Prefecture Yamen.
The Five City Military Command was so brutal and unreasonable, and the Criminal Justice Division was even worse.
Didn’t admit it?
Then hand it over to Old Ma!
Liu Shi thought she could escape this disaster, but she was dumbfounded after being dragged to the prison torture chamber.
Not only were her two legs as soft as noodles, but even after she was hung on the rack, she only felt her lower body was warm.
She was scared and peed!
Old Ma came in again wearing a leather apron, smiling and saying, “Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid, you are an official’s wife, so you have to maintain the demeanor of an official’s wife.
You can’t be like Tang Baixin’s wives and concubines, howling louder than ghosts.
The noise is harsh, so the tongue has to be cut off. After the tongue is gone, you can only drink porridge, leaking while drinking.”
Old Ma was kind and enthusiastic, and Liu Shi was so frightened that half of her soul flew away, and a shrill scream was stuck in her throat.
When she saw him coming over with a hook knife, she finally couldn’t help but shout, “I did ask Zhang Qing to buy things to kill people, I wanted to kill Chu Zheng’s newly acquired concubine. But I didn’t succeed, I haven’t done anything yet!”
Old Ma still looked at her kindly, obviously waiting for her to continue to confess.
“Those maids… I didn’t want to kill those maids, I wanted to sell them to brothels, they committed suicide because they couldn’t think about it.
It’s none of my business.”
Old Ma continued to be kind.
“And arsenic! That was also prepared for that fox spirit. She was raised outside by Chu Zheng before, and I found out, so I wanted to do it.
But I knew it was against the law to kill people, so I hesitated for a long time and threw the arsenic away.”
She seemed to be scared crazy and confessed everything.
But the people listening to the movement outside didn’t think so.
Chu Zhi shrugged, “Even if she reaches the end of her rope, she will try her best to find a way to survive.”
Lan Huaiyu looked down at her, her delicate face was full of ease because she knew this would happen.
But she clearly knew that the one inside was the enemy who killed her mother, so how could she really be relaxed?
She was pretending to be strong!