Xuanxia

Chapter 397 The Book Thief

In fact, the trial of the case was not as exciting and eventful as shown in many movies and novels.

Even, it's a bit boring.

After Dali Zheng questioned Yue Heng, Yue Heng told him everything he knew and experienced. Of course, he also mentioned that he did not steal the book, and he also talked about the incident when Lan Hongjun took out a knife during the wrestling with him.

Especially when talking about Lan Hongjun's intention to hurt people with a dagger, this Master Lan's eyes were almost filled with poison and he was grinding his teeth in hatred.

"in this case……"

Dali Temple narrowed his eyes and asked: "Yue Heng, are you saying that you are innocent?"

"Sir, I dare not."

Yue Heng lowered his head and said, "The student is just stating the facts."

Since he was able to go to Beijing to take the imperial examination, he had local honors and was considered a scholar. Before being convicted, he could call himself a student.

"It seems that there are some suspicious points in this case."

Dali was flipping through the files in front of him and turned his gaze to...Mingjian Pavilion.

"My dear secret envoys," he asked in a deep voice, "Let's first discuss the matter of Yue Heng stealing the book... I wonder if Mingjian Pavilion has made any discoveries during its investigation?"

"There has been some discovery regarding the stolen books."

Liu Xingyuan stood up, bowed, and replied, "According to the transfer file sent by the Ministry of Justice, Yue Heng stole the secret book of the Palm Sword Academy, secretly learned magic from it, and then hurt people. However, after investigation, it was found that Yue Heng learned the magic from his good friend Fu Qingzhou on the way to the capital."

While he was speaking, relevant evidence was delivered to Dali one by one.

The summary of spells that Fu Qingzhou had given to Yue Heng, the content he had written today for comparison, and some secret books he had searched from Yue Heng at that time.

"Who is Fu Qingzhou?"

Dali was flipping through the files and glancing down at the audience.

Fu Qingzhou bowed and saluted: "I am here."

"Did you teach Yue Heng magic?" Dali Zheng asked.

Fu Qingzhou replied, "That's right. I am a disciple of Wuwei Temple, which has a huge collection of books. Brother Yue is also my close friend, so in order to give him the ability to protect himself, I compiled some relatively basic but extremely advanced spells and taught them to him."

Yue Heng looked at him, gratitude flashing in his eyes.

Dali Zheng nodded slightly: "Although the spells you presented are all basic spells, they are indeed very advanced... In this case, Yue Heng does not need to take the risk of stealing the book."

Fu Qingzhou blinked.

The officials here, do they know this? But it is also true that many of these officials may have graduated from the Sword Academy, so it is normal for them to have learned some magic.

At this time, Liu Xingyuan added: "Moreover, according to the witness Gu Jinchen, the person who stole the book was actually Lan Shaozhong, a student of Zhangjian Academy."

As soon as these words came out, Lan Shaozhong's eyes became serious and he glared at Gu Jinchen fiercely!

But Gu Jinchen was... uh, shaking?

Fu Qingzhou was stunned.

He discovered that Gu Jinchen, who had been pushing the wheelchair very calmly before, now had his hands shaking like a sieve, with cold sweat pouring down his forehead and his eyes staring at the ground, looking extremely terrified.

On the contrary, Lan Hongjun looked resentful but not surprised at all?

Fu Qingzhou's heart was racing.

What kind of conspiracy did Gu Jinchen come up with? And he's still acting it out?
While he was thinking, Dali Zheng slammed the gavel and looked at Gu Jinchen: "Who are you? Why do you know this? Tell me in detail!"

Gu Jinchen was startled and said in a trembling voice, "Your Excellency, I am the servant of Master Lan Hongjun."

"And this Master Shaozhong is the cousin of Master Lan Hongjun."

"Some time ago, the young master took me to drink with his cousin. At the table, I, I heard Young Master Shaozhong say..."

Gu Jinchen glanced at Lan Shaozhong and whispered, "He said that he found a secret book in the academy that is extremely suitable for his daughter. It is more suitable than all the secret books in the Lan family, but the academy does not allow books to be taken out, so he, he wants to steal the book..."

"You are talking nonsense! You are slandering me!" Lan Shaozhong was very angry: "What secret book can't I get? I have to steal it from the academy?! It's obviously..."

"No noise allowed!" Dali Temple slammed the gavel heavily, interrupting Lan Shaozhong and looking at Gu Jinchen: "Continue."

Fu Qingzhou understood a little after hearing this... He looked at Lan Hongjun, only to find that this Master Lan had a gloomy smile on his face.

Gu Jinchen, these are the brothers who divided the Lan family.

"Yes."

Gu Jinchen bowed his head to Dali Zheng and said, "At that time, Mr. Yue was kicked out of Qingteng Yayuan. My son had some old grudges with Mr. Yue. When he heard that he went to Zhangjian Academy, he wanted to ridicule him...but he didn't expect to meet Mr. Shaozhong in the academy."

"Master Shaozhong was very nervous at the time. He told us that he had stolen the book but didn't know how to get it out of the academy, so he asked us to help him find a solution..."

Under Lan Shaozhong's biting gaze, he said word by word: "My young master didn't dare to agree, so he followed closely. Later, I said that my young master went to mock Mr. Yue, and Shaozhong was tempted. He said that he wanted to borrow something and hide it in Mr. Yue's possession. If he could help take it out, Shaozhong would steal it back from Mr. Yue; if Mr. Yue couldn't take the books out of the academy, Shaozhong would not be affected..."

"Anyway, Mr. Yue has a grudge against us. Even if he is wronged, we don't care..."

"We still didn't dare to agree, but Master Shaozhong said that we didn't need to worry about it. We just had to do our own thing, and he would quietly follow us around to do this..."

Dali was listening, frowned and said in a deep voice: "In other words, you knew that Lan Shaozhong stole the book and framed someone else, but you chose to conceal it?"

Gu Jinchen shuddered all over.

"Yes, sir..."

At this time, Lan Hongjun finally spoke: "After all, he is the cousin of the student. At that time, we thought we could frame Yue Heng, so we... we didn't report it..."

"Lan Hongjun!" Lan Shaozhong could no longer hold back and said angrily, "You are so shameless! How dare you say that!"

As he spoke, he had already moved, raised his fist and punched Lan Hongjun in the face!
But how could he be allowed to act like a spoiled child in the court?

The next moment, a huge force knocked him to the ground, and he fell flat on his face.

Wang Dahai crossed his legs and sat on Lan Shaozhong with his arms folded across his chest. He sneered, "How could a scum like you appear in the academy? Fortunately, we found you early. If you had been admitted to the Mingjian Pavilion, what would have happened?"

"No! No!"

Lan Shaozhong was pinned down and cried out in a muffled voice: "I am innocent! Lan Hongjun asked me to steal the book! He wanted me to frame Yue Heng! I... I just..."

"Cousin, why are you doing this?"

Lan Hongjun interrupted him and said in a deep voice: "I admit that I do hate Yue Heng. He was kicked out of Qingteng Yayuan because of me..."

At this point, he sighed softly: "I did something wrong, but his reputation has been tarnished and he has no chance of taking the imperial examination, which is enough for me... Why should I kill him? Look at me now."

Lan Hongjun gritted his teeth and said, "I am already a useless person! Have you ever seen someone who schemed against others and turned himself into a useless person?"

Fu Qingzhou's eyes flickered slightly.

Amazing.

Did he take the initiative to admit the other frame-ups, but put the most serious charge of book theft on Lan Shaozhong?

Yes, accusations of slander, plagiarism, and obscenity are not serious crimes strictly speaking. They are not even crimes. At most, they are just bad character. Lan Hongjun has fallen into such a situation. What's wrong with admitting it?
Dali was frowning and stroking his beard, as if he was thinking.

At this time, an official from the Censorate who was listening in spoke up: "Lan Hongjun, Gu Jinchen, you claim that Lan Shaozhong is the one who stole the book, do you have any other evidence?"

"Yes... yes."

Gu Jinchen said in a trembling voice: "Master Shaozhong said that he had someone to help him steal the books. It was a clerk in the library of the Sword Academy who was in charge of managing books..."

Hearing this, Lan Shaozhong’s eyes widened and he lost the strength to struggle.

It doesn’t matter whether there are petty officials or not.

The fact that the servant Achen dared to say so meant that there must be such a person... As for whether this person had cooperated with him or really done this, it was not important.

If there is one person, there will be two, three, and even physical evidence... It doesn't matter where these evidences come from. What matters is that they are enough to nail him to death in this court.

"Lan Hongjun..."

He said in a hoarse voice, "You are so cruel..."

(End of this chapter)