Nine Chapters of Strange Cases

Chapter 210 Evil comes with evil consequences
Cao Yuanxu stared intently at Zhou Zhao, frantically searching his mind for a way to escape.

Suddenly, he felt a blur before his eyes, and Su Changying and Zhou Zhao, who had been standing next to him, inexplicably moved far away from him.

Just as Cao Yuanxu was surprised, she felt a foul, fishy smell descend upon her.

A large chamber pot was slammed down in front of him and shattered into pieces.

Cao Yuanxu snapped out of his daze and began to retch on the ground. He turned his head and saw several plainly dressed women. The woman in the lead had bloodshot eyes and held a plain silver hairpin in her hand. Cao Yuanxu's pupils shrank sharply. He wanted to speak, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he couldn't help but retch again.

The woman was sickly and frail, as if a gust of wind could blow her over. When she saw Cao Yuanxu turn his head, she rushed over and stabbed him directly with the thin silver hairpin in her hand.

"You heartless bastard, you even killed your own uncles and brothers! Go to hell! Go to hell! You'll pay for my husband's life!"

Cao Yuanxu screamed and shoved the woman with a swift palm strike. "Aunt, what are you doing? You're going to listen to other people's nonsense too!"

He was a man, and although he had been taught a lesson by Su Changying earlier and his whole body ached, it was still very easy for him to push over a thin woman.

Seeing the woman fall to the ground, he covered the bloody hole he had been stabbed in and looked at the others, "Aunts, sisters-in-law, believe me, it was that woman Shao Qingqing who killed her."

“We heard the commotion and saw you being beaten by the soldiers, so we rushed over to protect you. That’s why we heard everything.”

The person who spoke was the eldest among the group of women, and her tone was remarkably calm.

But just after uttering the last word, she suddenly pulled out a large wine ladle from behind her and hurled it at Cao Yuanxu. The other women remained silent; those with something in their hands used it to hit her, while those without pulled her hair and kicked her hard.

"ungrateful!"

"Worse than pigs and dogs!"

Zhou Zhao stood aside, pinching his nose, and watched as Cao Yuanxu was beaten until his hair was disheveled in no time. He chuckled and muttered, "What did a dog do wrong? Why should we compare him to scum like this!"

Cao Yuanxu was a ruthless man. After being brutally beaten by a group of women, he became extremely angry. He stood up, raised his fist, and smashed it into the head of one of them.

Just as the fist was about to reach the man's temple, a small pebble suddenly flew over and hit him squarely in the tendon of his hand. Cao Yuanxu felt a numbness in his hand, and his raised hand fell limply and powerlessly.

Cao Yuanxu suddenly turned his head and roared angrily, "Zhou Zhao! You are an official of the imperial court, yet you injure people without cause!"

As soon as he turned around, the woman who had almost been hit by his big fist found her familiar battlefield. She suddenly leaped up, like a gyrfalcon, and accurately grabbed Cao Yuanxu's hair from behind, tearing at it.

Cao Yuanxu could no longer hold back and shouted, "Zhou Zhao! Are you people from the Court of Justice just going to stand by and watch me get beaten to death?"

Zhou Zhao chuckled, "Shut up, you really stink. Where did I hit you? I was busy arresting Li Mu, I wasn't even around you, don't try to spew nonsense."

As Zhou Zhao spoke, he glanced sideways at Li Mu.

Li Mu finally snapped out of his shock. His mind went blank, and he turned and ran.

Zhou Zhao looked at it, clicked her tongue twice, stomped her foot on the ground, and a round little stone jumped up. Zhou Zhao leaped into the air, like a football player, and kicked the stone away.

She landed gently on the ground, clapped her hands, and softly murmured, "Thump!"

The word seemed to come true; with a thud, the pebble struck Li Mu in the back of the knee, causing him to fall to his knees with a thud. He struggled to get up, but couldn't move at all.

Zhou Zhao curled his lip and turned to look at Cao Yuanxu, who was now pinned to the ground by the angry widows of the victims, lying there like a dead fish. "Li Mu has been arrested, and now I'm here to arrest Cao Yuanxu, the murderer! Oh dear, Cao Yuanxu, why are you being beaten?! Don't die, or we'll have to take you to the market to be beheaded!"

Zhou Zhao's voice was exceptionally clear and cold in the night sky. Upon hearing this, the women who were hitting him immediately sobered up and stopped punching each other.

It's better to be beheaded at Caishikou than to be beaten to death by them!

Zhou Zhao glanced at Su Changying, then lifted Li Mu, who was crawling on the ground with one leg immobilized, and with a swift movement, leaped over the wall and flew away.

Seeing this, Su Changying picked up Cao Yuanxu, who was like a lump of mud, and said to the woman in the courtyard, "The Northern Army will be here in a while to take you to the Court of Justice to take your statements, including hers."

As Su Changying spoke, she looked at Cao Yuanxu's wife, who had fainted from fright and was still lying on the ground.

Then, with a light tap of the ground, she chased after Zhou Zhao.

Zhou Zhao used his lightness skill to the extreme, and arrived at the gate of the Court of Justice in almost an instant.

She looked inside and paused in her tracks. The Court of Justice, which was on a day off, was brightly lit and packed with people.

Zhou Zhao looked around and saw that the person standing in the middle was Li Huaishan, the Minister of Justice. On his left and right were Chang Zuoping and Guan Youping, and on each of them stood their respective court clerks. These people were lined up in a row, and their faces were all ashen, as if they had lost their parents.

Except for Li Youdao, whose nose was red and whose eyelids were drooping, he was obviously asleep.

This setup looks like a joint trial.

Zhou Zhao suspected that as soon as she entered the door, someone would close the door and then try to trap her.

As Zhou Zhao was lost in thought, everyone in the Court of Justice turned to look at her. Zhou Zhao felt a chill run down her spine and pushed the dizzy Li Mu inside.

Li Huaishan glanced at Zhou Zhao and said, "Hand the man over to Chang Zuoping. Let him handle the matter of overturning the case."

As he spoke, he looked at Su Changying again, "I apologize for the embarrassing incident involving Captain Su."

Zhou Zhao handed the man over to Chang Zuoping. Li Huaishan said nothing more, then with a flick of his sleeve, he led the two guardians of the Court of Justice, along with Li Mu's five Heavenly Kings, deeper into the area.

As the five court officials walked, they separated into front and back groups, with Li Youdao, a drunkard, unable to keep up.

He Tingshi seemed to slow down deliberately, as if waiting for Zhou Zhao.

Zhou Zhao's eyes flickered, and she quietly walked to He Tingshi's side. "Did you call him here? What if we don't catch him tonight?"

He Tingshi rolled his wrinkled eyelids and said, "How could you not catch it? Go back and rest. What happens next is not something a fake Tingshi like you can get involved in."

He waved his hand and quickened his pace to catch up.

As Zhou Zhao watched the backs of the group, his mind became exceptionally clear.

Li Mu became a court official by fabricating major cases, which was like a resounding slap in the face to the Court of Justice.

Who recommended him? Are there other people in the area who are fabricating merits like him? Cao Yuanxu's father-in-law has military power; now that the matter has been exposed, will he become desperate and plot rebellion? These are all things that the higher-ups need to consider.

She is not qualified yet, but she believes that in the near future, she will be able to stand among that group of people.