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Chapter 54 The Sufferer
By the end of the beating, Li Wencai could no longer howl and lay on the ground half-dead. If he hadn't twitched a few times after each beating, Zhu Yu was worried that he might not be able to withstand these twenty beatings and be beaten to death.

Li Wencai was being beaten, while the middle-aged man kneeling over there had a calm expression on his face. The little mute next to him was much more excited. His face was flushed, tears welled up in his eyes, and his whole body was trembling.

However, this shivering was obviously not related to fear, but more like an inability to control inner excitement.

After the twenty strokes of the board, the little mute could no longer suppress his emotions. Tears welled up in his eyes and he did not even bother to wipe them away. He fell to the ground and kowtowed to Lu Qing and Zhu Yu, crying as he kowtowed. The sobbing in his throat seemed to be filled with grievances.

Seeing that the little mute's forehead was swollen and the skin was broken, Zhu Yu quickly signaled the yamen runners beside him to hold him back.

The little mute grinned, clasped his hands together, and kept bowing to them, as if he treated the two of them as Bodhisattvas.

Although Zhu Yu felt a little uncomfortable being worshipped in this way, at least the little mute wouldn't hurt himself by kowtowing too hard.

Zhu Yu glanced at Lu Qing, who nodded slightly, indicating that she could proceed as she pleased. Zhu Yu then said to the mute, "Your name is Cao Lin, right?"

The little mute probably hadn't heard someone calling his name for a long time. He was a little dazed for a moment, and then nodded with tears in his eyes.

"The censor has already known exactly how your family was persecuted by Li Wencai and Lu Ji. You are filled with hatred for the injustice done to your family members and want to avenge them, right?" Zhu Yu asked.

The little mute glanced at the expressionless middle-aged man beside him, lowered his eyelids and did not react.

"The one who informed the old shopkeeper, the one who went to your house to steal the secret recipe but failed and accidentally killed your grandfather, and the one who wanted to force your sister to marry him and forced her to death, plus the head of Lu's family and the old shopkeeper," Zhu Yu counted and asked the little mute, "are there any people who have escaped the net among those who killed your family?
This is your last chance to seek justice for the lives of your entire family."

The little mute shook his head vigorously with tears in his eyes, indicating that his family had no more enemies that had not been settled. This was equivalent to accepting the grudges between his family and those people, as well as their deaths.

The middle-aged man standing by could only sigh upon seeing this.

"Five lives," Zhu Yu sighed, looking at the little mute, "all of them plotted first and then killed. According to the law, they deserve death by execution."

She paused and said, "But considering that those five people killed your family first, they are all thugs who have no regard for human life. You avenged your relatives and killed the murderers. It is also an act of filial piety. Although it is against the law, it has some moral justice. Therefore, I believe that the death penalty can be waived, but the punishment of life cannot be avoided.

I understand that in planning and carrying out all this, you did not kill a single innocent person. Therefore, I sentence the criminal Cao Lin to three years of imprisonment and exile eight hundred miles."

The little mute stared blankly at Zhu Yu sitting in the court, as if he couldn't believe his ears. It was not until he heard the cheers of the onlookers outside the court that he came to his senses and realized that his life was saved. He kowtowed again in haste, babbling something, probably to express his gratitude.

Zhu Yu ignored him and looked at the middle-aged man who was also a little surprised: "As far as I know, you are not a member of the Cao family.

Cao Lin killed people to avenge his family members who died unjustly, which can be considered excusable.

And you, who colluded with and instigated Cao Lin to commit murder, are guilty of an unforgivable crime!" As soon as she finished speaking, the little mute beside her became agitated again. He knelt on the ground and almost crawled towards the middle-aged man, blocking his thin body in front of him with his arms outstretched. While blocking the people behind him, he kept pointing at himself and babbling urgently, as if to tell Zhu Yu and the others that he was the one who killed the man and that the middle-aged man had nothing to do with it.

The middle-aged man sighed, pulled the little mute away from him, smiled and shook his head at him: "Silly boy, you don't have to be like this! The two adults sitting in the hall are smart and clear-headed, and they are not as easy to fool as that dog official!
They can all tell us who the dead are. It's obvious that they found the place where we hid the bodies. But whether it's that place or those people, which one can you deal with by yourself with your small body?
Forget it! You don't have to take on all the responsibilities just to protect me.

Over the years, I have been unable to seek revenge and have been distressed. Now that I can help you get revenge, my heart is filled with joy and I can die without regrets!"

"Could it be that you have a deep blood feud with Li Wencai or Nalu Ji?" Zhu Yu asked the middle-aged man, "What's your name and where are you from? Why did you join forces with Cao Lin to kill Cao Lin's enemies?"

"I, Dou Dajiang, am originally from Lizhou. I came here looking for someone and accidentally saved a little dumb boy who was almost starving to death. I learned from him about the plight of his family and felt deeply sorry for them. So I decided to help him get revenge.

The child was young and frail, and he only helped a little. It was me who planned the murder and I was also the one who did it.

"Your Excellency is wise and perceptive, willing to give the mute a chance to live. You are a rare good official. According to the law, whether it is to be killed or sliced, Dou Dajiang will not bargain."

"Who are you looking for?" Zhu Yu asked, "Why do you feel so deeply sympathetic to the little mute's plight?"

Dou Dajiang sighed heavily and smiled a forlorn smile as if he was about to die: "This is a long story, but it has come to this point today. If I don't tell you, I'm afraid I will have to take it to the underworld and report it to the King of Hell.

I used to run an incense business in a county town in Lizhou. My business was not big, but it was enough to support my family. In addition to my elderly parents, I also had a wife, children, and a mentally ill younger brother.

Although my younger brother was over 30 years old at the time, his mentality was like that of a five or six-year-old child. He was well-behaved most of the time, and occasionally he would be a little irritable and angry when he got angry, but it would not happen more than a few times throughout the year.

About six years ago, I went out to buy goods as usual. I wanted to find a spice merchant I knew well to buy some cinnabar to make the red ointment that rich ladies liked to put on their foreheads.

As a result, I came across a newly opened shop that sold flowers, herbs and minerals used to make incense at a lower price than the place where I bought them before.

After all, I am a small business owner, so I bought some to save myself the responsibility.

After I got home, I ground the cinnabar I bought into powder and made the ointment. However, I found that the texture was completely wrong. After a closer look, I found that there was only a small amount of cinnabar in it, and the rest was some unknown mineral with the same red color as cinnabar.

I hurried back with my things to settle accounts with the seller, but I didn't expect that after just one or two days, the shop was completely deserted. After asking around, I found out that the shop was rented by a group of outsiders, and no one knew them.

Dou Dajiang clenched his hands into fists at his sides as he recalled the past: "When I couldn't find the swindler who sold me the ore, I had to return home, only to find... my parents, wife, and children... were all dead..."

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(End of this chapter)