No Repeats

Judged wrongly

"Your honour, this one is not ignorant of the law. But, just so that everyone here is clear, can I ask your honour to confirm for me. Under the laws of the great Empire, what is the penalty for false accusations in court?" asked Shu Mei.

"Imprudence!" shouted the Magistrate as he slapped the wooden magistrate's block onto the table.

"Did I give you permission to speak, guards, pull him Lu Bai down and give him ten canes as warning!" he continued while he signalled to the nearest guards.

Shu Mei smiled mockingly as she stood up from her kneeling position and tapped her hand on Bai Ye's shoulders indicating that he needed to stay put.

"With due respect, your honour, what you are doing is breaking the Great Han laws. The law does not allow abuse of power and award physical punishments before conviction of a crime. What is my crime? All I did was to begin to exercise my right to self-representation. I do not admit to any guilty actions. By punishing me before this case is cleared, you are in breach of your duties and breaking the laws of our great empire."

"How dare you. Your punishment is deserving and legal, because I have deemed you of the crime of speaking before being asked. That makes a mockery of the court system and a mockery of me. That is a criminal activity," sneered Chen Ke.

"Your honour, this one object to the punishment. I am happy to comply with the law and will appeal to the highest courts in the Empire to clear my name. I am sure Magistrate Chen will not want to waste your time is such a little matter?" asked Shu Mei.

"Appeal to the highest courts? Here, I am the pinnacle of appeal, I reject your appeal," said Chen Ke as he leaned forward.

"This area is within the governance of the Great General Huang, I doubt you are the highest level of appeal."

Chen Ke's face blanched at the mention of General Huang and thinking that taking a step back he can win the bigger battle, he decided to put this aside until the end when he could convict Lu Bai with relish.

"All this talk of appeals is wasting this court's precious time. I will put that aside for the time being and consider it in the final punishments. Ma Bu has bought a serious case against you, grievous bodily harm, adultery and evil conduct. He even has witnesses, do you admit your guilt?" he stated.

"Firstly, I am the victim in this case. Ma Bu's wife, this woman here schemed and tried to poison me with this aphrodisiac drug last night. By the grace of our reigning emperor, I was invited by my dear friend to drink and practice martial arts under the moonlight for the whole night and did not return to my room until this morning. Who knew, my friend here, felt sorry for the beggar Tu Tu and gave him money to clean himself up and treated him to the room for one night of good rest. Because of that, Wu Miao, mistakenly took Tu Tu as me and I escaped this calamity."

Chen Ke sneered and slammed the wooden block before saying, "in that case, both Tu Tu and Wu Miao, this pair of adulterous couple shall be sentenced for drowning by the pig pen."

"Wait, I have not finished. Magistrate, what is the rush? As for the charge of grievous bodily harm, in all honesty, it was purely self-defence. My friend here, underestimated his strength and the hostel owner's fragility and that was the only reason why he was injured. But with the little medical knowledge that I have, judging by the hostel owner's ability to walk and his vigour in seeking your protection and denouncing me, then I can reasonably assume that his injury is not as serious as he has stated."

Ma Bu almost vomited blood from anger after hearing those words.

"Your tongue is surely glib and treacherous. Look at the man, with his old age and weaknesses, how could he have threatened you? He is not only left with great injuries, but you have also spoilt his wife and left him to bear the shame. You are making a mockery of this court, me and the laws of our great Empire. With this reason alone, I will sentence you to be punished with fifty canes, the adulterous couple to drown by the pig pen. That is final!" said Chen Ke.

"You dare?" said Bai Ye coldly, sending a shockwave of murderous aura throughout the courtroom, making everyone in its presence shiver in fright.

"Your honour is so great, upholding justice and dispensing just punishment to those who have committed criminal," bowed Ma Bu and praising him shamelessly.

"No. No, please save me, I don't want to die!" wailed Wu Miao as she looked around wildly, grasping for a straw of hope.

Tu Tu knelt on the ground without much change in expression once he heard the sentence, to him living is the not much better than death and he was fine dying with his enemy's daughter.

"May I suggest that your honour is acting too rashly? You have not asked any information about the case and just took Ma Bu's words for the truth. You have judged the situation based on surface information and disregarded my explanation. You even made a sentence without calling for witnesses, yet you have judged that people needed to die. You have sentenced the death of two people and the severe canning of the third. For normal people, fifty canes will result in death. So, in fact, you have condemned three people to death based on circumstantial evidence. A human life is so precious under the law, if this gets out and the higher ups hear of this injustice, are you willing to repay your mistake with your life and your family's?" said Shu Mei calmly as fanned herself.

"Are you threatening me!" roared Chen Ke.

"Not at all, I am merely stating the facts on what I have observed but heed my word, this will not stop here if you continue in this manner," said Shu Mei.

"Who are you?" said Chen Ke with narrowed eyes.

"It should not matter who I am, I encourage you as the minister of the great Han empire to discharge your duties in a just and righteous manner. Your yearly salary is from the taxpayer's own blood, sweat and tears, you have the obligation to act according to the law in an upright and unbiased manner," said Shu Mei.

Chen Ke stayed silent as he carefully observed Shu Mei's clothes and mannerisms. Though her words are impeccably sound, but her clothes are ripped and patched up in places. He thought it is impossible for her to be from a wealthy or powerful group. Bai Ye is clearly wealthier and more untouchable, but he has stayed quiet this whole time, maybe he is clever enough to not want to get involved? If that is the case, Chen Ke calculated that Shu Mei is just a poor scholar running her mouth off and hoping to get out of this unscathed.

"Guards take Lu Bai and award him with fifty canes," said Chen Ke as he slammed his wooden block.