Chapter 58 - Grandpa Ku

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The magistrate feels like he should punish Ku De Hua right now but he also feels that there is nothing wrong with what Ku De Hua said. Magistrate Dong looks at Ku Qiang Ren, the patriarch of the Ku family with a complex expression.

Ever since he became the patriarch, the family has stopped trying to join the government and all the family members who were in the government quit immediately as well. This merchant family should be of a lower caste and have lesser clout, yet the reputation of the family has been becoming greater as time passes.

As a magistrate, he is has been made aware of cultivators and cultivation so that he can pick out and promoting outstanding constables so they can be taught the <Dragon Fist> and be bound to the government. However, he has never seen a family being brought up by just one cultivator alone.

Proud and arrogant people are proud and arrogant because they either have some background or have achieved something, it is impossible for ordinary people to be proud and arrogant as they would be beaten up by other commoners. The second Ku Qiang Ren took over the reins of the Ku family, they started to focus on earning money and every member of the family learnt martial arts. It is unknown if all of them are cultivators, but it is a possibility. Now, they do not even need the help of the armed escort agencies to guard their wares and can be said to be a small army in Yao Feng town.

When Ku Si Le died and his daughter was abducted, Ku Qiang Ren was away escorting an important parcel or he would have slaughtered the entire Ling family. When he came back, the guards of the Ministry of Rites and him had a big fight and Ku Qiang Ren was eventually stopped by them. Magistrate Dong had to gather the city defence unit and the constables to put an end to the issue and forced Ku Qiang Ren to promise not to go after the Ling family anymore as justice has already been served and Ling Yi Sha was in prison.

Director Ling is fuming right now and he is staring at Ku De Hua fiercely. Judge Tang and Judge Cui are still happily munching on popcorn at my side. I wonder what they will feel like if they realised that they are eating the stuff that pigs and horses eat.

"Ku De Ren, tell me everything u can remember about that night and what u were doing in detail!" Magistrate Dong had no choice but to drill Ku De Ren who has already broken from the beatings he was given.

"I already told you what happened! Why are you asking my brother the same thing again!" Ku De Hua says in protests.

*Bang*

"Men! Give Ku De Hua another slap for talking out of turn! Slap him again if he tries to talk without being spoken to!" Magistrate Dong gives an order.

*Pak!* one of the constables slap Ku De Hua hard, but this time his expression does not change and stares at Magistrate Dong but he stops talking.

Ku De Ren watches his brother being slapped and gets even more afraid.

"We...we...we went out to drink because the judges told us that we cannot lodge an appeal without evidence and were depressed. Then we saw a black shooting star fly across our head and when we looked at the sky, it was bright orange!" Ku De Hua starts saying whatever he thinks of and it seems like he's talking nonsense right now so he doesn't get beaten.

"We became curious and walked towards the orange part of the sky and soon saw that the Ministry of Rites was in flames. Ku De Ren and I got happy and we believed that the heavens struck the corrupted ministry with lightning and set it ablaze so we started to buy more wine and fireworks to celebrate..." Ku De Hua finished saying and looked around but it seemed like nobody was interested in what he just said.

"That's all we did! I don't remember anymore! We were so drunk that all I remember was waking up at the side of a building the next morning with vomit all over my clothes!" Ku De Hua says loudly in case Magistrate Dong punished him for lying again.

"No! They must have killed my daughter! No one else would have a grudge against our daughter! She was stabbed eleven times, just like Ku Si Le! Also, none of the stabs was fatal so it must have been done purpose!" Ling Yi Sha's parents started screaming and crying at the side of the courtroom again.

Zhang Yang's parents started screaming and crying as well, right on cue and shouted "It must be them! My son had no other enemies and he was a good boy! All he did was pursue the love of his life!"

"Good boy?! What Rubbish! Your son pursued a married woman and had an affair with her! He made my grandson a cuckold!" Old Ku shouted in angry and smacked the armrest, causing it to shatter into dust.

The scene of him smacking the armrest so hard that it became dust scared the parents and they stopped crying immediately but Director Ling shouted back in anger.

"Who do you think you are! How dare you use violence in the yamen!" Director Ling shouts as he points at Old Ku in anger. Right now his face is red in colour and it looks funny but it is clear that he is ready to pounce on Old Ku if he tries to attack anyone.

Magistrate Dong hopelessly looks in our direction but Judge Tang and Judge Cui are still happily munching their popcorn. They have a look of happiness watching them argue as if it has nothing to do with them. Well, technically it really does have nothing to do with us at this point.

Magistrate Dong helplessly makes a low sigh and says "Ku De Hua, Ku De Ren, where were you drinking last night and which shop did you buy the wine and fireworks from that night? If the shopkeepers are willing to confirm what you said, then it is clear that you were not the ones who murdered them and did not set fire to the ministry."

Director Ling and the parents started to protest and shouted "No!"

The parents and director Ling look at each other and Director Ling says "You cannot let them go! They are the only ones with a motive! Even if they have a valid alibi, they could have hired someone else to kill them!"

The parents agreed with Director Ling loudly in the hopes of causing the audience watching to agree with them. As I glance at the audience, it appears some of them learnt from Judge Cui and Judge Tang and went to the street stalls to buy some snacks to munch while watching the trial.

Did I just turn the court into a movie theatre?

Old Ku got angry again but he didn't smash the chair's armrest this time. Steward Dong had already told him not to do it as the chairs are the property of the government and they do not want to charge him for destroying public property, which is a silly offence to get charged for.

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