Chapter 141 Clearly Guilty
Mei Cheng'an stretched out his right hand, put his index finger and middle finger together, and probed the area of Guo Baokun's neck and throat. He could clearly feel some swelling, which showed that the inside of his throat was severely injured. He frowned and said.
"Mr. Guo, you are overusing your voice. Don't strain your throat to speak anymore. If you continue like this, your throat will be ruined."
Guo Baokun's eyes narrowed noticeably, he closed his mouth, then blinked and nodded slightly.
Mei Cheng'an patted his shoulder gently again.
He straightened up and looked at Guo Baokun's mummy look. You know what, the person in charge of bandaging him was quite skilled and it looked pretty good. He held back his smile and turned around to look at Fan Xian with a half-smile.
"That's a pretty heavy hand."
When Fan Xian heard this, a flash of embarrassment flashed across his eyes, and he stretched out his hand and raised it forward to block in front of him.
"Don't talk nonsense, this has nothing to do with me."
He Zongwei suddenly said at this time.
"Master Fan has the guts to commit the crime, but doesn't have the guts to admit it?"
Fan Xian exclaimed, looked around, and passed by He Zongwei and looked at Mei Chengan.
"I thought I heard a dog barking just now. Did you hear it?"
Mei Cheng'an laughed when he heard it, and thought to himself, you are so mean, you are just saying it right in my face.
He Zongwei didn't react at first, and looked around, wondering why he didn't hear it.
Guo Baokun, lying on the stretcher, closed his mouth, rolled his eyes, and roared in his heart, "You idiot, Fan Xian called you a dog, and you are still looking at it, what are you looking at!"
He Zongwei had come to his senses and glared at Fan Xian fiercely with a dark face.
At this moment, Mei Zhili, dressed in official uniform, coughed twice and walked out slowly from the back hall. Several people immediately looked at him.
Mei Cheng'an saw his father walk quietly to a pillar at the side, where a round stool had been prepared for him.
Mei Zhili walked up the stairs to the main seat. He first glanced at the audience across the table, then glanced at Mei Chengan who was standing on the side, and then sat down slowly.
Mei Cheng'an waited until his father sat down before he sat down. He looked at his father with interest. He had never seen his father try a case in person.
After Mei Zhili sat down, he grabbed the gavel on the horizontal table and knocked it, then spoke.
"Who is in the hall?"
Mei Cheng'an almost laughed out loud, he had never heard his father stretch out his voice like that before, it was like singing an opera, it felt very funny.
He Zongwei, who was sitting in the hall, bowed and saluted when he heard this.
"Your Excellency, I am He Zongwei, the plaintiff's lawyer."
Mei Zhili looked at Fan Xian.
Fan Xian also bowed respectfully to Mei Zhili, thinking that he had to show some respect to his fellow villager's father, and introduced himself briefly.
"Fan Xian!"
Mei Zhili said slowly.
"Fan Xian, do you admit your guilt?"
Fan Xian replied with a confused look on his face.
“I have no idea.”
Upon hearing this, Mei Zhili looked towards the left in the direction of the police officer from the police squad.
"Come on, give him the plaintiff's complaint and let him have a look."
The nearest officer immediately walked over to the desk and handed the complaint to Fan Xian.
Fan Xian took it and opened it to read. He Zongwei was observing his reaction with squinting eyes. Mei Chengan was no exception, watching Fan Xian and waiting for him to start performing.
As Fan Xian watched, he suddenly hissed, frowned, and looked up at Mei Zhili.
"Hey, what does it say here? I beat up Mr. Guo Baokun?"
Mei Zhili looked at him and said.
"Do you have any doubts?"
Fan Xian closed the petition.
"Of course there was. The complaint says that the servants were all drugged and knocked unconscious at the time of the incident, and Guo Baokun was also beaten with a hood over his head." At this point, Fan Xian looked at He Zongwei, "Since no one saw the perpetrator, why did they point to me?"
He Zongwei looked at Fan Xian.
"Of course it's because I heard your voice."
Guo Baokun on the stretcher blinked, a little dazed. Is this true?
Fan Xian raised his eyebrows. This was really fabricated.
"sound?"
Fan Xian glanced at Guo Baokun on the stretcher, then looked at He Zongwei with a smile.
"What did I say?"
He Zongwei had no choice. Guo Baokun knew nothing and guessing alone was useless, so he forged some events. Minister Guo entrusted him with an important task, which was a great opportunity to gain his trust. As long as he could win the lawsuit, his future would be bright. For this, it was natural for him to take some risks.
Moreover, he thought about it. Fan Xian couldn't explain the things he made up, precisely because there was no witness. Unless the person who did it was really not him, but the probability was very low. Although Guo Baokun was just guessing, he must have noticed something. Therefore, as long as the murderer was Fan Xian, he would be invincible!
He Zongwei began to talk nonsense in a confident and serious manner.
"You identify yourself!"
Hey, that’s quite a bold one.
At this moment, Fan Xian suddenly became interested and wanted to hear how he would justify himself.
"Why should I identify myself?"
He Zongwei suddenly said loudly.
"Evil people commit crimes! They often act arrogantly!"
Fan Xian calmly pointed out the contradictions in his words.
"Then if I want to identify myself, why should I cover his head with something? According to what you said, isn't it contradictory to act this way?"
He Zongwei was well prepared, and continued, "That's because you've already thought of using this excuse to quibble. I guess you'll also say that someone pretended to be you to commit the crime."
Fan Xian gave He Zongwei a thumbs up in his heart. This guy really managed to make it up. He was a master at making up lies. So he would just take advantage of his trick.
Fan Xian smiled, turned around and bowed to Mei Zhili who was sitting in the hall.
"Your Excellency, the plaintiff's lawyer said that this case was an impersonation and the case can be settled."
Guo Baokun, who was on the stretcher, became excited at this time, and kept humming and humming, cursing He Zongwei in his heart, "What nonsense are you talking about? It's okay to make up stories, but why are you trying to trick Fan Xian!"
He Zongwei is at a loss, but you keep arguing. I have prepared a bunch of rhetoric waiting to drag you into the trap. Don't you want to play anymore?
Fan Xian heard Guo Baokun's movement and pointed at him.
"Please see, sir, Master Guo also agrees with this gift."
Mei Zhili was speechless. She was agreeing with him, but it was obvious that she thought he was talking nonsense!
However, when I listened to the debate between the two people in the hall just now, the contradictions were indeed obvious and a bit strange, I thought about it.
"Since we didn't see the face of the perpetrator, this matter..."
He Zongwei interrupted hurriedly, he had preparations, although he himself felt that these preparations were nonsense, but he couldn't care less at the moment, He Zongwei bowed and said.
"Sir, the murderer, when committing the crime..."
Fan Xian looked at He Zongwei with interest, wanting to see what else he could make up.
He Zongwei gritted his teeth and continued.
"The perpetrator even recited a poem while committing the crime!"
Mei Zhili felt it was very strange.
"Oh?"
Fan Xian was dumbfounded. "Do you want to listen to what you are saying? Can you be more outrageous? Who would recite poetry while beating someone up?"
He Zongwei hurriedly took out a folded piece of paper from his arms, opened it, held it high in his right hand and showed it to Mei Zhili, reading.
"Wandering With Melancholy, a century on stage alone and sick!"
These two sentences were carefully selected by He Zongwei and are the best and most representative sentences in the poem written by Fan Xian.
Fan Xian: "..."
Mei Zhili's eyes lit up.
"What a poem."
After saying that, he glanced at Mei Cheng'an. He had been busy with many trivial matters before and had no time to care whether there were any good works in the poetry club. This brat didn't even bother to share such a good poem with him!
Mei Cheng'an was looked at in confusion. It's a good poem, so it's a good poem. Why are you looking at me?
He Zongwei continued.
"Your Excellency, do you know that yesterday, Prince Jing held a poetry gathering in the mansion, and Fan Xian wrote a seven-character poem. These are two of the lines. When the murderer was beating people, he had another thought!"
After saying that, he glanced at Fan Xian.
"From this, it can be seen that Fan Xian is the murderer!"
Fan Xian folded his arms and watched coldly, "You are treating everyone as fools. Anyone with a little bit of intelligence would never believe evidence like yours that is so obviously far-fetched."
Mei Zhili hummed.
"That makes sense!"
Mei Cheng'an couldn't help but burst out laughing. Fortunately, he covered his mouth in time and no one else noticed. His father's train of thought is sometimes quite metaphysical. He should at least ask a few more questions to verify it before drawing any conclusions.
Fan Xian: "..."
Uncle, can you please stop making trouble? You slapped me in the face, how can that be right?
Fan Xian was speechless.
"Sir, look at me, do you think I look like an idiot?"
Mei Zhili looked at Fan Xian for a few times.
"You are sharp-tongued. I don't think you are."
Fan Xian spread his hands.
"Well, why would I recite my own poem while beating someone up? Isn't it obvious that someone is fabricating facts to frame me?"
He Zongwei didn't dare look at Fan Xian. He swallowed unconsciously and looked at Mei Zhili nervously.
Mei Zhili finally came to his senses. It was indeed a bit unreasonable. He nodded and looked at He Zongwei.
"Fan Xian wrote this poem at a poetry gathering, and quite a few people heard it. It's too far-fetched to accuse Fan Xian of being the murderer based on this alone. Do you have any other evidence?"
He Zongwei's heart finally died. Mei Zhili's attitude proved that his trick was useless. All his fake preparations were solved by Fan Xian. He had no choice but to argue.
He Zongwei thought about it and looked at Fan Xian.
"Excuse me, Mr. Fan, where were you last night?"
Fan Xian said calmly.
"rest at home."
Mei Chengan, who was originally happily eating melons, was stunned when he heard this. Resting at home? What's going on? The situation before didn't change, why did it change here? I'm still waiting to see Si Lili!!!
He Zongwei asked.
"Is there anyone who can testify?"
Fan Xian shrugged and casually buried a hook.
"No, there was no one in my yard last night. I was the only one there."
As expected, He Zongwei took the bait.
He Zongwei sneered when he heard this.
"Is it such a coincidence? You didn't send the servants away earlier or later, but you had to send them away last night? You are clearly guilty!"
……
(End of this chapter)
