Magistrate Chen fell silent for a moment, coughed twice, and turned a sharp, piercing gaze toward the unassuming village head. "Now that things have come to this, will you still not confess the truth?"
"I... I... this old man truly knows nothing!" the village head stammered. "When our villagers sell their salted fish and cured meat to passing merchants, they might sell a bit of private salt on the side, but it’s never much! As for trafficking government salt... I truly have no knowledge of such a thing!" He trembled violently, his face a mask of terror.
"What?!" Magistrate Chen’s brow furrowed, his temper beginning to flare.
At that moment, Ye Zhao stepped forward. "Your Honor, it is useless to press this village head further, no matter how you interrogate him."
"And what are you suggesting? That the trafficking of government salt is a lie?" the Magistrate snapped, unable to hide his irritation.
Ye Zhao shook his head. "It is certainly true. It is simply that this village head is also among those kept in the dark."
"Yes, yes... this young master is right! This old man truly knows nothing!" The village head nodded frantically, weeping. By now, his heart was filled with regret—why had he ever tried to save a few coins by buying that illicit salt?
Magistrate Chen glanced at the two of them, suppressed his anger, and regained his composure. "Then, Ye Zhao, explain exactly what is going on. Stop talking in circles."
Ye Zhao nodded in acknowledgment and turned his gaze toward the kneeling village head. "I went to your village to investigate. Almost every household has stockpiled a significant amount of salt. Before we came here, you told me that this salt was bought at a low price from passing salt merchants. Is that correct?"
The village head answered without hesitation, "Yes, that’s right."
"You buy the salt only to cure fish and meat during the winter months, which you then sell to passing merchants to be transported elsewhere. At the same time, you secretly sell the salt you’ve stockpiled. Correct?"
"Correct... but the small amount each family sells isn't against the law. It’s just what’s left over from the curing..."
Ye Zhao raised a hand, cutting him off. "According to the laws of the land, the amount of salt each household buys and sells at any one time does not indeed constitute a crime." He crouched down and continued, "However, let us do the math."
"There are over forty households in your village. Together, the amount of salted fish and cured meat you sell annually averages over a thousand catties, does it not?"
The village head did a mental calculation and nodded slowly. "That is correct."
"The salt you buy at low prices from those merchants—after what is used for the fish and meat—leaves each household with dozens of catties stockpiled by the end of the year. All told, the salt that passes through your hands and is resold must amount to at least a thousand catties a year. Is my math wrong?"
"Er... that sounds about right."
"But do you know what kind of staggering figure it becomes if all that fish, meat, and salt eventually ends up in the hands of a single person?" Ye Zhao dropped a bombshell. "During wartime, salt and grain are difficult to transport. Salted fish and cured meat can serve as salt substitutes themselves. This volume of salt is more than enough to sustain an army of two thousand men!"
A collective gasp rippled through the room.
Was he implying what they thought he was?
*Private soldiers!*
The village head didn't grasp the meaning at first, but as it sank in, his face turned ashen with horror. He scrambled to explain, "No, no! We don't sell to just one person! It’s many different merchants!"
Ye Zhao gave a short, cold laugh. The smile vanished from his face as he said solemnly, "You are wrong. He is the one who sells the salt to you, and in the end, the goods return to his own hands."
"Huh?" The village head was dazed.
Ye Zhao continued, "Think about it. For a hundred miles south of the capital, the terrain is mostly mountains and forests. The roads are rugged and difficult. What kind of merchant would abandon a perfectly good main road to take a back path? Why would they go to the trouble of traveling to a place as remote as your village specifically to sell you salt at a low price?"
"What kind of fool would do such a thing? And yet, there seem to be many such 'fools'?" Ye Zhao stood up gracefully, brushed his sleeves, and said leisurely, "In my view, unless they are trying to lose money out of the goodness of their hearts, then it must be..."
"A deliberate act."
The reason was blindingly obvious.
The village head’s face turned white as a sheet. After a moment of stunned silence, he began kowtowing frantically. "Your Honor, Your Honor! This old man truly did not know the depths of what was happening! Our village... everyone in our village was deceived! Please, Your Honor, have mercy! Have mercy!"
As he spoke, tears and snot streamed down his face; he was a blubbering mess.
Anyone with half a brain had already thought of the word behind all this: *Rebellion!*
Good heavens! Magistrate Chen felt like he might faint. To make matters worse, the incessant noise was giving him a splitting headache. He slammed his gavel down hard. *Bang!* "Enough! Stop this racket!"
"Let this official have some peace!"
"No one said you were being charged yet!"
After his roar, the hall finally fell silent.
Magistrate Chen rubbed his temples and leaned back in his chair, eyes closed in deep thought as he rapidly calculated the implications of this entire affair. Ye Zhao and the others waited for his reaction.
After a long silence, Magistrate Chen asked a vital question with a grave expression. "Ye Zhao, is what you just said merely your deduction, or..."
Everyone was momentarily stunned by the sheer volume of information; they had forgotten that Ye Zhao had not yet produced any concrete, valid evidence. Magistrate Chen left the second half of his sentence hanging, but the meaning was clear.
Ye Zhao remained unruffled. "This commoner would naturally not dare to speak wildly without evidence." He pulled a cloth bundle from his robes. "Please look, Your Honor."
"What is this?"
"Salt," Ye Zhao replied. "Salt brought from the homes of the people in Xiaofeng Village."
Magistrate Chen was puzzled. "How can this serve as proof?"
"I must trouble Your Honor to have someone bring two bowls of clear water and two raw eggs. Also, send someone to the salt shops on the street to buy some salt."
The onlookers were confused. What was he planning to do?
Nevertheless, Magistrate Chen immediately dispatched someone to fulfill the request. Before long, the items Ye Zhao asked for were ready.
"Pardon the intrusion, Your Honor." After a brief greeting, Ye Zhao stepped forward and placed the bowls on the desk in front of Magistrate Chen.
Magistrate Chen was about to snap, "Presumptuous!" but the words were cut off as Ye Zhao spoke.
"Watch closely, Your Honor. I am going to add an equal amount of salt to both sides."
Magistrate Chen’s attention was diverted. He watched as Ye Zhao placed an egg into each bowl and began adding salt slowly, one spoonful at a time, alternating between the two.
At first, the Magistrate saw nothing unusual. But after a few minutes, his eyes began to widen.
"The... the egg..."
Ye Zhao finished the thought for him, stating calmly, "Yes. The egg is floating."
Ye Zhao took a few steps back and stood still. "Adding a certain amount of salt to water increases its density. When the density of the water is greater than the overall density of the egg, the egg will float."
The expressions of the crowd were a mix of blank stares and utter confusion. They clearly heard the words but did not understand the concept.
Seeing Magistrate Chen’s expression, Ye Zhao consciously skipped the scientific explanation. "The point is not that the egg is floating, but that after adding the same amount of salt to both bowls, both eggs floated. Your Honor, please look—what is the difference between the salt I brought from Xiaofeng Village and the salt bought from the street?"
Magistrate Chen leaned down, looked closely, and even dipped a finger into each to taste a bit. Finally, he said, "It is quite obvious. The salt from Xiaofeng Village is private salt."
"Wrong!" Ye Zhao said meaningfully. "That is not private salt. It is official government salt, identical to what is on the market."
Magistrate Chen frowned, perplexed. "Private salt is never as white or clean as government salt; it’s usually mixed with quite a bit of sand. Do you think this official does not recognize private salt?"
He thought to himself, *I have been an official for so long; how could I possibly fail to distinguish private salt? It’s far too easy to spot!*
Sensing the doubt and dissatisfaction in the Magistrate's eyes, Ye Zhao chose to let the facts speak. "If we compare the salt in these two bowls to medicine, and the eggs to patients—where floating signifies the patient is cured—then Your Honor should understand the connection."
A thought flashed through Magistrate Chen’s mind, but before he could grasp it, Ye Zhao made it even clearer. "It is common knowledge that private salt is of lower quality than government salt. Using my previous analogy, if both sides used the same amount of 'medicine' and both 'patients' were cured, what does that tell you? Your Honor saw me adding the salt with your own eyes. Was there any significant discrepancy in the amounts?"
Magistrate Chen had finally realized what Ye Zhao was trying to convey. He immediately responded, "There was not!"
"Then that is it. Where in the world could private salt be manufactured with a quality that rivals government salt? Or rather..." Ye Zhao’s voice dropped as he delivered the shocking conclusion, "...is this actually government salt disguised as private salt!"
The revelation was earth-shattering.
If that were the case, the reason behind it was worth serious contemplation. Why would perfectly good government salt be disguised as inferior private salt? And why would it be quietly transported to a small village for trade?
Looking at it this way, were the "merchants" truly merchants?
Ye Zhao exposed the trickery behind the scenes, sneering. "The mastermind behind this is certainly not someone with more money than sense, and his true goal could not possibly be profit. His target, from beginning to end, has been the salt itself. He merely used Xiaofeng Village as a transit station to quietly digest and disappear this government salt, keeping it away from prying eyes."
Ye Zhao sighed with dramatic emphasis. "To go to such great lengths and act with such caution... I fear the person behind this has grander ambitions indeed..."
A major case. A truly staggering, monumental case!
Magistrate Chen didn't know whether to be happy or agitated; he felt like fainting again. He took a deep breath and looked at Ye Zhao with burning eyes. "Speak quickly! Who exactly is the mastermind behind this?"
"Well, as for that..." Ye Zhao slowly unfurled his folding fan, appearing to hesitate.
Magistrate Chen immediately promised, "Rest assured, Young Master Ye. If this case is solved, this official shall request a great reward for you before His Majesty!"
"Kind of you, kind of you..." Ye Zhao smiled amiably, then gave a firm nod. "Yes, Your Honor, that is an excellent question!"
*Yes, yes, and so? Who is the mastermind?*
Then, the fellow said, "As for who this mastermind is... I would very much like to know myself!"
...
*What?!*
You said all that, only to end with "I don't know"?!
"Are you playing with me?!" After a few seconds of stunned silence, Magistrate Chen exploded, his roar shattering the quiet.
Ye Zhao looked aggrieved and complained, "Your Honor, I only had a single day. To have found out this much—and you still think I'm playing with you?!"
Magistrate Chen sneered. "Did you not bring up the trafficking of government salt just to clear Jiang Ziqi’s name? Now that you've proven Wang Xin’s cause of death doesn't match the previous charges against Jiang Ziqi, do you think he’s off the hook? Let me ask you: where is the true killer? Since you claim these two matters are linked by cause and effect, they can be considered a single case. You say the mastermind killed him—do you have evidence for that specifically?"
Ye Zhao was momentarily choked for words. What evidence? Wasn't it obvious why Wang Xin died? Ye Zhao suspected the man was simply making things difficult for him...
Seeing Ye Zhao stumped and unable to answer immediately, Magistrate Chen’s mood improved slightly. He wasn't necessarily targeting them; it was just that the case had started because of Jiang Ziqi. Although most of the suspicion had been cleared, the actual killer had not yet been caught.
He pronounced his judgment: "As Jiang Ziqi is a party involved in the case, he shall remain in the Great Prison until the results of the investigation are finalized. He will be released once the case is concluded."
The meaning was clear. Jiang Ziqi was essentially safe; he would just be detained for a while. Once the guilty parties were caught, he would naturally be set free.
Jiang Ziqi’s family was on the verge of weeping with joy.
"Wait!"
Everyone turned to look at Ye Zhao. Magistrate Chen, who was about to strike his gavel to adjourn the court, paused. "What else do you want?"
He had spoken clearly enough; why was Ye Zhao still pestering him?
Ye Zhao looked hesitant. "Your Honor, can you truly not release him now?"
Magistrate Chen’s expression soured. "Did you not understand my words?" He wondered if the boy had lost his wits. He had seemed so clever and eloquent earlier; why was he failing to understand the situation now?
Ye Zhao sighed, cupped his hands, and said with a solemn expression, "This commoner wishes to accuse another person."
"Eh?" Magistrate Chen was stunned. "You wish to file a complaint? Against whom?"
"Jiang Ziqi."
"Who did you say you were accusing?!" Magistrate Chen couldn't help but raise his voice.
"Jiang Ziqi!" Ye Zhao’s voice grew louder. To the onlookers, it felt like a bolt of lightning had struck their ears.
Jiang Ziqi himself was dazed, staring at Ye Zhao in utter bewilderment, unable to speak.
Magistrate Chen stood up. "What are you accusing him of?"
Aren't these two friends? Didn't Ye Zhao come here today specifically for Jiang Ziqi? Why was he suddenly accusing him? Questions swirled in the minds of everyone present.
Ye Zhao said calmly, "I accuse him of trafficking government salt."
"Huh?" Magistrate Chen blurted out, losing his composure. Realizing his slip, his expression turned momentarily awkward. He coughed and then said sternly, "What does he have to do with this matter?"
Ye Zhao replied, "He has everything to do with it."
Magistrate Chen waited for him to continue, but as their eyes met, Ye Zhao said nothing more.
*Well? Aren't you going to explain the connection?* That sentence was written clearly across the Magistrate's face.
However, Ye Zhao acted as if he didn't see it.
Fine. If the mountain will not come to me, I must go to the mountain. Magistrate Chen pressed on, "What is the connection?"
"He colluded with people in the imperial court to traffic government salt."
...
The crowd was baffled. Weren't those words essentially meaningless?
Jiang Ziqi couldn't help but protest immediately, "I did not! Ye Zhao, what are you doing?!" He suspected the other man had taken the wrong medicine—and he wasn't the only one thinking it.
Ye Zhao faced him squarely and said, "If I say you did, then you did."
"Ha?" Jiang Ziqi’s head was full of question marks. He blurted out, "Have you lost your mind?"
A dark line of frustration slid through Ye Zhao’s mind, but his face remained calm and indifferent. "You're the one who's lost it. Listen to me and shut up."
Having said that, he turned back to face Magistrate Chen. Jiang Ziqi wanted to say something, but his mouth opened and closed without a word. He stood there, hesitating.
Magistrate Chen couldn't help but ask, "Why do you wish to accuse him?"
Ye Zhao replied, "I accuse him because I want to. Why? Is it not allowed?"
After a stunned silence of about two seconds, Magistrate Chen slammed the table and roared, "This is a court of law, not a place for your pranks!"
Jiang Ziqi also whispered to him, "Ye Zhao, stop playing around!"
Ye Zhao seemed not to hear Jiang Ziqi. He looked at Magistrate Chen with total sincerity and asked, "Your Honor’s words leave this commoner quite confused. I am clearly filing a complaint; why does Your Honor treat it as if I am speaking in jest?"
"You... what kind of complaint is this?!! On what grounds do you accuse Jiang Ziqi of trafficking government salt?"
Ye Zhao’s face remained earnest as he asked with poise, "On the grounds that I believe he is a suspect!"
"Just because you say so?" Magistrate Chen was fuming.
"That is why I used the word 'suspect.' I believe he is a suspect, so I am accusing him. Is that not allowed?" Ye Zhao deliberately emphasized the word *suspect*. "Or does Your Honor feel that it is absolutely, positively impossible for him to be a suspect? Then this commoner dares to ask Your Honor: what evidence do you have to support such a claim?"
Many people felt a lump in their throats. They had heard of needing evidence to prove someone committed a crime, but they had never heard of needing evidence to prove someone *didn't* do something when no charges had even been filed.
They were certainly seeing something new today!
He hadn't done it in the first place; how could that be proven?
Then they heard this fellow Ye Zhao say, "Or is there a law stating that one cannot come to court to file a complaint without evidence in hand?"
Indeed, there was no such regulation.
But...
But...
"I... I..." Magistrate Chen pointed a trembling finger at Ye Zhao, his tongue tied with rage, unable to get a single word out.
Ye Zhao smiled and stood up straight. "Article 221 of the Civil Code of the State of Wei: Whenever a citizen files a complaint, the presiding official must investigate the truth of the stated events and determine right from wrong; they may not ignore it. Yet Your Honor has not even investigated. I recall it is written later that those who refuse to examine a complaint shall be fined half a year's salary, with further punishment depending on the severity of the case. If the value of the case exceeds..."
"I'll examine it! I'll examine it!" Magistrate Chen slammed his gavel repeatedly, the sound echoing the pulsing veins on his forehead. He cut Ye Zhao off mid-sentence.
How could he damn well not examine it? Did he still want to keep his head?
Since Ye Zhao insisted on pinning this blame on his own friend, why should the Magistrate bother being the good guy? Magistrate Chen glared at Ye Zhao, gritting his teeth. "Since you wish to file a complaint, hand over the legal petition!"
Ye Zhao replied with a beaming smile, "Very well. I shall write it immediately. Thank you, Your Honor."
Magistrate Chen didn't want to see the man's face for another second. He turned to leave in a huff, forgetting even to announce the adjournment. Suddenly, he stopped and looked back. "By the way, there is another rule in the code: if the accusations made by the complainant are found to be false after investigation, they shall be punished with thirty lashes as a warning to others. Young Master Ye hasn't forgotten that, has he?"
Without waiting for Ye Zhao’s answer, he strode away.
Well, he had made the man angry, so it was only natural for him to issue a threat. There was nothing to be said about that.
Ye Zhao’s eyes shifted slightly, and for a single second, he felt a twinge of guilt.
***
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Once, I Was a Legend | Chapter 57 | A Bold Accusation | Novela.app | Novela.app
