Well, he hadn’t even begun to speak, yet soone had already clearly laid out the causes and effects for him.
Ji Yuntai couldn’t help but want to applaud him.
"How can you just spout whatever you think? After leaving the Tianxiang Gambling House, the Young Master went directly to the inn, then ordered a table of food—all of which the innkeeper can verify. As for your claims about the croupier being unhappy and seeking him out, it’s completely baseless!" Uncle Wang would not allow anyone to slander the Young Master.
Especially since this person looked sneaky and untrustworthy, clearly up to no good.
"Winning three tis in a row, who knows if it wasn’t cheating, going all-in every ti. If not you, who else would the croupier confront?" The man was even less convinced.
Ji Yuntai rembered, this was the person who had been yelled at by the croupier to get up from his spot just as he arrived.
Then he had taken his place.
Could it be that he harbored resentnt because of this?
Such pettiness.
"Quiet!" Hao Ren said sternly, smacking the gavel loudly.
The County Magistrate was angry, and no one dared to speak further.
Hao Ren glanced at Ji Yuntai. Having been classmates for many years, he naturally knew that his senior would not commit such an act.
But he felt uncertain inside.
After all, it had been over twenty years since they last t, and no one knew what Ji Yuntai had beco.
"When making accusations, one must present solid evidence. Since you think I killed that croupier, why not bring forth the evidence?" Ji Yuntai said sternly.
The man, with a sharp face and monkey cheeks, looked at Ji Yuntai and then at Hao Ren above the platform, and dared not utter a word.
Seeing this, Ji Yuntai sneered, "Otherwise, don’t talk as if you saw it with your own eyes."
He pushed away the governnt officer holding him down and slowly stood up from the ground.
The officer, caught off guard, actually let him break free and by the ti he stood up straight, the officer found himself unable to push him down again.
His whole deanor had undergone a drastic change from monts earlier.
"Do you think I’m right, Magistrate Hao?" Ji Yuntai’s gaze was piercing as he stared at the person on the platform.
Hao Ren unconsciously sat up straight. Only upon seeing the craftiness in Ji Yuntai’s eyes did he realize what he had just done.
He was once again frightened by his senior, as in the old days.
Hao Ren felt sowhat embarrassed by his own reaction.
"Who raises the issue should present the proof; there’s no question about that. But this is a court, everyone is kneeling except for you standing, what kind of sense does that make?" Hao Ren finally spoke.
Ji Yuntai raised an eyebrow, "Are you certain you want a person with a disability to kneel before you?"
He had just woken up confused, but now to kneel before Hao Ren?
He would find it difficult to comply!
Would Hao Ren dare to accept such a gesture composedly?
It would probably scare him out of his wits.
"Since that’s the case, I am not unreasonable," Hao Ren gestured with his hand, "Bring a chair."
"?"
Wasn’t that a bit too much?
The governnt officer doubted if he had heard wrong.
But seeing the deanor of his County Magistrate, he was convinced it was true.
Ji Yuntai took the chair brought by the officer and sat down with a justified deanour.
By this ti, the sun had moved to the west.
It was the hottest ti of the day, and in the middle of the hall lay a body.
Though covered with a white cloth, the excessively hot weather caused it to emit a foul sll.
"Everyone else is kneeling, and only he is sitting. If I didn’t know he had just co from out of town today, I’d think he belonged to Magistrate Hao," the man with the sharp face and monkey cheeks muttered under his breath discontentedly.
As he looked up, he caught Magistrate Hao’s cold gaze, which was almost freezing enough to kill, and he instantly fell silent.
"The Coroner said, he died from a stab, the blade was incredibly fast, which indicates the assailant had no intention of leaving a survivor," Hao Ren slowly began, his eyes scanning over everyone in the hall.
"Lift the white cloth, let everyone see."
As soon as it was ntioned that the white cloth was to be lifted, everyone subconsciously began to resist.
Only Ji Yuntai, who was sitting in the chair, was not satisfied. He tilted his head and looked towards the body.
When the white cloth was lifted, he watched even more intently.
He was certainly not a normal person!
The other person behaving like Ji Yuntai was Hao Ren, who was sitting on a high platform.
He too was very interested in the corpse.
The fatal wound was on the neck, cleanly severing it and causing death.
The expression of death was tragic, the eyes still not closed.
"This knife work is fierce. It’s definitely not sothing an ordinary person could do." The neat and tidy wound indicated that the person who wielded the knife was likely an assassin or soone of that sort.
Looking at the people present, they did not seem like the type to hire assassins.
Ji Yuntai glanced and then withdrew his gaze.
Hao Ren did the sa.
He knew that today’s case would not be resolved in a short while.
"First, arrange accommodations for these people. Before the case is closed, no one is allowed to leave the governnt office," Hao Ren declared, striking the gavel.
The croupier was a minor character; who would have a grudge against him?
This was the crucial question.
"What ti tomorrow can the owner of the Tianxiang Gambling House be back?" Hao Ren looked towards his subordinates.
The governnt officer imdiately answered, "Not until tomorrow afternoon."
A person had died at the Tianxiang Gambling House, yet the owner had not shown up, claiming to be away on a trip and not yet returned.
"Alright, invite him over as soon as he returns tomorrow," Hao Ren said. "That will be all for today."
He stood up, brushed off his sleeves, and left.
Ji Yuntai and Uncle Wang were pushed forward by the governnt officers, walking and then separating from the people next to them.
By the ti they reached the inner courtyard of the governnt office,
they found Hao Ren waiting there in casual clothes.
"Brother, it’s been over twenty years, hope all is well," Hao Ren greeted Ji Yuntai with cupped hands.
Ji Yuntai snorted lightly, "You haven’t achieved much. Over twenty years, from one place to another, yet you are still working as a County Magistrate."
"Brother, you are right to scold," Hao Ren said with a shy smile.
He then questioned, "Weren’t you serving as the City Lord in Xiliang City? What brings you here?"
"Got tired of it, thought of returning to my Penglai Island, just passing through Luzhou County," who knew he would run into his fellow junior brothers.
The connections between people are indeed wonderfully mysterious.
You might think you will never see soone again after many years, but unexpectedly one day they appear right before you when you least expect it, bringing all those long-sealed past events back to the surface.
Ji Yuntai’s expression beca downcast as he reminisced.
Seeing this, Hao Ren quickly changed the subject.
"Brother, who do you think is behind the killing of the croupier?"
"This is your jurisdiction, nothing escapes your notice, and you are asking ?" Ji Yuntai was too lazy to deal with him, and turned to leave.
Hao Ren quickly spoke up, "Isn’t it because I always thought you were brilliant, adept at devising strategies, so I wanted to learn from you?"
After buttering him up, Ji Yuntai rolled his eyes but agreed to sit with him on the stone bench.
At that mont, a maid imdiately served so iced tea.
"The intention isn’t for wealth, it’s for revenge," Ji Yuntai said, holding the teacup in one hand, took a sip, and felt a coolness travel down his throat and through his intestines, truly refreshing and delicious.
The food in Luzhou County was excellent; even a bowl of iced tea could make Ji Yuntai feel so satisfied.
It truly was a nice place.
"That croupier was one of Tianxiang Gambling House’s people. They say even when beating a dog, one should watch the owner. Ordinary people would not dare to provoke him lightly, so this case still depends on you, whether to maintain a facade of tranquility or to lift the veil completely," Ji Yuntai spoke slowly, and Hao Ren’s expression changed as he listened.
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