Su Buchi stood upright, calm and composed. He bowed gracefully to the two officials from the Supreme Court.
"Lord Su," said the assistant chief justice of the Supreme Court with a disgruntled look on his face, his words laced with hostility. "Our Supreme Court is not as idle as the Imperial Academy. We don't have time to chat with you."
Su Buchi remained unfazed by the harsh words. He simply cupped his hands and addressed the chief justice directly. "Lord Wu, the laws of our dynasty are strict. We must not allow criminals to go unpunished, but neither should we let the innocent be wrongly accused, am I right?"
Lord Wu nodded. "You're right. That's only natural."
Su Buchi asked, "Has the coroner examined the food in the deceased's stomach? Could I have a look?"
The assistant chief justice flew into a rage. "How dare you trifle with the matter of a criminal case!"
He roared, hoping to intimidate Su Buchi into backing down. But Lord Wu only pondered for a moment before nodding agreeably. "Since Lord Su is a disciple of Lord Yan, it's no harm for him to take a look."
With his approval, a constable immediately presented a plate of gory evidence.
Li Ying guessed it was the deceased's stomach. Thanks to the cold weather, there was no stench, but it was still a shocking sight from afar.
The assistant chief justice, who considered himself a refined scholar, frowned tightly at the sight.
Su Buchi, however, showed no sign of discomfort. He simply covered his nose and mouth with a thin handkerchief and stepped forward calmly to examine it carefully.
"According to your words, Lord Assistant Chief Justice, the deceased was poisoned by the arsenic hidden in the chicken tail. But there is no sign of arsenic in the deceased's stomach. How do you explain this?"
Lord Wu raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Huh? Is that so?"
He turned to look directly at the assistant chief justice.
"Assistant Chief Justice, what's the meaning of this?"
The assistant chief justice had planned to quickly convict Li Ying, but unexpectedly, so many complications had arisen. Helpless, he had to bite the bullet and reply, "It was a momentary oversight on my part. Seeing the arsenic hidden in the remaining roasted chicken tail in the deceased's bowl, I preconceived the cause of death."
Su Buchi said, "The cause of death is still unclear and unproven. There is no evidence that the chicken tail was from Miss Li. According to the laws of our dynasty, when in doubt, the accused should be considered innocent. Miss Li should be released first."
The assistant chief justice frowned and hurriedly tried to stop him. "No! This woman is full of mysteries. She is the only one with a motive to harm the deceased. If we let this tiger loose, what if she continues to harm innocent people? In my opinion, we should detain this woman and interrogate her slowly!"
Both of them looked at Lord Wu simultaneously, waiting for his decision.
Lord Wu looked thoughtful. Just as he was about to speak, they heard a panicked report from a constable outside the door.
"My lord, someone is beating the drum to complain outside the Supreme Court!"
The assistant chief justice groaned inwardly. All these troublesome things had to come today!
Lord Wu, however, didn't seem to care. He waved his hand casually. "Invite him in."
Soon, two constables led a group of ragged commoners in one by one.
Everyone lowered their heads and knelt obediently in front of the court. The leader was Lu Xunguang.
He bowed his head respectfully and quietly winked at Li Ying.
Li Ying knew what he meant without him saying it: Don't worry, he would take care of everything.
Her slightly nervous heart immediately calmed down a lot.
Before Lu Xunguang could speak, the assistant chief justice saw that those following him were all homeless beggars. He said unhappily, "Bold commoners! What do you take our Supreme Court for? A marketplace?"
The leading beggar was so frightened by his bluster that he trembled. Then he saw Li Ying kneeling obediently beside him and whispered timidly, "My lord... We dare not act rashly... We are here to testify for Boss Li..."
The other vagrants behind him also chimed in in whispers.
"My lord, that Zhou Da usually hung out with us. I saw clearly that he never went to Boss Li's stall yesterday!"
"My lord, Zhou Da somehow got a lot of silver yesterday. He bought the chicken from the north of the city and showed off to us for a long time. We all saw it clearly. We wanted to ask him for the roasted chicken tail to fill our stomachs, but he refused to give it to us. He even said angrily that those who didn't want to die should get out quickly. Boss Li would never harm him!"
Although the beggars' words were jumbled and inconsistent, there was one thing they all agreed on: Li Ying must be innocent.
Li Ying was secretly touched. At first, she just distributed the unsold chicken giblets and tails to the vagrants to fill their stomachs and counter the rumors of the naughty kids in the streets. She never expected that now, when something happened, these beggars would all step forward without hesitation to testify for her.
She made up her mind that once she left the Supreme Court safely, she would surely thank them well. She composed herself and asked softly, "Lord Wu, can I leave now?"
The assistant chief justice looked reluctant and roared, "How can the testimony of these beggars be trusted?"
Su Buchi immediately turned cold and retorted, "What do you mean, Lord Assistant Chief Justice? Do you not regard these vagrants as human beings? I didn't know that you, Lord Assistant Chief Justice, were such a parent - official!"
Lord Wu cleared his throat and nodded. "Boss Li, we were hasty in today's matter. You may go."
Lu Xunguang stood up, bowed politely, and led Li Ying and the group of vagrants out safely.
She thanked the vagrants. Fearing that Granny Sun would be worried at home, she was about to hurry back. But unexpectedly, as soon as she left the Supreme Court, she met the resentful eyes of the young beggar disguised as a boy.
The young beggar had lost her father at a young age. Li Ying couldn't help but feel a bit pity for her.
She wanted to say something, but the young beggar glared at her coldly and gritted her teeth. "Poisonous woman! You're heartless and rich. Relying on your connections in the court, you kill people callously and killed my father. I can't do anything to you today, but remember, you'll surely get your retribution!"
Seeing how much she hated her, Li Ying knew it was useless to say more. She simply left a word "My condolences" and turned away gracefully.