It has been two days since then.
The news of the first official judiciary session, involving the young heir to the Xu pharmaceutical residence and one of the major noble families of DongBu village, was unsurprisingly making massive waves of public responses within that short aforementioned time frame, upon which the event was suddenly made late. However, that vigorous anticipation was to be let loose quickly soon after.
A large crowd was rapidly growing. Under the hot, summer sky, people of all ages frantically shoved through the wooden double doors that served as the entrance to the main concourse, leading up towards the main court hall. And far from the viscous fluidity of the moving mob, a lone woman stood near a primary junction, situated perpendicular to the street where the municipal building resided. She wore a plain Hanfu robe, consisting of light blues and varying shades of black. In her hand, a special piece of parchment and a meticulously decorated cloth purse pouch.
She sighed deeply as her eyes scanned vertically across the page hung upon the huge wooden notice board. It listed the details about the upcoming session and upon finishing the last line of characters, the woman annoyingly stared at her brother’s face illustration beside the read text. Normally, writing as executive as this is not necessary for the mostly illiterate folk that walk these streets daily, such is the waste of valuable ink with some weather-resistant properties. Nonetheless, for professional appearances, the magistrate still went about the practice with showcasing an authoritative and trusted image of the council in mind. But to the simple-minded populace, the true main attraction was the occasional illustrations of trialed individuals. And on that particular day, the main focus, plastered at the center space, was her dearest brother in all of his undermining charm. There was no expression, not that the woman had expected there to be but it was still undeserving of her brother to receive this degree of public shame. It has unfortunately become a routine for the town to randomly take a visit to the court hall and witness the drama and action unfold as long as they do not intertwine. And as she knew it, this was a form of free entertainment for them and since it involved some of the most important figures in this relatively small community, the current scenario was well within her expectations.
‘Truly fascinating for how the righteous of intentions can have the worst of executions.’
The woman grumbled to herself.
Even so, for her personal sense of judgment, she strongly believed he was falsely accused of. The normal town folk who had attended this event would have a limited case of analysis and not knowing the full picture of what was going on behind the scenes. Their opinions do not matter. For the potential leads she could look into, both the brother and her could collectively agree that it was another power play running at hand. However, whether they were the targeted or just caught in collateral, the woman was not confident in her answer. And with confidence, she assumed her brother would be struggling with that question as well.
Another deep breath.
With all these problems happening one after the other, the woman felt frightened for what was possibly next to come; and regarding the current status of the upcoming trial, taking another read of the notice confirmed something for her.
As she turned on her heel, making her way towards the court hall, the woman could not help but curse out in rage…
“Fuck it, Elder brother. There is no other way, from meeting this damn, wrenched fate!” albeit in a super hushed voice.
---
Arriving at the main double door gates, the woman realized that the crowd was already finished, packed tightly and deep into the municipal establishment. Around her, the ‘unfortunate’ townsfolk who lost their chance to get a place inside were scurrying about, scaling up walls and trees to pay witness to this trial that was starting soon with some success in their endeavor. Luckily for the woman, she had no reason, nor the necessity or urgency to do such tricks. She was, after all, quite the successful individual within and outside this town. While it was true that the common populace were the regular visitors for these types of events, this was no ordinary trial and with that declared, the higher classes and nobility would surely be curious of the display and outcome to this spectacle. As such, the inner hall had placed special seats if there ever were cases like her dearest brother; and the woman booked an indirect front seat to this mess.
With that in mind, she walked to her right where she spotted two guards who stood obediently under a small archway, shooing off every individual who did not have a seal of approval for entry and subsequently, a seat in the courtroom. This was the entrance.
Restricting herself to not take glances at the previously attacked, the woman made eye contact with the left guard. Taking a quick look at him, the guard was dressed in an all black attire with a bright red sash tightening the tunic. He held a black rod spear with a red cloth wrapped at the edges. It truly was quite the terrifying sight for a maiden as young as she was.
Promptly showing him the parchment of approval, the guard said a compulsory greeting before making way for the woman.
“Please walk straight ahead, Madam.”
Siding a glance at the other guard, she coldly gave them her thanks before she strided forward with haste, across the corridor, leading towards another and finally into the designated seats.
‘The other man was wearing the same, but with an additional sword in hand. Scary…’
The woman whined in silence.
But, as great as her fear was for the situation she was facing, her love for her brother was far from that amount. With that in mind, she steadied herself as she quietly walked over and took her seat. The woman tried her hardest to not make anyone notice her nor accidentally disturb others which she succeeded.
Wiping her sweat with her right sleeve, the woman meekly reminisced about the undesirable experience for the past two days as she tried her damn hardest to book this second row seat from the judges’ stand. Shivers went down her spine as she recalled the cost it took to get this spot and the accompanying risks she took along by giving out a false identity registration to fulfill her brother’s previous wishes, which she could not deny was the best option for her to take for her sake. In the end, she had to ask her close friend and business partner for her signature to authenticate the parchment. However, there was no time to take a breather. Shortly after settling down in her red cushioned seat, the crowd, overlooked from this position, started to boom loudly and rise up in chaos, filling the concourse with all sorts of shouts, screams and curses. The audio, indistinguishable from one person to the next. The wave of noises quickly made its way into the inner hall where it was greeted back by the entrance of the stand-in replacement judge for this court session along with his entourage of secondary counselors and the scribe. The judge, who was aged in his late 50s, wore a long black HanFu robe, held together with gold trimmed buttons and, according to Xiao Tian, held an aura of stubborn dominance around himself. With his arrival, some of the spectators across her seat also rose up to catch a closer glimpse of the atmosphere below.
‘whaa…it’s. This is overwhelming!’
Without having the chance to take in the short lived tranquility of the hall, the woman angrily readied herself for what was to unfold within this very assembly.
Unfortunately, that firm determination promptly sank as her face instinctively squirmed in reaction, being turned horrified at the sight of her brother as he entered the hall doors.
---
A cacophony of disorderly and wild voices greatly penetrated his eardrums ever since he first arrived at the gates, seemingly never ending with its adrenaline-enhanced vigor of the audience here. To the best of his ability, YaoMing tried his best to maintain a collected mind, having had sleepless nights inside the terrible conditions of the temporary jail cells; all just to wait for the end of a delay. And within that period, numerous outside interferences prepared their ‘attacks’. On the night before, he was severely waterboarded to the point he was hyperventilating to potential death; considering his currently weakened physique. Others include expertly placed hidden bruises and whip strikes. Each stride of his barefooted feet ached in the sole and his ankles were blistering in the heated iron shackles upon which he was forced to wear. However, with sincere appreciation to the restricted hostile crowd, the hurling insults narrowly kept his consciousness awakened and most importantly, his ego intact.
YaoMing knew he was not guilty and so would strive to never falter. This was a promise he secretly made for himself and Xiao Tian. Lifting his grim-filled head, YaoMing made a short glance at the appointed judge, only to realize that a new one was assigned to this case. To some degree, he felt disheartened, albeit not enough to devastate his spirit. He has got a potential trump card to turn this scenario in and out of itself.
As he forcibly hastened his pace, YaoMing’s loosely tied braid finally let go of its lock and his long, dried hair draped messily over his face, making his already disheveled appearance even worse. Finishing the end of the central hallway, partitioning the guest stands into two on both sides, YaoMing knelt low into a kowtow before the desk of the judge. His raspy voice barely muttered any audible sounds for a formal, respectable greeting, amongst the chaos that was the civilian crowd behind him. Yet, YaoMing paid little mind to them or his performance.
“...”
Seeing the state the defendant was in, the judge signaled a guard to gather a bucket from the nearby vase and swiped his hand, instructing another pair to shift YaoMing to the right station of the defendant. All that there was prepared for him was a cold, empty stone space to kneel on as a customary obligation. Behind him, two short columns of 5 guard men each, donned in the same garments of that gate guard Xiao Tian met up with, mechanically went to their respective positions on the opposing ends of the semi rectangular court session.
The only difference Xiao Tian observed was their change in weaponry, with the assembly guards wielding long gray, bamboo canes, painted with a bright red section at the top end.
Following several Chi behind them, the old Head nobleman of the Low family finally made his grand entrance through the tall iron gates as it swung open with a sudden, vibrating clang of metal and in that moment, immediate silence was brought upon to the commoner crowd.
Taking several pauses to observe the overall scene of the municipal hall, he grunted deeply in frustration, stomping his cane as he went onwards.
Also donned in a black robe and inner layers of white, the Low Head walked the central hallway with his line of guards and subordinates in tow.
Arriving at the center of the court hall, the nobleman readily greeted the judge with a bow with a clasped palm and hand; before heading off towards the left station, taking a rest on the cushioned seat prepared for him. Beside the chair, on either side, his old, trusted advisor and the Low family’s personal military commander stood firmly on their ground, clearly declaring their support for their Lord, as well as showing off his presence of dominance, knowing there are other families witnessing this trial. But that was just a byproduct. It was truly just a psychological front, mostly aimed at the lone, isolated shell of a doctor kneeling on the other side of the hall. And this was what all the spectators could easily pick up on with Xiao Tian having insurmountable rage slowly seeping out of her fuming head.
‘Hang…Hang in there, Brother!’
Xiao Tian quietly cheered on while YaoMing was not aware of her presence, which she hoped would be maintained throughout.
---
With everyone in session, a secondary counselor rose up in his seat to give the opening speech. His voice reverberated across the expansive court hall, preventing any howling hooligans and the uncivilized from interfering with this sacred tradition.
“START SPEECH
OH BENEVOLENT AND WISE MAGISTRATE OF LAW, OFFICER ZHI GUANGYAN, MAY I BEHOLD AND PRESENT TO YOU, THE DIRE DISPUTE BETWEEN THE XU AND LOW NOBLE FAMILIES WITH EACH REPRESENTING THE DEFENDANT AND VICTIM RESPECTIVELY. I BLESS YOUR ACUTE JUDGMENT WILL BRING FORWARD THE JUSTICE THE MIDDLE KINGDOM DESIRES TO KEEP FOR GENERATIONS TO COME.
END SPEECH”
With the usual ritual chant of Sincerity and Decorum finished, the judge raised his hand high, signaling his pledge and the start of the first run of this case.
“Lord Low, may you first state your imputations?”
Without replying a single word back towards the judge, Lord Low made eye contact with a subordinate of his at the corner of his station. With that, a slim man appeared out of the shadows, dressed in a bleach coloured robe and a fashionable fan in his right.
‘A personal counselor?! Damn it…’
Xiao Tian and YaoMing were despised. Considering YaoMing was low on funds to hire one after the decline in treatments to perform, even if he were at his peak in his family’s standing currently, the man there was a rank lower than a ChengShi magistrate. YaoMing would never be able to pay for one that was two ranks lower than that and right there, things were starting to fall apart. The both of them felt it, crawling slowly up their panicking hearts.
“Two months back, Young Master Low QingHua tragically passed after an abundance of blood loss. The reported cause was examined to be internal from punctured holes through the use of a foreign scalpel and numerous needles, counted ten, according to the Medicinal Guild experts, Mr Tsu and Lord Jun.”
“...”
The counselor resumed the explanation.
“As such the circumstances of his death, Judge Zhi, both Lord Low and I had deduced that the only way for those objects to enter into the Young Master’s body was through external assistance, leading into focusing upon the previously recent surgery the Young Master took in regards to the removal of an appendicitis…and this procedure was performed by the defendant, Mr Xu.
So for certain, Judge Zhi, my investigators and I have also looked into other areas of the Young Master’s lifestyle several days before his passing. Not only into Mr Xu’s side of the case. Therefore, these are our conclusions…
Stolen story; please report.
Firstly, all meals that were taken in, were tracked back to having been eaten within the Lord’s estate where double security and servant tasting is practiced to ensure safe consumption.
Secondly, any activities of unmonitored ingestion were confirmed to be null. The personal butler of the Young Master is here behind me and the Lord had paired the two ever since early childbirth so the chances of betrayal and lies from Mr Lou are incredibly slim. Additionally, I think it is undeserving of him to be interrogated further, who has lost someone as close as a blood brother of his.”
Within that last section of the counselor’s speech, the Butler Lou appeared right next to him and gave the Judge a sorrowful bow to show his honesty, shortly before the counselor promptly signaled for the butler to retreat back as he continued his other statements.
“Third and finally, Judge Zhi, the Young Master was a person of joy and laughter with a great future ahead of him. According to his friends, his butler and the Lord and Madam, the Young Master had no previous signs of self-harming. In fact, upon hearing the unfortunate news that he had appendicitis, which was known to have a high chance of death, he greatly panicked with urgency to set an appointment to get it treated. But…as the aftermath speaks for itself, due to Mr Xu’s slip up, intentional or not, the Young Master’s death cannot be undone!”
“...”
His grandiose finale echoed thunderously across the hall, reaching the outer walls of the building as the counselor brandished his arms up high, like a high-end performer.
And once the echoes subsided, the counselor slowly turned and made eye contact with YaoMing. Eyes glaring.
“What do you have to say for yourself, Mr Xu?”
‘This…this is the skill that’s worth that enormous sum of money… Without question, what I am seeing here is the skill of a professional, and…”
Ultimately, there was no replying response.
---
As Xiao Tian hesitantly watched from across the raised seat platforms, she had always held her hands tightly together, praying faithfully for her brother to find a way to fight back against those allegations. But for now, that light at the end of the tunnel was glowing dimmer by the minute. All she saw now was a bony figure in a change of torn, wrinkled and filthy white clothes. Her brother’s face was out of view, blocked by his untidy, loosened hair; and at his side, a small bucket previously filled to the brim with water was emptied, licked clean of any remaining droplets.
‘Brother…what are you gonna do now?”
Her fingers turned bright red.
---
Several moments have passed since that counselor ended his opening piece and with his closing, there came no answer.
With a minute passed, the judge finally intertwined. Normally, he was the one doing the earlier work but with the expertise of that counselor, the coordination of the conversation was going so smoothly that his direct control is partially irrelevant. However, inside this court hall, he has the greater power over the counselor so his much appreciated help would be very limiting, especially for a problem like this.
“Mr Xu, is there anything you would like to say in your defense?”
‘He doesn’t need me to spell it out for him to hurry the hell up, right?!’
And that thought may come into fruition.
For a straight five minutes, YaoMing knelt there. Deep in silence, with the quiet anticipation of the audience and Lord Low with his faction.
‘DAMN IT!’
The judge was running out of patience.
“Mr Xu, would you hurry your-”
“I beg your pardon, Judge Zhi. I have my statements ready,” YaoMing abruptly interrupted, showing a serious look on his face. His draping hair moved to the sides in a swift swipe of his hand.
‘YES! Brother, I’ll cheer you on!’
---
Shuffling over to face the counselor, Yaoming began his counter assault.
“Counselor, how should I address you?”
“Mr Xian will suffice, Mr Xu.”
“...Pleasantly, Mr Xian,” YaoMing acknowledged before addressing the judge. In a stern and steady voice, he requested, ”Judge Zhi, I would foremostly want you to reconsider Mr Xian’s accusations.”
“...”
A mumbling crowd slowly awakened with that bold pronouncement and the judge swiftly replied back, managing to immediately hush down the audience quiet.
“Ohhh, and what’s your reason behind that?”
A subtle sneer appeared on his wrinkly lips.
Clearing his throat, YaoMing said his part.
“His flawed argument is fully built upon a large pile of speculation and hypothetical conclusions. There is no firm evidence that I messed up on the surgery. No one witnessed me making any errors. And I am, after all, a certified medical practitioner. For your reminder, I have already taken the Medicinal Guild’s certification examination course twice, Judge Zhi. You could even ask my assistants who aided me in that operation-”
“So, are you switching blame to the medicinal guild for their negligence in assessing your skills properly?”
“huh…”
It was a cold-hearted interruption, sending a ripple of hesitation across his mind and goosebumps raised off his skin.
“What…No, Judge Zhi. I greatly respect their skill and passion for medicine. There is no way I would do such a thing. Anywa-sorry, anyhow, Mr Xi-”
There was a tinge of falter.
“Then…”
The counselor interrupted
“Was the reason for your faulty operation intentional, Mr Xu? There are, after all, numerous records of intense dispute between your father and Lord Low,” the counselor brought out a bundle of scroll accounts, strengthening his claim, “Are you now trying to ruin the next generation of the Low family in response to your father’s death? Are you too scared that fighting by yourself will engulf you like a landslide?”
“No, that’s false. It’s FALSE!”
The counselor relaxes his fist.
“Please be realistic here, Mr Xu. Here, I have authentic files documen-”
“IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ME!”
The frustrated voice echoed throughout, followed by a slight twitch of a fast grin.
“...Mr Xu…”
That was unexpected, the crowd collectively thought. Never would they see the normally level-headed doctor explode out in anger and that’s where he fell into the snare.
Pressing forward, the counselor gradually raised his voice.
“How heartless are you, Mr Xu? This isn’t what I expected of you to defend against my statements.”
A loud whispering crowd shortly emerged. Their inaudible gossip securely encompassed YaoMing in an inescapable barrier where everywhere he saw and heard, the people would mostly likely be bad mouthing and doubting him.
His breath got heavier.
“No…I-I’m not. I’m not. I did not kill QingHua! He’s…He’s a valuable patient…Yes, just like the rest of the people that visited my pharmacy! You could even conclude that he came to my pharmacy for a treatment, just shortly before his death, as a complete, tall tale coincidence.”
“I disagree, the tools discovered inside his body were of the same ones used at your clinic and if you object by mentioning that the other places may have gotten to him first, why was it only after you that he visited, the Young Master had internal bleeding? Purely coincidental, isn’t that right, Mr Xu?”
“What…what are you trying to say here?”
His hands started to shiver.
YaoMing was…
“Ha…With your already provened bad track record of more than a hundred reported minor cases of inflicting injury and the major account of false prescription of drugs for a sickly kid, leading to his unfortunate early demise, who is going to believe your words now?”
“No…those were also false cl-”
“The white paper that you have thus far has been stained to the point it will tear like tofu with minimal force. There is no more turning back, and to be frank with you, Mr Xu, you are now just delusional about your confidence in your skills as a medical practitioner. I suggest that you-”
“JUST FUCKING SHUT UP ALREADY! I SWEAR TO GOD I FUCKIN NEVER INTEND TO KILL ANYONE! YOU HEAR ME!?’
“‘never intend to’...Does that mean you already knew of your mistake but it was shoved under the rug?”
“That-That was just a mishap. A wrong description of my feelings. To clarify again, I . never . killed. anyone!”
YaoMing held his hands close to his heart, trying his best to show his honesty. But now, this gesture proved negligible in persuasion.
“In that case, what other possible reasons could you find besides that, Mr Xu?”
“Huh?”
“What other methods of getting those instruments within the abdomen could you show as evidence that proves it’s not your own harmful actions?”
“Wait…”
Urgency
“Please don’t be any more crazened with naivety.”
Rejection
“Hol-”
Ignorance
“Admit that it’s you-”
YaoMing was at his wits end.
The last straw was the intervention of the judge.
“Mr Xu, we are not going anywhere with this conversation. Could you please wr-”
“STAY OUT OF THIS, OLD MAN! FUCKIN SHUT THAT HOLE OF YOURS YOU CALL A FUCKIN MOUTH!!!”
And that’s the killing blow. The key to prison and the lock of any future chance of redemption.
---
Orchestrating this outcome came the set up from a few months back, planned by Lord Low and Counselor Xian. With the two day delay of the initial court schedule being purposefully done in secret to allow for the previously long period of continuous torture and harsh teatment to be executed, which was intentionally made to bring the mental fortitude of the young and wise YaoMing into a lowly feeble, distressing state of mind.
But surprisingly, YaoMing held on better than expected.
This, however, did not matter since the overall mental strain for the, by now, still introverted youthful adult, pummeled down with a large flow of public shame and outlash; accompanied by the crawling feeling of loneliness that comes along; and unknowingly for the Low, the indirect abandonment of his beloved sister; and the emotions drawn out by the manipulation of the facts and pushing the young Yaoming into a corner, overwhelmed any resistance he could muster up at this stage of his life. Ultimately, he finally snapped and what worse way to reinforce your chances of losing the case than to curse a mindless jumble of curse words at someone like the judge who did his trial that day.
---
‘It’s locked in.’
The counselor and Low Head joyfully cheered.
‘There's no other way out, Mr Xu. You were marked for medical malpractice, among other minor accusations, and now, including the worst of them all, the insulting of the judge… The m-’
‘-match is over for you, YaoMing boy. I won.’
Ultimately, Yaoming was currently in a state of desperate rage to think straight and with that, came a more impulsive behavior that he had never experienced before.
Suddenly, a hard slam onto the judges desk captured the attention of everyone. YaoMing looked up in disgust back at him.
“FIRST-FIRST DEGREE CAPITAL CRIME, INSULTING THE JUDGE. HOW..HOW DARE YOU, YOU LOWLY MANCHILD?! GUARDS, GUARDS, GET THE PLANK AND RODS AT THIS INSTANCE!”
With that raging order, the men, donned in black, immediately got into action.
“Wha, HEY, HEY YOU, urgh…LET, LET GO!!!”
They forcibly grabbed YaoMing, dragging him upwards before harshly pressing him down, face first onto the splintered plank bench stool. Sharp bits and splinters bit irritably deep into his dried skin as he grunted loudly in pain. Meanwhile, his arms and legs were tied up to individual poles a distance away.
That’s when a guard abruptly grabbed his hair and pulled on it tight, forcing his head up to face the judge who was presentably livid, turning bright red like a burning flame.
“YAOMING, AGAINST A BRAZEN AND SELFISH ATTITUDE OF A YOUNG BRAT SUCH AS YOURSELF, I HEREBY DEMAND THAT YOU WILL BE GIVEN WHAT YOU RIGHTFULLY DESERVE! NORMALLY, I WOULD DECLARE THE WORST DEGREE OF BEATINGS UNDER THE ZHANG CATEGORY. BUT, SINCE THIS IS STILL YOUR SECOND MAJOR OFFENSE, I WILL GIVE YOU A CHANCE TO LIGHTEN YOUR PUNISHMENT IF YOU PLEAD GUILTY TO KILLING LOW QINGHUA.”
“...”
Silence, as the crowd behind him and spectators above awaited his response while XiaoTian…
But, with his rage still set ablazed, YaoMing spoke out back in a raspy scream, “NEVER! IT'S-IT’S NEVER…MEE! I-”
“TEN! TEN LASHES NOW!”
The judge could take his behavior no more.
And following that directive, a continuous series of high-pitched shrieks filled the otherwise dead silent court hall.
---
“HOW ABOUT NOW? DO YOU ADMIT GUILTY-”
“NEVER! Haaa…”
Heavily drenched in his own sweat and a pool of overflowing saliva, the darkened face of YaoMing persisted on to voice his innocence and behind him, a sharp, searing pain emerged on his behind, rapidly gaining more and more agony.
“Still that stubborn, aren't you? AGAIN, THIS TIME, THIRTY!”
Every time, YaoMing continued to deny the judge.
“AHHH!”
And with that came another barrage of lashes onto his body.
“URGH!”
Increasing in quantity with every consecutive denial.
“Ple-PLEASE…NAHH!”
Soon enough, YaoMing’s spirit started to dwindle.
Painful, heart-wrenching screams filled the hall again as some watched on in terror, while others stood amazed, deep in awe at the severe beating that Yaoming took.
Meanwhile, Xiao Tian just remained frozen, plastered stuck onto her seat. She never bothered to move. Consumed in so much pain, the anguish and guilt started to grow but it soon felt numb to her in the end of the fourth defiance cry. This was the worst outcome that could happen to them. Tears never ran but her eyes constricted tight as she started to intuitively shiver in fright. Unfortunately, the torture was as tenacious as YaoMing’s final burst of rage as he screeched out one last time in a final attempt of persuasion. Ultimately, after a total of a hundred beatings, YaoMing finally gave in. His clothes were ripped and torn apart with his buttocks and back bloodied a number of deep dark purple splotches across a bright red and maroon splatter backdrop. It was a hellish sight for anyone to witness as the hall continued its silence except for the wheezing pants of the nearly passed out Yaoming.
“Brother…”
Those were the only words she could mutter out. Xiao Tian knew that remaining silent was the best choice for her but it was personally tormenting internally. All she wanted now was to dash straight forward onto the platform and take the beatings for him. Even if YaoMing would certainly deny such help, she would have maintained her position nonetheless. Albeit the passion, she knew such an action was foolish and she bit her tongue in heartbreak. As this cluster of emotions were twisting and swirling inside her, the sound of several layers of parchment could be heard.
“Do you plead guilty, YaoMing?”
The judge asked for the final time while a guard grabbed hold of YaoMing’s released right thumb, proceeding to dip it in a red ink and slamming it onto the bottom left of the front page. It was a document that states he pleaded guilty.
“Yaa…ysss,esss…peeeesss, n-morrrr”
And with that, the crowd erupted into cheers for the exciting conclusion this trial ended upon. Never had a trial been this thrilling in a long time for the commoners and the spectator nobles above. Finishing off this entertaining watch was the Low Head with his other subordinates celebrated along with the crowd, being treated as winners in a match.
Shortly after the paper was collected back by the judge, he signaled for YaoMing’s frail body was roughly carried out of the court and into a dark corridor, never to be seen beyond that.
“Darn, that was fun,” complimented one of the spectators who sat beside her. Turning her head, “What do you think of it, young lady?” she asked.
But…
“...huh, I reckon there was someone here. Hmph,” she shrugged, ”anyhow…”
She could not care less and went about conversing with the rest of the spectators.
.
.
But, the woman in the black dress was no longer there, had she left a short time earlier, and trailing behind her were droplets of tears. Some were redder than the others.