After Her Divorce, She Escaped With A Strong Man To Farm

60 Punishing an Evil Official

Mrs. Guo put an exquisite teacup on the table and invited Old Master Qin to drink tea. Old Master Qin looked at her seriously and said to Guo Gang coldly, “County Magistrate Guo, does your wife usually enter and leave the hall as she pleases?”

Mrs. Guo didn’t expect that Old Master Qin would question Guo Gang about her going to the hall. She looked at Guo Gang, a little bewildered.

Guo Gang reacted quickly and immediately denied it to Old Master Qin.

“No, no. She never comes to the main hall. I heard that you were here today so I ordered her to serve tea. Please forgive me for not thinking through it properly.”

Old Master Qin snorted, clearly dissatisfied with his words, but he did not say more about the matter of Mrs. Guo entering the hall to serve tea. Instead, he ordered the guards to call the commoners who were beating the drums and crying for injustice to the hall.

“Old Master Qin, please have some tea first. You must be tired from the long journey. It’ll soothe your throat.”

Seeing that Old Master Qin refused to drink the tea and still wanted to investigate the case, a trace of anxiety flashed in Guo Gang’s eyes. He stepped forward and persuaded Old Master Qin to drink the tea.

“Yes, yes. It’s a long journey. Everyone, have some tea.”

Mrs. Guo also helped her husband persuade Old Master Qin. Not only did she serve tea to Old Master Qin’s guards, but she also did the same to Su Qing and Ji Xiaoying.

Ji Xiaoying was rather innocent and simple-minded. She took the tea and was about to drink it when Su Qing pulled her back.

“There’s poison in the tea,” Su Qing cautioned.

Her voice was neither loud nor soft, but everyone in the lobby could hear her. Guo Gang and Mrs. Guo’s faces turned pale.

“Don’t talk nonsense. How could the tea be poisoned?”

When Mrs. Guo saw Su Qing questioning her, she felt guilty.

The four guards threw away their teacups, pulled out their steel knives, and placed them on Mrs. Guo’s neck. She was so frightened that she screamed for help at Guo Gang, “Lord, help!”

Guo Gang hurriedly bowed to Old Master Qin and explained, “Old Master Qin, my wife is really innocent. How could she have poisoned the tea? With your status, how would she dare to do such a thing?”

“Since it’s not poisonous, drink it!”

Su Qing didn’t waste any time. She brought the tea over, pinched Mrs. Guo’s mouth, and poured the tea in. Mrs. Guo’s reaction was intense. She shook her head and refused to open her mouth.

However, Su Qing’s strength wasn’t something she could control. Even though the cup of tea spilled a little, more than half the cup was still poured into Mrs. Guo’s mouth.

The guard put down the steel dagger on Mrs. Guo’s neck and looked at Su Qing with admiration. This was a good move.

Su Qing let go of her hand and stepped back expressionlessly. Once Mrs. Guo broke free from her shackles, she dug her fingers into her throat and desperately tried to spit out the tea she had drunk, but it was too late.

Mrs. Guo’s nose, mouth, eyes, and ears began to bleed. She screamed and fell to the ground. Her legs twitched and she died.

Guo Gang sat on the ground with a thump. Plotting to murder an official of the imperial court was a crime that would result in house arrest. In order to save his and his son’s lives, Guo Gang couldn’t care less about his wife’s corpse. He got up, knelt on the ground, and kowtowed to Old Master Qin.

“Old Master Qin, Old Master Qin, I really didn’t know that this lowly woman wanted to harm you. She must have come to take revenge after seeing you kill her brother. This has nothing to do with me!”

“Your wife just came out of the inner court, how did she know that I killed her brother? This was simply a plot hatched by you and your wife. If you still want to quibble, come, serve the punishment.”

Old Master Qin was so angry that he laughed and slammed the gavel on the table. He threw down the stick that was stuck on the gavel. “Such a despicable person would even sell out his first wife in order to save his lowly life. How can you be worthy of being an official of the great Xia Kingdom?”

Guo Gang’s legs went limp when he heard that he would be punished. He knelt on the ground and kowtowed desperately.

“Old Master Qin, please spare me! Old Master Qin, please spare me!”

Unfortunately, it was of no use. Old Master Qin looked at him with a grim face and remained unmoved. The guards went over and lifted Guo Gang up and pressed him down beside the dead Mrs. Guo. They kicked up two bailiffs and made them give Guo Gang a heavy punishment.

The bailiffs of the magistrate’s office were all scared out of their wits. Guo Gang’s murder of the emperor’s tutor was a serious crime that could warrant the execution of an entire family. They were afraid that they would be implicated as well. When they heard that the guards had ordered for Guo Gang to be executed, they mercilessly used the pincer to clamp down on the former county Magistrate and their immediate superior.

Guo Gang was pressed down in front of his wife, who had died from the poison. Seeing her look at him with her eyes wide open, her pale face, and the terrifying look of blood flowing out of her seven orifices, Guo Gang was so scared that he forgot to beg for mercy. He only felt it when the clamp was on his leg. He immediately begged for mercy from Old Master Qin like a pig being slaughtered.

He knew too well the power of the clamping rod. No matter how tough a man was, he would not be able to withstand this kind of torture. If the clamping rod was adjusted to the maximum, it would break one’s bones and tendons and directly cripple them.

“Old Master Qin, please spare my life. I’m an official of the imperial court. If you punish me, it’ll be an insult to the imperial court. Please spare me.”

Guo Gang kowtowed to Old Master Qin like a mad man, and his face was covered in snot and tears. He used his status as an official of the great Xia Kingdom to ask Old Master Qin to be magnanimous.

Old Master Qin looked at Guo Gang with extreme disdain. Their great Xia Kingdom’s officials who were so afraid of death were the ones who were an insult to the Imperial court. There were commoners outside, and he didn’t want the commoners to see the great Xia Kingdom’s officials wailing like ghosts and howling like wolves, which was an insult to the reputation of an official.

Thus, he said to Guo Gang coldly, “If you want me to spare you, then tell me all the money you’ve embezzled and all the evil things you’ve done over the years.”

Guo Gang was stunned for a moment, and his eyes rolled around in his eye sockets. Once he confesses, he would have no chance to turn things around.

“Since you insist on holding out till the last moment, then let’s carry out the execution!”

Old Master Qin looked at Guo Gang’s cunning appearance and felt disgusted. He waved at the bailiffs. In order to perform well in front of Old Master Qin, the two bailiffs put in a lot of effort. They used the heaviest force to block the rod as soon as it hit.

Guo Gang screamed in pain. He patted the ground with both hands, but it couldn’t relieve the pain in his legs. The pain seemed to have broken his bones. It was heart-wrenching.

He couldn’t take it anymore and quickly begged for mercy, “I’ll confess, I’ll confess.”

“Hand him a brush and paper and let him write them down one by one.”

“Who’s the Grand Master and who’s the accountant?”

Old Master Qin ordered someone to bring a brush and paper to Guo Gang, and then he went to find the Grand Master and the accountant. The two of them were so scared that they trembled and knelt on the ground, begging for mercy.

“Please spare our lives, my Lord. We were only following orders. It was all Guo Gang’s orders. We didn’t dare to disobey. Guo Gang is cruel and merciless. If we didn’t obey, our families would die.”

Old Master Qin’s face turned sullen as he ordered someone to send brush and paper to the two of them to prevent them from writing false statements. He asked them to write separately, his voice so cold that it made people’s hearts jump, “You two confess separately, and write down the total amount of money Guo Gang has embezzled and the bad things he has done over the years. If you hide anything, you will be executed for the same crime as Guo Gang.”

The advisor and the accountant were so scared that they knelt on the ground and begged for mercy.

“We’ll definitely write down everything we know and beg for old master’s mercy.”

Su Qing looked at Old Master Qin with admiration as he handled the case. His respect for this old man grew. He was indeed a big shot. He solved the case strictly, his methods were sharp, and his methods were unique. This was a good move to use to break them one by one.

There was no need to worry that they would lie, because the three parties still had to verify. In order to protect themselves, the Grand Master and the accountant would desperately confess all the illegal things that Guo Gang had done, not daring to hide anything, so that they could get away.

Guo Gang didn’t dare to lie either because the accountant and the Grand Master had to confess. In this way, he could easily find out how much dirty money Guo Gang had embezzled. How many evil things had he done?

While Su Qing was following Old Master Qin to investigate the case in the hall, Ji Shuisheng sat up from his bed in a daze in the relay station.