One touch and one silence

She tugged at her clothes that were a little messy when she was caught by the guards just now, took a step forward, and asked, "I wonder what position this official on the stage holds. How can he arrest a prefect without a trial?"

"What has he done? What is his crime?"

In the ears of the common people, a woman's words mean that she is a good wife who stands up for her husband.

The prince stared at the woman in the audience. She was wearing a dark green dress that made her look particularly old-fashioned. Her cheeks were fleshless and her eyes were dim. Although she had the aura of a prefect's wife, her slightly trembling hands betrayed her.

"Oh? I see you look like the prefect's wife, right? It just so happens that this matter is related to you as well. Come and take a look..."

After the prince finished speaking, he waved his hand, and a bailiff came forward and lifted the white cloth covering the female corpse on the stretcher.

"I'm sure the prefect's wife is not unfamiliar with this!"

When the woman saw the body on the ground, she was so scared that she took a step back and almost fell to the ground.

She didn't understand why the body appeared in court again, even though it had been burned.

Or did that old woman betray her?

The woman covered her face with her sleeves, looking frightened, but her eyes were not calm, not because of fear, but because of the fear of being exposed.

However, the young man behind her moved even more violently than she did, and he collapsed to the ground in fear.

The woman bent down, helped her son up, and patted the back of his hand gently to comfort him.

"This person is a maid in my house. She was raped and killed by a pork seller a few days ago. Everyone knows about this and there are witnesses and evidence. I wonder why this gentleman has arrested us?" Her tone was quite soft, yet strong like a mother.

She just lowered her eyelids, but not as weak as she said.

"You're talking nonsense. It was you who asked for half-castrated pork. Xiao Si said he couldn't get it, so he asked me to deliver it to you. After I delivered it, you asked me to take a break and brought me a cup of tea. When I woke up after drinking it, I saw a woman lying on the bed. My hands were around her neck. It was you who did this. I didn't kill anyone... I didn't kill anyone! Sir!"

Fat Chen knelt on the ground, shouting loudly that he was innocent. He knew in his heart that this was his chance to survive.

"Do you recognize the female corpse on the ground, Butcher Chen?"

"Your Excellency, I know her. She came to me the day before she died and begged me to redeem her. I didn't agree at first, but she knelt down and begged me. I saw that she was pale, very thin, and too weak. I thought she must have just recovered from a serious illness. I thought she was bullied in the prefect's backyard, so I agreed to redeem her."

"She said she was willing to marry me in order to repay me, so I agreed. The next morning, as soon as I opened my stall, I ran into the prefect's servant, who wanted half a castrated pig to reward the yamen runners. I thought the prefect loved his subordinates so much, so I didn't think much about it and went there with half a pig on my shoulder."

"I never thought that this would be the result! I am innocent, Your Excellency!" Fatty Chen knelt on the ground and retorted.

"She said she wanted to marry me. How could I go to the prefect's backyard and kill her?"

"What a joke! It was you who threatened her to marry you, otherwise you would slander her reputation outside. That's why I planned to ask you to come to my house the next day to help her deal with you. Who knew you would get so angry that you raped and killed her. You are worse than a beast!"

The woman angrily accused and cursed, and then she picked up her sleeves and gently wiped her tears, as if she was really crying because of the girl's death.

"Poor little girl, she's only thirteen years old! How could you have the heart to do that to her!" After the woman said this, she covered her face and burst into tears.

"You're talking nonsense. It was clearly you who killed him and put the blame on me. You woman with a heart as vicious as a snake, it must be you, it must be you!" Butcher Chen was so angry that he couldn't hold back and cursed back.

Nanzhi kept watching the boy's every move and did not miss the hint of sarcasm on his lips.

Just as the two of them were arguing with each other, the prince interrupted their argument.

"You admit that she was a maid in your house, but what about you? You don't admit that you killed her? Someone must have framed you, right?"

As soon as the prince finished speaking, the woman hugged her son and comforted him softly.

"Don't be afraid, Chan'er. Mother is here. Don't be afraid!"

As she spoke, she patted the boy's back. The boy was so scared that he shrank into the woman's chest, trembling all over.

What everyone saw was a mother standing in the lobby protecting her son, as if the rest of them were bad people who had forced her and her son.

The boy was not afraid of the corpses, otherwise he would have been scared to death when he killed people, and there would not be so many corpses.

What he was afraid of was being tortured to death by him. The rotting corpse that had been left for many days looked hideous and terrifying, and its unwillingness and anger were like those of a hungry ghost. It seemed as if it was staring at him, which was really terrifying.

The prince and Nanzhi looked at the mother and son with a half-smile, then looked at the prefect who was lying on the ground with a pale and bruised face and seemed to have woken up at some point.

"What a loving mother and filial son. If I don't do something, I'll feel like a bad person."

"Someone, bring all those bodies up to me!"

After saying that, a group of guards were seen outside the lobby carrying a number of stretchers, each covered with white cloth.

Soon, the hall was filled with stretchers. After careful counting, there were about twenty of them.

"What are you standing there for? Open them all and show them to the prefect's wife!"

The prefect, who was still kneeling on the ground, now collapsed to the ground, no longer feeling the pain in his buttocks.

He knew that the truth would eventually come to light.

As the white cloth on the stretchers was lifted one by one, some had become a pile of dry bones, some had insects crawling inside, some had already rotted and were oozing with foul water, and there were also two corpses of men who had just died.

"Sir, it's him who asked me to go!" Butcher Chen recognized Xiao Si immediately when he saw him, the second person carried in.

The prince raised his hand and signaled not to speak.

As the white cloth covering these people was lifted, some of the people surrounding them outside did not dare to look, while others were extremely curious and sighed.

The brave people could roughly tell who the people were after looking at the bodies on the stretchers.

"Old Yu, isn't that your daughter? Didn't your daughter ask someone to give you money to buy wine a few days ago? How come...?"

Before the man could finish his words, a man in tattered clothes pushed through the crowd and walked forward.

He looked at the corpse which was already beginning to rot with a look of disbelief.

Nanzhi looked over and saw that it was the one who died that night when the female corpse discovered the truth.

She remembered, from the memories she saw, that two people died that night.

Who is the other one? Can you recognize him?

The man called Old Yu was looking at the badly decayed female corpse on the ground and the bracelet on her wrist. It turned out to be the only dowry his wife had brought him when she was alive. His daughter had always treated it as a treasure and had never taken it off. Almost everyone in the village knew that it was the future dowry his deceased wife had given to his only daughter.

His daughter, who had asked someone to send him money and told him to drink less a few days ago, has now become a rotting corpse.

Old Yu was trembling all over, with a fierce look in his eyes. He suddenly stood up from the ground and grabbed Butcher Chen’s neck with both hands, trying to strangle him to death.

"I'm going to kill you, I'm going to kill you!" The man was as strong as an ox. Even though he was old, the strength of a farmer was not something that an ordinary person could bear. Butcher Chen was almost suffocated by the strangulation.

The yamen runner nearby quickly ran over and pulled the two men apart.

"Uncle, it's not me! I haven't killed anyone. You've watched me grow up since I was a child. I grew up eating your food. How could I kill your daughter? Besides, those were dug up by the prefect. They have nothing to do with me!"

"It was her. I was framed by her. Your daughter must have been killed by her. Otherwise, I wouldn't have the ability to come and go freely in the magistrate's backyard and kill people!" Butcher Chen raised his hand and pointed at the woman standing not far from him.

Old Yu calmed down for a moment, thinking that Chen the Butcher couldn't do it normally. Besides, his family had no grudges against him, and the man was dug up in the prefect's backyard, so it was true.

With so many corpses displayed, the woman's face looked ugly. She could frame one, but how could she frame so many?

Now all I can do is... The woman glanced at her son in her arms, her eyes full of reluctance, yet extremely firm.

Just as she was about to speak, the man named Lao Yutou rushed over, pressed her to the ground, and strangled her neck with both hands.

"You bitch, did you do it? Did you kill my daughter?"

"I'm going to make you pay with your life!"

"I'll make you pay with your life!" Old Yu's eyes were red as he pinched the woman on the ground fiercely.

Without giving the woman a chance to explain herself, he exerted force with both hands. At this moment, he wanted to die together with this woman.

The prince saw that the woman was about to roll her eyes, and thinking that it was about time, he quickly ordered his men to pull the two apart.

The moment they pulled apart, the woman took a deep breath. She almost thought she was dead just now.

"How is it? How does it feel to be pinched?"

The prince had already understood, as reminded by the secret guards, that on the bodies below, those that could be seen more clearly had strangulation marks on their necks. It was obvious that this killer liked to strangle others to death.

After the prince finished speaking, he winked at the secret guard beside him.

The woman tried to hold her son back, but was stopped.

The young man in the audience was pulled forcefully in front of the corpse, and his head was pressed down so that he could see clearly.

The young man was so frightened that he screamed, "Mom, save me, save me!"

The woman looked at her son with heartache. She was being pinned down but she could do nothing.

When the prince on the stage saw this scene, there was endless mockery in his eyes.

"Why? Madam is worried about her child?"

"You are a mother, and you worry about your children, but they don't have mothers, so they don't worry about their children?" The prince angrily threw a teacup on the table at the woman's face.

The woman's head was smashed directly, and blood gushed out immediately.

"Look at these people. Don't they have mothers? Do you really think that no one knows what you did?"

"Your children are children, but other people's children are not children?"

The prince cursed the women in the audience word for word in anger.

"Lan'er! My poor Lan'er! Your father is so sorry for you. If your father had not been greedy for wine, you would not have entered this devil's cave!"

As Old Yu's crying sounded, the other people who were watching the excitement suddenly understood what was going on.

Some people suddenly remembered that their own children were also working in the prefect's mansion and they hadn't seen them for a long time. They always asked someone to send money back.

After a while, several people who were gathered at the door came out and said, "Sir, my daughter hasn't been home for a long time. Please help me find her!"

As fortunate as they were at the beginning, they are as scared now.

The woman saw this scene and laughed sarcastically.

When the prince saw this smile, his face became particularly gloomy and terribly angry.

He gritted his teeth and asked, "Madam, what are you laughing at? Tell me about it."

When Manager Li saw what happened to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, he knew that the Crown Prince was really angry and someone might die.

"Of course! Don't you think so? This lady thinks it's ridiculous. That's right, I killed all these people. Who told them to think that they were pretty and wanted to become phoenixes and seduce my husband? Don't these women deserve to die? Do they deserve it?"

After she finished speaking, she turned around and saw several people kneeling on the ground. Her tone was sarcastic and her face was smiling, which made people shudder. She looked like a madman.

"Aren't you happy every time you get the money? That money can also provide for your retirement, so why not do it?"

As soon as the words fell, someone couldn't stand it anymore and shouted angrily: "Bitch, I'm going to fight you!"

After saying that, he stood up and was about to hit the woman, but was stopped by the yamen runners.