Chapter 588 - 218: Killing Three Birds with One Stone
Chapter 588: Chapter 218: Killing Three Birds with One Stone
He wanted to scream out loud, to bitterly denounce the officials of Heyuan Province for colluding to ostracize and frame him.
But before he could utter a single word, the gavel slammed down again. Mr. Zhou, whose eyes gleamed with a piercing light, demanded, "Enough nonsense. Bring forward the physical evidence, and summon Mr. Sheng and Mr. Xu."
Sheng Mingchuan and Xu Yanlin made their appearance as victims. The two men walked straight out from the back hall, cupped their hands in a salute to Mr. Zhou, and sat down on the chairs brought over by the constables.
Although they were officials in the same court, their treatment was completely different.
Gong Yuanxiu looked at the two relaxed and comfortable men, and the indignation in his heart grew even stronger. But he had no time to dwell on that now, as he was worried about this supposedly existing physical evidence.
What could it be? What on earth could it possibly be?
After he left the Prefectural Magistrate’s Office the day before yesterday, he had sent a trusted attendant to gather information. The attendant reported that when Fan Ju entered the city, he looked like a beggar. Not only was his hair a rat’s nest, but his clothes were also in tatters, exposing his bare skin.
Looking like that, he had clearly been robbed. Escaping with his life was already a stroke of luck; how could he possibly still have the pouch and the silver note he had given him?
Even if the silver note was kept, he wasn’t afraid. That had been offered to him by the Gu family. Even if they traced the silver note to the bank, they would only trace it back to the Gu family. As long as the Gu family weren’t fools, they would absolutely never admit to bribing him, allowing him to rest easy.
As for the pouch, it was given to him by a prostitute from the local Red House. Prostitutes received countless patrons every day; she had probably long forgotten who he was. How could she possibly come to testify against him?
As Gong Yuanxiu was thinking this, he saw a constable walk up carrying a tray.
There was only one item on the tray: that very pouch.
Seeing this, Gong Yuanxiu froze for a moment, but quickly regained his composure. They had actually recovered the pouch, which truly exceeded his expectations. But it was harmless; a pouch couldn’t speak, nor could it testify against him.
Yet, matters once again exceeded Gong Yuanxiu’s expectations.
Pointing at the pouch, Mr. Zhou ordered the constable to show it to Gong Yuanxiu. "Mr. Gong probably didn’t expect that there is embroidery inside this pouch. A ’Yun’ character is embroidered in the corner, proving it belongs to Yun Niang of the Yihong Brothel."
With Yun Niang being brought up, Gong Yuanxiu could no longer maintain his composed expression. His face changed drastically, and he could only force himself to remain calm as he said, "I do not know who this Yun Niang is."
What happened next felt as though someone had pressed the fast-forward button.
Yun Niang was summoned to the court and identified the pouch as her own. However, she indeed had many patrons. Every time she saw a patron off, she would give them a pouch of hers to express her reluctance to part with them. When she first saw Gong Yuanxiu, she didn’t recognize him because he had been beaten to a pulp, leaving his face completely unrecognizable.
It wasn’t until Gong Yuanxiu’s trusted attendant was also called to the court that Yun Niang examined him closely before realization dawned on her. She pointed out, "This gentleman used the alias ’Long’. I originally thought, with such a surname, could he be of royal descent? Even if he wasn’t royalty, he would surely be generous with his money, lest he disgrace such an honorable name. What a pity! He bore a great surname for nothing, as he’s as stingy as a miser. He promised me earlier that as long as I let him do whatever he wanted with me, he would give me two small gold ingots. Bah! In the end, he only gave me five taels of Silver. After the madam took her cut, I only ended up with a few dozen copper coins. It wasn’t even worth the effort! I’ve finally seen what it means to be richer yet cheaper. I figured that with such penny-pinching habits, he must be some merchant from who knows where. Who would have known he was actually an official of the court! Tsk tsk, this was certainly an eye-opening experience for me."
Gong Yuanxiu looked absolutely crestfallen, large beads of cold sweat rolling down his forehead. He looked like a drowned rat.
He desperately tried to deny it. "You’re speaking nonsense! You dare to falsely accuse me? I will—"
"Who is falsely accusing you? You have a massive dark mole on your buttocks! Because a butt is used for ’sitting,’ and there’s a saying about ’sitting on wealth,’ you were incredibly proud of it. You even said it was a symbol of being as steady as Mount Tai, signifying that you would sit on endless wealth in the future. Therefore, you claimed it wasn’t a dark mole, but a treasure mole!"
Uproarious laughter erupted. Not only were the spectators below the court clutching their stomachs in laughter, but even the constables in the courtroom had to try hard to keep straight faces to stop themselves from bursting into loud guffaws.
Gong Yuanxiu’s defenses completely crumbled. He never expected that his most intimate secrets would be exposed to the public in such a setting.
Of course, that wasn’t the main point. The main point was that his patronizing of a prostitute had been exposed!
The current dynasty’s punishments for officials visiting prostitutes were extremely severe. Not only was it classified under "illicit sexual offenses," but there was also a specific law stating: "Supervisory officials who spend the night with prostitutes shall receive one hundred strokes of the cane." At the same time, the offender would face demotion or dismissal. If the circumstances were egregious, they would be "stripped of their official status, reduced to a commoner, and permanently banned from government employment."