Wife, Protect Me! - Chapter 11 - The Wonderful Use of the Law Codex

In the courtroom, Magistrate of Chang’an Pei Zhe felt his head was about to explode.

A murder occurring in his jurisdiction was no small matter to begin with.

If it were an ordinary murder case, it might be manageable, but this time, the victim was a famous wealthy merchant in Chang’an. Not only did he hold a high status in the business world, but he also had close ties with certain nobles in the court.

Last night happened to be his fiftieth birthday, and many guests had stayed overnight at his residence. These guests themselves were of extraordinary status—some were wealthy merchants, while others, like him, were court officials. If they were allowed to leave, investigating each one individually would require at least a hundred times more effort. However, keeping them all here and interrogating them one by one was clearly impractical.

Their incessant chatter gave him a headache. Just as Pei Zhe picked up the court gavel to quiet them down, a hurried voice suddenly came from outside.

“Stop! Let me handle this!”

The voice sounded familiar. Pei Zhe looked up and indeed saw a familiar figure.

His heart sank. The situation was already chaotic enough, and now this young master was here to add to the mess—wouldn’t that make it even worse?

Though displeased, he maintained a smile on his face and personally went to greet him, apologetically saying, “Young master, as you can see, I am currently tied up. Once I’ve solved the case, I will properly entertain you…”

Li Nuo breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this—it was good that the case hadn’t been solved yet.

He smiled and said, “You focus on your investigation. I’ll just watch from the side and won’t disturb you.”

Pei Zhe forced a smile and returned to his seat, continuing to review the testimonies.

He had initially intended to follow Li Nuo’s method, having these people write down everything that happened last night in detail—first in chronological order, then in reverse—to determine who was lying and identify the suspect. However, last night was the victim’s fiftieth birthday, and almost all the guests had been drinking. Many had been dead drunk and slept soundly through the night, unable to recall what had happened, let alone recount it in reverse.

Although that method was clever, it was unusable for this case.

Standing to the side, Li Nuo noticed the Magistrate of Chang’an’s furrowed brows and asked, “Lord Pei, have you found anything?”

Pei Zhe shook his head and said, “I’ve been investigating all morning but found nothing.”

Li Nuo thought for a moment and asked, “How about letting me give it a try?”

Pei Zhe turned to look at Li Nuo, his eyes filled with disbelief. “You?”

It wasn’t that he looked down on Li Nuo, but this case involved too many people and had no clues. He had been interrogating all morning without uncovering even a shred of evidence.

Zheng Yuanwai had always been known for building bridges, paving roads, distributing porridge, and performing charitable acts—he was kind to others and had no known enemies. There wasn’t even a suspect to suspect. How could this be investigated? Unless it was his father Li Xuanjing taking action, Pei Zhe would only then consider it slightly possible.

Li Nuo smiled faintly and said, “Since we can’t figure anything out for the time being, why not let me give it a try?”

Pei Zhe asked, “How does the young master plan to investigate?”

Truth be told, Li Nuo knew nothing about investigating cases—that was the work of criminal investigators. As a judge, his duty was adjudication, and he had enough self-awareness to know that in terms of intellect, he was far inferior to the likes of Bao Zheng, Di Renjie, or Sherlock Holmes.

But he had the Law Codex.

All he needed to do was lock everyone up, write out judgments for the crime of murder, and observe whether the suspect’s portrait appeared in the Law Codex or if his lifespan increased. That would tell him whether the person was the true culprit. With so many people, it would just require a bit more ink and effort.

If the murderer was among these people, he would eventually identify them through this method.

The only tricky part was explaining it afterward. He couldn’t let anyone see him writing the names. Li Nuo turned to the Magistrate of Chang’an and said, “This place is too chaotic for interrogations. Let’s lock them up in the prison first.”

Pei Zhe raised an eyebrow and then said, “Young master, this isn’t appropriate. Most of these people are of considerable status, some are even court officials. Though their ranks may not be high, they still hold official positions…”

Li Nuo glanced around, estimating the number of people, and said, “The courtroom is too disorderly. The prison is quieter and more suitable for investigation and questioning. I guarantee I’ll release them within two hours…”

The Magistrate of Chang’an thought for a moment, nodded slightly, picked up the court gavel, and struck it a few times. The courtroom gradually fell silent.

He cleared his throat and said, “I understand how everyone feels, but all of you present were friends of Zheng Yuanwai. I believe none of you would want to see the person who harmed Zheng Yuanwai evade justice. Please temporarily move to the prison. I assure you, the questioning will be concluded within two hours, after which everyone may return home…”

As soon as the Magistrate of Chang’an finished speaking, a low murmur of discussion arose in the courtroom.

Although there were still some grumbles and complaints, they reluctantly acknowledged the magistrate’s words. After all, this was a murder case—they had already waited all morning, so waiting another two hours wasn’t too much to ask.

A quarter of an hour later.

Inside the prison of the Chang’an County government.

This was Li Nuo’s first time here. He had assumed that ancient prisons would inevitably be dirty and chaotic, but this place changed his impression. Although the various torture instruments hanging on the walls were somewhat intimidating, the prison was overall quite clean. Aside from being a bit cold and damp, there were no unpleasant odors.

During Zheng Yuanwai’s birthday celebration the previous night, many guests had been invited. Some of them had stayed overnight at the Zheng residence due to drunkenness. Including the Zheng household servants, the number of people involved in the case surprisingly reached over two hundred.

To temporarily detain these people, the Magistrate of Chang’an had divided them into five prison cells.

Among them, over twenty officials occupied one cell, the female family members occupied another, and the rest were distributed among three other cells.

“You scoundrel!”
As Li Nuo passed by one cell, a familiar voice suddenly reached his ears.

He turned and saw the female assassin in one cell glaring fiercely at him.
Li Nuo had no time to deal with her, his gaze fixed intently on the floating Law Codex ahead.

At this moment, the number of portraits in the Law Codex had increased from two pages to four. Just moments ago, when all these people were locked in prison cells, the Law Codex suddenly gained two additional pages. One page depicted a handsome man, while the other showed a young woman. The woman’s portrait was vivid and brightly colored, identical to the previous two pages, whereas the man’s image appeared dull and monochromatic.

With a quick sweep of his gaze, he soon located the two individuals from the portraits in separate cells.

He had underestimated this mysterious Law Codex. It turned out there was no need for a trial—merely imprisoning the culprits would cause their portraits to appear in the codex.
This certainly saved ink and effort.

However, his lifespan on the cover still hadn’t increased. It seemed the numbers would only change after the verdict was delivered.

Although he had identified the perpetrators, he couldn’t convict them without due process. The proper procedures had to be followed. Li Nuo sat down at a table in the prison and said to the Magistrate of Chang’an seated beside him, “Lord Pei, you may bring them in now.”

Among those detained, the most crucial figures were naturally the court officials. According to the law, officials of the seventh rank or higher could only be held by the county government for up to two hours. After that, they must either be released or transferred to the Ministry of Justice or the Court of Review. Therefore, Pei Zhe had the middle-aged man with the highest official rank brought out first.

The lavishly dressed, portly man strode to the table and sat down imposingly, showing no deference to Pei Zhe. “Lord Pei,” he said, “make it quick. I have official duties to attend to upon my return.”

Pei Zhe shook his head. “It’s not me who will question you, but this young gentleman.”

Only then did the official notice that the person seated in the main position was a young man. Frowning slightly, he refrained from anger and instead asked cautiously, “Who is this person? What is his official position? What nobility title does he hold?”

Although he held a sixth-rank position—two levels higher than a local county governor—this was Chang’an after all, where dukes and ministers were commonplace, and the powerful gathered in droves. A mere sixth-rank official couldn’t afford to offend too many people.

The Magistrate of Chang’an shook his head. “He holds no official position, nor any nobility title.”

Hearing this, the Vice Minister of the Court of Review knew he could vent his anger. “No official position?” he fumed. “What qualifications does someone with no official position have to interrogate me? What is going on with the Chang’an County Office? Can just anyone interrogate a commissioned official of the court now…”

As a Vice Minister of the Court of Revision and a sixth-rank official of the court, being questioned by the Magistrate of Chang’an was one thing. Although he looked down on the officials of the Chang’an County Office, at least this Pei fellow held a rank two levels higher than his, so it didn’t disgrace him.
But this young man before him—aside from his handsome appearance—lacked any aura of authority and certainly didn’t come from a powerful family. With no official position, no duties, and no nobility title, how could he be worthy of interrogating him?

Facing the furious Vice Minister, the Magistrate of Chang’an remained unhurried and said leisurely, “He is Lord Li’s son.”

“What does being Lord Li’s son matter? Does being Lord Li’s son mean he can break court regulations…”

Even if he were the son of the current prime minister, without an official position or duties, he had no right to interrogate a commissioned official of the court. He had walked the straight path and had nothing to fear. The Vice Minister’s anger unabated, he began to retort but suddenly paused, as if recalling something. He cautiously asked, “Which… Lord Li?”

The Magistrate of Chang’an smiled faintly. “Lord Li Xuanjing. Shouldn’t you be more familiar with him than I am, Lord Zhang?”

After Pei Zhe finished speaking, the Vice Minister of the Court of Revision, who had been sitting firmly, suddenly sprang up in an instant. His chubby face beamed with a smile as he scurried to Li Nuo’s side, humbly bending his waist. While slapping his own cheeks, he apologized with a flattering grin, “These lowly official’s eyes have failed to recognize you, young master. Please calm your anger. Feel free to ask whatever you wish—this official will hold nothing back and speak without reservation…”