Li Fugui was thus brought before the grand hall.
When he arrived at the grand hall and saw Yang Ming standing there, he didn’t know why he and Yang Ming had such deep hatred to appear in court, "Yang Ming, why is it you!"
At that moment, the gavel sounded, and the Lord County Magistrate began to question again, "Who is present below the court?"
Seeing this, Li Fugui knelt down and kowtowed, "This humble commoner Li Fugui pays respect to the Lord County Magistrate."
"Are you aware of your crimes?"
"My lord, what are you referring to?"
"Have you once kidnapped people from Yang Village because you wanted the recipe for spicy cabbage and sauerkraut?"
Li Fugui’s eyes widened upon hearing this, then he turned to look at Yang Ming. It was all last year’s news, and he hadn’t mistreated those people, so why were they still going to court? Yang Ming was really too petty.
"Indeed, there was such an incident, but I did nothing to them!"
"Do you recognize this person?" the magistrate asked, pointing at Wang Huzi below the court.
Li Fugui looked at Wang Huzi, thought for a moment, and had no recollection, "I do not recognize him."
"You don’t recognize him? But he said you instructed him to sabotage the sauerkraut at Scholar Yang’s house!"
"What?" Li Fugui raised his head suddenly, then he realized that it was about the highly publicized poisoning incident on the main street!
"This is slander! This matter has nothing to do with me. I don’t know this person at all, let alone ordered him to poison anyone."
The magistrate then asked Wang Huzi, "Wang Huzi, he denies it, do you have evidence that he instructed you?"
"I have evidence. They said they would give a hundred taels after the job was done, and a written agreement was made! That document is the evidence." Saying this, he took off his shoe and pulled out a piece of paper.
"Submit the evidence!"
The magistrate took the paper, gave it a flick, looked at it with distaste, then handed it to the government official, "Let him verify the handwriting."
The paper was brought before Li Fugui by the government official. Li Fugui was stunned upon seeing it; it was his handwriting, but he had never written it.
He immediately pleaded, "My lord, I have been falsely accused, please discern the truth!"
Seeing Li Fugui deny his crimes, the magistrate commanded, "Someone, find people who know Li Fugui and verify the handwriting!"
"My lord, Li Fugui and I were classmates; I recognize his handwriting."
Yang Ming took the paper, and he also wanted to know whether it was really him, but the result was, "My lord, this is indeed Li Fugui’s handwriting!"
"Yang Ming, you..." Li Fugui was at a loss for words, the handwriting was indeed his, but being pointed out by Yang Ming on the spot, he still felt some resentment, "My lord, although this is my handwriting, I have never written it, please discern the truth!"
"Don’t try to deny it; you caused us all to be arrested, and you haven’t paid us the hundred taels yet! We are the ones you deceived."
Upon hearing Li Fugui deny it, Wang Huzi immediately became anxious. If he implicated someone else, it might reduce his own guilt, so he clung to it fiercely.
"With both witness and evidence gathered, he is to be imprisoned, to be dealt with later!"
"My lord, I am wronged, I have never written such a thing! My lord!" No matter how much Li Fugui shouted, he was still taken away by the government officials.
Subsequently, Wang Huzi and his family of four were also taken back to prison.
"The case is now clear and the criminals have been imprisoned!"
"Yang Ming thanks the lord. Regarding compensation, I would like to speak with Shopkeeper Wang from Yuelai Restaurant, after all, the sauerkraut belongs to Yuelai Restaurant; we were only in charge of safeguarding it!"
"Very well, I will send someone to invite Shopkeeper Wang. After closing the case, we will also inform you."
"Thank you, my lord!"