Gou Po asked, "Did Cha Yue implicate me?"
"From beginning to end, he never said a word."
Gou Po let out a soft breath of relief. A faint smile appeared on his face, as though a heavy burden had been lifted. "This student confesses. I hired someone to commit murder."
After hearing those words, Fang Yun's expression grew slightly colder.
Gou Po was a Licentiate and possessed a Literary Rank. Unless he committed one of a handful of grave crimes, his sentence would be substantially reduced. Moreover, he had now confessed voluntarily, which would further mitigate his punishment. Ai Weijiang had also harmed Gou Po in the past, and that, too, could affect his sentence.
If Gou Po were tried only for hiring someone to kill Ai Weijiang, he would receive at most three years in prison. He would neither be exiled nor sent away to serve in the army.
Fang Yun stared at Gou Po. "Who else did you kill?"
Gou Po froze. Alarm flashed across his face, and his breathing and heartbeat became noticeably irregular, but he quickly answered, "This student only hired someone to kill Ai Weijiang."
Fang Yun slammed the court-shocking gavel down and demanded sharply, "Then at whose hands did Zhu Yueming, sentenced by the former county magistrate Ji Zhibai, die?"
"This student heard he died on the way to his military posting. Whether he died of illness or was killed by the Barbarian Race, this student does not know." The hatred in Gou Po's eyes vanished, replaced by wariness.
Fang Yun's expression grew colder still. "Qi Junshan and the others have already confessed that you pulled strings in secret and even had Cha Yue frame the workshop worker Zhu Yueming. Is that true?"
"Absolutely not!" Gou Po said firmly.
"Very well. Since you deny