At the magistrate's order, six bailiffs stepped out from the crowd, while others brought out a broad bench for the flogging. Two of them reached Du Fang and pinned him straight onto it. Panic-stricken, Du Fang kept loudly protesting his innocence.
"No, Your Honor! This humble commoner would never dare make a fool of you! Every word I said was true! Your Honor, I've been wronged!"
Magistrate Lin paid him no further heed and tossed out the Order Token.
"Beat him!"
Two Water-and-Fire Rods had already been crossed beneath Du Fang's armpits to hold his back down, and another two secured his feet in the same way. Two more men stood on either side of him. One bailiff said coldly,
"You'd best not move. Water and fire show no mercy, and neither do these rods. If you thrash about, a single blow could break your back or your legs. Then a few days in bed won't be enough!"
Du Fang was frightened bloodless and no longer dared move recklessly, but he still cried out that he had been wronged, his eyes constantly searching his surroundings.
"Miss He, Miss He-come out! Didn't you say you could make His Honor understand?"
"Silence!"
A bailiff roared angrily, and the Water-and-Fire Rod raised in his hands came down hard.
Thud!
"Aah!"
Thud!
"Aah-Your Honor, I've been wronged!"
Thud!
"Aah!"
After just four or five blows, Du Fang could barely even scream anymore. Only pitiful moans remained, though he kept protesting his innocence.
Standing outside the courtroom, Yi Shuyuan unconsciously clenched a corner of his robe, repeatedly glancing back at the woman beyond the main gate. She, too, was wailing.
"Your Honor, this has nothing to do with him! Your Honor, can you hear me? I've been wronged! Your Honor!"
"I'm already a lonely, wandering ghost! I have a home but cannot return, and I cannot pass on to another life! I died unjustly in this bleak place-I cannot accept it! Aah!"
The woman's cries were shrill and tragic, yet a trace of viciousness had entered her voice, making Yi Shuyuan's scalp prickle. When he turned to look again, the blue tint on her deathly pale face had deepened. Black blood began flowing from all seven openings of her face, and streams of black vapor spread over her body.
Even though he knew nothing about such matters, Yi Shuyuan could have figured it out with his toes: she was about to become a vengeful ghost!
"Eight!" Thud!
"Nine!" Thud!
The Water-and-Fire Rods continued to fall. Du Fang no longer had the strength to shout or struggle. In truth, the bailiffs had already begun holding back during the later blows, but even restrained blows were hardly easy to endure.
The rods were torment for Du Fang, and for the woman as well-but they were no less torment for Yi Shuyuan.
Yi Shuyuan had still been wondering whether a ghost's words could be trusted, but at that moment, he truly felt the woman's despair.
He could not bear it any longer. Only a few breaths had passed, yet those nine blows had felt as though they were striking his own heart. More than ever, he did not want the woman to become a vengeful ghost.
Since no one can see or hear you, and you cannot enter the courtroom, I, Yi Shuyuan, will help you!
Yi Shuyuan was merely a lowly clerk; his words carried little weight. He could not forcibly drag the magistrate outside the County Office, but he had a method of his own.
"Wait!"
At last, Yi Shuyuan spoke. His voice was clear and resonant, instantly drowning out what few other sounds there were in the late-night courtroom. Everyone's attention turned toward him.
The magistrate frowned as he looked outside. Between the courtroom and the front entrance lay an unroofed area that also served as an outer court. A figure was standing at its edge: Yi Shuyuan.
"If I am not mistaken, you are the clerk compiling the County Gazetteer, are you not?"
Rather than enter the courtroom directly, Yi Shuyuan took a few steps out from the edge and clasped his hands toward those inside.
"I am!"
"Are you aware of the offense of disrupting the court?"
Yi Shuyuan drew a deep breath and answered with something else entirely.
"Your Honor, I suffered a grave illness in my youth. After recovering, I occasionally encountered strange phenomena, and have even seen ghosts and gods at night."
Everyone present was slightly startled by his words. Surely this man had not come to make a fool of the magistrate as well?
The magistrate's brow furrowed even more deeply. Compared with the miserable Du Fang lying there, Yi Shuyuan was composed and carried himself with distinction. Besides, he was one of the County Office's own people. He hardly seemed likely to have come expressly to mock him.
Without waiting for anyone to question him, Yi Shuyuan turned toward the main gate outside the courtroom, his gaze settling directly on the White-Clad Woman.
"Miss, if my guess is correct, you are Miss He Xin, the woman who was murdered?"
The White-Clad Woman, already wreathed in malevolent energy, looked astonished. Then wild joy immediately spread over her face. She wanted to step forward but remained afraid, and asked in disbelief,
"Sir! Can you see me? Can you hear me speaking?"
Yi Shuyuan nodded, while also paying close attention to the sound of her every word and sentence.
"I can see you, and I can hear you. Though I fear ghosts, I cannot bear to see evildoers roam beyond the law, much less watch you turn into a vengeful ghost in this place of justice and strict impartiality because you have nowhere to plead your wrongs."
As Yi Shuyuan's words faded, many people instinctively felt a chill. Several followed his gaze toward the outside of the courtroom, but naturally saw nothing.
"Mr. Yi, you..."
"Your Honor-please grant me just a moment!"
Yi Shuyuan had thrown caution to the wind. As he spoke, he looked into the courtroom and met the magistrate's eyes. His clear, bright gaze held a righteousness of its own, leaving even the ruler of the county speechless.
Yi Shuyuan looked outside again. Good-the woman had steadied considerably. Now the rest was up to him!
"Miss, I am a man of little standing whose words carry little weight, and I possess no great abilities. Tonight, I am willing to lend you my body, so you may speak of the wrongs you suffered. His Honor will surely uphold justice for you!"
Possession? The White-Clad Woman froze, and so did everyone present.
"Sir, how do I possess you? Will you come outside and teach me? Sir? Aren't you coming over? Sir!"
But no matter how the White-Clad Woman called, Yi Shuyuan would not go outside. Instead, he walked toward the courtroom step by step. Upon reaching Du Fang, he glanced at him, then looked toward the main gate behind him.
"Please, miss. Borrow my voice and recount your grievances, sentence by sentence!"
"Sir-I cannot enter the courtroom! Sir!"
The White-Clad Woman shouted anxiously. Thinking Yi Shuyuan did not know this, she retreated a few steps in her desperation, actually intending to charge at the gate again.
But Yi Shuyuan lowered his head, kept his mind as calm as possible, and adjusted his breathing. Just as the White-Clad Woman was about to reach the gate, he spoke softly.
"Your Honor..."
Du Fang momentarily forgot his pain, and the White-Clad Woman, now almost at the gate, froze as well.
That was not Yi Shuyuan's voice. It was a woman's voice-He Xin's voice, to be precise!
This was Yi Shuyuan's plan. He was only a clerk. Though Wu Minggao valued him, he probably counted for little in the magistrate's eyes. There was no way the magistrate would simply believe his claim that he could see and speak with ghosts. To an outsider, he probably looked as though he were talking to thin air.
So Yi Shuyuan needed a method everyone would believe immediately.
"It's Miss He! It's Miss He!"
Amid Du Fang's delighted cries, everyone in the courtroom, from the magistrate down to the bailiffs, broke out in gooseflesh.
At that moment, Yi Shuyuan's spirit soared. Even if I am only a storyteller, even if I fear ghosts and monsters, even if I possess no great abilities, I, Yi Shuyuan, still have the power to help you!
"Your Honor... I am indeed He Xin!"
Yi Shuyuan spoke again. Though he had needed to make quiet adjustments for those first few words, his enunciation was now clear, and his voice was identical to He Xin's.
The magistrate sucked in a cold breath. A chill rose from his feet all the way to the crown of his head, making his scalp prickle!
"You... what wrong have you suffered?"
Magistrate Lin, whose voice and official authority had been so forceful moments before, now spoke with little confidence. Even as the ruler of the county, he could hardly face a ghost at night without fear. Beside him, the private secretary could barely hold his brush steady.
The two rows of bailiffs gripped their Water-and-Fire Rods tightly. If not for habits built up day after day, they would have been unable to resist the urge to flee. Even the martial-trained constables who had recently arrived outside the courtroom felt their hands and feet turn icy.
Hearing the magistrate's response, Yi Shuyuan knew he was more than halfway to success. He steadied himself and spoke again in that haunting voice.
"Please release Young Master Du first, Your Honor!"
The magistrate looked at the badly beaten Du Fang and hurriedly ordered the men on either side,
"Stop the beating, stop the beating! Take him away, and fetch a physician to treat him!"
Amid a flurry of activity, Du Fang was helped away, looking back every few steps. With his head still slightly bowed, Yi Shuyuan spoke again.
"I was originally from Luo County in Wu Prefecture. That wicked merchant abducted me from Wu Prefecture. Unwilling to suffer dishonor, I chose death rather than submit. After murdering me, he sank my body in the E River..."
At this point, Yi Shuyuan's feminine voice paused briefly. Du Fang had already recounted these details earlier; what followed would require He Xin's cooperation.
"Please allow me to explain the full circumstances, Your Honor."
Yi Shuyuan angled his face slightly toward the outside. Miss, I cannot explain it plainly to you right now, but surely this signal is obvious enough? He hoped the woman would not need any further hints.
Sure enough, the woman beyond the main gate first paused, then immediately understood and began speaking toward the courtroom.
"I was the daughter of a bamboo weaver in Luo County, Wu Prefecture, the third child in my family. Above me..."
"I was the daughter of a bamboo weaver in Luo County, Wu Prefecture..."
For every sentence the White-Clad Woman spoke, Yi Shuyuan immediately followed, his voice and inflection almost exactly matching hers.
As her account continued, the White-Clad Woman seemed to forget that her words were being relayed. She grew increasingly emotional, weeping aloud at the sorrowful parts.
Yet Yi Shuyuan missed not a single nuance of her delivery, his voice just as grief-stricken. Though his back was turned to her, even some of his gestures bore a resemblance to hers.
Inside the County Office's courtroom, those who had initially been gripped mostly by fear gradually became absorbed in the events themselves as Yi Shuyuan recounted them, and anger began rising in their hearts!
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