Lu Qin's wife was a young lady of the Yu Clan of Yuyao. If word spread that Lu Song had defiled her, it would be a tremendous humiliation for both the Wu Commandery Lu Clan and the Kuaiji Yu Clan. Moreover, Lu Song claimed to have defiled seventeen female relatives of officials of the Fifth Rank or above, and several dozen more from the households of ranked officials. If all this became public, those women would be too ashamed to go on living, and Jiankang itself would be thrown into chaos-
Chen Caozhi surveyed everyone in the hall and said slowly, "If anyone leaks so much as half a word of what happened here today, they will be severely punished."
Everyone grew solemn. Only Lu Song remained openmouthed, bloody saliva dribbling from his lips as he continued to pant and chuckle hoarsely.
The Left Supervisor and Right Supervisor of the Ministry of Justice exchanged a glance and approached Chen Caozhi together. The Right Supervisor said quietly, "Chen Xima, there is no keeping Lu Song's mouth shut."
Chen Caozhi thought, The only way to clear Lu Qin of conspiring in Lu Song's rebellion is to let Lu Song die and leave no witness to contradict him. Besides, Xu Long, who went to see the Deposed Emperor Sima Yi, is already dead. He cannot reveal that Lu Qin secretly helped him. He said softly, "What if we have the prison supervisor arrange for Lu Song to die of his severe injuries?"
The Right Supervisor started and reminded him, "Chen Xima, Lu Song is a major prisoner charged with treason. How can we dispose of him like that? If the court investigates, our offense will be no small matter."
Chen Caozhi also felt that executing Lu Song without authorization would leave him vulnerable