The witness was promptly ushered into the hall. It is an elderly woman stooped with age, who claimed residence in Mu He village.
"State your name, station, and relation to this matter," Magistrate Bao instructed.
"Your humble subject is Po Diaoya, a farmer of Mu He village," she rasped, her speech thick and uneven, betraying the expected unfamiliarity with the formal dialect of the court and bureaucrats. Yet her voice carried with startling force as she launched into testimony. "Your Honor, I speak nothing but the truth! Le Hongniang is a harlot known to all. She has corrupted the virtue of our village's young people. Not even my own son was spared! I have watched her since she was a girl, I saw what she became, a wanton creature chasing after any man she could find!"
Although Naqie Fu received her words with visible satisfaction, it was Le Tiqian's reaction that spoke more eloquently than any outcry. Even one as unperceptive as Satchiko could discern the undercurrent at play. It is the dissatisfaction that might drive a villager to turn so viciously upon one of her own. The pupil met her sister's gaze and offered a small, knowing nod.
There had been cases like this before back home, though never so venomous. Petty quarrels, more often than not over minor disputes over a single salmon, are the sort that might be resolved over an afternoon's tea with the village chief rather than paraded before a court of law.
"Your Honor!" Le Tiqian's voice cleaved through the hall as he vied for the magistrate's attention. "Po Diaoya once sought to betroth her son to our daughter. Our refusal might have sown the seeds of this false accusation!"
The magistrate's gaze turned back upon Po Diaoya. She did not falter for long, swiftly deflecting the charge with a measured bow. The Po family, she insisted, had nothing to gain by entangling themselves in the quarrel between the Naqie household and their Le neighbors.
Such protestations of innocence did little to allay suspicion. With a quiet gesture, the magistrate beckoned to Shan, who is ordered to compare the landholdings between the two families. A strong possible motivation is revealed immediately.
"Your Honor, the farmlands of the Le family are twice the extent of Po Diaoya's estate. Should Le Tiqian's claim bear truth, one may surmise that her involvement is stirred by motives far less virtuous than she professes."
"Y–your Honor!" Po Diaoya stammered, her composure fraying. She clung to her claim of innocence, insisting she sought only to preserve the village's reputation by rooting out moral decay.
Yet conjecture, however compelling, was not conviction. No definitive proof bound her to collusion, and even base ambition seldom sufficed for indictment. Although, bearing false witness may be a hard crime to escape.
"Your Honor!"
The cry rang from the courtyard, urgent and ill-timed. Of all present, Po Diaoya seemed the most stricken by its arrival.
At the magistrate's assent, the lawmen at the hall's entrance admitted the newcomer. A youth stepped into the hall, clad in coarse garments and feet still caked with the stubborn memory of rice paddies and livestock. Though his speech is halting, the words carried a clarity that pierced through any stutter.
"Name, station, and relation to the case," Magistrate Bao commanded.
"Y–your Honor… th-this humble s-subject is P-po Chongzi," the young man said, striving against his own tongue. "M–my mother… wants l-land. S–so she f-framed L-le Hongniang."
A murmur rippled through the chamber, since immediately trusting an illiterate stutterer is not exactly the first choice.
But the humble farmer did not come unprepared.
From within his sleeves, Po Chongzi produced a letter, its script refined, elegant, wholly beyond the capacity of a common Agrarian Zone villager. Though the sender's name is absent, its implication was unmistakable.
Po Diaoya erupted.
"Wretched, unfilial cur!" she shrieked, lunging forward with nails raked across her son's face before the guards could intercede. Wooden canes struck the towards ground as lawmen surged to restrain her, forcing her down with practiced force. Blood had already been drawn.
Just for this disruption of the court, Magistrate Bao's fury was swift and unambiguous. Brazenly fighting in this setting is more than enough to justify punishment.
"Cane her!" But of course, like any reasonable local magistrate, the enshrined law must be enforced within context too. "Fifty strikes reduced to twenty in consideration of her age."
Even so, the sentence is no small mercy. As she was dragged from the hall, her removal lent Le Tiqian only the briefest reprieve. The patriarch's confidence had not been so fragile as to rest upon a single pawn. If the coarse testimony of a peasant could not sway the court, then perhaps the wisdom and eloquence of cultivated authority might.
Without summons, the hall invites in another figure.
A robed elder entered almost like marching in a ritual procession, almost unbidden.
The magistrate's expression does not indicate favor towards a fellow of similar age, but the man still advanced undeterred, each step assured. When the newcomer spoke, his voice carried the weight of lineage as much as learning.
"I am Earth Sage Ju Qi," he declared. "Son of Earth Sage Ju Heng, forty-sixth descendant of the famed Chancellor Ju Jin of Ba Sing Se."
No one immediately responded to his premature entrance, preferring instead to allow the so-called wise man to exhaust his own words as quickly as possible.
"As the First Earth Sage once said, when we encounter men of contrary character, we should turn inward and examine ourselves," Ju Qi proclaimed, reciting a line from the Sagely Analects. "Young Master Naqie Lai has been my most steadfast student, and has exemplified exceptional moral uprightness worthy of the sages. In time, I foresee greatness manifesting through him, following in the paramount footsteps of those ancient dukes who saved dynasties from crumble and rescued captive sovereigns."
Despite also modelling his conduct after the mainstream Earth Sages' view on familial governance, Magistrate Bao still did not speak, prompting Ju Qi to continue.
"The Naqie family demonstrates exceptional generosity, not unlike the ancient sovereigns who instilled respect and admiration among the lords and dukes, who in turn benefited and helped govern the realm. Yet such adherence to filial harmony has been met with treachery, as Mu He Village was overcome with greed and moral failings that may still be corrected through adherence to the harmonious teachings of the Earth Sages."
Still, the stern magistrate rendered no verdict. Though almost every educated member of the literati had studied the philosophy of the First Grand Earth Sage, the degree of enthusiasm varied considerably. There are even those amongst the Earth Sages themselves who might consider certain archaic ways of thinking to be too obsolete.
"Your honor," Ju Qi pressed on, seeking what he believed to be the most compelling defense against the accusations leveled at his favored student. "As the first Earth Sage once said, women and servants are hard to deal with. If you get close to them, they will be disrespectful, if you stay far away from them, they will resent you. Such wisdom reflects the First Earth Sage's extraordinary foresight."
Two pairs of eyes shot him murderous glares. The more junior lawmen quietly giggled at the rather comedic development, knowing the magistrate is probably the only reason why Ju Qi isn't being brutalized yet.
Realizing the futility of allowing the Earth Sage to continue quoting endlessly from the Analects, the magistrate finally reprimanded him, warning that any further misuse of the court's time would result in some minor punishment.
Predictably, the threat of the cane subdued the wise man, who quickly shifted to more 'practical' justifications. He argued that the Naqie family maintained numerous relatives and in-laws within the bureaucracies of the Upper and Middle Rings. It would therefore be improper, he insisted, to offend such influential connections for the sake of something so trivial.
Magistrate Bao turned to Shan, who confirmed that members or relatives of the Naqie family did indeed serve within the bureaucracy. However, Ju Qi had clearly embellished their significance. Those kin who held office are in truth mostly minor clerks or local officials. More damning still, several had submitted written petitions endorsing severe punishment for their distant relative, who had brought disgrace upon their name.
"Ju Qi," the magistrate said. "Surely you understand that among those I have previously condemned stand men and women bound by blood to the throne itself. Even should the late Dowager rise from her grave to haunt these halls, I would remain unmoved. Before this court, lineage is ash and claims of nobility is no shield against judgment."
The Earth Sage stammered. But instead of risking his own neck, he directed the frustration at someone else.
"White Scholar!" Ju Qi snapped, turning on Shan for merely performing his duties as substitute scribe. "Heaven and earth will not tolerate your obedience to tyranny and your rebellion against the teachings of the First Earth Sage!"
A cup of tea was leisurely enjoyed before a response came.
"Yours truly believe heaven and earth have granted me more clarity than you have here," Shan replied evenly. "The law has never stated that lineage exempts one from heinous offenses against the city."
"The Naqie family is among the oldest in Ba Sing Se," Ju Qi strongly elicited. "As such, their moral exemplar should not be stained by such a minor transgression."
"Throw him out!"