Emily Thompson seemed to be back in the courtroom. He slammed the gavel and shouted angrily, “People can remember exactly how many positions they used and in what order when having fun with their wives, but you can’t recall whether you ate two or three buns this morning? What you just said was clearly made up. Tell me, why did you lie? Was it you who stole Wang’s silver?”

The skinny man with the goatee was startled and immediately replied, “Your honor, I have a bad memory…”

At this moment, the experienced Mayor Carter had already seen through it.

“Bad memory, is it…”

There was no need for Emily Thompson to ask further. A smile appeared on Mayor Carter’s face as he waved to the bailiffs on either side and said, “Take him away and let him think it over. I believe he’ll remember soon enough…”

He was unwilling to use torture—not because he was soft, but because he didn’t want to use it on the innocent.

Anyone who wasn’t blind could see that this skinny man with the goatee was suspicious. At this point, he just needed a little help to jog his memory.

In fact, he had already found this guy annoying.

Fengqi Brothel… What status do you have to be worthy of going to the same brothel as me?

Hearing Mayor Carter’s words, the skinny man with the goatee shuddered. Even if he hadn’t experienced the county office’s “Great Memory Recovery Technique” himself, he’d heard about it from others in the trade. It was truly a fate worse than death. He immediately said, “Your honor, I confess! I stole the silver—no need to trouble these officers!”

…

“Court dismissed!”

After slamming the gavel, Mayor Carter cupped his hands to Emily Thompson and said, “Young master, your wisdom is beyond me. How did you think of having them recount their testimony in reverse?”

Emily Thompson smiled and said, “It’s nothing much. If it’s something he actually experienced, even if he recalls it backwards, he won’t make any major mistakes. But if it’s a story he made up on the spot, it’s very hard to recount it in reverse. What’s more, he was distracted by our conversation, so it was even harder for him to remember…”

These were just some small tricks from modern interrogation. Although Emily Thompson wasn’t a detective, he often interacted with them and had picked up a few techniques.

Mayor Carter cupped his hands again. “I am enlightened…”

As he spoke, he couldn’t help but look at the young man before him a few more times.

Rumors really can’t be trusted.

Who said the son of the Minister of Justice was a fool?

If this is a fool, then wouldn’t he, Charles Sullivan, be even less than a fool?

Outside the courtroom, Mr. Harris was both shocked and full of emotion. Since when could the words “wisdom and strategy” be used to describe his own foolish young master…

Chapter 6: Love You, My Lady!

“My admiration for you, young master, is as boundless as the rolling Yangtze River, endless and unceasing…”

“Oh, not at all…”

“If you were an official, you’d surely be a pillar of the court.”

“You flatter me, you flatter me. Your honor was also very clever just now.”

“Ah, compared to you, I am far inferior.”

…

In the courtroom, Mr. Harris watched the young master and Mayor Carter go back and forth, his expression both bewildered and astonished.

If he hadn’t watched the young master grow up and was familiar with every part of him, he would have thought the young master had been replaced.

The current young master was nothing like the old one, except for his appearance.

After the skinny man with the goatee confessed, he quickly wrote his statement. Emily Thompson looked at Mayor Carter and asked, “How does Lord Mr. Sullivan plan to sentence this man?”

In modern times, the punishment for theft depends on the amount: minor cases get detention or control, more serious ones can get fixed-term imprisonment or even life.

Theft of more than three thousand yuan is considered a large amount, with a maximum sentence of up to three years.

Three hundred thousand to five hundred thousand or more means over ten years or even life. Of course, in later generations, life imprisonment usually means about twenty years unless something unusual happens.

Mayor Carter pondered for a moment and said, “According to the laws of Daxia, all thieves who do not obtain property are to be flogged fifty times; those who do obtain property have the value converted into bolts of silk—sixty strokes of the cane for one bolt, with one more grade for each additional bolt; one year of penal servitude for five bolts, three years for more than fifty bolts, and exile three thousand li… Currently, one bolt of silk is worth two hundred coins. The amount this thief stole far exceeds fifty bolts, so he should be sentenced to three years of penal servitude and exiled three thousand li…”

As Emily Thompson expected, the laws of Daxia in this world were also harsh for major theft.

Theft may not seem very harmful, but it’s actually a huge threat to public order. In this era, if a family’s means of survival were stolen, it could mean death, or at the very least, drive good people to desperation.

When Mayor Carter finished writing the verdict, Emily Thompson couldn’t hide the joy between his brows.

Another page was added to the code of law. After the female assassin, the portrait of the goateed thief appeared on the second page.

And the number on the cover of the code changed once again.

“Name: Emily Thompson.”

“Lifespan: Eleven days.”

Catching a female assassin only gave him two more days, but catching a thief actually gave him six. Three years of penal servitude added three days, exile for three thousand li added another three. According to Emily Thompson’s experiments, every thousand li of exile adds a day. The maximum exile under Daxia law is three thousand li; anything more serious is the death penalty.

He wondered how many days the death penalty would add…