Captain of Lakeview rolled his eyes. “Maybe you have something to hide, or maybe you rely on your martial skills and have no respect for your superiors.”

At this moment, Jack signaled to Henry that he could make his statement, so Henry recounted how Captain of Lakeview, greedy for the reward for the three bandits, first tried to persuade them to share the credit, and when that failed, actually planned to seize it by force...

“It was only because I rushed to the roadside to appeal to the higher officials that I accidentally knocked over the thief and the pavilion guard, nothing more. As for the pavilion chief’s claim that I resisted with force and even struck him, that is absolutely untrue. I don’t know why he would say such a thing... That’s all there is to it, nothing else.”

Henry had more or less figured out the workings of the Qin court: they emphasized procedural justice, the judge was meticulous and logical, and both witness testimony and physical evidence were required. It was really quite similar to court trials in later generations.

In such circumstances, for Captain of Lakeview to dare to make such wild claims—was he just taking a chance, or was he well prepared?

Henry felt uneasy. Looking again at the merchant Baker, who was sweating profusely even in the late autumn, he vaguely guessed the reason...

In the courtroom, the presiding officer Jack listened to both sides’ statements while noting down two points of contradiction on his bamboo slips, and then raised his questions.

“First, Grace, Captain of Lakeview, did you ever try to persuade Henry and the other to share the credit and split the reward?”

Of course, Henry and Edward said yes!

The pavilion chief, the thief-catcher, the pavilion guard, and the others all flatly denied it, saying no!

When asked, the three bandits said that they were tied up to the side at the time, too far away to hear clearly.

Thus, the merchant Baker became the key witness. Jack looked at him for consultation, but saw that Baker hesitated for a long time before cautiously answering, “I know nothing of such a thing...”

“Not good! This guy really changed his testimony!”

As soon as these words were spoken, Henry’s heart sank, and Edward was even more furious, shouting, “You treacherous merchant! We clearly saved your life, yet you repay kindness with betrayal and collude with those people to give false testimony!”

“I wasn’t locked up with them, how could I collude to give false testimony?”

The merchant Baker threw caution to the wind, adopting the manner of arguing in the marketplace, thumping his chest and saying, “It’s true you two saved me from the bandits, but here in court, before the prison officer, if I utter even half a false word, may the hill ghost visit my home!”

The hill ghost was one of the many local spirits in superstition; it was said that if it visited a household, that family would fall into poverty and ruin. For a merchant to swear such a vicious oath was quite a risk.

Edward was so angry he wanted to leap over and hit the merchant, but Henry held him back and said to Jack, “Prison officer, this merchant is from Huyang Pavilion and is familiar with the pavilion chief and the others. That day, he acted as their lobbyist, trying to persuade us to share the credit with Huyang Pavilion. His testimony is not credible!”

“Whether to believe it or not is not up to you! It’s up to the prison officer to judge!”

Captain of Lakeview saw the situation turning in his favor and began to smile.

However, Jack did not favor either side’s statements, but turned the page and asked the next question.

“Second, did Henry really strike Captain of Lakeview?”

Henry knew why Captain of Lakeview and the others wanted to smear him like this. Qin law stipulated that if a soldier fought with someone, it was considered the crime of “private fighting.” Since the other party was an official, the crime was even more serious and would be treated as “assaulting an official.” The punishment was to have one’s head shaved and be sentenced to a year of forced labor, such as building royal tombs or city walls.

So Captain of Lakeview and the others insisted that Henry had struck first, which was truly malicious.

Henry and Edward of course denied it flatly, saying they knew the law forbade it and would never dare to attack an official.

But the people from Lakeview Pavilion insisted, all claiming to have seen Henry hit someone, probably relying on his martial skills and having no respect for officials.

As for the three bandits, they said their view was blocked by the pavilion guard at the time and they didn’t see clearly.

With the two sides giving opposite accounts, the merchant Baker once again became the key witness...

“I saw it with my own eyes—Henry threw a punch at the pavilion chief!”

At this point, Baker no longer cared about his conscience and began to throw as much dirt on Henry as possible, describing in vivid detail how Henry argued with the pavilion chief, how he became enraged, and how, relying on his martial skills, he raised his fist and struck...

While Baker was giving his statement, Henry kept his mouth shut, and Edward, listening to all this, was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan.

“We’re in danger, in real danger!”

Edward knew things had taken a very bad turn. The two questions raised by the prison officer had both ended with testimony unfavorable to their side. If both were confirmed, he and Henry would be facing severe punishment!

Not to mention the “assaulting an official” crime for hitting an officer—if their accusation that Captain of Lakeview tried to seize the credit and cheat the reward was not upheld, they would also face the crime of “false accusation!” According to Qin law, those who made false accusations would be punished with the same penalty as the crime they falsely accused others of—this was “counter-punishment for false accusation.”

If both crimes were applied, he and Henry would not only miss out on the reward, but also suffer serious punishment. They might have their faces tattooed as criminals, become government slaves, be exiled to the border as garrison soldiers, and might even implicate their families.

On the other side, Grace, Captain of Lakeview seemed to see the scales of victory slowly tipping in his favor, and was immediately full of pride.

It seemed the rumors from outside were true—those secret maneuvers had indeed worked. This merchant Baker had always been timid; a little intimidation, and he had come over to their side.