If Teng Hua gets her ten chickens back, Zhang Yi would lose the money he paid for the chickens and the chicken farm he built just for the ten chickens would be useless! If he does not want the chicken farm to be useless, he will have to buy more chickens and the money he spent on buying the stolen chickens will be lost!
However if Zhang Yi is made to return the chicken to Teng Hua, then Teng Hua will just return to what she had before the chickens were stolen! I do not blame the mayor for his decision even if he was a little biased towards his relative, since returning the chicken to Teng Hua will not help the town grow and instead allow Zhang Yi to lose more than what he spent buying the chickens. Not to mention that in the long run, the town will have one more source of chicken from the chicken farm and chicken will be cheaper to buy for everyone due to competition.
[Beep!] [Host, please be aware that the system has found three more wishes for you in the vicinity.](What!? Three more wishes?!) My eyes open wide in shock.
(View list of Wishes!)
[Beep!] [List of uncompleted wishes:1 – Shang Shi – Get Rich.
2 – Shang Jian Rui – For children to grow up healthy
3 – Meng Zhi Rou – For Shang Shi to return home safely
4 – Shang Jin Long – Big brother bring me out to punch people
5 – Shang Qing Shan – Big Brother to come home and play with me
6 – Zhang Zhi – Uphold my judgment and clean my reputation
7 – Zhang Yi – Uphold the mayor’s judgment
8- Teng Hua – Return my chickens to me]
(Oh! These three people? System, Zhang Zhi and Zhang Yi wishes are the same, are you trying to affect my decision and tell me how to judge on this matter?)
[Beep!] [No, I am just listing their wishes as it is. It is fine if you do not want to grant them as all that will happen is that you will not get the rewards for granting them.](Hmmm, system can you show the possible rewards for granting the wishes? I can grant two wishes if I decide to let Zhang Yi keep the chickens but only one if I decide that Teng Hua gets her chickens back…System didn’t you say that you are smart than me? What do you think my judgment should be?)
[Beep!] [No. You cannot see the rewards that will be granted as they are ever changing depending on how you grant them their wish. Also, you should make your own decisions as I am above the laws and morals of your kind.](Oh yea? Why didn’t you inform me of their wish earlier then? You obviously forgot to tell me about the wish right!)
[Beep!] [Their wish was just formulated. As Judge Cui explained earlier, normally judges do not take on petty cases nor will they go against the mayor’s decision unless there are extreme circumstances at play. They did not have much hope that you would go make a new judgment on the case until you shouted at the mayor. At this point, the three people realized that you will most probably make an independent judgment and therefore they started to have some desire in their hearts for things to go their way and has now accumulated enough to become wishes.](Ah I see! So I can give people hope and let it accumulate until it becomes a wish! I will then be able to help them achieve it and learn their martial arts! Anyway let us hear what the defendant has to say for now.)
“Zhang Yi, do you have anything to add on to what Teng Hua has said or anything to say in your defence?” I put on my deep voice and direct my solemn words to Zhang Yi.
I think it is because they all realized that I am going to make an independent judgement that the atmosphere in the hall has become thicker and it feels harder to breathe. Everyone also seems to be taking this trial a lot more seriously now.
“I did not scheme to steal her chickens with the thief!” Zhang Yi nervously said.
“I did not know that the chickens were stolen when I bought them! Teng Hua wanted to sell me each chicken for three silver ingots! That’s crazy! You can buy an entire cooked chicken for three silver ingots!” He yells in protest.
“Three silver ingots are already cheap price! I am selling you healthy hens that can still lay eggs and those chickens you eat at the restaurants are old roosters or hens that cannot lay any more eggs, and they are sold for one silver ingot each! If you went to the cities or other villages to buy hens that are similar to mine, you’d have to pay 4 silver ingots at least you ungrateful thief!” Teng Hua snaps at Zhang Yi.
Zhang Yi cowers back and says “I…I did not know they were stolen chickens from you…He had been living in the village for the past few months and he sold each chicken to me at the price of two silver ingots…” he says softly.
My decision is already clear, let me ask more questions so that everyone will accept the decision easily. “Zhang Yi, you said this person lived in the village for the past few months already so you should know him well enough since you bought the chickens from him, where did you think he could get ten young and healthy hens from?” I ask Zhang Yi sternly.
Zhang Yi’s face becomes pale immediately and he starts stuttering, “I…I never considered that…All I was thinking of was how cheap it was! Maybe he caught them?”
Teng Hua started laughing “hahahahahahaha. Caught them? Why no-“
“Enough. This is not your house!” I stop Teng Hua from rubbing it in, after all, they will still have to be neighbours in the same village when this is all over.
I look at Judge Cui and Judge Tang and they already know that I have decided on my judgment, so they just nod in acknowledgement silently to show that they will support whatever decision I make. I start speaking slowly in my deep voice and in a stern tone so everyone will listen.
*Ahem*
“I have made my decision, Zhang Yi will return the chickens to Teng Hua, furthermore there is no misconduct on the part of Mayor Zhang.” Teng Hua is already celebrating so I hit the table to make her stop and she gets a little frightened.
*BANG!*
“Teng Hua you need to listen carefully for your own sake, you are a resident of this village and you should live in harmony with your neighbours. Neither you nor Zhang Yi had committed any wrongs with regards to this case and both of you were tricked by the thief. You should sympathise with Zhang Yi instead of mocking him as you were in his shoes just a second ago. Furthermore, Mayor Zhang’s decision was for the town’s benefit as having more chicken farmers would help the village grow.” I stare at Teng Hua and say in a reprimanding voice.
I look at Zhang Yi next and let out a soft sigh, “While you did not make any wrong, you should not have bought the chickens. You knew that they were fishy as there was no way a person could produce ten young and healthy hen out of a sudden but did not inquire simply because you were greedy for the cheap deal, therefore I have decided to return the chickens to Teng Hua.”
*BANG!*
I hit the table again to get everyone’s attention and say “This is the final order for all parties that are present and Mayor Zhang. All of you shall collate all the information you have about the thief and hand them to Sima Di after this. Sima Di and Zhuge Pang, you two shall create a portrait of the thief with the help of Teng Hua and Zhang Yi and present the portrait to us.”
Ding Sha who was standing the nearest to the judges then shouted “Court dismissed!” as Judge Cui, Judge Tang and I stand up and leave the hall together to return to our rooms. Mayor Zhang, Zhang Yi and Teng Hua kneel as we leave according to etiquette.
