"Cough—cough—cough—"
Hearing this, Zhao Youyi immediately coughed a few times.
Facing Cai Tao's strange gaze, Zhao Youyi remained unfazed. "Scholar Cai, since there has been a death in your family, let's just let this matter rest. Oh, by the way, if your household is short on funds, feel free to send someone to the princely manor to find me. I can't promise much, but I can afford a good cypress coffin!"
After saying this, Zhao Youyi didn't even glance in Cai Tao's direction. He led his attendants and swaggered away.
"S-Scholar, wh-what do we do now?"
The person was dead, and he died right in front of the Kaifeng Prefecture. Now, Cai Tao's servants began to panic.
"What else can we do? Take him outside the city and bury him. Are we going to keep him here and smoke him like cured meat?"
Seeing their pathetic state, Cai Tao, who was already furious, became even more enraged at this moment.
How could he have raised such a bunch of idiots? They were good for nothing but causing trouble!
With a sigh of frustration, Cai Tao turned to leave. However, just as he stepped forward, he was surrounded by several constables from the Kaifeng Prefecture.
"What do you want?"
Seeing their aggressive posture, Cai Tao's expression grew even uglier.
"Scholar, we can't just ignore the fact that you beat someone to death in front of the Kaifeng Prefecture, can we? Besides, so many people are watching. If you just leave like this, our Lord Zhang won't be able to show his face anymore!"
Although Wang Tiezhuan's words were polite, their drawn swords and notched arrows suggested they had no intention of being lenient.
"It's just beating a servant to death. At most, it will be a fine. Whatever the cost, just come to my residence to collect it! Now, get out of the way!"
Cai Tao spoke, glaring fiercely at Wang Tiezhuan.
"I'm afraid it's not that simple, is it?"
Just as the two sides were at a stalemate, Zhang Shaoyou suddenly emerged from the doors again.
"Not that simple? What? Lord Zhang, are you planning to arrest me?"
Seeing Zhang Shaoyou reappear, Cai Tao's face turned ashen.
"Scholar, please don't rush. Everything comes down to reason. Although your servants beat someone to death at your command, and it was right in front of the Kaifeng Prefecture, I still need to reason with you!"
The more anxious Cai Tao became, the brighter Zhang Shaoyou's smile grew.
"Very well, then I'll see what reason you can come up with! According to the Great Song laws, 'If a master kills a servant who has committed a crime without official trial, they shall be beaten with a hundred rods. If they kill an innocent servant, they shall be banished for one year.' Even with a commutation, it's at most sixty catties of copper coins. Can you still complicate things?"
Although what he did was indeed excessive, beating someone to death in front of the Kaifeng Prefecture, Cai Tao didn't take it to heart.
Firstly, he was an official appointed by the court. Secondly, he was the son of the Prime Minister. According to the Great Song laws, his status allowed for commutation of punishment.
This system of commutation wasn't invented in the Song Dynasty, but it became more lenient in the Song Dynasty, especially by this time, it was even extended to imperial students.
Even imperial students could resolve their crimes with money, although this didn't apply to the ten heinous crimes.
It was just a matter of some copper coins. With the Cai family's wealth, Cai Tao naturally didn't care about such a trivial matter.
"Since Scholar has said so, then please listen carefully. What Scholar said earlier is indeed correct. According to the Great Song laws: 'If a master kills a servant who has committed a crime without official trial, they shall be beaten with a hundred rods. If they kill an innocent servant, they shall be banished for one year!'"
"If that's the case, why are you still talking nonsense? Just tell me how much money you want, and I'll send someone to your residence to collect it. I can afford this small amount!"
"Scholar, please don't rush. Although this fellow was your household servant, if I recall correctly, in the third month of the year before last, His Excellency, to express his gratitude for the Emperor's benevolence, specially granted freedom to all the servants in the entire household. Is that correct?"
Just as Cai Tao was feeling most smug, Zhang Shaoyou spoke again, unhurriedly.
Hearing this, Cai Tao suddenly remembered the matter. At this moment, he finally felt that something was not quite right...
Although this fellow was still Cai's servant, if the Kaifeng Prefecture had already changed his status from lowly to commoner, then in the eyes of the law, he was equivalent to an ordinary civilian!
The law stating, "If a master kills a servant who has committed a crime without official trial, they shall be beaten with a hundred rods. If they kill an innocent servant, they shall be banished for one year," would no longer apply...
"Scholar, you should recall. You just stated this law so clearly. I assume you are also aware of the subsequent one? 'If one deliberately kills with a weapon, they shall be beheaded!'"
At the final word, "beheaded," Zhang Shaoyou deliberately raised his voice.
"You, you..."
At this, fine beads of sweat broke out on Cai Tao's forehead.
"What me? That's right, you are the son of the Prime Minister, and a dignified official of the court. This is the Great Song Dynasty, and the current Emperor is a rare benevolent ruler. In the first year of Jianzhong Jingguo, the Emperor issued a decree: 'If a master beats a servant, male or female, who commits an offense and accidentally causes death during punishment, they shall be forgiven with lenient punishment. For officials and commoners, it shall be treated as a miscellaneous offense.' However, unfortunately, there are no pregnant consorts in the imperial harem now, are there? And it seems there are no signs of any new princes or grandchildren being born in the princes' residences. Tsk, tsk, Scholar, Scholar, your luck seems to be rather poor! This decree probably won't apply to you now, will it?"
As Zhang Shaoyou spoke, Cai Tao's back was already drenched in cold sweat.
Beating his own servant to death was indeed not a major issue. However, killing a free citizen was a far more serious matter, and it carried the penalty of death!
Moreover, in his current situation, people had clearly heard that if the beating continued, someone would die!
And he had clearly ordered them to continue beating. If this wasn't considered murder, then what was?
What made it even more disgusting was that he had committed this act of killing right in front of the Kaifeng Prefecture, under the watchful eyes of many. Even if no one else spoke, Zhao Youyi alone was enough to seal his fate!
What worried him even more was that Zhang Shaoyou's familiarity with their Cai family seemed to far exceed his imagination, which made him recall a past incident he had committed...
"Scholar, do you have anything else to add?"
Seeing his sweat-soaked appearance, Zhang Shaoyou's smile grew even brighter.