Chapter 218 - On-site Investigation

The resident policeman stood there meekly and was scolded by Xu Ke. Xu Ke was qualified to scold him; he had worked as a police officer in the old world. If it weren’t for his ambition for intelligence and the navy, he would have long since secured a high position at the police headquarters, at least no lower than Mu Min.

The police headquarters had formulated detailed work procedures and manuals for the naturalized police officers. Many things were simplified to be as easy to understand as possible. But when Xu Ke looked at the “Police Pavilion,” the resident policeman’s level of competence could only be described as a complete mess. In contrast, the police officers at the several police stations were much better in terms of professional quality. It seemed that having an Elder to guide them was necessary to get things on the right track.

Now, having a local soldier to run errands was much better than this policeman who knew nothing. Xu Ke immediately instructed him to lead the way to gather information.

An Xi had already obtained the confession of the “adulterer” in the county yamen prison—though, at Ma Jia’s suggestion, it was more appropriate to call him a “suspect” in accordance with modern legal concepts.

As for the “adulteress”—now called the “party concerned”—Ma Jia had instructed that she be temporarily sent to the county yamen prison for “protective custody.” He was deeply afraid that the man’s clan would pull some stunt like catching the adulterers and drowning them in a pig cage, which would escalate the situation.

Now, Xu Ke had come personally to collect evidence of their adultery. After some discussion, the case handlers at the Law Society found the case a bit tricky. They had looked up the relevant provisions of the Great Ming Code and the Great Proclamations and found that for the issue of adultery, the Great Ming Code stipulated that unless the couple was “caught in the act” red-handed, it was “not to be prosecuted if not caught at the scene of the crime.” In other words, the government would not intervene based merely on hearsay or learning of it after the fact.

Even if they were caught in the act, the adulterer and adulteress would only be “caned ninety times,” and the adulteress would be “sold by her husband, or if the husband wishes to keep her, he may.” The only restriction was that she could not be sold to the adulterer.

From this perspective, the actual enforcement of the crime of adultery in the Great Ming Code was not strong, and could even be said to be very lenient. The so-called “severity” was merely that the law exempted the husband from the crime of “killing them on the spot.” Moreover, killing the adulterous couple after the fact would still be subject to legal liability.

“I think this legal thinking is quite advanced,” An Xi commented. “It emphasizes evidence.”

“Advanced it may be, but it makes our case difficult,” Xu Ke thought. This way, according to the Great Ming Code, the “adulterer” would get off scot-free. The sailor had not “caught them in the act,” it was merely “hearsay.” To put it bluntly, there was no evidence, and according to the Great Ming Code, the result would be “not to be prosecuted.” This did not align with the “undermining a military marriage” tone they had initially set.

“No problem, he confessed,” An Xi said. He had personally spoken with the “suspect” and the “party concerned,” and both had admitted to the affair. They had been secretly seeing each other for about three or four months.

“A confession is good, of course. But we want to create a legal concept that values not only confessions but also circumstantial and physical evidence,” Ma Jia said. “The legal concept in ancient society was to value confessions, which is why they resorted to torture to extract them, leading to forced confessions. This habit continued into later generations. Our approach is to have both confessions and evidence.”

Implementing a modern “zero-confession” case handling system was not feasible in this time and place—the transmigrator group simply lacked the technology and professional ability. Advanced concepts must have an advanced foundation. However, physical and circumstantial evidence represented the direction of progress and were more convincing to the common people than confessions. Ma Jia hoped to convey this concept through this case.

Led by Fu Fu, Xu Ke first went to the suspect’s home. Both the suspect and the sailor lived in the East Village of Meiyang. Both families were originally from Fujian as “shegeng” (migrant) farmers. However, the suspect’s family had arrived earlier, settling here more than ten years ago.

“I heard his old man came very early, worked as a hired hand in the village, and died a few years ago. He left behind three sons. This man originally had two brothers, and his mother should still be alive,” Fu Fu said, leading the way and explaining the family’s situation.

The roads in East Village were paved with gravel, and the streets were clean, but the overall standard was clearly not as good as in West Village, where the immigrants lived. Xu Ke thought to himself, it’s no wonder there’s conflict between the natives and the immigrants! As he thought, he casually asked:

“What about the sailor’s family situation?”

“Also Fujianese shegeng farmers, hired hands…”

Xu Ke listened and made mental notes. He also found it a bit incredible because, according to the interrogation record, the suspect was a young man of eighteen or nineteen, while the “party concerned” was nearly forty. Although her appearance was not old due to her worry-free life as a saleswoman in East Gate Market for the past two years, she was still a middle-aged woman by the standards of the time. The soldier had said that this woman had even given birth to three or four children. From the photo in the case file, she had no attractive features at all. In the words of the otaku, “couldn’t even get it up.” If it weren’t for An Xi’s personal confession recording, where both admitted to the affair, Xu Ke would have even thought it was likely a case of a jealous husband’s wild suspicions.

Xu Ke asked, “He’s a young lad. How could he be so infatuated with this middle-aged woman?”

Fu Fu gave a dry laugh. “Chief, we’ve always had more men than women here. The shegeng farmers who came from the mainland were originally poor, and most didn’t bring their wives. They had no money, so finding a wife was harder than climbing to heaven—”

When he was a household servant, Fu Bu’er often used Fu Xi, Fu Yue, and Fu Yijin as incentives to make them work hard. The difficulty of finding a wife was a major problem in all the prefectures and counties of Hainan during the Ming Dynasty.

“I see,” Xu Ke nodded. That would explain it.

As they walked, a group of children and idle people had already gathered behind them. Everyone had heard that the Chief was going to “try a case”—adultery cases were always popular entertainment for the common people, and everyone wanted to see the excitement.

The two walked to the end of the village. Fu Fu pointed to two houses. They were the common farmhouses here, with bamboo and wood frames, bamboo-slat walls plastered with yellow mud, and thatched roofs.

But poverty also had its levels: the thatch on one roof had turned black and was sprouting weeds. The yellow mud was cracked, revealing the rotting bamboo slats in many places. Some places had outright holes. The door was made of reeds and was half-open. The inside of the house was dark, and a foul smell emanated from it even before they got close. In terms of dilapidation, it was probably not an exaggeration to say it was the poorest in the village.

The other house was much better. The thatch was new straw from this year’s summer rice harvest and was still golden yellow. The yellow mud walls were coated with whitewash and were neatly maintained. The door was made of wood, currently closed and locked. A wooden plaque with the words “Military Family” was nailed above the door.

Without Fu Fu’s explanation, Xu Ke knew which house belonged to whom. He looked around. Not far away was a pile of timber—probably for a family planning to build a house, already dried. He walked over to the timber and sat down, asking Fu Fu to call the family members and neighbors of both households.

“Chief, are you going to try the case?”

“No, this isn’t a trial. It’s an investigation,” Xu Ke said. “A trial has to be held in court.”

“You’re going to question the accused, isn’t that a trial?”

“These aren’t criminals. They are witnesses,” Xu Ke patiently explained the difference, giving the soldier a little legal education. He thought to himself that he should probably conduct some legal education activities in the army in the future.

Fu Fu nodded repeatedly. “I’ll go find them for you right away.”

Hearing that the Chief was going to “try a case,” many idle people from the village came to watch the excitement, creating a noisy crowd. Even the resident policeman and Fu Bu’er came to maintain order. Xu Ke paid them no mind and began by questioning the suspect’s mother, who was the first to arrive.

The suspect’s mother spoke in a thick Minnan dialect. Fortunately, Fu Fu had dealt with shegeng farmers since he was a child and understood the dialect, so he acted as a temporary interpreter and took notes at the same time.

Xu Ke sized up the woman before him. At first glance, she looked to be in her sixties or seventies, but on closer inspection, she didn’t seem that old.

The woman knelt down as soon as she saw Xu Ke. Xu Ke waved his hand. “Stand up and speak.”

“Your humble servant dares not.” Probably knowing that her son had committed an offense and brought shame upon the family, the woman didn’t dare to raise her head.

“Stand up and speak. We don’t do this here.”

Fu Fu also chimed in, “The Chief told you to stand up, so stand up. This is the Australian custom.”

After she stood up, Xu Ke asked a few personal questions and learned that she was not yet fifty, but her hair was already graying, her face was full of wrinkles, and she looked old and worn. Her clothes were made of local blue-dyed homespun cloth—this cloth was very durable, as thick as a copper coin, but her clothes were already covered in patches upon patches. In some places, the blue had faded completely, revealing the white of the cloth, showing how old the clothes were.

Xu Ke asked about the affair between the suspect and the party concerned. The woman did not hide anything and told him everything, admitting that it was true:

It had started because the party concerned found a job as a saleswoman in East Gate Market, with room and board included. With her husband in the army, the house was left unattended.

“…She was afraid that with both husband and wife away, the house and vegetable garden would be uncared for, so she entrusted them to my son and me. My child helped her with the garden every day, and would carry the harvested vegetables to the market to sell, splitting the money with her. Every ten days or half a month, he would also go to East Gate Market to deliver money and vegetables to her…”

In the process of delivering money and vegetables, their relationship gradually warmed up.

“…She saw that my family was poor and often came to my house under the pretext of helping us, seducing my son. Our two families are from the same hometown and have been neighbors for many years. If I had known she had such intentions, I would never have accepted her money and rice!” The woman became more and more angry as she spoke, with an expression that said, “My son is good, he was just seduced by a fox spirit.”

“You have three sons. How can your life be so miserable?” Xu Ke found it strange. With three strong laborers in the family, given the current wage level for hired labor, even if they didn’t work in a factory or on a construction site, the income from working as a hired hand in the countryside should not have led to such a miserable life.