Shen Qingci opened her eyes and found herself kneeling at the execution ground.
Bound hand and foot, with a wooden placard reading "death row inmate" stuck behind her.
The presiding official read out the charges: stealing government silver, sentenced to immediate execution.
She listened, then laughed.
The chain of evidence was broken, procedure had been violated, the numbers didn't add up, and the witness hadn't signed. In her previous life, this case would have earned her a thirty-thousand-word defense brief.
At the hour of execution, the blade was about to fall.
Shen Qingci stood up and began reciting the law in front of the crowds filling the street.
"Article 137 of the Great Zhou Code: officials who accept more than one hundred taels in bribes are subject to the same punishment as commoners."
"Article 23: a condemned prisoner has the right to speak in their own defense before execution. No one may obstruct them."
"If you kill me now, Your Honor, you will be murdering an innocent person."
The presiding official's face turned green.
The case was sent back for review, and she was acquitted.
The Ministry of Justice's presiding judge asked her, "How does a frail woman like you know so much?"
She thought for a moment. "I spent ten years as a criminal defense lawyer in my previous life. I've handled more cases than you've eaten bowls of rice."
Later, a law office opened in the capital.
A couplet hung over its entrance:
Top line: Even if you're right and broke, you can still sue
Bottom line: Right and wrong will be judged in court
Center inscription: Find Shen Qingci
