Chapter 40: Great Joy (2)

  "Big brother, big brother, what's wrong with you? Isn't this far from over?" The confused Mrs. Li was still shouting in the hall.

  "Silence! How dare you, a woman, shout in the court?" Zheng Zhi Gao rebuked loudly. "Now, tell me again, when did Chen Tian Fa borrow money from you and when did he promise to give his daughter to you as collateral? Tell me everything truthfully."

  Looking at the scene in front of her, she didn't want to admit that leaning on a mountain would no longer work. She rolled her eyes and said with a flattering tone: "The woman is telling the truth, those poor devils from the Chen family borrowed five taels of silver from me a few days ago, saying their old father was ill and they had no rice to cook at home, so I pitied them and gave them the money."

  "What's going on with the girl from his family?" Zheng Zhi asked loudly, and Li Zheng's wife knelt forward, "Sir, women are really pitiful. I lent them money with good intentions, but my family is not rich either. I still have a son to marry a daughter-in-law." The tearful performance made everyone in the hall laugh.

  "Oh, you said you actually lent money to his family?"

  "Yes, I did lend them money. Alas, it cost me my life to bring up my son, only to have them turn against us like this. Why is my fate so bitter?" At that moment, the vast county government office could only hear her wailing cries.

  "You're talking nonsense, my dad didn't borrow any money from you! Our money is all earned by ourselves. You're lying, you big cheat!" Ruihao shouted excitedly in the hall.

  Zhang Zhongquan patted him on the shoulder to comfort him, and Rui Xuan's eyes were red with anger. Perhaps in a child's world, he didn't think there was such a shameless person.

  "Oh dear heavens, what have I done to deserve this? Good deeds go unrewarded indeed. My life is truly bitter." Snot and tears flowed freely, and Xi Mei couldn't help but wonder how she could act so well.

  "Shut up!" Zheng Zhi Gao was probably also annoyed by her crying and loudly scolded her.

  Dramatically, Li Zheng's wife immediately shut her mouth, and her tears also stopped abruptly, looking at him in confusion.

  "Did you say your son was also present at the time?" Zheng Zhigao asked.

  "Yes, my son was there, he heard it very clearly." Li Zheng's wife secretly rejoiced in her heart. She thought to herself, what kind of powerful backer could the poor Chen family find? They would still be fooled by just a couple of sentences. This time she wouldn't let that ignorant family off easily.

  "The woman's son is now nowhere to be found, otherwise call him up and everything will be clear. Thinking happily in her heart, let alone not being able to find her son now, even if she finds him, can her son help a group of outsiders?"

  The abacus in her mind clicked away, and she gradually gained confidence. She said loudly, "If you don't believe me, you can call my son over and ask him. The truth will be revealed."

  "Is that so?" Zheng Zhi Gao looked at her with a hint of a smile, and both Li Zheng and his wife felt somewhat hesitant. But then they thought, if their own son couldn't find it, how could they?

  They all nodded in unison and said "yes".

  "All right, let's summon Zhou Dazhuang to the hall."

  As soon as the words fell, I saw the couple's expression stiffen, but they quickly returned to normal.

  "Let go, let go." Several servants dressed in uniform dragged a man to the hall, "Report to your lordship, Zhou Dazhuang has arrived."

  After finishing speaking, he respectfully retreated. When Mr. and Mrs. Zhou saw their son, they were stunned for a moment, then the wife let out a loud cry and rushed forward to throw herself on her son's body. Originally, Zhou Dazhuang's severely injured area was pressed by his mother's massive body, almost making him unable to breathe.

  But his mother was still completely unaware, continuing to wail on him "Son, what's wrong with you? You went out fine, how did you come back in this state? Quickly tell your mother, don't be afraid, your uncle is here too, let your uncle help you vent."

  The master who had just recovered heard his silly sister say this and fainted again.

  "Mother, let's go, don't tell anymore." Zhou Dazhuang advised timidly.

  "What? You said you wouldn't tell?" Zhou Dazhuang ignored his mother's cries, and with his injured body, he tried to head home. Just then, a faint cough came from the crowd, and he immediately knelt back down on the ground.

  "Sir, I surrender, I completely surrender." He continuously kowtowed to Zheng Zhi Gao.

  "Oh, you admit your mistake? What mistake? Your parents didn't say there was anything wrong with your family."

  "Son, what nonsense are you talking about? What's wrong with our family? Have you gone mad? Didn't the Chen family borrow money from us and then couldn't pay it back and wanted to use their daughter as collateral? How can you talk such nonsense?" Li Zheng's wife hastily pulled at Zhou Dazhuang's clothes.

  "Mother, don't say anything else, let's plead guilty." He couldn't help but shudder at the memory of that person's whispered 'advice' in his ear.

  "What crime have you committed?" Zheng Zhi Gao asked with interest.

  "It's just that the common people are blind, they've taken a liking to the eldest daughter of the Chen family, so they asked my mother to bring her to our house, but the Chen family refused. My parents and I discussed framing them, after all, we have my uncle on our side, in the end, we can always get them to confess, but unexpectedly, unexpectedly..."

  "Who would have thought that I'd pop up halfway?" A confident smile, "Is there anything else you haven't confessed to? Take advantage of the fact that this official has some free time and confess everything at once."

  "Alright, madam, that's all. Just this one thing." The wife of the Li family hastily replied, just this one thing is enough for our family to drink a pot, what more could we want?

  "Is it really gone?"

  "There really isn't any." Lǐ Zhèng hastily replied, just as Zhōu Dàzhuàng lowered his head in silence. The coughing sound that had just stopped started up again, and upon hearing it, Zhōu Dàzhuàng's whole body trembled.

  "Wait, sir, there's still one more thing," Zhou Dazhuang said, having already lost all hope. "Son, what nonsense are you spouting? How can there be anything else? Have you gone mad?" His mother grabbed his clothes, trying to stop him.

  Zhou Dazhuang forced a smile, didn't he know what to say and what not to say? But thinking about the inhuman torture he suffered two days ago, if he didn't confess properly, what awaited him was worse than death.

  That child, no, perhaps it's not right to call him a child, at such a young age he already has an intimidating presence that cannot be ignored. When he looks down on you from above, it's as if he's looking at a pile of mud.

  If you don't confess honestly, what awaits you will be...

  Forget it, let's just follow the will of heaven. "Replying to Your Honor, I'm a humble commoner. This humble commoner has also kidnapped and sold Chen family's little daughter before." What? As soon as these words came out, everyone around was shocked with their eyes wide open.

  But immediately, chirping sounds came from all sides.

  "Alas, it's really ruthless, even abducting such a small child of others, it's really lost all conscience." A big woman looked at him with disdain and said.

  "It's all because of his own selfish desires that he sold someone else's daughter, causing a family to be torn apart. He deserves to go to hell after he dies." A young wife added.

  The Chen family was already furious beyond control, and unexpectedly, the culprit was someone by their side. If he hadn't confessed himself, no one would have thought it was him who did it.

  Luckily someone held back Chen Tianfa, otherwise he would have gone up to fight. Zhao's family also remembered the fear at that time and cried uncontrollably. The crowd was filled with accusatory voices.

  Li Zhengfu and his wife knew that the situation was already hopeless, and they fell to the ground. Zheng Zhi saw that his goal had been achieved, ordered the people around him to make a good confession, and called for someone to take the three of them, along with their teacher, away.

  Just as Zheng Zhi Gao was about to leave, the plump county magistrate came forward with a flattering smile and said: "Your Excellency has traveled far and must be tired. Why not let me take you on a good stroll?"

  Zheng Zhi Gao looked at him with a smile, "Do you think that after what happened today, you can still sit safely in the county magistrate's position? Wake up."

  As soon as the words fell, the county magistrate's face changed. "Your Honor, I am innocent. It was that teacher who misled me, everything was done by him, and has nothing to do with me." He didn't even wipe the sweat from his face, and kept explaining.

  "Save that for when you're in the big prison. I don't think your black hat is going to be kept safe. Bring some people." He called over a few trusted men and had the county magistrate dragged away.

  The whole county government was in an uproar, Zheng Zhi's loud voice rang out clear and bright, saying "Tomorrow this official will personally preside over the trial of those people. Everyone, if you have any past grievances or unjust cases, go back and get them in order, this official will investigate each one. Now everyone can go home, and also spread the word to your neighbors."

  After finishing, he helped Chen Tianfa up and left. Xi Mei watched the common people cheer happily, and thought from her heart that this governor was really good and worth getting along with.

  But now there's no time to think about this, cheering along with her family as they go find her dad.