Chapter 158 Li Shuangshuang Divorces

Xie Yan looked at the two men and asked in a deep voice, "I just heard you say you were interfering with the work and wanted to put someone in jail. What kind of work are you doing? How come two yamen runners who are responsible for checking the city gates are now doing the work of handling cases?"

"Little one, little one..." Ma Chong felt uneasy.

The other officer hated Ma Chong to death at this moment. If he hadn't had a good relationship with Ma Chong and he had asked him for a favor, he would never have met the county magistrate.

He immediately distanced himself from the matter: "Your Excellency, we don't have to be on duty today. It was Ma Chong who asked me for help with something. I have a good relationship with him, so I agreed. I just helped out and went through the motions. I don't know anything else."

Ma Chong gritted his teeth in anger when he saw that his good brother was disassociating himself from the matter in order to protect himself, but he also knew that he was the one who got implicated in this matter.

He nodded silently.

Mrs. Ma was anxious, and when she saw Ma Chong didn't say anything, she immediately stepped forward and cried, "Sir, you have to make the decision for our family.

Li Shuangshuang is the daughter-in-law of my Liu family. My son beat her because she talked back to her parents-in-law. Unexpectedly, she got angry and went back to her parents' home and stayed there for several days. All the housework was done by my old man and I, two old bones, and we were so tired that we couldn't even straighten our backs.

We came to pick up her mother and her children a few days ago, but they refused to come back and beat my son. We were so angry that we asked the two officers for help. We also ask the adults to give our family justice. "

Xie Yan asked: "How many sons do you have?"

Mrs. Ma was stunned, not understanding why he asked this question, and said hesitantly, "Two."

Xie Yan said: "There are two sons in the family, but you want to do the housework by yourself. Does that mean your two sons watch you work hard but don't take on the housework? This is so unfilial that you should be beaten with a stick thirty times and imprisoned for three years."

Ma Pozi and Liu Zhaocai were stunned. They were saying that Li Shuangshuang was unfilial, but how did this become the case with them brothers being unfilial?

Liu Zhaocai immediately defended himself: "No, sir, we brothers also work, but we brothers are not superhuman, we can only take care of the farm and not the family.

My parents don’t want to see us get sick from working too hard, so they want to help us. But they are old, and it’s easy to get tired just by doing some housework. Besides, it’s not appropriate for Li Shuangshuang to stay in her parents’ home after marrying into our family.”

Xie Yan said: "First of all, our dynasty's laws do not stipulate that married women cannot live in their parents' home for a long time. Secondly, I also heard clearly why she lived in her parents' home for a long time.

First you abused your wife and children, then you wanted to demote your wife and marry someone else, and now you have bribed the yamen runners in an attempt to use your power to oppress others. You are so bold.

The laws of our dynasty stipulate that if a man abuses his wife and children without reason, demotes his wife and marries another man, he shall be beaten with 20 sticks and imprisoned for one month, and his wife may choose to divorce him; if he bribes the yamen runners, he shall be beaten with 30 sticks and imprisoned for one year.

The Jing Dynasty paid great attention to population. If men and women were old and did not want to get married, the government would arrange their marriages.

These laws are also the result of constant revisions following numerous tragedies, and are also intended to protect the population.

Whether it is beating or demoting the wife and marrying another man, there is a high probability that the woman will choose to end her life because she cannot bear the public opinion.

The intention is to use these laws to shock people, but many small places do not publicize these laws.

In addition, many people have been taught since childhood that after getting married, they belong to their partner in life and in death.

Being divorced or divorced will make the family of the wife lose face and will affect the marriage of the girls in the wife's family, so those who can endure it will endure it. After a long time, they will either die of depression or end their lives.

Tragedy is more likely to happen to people who do not understand the law.

Ma Pozi and Liu Zhaocai collapsed to the ground. How could it be so serious?

Xie Yan looked at Ma Chong and the other man and said, "As for the two of you, you accepted bribes and abused your power for personal gain. As for the punishment, I will decide it after we return to the county government."

The two men staggered, and the other yamen runner immediately explained: "Sir, I did not accept bribes. I just came here to help out of friendship. Moreover, I came here without saying a word. Please understand, sir."

Ma Chong also came to his senses and immediately said, "Sir, I didn't accept any benefits. I just helped. Please understand."

Xie Yan ignored the two and called Qingfeng: "Qingfeng, collect the weapons, tie them up first, put them in the carriage, and deal with them later."

"yes."

"My Lord, please let me go this time..."

Qingfeng took off their outer short jackets and stuffed them into their mouths, then pulled down their corsets and tied their hands.

Grab one in each hand and stuff them into the carriage.

Xie Yan glanced at Li Wanyue. She lowered her head and her expression could not be seen.

Zhang Mei immediately walked up to Xie Yan and wanted to kneel down, but was stopped by Xie Yan.

"Sir, you must make the decision for my daughter. She has suffered a lot."

Zhang Mei repeated what happened: "Sir, everything I said is true. We don't ask for anything else, but that Liu Zhaocai divorce my daughter and that the two children go to my daughter."

Liu Zhaocai came back to his senses and begged with a look of regret: "Sir, I know I was wrong. I will never do anything to Shuangshuang again."

He kowtowed to Zhang Mei and said, "Father and mother-in-law, please give me a chance. I will treat them well and never do anything wrong outside again. Shuangshuang, please help me beg for mercy."

Li Shuangshuang walked up to Liu Zhaocai with an expressionless face and slapped him in the face.

Liu Zhaocai looked at her in shock, but didn't dare to fight back.

"Liu Zhaocai, I've had enough. I want to divorce you."

After saying that, he looked at Xie Yan and knelt down suddenly: "Please, sir, I want to divorce him."

Xie Yan couldn't help him, so he just said, "Get up. According to the law, I agree to your divorce. Who has paper and pen?"

"I have some at home." Li Sandong responded and ran home to get paper and pen.

Xie Yan personally wrote the divorce letter, and stated that the two children would belong to Li Shuangshuang, and that the Liu family would not interfere in the children's affairs in the future.

The handwriting is vigorous and powerful, flowing smoothly.

Li Shuangshuang pressed her fingerprints without hesitation, and no matter how reluctant Liu Zhaocai was, he had no choice but to do so.

Xie Yan asked Qingfeng to tie up Liu Zhaocai and send them to the county government office. He would be beaten with twenty boards and imprisoned for a month.

The Liu family was also asked to compensate Li Wanyue with two taels of silver to repair the bracelet.

The Liu family left in shame.

The end of this incident also made the villagers stop thinking about beating and scolding their wives and children.

Xie Yan had been thinking about how to publicize this law, and today people saw it with their own eyes. I think there will be fewer incidents of beating wives in the future.

However, some people did not believe it, thinking that Xie Yan was close to the Li family and that he helped because of their relationship.

But he is the county magistrate, and even if he knows that he is biased towards the Li family, he dare not stand up and refute it.

He no longer dared to say anything unpleasant to the Li family.

Li Shuangshuang and her family expressed their gratitude to Xie Yan and Li Wanyue.

Zhang Mei smiled and said, "Today, thanks to you for taking care of us. Please do us the honor of staying for dinner so that we can express our gratitude."

Xie Yan refused: "Don't be polite, it's my fault for not managing things properly that this happened, forget about the meal, I have something else to do."

Next to them, Li Wanyue said a few words to Li Shuangshuang, then turned around and walked home.

Xie Yan followed her footsteps, and seeing that she ignored him, he couldn't help but ask her: "What's wrong with you? You don't look well."