"You are slandering us!" Mo Laotian was so angry that his whole body was shaking and he gritted his teeth. "Su, I didn't expect that a woman like you could be so vicious and slander us without any evidence!"
"You also know that you can't slander without any evidence! Aren't you doing exactly this? Why are the officials allowed to set fires but the common people are not allowed to light lamps? You are so shameless!" Su Tai retorted, and his eloquence was so sharp that the onlookers all looked at him and applauded.
The county magistrate took a deep breath and glared at Mo Laotian angrily, "Silence! Mo Laotian, what Su said is reasonable and logical, and you can't talk nonsense without any evidence. If you can't produce evidence to accuse Shen Yi, you will be punished for contempt of court!"
When the gavel was banged, the three members of the Mo family were almost frightened to death and kept kowtowing and begging for mercy.
There must be something hateful about pitiful people. Su Tai was unmoved. She looked coldly at Mo Chunxiang who was huddled in a ball and sneered, "Sir, the Mo family can't produce evidence of our murder, but I can produce their motive for murder. Please ask a doctor or a woman to examine Mrs. Mo carefully. We will know at a glance whether she was beaten by Xiong Kai. Whether the Mo family hates Xiong Kai or not is not up to us to say. Let's see the evidence!"
Su Tai's words were so certain and his expression was so confident that everyone believed him completely.
Mo Laotian and Guan Shi protected Mo Chunxiang tightly and refused to let the yamen runners touch her.
The county magistrate was furious and yelled, "Mo Laotian, Guan Shi! If you disturb the court again, you will be beaten with twenty sticks!"
If the twenty strokes of the stick were really used, Mr. and Mrs. Mo and Tian would be crippled if not killed. They both let go of his hand with tears streaming down their cheeks, crying miserably.
After the doctor and several midwives examined Mo Chunxiang in the inner hall, they came out with faces so solemn that tears seemed to be dripping from their eyes.
The county magistrate knew there was a problem right away, and it was a particularly serious problem. "Midwife, please tell me first, how is Mrs. Mo?"
The two midwives exchanged glances and stepped forward to say respectfully, "Your Excellency, there is not a single good spot on Madam Mo's body from her neck to her feet. There are whip marks all over her body. Some places have been repeatedly injured and have even festered. However, she should not have been beaten recently. Those wounds have scabbed over. But her husband is not a human being. He not only beat her with a whip and a stick, but also burned her with fire. The skin on her stomach is all ruined and covered with scars."
The two of them have been delivering babies for so many years that they have seen all kinds of women's bodies, but they have never seen a body as shocking as Mrs. Mo's.
As soon as she said this, Mo Chunxiang immediately attracted the sympathy of many people. Some people even cursed Xiong Kai out of relief, saying that he deserved to die and that the murderer was getting rid of a harm to the people.
The magistrate frowned, slammed the gavel, and looked at the doctor, "What do you say?"
The doctor hesitated for a moment before slowly saying, "Sir, it is normal for doctors not to disclose the privacy of their patients. However, Mrs. Mo's situation is rather special, and I dare not hide it. Mrs. Mo's body is seriously damaged, and she has some hidden diseases. In addition, she must have suffered inhuman abuse. I am afraid she will not be able to get pregnant again in the future."
"Hiss!" There were bursts of gasps outside the court.
Guan hugged Mo Chunxiang and cried bitterly, then cursed Xiong Kai's ancestors for eighteen generations.
Her behavior actually confirmed what Su Tai said.
The county magistrate began to suspect the three members of the Mo family, "Mo Laotian, when did the Mo family leave the Xiong family? And how did they get back?"
Mo Laotian's heart skipped a beat, knowing that the county magistrate was suspicious of them. He kowtowed desperately and said in panic, "Your Excellency, please understand. We are really innocent. We did not kill Xiong Kai. It was he who beat my daughter every day. My wife and I were worried that she was beaten to death by him, so we would go to check on her every morning.
Xiong Kai is not a human being. He only beats my daughter and never gives her a bite of food. My daughter has been able to hold on until now because we secretly bring her food. The window of Xiong's house is so small and narrow that even a bowl can't be put in. I can only bring cakes to my daughter. I bring her two cakes a day, which is barely enough to fill her stomach.
On February 17th, I went to bring food to my daughter as usual, and found that Xiong Kai was not there. I went again in the evening. I asked my daughter if Xiong Kai had beaten her. She said he didn't beat her today. I didn't think much about it. The next day I brought her food as usual. She said Xiong Kai was not there. The situation was the same on the third day, so we guessed that Xiong Kai would not come back so soon.
My husband and I forced our son to break the lock, and only then did we rescue our daughter. I had two sons, one died in the war, and the other left us for his wife. After the family split up, there was no one to help us. It took a lot of effort for us to take care of our daughter, so how could we possibly go and kill Xiong Kai!
We haven't seen him since the beginning! If you don't believe me, you can ask my neighbors. We live and cook every day, and there are people at home every day. It's impossible for us to go to Shenjiazhuang Daxunhe to kill people!
Xiong Kai only had his uncle from Liujiazhuang and his aunt who died long ago near the Daxun River. Now he had no connection with them. He couldn't go looking for his relatives. The only possibility was to seek revenge on Shen Yi! How could a disabled man like him beat a man like Shen Yi who had all his limbs intact and had been on the battlefield? Shen Yi must have killed him!"
The more Mo Laotian spoke, the more confident he became, as if it were really the case.
Chen Yi was not panicked, he just bowed respectfully to the county magistrate, "Sir, these are all one-sided words of Mo Laotian. He has no evidence. I am upright and not afraid of suspicion. But I also hope that you can catch the real murderer as soon as possible. Before the case makes any progress, I can stay in the county office and come whenever you are summoned."
Since Shen Yi said so, the people really didn't doubt him. After all, Shen Yi was the victim from the beginning, and Xiong Kai was the villain. Even if Shen Yi really killed him, they could understand that such a villain deserved to die.
Su Tai was displeased to see that everyone sympathized with the Mo family. She turned around and walked towards the onlookers, and said crisply, "We are not afraid of being attacked, but I don't want you to be deceived. The Mo family was not innocent at all when they attacked Xiong. When she was at her husband's house, she was lazy and vain. Everyone in Ximen Village knew it.
Her husband's family was tolerant of her because she gave birth to a son, but this only encouraged her arrogance and they felt that it was justified. The Xiong family went to the Mo family to reason with them, but Mo's parents still protected their daughter. Later, when Xiong Kai got into an accident, Mo packed up her things and returned to her parents' home overnight, leaving her mother-in-law and child alone.
Letting the elderly and children struggle to survive, that’s not all, she did something even more extreme.”
"Bitch, how dare you frame my children! Sir, she is talking nonsense, beat her with a stick!" Guan was very excited and kept shouting, with an angry look in her eyes as if she wanted to eat Su Tai alive.
Su Tai sneered and said, "I, Su, swear to heaven that if I tell a lie, I will be struck by lightning and die a miserable death! Do you dare to swear?"
Guan was so angry that she couldn't speak. She kept rolling her eyes and looked like she was going to faint. (End of this chapter)
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