Chapter 12: Family rules mean nothing, the king’s law has the final say!
When Old Man Chen and his remaining sons arrived breathlessly at the door of the village head's house, they saw such a tense and explosive scene.
His old face instantly turned the color of liver, not because he felt sorry for his wife, but because he was embarrassed! In front of the whole village, young and old, the Chen family's face was torn off by his eldest daughter-in-law, thrown to the ground and crushed with her feet.
"Village head! Village head, you have to make the decision for our Chen family!" When old man Chen came up, he didn't think about saving people first. Instead, he bowed to the village head and raised his voice high, as if he had the upper hand over all the justice.
He pointed at the half-dead Tian Lao San lying on the ground, then at Chen Kangbo, who was protected by Feng Lan, and started to talk nonsense: "This... this is all a misunderstanding! My eldest daughter is ignorant and had an affair with a man from another village. My son Kangbo saw them, and the couple was afraid that their family scandal would be exposed, so... this is why they made such a fuss, trying to throw the dirty water on me! Village head, you are very observant, don't let them fool you!"
These words were truly vicious. Not only did he want to clear Daya of the crime of selling his granddaughter, he also wanted to turn the tables and accuse her of being unfaithful, portraying Chen Kangbo and Feng Lan as villains who shielded his daughter and framed their elders.
On the way here, he had pieced together the whole story from the intermittent sobbing of the sixth son, Chen Kangyun. He knew that the bad idea was the sixth son's, and his wife was the executor. But he didn't care. Sacrificing a granddaughter's reputation to preserve the family's face and the sixth son's future was a very good deal in his opinion.
The surrounding villagers murmured in surprise and confusion. The Chen family's eldest brother was known for his honesty, but Old Man Chen was the head of the family after all, so some people were skeptical of what he said.
"Old man Chen, shut that stinky mouth!"
Before Feng Lan could explode, the village head's face, which had turned black with anger, turned to him and roared like thunder out of the blue.
"Do you think I'm deaf or blind? Everyone present heard exactly what your old woman said just now! She admitted with her own mouth that she was the one who put the person in there, and she admitted that she wanted to sell her granddaughter. She even bargained with Tian Lao San in front of me, raising the price from ten taels to fifteen taels! Now you tell me it's a misunderstanding? Are you treating everyone in Pingjiang Village as fools?"
The village head's words were so powerful that they blocked all of Old Man Chen's subsequent words in his throat. Old Man Chen's face turned pale and blue, and he was choked and couldn't utter a word for a long time.
The village head turned to Feng Lan again, his tone softened, but still with unquestionable authority: "Mr. Kang, put down the knife first. I promise you, I will handle this matter today impartially and will not show any partiality! If you really kill someone here, even if you are right, you will be wrong."
Feng Lan stared at the trembling old woman with her crimson eyes, then glanced at the upright headman. She knew that by now, her goal had been achieved. Any further stalemate would be disadvantageous to her.
Her wrist loosened and the greasy kitchen knife fell to the ground with a clang.
The old lady of the Chen family felt a chill on her neck, and then her legs went limp. She collapsed to the ground like a puddle of mud, clutching the bloodstain on her neck and gasping for breath. She didn't even have the strength to cry out. At that moment, she truly felt the breath of death. This eldest daughter-in-law really dared to kill her!
Seeing that the crisis was temporarily resolved, the village head heaved a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He looked at Chen Kangbo and said, "Kangbo, how do you want to resolve this matter?"
Chen Kangbo stepped forward, shielding his wife and the daughters who had come running behind him. His voice was steady and resolute, each word coming out as if squeezed from between his teeth: "Village head, we need to report this to the authorities!"
"Report to the police?"
As soon as these two words came out, the expressions of everyone in the Chen family changed.
"No!" Old Man Chen was the first to object. "Family disgrace shouldn't be made public! If we report it to the authorities, where will our Chen family's reputation be? How will our sixth son ever go to the academy and take the imperial examinations? Boss, you're going to ruin our entire family!"
"Face? Fame?" Chen Kangbo sneered, his laughter filled with sadness and determination. "When you were about to push my daughter into the fire pit, why didn't you think about face? When you wanted to use the money from selling my daughter to support his education, why didn't you think about whose corpses his fame would be built on? Dad, I'm saying this today. We're going to report this official! No one can stop us!"
"You unfilial son!" Old man Chen was so angry that he was shaking all over.
The second brother, Chen Kangzhong, covered his leaky mouth and mumbled, "Brother, don't be impulsive. We are all family..."
"Yes, yes, let's talk it out nicely!" Fifth brother Chen Kangshu also quickly agreed.
They were scared, really scared. If they reported the matter to the police, human trafficking would be a serious crime, and the old lady would go to jail, and those of them who knew about it and didn't report it would also be implicated.
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