Chapter 35 Little Witness
Daya raised her head, her tear-stained and blood-stained face looking extremely pitiful. She glanced at Zhang Long, then terrifiedly glanced at the old lady not far away, her lips trembling, unable to speak.
"Don't be afraid. With us here, no one dares to do anything to you." Feng Lan encouraged her softly, "Tell the official everything you know."
Daya took a deep breath, as if mustering up all her courage, and spoke incoherently: "It's... it's grandma... This afternoon, after my parents were taken away, grandma... she forced me... forced me to come to Zhang Quezi's house..."
"She said that Zhang Quezi was willing to pay fifteen taels of silver... to buy me... She said that if I was willing to come and take the silver back, she would... go to the county government office and plead for my parents to be released..."
"I...I have no choice...I can only come..."
"I knocked on the door, and Zhang Quezi... he was drunk... he opened the door and pulled me in, and... he touched me..." Daya's voice was full of fear and humiliation, and she subconsciously clutched her torn collar.
"I struggled, and he hit me... I pushed him away and tried to run away, but he... he pulled out the knife from under the table... He said, 'Today I'm his, and if I dare to run, he'll... he'll stab me to death...'"
"I was scared, so I backed away, retreating to the corner... He... He rushed towards me with a knife... I... I don't know what happened. There was a bench nearby, so I... I grabbed the bench and threw it at him..."
"After being hit, he seemed to become even angrier, swearing and charging forward again with the knife in hand... Then... Then he seemed to trip over something and fell forward... The knife... The knife... just stabbed into him..."
Daya couldn't say any more when she got to this point. She broke down completely and burst into tears while hugging Feng Lan.
Although her words were somewhat disjointed, she basically explained what had happened.
Zhang Long and Zhao Hu exchanged glances, both finding her story highly plausible. The traces at the scene largely matched her account. Zhang Quezi was drunk and unsteady on his feet. While lunging at Daya, he fell and was accidentally stabbed to death. Legally, this was an accident; Daya was merely a contributing factor, not murder.
But the root of the whole thing clearly points to one person.
Everyone's attention was once again focused on the old lady of the Chen family.
"You lying little bastard!" The old lady knew she was in trouble when she heard this. She immediately jumped up and cursed. "You're talking nonsense! You dare to make up any lies to get away with it! When did I ask you to come? Who saw it? Who heard it?"
She had made up her mind that she would never admit it unless there was circumstantial evidence. What kind of evidence could a little girl's words serve as?
"I saw it! And I heard it!"
A clear but angry voice came from behind the crowd.
Everyone looked back and saw that the two little girls, Erya and Sanya, had also run over from Doctor Sun's house. Behind them was Doctor Sun, who had rushed over after hearing the news.
Erya was braver than Daya. Although she was also afraid, she stood up when she saw her sister being slandered. She pointed at the old lady and shouted, "It's you! Grandma! This afternoon, you forced my eldest sister to come to Zhang the Lame's house in the yard! You said you would sell her for fifteen taels of silver! You also said that if she didn't come, she would have to wait to collect the bodies of her parents! We all heard it!"
"Yes! We all heard it!" San Ya also shouted, although her voice was not loud, her eyes were firm.
"And us!" In the corner, two smaller girls also nodded timidly.
Several granddaughters came forward to testify at the same time!
At this moment, the old lady of the Chen family's face turned completely ashen. She had never expected that these granddaughters, whom she usually regarded as money-losing goods and dared not even breathe, would dare to collectively stand up to her today!
"You...you ungrateful bastards! You eat and drink from our Chen family, and now you have united to help your thief mother to frame me, your own grandmother! You...you will be struck by lightning!" The old lady was furious and cursed without thinking.
"That's enough!" Zhang Long shouted at her to stop her tantrum. "Ms. Chen! Now that we have the witnesses and evidence, do you still want to quibble?"
He waved his hand and said to his attendants, "Tie her up! This case involves human life and is riddled with suspicion! This girl is a crucial witness! You and your granddaughters must all come back to the county government office with us to explain everything!"
"What? You still want to take us with you?" Doctor Sun was anxious when he heard this. "Sir, these children are scared, and Daya is still injured..."
"This is the order of the County Magistrate!" Zhang Long said without question. "The case is serious. All relevant parties must be included! Don't worry, we're just going back to question them. We won't embarrass the child."
Just like that, Feng Lan and her family, who had just returned from the county government office, had no time to catch their breath before they had to set out on the journey back to the county government office.
But this time, the team included an old lady from the Chen family who looked ashen and was tied up tightly with ropes, and a few young witnesses who were afraid but had extremely determined eyes.
The old lady of the Chen family was pushed forward by the yamen runners. As she passed Feng Lan, she suddenly stopped and glared at her with a look of extreme resentment, squeezing out a few words from between her teeth: "You...you won't be so proud for long! Just wait! Even if I become a ghost, I won't let your family go!"
Feng Lan looked at her coldly and replied word by word, "I'll wait. But I'm afraid you don't even qualify to be a ghost. After all, some people who go to hell are thrown into a frying pan and fried forever."
The old lady was choked by her words and almost fainted on the spot.
The procession set out again in a mighty procession. The afterglow of the setting sun cast the shadows of this strange procession into a long, distant place. Feng Lan held Daya tightly, while Chen Kangbo protected his other daughters. Little did they know what thrilling game of chess awaited them in the courtroom ahead.
But they knew that this time, they were not alone.
Behind them stands justice, the law of nature, and those few small figures who finally mustered up the courage to choose to stand with them.
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