Chapter 801 Information (7 chapters added for the reward from the book friend "Jinyiwei: Rongrong")
The information on newborns in Qili Village is easy to find. The number of newborns in a village is limited each year. Unfortunately, the village head reports only the simplest numbers, but there are too many official documents to be exchanged and copies of notices posted on the bulletin board.
Not to mention looking for it, even finding it takes a lot of effort.
County Magistrate Tang didn't care how they looked for it; he just wanted to see it.
He ate a little and then compared the data he had just found with the household registration.
Because the children were registered at different ages, he had to look through quite a few books. Even if there was only information about Qili Village, it would take him a lot of effort.
Fortunately, he had done this kind of boring work many times, and he could read ten lines at a glance, so his memory was good. He took a piece of white paper and wrote down the people who were born between the first and third years of Dazhen in the household registration, and then compared it with the newborn data reported by the village head.
But you can't get what you want by comparing, because children are very likely to die young. Some are recorded in the register, while some children don't even have time to be registered and are only in the data provided by the head of the village - born or dead.
County Magistrate Tang listed the data hidden in the documents, eliminated them one by one, and finally fixed his eyes on the second and third years of Dazhen.
On the large piece of paper he listed, Zhou Man's name was recorded under the second year of Dazhen, indicating that she was born in the second year of Dazhen. There were three people born in the same year in Qili Village who were registered in the household register, including Zhou Man and her nephew Zhou Lixue.
But that year, the number of people reported by the village head was two. Strangely, in the third year of Dazhen, the village head reported three newborns, but the register showed that there were only two children born that year. County Magistrate Tang compared the register at the back with the number of deaths and their ages reported, and found that no baby born in the third year of Dazhen had died.
Therefore, the newborn baby in the third year of Dazhen was actually Zhou Man who was born in the second year of Dazhen.
But why?
Why did Zhou Man delay the report for one year?
Especially when the Zhou family has a newborn.
The data were all reported before the seal was issued before the New Year. Zhou Man's birthday was in November, so there was still time to report it.
County Magistrate Tang closed the book with a stern face, folded the page of paper and put it in his arms, then walked to the bed and looked at the crescent moon in the sky.
He sighed softly. He knew that since the longevity lock was on Manbao, he would definitely be able to find something out by checking her.
County Magistrate Tang stood at the window, listening to the crowing of cocks coming from somewhere, and then he realized that it was already four o'clock in the morning.
He rubbed his forehead and felt very sleepy, so he turned and went to the backyard to rest.
His long-servant, Mingli, had fallen asleep by the door, his coat in his arms. He jolted awake at the sound of the door opening. He quickly wiped his face and followed, "Master, are you finally ready to sleep?"
"Well," County Magistrate Tang said, "get some sleep. Remember to send a beheading meal to Zhou Dali in prison in the morning."
"Don't worry, sir. I won't forget it."
This was the time when people were most soundly asleep, but the bald man in the prison slept very restlessly because of the injuries on his back and buttocks. In addition, he was very hungry, so he could not fall asleep at all. He could only close his eyes and occasionally fight with the rats that ran across his body.
Just as he was enduring it, he heard the footsteps of patrol officers outside the door again. He was used to it. They had patrolled several times after nightfall. He was not used to it the first time and thought they were here to interrogate him. Later, he found out that they were just patrolling, so he lay down obediently.
Baldy closed his eyes and didn't move, but he heard footsteps stop outside his door. He was just wondering when he heard a small voice outside the door, "This is the death row prisoner. He looks no different from ordinary people. What crime did he commit?"
The bald man froze, and then he heard another man say, "Who knows what crime he committed? After all, it was Magistrate Tang who arrested him, so he can't be wrong. We should just follow the orders from above."
"But this is too fast. I always feel something is wrong. Although I have never seen a death row prisoner, I heard from Lord Yang that the death row prisoner must be reported to the Ministry of Justice for review. County Magistrate Tang arrested someone and wanted to behead him without even a trial. What if it was a wrongful conviction..."
"Oh, why are you so stupid? County Magistrate Yang is not in the city right now, and County Magistrate Tang is the temporary magistrate sent by the higher-level county. We are just minor officials. How can we say that we have made a mistake in handling the case?"
The bald man's heart sank as he listened, and he couldn't help but slightly open his eyes. He saw two people standing at the door of his cell. He pricked up his ears and heard the man continue, "Our county magistrate is only a seventh-rank official, while County Magistrate Tang is a sixth-rank official, a full rank higher than ours. Not to mention us, even if County Magistrate Yang returned, he wouldn't overturn his verdict. Even though our Luojiang County is now more prosperous, it still can't compare to Huayang County. County Magistrate Tang naturally wants to finish the case as soon as possible and return."
"No matter whether Baldy did it or not, if we catch him, then he's the one who did it. We can then execute him and report it to the higher-ups, saying he committed suicide out of fear of punishment or something like that, and we can just muddle through it."
After hearing this, Baldy's whole body went limp.
"It's an old case anyway. The evidence is insufficient to say who did it. When County Magistrate Tang closes the case and is awarded merit, he can leave and we'll feel much more at ease."
"Well, it's a human life after all."
"That's just bad luck. Who told him not to say anything? Even we can see that he's hiding something. Who can we blame if he hasn't said anything?"
"Yeah, let's go. This is the last trip, right? I have to patrol every night, it's so tiring."
"Isn't it..."
Baldy watched the two figures turn and walk away from the corner of his eye, then tremblingly stuffed his fist into his mouth to prevent himself from screaming. He was so frightened that tears streamed down his face...
After daybreak, the officers carried wooden buckets and used wooden spoons to distribute breakfast. Each person received a spoonful of porridge and a brown steamed bun mixed with bran.
Baldy was leaning on the railing at the door and looking out. The officers ignored him and sent him to the cell at the corner and were about to leave.
Baldy was so hungry that he couldn't stand it anymore and shouted, "Brother, brother, sir, I, I don't have any food today?"
"You?" The officer glanced back at him, his eyes full of sympathy. "Yes, but yours is a little different from theirs. You'll have to wait a moment."
The bald man was stunned.
The officer had already left with his things and didn't turn back no matter how he called out.
Just as the bald man was feeling desperate, two officers came over with two large food boxes, smiling. They walked straight up to the bald man, asked him to step aside with a very polite attitude, then opened the door of the cell and brought in the food boxes.
When I opened it, there was a whole stewed chicken, a fish, duck for soup, and a big bowl of white rice...
The officer placed all the food in front of the bald man, and even took out a pot of wine and placed it in front of him. He said to him with a smile: "You haven't eaten for a day. Are you hungry? Come and eat quickly."
Good night
(End of this chapter)
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