Old Mrs. Li nodded, then recalled for a moment and said, "I was coming back from picking vegetables when I heard a scream from next door. I went closer and saw a young man in coarse clothes with an iron rod stuck in his abdomen. Upon closer inspection, I saw that Zhao Di was tightly gripping the iron rod in her hand, and her face was frighteningly pale..."
Listen to what she has to say.
Song Xia turned to her and said, "So, you don't know whether it was Zhao Di who stabbed him or whether he ran into the iron rod himself."
"Yes."
Old Mrs. Li replied.
Upon hearing this...
Yang Cuiniang said angrily, "My Erzhuang isn't stupid. How could he possibly run into an iron rod by himself? It takes a lot of force to stab it into the abdomen!"
Song Xia continued, following Yang Cuiniang's words: "You're right, how could you stab someone into the abdomen without some strength? Sister Zhaodi, do you have that much strength?"
"you…"
Yang Cuiniang was choked and couldn't find the words.
Song Xia turned to the town magistrate and said, "Sir, I request to participate in an experiment."
Although the town mayor didn't quite understand the experiment after just one attempt, he could still grasp Song Xia's meaning by combining it with what she had said before.
"Granted!"
The town magistrate sent someone to fetch two scarecrows.
Through experimentation.
The wounds on the two scarecrows are undoubtedly different.
Yang Cuiniang didn't know what to do, so she tugged at Fang Shuisheng's clothes.
Fang Shuisheng thought for a moment and stepped forward, saying, "Sir, it would be too hasty to conclude the facts so easily! Everyone's strength and methods of doing things are different."
"Then let's try a few more."
Song Xia instructed Fang Shuisheng, Song Lao Er, Song Lao San, Song Lao Si, and Yan Jinling to attack the scarecrow one by one.
Wait until they've finished.
Song Xia pointed to the numbers marked on the paper and said to everyone, "You can see the numbers I just marked. 1 and 2 are the first wounds, and 3 and 4 are the later ones. The stab wounds are 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9, and the impact wounds are 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10. Obviously, the impact wounds are more damaging and the stab wounds are deeper than the stab wounds. It doesn't matter who did it."
She had barely finished speaking.
The town magistrate said in a loud voice, "Someone, bring Coroner Zhang here!"
Less than fifteen minutes.
The coroner, Zhang, arrived and said, "This humble servant greets Your Excellency. May I ask why Your Excellency has summoned me?"
"Did you check Fang Erzhuang's wounds before?"
The town magistrate fixed his gaze on him and asked.
The coroner, Zhang, said, "I have examined him. Fang Erzhuang's wound was quite deep, damaging his lungs and internal organs, which caused massive bleeding. It was precisely because of this that he died before he could be treated by a doctor."
Yang Cuiniang glared at Zhang the coroner and shouted, "Impossible! How could my son have hit the car himself! Did you take their money and help them?!"
After she shouted, she was about to pounce on Song Zhaodi.
Song Xia grabbed her arm and put her down, saying, "Your son came to your door to do bad things, and Sister Zhaodi was forced to use an iron rod to protect herself. Your son was not giving up and continued to attack her, killing himself. Why do you blame Sister Zhaodi?"
"If she hadn't brought an iron bar, would my son have died?"
Yang Cuiniang was no match for Song Xia, otherwise she would have already made a move.
"Sister Zhaodi acted in self-defense!"
After Song Xia finished speaking, she raised an eyebrow and asked her, "What, if a bad guy tries to harm you, you just watch and do nothing?"
Yang Cuiniang was furious, but Song Xia's words made sense, and everyone agreed that what she said was correct.
She still wanted to cause trouble.
Fang Dazhuang called Yang Cuiniang and Fang Shuisheng aside and spoke.
"Father, Mother, my second brother is already dead. There's no point in continuing this commotion. Why don't we take this opportunity to make them pay us some money? If they don't give it to us, we'll make them pay."
Fang Shuisheng sighed, "That's all we can do."
"Make them pay up! How much?"
Yang Cuiniang didn't know how much she wanted.
Fang Dazhuang narrowed his eyes and said, "My second brother can earn at least several taels of silver a year. If he doesn't die and lives for thirty or fifty years, how much money would that be? You've also spent money raising him, so we absolutely can't ask for less."
After discussing it, they decided to ask Song Lao Er for five hundred taels of silver.
Yang Cuiniang looked directly at Song Lao Er and said, "Song Lao Er, just give us five hundred taels of silver and we'll call it even!"
"Five hundred taels of silver? You're dreaming!"
Song Lao Er couldn't even bear to part with fifty taels of silver, let alone five hundred.
Yang Cuiniang sat on the ground, lying beside her son's body, and began to sob.
“My poor son, you were murdered by them and they won’t even pay you compensation. Your death was so pointless. If you can’t understand it, go find them tonight.”
You old bastard, all you want is money, right?
After waiting for a while, Song Lao Er saw that Song Xia had not stood up for them.
He stepped forward and said, “Sir, it’s true that this matter is somewhat related to my daughter. But Fang Erzhuang didn’t trespass into our house and did such a thing to my daughter. How could this happen?”
He didn't want to lose a single penny.
The town mayor pursed his lips and said, "That's true, but Fang Erzhuang did die in your house after all. No matter what, you still have to compensate their family some money."
In the end, we still have to pay compensation.
Song Lao Er frowned and said, "Sir, they're asking for five hundred taels of silver right off the bat. Is five hundred taels of silver a small amount? How many families can come up with five hundred taels of silver all at once?"
"Five hundred taels of silver is indeed too much."
After discussing the matter with his advisor, the town magistrate ruled that Song Lao Er and his associates should pay twenty taels of silver in compensation.
So little.
How could Yang Cuiniang be happy about that?
She cried as she said, "Twenty taels of silver is too little! My son could earn several taels of silver a year when he was alive! If he hadn't died, how much silver would he have earned in ten years, and how much silver would he have given me? Now that he's dead, I only have my son left. If I don't have any money, what will I do if something happens to my family in the future?"
When soldiers died in the imperial army, they were compensated with twenty taels of silver, even though they had sacrificed their lives for the country.
But they are still different.
Despite the town magistrate's repeated pleas, Yang Cuiniang still insisted that Song Lao Er and the others give her more, saying it should be at least one hundred taels of silver.
Song Lao Er was unwilling.
They remained deadlocked.
at last.
They each compromised, with Yang Cuiniang and the others asking for less, and Song Lao Er giving more.
The matter was settled for forty taels of silver.
Song Lao Er was heartbroken. On the way back, he kept cursing Song Zhao Di, calling her an idiot for not shouting or running away.
Song Zhaodi lowered her head and let him scold her.
Song Xia couldn't take it anymore and kicked her: "Are you never going to stop? Can this be entirely blamed on Sister Zhaodi? What will you change by scolding her? You made money but didn't even bother to repair the house. If you had repaired it earlier, none of this would have happened!"
Song Lao Er was already very angry, and being kicked by Song Xia made him even angrier.
He dared not vent his anger on Song Xia, so he took it out on Song Zhaodi: "You can't entirely blame Zhaodi, but she's also at fault! Of all things to use, she had to pick up an iron rod! I don't know what she was thinking, how could she be so stupid? How could I have given birth to such a daughter!"
Speaking of iron rods.
Song Xia found it too much of a coincidence: "You just leave your iron rods lying around like that?"
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