Ding Youtian was secretly glad that he had persuaded Jian Ning not to let her go to court as the plaintiff. As the head of the family, he should stand up and take responsibility. He didn't want his wife to kneel in humiliation in public.
As for himself, a real man is one who can bend and stretch.
In court, Tu Yidao wept bitterly. He refused to admit that he had led his men to rob Old Ding's family of grain to repay the high-interest loan owed by Old Five's gambling den. He simply said that he had taken his friends to his aunt's house to visit his cousin, who had been mauled by a leopard. Upon entering the village, they were attacked for no reason by the beasts raised by Ding Youtian's family. He kowtowed repeatedly, begging the town magistrate to intervene.
The town magistrate asked the defendant to state the case.
"Excuse me, sir." Ding Youtian looked at Tu Yidao calmly, "You said that a beast from my family bit you. What kind of beast was it?"
Tu Yidao had no idea what species the creature that attacked him was. He heard from the butcher that it was a cat and a snake.
How can cats and snakes be considered ferocious beasts?
But he bit the caracal to death with one bite.
The caracal is indeed a very ferocious animal. It mainly feeds on rodents and hares, and will also attack small antelopes. Although it has a very handsome appearance, when the caracal is angry, it becomes a completely ferocious beast.
Jane Ning was not sure what species Guoguo was, but she was sure that Guoguo was not a caracal. She had accidentally seen a caracal in the border forest in her previous life, but it was definitely not like Guoguo.
Ding Youtian said loudly, "Your Excellency, the cat I keep is just an ordinary civet, just like a house cat. It's docile, and I have four young children. If it were a ferocious beast, I wouldn't keep it at home. I hope your Excellency will understand."
"Yes, we are all willing to testify that it is just an ordinary cat."
"If it was really a ferocious beast, we wouldn't have agreed to it even if they kept it. We would have driven it away long ago."
The village head and the clan leader spoke one after another.
The villagers who followed also shouted, willing to testify that it was just an ordinary cat.
"Silence!" The magistrate slammed the gavel. "How can you roar in this courtroom?"
The clerk coughed twice, and the town lord glanced at the clerk and announced that he would temporarily adjourn the court.
After a while, when the court resumed, the town lord, or the town magistrate, changed his tone and spoke harshly to Ding Youtian, "You bold and unruly person! You clearly raise a mountain cat, why are you slandering and falsely calling it an ordinary civet cat?"
"Someone come!"
"I will punish you with twenty lashes of the cane!"
He was holding a gavel and was about to order his attendants to torture him when Jian Ning stepped forward and said, "Sir, why are you using torture before you even summon the responsible spirit cat to court? Aren't you afraid of forcing him to confess?"
At the instruction of the village head and clan leader, the villagers in the hall also started to clamor.
Zhenjun felt that Jian Ning looked familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen him. The clerk Wu Fengfu was his brother-in-law and had accepted benefits from Tu Yidao in private, so he naturally asked him to speak in Tu Yidao's favor.
Unable to recall where he had seen Jian Ning before, he thought she was just an ordinary village woman. He slammed the gavel and shouted, "You daring woman, you refused to kneel before me in court and even dared to cause a commotion in the courtroom. What is your crime?"
"Someone come!"
"slow!"
"Wait a minute!"
As soon as Zhenjun finished speaking, two voices were heard from the hall and outside the court door.
Wei Dong, who was the first to shout "Slow", looked back and saw Huo Jincheng, dressed in a dark blue brocade robe, pushing aside the onlookers and striding towards him.
Following behind was Yang Jinyu.
The moment Zhenjun saw Yang Jinyu, he suddenly remembered where he had seen Jian Ning and broke out in a cold sweat.
Yang Jinyu's father was the censor of the current dynasty. Yang Jinyu alone was enough to make him suffer, let alone Huo Jincheng.
Zhenjun glared at his brother-in-law Wu Fengfu, and hurriedly ordered someone to bring two chairs. He personally walked down the hall and, with a smile on his face, invited Huo Jincheng and Yang Jinyu to take a seat.
Huo Jincheng respectfully asked Weidong to help his master sit down first, and then he sat down himself. Zhenjun hurriedly ordered someone to bring a chair for Yang Jinyu.
With Jian Ning here, why would Yang Jinyu sit down?
"Master!" He bowed and asked Jian Ning to sit down, and stood behind Jian Ning.
Zhenjun was not sure about Weidong's identity, but he knew it was not an ordinary person since Huo Jincheng, who was beside the prince, treated him as a guest of honor. With these great gods listening in, how could he dare to protect Tu Yidao?
He was a town official who was not even a seventh-rank official. At best, he was just a minor official. Moreover, the head of the Dingjia Village, the clan leader and many villagers were testifying for Ding Youtian. When he returned to the court, he immediately changed his expression and shouted at Tu Yidao to tell the truth about what had happened.
The situation took a turn for the worse. Wu Fengfu had been immersed in local officialdom for many years, so he naturally realized that the identities of the people who came were unusual. He cursed Tu Yidao in his heart. When the town magistrate ordered Tu Yidao to be dragged away and beaten with twenty boards, he secretly glanced at the yamen runners, meaning to beat him hard and show no mercy.
Tu Yidao was dragged away by two groups of vicious yamen runners like a dead dog. In a short while, his skin was torn and his flesh was exposed. Now, not only Tu Yidao but also his parents hated Tu Po to the core!
Mrs. Tu was originally worried that Tu Yidao had lost an eye and her brother and sister-in-law would blame her when they woke up, so she used this trick to divert the blame, but she ended up shooting herself in the foot.
After Tu Yidao was dragged back to the court, he recounted the entire incident in detail, starting from when he led his men to hijack the grain cart of Lao Dingtou's family.
The town master asked if there were any villagers from Old Ding's family among the villagers in the hall?
When the elders heard the clamor coming from the court in front that someone was looking for them to go to court, they pushed the cart and ran away with Old Ding.
Meng and Liu, mother and daughter, were a step slower and were caught by the villagers and dragged to the court.
When they arrived at the court, their legs went weak and they fell to their knees without waiting for the bailiffs to call them. Meng and Liu were especially frightened, they turned into two puddles of mud and could not utter a complete sentence.
The town magistrate had no choice but to order Ding Zhu to raise his head and answer.
Ding Zhu was a pretty girl, with an oval face and willow-shaped eyebrows. At the moment, she was frightened and looked pitiful. When Wu Fengfu saw her, he was so scared that his three souls were scared out of his wits and his eyes were wide open.
"Girl, don't be afraid, just tell the truth." He couldn't help but speak to her in a friendly and comforting manner.
Seeing his smiling face, Ding Zhu felt relieved.
Since the boss and his men were knocked unconscious by Tu Yidao's men yesterday, they didn't see Qiu Ge and Guo Guo at all, so when they returned they only told people that Mrs. Tu had instructed Tu Yidao to rob food, so Ding Zhu didn't know anything about it at all.
Besides, how could Fourth Uncle’s family’s health care help their family?
She told the truth, and the documents showing Ding Youtian severing ties with Old Ding and his group were all on file at the government office, and the villagers also testified. They also told the story of how Guoguo had bitten the butcher's chicken to death and how the butcher had extorted several hundred coins from Ding Youtian.
As a result, Tu Yidao was found guilty of falsely accusing Ding Youtian to vent his aunt's anger. He was not only fined one tael of silver but also imprisoned for one month.
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