Chapter 296 Insatiable Greed?
"Xie saw it."
Xie Liangchen's gaze remained fixed on Jiang Nuanzhi. He genuinely felt that Jiang Nuanzhi was doing something foolish. These people were all related in the village, and offending one was equivalent to offending a whole group. Now that she had beaten up so many people in one go, she would probably find it difficult to gain a foothold in the village in the future.
However, looking at her flamboyant and unrestrained face, Xie Liangchen subconsciously stood in front of her and said, "Uncle Niu was driving his donkey cart back then, and there were people sitting on it. I wasn't the only one who saw it."
Uncle Niu and his wife naturally nodded in agreement.
"That's right, that's right! Just now, when we were driving back with Fu Man, we saw Xie Erlangjun leading Fu Man back. There was also Wang Mazi and his group acting suspiciously. They must have been wasting food!"
Widow Wang was furious that someone actually stood up for her: "Bullshit, you're all talking nonsense! Xie Liangchen and Jiang Pangya are from the same family, and Uncle Niu and the others live next door to Jiang Pangya. Your two families have always been close, you're all in cahoots with her, how can your words be taken seriously!"
Widow Wang shouted, "Let's not even talk about whether he stole anything or not. Even if he did, how could you beat him up like this? Look at Zhu Zi, he's been beaten unconscious. Are you going to kill him over something so trivial?"
Widow Wang's gaze fell on the glittering bracelet on Jiang Nuanzhi's wrist, and she knew at a glance that it was quite valuable. Her gaze then shifted to Jiang Nuanzhi's face, her eyes filled with even more jealousy and hatred. With a quick twitch of her eyes, she said, "Jiang Fatty, let me tell you, if you don't pay me back today, I'm going to report you to the authorities. I'll have the government arrest you, you murderer! Stealing is a minor offense, but murder is a serious crime that will land you in jail."
Widow Wang's family had just paid their taxes, but they had no money left. She hadn't seen any meat in a long time, but the rich aroma of meat kept wafting from Fatty Jiang's house.
I heard that she has so much leftover grease that she feeds it to her dogs. She also built such a huge new house, and even the things in her yard are different from everyone else's; people say they're valuable and worth a lot of money outside. Seeing how well she lives, I suppose she doesn't want to go to jail?
He then narrowed his eyes and threatened, "Think it over. If I report this to the authorities, even if you bribe officials back and forth, it will still cost you a considerable sum of money. Moreover, you are a criminal, and those who commit crimes are punished twice as severely. I don't want to hold a grudge against someone from the village who is trying to arrange a marriage. You only need to give me one hundred taels of silver. Also, give me back the bracelet you're wearing, and we'll call it even."
Upon hearing what Widow Wang said, the families who had been crying and fussing over their son immediately turned to look.
"One hundred taels! We want one hundred taels too, not a penny less!"
"Yes! My son is the most seriously injured, I want... I want one hundred and fifty taels!"
"Or we should sue her! She's a criminal, if we report her to the authorities we'll definitely get her detained!"
"Yes, our child can't have been beaten for nothing! They should compensate us for this land too!"
"That's right, one hundred taels is not enough to pay for my son's medical treatment! If he's really badly injured, how will he find a wife in the future? In my opinion, Jiang Pangya should marry into our family and serve my son tea and water until he gets better!"
"She's marrying into my family, but my son is the one who's been hurt the most!"
"Bullshit! My son was the one who was injured the most!"
"What are you robbing me for?" Widow Wang glared angrily. "After you get the silver, are you going to make your son marry a used woman?"
"Yes, we'll marry our son off to a beautiful, unmarried woman. I heard that in the big houses everyone builds, even a single window is worth a month's worth of food for us."
As they spoke, those people stared at Jiang Nuanzhi with eyes that seemed to turn red, as if they were eyeing a large piece of fat meat.
Greed made them forget the man lying on the ground, seemingly dead, and they only stared at Jiang Nuanzhi with shouts.
Just as everyone was immersed in their wonderful imagination, the next second, Jiang Nuanzhi stepped on Wang Mazi.
Wang Mazi's howls, which had just subsided, suddenly intensified, the piercing sound tearing through the sky and sending a shiver down one's spine. The surroundings fell silent almost instantly.
Jiang Nuanzhi curled the corners of her lips: "You really have a good idea. I really don't know whether to say you're stupid or you're both vicious and stupid?"
"I should explain this to you, because I think you don't know what the punishment is for reporting false officials."
According to the laws of the Great Jing Dynasty, any troublemaker who falsely reports an official and obstructs the handling of a case by officials shall be punished, depending on the severity of the offense, with penalties ranging from a fine of two taels of silver, amputation of a hand or tongue, or exile to the army as a slave.
Upon hearing this, the loudest voices from before fell silent, their expressions showing some hesitation.
"But it's true that you beat someone up like this. It's right that we don't charge you with murder, but we charge you with assault!"
"That's right!"
Jiang Nuanzhi raised an eyebrow, crossed her arms, and said, "Then go quickly, I'll wait here."
Upon hearing this, the group exchanged glances, momentarily frozen in place. They simply stared warily at Jiang Nuanzhi.
Jiang Nuanzhi said with a laugh, "Seven or eight strong men came to my field to steal grain. I was just a woman and a child with the elderly in my family, so of course I had to drive them out. You're in the right no matter where you go. You should go and report them to the authorities. It'll be a good opportunity to punish them for theft. I can't wait to see them locked up in jail."
"Oh, by the way, theft is punishable by having your hand cut off. And you also have to compensate for the stolen goods. I might as well tell you that once my family's jade grains mature, each one can be sold for one tael of silver."
"Does stealing mean losing a hand?" Whispers immediately broke out among the people around.
"Of course, Wu Lao Er only lost one hand, right?"
"What should we do?"
"How about we don't report it to the authorities?"
Jiang Nuanzhi's eyes grew cold: "If you don't report this official today, I will send someone to report it."
These words startled the group, causing them to shrink back in fear.
Some of the old women's knees buckled, and they knelt down, wailing loudly.
"Dr. Jiang, Dr. Jiang, please spare us! My son is only twenty years old, he can't lose his hand!" an old woman pleaded, weeping.
"Why are you begging her? Can't you have any backbone?" This old woman was the one who had gone to Jiang Nuanzhi's house with Widow Wang to borrow money and had been punished by Jiang Nuanzhi. She had suffered at Jiang Nuanzhi's hands before, so she naturally didn't dare to step forward. Instead, she pointed at Jiang Nuanzhi for a while before saying, "You're not leaving us any way out! How can you be so heartless? Are you even a woman?" An old woman looked at Jiang Nuanzhi in disbelief.
Jiang Nuanzhi gave her a cold glance before looking away: "If all women were like you, I would rather not be one of them."
As she spoke, she stepped on Wang Mazi again, who let out a loud howl. The surrounding people immediately became more obedient. Jiang Nuanzhi was satisfied with the effect and nodded, saying, "I'll give you two choices. First, go report to the authorities right now and have them cut off one of each of your hands. Second, compensate me with silver. One tael for each ear of corn. There are about thirty of these stolen goods on the ground. Since we're all neighbors, I'll charge you less. Give me thirty taels, and this theft will be over."
"Jiang Pangya, are you out of your mind?!" Widow Wang looked at Jiang Nuanzhi in disbelief: "Are you growing gold nuggets? One tael of silver per nugget? You're ripping me off!"
“That’s right, this is extortion!” the old woman said.
Widow Wang was furious: "No money? You're dreaming! I think you're obsessed with money!"
Xie Liangchen lowered his voice beside Jiang Nuanzhi and said, "Perhaps we can let them go. After all, you'll still be walking around the village in the future. It's not good to offend so many people. A combination of kindness and severity is the way to win people's hearts."
Jiang Nuanzhi raised an eyebrow and glanced at Xie Liangchen. This future powerful minister was not wrong in his thinking.
However, she simply withdrew her gaze and said indifferently, "If you don't have money, then I'll just cut off one of their hands to teach them a lesson."
(End of this chapter)
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