The clerk waved his hand, and a yamen runner lifted the red cloth covering the lacquer tray, revealing five gleaming silver ingots to everyone.
The villagers secretly peeked at it, marveling to themselves that they had never seen such a large ingot of silver in their lives, and wondered how long it would last their entire families.
Song Anxin and Lin Lizheng said in unison, "Thank you, Magistrate!"
The villagers didn't expect this to be the end, for the clerk spoke again:
"The Lin family of Linjia Village continues to obey orders—as the autumn harvest approaches...the Lin family has presented a threshing machine and a blower, which benefit the country and the people...helping the people of our Great Yin Dynasty...The imperial court hereby rewards the Lin family with eight hundred taels of silver!"
As soon as he finished speaking, two bailiffs on each side of Master Fan stepped forward, carrying lacquered trays. The red cloth was lifted, revealing that each of the four trays contained twenty ingots of gleaming silver, totaling eight hundred taels.
Many villagers boldly looked up, only to be dazzled by the sunlight shining on so many silvery things.
My goodness! They never expected that the fifty taels were just an appetizer; the real highlight was the eight hundred taels. They had never seen so much silver before—eight hundred taels! Enough for them to eat and drink for several lifetimes!
Song Anxin was now in a bad mood and couldn't help but curse in her heart. She had worked hard from dawn till dusk to earn so much money, but it was not as much as this reward from the imperial court. No wonder people in ancient times studied until they were old and still wanted to become officials.
After kneeling down to express her gratitude, she and her family accepted all the red lacquered plates.
Zhang's sister-in-law, Zhao, knelt down and looked at the gleaming silver. Suddenly, she realized what was going on!
What secret recipe could they possibly be stealing? A tiny bit of it peeking out from between Mei's fingers would be enough for their family to eat and drink. Oh dear, she's so incredibly stupid! She really fell for Lin Gangzi's trick.
"Everyone, please stand up," Yan Shuping said.
Only then did the villagers dare to slowly get up. Before, when the county magistrate came, they didn't dare to approach him. Now that the county magistrate was right in front of them, every villager was secretly sizing up Yan Shuping.
The women and young girls glanced at him briefly and then lowered their heads. Some of the girls even blushed. This magistrate was indeed young and handsome.
The men felt that the magistrate's demeanor was exactly what they, as men, should possess.
While everyone was curiously observing the county magistrate, Song Anxin signaled to Lin Fengshou, Anbang, and the others to take the silver inside first. The younger ones understood that it was unsafe to leave so much silver and so many people outside.
Everyone got up, but Zhang Daniu was still on the ground, bound hand and foot. No one helped him up, and his mouth was stuffed with cloth, so he couldn't get up or call for help.
Yan Shuping then noticed Zhang Daniu and looked up, asking, "What's going on here?"
Song Anxin stepped forward, bowed, and replied, "Your Excellency, this is a thief I discovered in my home. This thief tried to steal our family's secret recipe for duck eggs, and I was just about to have my son send him to the county office to be brought to justice."
Yan Shuping nodded: "It's just in time that I'm here. Let the yamen runners take him away, so you don't have to go to your house."
Just as Song Anxin was about to thank the magistrate, Zhao suddenly rushed over and knelt before Yan Shuping, saying:
"Your Honor, I'm innocent! He's not a thief. He's my husband, the brother of Aunt Lin's daughter-in-law. We're in-laws. This is all a misunderstanding!"
Song An was in a panic, but Zhao was a calm and composed woman. She wasn't intimidated by the magistrate and didn't dare to speak. Instead, she insisted that she was innocent and even knew to hold onto the fact that she was related to Mei Zi's brother and sister-in-law.
“Your Honor, we are truly Mei’s own brother and sister-in-law. How can a sister’s in-laws call her brother-in-law a thief? We just came to visit my sister.”
She lowered her head and cried, her eyes brimming with tears: "My man just... just accidentally went to the wrong place and ended up at the workshop, which is why they mistook him for a thief."
Once Zhao had figured it out, they insisted that they had come to visit relatives and accidentally went to the wrong place. They then used their parents to pressure Meizi's in-laws, refusing to believe that they would not let them go.
"You're talking nonsense! He sneaked into our workshop in the middle of the night. Did you come to visit your relatives in the middle of the night?" Lin Fengshou said.
Zhao was startled. How did he know that her husband had sneaked in in the middle of the night? Oh, so this was what they were waiting for all along to sneak in.
She absolutely refused to admit it, claiming that no one else had seen it besides him, and insisted that she had come to visit relatives.
Lin Fengshou and others insisted that Zhang Daniu was a thief.
Seeing the two families arguing endlessly, Yan Shuping said, "In that case, Master, let's hold the court session right here."
Master Fan returned the hand respectfully and said, "Yes, Your Excellency."
He then said to the constables, "Quickly clear away all irrelevant people!"
And so, the trial of Zhang Daniu's case began in front of Song Anxin's courthouse. The villagers didn't leave; in fact, more and more gathered around to watch. After all, most of them had never even been to a county government office, let alone witnessed a trial. They all stared curiously at the county magistrate seated in the center of the courtroom, and at Zhang's brother and sister-in-law kneeling in the middle, along with Song Anxin and his group.
Zhang Daniu's mouth was untied and the cloth was pulled out. He spat twice and kowtowed to Yan Shuping above, saying:
“Your Honor, I… I am Zhang Daniu. My wife and I are right. I came here to visit relatives with my wife. We accidentally went to the wrong place and ended up in that workshop. I’m really not a thief. I’m Meizi’s brother.”
"Mrs. Song, do you have any witnesses or physical evidence?" the advisor asked from above.
Song Anxin called out several workers, including Sister-in-law Lin and Granny Han. They all said they saw Zhang Daniu hiding in a partitioned room of the duck egg workshop and wanted to see how they pickled salted duck eggs.
"Zhang Daniu, if you accidentally went to the workshop, why did you hide inside? You might as well tell the truth!"
Yan Shuping's voice was deep and resonant, typical of a military officer. His sudden, sharp interrogation startled Zhang Daniu so much that he almost wet his pants on the spot.
He trembled all over, and Zhao secretly gave him a meaningful look. He forced himself to say, "I, I..."
But I couldn't utter a single word for a long time.
Seeing her useless husband, Zhao hurriedly tried to defend him:
“My husband is Meizi’s older brother. He heard that Meizi is the manager of the duck egg workshop, and he wanted to hide there to help Meizi check if the workers were slacking off.”
Zhang Daniu quickly replied, "Yes, yes, I'm just keeping an eye on the workshop for my sister."
"What a joke! Do we, the Lin family, need the Zhang family to watch over our things?" Lin Fengshou said.
Zhang Daniu, with a scoundrel-like demeanor, said, "Anyway, I'm Meizi's and your brother Fengnian's older brother. Your family can't treat me like this! Meizi, come out quickly! Your brother is about to be sent to his death by your in-laws! I'm your own brother..."
Zhao joined in the clamor, accusing Zhang Mei and Lin Fengnian of being unfilial and disrespectful to their own brother and sister-in-law.
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