Chapter 193 Evidence Again
Old Mrs. Ma was stunned. She didn’t expect the case to have such an outcome. They clearly had an important person in the yamen!
"Mom, I don't want a divorce!" Ma Zhongping said with a sad face. He didn't understand why things had come to this. In his heart, he believed in Zhenniang; she wasn't that kind of person. But for some reason, he was filled with anger, and things had gotten worse and worse, and now there was no way to stop it.
Old Lady Ma: "My Lord, County Magistrate, you can't sentence me like this."
The people around were amused. How should the county magistrate make the judgment? Should he listen to an old woman like you?
Then, because Old Lady Ma could not provide evidence to prove that Qi Zhenniang had an affair with her cousin Meng Yun, He Ziqi sentenced her to slander and gave her ten strokes of the cane as punishment.
This was a minor punishment, a warning to her, and it was considered as punishment for her having slipped away from the county office.
If no punishment is imposed, what will happen if future generations imitate it? There are still many similar cases. He Ziqi wants to reduce as much as possible the cases of such random slander of women for adultery.
What? She was going to be spanked?! Old Ma couldn't believe her ears. This—this was an unprecedented verdict!
In previous cases like this, women like her eldest daughter-in-law would have no way to defend themselves.
If they are lucky enough to prove their innocence, that’s fine. If they can’t prove their innocence, it means they won the case and achieved their goal. In short, no matter what the result is, victims like them (plaintiffs) will be fine.
Seeing this result, Qiao Yingzhe stood up with a dark face and raised his leg to leave.
Seeing this, Old Lady Ma rushed over to him and said, "Mr. Qiao, please plead for us. We won't sue anymore. Please ask the county magistrate not to make such a judgment."
Being hugged by an old lady by the thigh, Qiao Yingzhe shouted with a dark face, "Let go!"
Seeing this, Old Lady Ma hugged him tighter and said, "Mr. Qiao, we only did this because you told us to. You can't just ignore us."
She could ignore her eldest son and divorce him. Ten strokes of the cane would almost kill her! How could this be allowed?
Being dragged into this situation, Qiao Yingzhe immediately turned hostile and said, "Nonsense! Who do I know you?"
"You don't know me, but I know you."
"What a joke! There are so many people in Liucheng who know me. Your Ma family's eldest daughter-in-law and I have no past or present grudges against each other. Why would you do this?"
He Ziqi at the top and Xue Xu and others below watched this dog-eat-dog drama with great interest.
Qiao Shouyi's face darkened. His worst fear had finally come true. But hadn't he asked his confidant to inform his son and ask him to find a way to silence the people of Ma Village? Why hadn't he done so?
Qiao Shouyi didn't know that his confidant was still unconscious in a corner.
Qiao Yingzhe bowed to He Ziqi, who was sitting at the top of the table, and said, "Your Excellency, this old woman is just making random accusations against others. She deserves a beating!"
He Ziqi didn't listen to him. He asked Old Lady Ma, "Old Lady Ma, you said that everything you did was instructed by someone else. Do you have any evidence?"
Old Lady Ma: Evidence? Evidence again! She hated the word evidence.
"No—" Old Ma's face was filled with sadness. Suddenly, her eyes lit up. "Wait, evidence? I have it!"
"What evidence?" He Ziqi didn't expect that she actually had it. Was this a pleasant surprise?
"They gave me a packet of Wu Shi San! I only gave half to my eldest son and put the other half away."
Qiao Yingzhe's face darkened. This damn woman had ruined his plans! So that's what he was talking about. How did things go wrong? Damn it, if she hadn't withheld half of the money, how could there be such trouble now?
"You said I gave you Wu Shi San. Where's the evidence?" Qiao Yingzhe asked with a sneer.
Old Mrs. Ma's eyes bulged, and he also asked her for evidence?
She burst into tears and swore, "The Five-Stone Powder was given to us by Mr. Qiao's attendant. How could a poor family like us afford it..."
"Well said, where's the evidence?"
"The unused Wushisan is at my house—"
Before she could finish her words, she was stopped by her daughter-in-law, "Mother——"
Seeing her daughter-in-law's guilty look, Old Lady Ma suddenly had a bad feeling, "What's the matter?"
"I sold the remaining Wu Shi San." Ma's daughter-in-law said embarrassedly.
Old Mrs. Ma staggered suddenly. What a sin!
Everyone present heard what they said.
Qiao Yingzhe snorted, kicked her, broke free from his restraints, and left the county government office with a flick of his sleeves.
Then, Old Mrs. Ma was held down and beaten with ten boards.
Old Mrs. Ma cried and wailed as she was beaten with ten boards, and the case was over.
After the injured Meng Yun was given hemostatic drugs, Lü Mingzhi called a doctor for him. Once the case was over, he was sent to the Qin family's temporary residence. Qi Zhenniang and her daughter also came along. After the divorce, she was homeless and worried about her cousin's injury.
Seeing this, Ma Zhongping hurriedly handed the executed old lady Ma to the care of his younger brothers and sisters and followed. Along the way, he pleaded with Qi Zhenniang. Seeing this, the other people in Majia Village also followed.
All these people, except Qi Zhenniang and her daughter, were stopped ten feet away from the Qin family's temporary residence.
At this time, Meng Yun had already woken up.
The first thing he said when he saw Qin Sheng was, "Sixth Young General, Meng Yun has failed to live up to your trust."
Meng Yun felt very guilty. He now realized that he had fallen into someone else's trap.
He didn't expect that even though he was very careful, he still almost got into trouble. If the Sixth Young General and others had not appeared in time, these one hundred hectares of land would probably have been lost in his hands.
The person behind the scenes had a diabolical scheme, accusing him of having an affair with his cousin, killing them in the chaos, and then using his niece's blood relationship to pass the 100 hectares of land off to him. The Ma family had the help of officials, so they could pull it off.
Qin Sheng patted his shoulder and said, "It's over. Don't think too much about it."
Although Meng Yun was plotted against, he also achieved the goal of "the land is where the man is, and the land is lost only when the man is lost." Speaking of which, even if there is no merit, there is still hard work.
Meng Yun hurriedly said, "Sixth Young General, since you are here, please arrange someone and I will hand the land back to you. From now on, I will guard the land for you." He was really scared about this matter.
Qin Sheng looked at Lu Songli, who nodded slightly. Meng Yun's loyalty was self-evident, but after what had happened, it would be a good idea to take the land back. She had other plans.
Ma Zhongping was stopped ten feet away and watched his wife and daughter separated from him by a long distance. His wife didn't even look at him. He sat on the ground, covered his face and cried.
The people in Majia Village did not expect such an ending. Seeing Ma Zhongping like this, they just felt pity for him.
"Zhongping is still a good person, it's his mother who has done evil. Now a good family has been torn apart by her."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
