Daughter-in-law murders mother-in-law?
Although the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law has always been a family problem, it rarely reaches this point unless there is some conflict of interest.
In the Confucian era of the Northern Song Dynasty, it was extremely rare. Xu Zhiqian had been with Xu Zun for so long, but she had never heard of such a thing, because if it was true, it would definitely be one of the ten evil crimes.
Everyone was very curious. Ma Xiaoyi wanted to stop the two woodcutters and ask them the reason, but was stopped by Zhang Fei. They were unwilling to talk, and forcing them to talk might lead to wrong information.
This kind of thing must be known to everyone, so it would be better to go to a teahouse or tavern and find out.
After walking five miles, we came to a teahouse at the intersection to rest for a while and ask for directions.
"Yanei, Third Brother, I have already found out everything."
Taozi came to the carriage and said to Cao Dongdong and Zhang Fei.
"What's going on?" Ma Xiaoyi asked anxiously.
Taozi said, "The man crying by the river just now is called Wu Lei, a farmer from the nearby Gui Township. His father died a long time ago, and he is the only son in the family. He later married a wife named Zhang, and had a pair of children. In addition, he also has a paralyzed mother. But half a month ago, someone on the other side of the river saw his wife Zhang pushing Wu's mother to the river, and then pushed Wu's mother into the river."
...
...
Gao Wenyin couldn't help but be shocked and asked, "How can there be such a vicious woman in the world?"
Ma Xiaoyi hurriedly asked: "Why did his wife want to murder his mother? What hatred did they have?"
Xu Zhiqian sighed softly, "There is no filial son for a patient who has been ill for a long time."
Taozi said hurriedly: "Madam Zhang is not entirely right. Wu Lei is really a well-known filial son. His mother has been paralyzed for eight years, but Wu Lei has taken care of his mother meticulously without any complaints. When he has free time, he often carries his mother on his back to go out for fun."
Gao Wenyin nodded gently and said, "No wonder he cried so sadly just now."
As she spoke, she sighed sadly again.
Li Si said angrily, "It's a pity that I met the wrong person and married such a cruel and ruthless wife."
Zhang Fei glanced at Li Si and knew that he was thinking of his ex-wife again.
Taozi shook his head and said, "That's not true. Zhang is also a well-known virtuous wife. Wu Lei has to work in the fields every day to earn money to support the family. Zhang is busy with all the affairs of the family. It is also Zhang who really serves Wu's mother. Even the doctor who treated Wu's mother said that if it weren't for Zhang's meticulous care of Wu's mother, she probably wouldn't have lived this long."
When these words were spoken, everyone was stunned.
Bang!
Suddenly, a slap hit Taozi on the back of the head.
“Ouch!”
Taozi covered his head with his hands, looked back, and saw Cao Dongdong glaring at him.
"Taozi, when did you learn to keep people in suspense? Tell me the result directly. It's really making me anxious to death."
“Yes, yes, yes!”
Taozi covered his head and nodded aggrievedly, "The result was that after Zhang was caught, he immediately confessed his crime and was sentenced to death."
"Hey!"
Cao Dongdong raised his hand again.
Taozi subconsciously jumped to the side and cried, "Don't hit me, Yanei. This is the result."
Cao Dongdong said excitedly: "I am asking you, if Zhang is so good, why did you murder my mother? Isn't this contradictory?"
Taozi said: "The government said that Zhang admitted that Wu Lei's mother was a burden to their family, but even the villagers around here don't quite believe it."
"This is really strange." Ma Xiaoyi rolled his eyes and said to Zhang Fei, "Third brother, I think Zhang Shi must have been wronged. How about you go and fight for her?"
Zhang Fei glanced at him unhappily and said, "I am now the chief judge, not a court official."
"Yes!" Ma Xiaoyi said excitedly: "Third brother, you are now the chief judge, that's great, you can re-examine this case."
Fu Shichun said with a smile: "Interesting! Interesting! As the saying goes, a new official starts with three things to do. Zhang San, why don't you use this case as your first step?"
Xu Zhiqian hurriedly said, "How can we just re-examine the case casually? We have to see if there are any doubts and find evidence before we can re-examine the case."
Zhang Fei glanced at Xu Zhiqian and smiled to himself, "Let's hurry on our way and talk about it when we get to Hezhong Prefecture."
Ever since the attack, Zhang Fei had completely lost the mood to travel and was in a bad mood on the road. Now he just wanted to get to Hezhong Prefecture as soon as possible.
After walking for another half a day, they finally saw the city wall of Hezhong Prefecture.
Li Si suddenly said, "Third brother, it seems to be Second Brother Cai and the others."
Zhang Fei immediately got out of the carriage and looked up, only to see four young men standing under a big tree in front of the city gate.
When the four young men saw them, they immediately came over here.
They were Cai Jing, Cai Bian, Shangguan Jun and Ye Zuqia.
The four of them set out half a month earlier than Zhang Fei to lead the way for their teacher, but they have been here for more than twenty days.
After a while, the four of them came to the carriage and Zhang Fei also got off the carriage.
"The student has met the teacher."
The four of them bowed respectfully.
They are still very convinced of Zhang Fei. Jokingly, they are also the first generation of inheritors of the law of the rule of law.
"Um."
Zhang Fei nodded and asked with concern: "Are you all okay?"
The four of them nodded, and Shangguan Jun asked with concern, "I heard that the teacher was assassinated in your Pinglu County?"
Zhang Fei hummed and asked, "Don't you have any?"
The four of them looked at each other and shook their heads.
Zhang Fei sighed: "This is so unfair!"
All four of them smiled awkwardly.
But they are also used to Zhang Fei's teasing.
Cai Jing suddenly asked, "Teacher, have you found out who did this?"
Zhang Fei shook his head. "Pinglu County is currently investigating, but there are no results yet."
Cai Jing said: "I think it might be someone in the capital who did it."
Zhang Fei glanced at Cai Jing, "What do you think?"
Cai Jing said: "I think that those who can easily hire assassins in other prefectures must be officials who travel outside all year round. Ordinary county magistrates don't know these people. Therefore, they are either military generals or people from the Transportation Bureau, and they have a big grudge against you."
Cai Bian whispered, "Brother, if you don't have any evidence, don't talk nonsense."
Cai Jing snorted, "This isn't a courtroom. The teacher is in danger, so why not help me analyze the situation for him?"
Zhang Fei smiled and nodded, "Your analysis makes sense, but we still need to find evidence. Let's go into the city first."
Ye Zuqia said: "Teacher, our imperial court is not in the city."
Zhang Fei asked: "Where is it?"
Ye Zuqia said: "It is in the southeast suburbs."
"In the suburbs?"
Zhang Fei said: "That's so inconvenient."
Ye Zuqia said, "It's just on the edge of the city, only two or three miles away."
You should know that this imperial court office was previously the emperor's palace, and the emperor's palace was usually not located in the city, but on the edge of the city, which was convenient but not noisy.
The group then turned and headed southeast.
Cao Dongdong and Ma Xiaoyi could no longer hold back, so after finding out the address, they rode ahead on horseback, as it was impossible for anyone nearby to attempt an assassination.
Zhang Fei walked with Cai Jing and others, asking them what they had gained.
The result is almost nothing.
After all, they are just rookies who have just entered the officialdom, and their official positions are all minor ninth-rank officials, so basically no one will pay attention to them.
They were unfamiliar with the place and did not dare to ask around.
During the past twenty days, they were just doing decoration in the government office.
Because the predecessor of the imperial court was a temporary palace and now it has been converted into a government office, many of its specifications need to be modified, otherwise it would be suspected of usurpation.
Zhang Fei asked again: "By the way! General Zhong, Prefect Lu and others are here."
"We just went to inquire today, but didn't hear any news from them." Cai Bian shook his head.
“Not yet!”
Zhang Fei couldn't help but frown and said, "If I had known, I would have come a little later."
He was already slow enough, but he didn't know that the other party was even slower than him. He felt a little frustrated because he didn't vent his anger!
Cai Jing suddenly said: "If it were me, I would also come later."
Zhang Fei asked: "What do you mean?"
Cai Jing said: "They don't know you, and they don't know our public security, procuratorate and courts, so they are inevitably afraid. Especially when old cases are reopened, there are usually reasons. If we wait until you establish the public security, procuratorate and courts here first, they will have a better idea of what to do."
He is indeed a treacherous minister who will go down in history. He is really good at scheming! Zhang Fei smiled and nodded without revealing his expression. "It is true that the higher the virtue, the higher the evil!"
As he spoke, he seemed to remember something and said, "By the way, has Chief Prosecutor Su arrived?"
Ye Zuqia said: "Chief Prosecutor Su arrived earlier than us and has been busy building the Procuratorate. However, without the Imperial Court and the Police Station, the Procuratorate alone will not be enough."
Shangguan Jun suddenly said, "The last time I went to inquire about the teacher's news, I ran into Chief Prosecutor Su near Guixiang."
"Gui Township?"
Xu Zhiqian in the city lifted the curtain of the carriage and asked, "Is Chief Prosecutor Su investigating the case of Guixiang's matricide?"
Ye Zuqia was surprised and asked, "Master's wife also knows about this?"
Xu Zhiqian nodded slightly, "I heard it on the road."
Shangguan Jun replied, "In response to Master's wife, we also speculated this at the time, but Chief Prosecutor Su did not mention this to us."
Cai Jing pretended to sigh to himself, "I hope Chief Prosecutor Su is not investigating this case."
Zhang Fei glanced at Cai Jing and asked, "What do you mean?"
"oh."
Cai Jing pretended to come to his senses and said, "There are witnesses in this case, and Zhang has admitted it personally. More importantly, the case was handed over to Governor Cai, who personally sentenced him to death. If the procuratorate files a lawsuit again, what will Governor Cai think? Regardless of success or failure, this is probably not a good thing."
Zhang Fei laughed and said, "Cai Jing, you are really smart all your life but foolish for a moment!"
Cai Jing hurriedly bowed and said, "I hope the teacher can give me some advice."
Zhang Fei said: "Alms and begging from anyone are not enough for our imperial court to gain a foothold here. Only by showing that we are better than the existing judicial system can we convince others."
Cai Bian nodded and said, "Teacher, what you said makes sense."
As he said this, he looked at his brother unhappily. Although they were brothers, he really didn't like Cai Jing's sneaky and cunning character.
Cai Jing hurriedly explained: "I am just worried that if we re-examine the case and the result is the same as the previous verdict, Prefect Cai and the local county lieutenant and other officials will think that we are deliberately trying to intimidate them, this!"
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "Of course. If the procuratorate cannot find sufficient evidence, I will not force a retrial."
(End of this chapter)
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