Chapter 43 Everyone Has a Share
The thought of eating spoiled food in a dark prison cell, where mosquitoes, fleas, and rats swarmed everywhere in the summer and the stench was unbearable, and shivering in the winter wearing a quilted coat with exposed cotton padding, made Jin shiver even more.
If she confesses, she's destined for jail; if she doesn't, and Ma Lao Er confesses, she won't get a lenient sentence.
That's enough. Husbands and wives are like birds in the same forest; when disaster strikes, they fly away separately. She didn't kill anyone; it was all her father-in-law, Ma Youde, who instigated her!
"Officer, Scholar Xiao, I'll talk, I'll talk."
Jin wiped away her tears, not daring to look at the Chen family. Wang Jinhua's eyes seemed to want to drink her blood and eat her flesh, which terrified her.
"When Ma Laosan brought Liniang back, Chen Dahua learned the truth and immediately said she wanted to go back to her parents' home and let her parents decide on a divorce."
Jin was stunned at first, but now that her mind has cleared up a bit, she is even more frightened when she thinks about what she has done.
“My father-in-law disagrees with the divorce, saying it would be bad for the family’s reputation. He said he could give Chen some money as compensation and let the third son divorce Chen.”
Of course, given Ma Youde's shrewdness and his unwillingness to suffer losses, the money wasn't paid by the Ma family, but rather by Liniang herself.
The whole family had no objections to this.
"So, my daughter was murdered before she even got to go back to her parents' home?"
Wang Jinhua couldn't accept it; it was just that small difference.
"After packing her things, Chen left and met Ma Laowu not far from the door."
Jin shrank back and hid behind the officials, who now seemed much safer than the Chen family.
Outside the door, Ma Youde kept rubbing his hands together, and Ma Laosan also looked anxious. The two of them kept pacing back and forth.
"Second brother, your wife didn't confess, did she?"
Ma Laosan was somewhat skeptical of the Jin family, feeling that they were not very reliable.
"Won't."
Ma Lao Er wasn't entirely sure, but he believed Jin was somewhat clever. Right now, everyone was in the same boat; they had to cover for each other to escape.
He thought about it carefully and concluded that Ma Dajiao couldn't possibly be an eyewitness, otherwise she would have already spread the word everywhere. It must have been that scholar who tricked her.
Scholars are all cunning!
"Okay, let's do it as we agreed before."
Ma Youde rubbed his eyes; his eyelids had been twitching, making him even more uneasy.
Outside, the Ma family members gathered to discuss the matter, while inside, Mrs. Jin recounted the events of that day.
When she returned home, she told her father-in-law about Chen Dahua and Ma Laowu walking together. Ma Youde thought this was a good opportunity to smear Chen Dahua, falsely accusing her of having an affair with Ma Laowu. In this way, the Ma family would save money, and Chen Dahua would be the one in the wrong.
"What a vicious thought!"
Lin Yuesha sneered, truly astonished that people could be so wicked. The Ma family's actions, step by step, had pushed her eldest cousin, Chen Dahua, into the abyss.
If there had been even one good thing, things wouldn't have turned out this way.
"My father-in-law made a decision: to catch the adulterers in the act with the help of the three Ma brothers."
Jin was at home and didn't see what happened. She waited and waited, but her second son still didn't come back.
Around midnight, Jin couldn't help but go out to look for him. She mustered her courage and walked to the grove, where she saw Ma Laosan sweeping snow.
Beside her, Chen Dahua lay motionless in the snow.
"Chen's clothes were disheveled, her cotton-padded coat was torn off and thrown on the ground, clearly indicating that she had been raped."
Jin was so frightened she almost screamed, but Ma Laosan pulled her over, covered her mouth, and threatened her that if she screamed, she would suffer the same fate as Chen Dahua.
“My father-in-law said that footprints can be used to find traces, so he cleared the snow several times.”
There was nothing Jin didn't understand, except that she didn't know who had forced Chen Dahua.
After cleaning up the scene, she went home to get a rope, and the Ma brothers worked together to hang Chen Dahua from a crooked tree.
Before leaving, Jin took Chen Dahua's small package and found a hidden pocket in her cotton-padded coat. Remembering Chen Dahua's habit of hiding things, she took the coat home as well, cut it up that night, and burned it in the kitchen.
"So who exactly raped Chen Dahua, and who strangled her to death?"
The three Ma brothers and Ma Youde were all present, and it's estimated that they all had a part in the event.
"this……"
Jin glanced up at the Chen family members, then quickly lowered her head again. She hesitated, wondering whether to tell the truth.
After a struggle, Jin decided to tell the truth, which she had learned from Ma Lao Er later.
After returning home, Ma Lao Er said that her skin was not as tender as Chen Da Hua's, which aroused Jin Shi's suspicion, and she then asked about the whole story.
"Ma Laosan said that Ma Laoda's wife died and he hasn't had any relief for a long time. Anyway, he has Li Niang now and doesn't care if Chen Dahua is a slut. He might as well serve Ma Laoda."
After subduing Chen Dahua, Ma Laosan had evil thoughts. The more Chen Dahua resisted, the more he wanted to see her beg for mercy.
How the Ma family treats Chen Dahua is something she wouldn't dare say unless she's completely shameless.
"Chen Dahua struggled, which gave Boss Ma a bit of..."
There were some things that Jin couldn't say too clearly. In short, after Ma Laoda finished, the other men in the Ma family got excited and all of them took advantage of Chen Dahua.
After finishing, Chen Dahua was not very angry. The brothers discussed it and decided to go all the way and hang themselves.
In any case, they never expected that the Chen family, instead of being ashamed to see Chen Dahua crawling into the ground while naked, would actually find some clues and report it to the authorities.
Upon hearing this, Wang Jinhua's eyes rolled back, and she fainted again, unable to bear the shock.
Lin Yuesha trembled with rage. Ma Youde and the three Ma brothers had done such a vicious thing, yet they were not flustered in the face of the Chen family. This completely shattered her worldview!
It seems that when people become malicious, it doesn't matter the era.
Chen Dahua died a tragic death, and the Chen family wished they could wipe out the entire Ma family. Jin was in the wrong, and her face was scratched by Chen Xiaohua and Chen Lin's wife, but she didn't dare to say a word.
"Arrest all members of the Ma family and take them to the yamen!"
At the order of the head officer, ropes were prepared and, before the Ma family could react, the officers tied them up securely.
"Officer, what are you doing? Why are you arresting us?"
Old ginger is spicier. At this moment, Ma Youde could still puff out his cheeks and shout at the officials, but his eyes were darting around, clearly showing that he was guilty.
No one saw it; the family stubbornly refused to admit anything, making it impossible to convict them—all of this was perfectly clear to Ma Youde.
"Without any evidence, we're going to file a complaint with the authorities and ask the county magistrate for justice!"
When the pregnant Li Niang was captured, Ma Laosan could no longer hold back and shouted.
Chen Tieniu's eyes were filled with coldness. He stepped forward and slapped Ma Laosan hard across the face, making blood spurt from Ma Laosan's nostrils. When Ma Laosan opened his mouth, he spat out a few teeth.
"Ahhh! I'm innocent!"
The Ma family kept shouting their innocence, attracting the attention of the villagers. Seeing the clan chief's family arrested, the villagers were puzzled. Could it be that Chen Dahua's death was truly related to the Ma family?
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