Grandpa Gu carried Gu Ren back into the house and watched him from inside.
He looked at the baby on the bed with lingering fear. Luckily, Xue was there; otherwise, they might not have found him so quickly, or they might not have been able to find him at all.
Apart from the elderly couple who had traveled far from Qingzhou, none of their other children knew where the next ferry crossing was or how to get there by land.
The second son had only been to Yuzhou and had never crossed the ferry.
Grandma Gu walked in, saw Grandpa Gu's furrowed brows, went over and smoothed them out, and whispered, "Brother Chuan, don't think so much, the child has already been brought back, hasn't he?"
Grandpa Gu looked up and sighed, "Lanlan, I think..."
He couldn't express what he was thinking.
Grandma Gu sat down, took his hand, and smiled, "Brother Chuan, whatever you want to do, I'll be with you. Wherever you are, that's my home."
Grandpa Gu placed Grandma Gu's hand on his heart and relaxed: "Let nature take its course! Although she is old, she is still healthy and has people to take care of her, so we are not in a hurry. When the second child continues his studies, our two children will eventually succeed on their own. Wealth and glory that come too easily can make people lose their way. Only what we earn through our own efforts will we cherish."
Grandma Gu nodded: "I'll do whatever you say."
...
After interrogation, the county officials couldn't get any more information. The two sorcerers were fake; they were human traffickers. According to them, they had their eyes on the two daughters of the Gu family, Gu Xin and Gu Si, and wanted to abduct them, but they couldn't find an opportunity.
As for getting in touch with the Gao family, it was unintentional. Later, they didn't know how things turned out this way. They thought that there was a clever baby in the Gu family, and maybe they could sell him to a family without a son. If they sold him far away, they could get a high price.
The newly appointed magistrate, surnamed Yan, was in his thirties. He had heard about the previous magistrate's conflict with the Gu family, but he did not take sides.
Now that the suspect has confessed, the case is closed.
Moreover, these two fake sorcerers were involved in more than one case; under torture, they also confessed to previous crimes committed while impersonating sorcerers.
According to the laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty, anyone who abducts and traffics people shall be executed in the autumn. Of course, this does not apply to those who are sold to a brokerage firm by their own relatives.
The two fake sorcerers were sentenced to be executed in the autumn and were immediately brought to the capital to await execution alongside others sentenced to death that autumn.
Because Gu Ren was found safe and sound, the Gao family, who had made contact with the fake sorcerer, were imprisoned and forced to serve in the Bitter Cave every day for a total of four years.
Besides the Gao family of more than ten people, five members of Zhang's maternal family were also imprisoned for the same crime. Zhang's mother knew the whole story and even helped persuade Zhang, so she was not innocent at all.
As for those widows, they only provoked Zhang with money and were unaware of the details, but they were also accomplices, so they were sentenced to be flogged, thirty strokes each. After being flogged, no one took them home, and they had to pay the yamen runners. As for the money they took to do the job, it was confiscated.
Lord Yan was quite grateful to the Gu family. He had only been in office for two months, and his first case involved catching human traffickers and extracting confessions about their previous crimes. This was quite an achievement.
Therefore, he treated the Gu family quite well.
However, Gu Shouxin felt that this matter was not over yet. After the case was decided, he did not leave immediately, but went directly to Lord Yan's office and talked for a long time before coming out.
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