Chapter 134: The new and old village chiefs replace each other
"Unjust? I never arrest innocent people. Where is the village chief?"
The village chief had already been carried by Jinniu into the crowd, but he did not dare to breathe. When he heard Shen Jinyuan calling him, he quickly limped forward and saluted.
"No need to be polite, village chief. Just stand and answer."
Shen Jinyuan could tell at a glance that the village chief was unable to move, so he spoke up to exempt the village chief from the etiquette before he saluted.
"Thank you for your consideration, sir. I am the head of Shizi Village. Nice to meet you, sir."
"Someone sued the Shen family for abusing me to death. I want to ask you, is this true?"
Shen Jinyuan had a dignified face, a clear voice, and looked at the village chief with a sharp gaze.
The village chief was so scared that he was sweating profusely. He quickly bowed and said, "My Lord, this is true."
Shen Jinyuan stood up suddenly, his whole body exuding a majestic aura.
"As the village chief, you did nothing and allowed the sons in the village to abuse the elderly without admonishing or educating them. Do you know your sin?"
The village chief knelt on the ground, enduring the pain in his legs, beads of sweat streaming down his face.
Seeing this, Jinniu hurried forward to support his father and knelt down to plead for the village chief.
"My Lord, if you want to punish someone, please punish me. Although my father is the village chief, I have been acting on his behalf because he broke his leg some time ago. The Shen family disrespected the elderly and abused them to death. I was careless. Please forgive my father."
Shen Jinyuan nodded secretly. Although the village chief was not very good, the children he educated were quite responsible and filial.
Originally, he had no intention of causing trouble for the village chief. He just felt that if the village chief had taken action when his eldest sister was bullied by the Shen family, her would not have suffered so much. However, he was now the local official and could not easily vent his hatred on the people.
Jinniu didn't hear Shen Jinyuan relax for a long time, and he was extremely nervous.
"The village chief of Shizi Village did nothing during his tenure and failed to educate the villagers in time, which led to the deaths of the Shen family one after another. He is dismissed from the position of village chief. However, the village chief's son behaves properly and is filial and touching. He can serve as the new village chief. I hope you can take on the responsibility of educating the villagers in the future."
In fact, if the village chief had intervened to stop the Shen family from abusing Shen Shi in the beginning, the subsequent tragedy would not have happened.
The surprise came so suddenly that Taurus was stunned for a moment, then quickly kowtowed to express his gratitude.
"Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. I will do my best to educate the villagers and will never let the Shen family's incident happen again."
Shen Jinyuan nodded in satisfaction, and then said: "Okay, help your father up, I still have something to ask you."
"Yes, thank you, sir."
Jinniu quickly got up from the ground and helped the village chief up. The village chief had just knelt down in pain, and it was even more difficult for him to get up now. However, he could not lose his composure in front of the adults, so he could only endure it and remain silent. He got up from the ground. The piercing pain made him sweat all over. His inner clothes were all wet, and veins on his forehead were bulging.
"Dad, are you okay?"
Jinniu looked at the old village chief worriedly. Now that Jinniu is the village chief, his father is the old village chief.
The old village chief waved his hand and said, "It's okay. Just cooperate with the adults in handling the case and don't worry about Dad."
Old Mrs. Wan quickly asked the eldest and second oldest Wan to help the village chief into the house.
"Big brother, second brother, the two of you quickly help the village chief in to rest."
The case continued only after the old village chief left.
Shen Laoer had understood by now that he was arrested this time for abusing the elderly, but he was not familiar with the laws of Cangyu Country. Could abusing the elderly be a crime?
There are so many unfilial sons in this world, why should he be arrested for abusing an elderly person? Could this adult have some grudge against him?
At this time, Shen Jinyuan ordered the servant Qi Tang.
"Qi Tang, go to the carriage and prepare some writing brushes and ink."
Old Mrs. Wan was very considerate and quickly asked Old Third Wan to go back and move the table.
It was a bit cold outside, but Shen Jinyuan insisted on handling the case outside because he wanted to use actual cases to educate the villagers. This place is located on the border, the people are tough, and criminal cases occur frequently. The court has always been troubled, and no one is willing to come to Xuanning County.
The previous county magistrate spent a lot of money and went through a lot of trouble to be transferred away from here, and Shen Jinyuan grew up here since he was a child. He has feelings for the border, and after graduating from high school this time, he directly applied to come here to serve as the county magistrate.
After the table was moved in, Qi Tang had already prepared the pen and ink.
Shen Jinyuan prepared to take the statement himself. This time he did not bring his legal advisor with him and wanted to do everything himself.
At this time, an old man came up and said respectfully, "Sir, I can read a few words. How about letting me take care of the document?"
Shen Jinyuan glanced at the old man. Although his clothes were tattered, they were still neat. Moreover, the other party claimed to be a criminal. He should be an exile and be proficient in writing.
Shen Jinyuan nodded and pushed the pen, ink, paper and inkstone aside.
Boss Wan quickly brought out another stool for the old man.
After the old man bowed to express his gratitude, he sat down below Shen Jinyuan.
"Who is kneeling? Tell me your name."
"Your Excellency, I am Shen Fugui." Shen Lao Er replied while lying on the ground and trembling.
"I'm Shen Fuhai." Shen Lao San also said in a panic.
"I am rich, Shen Fuyou." Shen Laowu was kneeling behind his two brothers, still relatively calm.
"Shen Fugui, you abused an old man to death, allowed your wife and children to bully your eldest sister-in-law, and even carried her, who was only breathing her last breath, to the cemetery, intending to abandon her. Is what I said true?" Shen Jinyuan's voice was clear and upright, and every word he said hit Shen Laoer's heart. However, he could not plead guilty so easily. After all, if he did, he would most likely go to jail. He had heard that the jail was filled with murderers and desperados, and that they would die if they went in.
"Sir, I am innocent. My mother was dragged off the kang by the fifth brother and his wife and fell unconscious. We separated on New Year's Day. The fifth brother and his wife should have taken care of the old lady, but they pushed the responsibility to my second wife. I also had to take care of my seriously injured wife and could not take care of the old lady at all. So I put her in the straw shed and prepared to clean the house and get rid of the smell. Who would have thought that she would freeze to death?"
Shen Jinyuan had a gloomy face. It was true that poor mountains and bad waters produced unruly people. The evidence was irrefutable but he still wanted to quibble. It seemed that he would not give up until he reached the Yellow River.
"Someone, bring Li and Gan up."
Li was limping, and she and Gan were like two quails as they were brought over by the yamen runners.
"I greet you, sir."
Both women's heads hit the ground, and their voices unconsciously became much quieter.
"Look up, I'm asking you questions, and you must answer truthfully. Otherwise, you will be defying my authority and each of you will be punished with twenty strokes of the cane."
Li and Gan were terribly frightened.
"Sir, I will report the truth and beg you to spare my life."
"Tell me the whole story of how your mother-in-law was murdered, and I will spare your physical pain."
Li quickly told the whole story in a rush.
Anyway, the whole thing had nothing to do with their third room, so she couldn't be implicated and punished because of this. It was all the fault of the second and fifth room.
"Sir, it was the fifth brother and his wife who dragged my mother off the kang and made her unconscious. After the family split up, the second brother felt that my mother was a burden and threw her and my second sister-in-law into the shed. She was gone the next day."
After saying this, Li quickly lowered her head, not daring to look around.
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