Chapter 81 Chapter 81 Carpooling.
Fearing that the thief woman had disappeared for a while, Ji Xu did not delay any longer and went to the county court immediately.
The gatekeeper stopped her and asked, "What are you doing here?"
Ji Xu said, "My Lord, I am here to denounce the thief who sold the case."
The gatekeeper, unfazed, said, "Think carefully! If they find out you deliberately framed someone for a reward, you'll be forced to do hard labor!"
Ji Xu said, "I have personally experienced and seen it with my own eyes, and I am not lying."
"Think carefully. This thief who committed the robbery will be sentenced to death if caught. If you dare to falsely accuse someone of a capital crime, you will be sentenced to at least two weeks of hard labor."
The so-called "chengdan churn" is a kind of labor punishment. The sentence is determined by the time limit. Male prisoners build the city and female prisoners pound rice. It is extremely hard work.
Because many people have come to inform on him recently for the reward, Qiao Lingshi ordered them to speak sternly in order to stop the crowds. Those who came today all retreated after hearing what he said.
The girl did not change her mind and still insisted on reporting it, saying, "I'm afraid we have to hurry up and not let them get away."
The gatekeeper lazily led her into the county court, where she saw a plaque inscribed with the words: A bright mirror hangs high.
Pointing to the eaves of the door, he said, "Wait here, someone will call you."
Ji Xu waited for a moment, but no one came. He stopped a clerk who was coming in and asked him, but the clerk just told her to wait. It was only after he received ten coins secretly slipped into his pocket by Ji Xu that he agreed to ask for her.
Outside the thief Cao's gate, the close associates of the Qiao family heard the message from the clerk and went inside to report to Qiao Lingshi.
Qiao Lingshi had arrested someone by mistake, and these past two days, all he had seen were people who came to him to make excuses for money. It would be a waste of time and effort to find a scapegoat, so he said:
"Ask her anything you want and send her away."
After waiting for another quarter of an hour, a clerk from the thief's office came out impatiently and called her for questioning, asking her name and hometown as usual.
Before Ji Xu spoke, he confirmed again, "That thief wouldn't know what I'm saying, would he?"
She was worried about being retaliated by the thief's gang, so she checked with the gatekeeper outside, and now she got the same answer.
"The thief has no way of knowing your information."
Ji Xu told the story truthfully, from how he was kidnapped and sold four years ago, what he had done, to how he ran into the thief today, and her movements.
The clerk was initially nonchalant, but the more he listened, the more he became interested. Was it connected to the unsolved case from four years ago? It must be a major case. So he asked:
"Describe the woman's appearance in detail. As long as she has been in or out of Lingshui County and has been recorded, she can't escape."
So, according to what she said, he sketched her appearance stroke by stroke, and when he held it up, he saw a woman with a round face, willow-shaped eyebrows, long eyes, and a smile on her cheek. She looked very gentle.
"The mole at the corner of her mouth four years ago was most likely a disguise. However, these features are enough to find her."
The clerk was very pleased with himself and wanted to present this clue to Qiao Lingshi, and then said,
"Alright, go back now. We'll investigate. If this woman is truly a thief, the clerks will inform you. You'll definitely get the fifty taels of silver reward."
Ji Xu then returned to the tofu shop. He thought that if his family could have an income of fifty taels of such a large sum of money, they would have a safety net if they encountered a sudden major change. In addition to the daily income, life would be much more secure.
After waiting for two days, there was still no news.
"The thief has not been brought to justice yet, so you must keep a close eye on your child."
When the little Jias around talked about this, they used the same words as before.
In the second half of the day, after closing his shop, Ji Xu went to the county court to inquire about the progress and happened to meet the clerk who had gone out that day returning.
When the man saw Ji Xu, before she could even open her mouth, his attitude changed drastically and he said:
"How dare you come here again! Mrs. Wu is an innocent woman, yet you falsely accuse her of a capital crime. What is your intention?"
That woman Wu changed the peaceful life trajectory of Ji Xu four years ago, but she herself lived a normal life. How could she mistakenly buy soup noodles and tofu in the city? This was a hatred that was gnashed into her teeth. Upon hearing this, Yin said:
"Even if she wasn't the culprit behind the child trafficking at the beginning of the year, she was the thief in the unsolved case four years ago. I'm not lying."
The clerk said, "Where is the evidence? Where are the witnesses? The authorities have interrogated her according to the law. She is not a thief. If it weren't for the honest and kind heart of Qiao Lingshi, you would have been sent to work as a city thief long ago!"
Without giving Ji Xu a chance to ask again, he waved his hand and said:
"Someone! Send her away! Lock her up if you see her again!"
The gatekeepers on both sides came to chase them away.
Ji Xu knew that something went wrong. It happened so long ago that she had no evidence or witness to prove it was the truth.
But the woman has already appeared, and there is a drawing of her appearance. If she can be arrested, according to the current interrogation and flogging procedures, few people will deny the truth, and finally she will be found innocent?
She didn't want to stay there any longer, so she argued with the clerk and left without waiting for the doorman to come and chase her away.
But first I went to the green locust tree at the west city gate and asked the tenants where Xiang Bo was.
After waiting for a while, she saw Xiang Bo coming back here after seeing off the guests. After chatting with him, she said:
"The day before yesterday, I saw Uncle Xiang pulling a woman in purple clothes. She left her purse when she bought tofu from me. I was too busy to chase her, so I personally gave it to her. The purse is so heavy that I feel uneasy leaving it with me.
Where did Xiangbo take her?"
Uncle Xiang had tasted her tofu pudding and was very willing to help. He thought for a while and said:
"I also remember this person. She got off the car near the corner gate of the wealthy Qiao family."
On his way to Duting to get the ox cart, Ji Xu wanted to stay with the gods for half a day.
A gust of wind blew by, and some tattered notices on the wall of the pavilion fluttered. On them were a few large official notices saying "Provide any clues, and a reward of fifty taels of silver will be offered."
The woman got off the car at Qiao's Corner Gate. Could she be connected to the Qiao family? Was she really, as the young Jias said, a servant of a wealthy family like the Qiao family?
But she only encountered this one time in these days, and she really didn't look like a maid who was always buying groceries; if not, then what was the relationship between this woman and the Qiao family?
You know, Qiao's uncle is the county magistrate and is about to be transferred to the position of county magistrate. He is thinking about these things in his mind.
She couldn't help but look up, and saw a woman leaning against the door in the direction of the house. She stepped on the threshold, played with a handkerchief, and looked at her with a smile. She didn't know how long it had been.
It’s that thief!
If she had not recognized him when he bought tofu two days ago, now, Ji Xu could be sure that there was something else in her eyes!
"Jianlang, the little lamb from before has grown up."
She twisted her body and turned back inside and said that the houses in this Duting were for travelers to stay in. She didn't know what the man inside said.
Ji Xu hurriedly retreated to the cowshed, and bumped into someone in a hurry. His forehead hurt when it hit the person's strong arm. But when he saw the person clearly, he felt relieved.
"Mr. Tian? But we need to go back to the public land. Would it be convenient for you and me to go together?"
She was wearing a plain jacket and a bun on her head, with a rare look of panic on her face, her complexion even looking slightly pale.
Mr. Tian, who was also a butcher at Laiduting, held the reins in his hand and glanced behind her. He saw only passing ox carts and nothing unusual. He said,
"What’s wrong with you?"
He never liked to talk nonsense, so Ji Xu thought he was just giving a brief answer. Hearing his question, he felt relieved for some reason and said:
"It's not easy to talk here. I'll tell you in detail on the way back."
"Okay." said Tian Shefu.
"It's easier for us to talk since we're riding in the same car."
Ji Xu said that the separation between men and women was not a serious issue at this time, so it was okay for them to ride together.
The farmhand agreed and tied the ox and the cart to the shaft and the back of his cart respectively. He wanted to help her get on, but Ji Xu was used to sitting and didn't need any help. She just said:
"It's not good for the thieves to see you and me together."
First, he was afraid that it would implicate Tian Shefu; second, we were in the open while the enemy was in the dark, which was already a cause of panic. If Tian Shefu was also exposed to his sight, it would be even more uneasy.
So they left Duting one after another, and walked a little further. Seeing that no one was following them, Ji Xufang sat in the front of the carriage.
Tian Shefu drove the car aside, and his tall shadow cast a shadow over her side. On the way back, only the rumbling sound of the wheels could be heard, accompanied by Ji Xushui's soft voice, which unfolded the whole story.
"Sister, you don't look well, what's wrong?"
After school, Ji Feng took Ji Zhu out. As soon as he saw her, he realized something was wrong and said anxiously.
I saw Mr. Tian standing behind my sister, next to the ox cart, but there was no clue from his expression.
Ji Zhu pointed at him angrily and asked, "You bullied my sister?"
The child only remembers the bad impression of Maeda Tsuneo whipping people.
When Mr. Tian's sight turned, he couldn't help but tremble like a frightened little mouse, trying hard to hold on and not hide behind his sister. He pointed with his little hand,
"It's you!"
"That's not the case. My sister came back with him."
Ji Xu couldn't help laughing, and felt relieved, so he pulled her along.
The group returned to Benguli's home and did not tell their sisters about this matter yet, otherwise they would inevitably worry about it all day long. They only picked out the small matter of a piece of tofu being broken into a few pieces as an explanation.
Seeing that Mr. Tian had something to say, he unloaded the cart and asked his sister to go into the house to practice calligraphy for a while. He then went to the well to draw water for the cows and drew up a full bucket of water.
Mr. Tian held it in his hands for her and poured it into the cow barrel on the ground. The two cows put their heads into the barrel one after another.
The two sides fell silent. He lowered his eyes and said a lot of words at once:
"I'll investigate Madam Wu's case. Before we find anything, it's inconvenient for you to travel alone. The Ministry of Agriculture has assistants who deliver spring plowing books to and from the county and township every morning and evening. If you don't mind, maybe we can go together."
"You've already helped me a lot, so I don't want to bother you anymore. I also know that being alone is unsafe. I'll go to Benguli and Shengchangli and ask if there are any people going to the county town to do business recently. I can carry them back and forth, which will save them the trouble, and I can also have someone to keep me company. Isn't it a good deal for both sides?"
Ji Xu said that Tian Shefu heard about it and agreed with the idea.
After sending him away, Ji Xu did as he was told.
If someone really responded, he would be so happy to hear that he could travel 30 miles round trip by ox cart.
“I’ve never ridden in a bullock cart before!”
"I heard that the rent is one mile a mile, who would be willing to spend that much? Now I can benefit from the favor of Xu Nu."
I told Ji Xu in advance which day I would leave, and he would wait for me at the intersection on the day I left, and at the city gate on the way back. There were many households in the two villages combined, and there were people entering the city every day without fail.
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