"Yes, yes, yes, we're relatives, we're relatives." Yang Youfu replied with a smile, trying to please him.
Lin Minxue was both shocked and frightened. He stood as straight as a javelin, his face solemn. He deliberately avoided looking at Yang Youfu out of the corner of his eye. He said loudly, "Reporting to the county magistrate! He is my cousin, a distant relative. I am not familiar with him and do not know that he has done such a illegal thing."
"Oh, so serious? I didn't say there was anything wrong with you acknowledging a relative, there's no need to be so serious," Cao Limin said with a smile.
Lin Minxue's heart tightened, and he quickly spoke loudly, "Reporting to the county magistrate, everyone is equal before the law, and there is no room for sentimentality. As a police officer, it is my duty to uphold the dignity of the law. No matter who they are, relatives or friends, if they break the law, they should be arrested!"
Lin Minxue's words left Yang Youfu stunned on the spot.
Cao Limin looked at him approvingly and praised, "Good! Well said." He then turned his gaze to the people in the courtyard and said emphatically, "Just as our police officer said, everyone is equal before the law. Everyone in this courtyard, no matter who is involved in this child marriage case, will be treated with leniency. They must be arrested!"
"Of course, we will not tolerate a bad person, nor will we wrong an innocent person. As long as you are innocent, this county can guarantee that nothing will happen to you. But if you try to cover for each other, then this county can only treat you as accomplices."
As soon as Cao Limin finished speaking, those people in the courtyard who were surrounded by police and had nothing to do with the child marriage case started to speak up.
"Your Excellency, I am innocent! I was just here to watch the excitement."
"Yes, County Magistrate, me too. I'm here to watch the fun."
"Your Excellency, please forgive me. I was deceived. I didn't know beforehand that they were exchanging brides. I only thought it was Village Chief Yang marrying off his daughter. I didn't know they were exchanging brides or that they were having child marriages."
"Yes, County Magistrate, we were invited by Yang Youfu to help us. We don't know anything about this..."
A group of "idle people" spoke first. Since most of the people from Lujia Village were outside watching the excitement, most of those in the courtyard had come with Yang Youfu. Therefore, while trying to exonerate themselves, they also implicated Yang Youfu.
Yang Youfu was naturally anxious.
Although he usually considered himself someone important—the village chief being an official, after all, and his nephew working in the county police station—he wouldn't actually be so arrogant as to think he could curry favor with the county magistrate. Especially after his cousin's behavior just now, he understood even more clearly that this county magistrate was 'not here with good intentions'.
Therefore, after several people implicated him, Yang Youfu could no longer hold back and hurriedly shouted, "County Magistrate, I am innocent! I only wanted to marry off my daughter, but I was so eager to save people that I had no choice but to take this path of exchanging marriages. I have my reasons, please let me explain, County Magistrate."
Cao Limin drawled an "Oh," looked at Yang Youfu, and slowly said, "So you're so eager to save someone that you're taking this young girl home to be your son's child bride out of kindness?" As he spoke, he secretly glanced at Zhang Yang's face. But Zhang Yang's expression remained unchanged, so he couldn't discern anything.
However... thinking about the instructions the other party gave him on the mobile radio later, he did have some thoughts.
Ultimately, the goal is to handle the tasks assigned by the 'big shot' flawlessly.
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