“I did not abduct that girl.” Below the hall, Jiao’s mother knelt calmly in the center of the hall, her eyes gentle and graceful.
Above the main hall, Prefect Leng Shang sat upright, presiding over the case. To his lower left was Mr. Xunmei, and to his lower right was the county magistrate of Guyang County. Fu Qiyuan, Jiang Shan, Sanlang, the old master of the Fu family, and others stood in a row to the side listening.
Jiao Dazhuang looked up at Mr. Xunmei, then glanced at Fu Qiyuan, who was looking at Jiao's mother with concern, and swallowed hard.
He regretted it so much!
If he had known this woman had such powerful connections, he shouldn't have been greedy for that money!
But now the die is cast, and he has no choice but to go back on his word, otherwise he will lose even his last chance to survive!
“I… I am the cousin of Jiao Mei’s late husband, Jiao Tongchun. When this woman first arrived in Xinghua Village, she rarely went out except to buy firewood, rice, oil, and salt, and she never interacted with the villagers. She was very strange!”
"Once, she was harassed by Lai San from another village, and it was Jiao Tongchun who helped her out. After a while, the two of them became lovers. When they got married, they didn't hold a banquet or invite any guests, not even me, their only cousin. That's another strange thing!"
"Two years after they got married, I went to Tongchun to borrow money. There was only this woman in the house at the time, and she was holding a little girl. I saw it clearly! I thought it was their child, so I didn't think much of it!"
At this point, Jiao Dazhuang's eyes darted back and forth, and he continued, "It wasn't until after Tongchun passed away that I learned they had moved from Xinghua Village to Huaigu Village, with a boy by their side, the second son, called Erlang. The villagers of Huaigu Village had never seen Jiao Meishi's first child, but I knew that she had sold the girl, and that the second son was someone she had abducted from outside!"
Jiao Dazhuang said all of his mother's private matters, and even if they wanted to investigate, they wouldn't be able to find out in a short time.
However, Prefect Leng was still able to find many loopholes in Jiao Dazhuang's words.
He slammed his gavel and said sternly, "How do you know that the second son of the Jiao family was abducted by her, and not picked up by her? What evidence do you have to prove that the girl was sold, and not died or given away? Even if she was sold or given away, what does it have to do with you? I order you to tell the truth. Who instructed you to slander Grand Tutor Cheng's daughter in this courtroom? If you dare to utter even a single lie, I will break your legs first!"
Jiao Dazhuang was both anxious and scared. He steeled himself and blurted out whatever came to mind, "The eldest son of the Minister of Works, a precious treasure, how could he possibly lose him? She must have stolen it!"
Such petty tricks were no match for anyone, and Magistrate Leng immediately ordered the execution to be carried out in court!
This is clearly someone maliciously targeting Madam Jiao, with ill intentions to ruin her reputation!
After enduring ten strokes of the cane, Jiao Dazhuang could no longer bear it and repeatedly begged for mercy.
"Sister-in-law, please forgive me! I was wrong, I shouldn't have framed you. Stop hitting me, I'll confess, I'll confess to everything!"
After a series of wails and pleas for mercy, Magistrate Leng waved his hand, and the beating finally stopped.
On the street where the Yuzhou government office was located, Fu Ting stopped his horse and looked wistfully at the entrance of the government office not far away, where several constables carried a man who had been beaten black and blue inside.
Is it too late after all?
He led his horse slowly forward for a while, casually tied the reins to the stone lion at the entrance of the yamen, took out the official seal from his pocket and gave it to the yamen guard, and sat down on the steps next to it.
The yamen runner carefully examined the Imperial Secretary's document in his hand, then respectfully returned it with both hands.
He wanted to go up and say something, but he saw the man leaning wearily against the wall with his eyes closed.
The constable pursed his lips and returned to his post.
...
"I don't know who that person is. I just need to do what they tell me to do to get a hundred taels of silver! They found me through the villagers of Huaigu Village. I really don't know who they are!" Jiao Dazhuang lay on the main hall, tears streaming down his face, convulsing in pain.
"Sir, there's no need to interrogate anymore. I know who's behind this." Fu Qiyuan said expressionlessly, his eyes filled with unyielding sorrow and resentment.
Mr. Xunmei seemed to have realized something as well, and his face turned ashen in an instant.
Prefect Leng had a feeling that this matter was not simple, so he quickly waved his hand and ordered the yamen runners to take Jiao Dazhuang away.
The farce ended there. As Prefect Leng was about to leave the court, Jiao's mother bowed once more to the court and said in a deep voice, "Your Honor, I am indeed guilty!"
Jiao's mother's words were like a heavy hammer blow, resonating in everyone's ears.
"Mei'er...!" Mr. Xunmei's face paled slightly. He wanted to stop something, but couldn't speak.
He has no right to judge the right and wrong of what happened twenty years ago on behalf of his daughter.
Jiao's mother's thoughts drifted to a distant place. She sighed sadly and said, "After I left the capital, I had no fixed abode and wandered around until my mother fell seriously ill, at which point I returned to the capital."
"I originally planned to leave the capital after my mother recovered from her illness, but I never imagined that I wouldn't even be able to see her one last time. I was like a ghost, keeping vigil for my mother outside the house for three days, and then guarding her grave for seven days, but I still couldn't face my father. I still can't let this go!"
"On the day I left the capital, I went to Lingyin Temple to pray for my father. In the temple, I saw the culprit who caused the separation of my Cheng family's second branch of wives and children, my cousin, Cheng Lan!"
At this point, Jiao's mother slowly closed her eyes.
At the entrance of the government office, Fu Ting slowly turned his head, staring intently at the direction of the inner hall, his hands clenched into fists.
"Cheng Lan was at the temple fulfilling a vow while holding her infant child. Her maid, Cheng Yuan, brought news that her husband had brought a woman into the household and intended to take her as a concubine. Cheng Lan was furious and took away all the servants in the mansion, leaving only her child at the temple, intending to take revenge on her husband."
"The child was crying so hard he was on the verge of death, and I couldn't bear it, so I carried him down the mountain. I originally planned to send the child back to the Fu family in a few days, but the child was weak and sickly, and the doctors were helpless! I carried the child and searched for a famous traveling doctor, and that's how I came to Yuzhou."
"Perhaps the child was destined to live, or perhaps I was destined to meet him. He got better day by day! It was not easy for an unmarried woman like me to raise a child, so I found the sparsely populated Xinghua Village and settled down there."
"Jiao Tongchun is from a neighboring village. He is kind, honest, and loyal. After he saved me, I made up my mind to spend the rest of my life with him! He thought the child was my own and treated me and the child better than his own life. The child needs a father, and he is the best choice."
Two clear tears slid down Jiao's mother's face, but her face was filled with an infinitely gentle smile.
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